Lexa stretched her legs out as she leaned in her chair, a couple feet from her unconscious captive. She had taken refuge in a lodge in the outskirts of Ton DC with her party, and assigned her members tasks to pass the time as they waited for their captive to awake. They had fastened the girl to a main support beam in the middle of the lodge, her legs stretched out, her head hanging limp on her chest, and her hands behind her back. She hadn't stirred the entire trip or when they secured her to the post. Indra was cleaning the rest of the deer with another rider, while the third, the one who had thrown his spear at this girl's companion, had been assigned to tend to his wounds. He had briefed Lexa on why he had attacked the boy, and that there were many other people present at the site, including the girl.
The atmosphere of the wooden lodge was controlled to seem as inconspicuous as possible to any passersby, as the candle light in each corner of every room flickered dimly, giving off a sleepy feel, and everyone worked as silently as possible.
Guiltily, Lexa looked at her now bare arms, as all communication from her soulmate had finally faded away. She kept thinking about just how close she was to the Mountain when these strangers got in her way. Was her soulmate still waiting, or had she missed her chance? Picking up a quill from the table, Lexa searched her mind on what to start. What would be appropriate under the circumstances that had followed earlier in the day? Sorry? Are you still there? Dejectedly, she scribbled: Can we try again? She felt ashamed in herself; she so desperately wanted to find her soulmate. She felt like she had gotten so close, a privilege not many people actually got to enjoy, and had to miss out on her chance because of her duty to her people.
In the corner of her eye, Lexa saw movement, and turned her head to see that the girl had been watching her.
"You're up," Lexa said, un-phased, as she rolled down her sleeve to cover her arm. "Who are you, and why were you in my territory?"
The girl blinked, frozen on the floor as her shoulders began to move, no doubt trying to loosen her binds.
"Answer me," Lexa repeated, using a bit of her authoritative aura. "What's your name?"
"Where am I?" the girl replied instead, looking around the lodge.
Lexa rolled her eyes and gave in, "You're in my lodge, that's all you need to know. Now, who are you? No harm in telling a name, is there?"
"Where's Jasper? What happened to him?"
"Hunting accident," Lexa smirked smugly, "Now tell me what your name is."
The girl gave a shaky breath before replying, "My name's Clarke, Clarke Griffin."
"My name is Lexa, Commander of the Twelve Clans, and I own the lands you and your friends were gallivanting on."
Clarke raised an eyebrow as she took in this information. Her brain was rapidly trying to accommodate all this new information. There were people on Earth this whole time, and not only that, but they were organized.
"We didn't mean to trespass," Clarke began, hoping the truth would be enough to remove the threat she felt occupying the room. "We didn't know that people still lived on Earth."
Lexa amusedly scoffed. That was the stupidest thing she had heard all day. "You had no idea that people lived on Earth?" she mocked, "Are you not from it?"
"Yes." Clarke replied bluntly.
"What?" Lexa asked, not in the mood for games.
Clarke must have sensed the lack of patience, so she opted to explain, "We landed early this morning, at sunrise. We came from a space station called The Ark."
"… From the sky?"
"Yes."
"How many of you are there?" Lexa asked, deciding to bite this bait. Her mind flashed to the dream she had this morning. Was her subconscious giving her an omen of these people?
"We don't mean any harm," Clarke said instead, "We're just trying to survive. We're new to this; we were just trying to find food and shelter. If we had known this was your land, we would have been more careful."
Indra entered the space from a room to the left, carrying a plate of fried meat.
"So she's awake," the lieutenant observed, placing the plate down in front of Lexa.
"Yes," Lexa replied, watching Clarke take in Indra form. The girl must have been absolutely terrified. "She claims she came from the sky…"
"The missile?" Indra whispered. Lexa nodded slowly, eyes still locked on Clarke.
"Leave us," Lexa commanded, "I have some questions to ask her. You and the others may eat in the other room."
"Yes, Commander," Indra sent a snarl to Clarke, turned around and exited. When the door to Indra's room shut, Clarke and Lexa made eye contact once more.
"Tell me, Sky Girl," Lexa started, picking up some utensils to start cutting her meal. "How many of you are there?"
Clarke remained silent.
"Did you know, Clarke, that withholding information like that can only make me feel like you and your people are dangerous." Lexa looked at a piece of the venison on her fork, finding it covered with salt, pepper and a number of spices. "All I'm trying to do is make sure that my people are safe. We could really avoid a lot of problems in the future if you would just tell me everything I need to know."
Clarke watched as Lexa took a bite of the tender meat, and felt her stomach growl.
Lexa's lips curled into a smile as a new idea came into her head. "You must be hungry," she said, "It's been at least three hours since you first ran into us in the woods. Tell you what, I'll give you a warm meal if you tell me all about your camp?"
Clarke groaned internally, beginning to acknowledge the sense of starvation making itself known in her stomach. She didn't want to sell her people's safety out for food, but God was it tempting. The Ark rarely had real meat, as the majority of the food was processed or synthetically grown. She had only experienced a real platter on special occasions when the Jaha's had procured a turkey, but red meat… her instincts begged for it.
"I don't know how many there are," Clarke bluffed.
"Is that because there are so many or so little?" Lexa inquired, serving herself another bite.
Clarke looked away, refusing to answer.
"Oh, Clarke," Lexa sighed, leaning forward in her chair. "What is the harm? We know nothing about each other, and we're both doing the same thing: just trying to learn if the other is a threat. I'm sure if your people had captured one of mine, they'd be interrogating them as well; only I'm only taunting you with something to eat, not actually torturing you."
"My people wouldn't torture anyone," Clarke snapped, lying to herself.
"Sure," Lexa teased, "I don't think you understand how lucky you are, Clarke. Here you are, being held captive by a leader and you haven't faced any form of physical punishment whatsoever. I very well could finish my meal after cutting you open for answers. But I'm actually giving you patience. Don't take advantage, Clarke, I will revoke this privilege."
"What privilege?" Clarke found herself glaring, hating herself immediately.
"You're my guest," Lexa informed, with a haunting air of hospitality. "If your story is true, then technically your people have not done anything wrong, they just unknowingly landed in my territory. You haven't taken my lumber, hunted my animals- well as far as I'm aware, and you haven't harmed any of my people. You're just simply floating in the woods. Since I have no incident to act on, besides trespassing, what more can I do but to make sure you won't interfere with my people?"
"We're not," Clarke groaned, still looking away from Lexa.
"You keep saying that, yet you can't bring yourself to answer my other question about your populace. That doesn't make me feel convinced."
"But how am I to know that telling you my numbers isn't just going to encourage you to attack mine?" Clarke cried, her face consumed with frustration.
Lexa almost felt sorry for the girl, but Clarke had to understand that Lexa was just doing her job. "Clarke," she said as soothingly as possible, "My people are not savages. If I tell them not to attack you, they won't, you have my word. However, I don't know about your people. I just need to know who exactly you are so if the time comes, I know what I'm up against."
Clarke's stomach rumbled again.
"This meeting can result in peace, it just depends on your cooperation, Clarke," Lexa said, cutting another piece of food. "Here, you can have a bite, no strings attached, just to silence that stomach of yours." Lexa stood up from her chair and walked over to Clarke. Crouching down, she held the fork in front of Clarke's lips. Clarke looked at Lexa, humiliated at having to be spoon-fed, but Lexa urged her on, reminding her that she wasn't going to untie her. Clarke opened her mouth slightly and leaned forward to capture the fork with her lips. She pulled the meat from the fork with her teeth, and immediately began to taste its superb flavor the instant it touched her tongue. She couldn't help the satisfied moan that rose in her throat as she chewed the tender piece. Lexa smiled at Clarke's pleasure and returned to her seat.
"We could help each other out, Clarke, there doesn't have to be fear," Lexa tried, continuing the gentle interrogation.
"I don't want to say anything that can betray my people," Clarke confessed, after she swallowed the bite. "We are harmless, I can guarantee it. I'm just afraid that's all you need to wipe us out."
"I promise we won't, Clarke, not unless you give us a reason to."
"Are your people armed?"
"Yes." A lie.
"Are you looking to expand?"
"We were actually looking to relocate," Clarke began, "We were on our way to Mount Weather when I ran into you. We were told it had shelter and provisions. We were just going to move there, that was our only plan."
Lexa stiffened in her chair. "You'll find that the Mountain is already inhabited, unfortunately, you cannot take your people there."
"By who?" Clarke asked, genuinely intrigued.
"The Mountain Men. They have lived there as long ago as the origin of my people."
Clarke felt herself cower against her post. Lexa had warmed up for a brief moment, and sharing her food had actually worked in gaining a bit of Clarke's trust, but now her fear had returned, as she could feel anger radiating off the Commander at the mention of wanting to live in Mount Weather.
"I uh… I saw you looking at your arm earlier," Clarke started, hoping to defuse the tension by changing the subject. "Communicating with your soul mate?"
Lexa eyed Clarke suspiciously. "Did you see what I wrote?"
"No," Clarke shook her head vigorously. "I just saw that you looked troubled about it. I haven't found mine either."
"Sometimes I just want to ask for a name," Lexa confessed, letting herself wind down. "But I'm sure even your people know that it's bad luck."
Clarke nodded understandingly. "Yes, they would teach us as children that if you communicate with names before you meet them, you're doomed to not stay together. That you'll be separated from them forever, or that one of you will die tragically," Clarke chuckled at this, " But if you ask me, the way the world is, and probably always has been, you can lose your soulmate no matter what. Someone could kill them, they could be imprisoned- especially where I come from where even the smallest crime gets you a death sentence, the government is more likely to doom your soul bond, not the universe."
"You make a solid point, Clarke," Lexa smiled, "Your people sound unforgiving."
"They have their reasons," Clarke frowned, thinking back about the ways of the Council. "Even though I mock the odds, I still find myself respecting the superstition, but who knows if it's really true."
"Clarke," Lexa sighed, "One of my men is tending to the wounds of your friend. You will be able to take him back to your camp, but only if you cooperate." Clarke looked down at the ground. Having Jasper being thrown into the mix of interrogation, she felt more responsible to him at the moment and thought that she had to save him first. "Do you have a leader at your camp?"
"No," Clarke mumbled, "Not yet."
"So you're running about lawlessly?"
"No, we all had the mission to find Mount Weather. After we established our shelter, we were probably going to elect a leader."
"Any elders or children?"
"Mostly youths, as much as I could see."
"Since you should give up on Mount Weather, your people are most likely going to be roaming around for food and water, correct?"
"Most likely…"
Lexa had had enough. This was probably going to go nowhere. It seemed as if the group Clarke had traveled with was in fact a cluster of harmless vagabonds and that there was no need to have this go any further. In her native language, she called out for her riders, who entered the main room instantly.
"Bring the boy with his cot, we are letting them go back to their people," Lexa ordered. Her riders bowed and obeyed, and Clarke felt herself sit up straight in anticipation. "I'll have to cover you for the journey so that you don't know where we are."
"Okay," Clarke said eagerly.
Lexa picked up a strip of fabric and kneeled to begin wrapping it around Clarke's eyes in multiple layers, then finally tightening it at the back of her head. Shifting closer, she moved to untie Clarke's binds- when she froze.
Part of her sleeves had been rolled up to make room for the binds, but coming out from underneath the cuff of her jacket read the words: ry again? Lexa's heart jumped into her throat, and she swore everyone in the world could hear the pulse in her jugular vein. She wanted to roll up the sleeve further. She pushed the fabric subtly, acting like it needed to be done to get cleaner access to the binds, and revealed: Can we try again?
Lexa froze and wanted to throw herself off a cliff. She had just been interrogating her soul mate. She ripped the binds off with inhuman strength, causing Clarke to gasp in discomfort, as it most likely pulled up her wrists with it.
"Sorry," Lexa mumbled the apology. What should she say? Tell her, tell her! Her mind screamed at her to forget being Commander, forget everything, to introduce herself to her soulmate and beg for all the forms of repentance that she could offer. What stopped her was the sight of Clarke.
"Are we ready to go?" the girl asked, her voice seeming firm, but Lexa could see the girl's hands shaking with fear. She didn't want to be here, and finding out about her soulmate now was probably not the best idea. Lexa's heart mourned as she fought to make peace with the concept of having to let Clarke go.
"Yes," Lexa replied, never speaking so softly in her life before. "Hold on to me."
On instinct and common sense, Clarke blindly reached out for Lexa beside her and hooked onto the Commander's arm for guidance. Lexa couldn't stop herself from resting her free hand over Clarke's as she slowly escorted her out of the lodge.
"You're going to share a horse with me, okay? We obviously were not expecting guests when we set out on the hunt this morning," Lexa continued, ever so gently. Clarke nodded still gripping onto the Commander's arm. "Your friend will be gently pulled with his cot as we trot back to where we found you. Will you be able to find your way home from there?"
"Yes," Clarke replied. Really, she had no other choice, and she didn't want these Grounders to come any closer to her camp than they needed to. Lexa helped Clarke feel for the stirrups and saddle, clumsily mounting the horse. Following immediately after, Lexa adjusted herself in the saddle, now tight with the presence of both her body and Clarke's, and vainly tried to give her soulmate some space. Clarke didn't express a word about discomfort whatsoever, so Lexa wrapped her hands around Clarke's waist and held the reins loosely in her hands, Clarke holding onto the horn of the saddle herself.
The entire party trotted peacefully, trying not to go too fast as to disturb or further injure the feverish and unconscious Jasper, fastened in his cot. Lexa couldn't shake the feeling of shame as Clarke breathed anxiously in front of her, knowing that she had done this to her soulmate. She wanted to comfort her, but knew it was not the time nor place, especially when her riders so close by. Since she knew she couldn't declare her identity to the Sky girl just yet, she wanted to start on a new leaf somehow, and have Clarke see her in a better light.
Soon, they were almost at the edge of the river where Jasper was attacked, and Lexa took advantage of this last moment. She leaned closer to Clarke and whispered one more time, "How many of you are there?"
Clarke shivered.
"A hundred," Clarke replied, finally giving in.
Lexa nodded as she contemplated the number.
"This is the best I can do for you now," Lexa began, "If your people can stick to a five mile radius around your camp, which give should give you access to a water source and fruit-bearing plants, I can have my people recognize yours as a trading post. Give me three days to instruct my people, and as long as yours stay peaceful and respect the boundaries, we might even help yours build shelter."
She knew how it would sound to her people. What kind of Commander would give a strange group of people aid in growing their camp? While these Sky people sounded harmless based on Clarke's account, who knew what they would be capable of once they got used to the environment.
"Thank you," Clarke replied gratuitously. "You're very generous." Lexa grinned, immediately taken by Clarke's approval of the idea.
The horses came to a stop and Clarke felt Lexa's arms leave her waist and dismount, and waited for Lexa to help her down. She felt the Commander's hand slip under hers, delicately as if Clarke would break, and slipped from the saddle.
"Do not take your blindfold off until you can no longer hear our horses," Lexa instructed. Indra held Clarke's hands behind her back, and Clarke expected to be tied up once more, but felt the handles of Jasper's cot rest in her grasp instead.
"Goodbye, Clarke," Lexa said, already yearning, and placed a satchel over Clarke's shoulder, much to the girl's surprise. "Provisions for your journey," Lexa informed, almost too caringly. Clearing her voice to embody her Commander's persona, she declared, "Since you have no leader, meet me here in three days, at noon, to discuss diplomacy."
"Okay," Clarke replied, her voice starting to shake again.
Turning to face her riders, who nodded in grievance, she mounted her horse. She took one last look at Clarke then galloped away, and the remaining Grounders followed.
When the sound of hooves finally disappeared, Clarke felt herself being to hyperventilate. She reached for the blindfold with one hand, still holding up Jasper with the other, and yanked it down, freeing tears from her eyes. Taking one last deep breath, she reached back for both handles of the cot, and began her journey back to the drop ship.