Hi guys,

I'm late! I know. Sorry for making you wait this long. But again (or still) works kicking my ass and I started to work on my fitness, so my time to write is rather limited. I've tried to finish the chapter sooner, but often my eyes would burn while staring at the screen so that I dismissed it and turned my laptop off.

After such a long wait I don't want to bore you with my private life and let you go on with the new chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 8

Clarke and Lincoln laid on the grass on a small hill overlooking the village. The sun was shining down and the birds were singing beautiful melodies.

While Clarke rested her head on her hands facing up to the sky, enjoying the peace for a moment she closed her eyes slowly being lulled to sleep by the gentle drawing sounds of Lincoln who rested on his side while he tried to catch their view on a piece of paper.

Times like these were too rare nowadays.

And sadly they will be getting even rarer.

"I will miss this." The blonde heard her friend softly speaking, the gentle breeze taking the words with it. But she had heard him and an uncomfortable sadness came over her.

This was the last day Lincoln would be here with her. She was spending the last few hours with him before he'd leave for TonDC to begin his work as a Trikru warrior. She knew that this had always been his plan, but until now it had always been a distant reality. So far away until it wasn't anymore. Until it was a now.

Clarke opened her eyes and turned her head so that she could look at him.

He had changed a lot over the years. Back when they had been little children he hadn't been more than a fragile little boy with a squeaky voice and a toothy smile. Now there he sat, looking like a huge brute with all his muscles. Tattoos adorning his arms and chest. He was the perfect picture of a Trikru warrior.

Yet Clarke knew that inside Lincoln was still a big softy.

"I will miss you, too."

Oh, how she will miss her friend. He had always been there for her. With her. She couldn't imagine for him to not be there with her anymore. He was a constant in her life. His presence a calming one to her whirlwind soul. They had gotten into quite some trouble over the years, often by Clarke's doings. But he had been there by her side every time.

They had gone through thick and thin.

She was proud of him. Proud to have him as a friend. And while she felt a little nostalgic at the moment she couldn't be happier. And she knew that he'll make Trikru proud to have him among their lines in case of a battle.

Which she hoped wouldn't be too soon.

"TonDC isn't out of the world, you know. Maybe you could come and visit sometimes?"

Clarke smiled, glad that he wasn't looking forward to leave her and their village behind. "Of course I will be visiting you. You'll probably get sick of me in no time."

"I could never get sick of you." Lincoln replied, bumping his shoulder against Clarke's as she sat up, leaning back onto her hands.

"You better not."

Lincoln laughed before he looked briefly back to his almost finished drawing. His eyes flickered up to Clarke's exposed shoulder and then finally fixing on her face again. "I like it, you know." Noticing Clarke's confused glance he elaborated. "Your tattoo. It's unique. It suits you."

The blonde gazed over her shoulder where she could see a part of her tattoo peeking out from her top. Since it was a rather warm day Clarke had decided on a sleeveless top.

It was normal for people of Trikru to have one or several tattoos on their bodies. They were mostly beautiful and artistic designs with certain meanings, especially for the one decorating their body with them. And just like everyone else, Clarke and Lincoln decided to put some of the black ink on their own bodies.

Lincoln already had one on his right arm way before Clarke decided to finally get one herself. The blonde had thought quite some time about her tattoo. It was normal for Trikru to have intricate symbols marking the body, not actual pictures.

But then Clarke thought back to the compass she had found in the lake and immediately knew what she wanted as a tattoo. It wasn't like the compass meant so much to her that she needed it to be forever inked in her skin, but rather the meaning behind it. That whatever happened, she'll always find her way home, her way back to her family and friends.

That was how Clarke ended with one circle punctuated by four thick, long lines and four thick, smaller lines. On each longer line was a letter on its top, which Clarke later on learnt stood for a cardinal direction. The inner circle from where the lines began was the symbol of her chain as a homage to her origins.

She was oddly proud of her tattoo.

Clarke and Lincoln stayed for another hour only leaving after Lincoln finished his drawing. He had told her he wanted to take the drawing with him to TonDC so that he'll always have something from his home with him.

They slowly descended the hill neither in a hurry to return to their village, getting closer to their goodbyes. Until now they had spent the day away with a little hunt, a quick swim in the lake and some training, loving every minute of it.

But their time together was slowly but surely coming to an end.

Lincoln will have to leave soon if he wanted to arrive in the next village by sunset. He planned to stay the night at a friends' who'll also join the ranks of Anya's warriors and together they'll travel to TonDC.

The blonde felt almost silly as she noticed Lincoln's and her pace getting slower the closer they got to the village. It wasn't like one of them will die or anything drastic like that, but knowing that they won't see each other on a daily basis made her feeling slightly sick.

Lincoln had always been right there with her.

From now on he wouldn't be anymore.

In the distance Clarke could already see Lincoln's family, some friends and Clarke's family, waiting for them to return to say their own goodbyes. The blonde hung back and watched carefully the farewell as everyone bid their goodbyes and wishing him good luck.

When it was time for her to bid her own farewell to her best friend Clarke wound her arms around Lincoln tightly, pressing herself against him. She couldn't believe that it was time to say their goodbyes. She felt his strong arms encircling her, resting his head on her own. "Take care."

"You, too."

There were no more words needed as everything had been already said earlier the day. Honestly, the friends had always been able to communicate without many words. They knew each other too well for that.

Even when Lincoln had long since left, the blonde kept standing there eyeing place she had last seen him before he disappeared from her view.

Her heart had rarely weighted so much.

Clarke groaned as she laid stretched out on the ground, muscles aching while she took deep breaths to calm down her heart rate again. While she was thankful that Lexa spent her precious free time helping her to improve her fight skills, she cursed the brunette still standing a few feet away who had yet to break out in a sweat.

The last three days Clarke had spent her free time mostly with Lexa continuing training. Every day the blonde let herself fall hard on her bed at nights, sleep finding its way to her in a matter of seconds. A few times the other nightbloods had thrown glances at them likely wondering what she and Lexa were up to, though no one had dared to say something. They only knew that the two female nightbloods hung back after training and only arrived back at the dorm late at night.

The most confusing detail was probably Lexa. Clarke had gotten the impression that Lexa was a loner, staying to herself, engaging herself as little with her nightblood family as she could. Stoic, emotionless and quiet. The fact that Lexa offered Clarke her help and was spending so much time with her threw her off, just like the others who just kept staring oddly at them as they carefully observed them when they were together.

But Lexa was anything but the stoic girl she had first met. Her green eyes sparkled with a certain warmth that made Clarke's heart flutter instantly, her soft and gentle touch caused the blonde goosebumps along the path those long fingers took on her skin. Clarke even caught her smiling at her a few times, brief as they were.

The time spent with Lexa was strenuous and hard, but Clarke began to like their time together and wouldn't trade it for anything else.

"Come on, Clarke. Get up."

Clarke huffed annoyed that she had again lost a fight to Lexa, the sound causing the corners of Lexa's lips to rise slightly the amusement clearly visible on Lexa's face. That was another thing Clarke had noticed during their time together. It had become easier for her to get a reaction out of the stoic brunette and her heart did funny things, cheering inwardly every time she obviously got through her wall.

Her next attempt ended up like all the others, Clarke on the ground with Lexa standing above her though this time Clarke had managed to stay longer on her two feet. She blinked as she recovered from the fall and Lexa nodded contentedly. "Good. You're getting better."

"Really?" Clarke asked unbelieving, staring carefully at Lexa to try and detect any mistruth flashing on Lexa's face yet she only saw sincerity. "I don't think I improved that much."

"You have. Don't doubt yourself. Doubt is a seed that plants itself deep inside of you and makes you vulnerable."

"Is that my lesson of the day?" Clarke asked. There seemed to be always some smart words from Lexa to help Clarke along and teach her some more. In another life the brunette would have made a great teacher Clarke thought, glad for Lexa's calm demeanor as she was patient and wise at the same time.

Lexa didn't answer and just lifted a brow as she stared down at the other girl, albeit the twinkle in those green eyes told Clarke that she wasn't annoyed by her. She offered Clarke her hand to help her up and pulled the younger girl back on her feet.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Clarke. Life itself is a lesson we have to master each and every day."

"If you continue to talk like that you may become bald and get an affinity for ugly robes."

"Do not ridicule the Flamekeeper, Clarke." Lexa responded with a harmless glare, though Clarke still had seen the brief tuck at Lexa's lips. "He means well."

"Maybe with you. You're his favorite, do you know that?"

A sigh fell over the brunette's lips and Lexa started gathering their training utensils. "I know. He doesn't hide the fact that he'd like to see me win the conclave, even stated as such openly. As Flamekeeper he shouldn't have favorites."

"Yeah, well he has one." A third voice calls out and Clarke and Lexa turned around in surprise. A tall, dark skinned boy stood at the entrance of the training room, his arms crossed.

"Illiams. You're back." Lexa stated as she kept her eyes on the new arrival, her voice not giving away if she was glad he was back or not.

"I would've loved to stay longer, but Titus sent a messenger ordering me to return to Polis." The bald boy licked his lips as his eyes moved from Lexa over to Clarke, mustering her from afar. "I have heard about the nightblood Trikru found in their midst and got hauled to Polis by Lexa's First." Illiams chuckled after he must've completed his analyze of the blonde nightblood. "I can't wait to see how good of a fighter you are." With that the Sankru nightblood turned around and left the two females on their own once again.

"Don't worry. His bark is louder than his bite could ever hurt."

Clarke bit worryingly onto her lip as she stared at the place Illiams' had just stood. She didn't know a lot about the other nightblood seeing that the others hadn't talked a lot about him resulting in Clarke completely forgetting about him. Now he was back, an unknown variable in a game she already had lousy chances of mastering. The blonde didn't even know if she wanted to win.

Her heart clenched painfully at the thought of killing any of the nightbloods she was starting to become friends with. Olev's quotations of books, Beori's careless laughs, Nadora's annoyed yet amused eye-rolling, Pinto's story-telling, Lexa's rare smiles. After having spent some time with the nightbloods even Khalan didn't seem as terrifying as she had thought when she had first seen him. Just like Lexa his smiles were rare ones, but oh so genuine.

The only one she still couldn't find any liking to was Tremot. Having observed the interaction with the others Clarke had noticed that the other nightbloods mostly ignore the tall boy, avoiding having to deal with him. Even when Tremot acted out there weren't many who'd talk back – or even fight back – and put Tremot back into his place. Sadly, there were only two, Khalan and Lexa. The rest would just glare at him and spit a few words in his direction, but no open confrontation.

Clarke helped Lexa putting away their training utensils before the two of them bid their farewells and went their own ways seeing that they had still some free time on their hands. As much as Clarke was curious as to know what Lexa was up to during her free time, the blonde opted to let her go on her own instead, visiting her friends at the market. Lexa invested enough of her time in helping her, Clarke didn't want to take up any more of her time as she needed.

While the blonde strolled through the roads of Polis she couldn't help but notice a certain flurry, a touch of excitement seemed to be carried around by the many vendors. Here and there Clarke could see even more goods than usual, some roads more packed with merchants than she had ever seen before since arriving in Polis.

The blonde nightblood took note of her friends' booths, her eyes glancing over all the careful placed items. It looked like they had put more effort in decorating their booths than usual. Tarko had extended his variety of weapons with a few beautiful weaved baskets around his booth, Muele had hung a few clay vases from the top of his booth which were filled to the brim with colors Clarke hadn't seen there before, and Mira decorated her booth with wonderful braids of plants mixed in with a few flowers Clarke knew from her time training with Nyko to have some calming effect.

"Clarke!"

Turning around Clarke stared directly in Costia's smiling face and she could detect the same exciting anticipation on the olive skinned beauty. Still, the blonde couldn't help herself but let herself be carried away by the good mood the people all around her seemed to have. "Costia, is it just me or is something going on here?"

"The vendors are in full preparation of the incoming festivities." Costia replied as she stepped closer to the nightblood only coming to a stop two feet away from her friend. "Every year this time around the vendors are celebrating another year of successful trading. This is the sixth year since Heda Belarian had taken care of free trading routes throughout the various clans. The clan leaders may want to strangle each other and travelling is still dangerous, but the vendors can make their way through the different clan territories without getting killed at sight. Of course they need special permission from each clan to sell their goods and there are a lot of bandits out there, but they still have a bigger sales area."

"And the festivity is soon?"

"Yes, in two days actually."

Clarke looked surprised at Costia. This was the first time she heard of this, no one at the tower had lost a word of the festivities. "I didn't know."

"Well, it's always have been a celebration among the vendors. Though heda always paid his respect with showing up for a little bit, I don't think that Heda Sanco will be attending this year considering his health."

"What about us nightbloods? Do we attend?"

"Well," a mischievous smirk formed on Costia's lips which wordlessly answered Clarke's question without needing the following words. "Officially, no. But,….but I saw some of your fellow nightbloods sneaking through the festival in the last years. I think if they don't catch you, you're good."

Causing more trouble, that was just what she needed.

Costia seemed to sense the blonde's hesitancy and put her arm around her, pulling her friend further into the more than usual busy market place. "Come on, Clarke. Live a little."

Living. Yeah, she should do that. Life's been serious enough in the last few days, maybe it was time to forget her future and live freely in the present, celebrating with her friends. What could happen, right?

"Hey, Costia!"

The two girls turned around to the voice having called out the black-haired healer and Clarke watched as Costia's eyes widened and a big smile broke out. "Alwa!"

In seconds Costia made her way over to the dark skinned boy whom greeted her with open arms, lifting her a little as he spun her around laughing. His hair was a wild mix of various braids pulled back by two bigger braids, though the sides of his head had shorter hair. His figure was of an athletic build and he was just as tall as Clarke, his toothy smile making him look friendly. There was a scar visible on his chin Clarke had the feeling she'll hear the story behind it sometime later.

"Clarke, may I introduce you to Alwa? He's one of my closest friends. He and his father travel a lot, though they came to Polis for the celebration." Brownish eyes peered over at her as Clarke saw him waving enthusiastically at her. "Alwa, this is Clarke. She's new to Polis, so behave."

"New, huh? Are you with the merchants?"

"No, Clarke is a nightblood." Costia cut in and Clarke wasn't sure if it was wise to tell anyone that she was a nightblood. She herself may not have made such a big secret out of it since Anya had dragged her to the capitol after her secret wasn't so secret anymore, but there were still people out there who'd love to get their hands on a nightblood. The blonde shuddered at the thought of what they'd do with one of them. She'd rather enter the Conclave unprepared than finding out the cruelty of some crazy person.

"A nightblood? Really, Costia?" Alwa stared wide-eyed between the girls. "Only you, Costia, are able to find yourself a nightblood as a friend."

"It wasn't that hard. Clarke's been spending time around my mother's booth. One thing led to another."

Alwa nodded. "Did you see Jessa and Natri yet?"

"No, not yet. I'm sure they'll arrive later this day, tomorrow morning at the latest. You know they'd never missed the festivities."

"True." Alwa nodded.

"Have you and your father already finished with the preparations of the festival?"

"Almost. My father met some old friends so we're taking a break. Thought I'd use the chance to come and see you. It's been a while we saw each other."

"I expect some good stories from your travels as compensation."

Alwa chuckled. "Understood."

"What do you and your father sell?" Clarke asked curious to learn more about the two vendors.

"We're trading a variety of goods. Since we're travelling through quite a few clans we're picking up some goods in one clan and selling it to another. It all depends on our route. For example we're picking up some fish when we're at Podakru and selling it to Sankru. They love the fish from Podakru. The big lake houses many fish in all kind of forms. There are some as big as your finger and then there are some fish that are even bigger than you. And the lake is so big, you're not able to see the other end."

"It sounds interesting. I wish I could travel through the many clans and see all the beautiful places there are." Clarke replied as she dreamt of exploring the world.

"If you want I could tell you a few stories from my travels."

Clarke smiled at his offer, eager to know more. "I'd love to hear some of your experiences."

Alwa chatted with them for a few more minutes before he excused himself stating that he should look after his father and their booth and with the promise of seeing them tomorrow he left them as quick as he had come.

"So, are you in the mood to help my mother in her preparations?" Costia asked with her usual chipper voice.

Clarke nodded and followed Costia back to the by now well-known place of Mira's booth, hoping to see Muele and Tarko, too.

And once again excitement flushed through her body at the prospect of the festival, already thinking of ways to sneak out of the tower.

I'm not really happy with this chapter, but it's the best I could manage. I hope it's not that bad.

I though hard about what tattoo Clarke would have, and I love Eliza's shoulder tattoo and its meaning. And since I've seen Eliza's tattoo peeking out once in an episode (I smiled really hard at that and watched that scene twice!) I decided to make it official with a little twist. The Ark symbol is displayed in the middle.

Please, tell me your thoughts on this one.

Until the next time!