It's a Trikru guard waiting on the slope of the stairs. He stands pressed to the wall, waiting for Clarke to ascend.

"Anya will be out shortly if you're waiting for her."

The man shakes his head.

"Alright, uh, I'll just squeeze through then." Clarke motions to move and the man starts going up before her.

When they make it outside he stands just next to her as she tries to find her bearings. The hunt for Ontari is still on. Guards are being sorted into patrols throughout the village while others are readying to track through the forest.

She'll have to find Bellamy and Wells and tell them the news of the alliance and maybe start heading back to the dropship. They'll need her there to explain everything that has and will be happening which means she'll have to get more information of the threat from the Maunon.

She also has to check in on Monty and see if he has had any progress with establishing communications with the Ark. She had asked him to do it as almost an afterthought when she had ran for the Lerna caves but now that her people are safe her main priority has to be contact.

The Chancellor needs to know that Earth was habitable. If not there may be others that will be jettisoned from the Ark to preserve the dwindling oxygen supply. If the chancellors won't come to see reason then she'll have to convince someone up there to send out the message her father had left behind. There are copies of the video, a backlog that she managed to save before they wiped everything. She had never dared to watch it on the Ark but just knowing that there was some reminder of her father's sacrifice existed had made her stay in her cell bearable.

She'll need to facilitate everything at her camp to make sure they actually build something livable here until the Ark touched down, her people and pack needs her at the drop ship but Lexa and Anya are here.

Clarke sighs.

There's a lot to be done and there's two forces that are tempting her to remain idle, to just have a moment to sort out her personal situation.

Wells rushes to her as she exits but is intercepted by 'giant and brooding'. The Grounder holds out his arm and the Beta practically bounces off from it. Bellamy who had come up with Wells takes this as an aggressive act and starts to crouch but Clarke moves between them.

"We have to act as leaders."

Bellamy straightens, his fangs covered by a tight frown. "We just got yanked out and didn't know if you were going to be okay."

"We were worried," Wells is rubbing a palm against his chest and looks at the Grounder, "though it seems like you have a guard now."

The Grounder doesn't say a word and he really doesn't need to. He has a hand casually sitting on his sword as if his immense height and size weren't enough.

"Yeah, guess I do."

Lexa had been very firm about her getting protection so she should have expected it to be instant, "it got a kind of intense down there, the alliance is in good standing at the moment but we have to return to the dropship, I have to speak to Monty and there's something I'll announce to everyone when we return."

"We're still going?" Bellamy looks over to where Lexa is standing. "I would've thought you'll want us all to stay here now."

He's not being malicious just still jilted at being rejected; he can smell their scents on her.

"You know we'll overstay our welcome, best we go now and our pack needs us."

Bellamy looks less aggrieved at the mention of their people. "It's really ours isn't it, not just a group of delinquents but they are our pack, our wolves."

Clarke nods. "You sure you don't mind shifting some say to me."

"The people will choose you." Bellamy smiles, it's crooked but Clarke finds relief in it. "I choose you too; I'm second to you if you don't mind."

"Thank you," Clarke thinks back to their argument in the barracks, to her hand against the back of the Alpha's neck and then looks to Wells, "both of you, I appreciate it."

Wells smiles, grateful to be allowed into Clarke's circle. "Yeah, of course."

She could've lost him too. Her heart hurts at the thought of never getting to see Wells. To losing the closes thing she's ever had to a brother. She's already lost her father and who knows if she'll be able to save her mother. She embraces him gently, careful of his mending ribs and even though he's startled he's just as happy to wrap his arms around her.

"Oh, awesome."

She pulls away and wonders if he can see how apologetic she is for her behaviour towards him. She's been venomous and he's just taken it all in stride. It still hurts and she can't forget but she can learn to gradually forgive. She has to; all their times on this Earth may be limited. She puts her hand on his cheek and his grin grows.

Bellamy is sorry to interrupt the moment but it needed to be addressed, "Clarke, what that ice woman said, about a Chase being open to applicants from those in the Coalition."

Clarke retracts her hand from Wells and crosses her arms to hide her fidgeting. "I'm not sure what she means but I think we won't have to worry about that unless we are actually allowed into the Coalition."

"You mean you won't have to worry until then right?" Wells is anxious over her safety. "Cause I don't think anyone is in any foreseeable danger but you."

There's no use discussing this when they know so little on what could or could not happen. She can see Bellamy and Wells coming up with contingencies for her but she doesn't want the focus be on her when their entire civilization may be dying in the stars. "I have to sort some business but if you two can finish packing then I'll meet with you guys at the barracks later."

"I could come along for back up." Wells has his hands on her hips, afraid to let her go now that he's slowly getting her back.

"It's good," Bellamy pats Well's back, "she needs us at the barracks so we'll go." It's not like they have much to pack, it's clear what Clarke needs is some privacy.

Clarke gives a thankful nod towards Bellamy and he smirks, taking his second in command status quite seriously. He knows he needs to be reliable for not only his sister but for the leader to his people. He'll reinforce what Clarke wants.

"Yeah, alright, I guess we can always ask the Grounders at the barracks to train us some." Wells shrugs, walking side by side with Bellamy; you go a long way when you both find yourself defending the same person. "It's not like we're that helpful."

"Speak for yourself." Bellamy responds by shoving his hand against Well's shoulder, making the other boy stumble and laugh, pushing back at the Alpha in play.

Clarke grins, shaking her head at the two. Jaha's son wasn't an outcast among the outcasts, at least not to Bellamy it seems.

…

None of the Desert people appear to have made it out alive and those that did not enter the chambers for the meeting are in a dispute with the Trikru guards. Lexa is in the midst of stating what has occurred and when the Desert clan start pointing accusingly at Clarke, Lexa explains the alliance in effect, her words concise and firm.

Clarke wants to approach but Luna steps into the way; she's part of the forest then sudden before Clarke. The wolf's fur is as brown as the woman's hair but tinted by sheen of red, the sun drawing out the vibrant highlights with each step she takes. Her underbelly is lighter than the rest of her body and the colour recedes back into tanned skin as the woman shifts into bipedal form. She speaks to several wolves that shift with her and with a nod they quicken to their tasks. The woman accepts a loose black robe from one of her own people before turning her attention to Clarke.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the Grounders are a fit bunch. Their bodies are honed, muscular and battle scarred. They aren't lanky and barely nourished like any of the Arker's she's ever met. The nutritional paste is the bare minimal a person is required ingest to survive. Clarke wonders how much has been lost on Earth and how much her own people on the Ark have given up to last this long. The Arkers forfeited their wolves, their physical strength but clung to technology that they all thought would save them. Made laws with the strictest of punishments until only those that fell in line would remain and yet her father had spoken out and so has she.

She might be intimidated but she'll adapt.

"You spoke of being an asset against the Maunon, what can you show me to confirm this fact." Luna's eyes are piercing but aloof.

Clarke has nothing at the moment; she'll have to talk to Lexa or Anya to gain some perspective on this whole thing. "I'll have my people survey the Maunon's land and investigate them before I can have a solid report."

Luna is skeptical and she doesn't hide it. "Even if you have nothing against them and only said so to stall Ontari I won't rescind my support of the alliance but know that it is a time of war and Heda has brought unity to the nations to fight against one common enemy, if it was not for this fact then your allowance in these lands would not been so easily gained, the other clans will want your people to prove their worth for acceptance into the Coalition."

"If it is technology that the Maunon have then perhaps my people will know how to deal with it." Clarke will have to consider attempts at entering the Coalition another time, her first priority has to be alerting the Ark.

There are countless lives at stake and if the Ark can safely return to Earth it'll also be a source of lost knowledge, science and medical care. If she does not accept Lexa and Anya's chase then her people can supply other means at peace. Clarke has come to understand that the Coalition means much more than an alliance and she doesn't want to leave her people to chance where the protection of the alliance wanes. "My people will try, Heda has offered us mercy for the Lerna slain and offered aid, we aren't so quick to forget a debt."

"You were made aware," Luna tilts her head in consideration, "of the mercies given?"

"A law was broken; I understand that a price in blood is set for transgressors." It's not something Clarke can easily admit, the lingering ire over the circumstances curdles in her stomach.

There's still a part of her that is angry with Lexa and Anya for hiding the massacre that could have happen but she's trying to see the situation from their perspective, from how things are handled on the ground.

Adapt.

She has to adapt.

She can't just shout and fight against the mechanisms already in place. She had been too vocal on the Ark and it had only gotten her caught along with her father. Perhaps if she had been less violent in her outbursts she would've shared the oxygen malfunctions with the Ark in secret and saved those who are slowly suffering from oxygen deprivation.

Would she and the 100 been sent as Guinea pigs all the same? Would she have their blood on her hands? Perhaps she would never have met Lexa or Anya, her lifetime was meant to remain in space. The possibilities boggle her imagination. She can't regret how everything panned out; she can only focus on the present and try to err on the side of caution.

"You're quick on speech and thought but I've seen you lack in physical prowess." Luna seems appeased with Clarke's statement. "Your pause in the chambers has given Alexandria's care away."

Clarke clenches her hands until her she hears her knuckles pop. Her worry over being used to cast doubt towards Lexa makes her overlook Luna's casual reference to who most call Heda. "She has given my people aid; perhaps she trusts us to bring our abilities to use against the Maunon and doesn't want to waste her investment."

Luna raises her brow, hands on her hips with her lips pressed so tightly together that Clarke thinks the frown is permanent.

"Leave her be." Anya comes to stand beside Clarke, dressed in most of her armor though her clothing is a tattered mess. Anya's pants are torn and so is the shirt she's shrugged back on.

Anya snarls down at Luna and the woman reacts in the same fashion. The Grounder units around them give wide berth to the pair. They both bear down at each other until their growls are vicious and their faces contort into half shifts. Their mouths full of sharp fangs and their eyes turning feral.

"I think it was just a misunderstanding." Clarke looks to the Grounder man that had followed her from the stairs but he's stoically keeping his eyes away from the scene. Great, knock Wells down without trying but don't have the balls to deal with a Unit Leader and the Chief of another Clan.

Of course.

Clarke is desperate not to cause more issues for her Beta, she has her hand up and is readying to shove herself between the warring leaders when Luna breaks out in a laugh, her jaws opening wide, her partly shifted vocal cords making it sound like a bark. "Look at this little one, trying to placate me from your wrath."

Clarke is confounded, weren't they going to fight. Like the confrontation Quint had wanted to start with Anya earlier in the day? Her raised hand drop uselessly to her side in befuddlement.

"Oh, this is just too cruel, look at your Omega fretting for your wellbeing." Luna flexes her arms. "She must know too well that I could end your fight."

"Take that back." Anya's face is returning to human shape, her eyes sparkling with humour as she grabs Luna's arm in warriors shake. "I know someone who can take you easily and I'm the one that trained her."

"Enough." Lexa comes forward; having delegated and managed the Trikru's most pressing issues for the moment. "If you wish to act like children then go do so away from our people."

Lexa's words may be cold but she had just called the leader of the Boat's Clan a child. Clarke is praying to heaven and hell that it meant they were all just teasing one another and she just had a small heart attack for no reason.

"Come little star," Luna offers Clarke her arm, "I won't have you think that all our people on the ground are as tightly wound as your suitors."

Clarke looks to Lexa and Anya but they appear to be watching her reaction on the matter instead of giving any input. She hesitantly takes Luna's arm which seems to be the correct since it brings the group back towards the house.

…

"You should have seen your face, little star, what exactly did you think you could do between us?" Luna is busying around what seems to be a pantry, returning with some kind of fruit and a jar of spices. "You should already know you can't possibly wrangle us apart."

Clarke casts her eyes over to Anya who has a fist politely in front of her lips, she's trying to look stern but Clarke can tell that trying was the key word. Clarke bites her lip, what exactly was she trying to accomplish? She had just felt the need to help, she had been unable to offer much to her father once and she swore to never let that happen again. She'll never want to be that helpless and useless. Though Anya of course wouldn't benefit much from whatever she was about to attempt.

Clarke crosses her arms, a little thrown by Luna's causal familiarity. "I wasn't going to stand by."

Lexa suddenly moves close to Anya, lips an inch from her Beta's. Clarke feels her breath stall at the open display. Anya has a light but very present blush when Lexa retrieves a thin blade hidden in her gauntlets.

Lexa makes eye contact with Luna as she catches the food thrown at her and starts dividing the furry round fruit into slices without much more preamble. "Clarke has a habit of throwing herself into danger even when promising to stay away from it as I've learnt this when Anya met her in the Lerna caves instead of after the mission as I had intended."

"And you have a way of always using my weapons to prepare food instead of dirtying your own." Anya bemoans, dropping into the cushion next to Clarke when she understands she's been had.

Clarke has never seen them act so… Their age... Just a pair of barely adults teasing one another. It was a shock to see but it endears them to her all the more. Clarke understands that this was them in private, that they have had years to be familiar with one another's quirks.

They are warm, not just formal to a Chieftain who already has a blueprint to the house. There's a friendship there that Clarke wants to understand and she feels privilege to see the leaders be so at ease.

"I will clean them after." Lexa gives Clarke a smirk. "When Anya was training me as her second I had already heard her to be rather… let's say dedicated towards weapon maintenance."

"They were already clean." Anya was almost pouting and it has Clarke releasing a giggle. After spending time with Anya's wolf form, Clarke could almost imagine the tawny wolf drooping her ears in dramatic grief.

Anya tilts to focus on Clarke then narrows her eyes at the Alpha. "If you tell it like that she'll take your side on the matter."

"What," Clarke shakes her hand, nope, "I'm not taking sides in any of this."

Lexa uncovers the jar, pouring out fine grains of spice onto the dish. Dipping a corner of the pale fruit into the powdered spice and offering it to her Beta. Anya vindictively snaps her mouth around the fruit but only lightly nips Lexa's fingers.

Lexa smiles, the tender expression making her green eyes shine. She wipes her thumb over Anya's lips, collecting the juices that had stained an amusing frown. She keeps her hand against Anya's cheek; tip of her thumb on pouting lips. "Hodnes, apologies, there are no sides I would take that has me against you."

"You two are just a whole other state." Luna grabs one of the fruits, repeats the process Lexa did and pops the treat in her mouth. She turns to Clarke. "Alexandria was always this nauseatingly charming."

"I only speak truths." Lexa is leaning back on her arm, angled close to a blushing Anya.

Anya moves from Lexa's touch and covers her face with her hands, peeking through to glower at Luna momentarily before landing on Clarke. "Lexa's tongue is honeyed."

The three of them are obviously well acquainted but they easily include Clarke. She's flattered, this moment feels like home.

"I can see that." Clarke says, bolding taking Anya's hands into hers to reveal the woman's face. Anya is blushing through her war paint and all the way to her ears. It's just so endearing to find someone like Anya actually flustered. She can guess why Lexa likes to rile Anya up; to get such a reaction was just too…

"Klark Kom Skaikru, be careful of the words you want to say to me." Anya is scowling which has Clarke grinning along with Luna and Lexa.

"I'm just appreciating this moment." Clarke laces their fingers together, preventing Anya from taking her hand back; she feels her own face heat up when she says the next sentence. "You're a pretty sight."

Anya looks to her companions and dramatically sighs. "If we are allowed our Chase I will be subjecting myself to this type of nonsense from the both of you, aren't I?"

"You're enjoying it," Luna remarks, smirking around her fruit, "don't deny it, or else Lexa would've stopped ages ago and this one, this Clarke of yours seems to have you figured out also."

The relaxed mood is interrupted by a sequence of bangs on the door and with Lexa's permission, Clarke's Grounder guard comes into view. "A scout has alerted us of Ontari's demise, she attempted a jump over the waterfalls but several arrows had thrown her off course and into the rapids, they are searching for her body now."

Clarke witnesses the stern emotionless mask fall over both Anya and Lexa's face when the man had entered. They both stand when receiving the news. Lexa with her hands behind her back and her head tilted back, effortlessly exuding power over the huge soldiers that come further. Anya is much the same, more passive in her demeanor next to her Alpha but menacing all the same as more people from other tribes enter in, speaking fluently in another language.

Luna is still grinning through she hides it in respect of the Alpha and Beta's ways. The Boat Clan Chieftain knows the pair and understands why they present themselves in such unbreakable unfaltering stead. Her own people don't judge her base on her demeanor but by her skill on the untameable seas. She has the luxury of defending her capabilities outside of just being the stern material made for war and battle. She shares as much when she leans over to Clarke, whispering translations and explaining her own stance on the matter.

When the last messenger has left Luna stands to go to but not before snatching the plate still full of fruit. The others try to ask for her to stay but she declines. She knows she has interrupted her friends in the midst of an important event and she has her own people to tend to. They are leaders and they are allotted less down time than anyone else.

"Thank you for letting me into your leader's lodgings, I'm sure my own would be stocked but you two always have the best supplies." Luna holds up her plate as prize. "I will see you all during evening's meal, mind the hours until then, we can't have three late."

Clarke blushes at Luna's insinuations and wink. She wants to explain that she may be heading back to her own camp soon and the three of them hardly have the time to just… She's too late to deny anything since Luna is gone, several of the Boat Clan guards immediately dogging her steps. The Grounder guard who has knocked gives a deep nod to Lexa then pulls the lodging's door close.

Clarke wants to ask about the rules of the Chase of the Coalition. She wants to enquire after Lexa's emotion after Costia had been brought up. Of the dynamic between the three of them but she can't. She has never felt as drawn to Lexa and Anya as she has any other being. She wants to know them intimately, wants to hear them share their lives and she hers but she couldn't do it. She can't indulge herself when lives weigh on her actions and time is an evaporating substance.

"We have to talk about the guard you gave me." Clarke knows not to outright speak against having a sentry when they were in public but she'll have to travel to back to the dropship and her own people will have questions. She needs their support and acceptance of her leadership without any coercion on her part. She can't win because she has the manpower to force allegiance.

"It's non-discussable." "Do you wish for more?"

Lexa and Anya look at one another then with a nod from Anya, Lexa picks up. "If you wish I can ask for several volunteers for your picking but no matter what you will have guards, I will not shift on this."

"I can accept that but they can only escort me back to my pack's camp, I can't have them stay with me." Clarke knows she's still injured and unable to fend for herself too well. Not to mention she has already made enemies. She's not so prideful to fight for independence just for the sake of it.

The pair look to one another again, Anya tilts her head in question and Lexa nods.

"Will you let me stay with you," Anya reaches out, fingers lightly landing on Clarke's elbow in query, "would you allow that?"

Clarke wants nothing more than both of them staying with her. She's tampers her greed. "Would your people not think it's weird that you're leaving with me?"

Anya shakes her head no, "they will not question us guarding an alliance that may supply means to the end of the Maunon."

"It's precious information and I don't trust many to protect it." Lexa explains her voice a whisper over the word precious, her eyes casting back to make sure none are too close to the hut's window.

Clarke blushes, dropping her gaze; she takes a moment to center herself before looking up. "Then let me actually help, tell me everything on this Maunon."

Anya looks conflicted, a soft growl escaping her as the hand she has on Clarke's elbow tightens just a touch, obviously not liking the idea of Clarke exposed to any kind of risk.

Lexa on the other hand has had one teaching drilled into her, to follow her head and not her heart. She knows she has to be pragmatic, to utilize every advantage. "In this tongue the term would be translated to 'Mountain Men', there's not much we know within their compound but I'll tell you everything and provide land maps for your people."