Thank you to everyone who has Favorited or Followed this story, I'm kind of new to writing so it means a lot. Opinions and constructive criticism are always welcome.
I made my a generalized map of what the village would look like, to help keep the picture in my mind while writing, but I don't think that there is a way to post it without making it the picture for the entire story. If there is a way I would love to know.
Sorry, this was only supposed to be a paragraph at the beginning of the chapter I was going to write but it got away from me and turned into this. So that chapter will now be chapter 3.
A little over three full weeks. That's how long it's been since the destruction of Mount Weather. That's how long it's been since anyone in Camp Jaha, now Arcadia, had seen or heard from Clarke. Those that knew where she had left to and why, were worried. Lincoln had told them that Polis was a 5 day walk from Arcadia. All of them were on edge, not knowing whether she made it or not.
Octavia had been right about her disappearance causing problems with the rest of camp. Especially Abby, who had met them the next morning at the gate looking for the daughter who had avoided her the previous day. Promptly blaming Bellamy when she couldn't find her. Correctly accusing him of setting up the memorial night as a cover. Incorrectly accusing him of setting it up as a cover just so she could slip out of camp, not know that Clarke had left camp hours before the party left for the Dropship. Knowing that Abby blaming Bellamy for Clarke's disappearance would bring even more suspicious gazes their way than just Clarke's disappearance would and that it was something that really couldn't happen Raven had nudged Harper and Monroe. The two were the closest to the cot she was being carried on until she healed enough to walk on her own again. Understanding her meaning they stepped forward, closer to Abby, saying that they had planned the memorial, they had just asked Bellamy to ask her because he was the one they thought would get her to allow it, that they hadn't even had a chance to invite Clarke, because they hadn't been able to find her.
Other than that first morning the month had gone pretty much how the Generals expected it to. Clarke's departure had sped up the Chancellor's mistrust of the remaining 100 and those that were now counted among them. They were all given jobs, Miller and some of the other boys even joined the guard with Bellamy. But every single one of them, no matter what their job, found that, like Bellamy that first day, the hours they were needed to work were about half as much as everyone else in camp. None of them really minded, the rest of the time they were free to wander around camp, though none of them strayed far from the little corner that Abby had let them sequester for themselves. It looked like it's own little tent village of kids just having fun tucked away in a back corner of camp. None but the people who lived in the little village knew how true yet utterly wrong that really was. Bellamy, Lincoln, Octavia, and Raven understood why Abby had made the decisions she had; by not allowing them to work more than 5 or 6 hours a day, unofficially, of course, she thought they had less of a chance to corrupt other people, she had idea that Clarke had told them to do the exact opposite. By giving them the little space to call theirs and set up their tents she hoped to make it easier to watch them. The four of them knew that the decisions were the opposite of the ones that Clarke would have made with a group of people under her leadership that she didn't completely trust. They didn't mind though, as it worked in their favor. They took the land, again unofficially, given to them by Abby and had everyone building tents around the perimeter, with a big open area in the middle to use how they wanted, to make sure they claimed it all and Abby couldn't take any back saying they weren't using it. They were able to fit 25 tents, the smallest just a little bigger than Bellamy's tent had been back at the Dropship. The biggest tent, the grandest, was different than the others, though not by much, not enough that someone who didn't know the difference, would see. It was the War Tent, Lincoln explained to them that every village had one, that while not in war they were used more as Town Halls. A place for Leaders and Generals to meet and work. It was the only tent with a large open room in the front and private sleeping quarters off in a back corner, being reserved for Clarke upon her return. The rest of the tents were open spaces with 3 beds and enough room for peoples clothes and person items. Most third beds went unused and some couples didn't even use the second bed but it would prove to be a good system in the future. Everyone insisted that the Generals have their own tents, the ones surrounding the War Tent. They protested but it was one fight they weren't going to win, especially when Miller looked pointedly in Lincoln and Octavia's direction and asked if that was how the Grounders would do it. In the end the only thing they would compromise on was letting Lincoln and Octavia share a tent, much to Bellamy's displeasure, and allowing Raven and Bellamy to have the tents on the opposite side of the War Tent traded with the smallest in the circle. Raven, with the help of Monty, made another of her secret gates in the fence directly beside the War Tent, this one controlled by a panel in a fence pole also in the cover of the War Tent. Both in the very back of the entire village hidden from view on all sides, because the land Abby gave them really did tuck into a corn of the fence. The only other things they could add to their village without drawing suspicion were a training area in the middle and large fire pits on either side.
They make do, making sure to keep up that publicly perceived balance that Clarke had stressed was so important. Going out in groups during meal times, or just to wander and mingle about camp for a few hours. Then coming back to learn from Lincoln about the new culture that was slowly mixing with and becoming theirs. Or to spar in the training area under the watchful eye of Octavia. To help Raven sort through bits and pieces she had managed to smuggle out of Engineering to see what she would be able to use. To ask Bellamy if they were needed the next day, as all four Generals sat down in the War Tent each night and decide whose turn it was to do what in the village the next day, like who would be on Jasper duty. The girls had all taken to wearing some sort of braids in their hair but in the spirit of balance that was as much as anyone but Lincoln or Octavia who had already taken to dressing in Grounder clothing could risk.
By the end of the third week the only language allowed to be spoken inside of the village, other than in the War Tent, was Trigedasleng. Lincoln and Octavia had decided that the best way for them all to learn the language at once was immersion, and Bellamy and Raven gave them the go ahead for all the teaching decisions. The first week it was dinner, once dinner was called you weren't allowed to use Gonasleng in the village. The second week it was lunch. The third week you weren't allowed to use it at all. They were corrected often, but all but Jasper, who refused to speak it, learned the new language very quickly. The only time it was acceptable to use Gonasleng in the village after the start of the third week was if an outsider from the camp entered, which had only happened twice since the first tent was built. The first time was near the end of the first week, they had finished the tents the day before and were working on building the fire pits so they would know how big of a training area they could have whey a boy who couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 wandered through the 10 foot gap between tents at the front of the village, attracted by all of the new buildings that had suddenly appeared seemingly out of thin air. Raven, on crutches, but healing fairly quickly thanks to a mixture of herbs that Lincoln knew of, took the boy back to his mother so the others could continue working. The second time was in the middle of the third week. As an older guard walked into the village and up to the nearest person he found all Trigedasleng conversations stopped. "I'm looking for my son, Nathan Miller." Even though it had only been a couple of days since Gonasleng had been spoken in village, hearing it there again was a shock to most. Luckily Octavia, the only General in the village at that moment, had been talking to a group of people outside of a tent near the village entrance and was able to answer him. "I just saw him a few minutes ago playing some game Monty and Jasper outside of their tent. I can take you, their tent's right next to mine so I was headed in that direction anyway." Allowing him further into the village, giving him a better view of the training area, and bring him so close to the War Tent made her uncomfortable. But Clarke had made it clear, they could only do so much at a time without drawing attention, and denying him access would definitely draw attention. She had just hoped and prayed that the people in the training area didn't have any of the actual weapons, scavenged from the Dropship, out and that the War Tent was not open at that moment. Luckily her prayers had been answered and the elder Miller had only stayed in the Village for a few minutes, just long enough to talk to his son about a change in his guard shift that afternoon. Miller had been the first one to join after Bellamy.