A/N: Some people complain about the (absence of) clexa. Yes, this is a clexa fic, but it's not just about the relationship between Clarke and Lexa. Originally it was going to be way shorter and Clarke and Lexa were going to meet way sooner, but then the show completely disappointed me. So I decided to give the story more life, a longer life, I decided I wanted to explore the clans' reality, I wanted to focus on the beautiful world they offered us, the one they didn't give enough space to (in my humble opinion of course). That's why Clarke and Lexa still haven't met. I'm going to bring the Ice Queen storyline to a resolution before introducing the clexa relationship. The show killed off the Queen pretty damn quickly, it was pathetic. I want to give the Ice Nation a story, a life, a voice, so the clexa part will come later. But it will come. If you're not interested in the clans of "The 100"'s world, just take a break and only read the A/N in every chapter, I will warn you when the clexa reunion happens.

And about Lexa's space in this fic, you're right, there's too little of her... problem is: this fic is already long and slow and the really important and interesting things happen in the Ice Nation with Clarke, where the new characters are, so if I were to describe in details Lexa's moves, how she leads the army, how she dealt with the other leaders, etc., it would come out even longer and slower... Sorry guys, I do wish I'll be able to give her more and more space in time, but this first part of the story is about the Ice Nation... our Commander will come though (you're free to read that as you wish).

I mostly use the italic for sentences written in English but meant to be in another language, be it Trigedasleng or Italian. And if there are no " " it's someone's thoughts.

Also... I'm looking for a beta to go over the story and help me with a few points and to get new ideas, so if you want to help me, contact me on tumblr my username is justawordunsaid or on twitter Sara_NobodyO

If you like it, please leave a review! Enjoy!


Chapter Twenty-Two: New assets

They found soldiers at the borders, they took care of them quite easily, but they noticed the soldiers weren't mere guards left to protect villages, they met two troupes that were meant to stop any attempt at invasion when the war started. They were surprised to see the Commander leading so many warriors, but prepared; what they didn't expect were the Sky People's weapons. They died before they could even think of sending a message to warn their Queen or ask for help.

Bellamy led his shooters well and Lexa was fierce at the head of her army, the soldiers had no chances whatsoever.

They travelled some further after that and now they're settling down for the night near a deserted village. As the warriors prepare the camp for the night and Indra organizes the turns for patrols and guards, Lexa looks out into the cold, unfamiliar forest.

They still have a long way ahead of them, but she feels a burst of confidence after the encounter with the soldiers, the Queen doesn't seem to be expecting an attack before the beginning of the war, she's probably sure of her victory already and doesn't suspect such a move from Lexa. She expects the Commander to be with her main army, ready to lead the defence with her generals, she surely never considered the possibility of Lexa attacking first, not Lexa the peace maker.

What Lexa can't understand, anyway, are the few little villages they met: they were deserted, they didn't see anyone in them, but they also looked destroyed. She can guess the people left to get as far from the borders as they could in time of war, it's normal, her people should be doing the same right now, but why would the villages be destroyed? It didn't make sense, there hasn't been any previous attack from the Trikru so it can't have been an attempt at invasion. The only explanation she can imagine is that the soldiers caused all the destruction. Knowing the Queen it wouldn't be that much of a surprise to find out her men tore apart villages of their own clan, but it still sounds too stupid to believe. Unless that were how the Queen kept power, by forcing the people into submission with violence and fear. That makes sense too and Lexa feels more rage building up inside her.

If that is how things are in Ice, it means that she let it happen, she was the leader of the Coalition, but she let these people be abused by their own Queen. She's always known the Queen to be cruel, she knew she had to be the same with her own people, but seeing those villages so utterly and poorly destroyed makes her wonder how much cruel she is with her people, she makes her wonder if maybe the Queen isn't even worse with her own people than how she is with the other clans.

If that is the case, maybe she can do more than save Clarke and win a war, maybe she can also save those people, and perhaps she can forge a new alliance with the Ice Nation.

But for now she lets her thoughts drift back to the blonde she came here for and she desperately hopes that Clarke is still alive.


Kyra's group is the first to leave next morning. Everyone recommends them to be extremely careful and wishes them luck with the mission only a few actually know about. What they told the rebels, having to justify Ethan and James' absence, is that their group is going to look for support from some important former allies of King Kyr, they say it was James' idea and no one questioned them. But then, no one would probably question Liri even if she said they were off looking for strawberries in the frozen lands.

Clarke reassures Kyra when the princess looks hesitant and Nyx promises her she can handle it. Malaya has given her new weapons and Liri even comes to hug the girl before she leaves.

The second party to leave is Liri's, they planned that Liri would be the first to arrive and her job was to keep a close eye on the capital, she would then move, once the others got there, to the north side of Ice and set camp there, so that she could easily intercept Ethan's messages before anyone could get them and then inform Nyx of the news.

Wit stays behind to organize messengers to send to the groups of rebels that won't go to the capital, but stay far enough to defend the villages that could be attacked in case the army were informed of the attack to Ice. Those who stay behind are less than the ones who are going to attack the capital and would have no chance against an army, it would probably be suicide, but they would be able to give the people time to get to safety and earn some time so that the other rebels could get there to help. It's probably the best and worst task of all, it could be completely harmless, or absolutely lethal. They already have a leader for those rebels, Hatan from Silenzio, a fair fighter and a good, smart man.

Chayim leaves after Liri with his own group. Next are Vera and Euler, leaders of Sorgente, splitting in two parties. Nyx, Clarke, Malaya, Goral, Aeryn, Faith and Xavier leave together, Malaya and Goral will go separate ways once they reach Ice, they're the largest group, but their way should be safe and the high number shouldn't be too much of a risk. Meike, Danae, Adam and Raoul follow in two different parties. After them Wit sends out small groups of rebels, designating a sort of headman for each of them. Wit leaves last with his group, heading to the south of Ice, they'll have to avoid the army and that's why he opted to take the small other groups directed to the south side with him, they make a big party, which could be a hazard, but they will split as soon as they've passed the army.

... ... . ... ...

The horses keep a slow pace because of the carts full of supplies they have with them, everyone in their big party has a horse, they didn't have horses for every rebel, so they decided the bigger groups that have to reach the capital as soon as possible should take them, they will then leave the horses at the villages where the smaller groups are to set camp, far enough from Ice to be safe, so that the rebels who aren't going to be immediately close to the city will be able to ride and get there faster when the attack begins.

As Clarke takes in the faces of her friends and the people following them, she feels a thrill run down her spine. She's marching to war again and, surprisingly, she feels strong at her friends' side, she's not alone this time and she's starting to hope she won't have to be truly alone again.

Faith rides at her side, excitement written all over her face, as well as concern and some kind of anxiety. She nods at Clarke and gives a small smile, trying to mask her enthusiasm and worry, Clarke notices them anyway and she gives the younger girl a warm smile of reassurance.

Nyx is riding ahead with Malaya and Aeryn is behind with Xavier, Clarke twists a little to look back at Aeryn and the girl sends a smile her way before returning her attention to the boy, Clarke smiles to herself and turns to look ahead again. The night before, when pretty much everyone in their group had disappeared somewhere with somebody – Malaya had, Chayim and Wit had, Xavier, Goral, Rokh, Jivin, Maike, they all had, Faith probably had, but Clarke couldn't be sure, maybe the girl just went to collapse on a bed –, Nyx was quiet sitting by the fire opposite to them, Liri had went somewhere they didn't know about, Clarke tried to talk to Aeryn about the kiss, but the light blonde girl didn't let her say anything, telling her they would talk after the battle, after the Queen's death, after they get their Nation back. Clarke is grateful for the time Aeryn gives her, because she still doesn't know what to tell her.

A part of her wants to give herself a chance with Aeryn, another part still hasn't forgotten about Lexa, even if the blonde continuously pushes the thought of the Commander in the furthest corner of her mind. If they win, when they win, they'll probably have to make new alliances with the other clans, the Queen is at war with the south, they'll have to offer peace, and that means having to deal with Lexa. Of course, Clarke could simply let Nyx handle it, she could stay behind and start a home with Aeryn, but she can't avoid everyone forever.

Her mother will find out eventually that she had a part in the Ice rebellion, she will find out where Clarke is, and Clarke has no doubt Abby will come looking for her. She won't be able to avoid the family she left behind forever. She could still try to avoid Lexa, but the past will come back sooner or later. She wonders if Aeryn could be enough to keep her safe when it all crushes back on her. A part of her yells for her to believe that she can, the more rational part tells her she won't be able to completely and properly heal until she solves things with Lexa, until she gets a closure.

She wants to believe the brunette with war paint always on doesn't have anything to do with her closure, she wants to believe she can find peace without ever seeing Lexa again. But green eyes that still visit her at night tell a different story.

Clarke pushes the thoughts away, taking Aeryn's suggestion to leave all of that for when the battle is won and concentrate on the fight for now. That is something she can manage.

She comes back to reality and lets Goral's stories distract her. He's telling Faith about some girl he met when he was a teenager. She was his first girlfriend and he had such a huge crush on her that he never saw the cheating coming. Apparently she eventually cheated on him with another girl, some years older than them, and he lightly tells them that the same older girl is riding somewhere behind them. She also tells them that the girl ended up becoming his best friend.

"How?" Faith gasps out while laughing softly. "Someone who stole my girl would never become my best friend."

He lets out a deep and low laugh, "Yeah well, she did. She's awesome and she saved my life during a hunt, it was still one of my first hunts, I was fifteen, it was a year after the cheating thing, and she totally saved my ass."

"Was she still with your crush?"

He shakes his head and chuckles, "My crush turned out to be a less than wonderful person and cheated on her as well. I have no idea where she is now, I know she left the village with her father few years later."

Faith nods "I guess it makes sense that you two became best friends then".

He shakes his head again "Why, 'cause we're fair? She kept stealing my crushes anyway."

"Hey, you talking about me?" someone comes up behind them and they turn to see a beautiful girl, tall with mahogany hair and warm brown eyes.

She smiles at Goral and mocks him "Not my fault you're a desperate case when it comes to girls, my friend."

He laughs and waves her off while Clarke chuckles and leans in toward Goral to whisper playfully "Well, I can see why girls picked her over you. She's quite the catch."

Faith laughs loudly at Goral's fake hurt expression and the other girl chuckles to, winking jokingly at Clarke.

Clarke shrugs at him "Sorry mate".

Faith keeps laughing and Goral allows an amused smile to escape and betray the hurtful façade.

"I'm Kora by the way." She smiles at Clarke and the blonde smiles back.

"Faith", the redhead jumps in, "and that's Clarke, yep, the one who destr-"

"She knows who Clarke is." Goral interrupts her.

"So there's no need to call you Daire anymore?" Kora asks, keeping her eyes trained on Clarke.

The blonde shrugs, "I highly doubt anyone could hear us right now who doesn't know yet."

Kora chuckles and agrees. She then spends the next half an hour chatting with Clarke, glaring at Goral every time he interrupts them. Faith asks for more stories from the boy and they all fall back into conversation.


They hear the noise before they see anything, Lexa's trained ears immediately recognise it as belonging to a fight, everybody soon catching up with her.

They could probably avoid it without problems, but the sound of swords clashing against one another is coming from a village near by and Lexa can't help but wonder back to those thoughts that came to her when they passed the deserted villages. She needs to know what's going on, so she stops everyone and decides to take a small party of warriors towards the village.

She doesn't allow any of the Sky People to join and only Octavia is stubborn enough to want to go. She remembers how Indra had seen a promising warrior in the girl and lets her come claiming that way the Sky People would have one of their own in the group to see for themselves. The girl's brother, Bellamy she reminds herself, protests, but the small brunette doesn't let him hold her back. Eventually Abby intervenes to make Bellamy back down and they can leave without further objections.

The scenario that greets them is that of armed men wearing the Ice Nation uniform attacking their own people. Lexa watches as the habitants of the village fight and hold their own against the trained soldiers, rage fills her at thinking that this could be going on since long before the break of the Coalition, fury makes its way in her mind as she realises she let this happen, never making sure the Queen was treating her people fairly.

She was the Commander of the Coalition, she brought the clans together to give them peace, she even offered protection from tyrants at times, when a whole clan asked for her help, yet she never knew about this. The Queen has been mistreating her people all this time and she just went along with what everybody thought: every Ice person was simply like that, cruel, ruthless, unworthy of mercy.

After Costia's death it had been difficult enough to seal a peace with them, and hating them had been easier than asking herself questions. She knew the Ice people couldn't all just be bad, she knew how different that clan's reputation had been when Kyr was King, and yet she felt safer hating them.

Now she feels disgusted by herself, always being one to feel responsible for everybody. But she can do something for that village and she's not going to ignore anything any more. So she throws herself into the battle, confident with her warriors right behind her and Indra at her side.

She makes sure she delivers death to every single soldier that meets her sword.

The fight is soon and easily won and they're left to face the Ice people they just helped, who are looking at them with suspicious eyes and still haven't lowered their weapons. Lexa takes a step forward to stand beside a body on the ground.

"Ai laik Leksa kom Trikru."

"We know who you are. Trikru warriors, you are at war with the Queen, you come to conquer our lands." a boy, covered in blood, speaks, his sword pointing at Lexa's men.

"You are right, I'm here for the Queen, but not for your lands. Why were soldiers of your own Nation attacking you?"

As the boy is going to speak again, some girl beats him to it. "You wouldn't know, all your people think of us is that we're cruel savages. The Queen's men have been beating us, destroying our homes, killing our families since she took power."

Lexa clenches her jaw at the Ice girl words, but before the girl can say more, someone steps up from the small crow. He's a tall young man, his hair reaches below large shoulders and his brown eyes are trained on Lexa.

"We are more than what your people learned to think of us from the Queen's men they've met. We have fought her soldiers for years, but this is still our clan and I warn you, Heda kom Trikru, my people will be ready to fight you as we fight her if you're here to take our lands and win your war." his voice is calm and kind, but still clear and sure, final.

"I never knew about how the Queen treats her own people, and I apologise for my people's assumptions about you. You are right, you are more than what the Queen's men showed us. Believe me when I say I'm not here for your lands. My only enemy among you is your Queen and her soldiers. I can give you your clan back." Lexa speaks loud and clear, she looks strong and confident as she promises to take care of every man who follows the Queen, who fights for her. But she's met with huffs from the Ice people.

Hatan gives a small smile. "We don't need your warriors invading our lands. You have a reputation of being a fair Commander, but that's not a good enough reason for us to trust you."

Lexa is surprised and somewhat offended by the few chuckles she hears from the people in front of her. She expected them not to trust her at first, but no one has ever laughed at her after witnessing her warriors fight.

"What I offer you is the possibility to be at peace after this war. I will kill your Queen, what comes after will be up to you, I do not desire to be at war with your people."

"She is not our Queen" his voice is full of resentment and anger when he speaks. "You think you can beat her on her own lands?"

Lexa's affirmation is sure and Hatan nods.

"Let us speak then". He guides her to a small house and she nods to Indra to let her know to stay behind.

She's pleasantly surprised when the two of them are the only ones in the room.

Hatan doesn't tell Lexa about the rebellion, he does however eventually tell her about the rebels, though he keeps the informations very general. He believes her and thinks they can trust her, but he's not going to be any less careful about it. It makes sense that she's here for the Queen, and he's already making a plan.

He can't reveal anything to her but he's supposed to lead the rebels who are going to keep an eye on the Queen's army, and wouldn't it be better if they could take all the soldiers out?

He tells her he can guide her to the army, she assures him they can handle it and he tells his rebels the new plan. He sends messengers to the other groups, telling them to follow the men he's sending them, telling them to stay behind and only intervene if he sends for them, telling them to take care of the people. He sends orders that some of the groups are stationed in villages near the army, just in case they needed help anyway. Then, hoping his trust is well placed, he gathers his rebels and follow Lexa back to her small army.

When he sees that the trikru Commander hasn't lied about the Sky People being with them, he feels more hope fill him. He knows the Sky People are the original family of the very woman who helped start all of this, he thinks that's assurance enough that this army won't attack his people, not when the Sky People know their princess is among the Ice rebels, and they will know sooner or later.

Between Heda's word and the presence of Clarke's people, he feels almost certain of his decision.

He marches at the Commander's side and leads an unexpected army to the oblivious warriors that wait not too far from the capital.


Kora flirts with Clarke more and more, they set camp for the night and the girl still shows up at times to drop a comment, a flirt, to start a short conversation, to help Clarke with the tent. She's playful and Clarke doesn't mind her too much, but someone could.

As they eat around a small fire, Faith begs Goral to tell them how his last love conquest went, having heard funny stories about the previous ones and hoping to have some more fun.

"Actually, the last one went pretty amazingly, we're together now, she's at the safe camp. I cooked her dinner for our first date and she loved it. I didn't mess anything up and I made her laugh during the meal, then she suggested we took a walk under the stars and-"

"How romantic" Kora coos.

"Ah, shut up, you. The last time you tried to cook for a girl-"

The brunette shoves her hand over his mouth and he laughs, pushing it away. "What, you don't want them to know you almost burned up a house?"

Faith starts laughing, "You did?"

Kora grumbles something and shoves a laughing Goral lightly, not moving the bear men of an inch. "At least I didn't push her into a lake" she retaliates.

Goral stops laughing immediately and protests "It was an accident!"

Faith is quite enjoying herself and Clarke chuckles at her side.

"Sure it was. I don't need to push girls into lakes to make them wet though" as she talks she leans a bit toward Clarke and winks at her. "I never have problems doing that myself".

Before Clarke can even laugh off the ridiculous flirt, Aeryn speaks up, coming to sit between Kora and Clarke, forcing the two apart. "You may have never pushed a girl into a lake, but you sure got pushed into one."

Goral and Faith gasp out a "What?" at the same time and Aeryn chuckles.

"Don't. Say. It." Kora warns, her cheeks already starting to colour.

But Aeryn gives her an evil smile and reveals "She got pushed into a lake after trying to flirt with the wrong person."

"How do you even know that?" Kora pouts.

"Well, Malaya is a friend and she has more sense of humour than people think".

Faith is gone then, choking on her laughter, Goral has his head thrown back, his body shaking as he laughs hard, Nyx, who has been listening, shakes her head chuckling at the girl's mistake, Xavier and Rokh are laughing too from the other side of the fire and Clarke can't help but chuckle loudly. Kora looks like she could die of shame.

"You used your dumb flirting on Malaya?" Goral mocks and laughs harder.

Kora is red from the embarrassment, she keeps her head low and Goral elbows her softly.

"Come on, you always laugh at me, why can't we laugh at you?"

She glares at him and completely avoids Clarke's eyes.

"Well, it does look unwise to flirt with Malaya" Clarke interjects gently.

"Yeah, I learned the lesson" she grumbles from behind her hands.

Everybody starts laughing again and Aeryn leans in to whisper something in Clarke's ear while nobody can hear with all the noise they're making. "Sweet revenge."

Clarke looks at her with wide eyes and sees the playful light in Aeryn's gaze. "What?", she whispers back. Aeryn smiles, "She flirted with you long enough, don't you think?"

Clarke is left with her mouth open for a while, before she starts laughing and says "Never pictured you as the jealous type." Aeryn simply shrugs and grins making Clarke laugh harder.