Chapter 3: Farm Station

Kyle Wick stared out across the river at Raven Reyes struggling to drag her bad leg across the stones that pebbled the ground. He willed his legs to stay still because she had made it quite clear that she didn't want his help. Which had him wondering why he had even bothered to come today. But when Bellamy asked if Raven wanted to go out with Monty and Jasper, she hadn't even hesitated. So he agreed to go along as well.

It shouldn't surprise him that she kept volunteering for stuff like this. In fact, it was one of the reasons he was inexplicably drawn to her. Even though Abby kept threatening to tell Sinclair to reduce her work load, Raven kept finding excuses to join Bellamy on whatever halfcocked search party he cooked up. Although, after Jasper's outburst last night at dinner, he had a feeling this particular excursion was Monty Green's idea. The kid was on his last straw of sanity and Jaha had been going on and on about how death was just another stage in the circle of life and it had all gone downhill from there.

Honestly, Wick couldn't believe it had taken four days for someone to throw a chair at Jaha. He had showed up with the 'floaters' and kept making mysterious comments about how he was going to bring all Arkadians into the City of Light. Wick hadn't voted for him to be Chancellor on the Ark and his current opinion had only worsened. And he wasn't the only one: Kane had only half-heartedly tried to stop Jasper's tirade last night and there had been some comments about how they wished the chair hadn't missed the ex-chancellor, because maybe that would shut him up.

Currently Jasper was sitting on the bank, eyes scrunched up from the sun, trying to sober himself up. Monty wasn't far away, gun in hand, staring at his friend. Wick didn't really know either kid that well and only had heard stories from Raven about how the two were before Mount Weather. He wished he would have known those boys- pre-Mount Weather Monty and Jasper sounded like people he would have enjoyed being around.

Bellamy walked up beside Wick and said, "You didn't have to come, you know. I always keep an eye on her."

"I know. And I trust you. Just wanted to get out..." Wick sighed. "Honestly, I thought maybe she'd talk to me or something."

"I wish she would. She doesn't say much to me either." The two men continued to stand in silence. Bellamy hadn't bothered to pretend this outing was anything more than getting Jasper out of camp, so they weren't mapping the land or collecting samples. Wick had to admit it was nice; just being out in nature. As an engineer in Arkadia, he spent most of his days within the confines of what was left of the Ark.

Then across the river, in the trees behind Monty, Jasper, and Raven, something moved. Bellamy saw it too, because he had swiftly pulled his gun up into position, scanning the tree line. Wick was frozen in place, his eyes glued to the oblivious Raven limping on the other side of the water from him. The other three had crossed a while back, but the water here was deeper. Wick was trying to judge how quickly he could get to her when Bellamy whispered, "Don't move."

Monty had seen Bellamy's action and had his own gun raised now, turning his back to Jasper to peer into the trees. Raven had finally frozen in place, grabbing her hand gun that was holstered to her side. Wick wasn't sure if she had just seen Bellamy and Monty or had heard something herself.

"They have to know we've seen them," Wick whispered to Bellamy. "Why aren't they attacking?"

"They're under orders to not interfere with us," answered Bellamy under his breath, but the muscles in his neck and jaw were tight and his focus never wavered. The seconds ticked by and it had almost been a full minute when there was a large commotion from the trees. Leaves crunched and branches broke and the muffled sound of voices could be heard.

"Let me go, that's my son!" A woman's voice rang out.

Monty dropped his rifle a bit, breath caught in his throat. "It can't be..."

"MONTY!" A figure covered in furs ran out onto the river bank. Bellamy had his weapon trained on the person as they ran toward Monty and Jasper. Wick struggled to remove his pistol from its holster on his hip. Raven had been teaching him to shoot, but there was no way he was going to be able to hit a running target. Bellamy would have to make every shot count, unless Monty got his gun up.

"Stop or I'll shoot!" Bellamy yelled, but the person kept going. Four more people stepped out from behind trees and Wick focused his pistol in their direction when he noticed they too had rifles. An odd observation since the Grounders refuse to pick up anything that shot bullets. But their clothes, the tattered old cloth draped over their shoulders, was definitely Grounder attire.

"Don't shoot!" screamed Monty, who dropped his rifle to the ground and started waving his hands at Bellamy. Jasper dove for the gun, but Monty stepped between him and the others. "Don't shoot!"

The person in the furs stopped running a few feet away from Monty and Jasper, gasping for air. The hood had fallen back and it was obvious that the person was a woman with black hair. Her arms were reaching out toward Monty.

"Mom?" Monty slowly closed the distance between him and the woman. "Is that really you?"

"My son, oh, my son," cried out Hannah Green as she wrapped her arms around her only son. Monty buried his head into her neck choking on his tears of joy.

Bellamy lowered his rifle and Wick, Raven, and Jasper followed his lead. The four people with Hannah approached with caution, but they too had lowered their guns to their sides. A tall man pulled away the cloth wrapped around his head to reveal the dark skin of his face.

"Identify yourselves!" shouted the man, glancing between the loving embrace of mother and son and the very tense Bellamy and Wick across the river.

"I'm Bellamy Blake of Arkadia."

"Well, I'll be damned," muttered the man before grinning from ear to ear. "Surely you recognize an old teacher, Blake."

Bellamy blinked and stepped closer to the water to make out the man's face from across the water. "Pike?"

Charles Pike grinned ear to ear. He reached out to grab the shoulder of one of his companions in glee. "So at least some of the hundred sent here made it. Anyone else?"

"Alpha station landed not too far from here," answered Raven. Bellamy and Wick were wading through the knee high water to join the rest of the people on the other side.

"Kane and Dr. Griffin were on Alpha station, right?" asked Pike as he grabbed Bellamy's hand to help him out of the water.

"Yeah. And it's Chancellor Griffin right now." Bellamy cast a sideways glance at Monty and his mother, who was now hugging a disgruntled Jasper. "Have you found any of the other stations? How many people survived the fall to Earth?"

Pike looked sympathetically in Hannah's direction. "We didn't have any casualties when we landed. But it's been a rough couple of weeks."

"Grounders?"

"They've taken out over half of the people we landed with. But we're learning and we're avenging them. Isn't that right?" Pike glanced at the three people behind him, a woman and two men.

"Hoo-rah!" they all called in unison, including Monty's mother. Monty shifted uncomfortably under his mother's arm and Raven's eyebrows raised in surprise. It took Wick a moment to find Jasper again- the boy had sat back down on the rocks and raised his fist in a mocking manner. Wick quickly glanced back at Bellamy to gauge his reaction, but the other young man was stone faced as usual.

"Well, then I'm bringing you good news. We have a truce with the Grounders, so there shouldn't be any more problems."

"Tell that to the Ice Nation," spat a lanky blonde haired man behind Pike.

"Is Dad...is Dad still alive?" asked Monty tentatively.

Hannah's eyes turned down in sorrow and she pressed a chaste kiss to her son's forehead. "I'm so sorry..."

"He died a hero," stated Pike proudly and the others nodded in agreement. "You'd be proud of him, son."

"He tried so hard to find you," murmured Hannah and she brushed Monty's black hair out of his face. "He knew you were still alive."

Bellamy turned his attention from Monty's look of devastation to Pike. "We can give you the coordinates and the rest of Farm Station can join us in Arkadia. We can offer you more protection."

"Sounds like a plan." Pike motioned for two of his men to come closer. Wick handed over his data pad to one of them and pointed out the location of Arkadia. After a few handshakes and more smiles, the two departed to bring Farm Station the good news.

Bellamy grabbed his backpack and started walking down the river with the others close behind. Turning to Pike he said, "I have one more stop to make before we head to Arkadia. There's a trading post about a mile from here. Then we'll head back."

It was the third grounder establishment they would go to today. They had first approached Lincoln's old village this morning and then a small farm about two miles up the river. In every instance, the same thing would happen: Bellamy would go unarmed and alone to deliver a message: "If you see Clarke, tell her to come home. Her father is alive."

It didn't take the group very long to reach the little hut in the middle of the forest. Bellamy told the others to hold up about thirty yards away from the front of the cabin. Pike obviously didn't approve of Bellamy handing his rifle to Wick and walking into the cabin alone, but he didn't say anything. There was smoke coming from the chimney, but there didn't seem to be any grounders around except for whoever owned the place.

Bellamy pushed through the door with his hands raised in a defensive position in front of his chest. A tall, thin, blonde woman came from the back when he entered. She kept a hand on the knife that was holstered on her hip and waited for him to speak.

Without moving, Bellamy calmly said, "I'm looking for a girl, a gada: Klark com Skaikru. If you see her, tell her to come back to Arkadia- tell her to miya hou. Her father, em nontu, is alive. Em nontu…kikon. Mochof." Nodding his thanks in the woman's direction, Bellamy took leave of the trading post.

The blonde woman never moved from the spot where she had come to greet the stranger. Her hand relaxed away from her knife and she glanced over her shoulder. "He's gone."

"He wouldn't have come alone," came a voice from the back room. The woman nodded and walked swiftly to the door to peer outside. She watched as Bellamy and the others walked away into the forest. The seconds ticked by and after making sure they had all left, she walked back into the cabin.

"They're gone, Clarke." Clarke Griffin slowly crept out from the back room. Her hair had been died dark with berries she had found. Niylah watched the Skiakru girl nervously shift from foot to foot. "He's your friend?"

"His name is Bellamy. We…" Clarke stopped talking, her mind lost in the memory of the last time she had seen him two weeks ago. He had looked so dejected and confused when she had left him at the gates of Camp Jaha. For days, she had battled with the guilt of leaving him and the others behind. Bellamy had been there when she needed him; they had been a team. "We were friends…he was there with me in Mount Weather."

"He helped defeat the Maunon?"

"Yes," replied Clarke softly.

Niylah watched her curiously. The two had never talked much. At first, Clarke just brought in her kills and only dealt with Niylah's father. He wasn't so sure about the Skiakru leader, but Clarke never caused trouble. Even after Clarke began avoiding her father and only coming when Niylah alone to trade good, they didn't speak much. Niylah assumed that was because Clarke's Trigedasleng was lacking and she had no idea if Niylah spoke gonasleng.

And now things were more physical in nature. Clarke didn't want to talk and Niylah didn't push her. The Skaikru girl was more interested in using her lips and tongue for activities other than talking and Niylah wasn't complaining. When Clarke did talk, she asked Niylah simple questions about her tattoos or how to best cook her kills.

"You should go see your father." Niylah didn't wish to get involved in Clarke's affairs, but she also didn't want to be an excuse for Clarke not to see her family.

Clarke's jawline tensed and a shadow came over her face. "My father is dead."

"Your Bellamy said he was alive…"

"You don't understand. My father was floated on the Ark over a year ago," argued Clarke. Niylah tilted her head to the side in confusion and Clarke immediately added, "Floating is how we executed people on the Ark. They were released into space to die. You can't survive that. I watched them float my dad. I don't know why Bellamy said that."

Niylah took a seat behind the counter and started sorting some trinkets. With a shrug she asked, "Don't you want to find out?"

"I'm not ready to go back." Clarke's statement was final.

With a sigh, Niylah nodded her understanding, but added a soft comment as Clarke went into the back room. "I just know that if there was even the smallest chance my mother was still alive, I would do anything to see her again."

Gada: girl

Klark com Skaikru: Clarke of the Sky People

Miya hou: come home

Em nontu: her father

Kikon: living/alive

Mochof: Thank you.

Maunon: Mountain Men