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"Quick, into the building with the cross on the door." Clarke said, pushing Lexa forward gently once she was sure the coast was clear. She pressed up against her back and heard the brunette exhale raggedly whilst Clarke fumbled to find the handle and let them through into the warmth of her home.
"Shit, shit, shit!" Clarke exclaimed as she slammed the door shut behind them, leaning heavily against the wood frame. "I have never been that close to getting caught before and with the biggest haul in years and well, with you! Crap that was intense." She pushed herself off the entrance to her home and stalked to the other side of the room where she kicked the worn rug aside from under the table and pulled up the trap door underneath depositing her sack of spoils.
Lexa watched with interest as the blonde put everything back the way it was before they came crashing into the cosy building. Clarke took two beaten tin bowls off one of the shelves and dipped them into the pot of still warm broth hanging from the tripod before moving to the table. The electricity must have come back on after she left. Not that the people on the outskirts ever got much of it. Electric was expensive and most of the power cables on this side of Arkadia were too chewed through to be useable anyway. Most made do with other methods and just used electricity for cooking, as fires weren't allowed inside the dome in case there was too much smoke.
Clarke gestured for Lexa to take a seat at the table and handed her a metal spoon as she slid the bowl over to where the brunette was lowering herself into the seat.
"You do eat stew where you come from right?" Clarke asked, raising her eyebrows at the newcomer opposite her. She was gifted with a small upturning at the corners of the brunette's mouth as she took a tentative sip of the homemade meal and crinkled her nose.
"I'm sorry Clarke, I was merely wondering what spices you use in your stew. It doesn't smell quite the same as what I'm used to, I didn't mean to offend." Lexa replied tentatively watching as the Blonde shovelled down her serving like she hadn't eaten for days and choked on a laugh.
"You mean that plasticky, slightly artificial tang coming from the bowl in front of you? Well, when you're a local around these parts you get used to it. Let's just say, practically all of the food that gets grown in Arcadia makes its way to the inner circle. That goes for wheat as well as fruit, veg and animal products we don't manage to hide. The thing you can smell is artificial thickener, used in pretty much all of the food around here to add substance and give us a few of the vitamins we are lacking. It was first used for patients recovering from
Illness in the hospitals inside the rim and then it was filtered down to us when the regulators realised it was better and cheaper to keep all the good stuff for themselves and just feed us on artificial nutrients even though it's not nearly enough of what we need to stay healthy.
Lexa looked at Clarke in shock before grimacing guiltily and forcing the food down her throat. She didn't want to waste what was clearly the staple of these strange people's diet.
"Your Heda and your elders clearly need to be re elected if they are treating your people like that. No leader should treat their people's needs so far below their own." Lexa exclaimed quietly, shocked at the selfishness of the Skaikru's ruler.
"My what now?" Clarke replied, puzzled at the terminology Lexa was using.
"Your Heda Clarke kom Skaikru, your Commander," she repeated.
"Ha, I don't know how they do it where you're from but we certainly did not elect the Chancellor here, not in these parts that's certain. The people on the inside don't give a rats ass about us out here, we pretty much fend for ourselves and the only ones that hold any power are the merchants, the scavengers and the medics. We do alright since my mom
Is the only doctor around so we got a property with two rooms in stead of one, so she has somewhere she can see her patients and we get a little more than average in our rations. My friends the Blakes live in a tiny shack and hardly get anything to live off. Their mother was killed because she dared to have a second child. Just one more casualty out in the slums."
"That's terrible Clarke, I'm
Sorry for their loss and for your suffering. Where I come from, nobody is without a home and we all help each other when food is scarce and importantly, we are all free. Or we were, until your people started kidnapping mine and never bringing them back." Lexa finished darkly, getting up to rinse her bowl in the metal wash basin with water from a bucket on the side.
She reached out to take Clarke's from in front of her and was stopped by a gentle hand on her arm as she stared back into crystal blue eyes.
"You mean your people are free to do whateveir they want, love whoever they want?" She whispered with such longing it made Lexa's insides clench. Though her life was hard, at least her people were free to make their own choices and were only punished if it was just. Lexa squeezed the blonde's hand gently and smiled at her.
"Yes Clarke, we are free to love whomever we choose, regardless of their age or gender but love still comes at a cost." Lexa starts, her face sad in memory. "I had someone once. Her name was Costia and she was mine."
Clarke's heart did a little flip at this news. Where Lexa was from, it was ok to like whoever you wanted no matter what gender they were. Here in Arkadia if you weren't married to someone of the opposite sex by the age of 30, you were assigned a partner and were expected to reproduce within 5 years. One more set of arms to grind the machines of the society and feed the rich whilst the poor are left to rot.
"What happened to her? To Costia I mean?" Clarke asked Lexa gently, regarding her face and reading her sorrow like an open book.
"She was taken from me." Lexa replied tersely, turning away in anger, her fists clenched.
"An enemy clan knew what she meant to me and their Queen ordered her killed as a message. They sent her head to me in a box."
Clarke recoiled horrified as Lexa shared her story. Murder was common in the slums but to send the head of your lover to you in a box out of spite! That was low even for their standards.
"What did you do to piss off a Queen Lexa?" Clarke asked in shock as the brunette seemed to come back to herself.
"I- I mean my Heda was trying to make peace between the clans so as one of her associates, the Ice Queen used me to send her a message." Lexa spoke in monotone, avoiding looking into The blonde's eyes afraid she would see something more there.
"And what happened after that?" She asked curious to hear the end of the story?
"The Heda gained peace and the enemy Queen still lives on. She put the needs of her people in front of her need for vengeance." Lexa stated calmly, meeting Clarke's gaze with a sad smile.
She turned and made her way back to her chair. Clarke noticed Lexa's expression alter in pain as she cradled her injured arm close to her body. She noticed the dark trail of blood seeping down her tattered sleeve through the bandage.
" I really need to take a look at that," She stated as she moved quickly over to the sink to grab a bowl of clean water from the bucket and a fresh wash cloth. Now wait right here while I get the first aid kit from the next room."
Lexa smirked faintly in amusement as her face turned to follow the other woman out of the door. Wait right here she said. Where on earth could Lexa go at this point? She had no idea where she was or what these strange people were capable of. Clarke however seemed one of the good ones. She had an inner glow that no amount of dirt or hardship seemed to be able to extinguish.
The girl in question walked back into the dimly lit space with a bag in hand and crouched down in front of Lexa. She took some cotton pads and some clean strips of cloth out of the pouch as well as a leather strap.
"What's that for?" Lexa asked staring at the last item in puzzlement.
" You'll find out soon don't you worry." Clarke replied whilst grabbing a bottle of clear spirit from the worn shelf as well as a sharp knife.
Lexa stayed stock still as Clarke cut away the sodden bandages from her skin and let them drop to the floor before picking up the bottle and pulling the cork out with her teeth. She passed the bottle to the brunette and gestured that she take a gulp before doing so herself. Lexa surprisingly remained stoic whilst Clarke spluttered at the acrid taste of the alcohol.
"Right, this is going to sting a bit Lexa so get ready to bite down." She stated quickly.
"Bite down on wha-?" Lexa didn't get to finish as Clark shoved the piece of leather in her mouth and poured spirit liberally over her wound, rinsing out all the debris and sterilising the open tissue. To her credit, Lexa didn't make a sound and all that gave away the Pain she was feeling was the single tear drop making tracks through the dirt on her cheek.
Clarke touched her face in sympathy before picking up the tweezers and turning back to her task. After pulling out two pieces of shrapnel embedded into Lexa's forearm and surveying the rest of the site, she nodded to herself and gave the site a final rinse before turning to Lexa solemnly.
"I'm not going to lie to you Lexa," Clarke started. "This next bit is going to be painful. The shrapnel missed hitting any main arteries but the wound needs stitching and we have no thread."
Lexa raised her eyebrow in a question, still holding the strip of leather in her mouth.
"Because I have nothing to stitch you up with I'm afraid we are going to have to burn it shut," Clarke finished, gesturing towards the poker leaning on the electro burner she had put on earlier. "Because we can't use a real fire I'm afraid it's not going to be as hot and I might have to seal it twice." She said, twisting her fingers in nervousness as she regarded her patient carefully.
Lexa simply closed her eyes tiredly and nodded her acquiescence as she listened to Clarke walk over to the fireplace and pick up her instrument, her stomach doing backflips. She absolutely wouldn't cry out in pain. She had been through much worse back home than a little hole in her arm. She gave a violent hiss as the poker came in contact with her flesh and the smell of burning meat filled her nostrils. She carried on exhaling heavily as she counted the long seconds, waiting for the poker to heat and seal her wound again.
She clenched fingers into her palms, her nails making little crescent shaped dents into her skin as Clarke pulled away the brand for the last time. Lexa whimpered in relief as she threw the leather strip down onto the table and and leant her head forward into her hands, rocking herself gently. Clarke moved towards her and placed her hands on Lexa's shoulders, squeezing firmly as the brunette seemed to come to herself. She lifted her head and regarded Clarke with lazy green eyes, sighing a thank you as she leant forward into the soft pillow of Clarke's torso.
The blonde held her breath at the contact before leaning into the embrace. The moment was shattered as the door to the other room opened once more and a glowing light filled the dim space.
"Clarke what is the meaning of all this?" Abigail Griffin asked, lamp in hand. "And who is this girl bleeding all over my wool rug?"
"Shit, " Clarke thought to herself. She was really in trouble now. She regarded her blood soaked hands in the light of the torch and gasped out loud.
The blood was black.