"Lincoln, what are you doing here?" Clarke asked once she had helped the man to his feet. "If you're caught, you'll be killed."

"It's a long story," Lincoln replied.

"You'll need to relinquish your weapons in here, Linkon," Baldur said as they crossed the threshold and placed their blades against the wall. Lincoln nodded and acquiesced, divesting himself of the bow and knives on his person as he was led towards one of the fires. His eyes widened when he saw Juno lumber over and his every muscle stiffened as she leaned down to start sniffing him.

"It's okay, Juno," Clarke said quietly. "He's my friend."

Juno huffed and bumped Clarke with her head, letting her annoyance at being constantly woken up be known before loping back over to the fire while Lincoln dropped to his knees.

"Trimani Nomon," he muttered reverently. "What is she doing here?"

"I met her in the forest on my way here," Clarke explained. "We kind of saved each other."

Lincoln stared at Clarke as if seeing her for the first time as she went to sit against Juno's side.

"So, this is where you have been since Mount Weather?" Lincoln asked tentatively as he moved to join her. All around the warehouse, he saw familiar faces from his time trapped in the madness of the Mountain Men's control, and his heart swelled at the way many of them smiled and greeted him like an old friend despite his well-known reputation for being a traitor.

"It is," Clarke replied quietly. "I needed a fresh start, away from all the memories of what I had done since arriving on the ground. I met Baldur on my first day here, and his people took me in."

"More like you took us in," Taiga commented as she walked over to embrace Lincoln. "It's good to see you, Brother."

Lincoln smiled and returned the gesture before turning back to Clarke.

"Fisa Klark helped us with recovering from the trauma of our past," Baldur explained. "We were barely surviving before she found me. Heda pardoned our actions while under the influence of the Maunon, but no one would trust us. None of the trades would take us, and we were denied rejoining the hunters and warriors. Fisa Klark healed our souls along with our bodies. She and Trimani Nomon gave us hope."

"How do you survive?" Lincoln asked.

Baldur looked down in shame and Clarke smiled grabbing his hand as she replied. "While I work around the city as a healer, Baldur and the others steal what they can. Usually that just means hunting near the city without permission, but there are times where we get the tools to make things for trading, at which point Taiga's brother takes them to the market and gets us things we need."

Clarke's heart swelled when Lincoln's eyebrows raised yet there was no trace of judgement in his expression. "Evading the Polis guards can't be an easy thing," he said evenly.

"It helps that Echo here lets me know which places Baldur and the others should avoid," Clarke replied, smiling at her surrogate sister.

"I owe you as much of a life-debt as I do Heda," Echo explained with a shrug. "Also, Titus's constant disapproval of everything you and she do grates on my nerves. I have no issue with causing him headaches when he receives reports of his guards being constantly evaded."

"It also helps that Fisa Klark has vouched for us all," Taiga added. "Though we disapprove, her accepting the blood-price for our crimes is a good motivator to not get caught."

Clarke rolled her eyes to hide her embarrassment, before fixing her gaze back on Lincoln. "You still haven't told us why you're here, Lincoln, and not with the Skaikru."

"Much has changed since you left, Clarke," Lincoln replied with a weary sigh. "After those within the mountain had been looked after, the Chancellor began organizing expeditions to search for the other pieces of your Ark that fell from the sky. On one of those missions, survivors from your Farm Station were found, led by a man named Pike."

"Mister Pike made it to the ground?" Clarke asked happily.

"You know of him?"

Clarke nodded. "Yeah. He was a teacher on the Ark. Everything I knew about how to survive on the ground when we first landed came from him."

"Unfortunately, I don't think he is the man you remember," Lincoln said with a weary sigh. "When Pike and his people landed, they found themselves almost directly in the middle of Azgeda territory."

All those listening cringed. They didn't need further explanation to know that Pike and his people had probably been fighting for their lives from the minute they landed. And without the benefit of a common enemy giving them the first step towards a peaceful understanding with the Grounders.

Not that the Ice Nation is likely to be very receptive of anything other than war, Clarke thought to herself.

"By the time they joined us in Arkadia, they were convinced that everyone was as bad as Azgeda. Within a couple weeks, he convinced your mother and several others of the same thing, and that it was a good idea to colonize Mount Weather. A few protested this, but they didn't listen. I became an outlet for their hate, and it escalated to the point where Octavia and I, along with a few others whose minds I had apparently poisoned had to escape or face execution. I had heard telling that there were other former ripas living in Polis, and I figured if anyone would talk to us without killing me on sight, it would be them."

"Who else is with you?" Clarke asked.

"Raven, a man named Sinclair, Monty, Miller, and Marcus Kane."

Clarke said nothing for several moments, thinking over the situation as she ran through her knowledge of Grounder laws and customs. Eventually, she sighed and looked Lincoln in the eye. "Can you take me to them? I don't want to make any decisions without their knowledge."

Lincoln nodded, visibly sagging in relief. He smiled when a tall woman with a shaved head and an angular face grabbed his shoulder. Isole was among the largest and strongest of the former reapers, though beneath the warrior persona, Clarke knew she was one of the kindest and gentlest of her new family. "Worry not, Brother. We will protect you."

"We should leave now," Clarke said, pushing herself to her feet. "It will be easier to sneak out in the cover of night." She grinned when Juno huffed once more before joining her. "I know," she whispered in her companion's ear. "I'll make sure you get a nice big fish and nap when we're done, though, alright?" Juno rumbled happily and bumped her head against Clarke's, making her smiled as she scratched behind her ear.

Baldur, Taiga, Isole, and Echo joined her, grabbing weapons on their way out the door and returning Lincoln's to him as well, though she noticed that he had stopped and was staring at the words Clarke had carved above the door not long after arriving in Polis.

"Omnes homines sunt," he muttered. "What does it mean?"

"It means 'All are human'," Clarke explained as they stepped outside. "It reminds me that everyone, regardless of clan or station, is human, and deserves help, while reminding those who come to me for healing that I don't tolerate posturing and chest puffing while inside my home. People come to me for healing, not to be berated for being weak."

"It's amazing that you haven't been executed yet," Lincoln muttered as they approached the forest.

"Not a lot of people are willing to execute the person walking around with the matron spirit of the Commander's former clan," Clarke explained. "So long as Juno is by my side, and my friends and I don't commit any serious crimes, then I'm free to live how I see fit."

Baldur, Taiga, and Isole all melted into the shadows as they walked in silence for hours. Lincoln led the way east, curling around the lake just outside of Polis before turning north. By the time they reached the remains of a large staircase leading underground and covered with overgrowth, the sky overhead had started to turn a pale grey as the morning sun approached.

Confident that her friends were watching her back, Clarke swallowed down her nerves and followed Lincoln down the stairs, being mindful of where she stepped as they immersed themselves in almost complete darkness. Eventually, they reached the bottom, and Clarke could see the remains of a fire glowing in the distance.

"Lincoln!" She heard a familiar voice call out as they approached the embers and Octavia appeared from the shadows and tackled him in a passionate hug. "You're back," she murmured, sagging in relief as she kissed him slowly.

"Did you manage to find your friends?" Another voice asked, and Clarke choked back a sob as Kane, Monty, and Miller joined them, with Raven not far behind as she leaned against Sinclair.

"Even better," Lincoln replied, turning back to her. Clarke took a deep breath and stepped forward into the dying light. She watched as the others gasped but didn't get a chance to say anything before Octavia cracked her fist against her jaw as hard as she could.

"You bitch!" Octavia screamed. "You've been gone months, and, all this time, you've been living with them?!"

"Octavia, I can explain –"

"Explain what?!" With each word, Octavia approached her, fists flying, while her voice rose, echoing harshly off the walls of the tunnel. "How you abandoned us?" Clarke ducked another swing and glided behind her, trying to avoid her wrath. "How you ran away when we needed you most?"

Clarke flinched at the accusation, and wasn't fast enough to stop Octavia sweeping her to the ground. Her back hit the ground with a thud, and she yelped slightly as she pulled at the wound on her side. The noise had barely passed her lips when the shadows seemed to melt together and Juno knocked her down, pinning her before she could blink. Her eyes widened as she looked into the snarling face of a bear larger than any animal she had seen since taking that first leap off the dropship. Chancing a glance away from the monstrous teeth at her throat, she swallowed nervously at the paw the size of her chest pinning her to the ground like a furry tree trunk, while claws bigger than most knives rested dangerously close to her heart. Her attention was brought back to a pair of glowing blue eyes, burning with righteous fury as the titanic beast growled threateningly, causing the entire room to freeze.

"Juno, no!" Clarke yelled as she hurried to her feet. "She's my friend."

Juno turned a disbelieving eye to her, but relented nonetheless, releasing the foolish girl as she walked over to inspect her cub for injury. Nuzzling her hair as she wrapped her arms around her mighty protector's neck.

"Mochof, Nomon," Clarke whispered in the bear's ear. "I know you were just trying to protect me."

The others watched, awestruck, as Clarke interacted with what might have been the single most dangerous creature they had yet to encounter on the ground as if they really were mother and child. Juno grunted and removed her paw from Octavia's chest as she gave her cub a sloppy lick on the cheek before lumbering back into the shadows and laying down, making sure to keep a watchful eye on them at all times.

"It's good to see you, Clarke," Kane said quietly as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. "When Bellamy told us that you had left, we were worried we might never see you again."

"I'm sorry for leaving the way I did, Marcus," Clarke replied softly. "But after everything, I just couldn't keep going the way I was. I needed a fresh start, away from it all."

"The others might not understand it," Marcus said as he pulled away. "But we came to the ground seeking freedom, and it's thanks to you that we have it. I know what kind of weight leadership can put on your shoulders in times of crisis."

"I bear it so they don't have to," Clarke mumbled, smiling as the others stepped forward to see her. She laughed when Monty wrapped her in tight hug, tears in his eyes while Miller smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. Raven was understandably frosty, but Clarke greeted her regardless while shaking Sinclair's hand. "Lincoln told me about your situation," she said as they threw some wood on the embers and took seats all around it.

"Do you think somebody can help us?" Marcus asked.

"Seeing as you escaped under threat of death, I can probably vouch for you, which will at least get you a place to stay in Polis while you appeal to the Commander," Clarke began before turning to Lincoln and Octavia. "You two are different, though. You're both known traitors in the Coalition's eyes."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Octavia asked, her demeanor relaxed, if not more than a little heated.

"Lincoln, I helped save you when you were turned into a reaper," Clarke said quietly, eyes on the fire. "And Octavia, you would have died in the mountain had I not joined you in those tunnels."

"Fuck you!" Octavia shouted. "I would've been fine on my own! I don't need –"

"Octavia," Lincoln interrupted softly. "That's enough. She's trying to help us."

"How?" Raven asked coolly. "By reminding us how much we should be thanking her?"

"Exactly," Lincoln replied. "Octavia and I both owe Clarke a life-debt. You expect us to take the brand."

"What brand?" Monty inquired.

"There's a reason a life-debt isn't invoked without serious thought," Lincoln explained. "For if someone owes one, they must do whatever is asked of them to repay it. What Clarke is suggesting is that we accept the Brand of Devotion, and swear everything we are to her."

"What does accepting the brand entail?" Sinclair asked.

"Octavia and I would renounce everything in Clarke's name," Lincoln continued as Clarke looked away, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. "A brand would be placed on us for all to see, letting them know that we don't even have our names anymore. Our entire lives would be spent by her side, devoted to her."

"I'm sorry," Clarke muttered, shaking as she fought back the urge to sob. "I wish I could do more. I really do. But this is the best I can do."

"Well think of something better!" Raven exclaimed. "Lincoln and Octavia aren't about to be your slaves just because –"

"We'll do it," Octavia interrupted, resolve firm.

"Are you sure?" Clarke asked, tears streaming down her face. Octavia nodded and Clarke stood, walking around the fire to kneel in front of her and wrap her arms around Octavia's neck. "You'll always be together," she promised shakily. "No matter what, I swear, I will never ask you to leave each other."

"Thank you, Clarke," Octavia whispered as she returned the hug, her anger melting away as she witnessed the sheer weight on Clarke's shoulders, even now. From the moment they had landed, Clarke had done nothing but take care of her and the others. Even now, she was proposing this as a way to save her life. She had committed atrocities beyond imagination in the name of protecting her people, and Octavia could now see that while of them fought her every step of the way and judged her for what she had done, the one who suffered the most from Clarke's action was Clarke herself. One of the last things she had said to Clarke was that her best wasn't good enough, but now, she was beginning to understand that it had to be.

Because it was far and beyond better than any of them could have done, that's for sure.

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I have no idea why the text was so wonky, especially considering it was fine whenever I checked the preview. Hopefully I fixed it this time. Anyways, a bit more of a look at how Clarke has become affected by her actions at Mount Weather and why she gets away with what she does. I like the idea of her becoming a sort of Grounder version of Portia, finding loopholes and outs in the laws and customs around her. I know I probably should have shown more resistance by Lincoln and Octavia to the brands, but I was trying to focus on the way it hurts Clarke to do this when she knows that she could probably do better, and Octavia coming to understand the sheer pain that Clarke lives with every day.