CHAPTER 3

Lexa was screaming. Costia could have sworn she had not fallen asleep, that she had only been resting her eyes but clearly she had. She shot up from her small mat on the floor of Nyko's tent and raced over to the thrashing form that was Lexa. She needed to quiet her before she woke the entire village.

"Lexa! Lexa." She soothed trying to hold down the sleeping form. "It is alright. You are safe. Please calm down."

Suddenly Lexa's eyes opened wide and stared at Costia blankly. Costia remembered the first time she looked at the Commander and was impressed by the darkness of her eyes but now that was but a distant memory. For three nights now Costia had seen these blank white eyes staring in horror at some unknown threat, yelling at some unfelt pain.

"Please calm yourself." She pleaded. Lexa stared at her almost at if she had recognized the words she spoke. The moment only lasted a moment before the girl's form convulsed and a seizure rocked through her body.

"No!" Costia cried rolling the girl on her side as white foam began to sputter from Lexa's mouth. After a moment the seizure passed and Lexa lay back, once again completely unconscious.

Costia sat on the edge of the bed panting. She had known that Nightshade was a vile poison but hadn't known the true extent in which it could torture someone. Lexa had not been lucid for nearly two days now and her terrors only seemed to be getting worse. Costia was having a hard time keeping the girl hydrated and fed and each she seized Costia feared that that would be the end of the Great Commander.

She wiped the sweat from her own forehead before dampening a cloth and placing it on the girl's forehead, which had almost seemed to be accustomed to its fiery temperature.

XXXXX

Lexa gasped and sucked cool air into her lungs. She had been locked in single combat with Nia for some time when suddenly the Ice Queen had grown the strength of a bear and clamped her hands around her throat, cutting off her airway. Lexa couldn't breath. The Queen merely laughed and taunted. "Some Commander you turned out to be, you nothing but a weak sniveling girl.

That had been vivid, she had been in the woods, she could feel the leaves under her body, hear the wind in the trees, smell the pine needles but now as she filled her lunges she could no longer smell the pine or feel the wind on her. She was in a damp bed in a dark tent; she was cold and thirsty. Her throated still felt raspy from the Queen's tight grip. She gave a loud cough trying to clear whatever obstruction was in it.

"Lexa?" A tentative spoke from the ground. Lexa looked down to see a red headed girl slowly rising from a bed mat. "Lexa?" The girl spoke again, this time clearer. "Can you hear me? Do you understand me?"

"Who are you?" Lexa demanded her voice incredibly hoarse. She felt as though she had just shouted an hour's worth of instructions at an army.

"I am Costia." The girl said slowly approaching Lexa her eyes darting around Lexa's face.

"Costia." Lexa repeated, the name stirred something in her. A vague memory.

"Nyko's healer." She said confirming herself. "Now tell me, how much do you remember of the nightshade?"

"Nightshade." Lexa asked confused.

Costia sighed. "You were stabbed by a blade coated in nightshade over 7 days ago. You came here and have been under my care since then."

This bewildered Lexa. She had been fighting Nia moments ago, now she was here and so this girl said had been here for over 7 days.

"May I examine your shoulder?" Costia asked and without waiting for a response began to remove dressings from Lexa's shoulder.

"When was the last time I was conscious?" Lexa asked slowly allowing the memories of the real attack break through her foggy mind.

"You spoke to me about a day and a half ago of Anya and her training. You spoke of yellow flowers. You seemed quite content Lexa."

At this Lexa sat up swiftly. "Yellow flowers?" She said suspiciously.

"Yes." Costia said nodding and sitting on the edge of the bed comfortably. "You said that Anya would often take you into the woods to train but at the end of the day would allow you to pick a few yellow flowers to take home with you. You said you always found them beautiful and liked their smell."

"It always surprised me when Anya permitted such a thing." Lexa said letting a smile cross her face at the memory. "She was always so commanding but she knew the importance of happiness."

"Yes." Costia agreed. "You said that. You were almost as calm as you are now Lexa. Which was a first."

At the mention of her name Lexa looked at her healer for the first time.

She seemed to catch herself. "My apologies." she said quickly. "You just seemed to calm down more quickly when I spoke to you informally, Heda." She added the last title with a slight bow.

Lexa sighed. She didn't have the strength at the moment to reprimand this poor girl who had no doubt been the only reason she was breathing at this moment. Lexa felt completely drained. Her body was chilled and shook ever so slightly but certainly had the vague feeling of recovery on its cusp. Feeling the exhaustion begin to take over her body she laid back down on the bed and stared at her healer.

"Tell me something about yourself Costia." She said simply.

"Heda?" Costia asked clearly baffled by this request.

Lexa shut her eyes for a moment and then opened them "Tell me a story. I've clearly told you some very intimate details of my life. Things that very few are aware of. So now you must tell me something that no one else knows. Then we will be equals."

Costia's eyes widened slightly. "I see, well what do you wish to know Heda?"

"You may call me Lexa." Lexa said making her decision. "In here I am not the Commander I am but a patient who has clearly caused you great toil."

A small smile crossed Costia's face and she settled herself on the bed. "You were not all that bad to care for. I mean when you weren't screaming in terror or seizing you were quite a decent patient."

Lexa let out one of her rare chuckles. Then stopped. She could remember the last time she had chuckled. Even in her weakened state Lexa felt a change with this girl. She felt openness between, as if this girl knew more about Lexa than any others did. And this was not just including the facts about Anya and the flowers. This girl seemed to understand Lexa.

"As a child." Costia began and Lexa felt herself snap from her stupor. A stupor she reminded herself, she no doubt still had nightshade in her system and any thought she had lacked rationality.

"As a child I feared beetles." Costia giggled.

"Beetles?" Lexa said sure that she had heard incorrectly.

"Yes." Costia nodded. "To this day I don't know why. I just found their shells, their legs, and their wings repulsing. I would scream and run whenever I was confronted with one. It drove my parents mad. I laugh at it now because I use those same beetles now in many medicines." Costia finished the story to see Lexa's eyes closed. Convinced that once more the girl had slipped away from reality she began to rise.

"How did you get over your fear?" Lexa asked opening her eyes.

"I don't know." Costia said shrugging. "Just one day I realized how foolish the fear was and I refused to accept or acknowledge it ever again."

"That is very wise of you." Lexa said thickly with sleep.

"Thank you Lexa." Costia said bashfully. The name didn't feel so strange on her tongue anymore.

"Costia?" Lexa asked suddenly much more awake.

"Yes?" Costia responded slightly taken aback by this sudden burst of energy.

"Why is does the rain fall red?" Lexa placed her hand on her forehead and took it away again staring at her fingers.

Costia felt her heart fall. She slowly took Lexa's hand and curled it within her own. "The rain does not fall red dear Lexa, but it will stop if you sleep."

Lexa's brow creased. "You are sure?"

Costia smiled feebly. "I am."

"Very well." And Lexa was gone, asleep or off in some far away. Costia assumed that this rain was not a threat for Lexa's brow was smooth, in her terrors it was always furrowed with strain, however now it was smooth and relaxed.

She pondered over this for a moment. She had only ever seen the Commander before this so fraught with stress or power that seeing her relaxed was so pleasant. The girl looked so much more beautiful and in a way human and her relaxed state. Costia had always found that Commander Lexa was so imposing that she could not possibly have anything human under that hard shell. However, these last few days had taught her that this sovereign was very much human, she felt fear, pain, and happiness like all of those she commanded.