And my last gift goes to Akachankami! Best beta ever and also best of friends! I love you very much, even when you're jelly, even when you take two hours to make tea, even when you're so busy cleaning you forget about me XD. You're my awesome unicorn (crossed with a panda, very oddly shaped animal result if you think about it) !

Tokens Of Appreciation

Snow scrunched under his boots as Marcus slowly followed in Abby's footsteps, attentive to their surroundings more out of habit than out of fear that anything would go wrong. His gaze swept around the woods only to automatically come back on the three women in front of him. He couldn't quite make out the words Lexa, Indra and Abby were exchanging but he had no doubt she was negotiating hard on Arkadia's behalf.

The truce had been holding for weeks now but there was talks of turning it into a real alliance, of making Arkadia the thirteenth clan… Those things took time though and thus they were mostly focusing on more trade agreements that day. It had been Lexa's idea to walk around while they discussed it instead of locking themselves in a room, the Commander seemed to enjoy the newly fallen snow and the exercise.

Marcus was careful to keep the same pace as the two Grounders walking alongside him. He wasn't sure if the distance between the leaders and their guards was codified but he didn't want to accidentally give offense so he had been making sure to follow their lead. When they had fallen back so the women could have some privacy, he had too.

Lexa and Indra didn't seem bothered by the uneven treacherous ground but Abby wasn't faring that well. She often stumbled on roots, prompting him to take a few steps forward to catch her before he remembered himself and stuck behind where was his place. She was the Chancellor and he was the commander of her guards… It was her job to negotiate the treaties and his to make sure nothing happened to her.

"Skaikrus heda din ste gona." Lexa's guard muttered with open loathing when Abby slipped on a patch of ice. It was only thanks to Indra's quick reflexes that she didn't fall.

Marcus couldn't hear the words but he knew her different smiles and could guess she was thanking the other woman who nodded once in dismissal.

The sky people's leader isn't a warrior…

The remark didn't sit well with him. Trikru had accepted their presence and their relations were good but the other Grounders… They didn't have much respect for the Arkers. They thought them weak. And weakness, in Grounder's culture, was never good.

"Skaikrus heda ste fisa." he retorted, calm but firm enough to imply that he wouldn't tolerate any badmouthing. The sky people's leader is a healer.

"Ste belaik sak?" the guard scoffed. "Fisa din hed op emo kru gon wor."

Is that wise? Healers can't lead their people to war.

"Abi kom Skaikru ste yuj." Indra's man cut in.

Abby from the sky people is strong.

It was laconic but clear enough and Marcus thanked him with a small nod.

Lexa's guard scoffed again though. "Ai don sen in em din gon daun. Dison laik din uf."

I heard she cannot fight. That's not strength.

"Em na fis op. Dison laik uf." Marcus replied coldly. She can heal. That is strength. And, because he sensed there was a challenge there and that it wouldn't do to let them think Arkadia's leader was vulnerable… "Nion trana bash em op wan op gon ai meika." Anyone who tries to harm her will die at my hands.

Indra's man chuckled and clasped Lexa's guard's shoulder. "Din god em. Markus kom Saikru ste os gona."

Don't goad him. Marcus from the sky people is a great warrior.

The other Grounder looked dubious but didn't pursue the matter, probably not eager to start a fight. Marcus swallowed back a sigh.

There was still a long way to go to reach peace.

They had circled back to the Grounder village and the three women regained the building Lexa had been so eager to avoid in the first place. He pulled Abby's chair for her and was rewarded with a smile that he answered with one of his own. He stood behind her while they put the final touches to the trade agreements, only giving his input when Abby requested it. Once they were done, Indra asked her if she would see to a sick woman somewhere in the village, something she immediately agreed on, shifting from Chancellor to doctor almost with relief.

"I vouch for her safety, my friend." Indra promised him, when he automatically followed.

Abby briefly squeezed his arm in reassurance. "I will see you later at the party. Go explore. Have some fun, Marcus."

He didn't really like it, mainly because they hadn't been allowed to bring an escort and, while he trusted Indra, it was his job to make sure his Chancellor was safe. Never mind the fact that he really wanted Abby to be safe.

He heard Lexa's guard muttering to Indra's warrior that he now understood why Marcus was so eager to bend the knee for Arkadia's leader. The joke was crude and he didn't understand all the words but it was enough for him to clench his jaw in distaste at the blatant disrespect.

Before he could say anything though, Lexa invited him to walk around with her, with a glare for her guard that promised many retributions to come. He liked the girl and he gradually relaxed, taking the opportunity to put the problem of Lincoln on the table. She was receptive to the idea of lifting the kill order on his head but she didn't really promise anything.

They separated when night fell and the party started. Indra had explained it was tradition for Grounders to have a celebration after the first snow of the year, a way to mark the year that had passed and the one to come.

Huge fires were lit, the sound of music drifted in the air, a few children started dancing, soon joined by some of the adults… Left and right people were exchanging small gifts, tokens of appreciation that were supposed to show you valued them… They had brought a basket of Arkadia's first harvest for the village…

He had just let a little girl convince him to try his hand at dancing – he tried to follow the steps she was showing him and failed miserably – when he felt someone staring at him. Abby was leaning against the side of a house, watching him with a fond amused smile on her face. He made his excuses to the child and joined her.

"Breaking hearts everywhere you go…" she teased. "I can't leave you alone for two minutes."

"How's your patient?" he asked. She had been gone a long time…

"I will come back in a few days to check on her." she informed him. "If she hasn't improved, we will bring her back with us… I can do more at camp than I can here." He nodded his understanding but, before he could suggest they made medical treatment a part of the next agreement, she grinned, her eyes twinkling in that way that often meant he was in for a lot of trouble. "So… I hear you're threatening to kill everyone who lies a hand on me…"

"How…" he frowned. They had been too far to hear his words and Abby wasn't fluent enough in Trigedasleng to have understood him anyway. The answer was obvious though and he didn't bother finishing his question. "Indra." Or Indra's guard more probably.

"Trust me, I appreciate the sentiment." she said, placing a hand on his arm. "But I'm not sure threatening our allies in the middle of a treaty is a very good idea…"

"We can't be the weakest link, Abby." he countered. "If we want to do this peacefully, they need to respect us. And I don't want any of them getting any idea. Just because you're not a warrior…"

"Nobody is going to murder me in my bed, Marcus." she rebuked him, a bit too confident for his tastes.

"You don't know that. Not all the clans are happy with having us around." he pointed out. "The Ice Nation…"

"I do know that." she cut him off. "You won't let anything happen to me." He wanted to object but the blind trust she was putting in him rendered him speechless. She squeezed his forearm once before letting go. "But let's not make it a challenge, alright?"

She had a point, he figured, although his was just as valid.

They would need to find a middle ground on the matter but he wasn't worried. They had been good at meeting halfway lately.

"Alright." he granted. For now.

She was stubborn about not wanting guards shadowing her everywhere she went and he was equally stubborn about making sure she was protected at all times.

It was his job, his duty, and his privilege.

"I have something for you." she said, taking him a little by surprise. "Since this celebration is about showing appreciation…" She shrugged, a bit hesitant, and unzipped her jacket to fish something out of her inner pocket. It was a thin soft-cover book that looked very old. "It comes from Mount Weather." she explained before adding with a cheeky smile: "Chancellor's pick."

"I thought you didn't believe in Chancellor's pick?" he teased, accepting the book with genuine gratitude. It was a poem collection and it made him smile that she knew his tastes so well.

Chancellor's pick was something he had more or less invented on the spot when he had claimed one of the Mount Weather's couches for the war room – and that he had been using ever since, mainly because he knew Abby would be the last to choose from the loads they were bringing back. She regularly claimed he couldn't invoke Chancellor's pick right, given that he wasn't Chancellor, but she also usually liked what he sneaked out for her so the complaining was usually short-lived.

"It has its uses." she chuckled, tilting her head to the side. "What do you have for me?"

"Who says I have anything?" he retorted, pocketing the book. "We never said we were doing gifts… Maybe I'm really embarrassed right now because I have nothing for you…"

"That's not your embarrassed face." she dismissed easily, still grinning like a child on Unity Day.

"Because you know what my embarrassed face looks like?" he challenged. She probably did, truth be told, he had certainly done enough things to make himself a fool in front of Abby Griffin over the years.

"About earlier… Maybe you're right and we should be more careful about me not getting murdered in my bed… Maybe you should start sleeping with me…" she declared, so out of the blue he almost choked.

"What?" he frowned, certain he must have heard her wrong.

If anything, the grin now looked not only pleased but smug. "That's your embarrassed face. You are an open book to me, Marcus Kane."

"You're not playing fair." he complained.

"Never." she admitted. "You should know by now. Can I have my gift?"

He rolled his eyes, unable to quite fight the smile off his lips, and reached into his pocket to pull out a simple silver necklace. He could tell it wasn't what she had been expecting because she gasped a little. He wondered if it might have been too much. Or inappropriate.

He wasn't quite sure where they stood. They had known each other for a very long time and there had always been a tension between them. One that they would never have explored before the Ark fell to the Ground, for obvious reasons. Nowadays though… Nowadays they flirted at any given chance and they were growing… closer.

"I noticed you were having troubles with the clasp…" He waved uncertainly to the chain she always wore around her neck, weighted down by Jake's wedding band. "I thought…"

"Thank you." she breathed out, clutching it tight in her hand.

He wasn't really expecting the kiss she planted on his cheek. It was just a peck but he ducked his head a little to hide his too pleased smile.

He let himself enjoy the party after that, forcing himself to hope that Indra's word and Lexa's presence would be enough guarantees for her safety, and hoping, despite his best honorable intentions, that someday soon he would have another excuse to share her tent than just the need to protect her at night.