Octavia
"You can stare out that window for as long as you like, but it will not make anything happen faster," Echo said as she emerged from one of the bedrooms. Sunrise was just flooding through the city, and Octavia was watching how each electric light seemed to blink out as the sunlight grew and grew.
"I thought he'd be back by now," Octavia said, turning back and watching as the older woman went to the basin and washed her face. "I didn't think it would take this long."
"It will take as long as it takes," Echo answered, walking over and sitting down next to Octavia.
"I hate being locked up," Octavia said, on edge. "It makes me feel claustrophobic."
"I do not know that word," Echo said, frowning.
Octavia smiled a little. "That's because your world doesn't allow for it," she said. "If I'm in a little place… if I know there's no escape, then I get… I don't know, scared, I guess. But it's worse than just being scared. If it goes on long enough, I can't breathe, my heart starts pounding in my ears… it's awful."
"And that is because of how you were raised?" Echo asked her.
"Yeah." Octavia nodded. "The first time I met Lincoln, he locked me up." She laughed softly. "I thought he was a psycho, but he was just trying to protect me… there were some other warriors after my brother and our friends, and he was afraid that if he let me go, I'd get myself killed, since I'd already almost done that once. But he wasn't letting on that he spoke English, so he didn't explain it to me. I was so scared, I hit him in the head with a rock when he came back to free me."
Echo gave Octavia a wry smile. "And yet he loved you anyway."
"Yeah," Octavia whispered, looking at her hands. "He loved me anyway."
Reaching out to touch her shoulder, Echo gave it a gentle squeeze and smiled softly at her. "I have not been as lucky as you, to find someone to be mine. Even though Lincoln is gone now, you will never regret the time you had together."
"You've never been in love?" Octavia asked her curiously.
Echo shrugged a little. "Once, a long time ago, but it did not work out. Sometimes these things don't. And then, before I had another chance to find love, I was taken by the mountain."
"I'm so sorry," Octavia said softly, shaking her head. "Bellamy told me what it was like in there… it must have been horrible."
"It was," Echo agreed, her voice soft. "Absolutely horrible. And if your brother had not been there, I'm sure I would have died."
"Then why didn't you wait for him?" Octavia asked, thinking back to what Lexa said, still bothered by the excuses she'd tried to give.
"I wanted to," Echo told her sincerely. "But the Mountain Men came with guns, and herded us out of the harvest chamber. Bellamy asked me to wait for his people and protect them, but they hadn't even arrived yet."
Octavia let out a heavy breath. "Everything went wrong in there," she said. "It was a bad plan."
"Plans are only that- plans. They are not certainty, and the more dangerous the enemy, the more likely they are to fail."
"It doesn't matter," Octavia answered shortly, shaking her head. "It's all done now."
There was a short silence, and then Echo said, "You and your brother are the most stubborn people I have ever known. Is that because of your mother?"
Octavia considered the question, and then said, "Yes." The next silence that passed between them was long, and Octavia could sense that Echo was worried about something. "What is it?" she asked finally.
"Taking Lexa will mean war," Echo answered, quietly. "I do not know how I feel about being part of that."
Shifting uncomfortably, Octavia shrugged a little. "We didn't know."
"When I was your age, the first war broke out," Echo said softly. "It was long and bloody. It claimed my father, as well as one of my brothers and one of my sisters. When the Kongeda was formed and the Ice Nation was made a member, I was glad of it because it ended the war once and for all. Now I fear that it will all start over again."
"Is that what you think the queen wants?" Octavia asked nervously. If there was going to be a war, she didn't like the fact that they were on the frontlines.
"I do not know," she answered uncertainly. "But pulling out of the coalition, capturing Lexa… I cannot see what else she might intend."
"Do you know her?"
"No," Echo answered, seeming amused by the question. "I have never had an audience with the queen."
"But you know a lot about her," Octavia pointed out. "You're scared of her."
"Everyone in the Ice Nation is scared of her," Echo answered softly. "It's what makes her such a formidable leader. But it is no secret in these lands that she was bitter at being forced into the coalition. Her intention was to overthrow Lexa, but Lexa managed to get the other clans on her side, and Elody knew that there was no winning against eleven armies. So she joined. But now I wonder whether she has just been biding her time."
"So what is she hoping?" Octavia wondered aloud, frowning. "She wants to control Lexa, and then control the Kongeda?"
Echo hesitated. "That… or she may get rid of Lexa altogether."
"That's what Lexa said would happen," Octavia agreed, swallowing a little. "She seemed pretty sure that she was going to die."
"If the queen does kill the commander, she would do so because she would hope to control of the entire coalition. She will want to cause havoc and chaos, and split loyalties. The clans will have to choose sides quickly."
"And then what?" Octavia asked, meeting Echo's eyes. Something about the frightened look in the older woman's gaze made her feel afraid too.
"And then we will have to run."