Chapter 19
Raven decides it´s best to leave him alone and ventures off in the direction Monroe went. She sees her outside by one of the barrel fires that light up the compound.
"Hi Monroe, are you all right? That was some speech back there. I didn´t know you two knew each other?"
"Yeah, we do, or we did"
"You don´t have to say anything else but I´m worried about you. Now I understand why you are our best fighter. I´m sure you could beat Murphy easily if you tried" Raven smiles at the younger girl who snorts at Raven words.
"I could beat him before I was 11"
"If you want to talk I promise I am a good listener" She must admit that she mostly wants to know more about Murphy´s past because he sure wasn´t sharing. But she cares about Monroe, and wants genuinely to help so she does not want to pressure the younger woman. It turns out she doesn´t have to.
Monroe explains about her recruitment
-slash-kidnapping, Murphy training her, the daily struggle to survive and the brutal fights. It was all a lot worse than Raven could have imagined.
"He was so mean to me, but he taught me how to fight" Monroe sounded hesitant. "I have been hanging on to this hatred of him and the pits for so long it has almost become part of me. It´s not like I don´t understand why he did it. He wanted us both to survive, I realise that. Maybe without him I would be dead now. But back then then I wanted to be" She starts to cry, tears are flowing, and she doesn't stop.
"I want to feel part something that is not rotten and since the grounders have arrived here it almost feels like that can happen" Raven has a feeling that this is the first time Monroe has cried in a long time, she hugs her warmly and strokes her on the back. "Sure, honey, I can feel that too".
They stand together for a while just looking at the flames. As Raven gets around to leaving Monroe speaks again.
"Tell Murphy that he is forgiven, but don´t expect us to be friends"
She leaves and can´t wait to tell Murphy that bit of news. She also wants to hear his side of the story. She thought her own upbringing was tough. This put things in perspective.
She finds him on the sofa in her workshop dead to the world and smelling like a brewery. How clever was it to get dead drunk on top of a concussion? she thought. He was breathing soundly, even snoring so she wasn´t to worried. She gets undressed and into the extra bed she keeps at the back of her workshop and promptly falls asleep. She would deal with him tomorrow.
She wakes up to a groggy-looking Murphy getting into her bed. She laughs but lets him. "How can you even move today if you finished that bottle", she points to the empty bottle on the table.
"I´ve had a lot of practice" he says and kisses her, hang-over-breath and all. She doesn´t mind, she is sure her breath is not much better. Best to get the Monroe business out of the way before this goes further.
"I spoke to Monroe yesterday, she told me everything" Murphy is about to cut her off when she puts a hand on his mouth "No, let me finish. Yes, you probably treated her badly, but she seems to know deep down that you did the best you could so you both would survive. And, by the way, she told me she forgives you"
Although he hasn´t really forgiven him self it feels extremely good to hear that someone else has. He kisses Raven on the neck, he is so grateful. Now that she knew everything it was easier let those feelings he had been having run loose. "Thanks Raven" he whispers and moves his mouth to her lips. She is kissing him back. This time they are not stopping.
The next day, day before planned attack on Mount Weather
Lincoln and Octavia are both busy with their own groups of recruits, teaching them hand-to-hand combat. It was strange being back here since their little private adventure in no-mans-land. Octavia wanted to go back once the dust had settled. If they both survived
She had been feeling a bit sick to the stomach these last few days, but she had kept it quiet. Even from Lincoln. She did not want him or anyone else to worry. She could do her job just fine. She just had to throw up occasionally. No problem.
She looks at the warriors training around her. The sky people had been decked out in grounder clothes and war paint; they looked fierce. The sky-grounder army was as ready as it ever would be! She looks over at Clarke, who sees and nods back. The two of them had come a long way since that day running back to the drop ship looking for Bellamy. They had all come far since then. Hell, even Murphy was part of the group now.
Bellamy and Clarke stand outside the ark main entrance with Lexa and her lieutenants. The watch the last preparations with some unease. The warriors might be prepared but what would the mountain throw their way?
Tomorrow would tell.