Author note at the beginning of the story this time. After some deliberation I have decided that I am going to start merging my world with the 100 Series, but I'm going to do it my way which hopefully you'll still love and I can somehow manage without feeling stifled. This chapter does get a little lemony/steamy/mildly T rated. Nothing to heavy, just some quality bonding time. Also, anything in italics in this chapter (and every chapter hereout) is to let you know that they are speaking their native grounder language - because while I can interpret some, I am not a master conaloger =]

Without further ado, please enjoy this chapter and continue to review! I love, love, love hearing your thoughts about the characters and the story overall!

"Looks like something is making off with your kill Penn," I called out, eyeing the large two foot bird trying to make quick work of the deer he had just killed. I heard him groan from beside me.

"Shoot the damn bird Cole before it ruins dinner," he replied untangling the rope he brought along. I rolled my eyes and reached for one of my arrows. I had the day off from the healer's building and jumped on the chance to go hunting with Penn when he offered. Unfortunately for me, he had injured his shoulder while sparing and it was throwing off his aim a bit off which made him crankier than Indra in the morning.

"If you had any arrows left you could be doing this yourself," I teased. He mumbled something under his breath and made his way toward the deer. Notching my arrow I released it after taking a second to aim, not wanting to wait too long less it attack Penn and make him even grumpier. My arrow embedded itself in the bird's throat, dropping it in an instant. I smiled as I jogged to catch up to Penn.

"That makes me four for four today," I beamed brightly, proud of my own success. Sure, two of the four hadn't even been moving but I wasn't going to let technicalities ruin my mood. Penn just grumbled some more. Ignoring him I went over to the bird, pulling my arrow out carefully so I could reuse it. The bird itself was about two feet tall and had a wingspan that was at least double. Its feathers were a bright white with black intermixed, altogether normal looking except for the six talons on one claw. The clan didn't eat owls, but we could use its feathers and talons so I tied its feet together and hoisted it over my shoulder.

"You know if you would let me take a look at your shoulder it probably wouldn't hurt so much," I offered to Penn for at least the hundredth time. And like all the times before he just shook his head.

"I'm fine," he grunted back, ignoring the pain as he put the deer across his shoulders. I sighed but followed beside him anyways not understanding why he was being so stubborn.

"So do you know what the tribune is meeting about?" I asked Penn. Jaxon had left this morning in a hurry once a messenger arrived alerting him of some urgent meeting, but he hadn't told me what it was about. Nyko was also called in, which was part of the reason I had the day off.

"No, I'm not part of the tribune," Penn sassed back with a hint of a smirk on his face. Grumpy or not, Penn was still Penn.

"But I would guess it has something to do with that rider from the southern clan that came in this morning," he continued.

"What rider? What would the southern clan want from us?" I asked in quick succession, not really giving him time to answer. But this was the first time I had heard of anyone from outside our clan making contact with us, it seemed strange.

"I'm not sure. I'm out hunting with you, not sitting in on the meeting remember?" he replied. I rolled my eyes and nudged his shoulder, making sure it was the non-injured one.

"You love hunting with me," I teased, knowing very well that I was a bad hunting partner despite my decent aim.

"Please, Lyndon can move around the forest quieter than you can and he's only two," Penn joked back. I had picked up on a lot of skills since I had landed here, but stealth was not among them.

"Speaking of which, you sure have been spending a lot of time with Lyndon and Keller lately," I said changing the subject. Penn coughed slightly and looked away for a moment to hide what I was sure was a faint blush. I was already more than aware of their progressing relationship - Keller had quickly become one of my best friends and we shared everything with each other - but I just couldn't resist putting Penn in an awkward situation.

"Yeah I guess," he admitted after a moment. "She's nice."

"Keller is fantastic," I agreed. "And Lyndon is adorable. I think you would be good for them, for both of them."

"You really think so?" he asked, his tone hopeful. I moved ahead of him quickly cutting him off by standing directly in front of him.

"Penn you're a great guy and a wonderful father-figure to that little monster," I told him honestly, making him smile a little. "But know that if you hurt Keller I will hunt you down and castrate you."

Satisfied by his confused and slightly worried expression I turned around and started walking back to the village. I had no doubt that Penn would be good to Keller, but what kind of friend would I be if I didn't threaten him at least once?

"I'm not sure what that means … I'm not sure that I even want to," he said quietly as he caught up to me. I laughed and shook my head.

"Trust me, you don't," I told him. "But you can ask Nyko if you're really curious."

"No, I think I'll just take your word," Penn answered.

"Good call," I replied, cutting our conversation short once I caught sight of the village. We wordlessly dropped off our kills at the butchers, taking what pieces we wanted before putting the rest in storage for the clan. I had only kept a few of the feathers and owl talons for myself, curious if I could make some sort of necklace out of them. After that, Penn and I went our separate ways - he presumingly to see Keller while I made my way towards the stables. Seeing as how the majority of my favorite clansmen were holding a secret meeting I had decided to visit Lucas instead to pass time.

I found him in the stalls brushing down one of the two-faced horses. Calling out to him, I picked up a carrot on my way in and stood by the stable door of Jaxon's horse - the only one I trusted not to eat my hand off.

"Cole! I wasn't expecting you," he replied after a minute, wiping the sweat off his forehead as he popped out of the stall window.

"I know, I figured I would surprise you," I told him, smiling as the horse's tongue gently cleaned my hand looking for more treats.

"Not saving lives today?" he joked, moving out of the stall and hanging the supplies on the wall nearby.

"Not today, tribune was called into some important meeting so everything's pretty quiet right now," I answered wiping my hands on my dark green pants.

"What's going on?" he asked curiously. I just shrugged my shoulders in response.

"Something about a rider from the southern clan?" I told him, repeating what Penn had told me. Lucas froze for a second before nodding slightly.

"That would explain the extra horse we have in the pen right now," he said motioning out the door. Again I just shrugged, southern clans weren't any of my business.

"It's probably nothing," I answered as we both walked out of the stables. A group of others from the Arc were sitting around a pit eating lunch with a few of the villagers scattered in. Lucas greeted them as we walked up, introducing me to each of them. I hadn't done very well at keeping up with the others from the drop ship I realized. I knew that they were doing alright, heard of certain advancements they had made from time to time, but Lucas was the only one I talked to on a regular basis. I felt a pang of guilt for a moment when I realized that I was more of an outsider to my own people than I was the woods clan.

"Cole are you listening?" Lucas' voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I shook my head, embarrassed to be caught distracted.

"No sorry, I sort of zoned out for a second. The hunt was more taxing than I thought," I lied easily, taking a seat next to Lucas. The others just stared at me curiously before one of the women spoke up.

"You went on a hunt? Aren't you a doctor?" she asked. Her tone wasn't accusing, but it was far from friendly.

"Uh, yeah I had the day off and Penn offered to take me with him," I answered, noting their confused looks. "Why is that weird?"

"You just seem to fit in well with them," she supplied. "Maybe a little too well? I mean you spend all of your meals with them after working all day with that other healer, and we all heard about that savage 'trial' where you blinded that guy … It's like you're one of them now."

"I am," I replied, angry at what she was implying. "We all are. We all became part of this clan when they decided to let us live here instead of killing us all. And so what if I spend time with them? They are my friends, just like Lucas is and I spend time with him too - I don't get why it is such a big deal."

"Because we aren't like them," she argued. "We aren't savages."

"How dare you?" I accused, standing up and narrowing my eyes at her. "They protect you, feed you and house you and this is the respect you show? They could have easily killed us all when we got here, or did you forget that?"

I turned and walked away, not waiting for her to answer. The village had done so much for them, for us, why couldn't they see that? Why couldn't they just be grateful?

"Cole! Cole wait up," Lucas called from behind me. I slowed my steps but didn't stop walking.

"Cole please, just stop. Wait for a minute," he pleaded, grabbing my hand. "Come on, she didn't mean it like that."

"Then what did she mean?" I spat at him, not caring that he wasn't even the person I was angry at in the first place.

"Its just been harder for some of us to adjust here than it has been for you," he explained, sighing when I narrowed my eyes at him. Easy was not an adjective I would use to describe my time on Earth - not by any stretch of the term.

"I adapted so I could survive," I seethed at him. "This hasn't been easy for anyone, especially not me."

"I know Cole, I'm sorry," Lucas apologized. "You aren't the only one who has acclimated either, others have found their place here to - Amber just isn't one of them."

"Well that isn't my fault," I replied, ignoring the fact that I sounded like a pouting child. It had hurt to hear her talk about my friends that way, to hear her take them for granted.

"I know, I know," Lucas said gently. "It's no one's fault but her own. She's probably just jealous of you."

"What? Why?" I asked puzzled, as I let go of my anger. Why would someone be jealous of me?

"She's probably jealous about how well you fit in. I mean look at you," Lucas said, motioning at me. "This life suits you. You found your place, people here like you plus all your new muscles and war paint makes you look fierce - how could she not be jealous."

I rolled my eyes but smiled at Lucas anyways. He had a knack for making me feel better.

"Hey, I'm serious about that war paint," he said with a smile.

"It's Jaxon's doing," I admitted, blushing slightly at the intimate memory.

"Of course it was," Lucas replied slightly scowling now. I had noticed his apprehension about Jaxon before but never had a reason to address it. I didn't understand it in the first place. I thought about telling him about me and Jaxon, but the unamused look in his eyes made me bite my tongue. I could always tell him later...

"What exactly did I do?" a voice questioned from behind us. Walking up was none other than the man himself. I smiled as he approached and I could hear Lucas groan quietly.

"This," I answered, motioning to my face. It was painted in the same style that I had donned at Delano's trial. Jaxon just nodded in understanding but didn't respond right away. Instead he turned his gaze to Lucas who seemed to be agitated now.

"I need to speak to Cole alone," he told Lucas shortly, making it clear that there wasn't going to be discussion on it. Lucas sighed but nodded and left after saying goodbye to me.

"So this better be important if you're running off all of my friends," I told him, falling into step beside him.

"Something's bothering you," he told me, ignoring my comment. He stopped walking and placed his hand on my neck so I would look up at him.

"That's why you interrupted us? Because you think something is bothering me?" I asked incredulously.

"No," he answered shortly. "But it is clear that something happened and that it's bothering you, I was merely curious as to what that might be."

"It was nothing," I responded, looking away from him. "Just got into a disagreement with a woman from the Arc. It's nothing serious though, what did you need to talk to me about?"

Jaxon rubbed his thumb against my cheek softly before pulling away and motioning for me to follow him.

"Does this have to do with the tribune being called together this morning?" I asked him after walking in silence for a few minutes. He nodded.

"Does it have anything to do with that rider from the southern clan that everyone has been talking about?" I followed up. Jaxon tensed slightly but kept moving.

"Yes," he answered shortly. We stopped just short of one of the biggest buildings in the village. It was often used for special events, but doubled as a strategy room for the tribune as well. It must be where they met this morning I pieced together, still trying to figure out why we were here now though.

"What's going on?" I questioned looking up at Jaxon. He just stared back at me, his expression unreadable. Moving closer he put his hands on each side of my face and kissed me tenderly. I grabbed the edges of his coat jacket to pull him closer to me but he pulled back in an instant and straightened himself. Confused I looked up at him trying to figure out why he was acting so strange. Giving nothing away he turned and walked towards the building and I followed him in.

Inside the tribune was gathered around a large oval table. I recognized everyone present except for one warrior - he must be the rider from the other clan. Jaxon moved around the table and took his spot beside Indra and Tristan. Slowly I moved up to the closest edge of the table, careful to keep my expression neutral and my curiosity hidden - this was official clan business, not an informal gathering that was clear to see.

"This is her?" the unknown warrior asked, defaulting to their native language. Indra nodded in response. The man looked me up and down, sizing me up. I was suddenly glad that I had decided to go hunting today, or I would have looked a lot less impressive in my apron sans war paint.

"She looks weak," the man told her, eyeing me with distrust. I noticed Jaxon just barely lift his head at the comment, and in my peripheral I could see Nyko shaking his head ever so slightly. Apparently this man's opinion of me mattered.

"Ai na sen yu in," I told the stranger, glaring at him. He looked surprised that I could both understand and use their language. I was far from fluent, understanding way more than I could speak, but he didn't need to know that.

"What they lack in strength they make up in wit," Indra spoke up, switching back into English. Wait, what did she mean by they?

"I see," the man answered. "So sky girl tell me. You wear our clothes, eat our food, speak our language and heal our people, but do your loyalties lie with us or your sky people?"

"My loyalties are to my friends, who are both from the sky and from Earth," I answered honestly not understanding what this was all about.

"Do you consider this your home?" he asked. I nodded immediately.

"Yes," I answered, absolute with response.

"And would you fight to protect it? To protect your … friends?" he followed up. I nodded again.

"Yes."

"Even from your own people?" he questioned, causing everyone in the room to tense. I didn't break eye contact with the man though.

"No one here would attack anyone in this village - this is our home now too," I told him, hoping to quell all fears of one of our people attacking the clan. There was no way that I would ever let that happen. Like Lucas had said, for the most part everyone had adapted to life here and it wasn't like any of us were in a big hurry to run off into the forest to fend for ourselves.

"What is this about?" I questioned, turning to face Indra, Jaxon and Nyko hoping they would give me some answers. "You don't seriously think that any of us from the drop ship would attack the village do you?"

"No," Nyko answered hesitantly.

"Then what's going on?" I pressed. Why wouldn't anyone give me a straight answer?

"We need to be sure of where your loyalties and the others from the sky are at," Jaxon supplied. I narrowed my eyes.

"You know where mine are at," I growled.

"Yes, but what of the others you came with," the man from the south questioned.

"We have been living here for months, and in that time we have integrated into the village. Worked together to bring about the best of both of our worlds, why would that stop now?" I answered.

"What if there were others? Others here from your home in the sky?" Nyko asked.

What was that supposed to mean? There were no others …. unless they had found the original 100. But they were dropped too far away from us, we had attempted to find them in the first few weeks we had landed but radar within 50 miles had turned up nothing.

"What do you mean others?" I asked, confused by all the seemingly random questioning.

"Quint came riding in this morning to deliver a message from their leader Anya," Jaxon explained. "They are requesting aid for an upcoming battle."

"Against who?" I questioned. Reapers and Mountain Men were the two most common enemies I knew the clans faced, but was there something to the south that was even more dangerous? I had been told that we were lucky in this village, that we had defeated the reapers in the area some time ago and were outside the reach of the Mountain Men so talks of war were new to me.

"Against sky people," the unknown man answered.

"What?" I questioned dumbly. I had heard what he said, but it wasn't registering in my brain.

"Quint says that a group of sky people landed a few miles from their village. They have killed many of their warriors already and are now on the verge of war," Indra said solemnly. "We are going to offer them aid, and would like to bring you and some of the others with us to utilize your skills - but we need to make sure that if we do that, that you won't turn your backs on us."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. So they had found the others. Maybe there was just some big misunderstanding - thinking back to our first week on Earth it was easy to see how that could happen.

"Have you tried to make peace with them?" I asked, turning my question to the man Indra called Quint.

"Our leader has agreed to meet with theirs to talk, but they have made it clear that they can not be trusted," Quint said.

"We should try to talk to them," I told the group "You should let me try to talk to them."

"So you do wish to rejoin your people!" Quint accused, causing everyone in the room to tense up.

"No!" I answered just as vehemently. "If it ends in war, if they insist upon killing then I will stand with this clan until the end. But that doesn't mean it has to end that way. If this is the other group of 100, then they're just kids. If we can talk to them, if I can talk to them and show them that coexistence is possible then we might be able to avoid pointless bloodshed."

"And if we can't?" Jaxon spoke up, looking directly at me. This is why he was worried earlier, he wasn't sure what my answer would be.

"Then we go to war," I told him, not breaking eye contact. These were my people now. The Arc had left me to die, I owed them nothing. I just hoped that I could convince the other 100 that we were all on the same side on the ground.

"Then it is settled," Quint spoke from my left. "My leader will want to know of this development as soon as possible, gather what you need tonight and we will ride out at first light."

With that he turned and left, leaving me alone with the tribune. Jaxon and Nyko walked me out as Indra and the others stayed behind to discuss plans for the village. With the way the clan was set up everyone was going to have to move, but the southern clan needed warriors now. All of the fighters would have to leave in the morning and the rest of the village would pack up and trail behind - it wasn't ideal and left our group largely unprotected but it wasn't my call to make.

"I will gather all the medical supplies and get a pack ready for you as well," Nyko said. "Make sure to grab everything you will need in an emergency from your home - I will have someone else collect everything else from your home later."

"I'm riding out with you guys in the morning?" I asked. I knew that I was inevitably coming along, but thought I would be going with the village, not with the warriors.

"Yes," he answered. "If there is a chance for peace then it must be made before things get worse. You and a few others from your sky clan will be joining us as well. We will ride hard and fast, so be prepared."

Nyko left at that, making his way to the healer's building. He would know better as to which supplies we would need and I trusted him to not leave anything behind. Pushing my growing nervousness aside I looked up at Jaxon who was staring at me blankly.

"Would now be a bad time to tell you that I don't know how to ride a horse?" I joked lamely. It did get him to smirk a little though.

"You will be riding with me, so no worries," he reassured me. We walked back to my home and he watched me pack in silence, only occasionally suggesting items that I should take or leave behind.

"I'm scared," I blurted out after a long silence. I immediately regretted it.

"I'm sorry, I know that makes me weak, but …" I tried to explain before he interrupted me.

"Being scared doesn't make you weak, running away and acting cowardly does," he explained. "If you are having second thoughts about going, about fighting against your people…"

"No, thats not it," I said, interrupting him this time. "They aren't me people anymore."

I moved closer to him and stood in between his legs, wrapping my hands around his neck to play with his hair in a way I knew he enjoyed. He placed his hands on my waist gently letting his fingers sneak underneath my top to caress my skin softly.

"I'm scared that they won't listen, sky people have a tendency to be pretty stubborn if you haven't noticed," I joked lightly while revealing my deeper fears. "I'm scared of what is going to happen - I'm scared that you're going to get hurt. That all the people here that I care about might get hurt."

Jaxon pulled me towards him so he could wrap his arms around my back.

"They might," he admitted, his eyes searching out my own. "War is bloody and people will die. But you don't have to worry about me, that I promise."

"How can you say that for sure though?" I asked, looking down at him sadly.

"Because I can't die," he said with a lopsided smile. "Who would take care of you and keep you out of trouble?"

"Someone's got to do it," I replied laughing at him and telling myself that everything was going to be okay over and over in my head.

"Yes, and it will always be me," he responded seriously pulling me down towards him so I straddled his lap.

Leaning forward he kissed me wildly, rougher than he had earlier but I found myself enjoying it nonetheless. Tightening my fingers in his hair he growled and pulled me even closer running his tongue along my lower lip as his hands explored further up my back. Opening my my mouth for him I almost moaned as his tongue started to fight for dominance with mine.

I threw my head back unable to contain my groan of pleasure as his mouth moved lower down my neck, stopping every few kisses to bite and suck gently. As he stopped on a particularly sensitive spot I bucked my hips against his as I felt his teeth graze my skin. Jaxon let out another deep growl that I was starting to love more and more and instantly stood up, locking my legs around his waist. He moved us forward towards my pallet of furs, his mouth never leaving my neck as he explored down my neck and the top of my chest.

As he knelt and laid me down on the furs he just stayed kneeling above me looking down at me lustfully. Sitting up slightly I ran my hand from his hips up his sides, dipping my hands underneath his shirt so I could feel his warmth and lean muscles. As I pulled my hands back down his sides I let my fingernails scratch into his skin gently, nowhere near hard enough to injure but just enough to feel the pressure. His low growl let me know that he was enjoying this as much as I was. In a second he had me pressed down on my back again as he crashed his lips onto mine, biting and sucking playfully as he ran his hands up underneath my shirt.

We both groaned when a voice from outside my door interrupted us.

"Uhm, Cole?" Artigas' voice called from the doorway. "Is Jaxon in there with you? Indra and Tristan are looking for him - something about making plans for the morning?"

I sighed and looked down at Jaxon who had his face buried in my neck and his hands still resting on my ribs. We both knew he couldn't blow them off, it was too important. But at the same time, neither of us wanted to stop. This was the most heated we had been with each other so far and both of our grasps on our self control were waning.

"Tell them I'm on my way," Jaxon called out, sitting up but not moving off of me.

"You're beautiful you know that?" Jaxon said quietly as he looked down at me softly.

He had made it perfectly clear on how he felt about me, but he hadn't complimented me so openly before. I smiled and sat up to kiss him gently.

"Think you'll make it back before dark?" I asked as I pulled away from him. He shook his head. Knowing Indra, everything would have to be perfectly planned before she would be content enough to call it a night. And Jaxon still had to pack for himself. So much for a night of romance I mused.

"I'll be here when you wake up," he promised as he stood up and gathered his belongings before disappearing out my door.

I laid back down trying to ignore the burning desire in my body Jaxon had started and the build up of nerves that was starting to seep back in. I could only guess at the possible outcomes of what would happen we got to the southern clan. I hoped that we could resolve everything peacefully, but something told me that it wasn't going to be that easy.

Ai na sen yu in - I can hear you.