Chapter 46

Raven and Echo were in the pins working on Raven's foot work. She knew that it was going to be hard considering how damaged her nerves were, but she was determined to figure something out. Echo pushed her and pushed her. And, the more she thought about it, the more it reminded her of how Indra used to beat on Octavia until she got it right. Echo hadn't hit her yet, but she knew that she would as Raven started progressing further in her training.

"You aren't always going to have a gun or a bow, Raven. You have to figure out how to move faster than everyone else or get out of the way. You need to be faster with your blade and farther with your reach. You need to read your opponent and have three counteractions ready before they strike. You don't have the same abilities, so you have to use what you have."

"Which is?" Raven asked, feeling like Echo had just punched her in the gut.

"You have speed of mind, but not of foot. Sometimes that is better. Use your mouth. Talk them to death. It'll make them angry. Angry equals stupid in a fight. Find the opening and strike. You don't have time to second guess yourself. You have to strike when you see it. You might not get a second chance."

"Okay, I get. Strike hard. Strike first and make it their last. That doesn't mean that my leg is going to cooperate."

"No, it doesn't, so you have to be ready for that. If someone attacks you from the left, you won't be able to shift quickly. You can move, I've seen it. I know it hurts, but we have to work on making you push passed the pain but finding a balance to let you know that something is really wrong. Pain can be a good motivator, but it is also telling you that something is wrong."

"I know that," Raven quipped back defiently.

"I know that you know that. You've lived with it for years now, but Raven, that doesn't mean that it can't change. A twinge or a new sensation could mean lots of things. You have to be able to tell what will hinder you and what will aid you."

"I got it.

"Does your brace allow you to bend your leg?"

"Yes, if I loosen the nuts, but then I have no stability with it. If I don't keep it locked, my knee gives and I fall. Why?"

"Well, I wanted to know if you could run. I wanted to work on your stamina, but you can't run like that. You'll trip and ..."

"Get hurt?" Raven asked.

Echo looked hurt. She hadn't meant to hurt her with her words, but she didn't know how else to word it. She hadn't discussed everything clearly with Raven or with Clarke about Raven's training. She was just doing what she was asked to do, but the more time she spent with Raven, the more she realized that this wasn't just for defense for Raven. It was something different.

"Do you want to work on something else?" Echo asked as she took a step back to give the Latina room to be angry.

"No, sword work and feet work. Again," Raven demanded.

Echo sighed. She raised her training sword and began to attack. Raven deflected her blows easily and moved with her. She was generally good until she had to continue moving left, against her leg, for long periods of time. It was why Echo kept feinting to her own right and attacking Raven's left. She wanted it to be second nature for her to step, block and counter. It needed to be one fluid motion. She needed to know that her leg didn't hinder her ability to fight. And, that is when everything made sense to Echo.

Raven wasn't doing this just so she could defend herself if need be. She felt like she was hindering them because of her leg. She should have been able to fight, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip with them back on Earth. Instead she was always playing with tech and trying to save their collective asses from a very deranged computer chip. She'd felt like she failed Clarke on some level because she'd hadn't been on the front line. This time, Raven was going to be ready and she was going to fight with them.

When the brown eyed warrior met her deep chocolate eyes, her thoughts were cemented. Raven was doing this to help them defend themselves, not just herself. She wanted to be better. She didn't want to be the reason that they failed. She saw herself as brilliant with tech and building things, but when it came to defense, she was the failure. She was what held them back and it was all because of her leg.

Echo knew that pushing her was only going to do so much. Raven had to want it. And, she did. She wanted it just as bad as the initiates that Echo had met in Polis before Lexa died. They all wanted to survive, but they knew that only one of them would live and win the conclave. Raven was training like she had to win the conclave. She was pushing herself to exhaustion and she knew that the only reason that Clarke and Madi approved of this was so that Raven would actually have regular checkups with Abby.

"No, stop," Echo commanded as Raven backed up again and her foot dragged funny in the dirt.

"Again."

"No."

"Again!" Raven demanded.

"Your leg can't take any more today, Raven. I will train you. I will push you to the point you might break, but I will not allow you to hurt yourself."

"I'm fine," Raven stated, even though pain laced her words. "I can keep going. Again."

"Raven, stop."

"Echo, again," she said, this time almost pleading for it.

"Why?" Echo asked her as she moved closer to the wounded mechanic. "Why is this so important to you? Why do you want this so bad?"

"Because I do."

"Not good enough," Echo said as she moved closer.

She was inside Raven's stance. She knew all it would take was a slight shift in Raven's weight onto her left leg and she would fall. Their practice swords were at their sides and she looked down into her eyes. She could see the pain, the heartache and the determination to get it right, leg be damned.

"Raven..."

"I owe her my life," Raven replied.

"Who?"

"Clarke...I owe her my life several times over. I need to be able to protect her. I want to go through the trials, Echo. I need you to prepare me for the trials."

"Raven, you'd never pass. There is no way. I'm sorry, but you can't run with your leg like that. You can't become Jusgona if you can't pass the trials."

"Echo..."

"Raven, it would kill you...they will kill you."

"Not if you train me."

"You can't bend your knee and run," Echo countered.

"What if I could?" Raven offered.

"How?"

"You let me worry about that. You train me. When I can run, I'll let you know. Deal?"

"This is dangerous, Raven. I owe her my life, too. But, I cannot do what you do. I am a warrior. I am a spy. I can get in places that she cannot. You can do things with tech. You can destroy stone. You can make radios that work over long distances. I cannot do any of that. She needs you for that."

"That is easy stuff. But, we both know that a war is brewing. I need to be ready. I want to be able to fight and not be hiding somewhere in a bunker or ship waiting to see if y'all are going to be okay. At Mount Weather, I was the one that lead the team to blow up the engines at the Hyrdo plant and my leg is the reason that Wick is dead and I got captured. It was the reason that they drilled into my hip. They used me to hurt Clarke. I can't let that happen again."

Echo could see her resolve. She knew that Raven wasn't going to stop. If Echo didn't train her, she'd pull an Octavia and trick Indra into doing it or assigning someone else to do it. At least this way, Clarke had some input on what was happening because she knew that Echo would tell her. It also meant that Abby would let them all know when Raven needed a break. She met her eyes and held them again.

"Fine, be we are done today. You will become my sekkon. And, you will go see Abby every day. If I don't like what she says, you stop."

"You'll make me your sekkon?"

"Yes, because I know that this is the only way that I can ensure that you'll be safe in your training. You will report to me every day. You will train when and how I say. You will start to take watch at night in the rotation with the other jusgona. This doesn't mean that you are jusgona. It just means that you are training to be a warrior. I will teach you to be a shadow, too. You will do well to trust that I will make you deadly," Echo told her.

"Good."

"And, it won't be easy. I will be hard on you. I push you to the brink. I will make you cry. You will get bruised. You will get cut. You will get pushed down and you have to get up again," Echo stated.

"Ge smak daun goyn op nodotaim," Raven replied the phrase in butchered Trig.

"And, for the love of the gods, you are going to learn Trigedasleng fully. You can't be Jusgona if you can't speak it. You wouldn't be able to understand commands. So, from here on out, I will only speak to you in Trig. Sha?"

"Sha," Raven replied.

Echo reached out for her arm and shook it in the traditional Grounder way. Then, still holding her by the elbow, she struck her in the face. Raven looked at her, but realized that her training had really begun. She knew that Echo wasn't going to take it easy on her. She was Azgeda. They were harsh warriors. They fought dirty, because failure was not an option. Fight or die, that was their orders from Queen Nia.

"Go see Abby and have your leg looked at. Then report to Heda to see if you are needed. You stand first watch tonight with me," Echo told her.

"Sha," Raven told her.

"Do you even know what I said?" Echo asked her.

"I think you told me to go see Abby. I got that part. Then check on Madi. And, then I...I got nothing," Raven replied.

"Don't worry Little Bird. You will fly again. Go. I'll get you tonight for watch."

Raven could tell that she'd been dismissed. It was upsetting that she didn't entirely know what Echo said, but she got the gist of it. She handed her the practice sword and turned to go see Abby. Echo just let her go. She knew that Raven would be okay, but she made a mental note to find the blacksmith. If Raven was serious and was actually going to be her sekkon, she was going to need a real sword and some knives.

"She's getting better," Indra said as she came up on Echo. "She reminds me a lot of Octavia when she first started training. Like all Skaigadas, she is stubborn but loyal to Wanheda en Heda, now."

"She is."

"Why have you taken her on as your sekkon, Jusgona Echo, Azripa kom Wanheda?" Indra asked her addressing her formally.

Echo knew that she asking more as the head General than as a friend. Indra was worried for the girl, but she was fierce. She looked over at the darker warrior and smiled.

"Because it pleases me..." Echo answered as she headed to the clinic to follow up with Abby about Raven's leg.