Chapter 75

That afternoon found a bandaged Echo and Octavia at the blacksmith's. Octavia cocked an eyebrow as Echo selected through a few pieces of iron and steel before she found an ingot that she like enough to work worth. After some tense conversation, Echo was allowed to use the smith's bellows.

She stripped down to a tank top, ignoring the cooler weather. She stoked the fire and looked over the man's tools. She selected a few before dropping the ingot into the coals to heat it. Octavia just watched her.

"Chit?" Echo finally asked her when it finally bothered her too much.

"What are you doing?"

"Making Raven a sword," Echo replied as she turned the ingot over to heat it thoroughly.

Octavia just watched her. She didn't know what to say to that. She knew that Echo took her job of being the Fos to Raven very seriously. She just thought it was odd that Echo was personally making a sword for her sekken.

"Why?"

"Who gave you your sword?" Echo asked as she turned the ingot again.

"Indra."

"So, you know that I have to give Raven a sword. Indra was your first. I am Raven's."

"Indra gave me Lincoln's sword. She gave me his tattoo. She didn't make me a sword. And, I was only her second for less than six months."

"She still gave a sword. She knew what that sword would mean to you. She knew that you would care for it because it was Lincoln's. She didn't need to have one made. Each fos give their sekken a weapon. Indra did you one better and marked you. She claimed you as Lincoln's homoun to all of Trikru even though he was labeled a traitor. Indra also gave Clarke Lexa's dagger. That dagger was a gift from Anya to Lexa when she was Lexa's fos," Echo told studying the heat and ingot.

She reached up and pulled down on the chains of bellows. The coals roared and got hotter. She did this several times before she turned and faced Octavia again.

"Do you wish to make your own blade?" Echo asked her.

Octavia shook her head. Echo stoked the fire again. Then, she reached in with tongs and pulled the ingot out. She moved over to the anvil and began to pound out on it. Octavia just stood back and watched her work. When the ingot was too cold to work with, Echo shoved it back into the coals and pulled on the bellows chain.

"Where did you learn to do this? I thought you were an assassin, scout and archer," Octavia said as she curiously just watched all of Echo's movements. "Why do you know how to blacksmith?"

"I wasn't always a member of Queen Nia's Royal Guard, Octavia. My father was a blacksmith. My mother was a wounded warrior. She was no longer useful, so I was deemed not worthy in her eyes. I wasn't allowed to train to be a warrior."

"Because your mother could no longer fight?"

"Yes, warriors were everything to Nia. If you weren't gona, you didn't have status. My father was no one, but he was one of the best blacksmiths in our region. He started teaching me how to make things when I was big enough to stand beside him and pull the bellow chains," Echo told her.

"Then, how did you end up in the Guard?" Octavia asked.

"It is a long story," Echo replied.

"And, how long is it going to take you to make that sword?" Octavia countered.

Echo laughed. Octavia had a point. She could tell her the truth. It was something that she'd kept hidden for years. She didn't want to think about it, honestly, but Octavia was family. She knew that her sis jusgona deserved to know.

She turned the ingot over in the coals, and looked over into Octavia's green eyes before saying, "My name isn't Echo."

Octavia looked at her. Stunned wasn't the word for it, and Octavia didn't know how to process what Echo just said. Echo didn't wait for further reaction. She just kept working the bellows and turning the pounded ingot.

"I was born in what was the borderlands between Azgeda en Sangedakru. When I was barely six summers, Azgeda asked our village. They razed the village, but my mother hid me in the cellar. When Nia found out, the warriors that burnt the town were killed and all of the surviving children were taken to the Capital. Nia remembered that my mother was one of her officers, so she had me trained with the other warrior's children. But, she never expected anything of me.

"While in training, I met another girl who's name was Echo. We became friends, which as Azgeda is dangerous in itself. One day years later, Nia comes to check on Echo, not me. She finds us training and calls Echo over. She gives Echo an ultimatum, kill me or we both die. It was loyalty test. Nia didn't trust me. She thought I would betray her because of what happened to my village.

"Echo and I fought," Echo explained as she pulled the ingot out again and started pounding on it.

As the molten steel elongated, she watched Octavia over her hammer. She would pound a few times and then say something more, pound again, and continue like this. Octavia didn't move from the stool that she'd found near the bellows. But, every time that Echo raised her hand for the bellows, Octavia would pull the chain for her. This is how they continued through her story, as Echo worked on Raven's sword.

"I never forgot who I was or what I was. I was a blacksmith that was playing at being a warrior. I didn't take it seriously, but Echo did. She trained with me. I was just doing it until they would send me to a smith. I didn't know that what happened that day would change the course of my life forever.

"Echo pulled her dagger on me. It was the only weapon that we were allowed as strikgona. We hadn't made our swords or earned them, yet. It didn't matter that we trained with everything. She rushed me and we fought. I didn't want to fight her. She was my friend," Echo paused in her hammering.

She looked up at Octavia, "In the end, I killed her. I survived because of what she had taught me. I plunged her own knife into her body and killed her.

"Nia sat atop her horse with a smile. She told me that maybe I did have potential after all. But, now she had a problem. Sangedakru was expecting a teenage Echo to show up in a few seasons to be trained with their archers. Echo was dead. So, Nia turned to me and called me Echo. She personally gave me a kill mark on my shoulder, but left my face untouched. Before I was shipped off to Sangeda, I was pulled into the Queen's Guard. I was trained harder because Nia saw a potential in me that I wasn't sure that I wanted. From that day on, Echo the spy was born. My name, my family, and what I wanted didn't matter. I was to serve the Queen and Azgeda. There was no room for failure."

"Then what is your name?"

"Ash."

"And your brother?"

"He is my brother. When I saved myself, he was pulled into the Guard, too. Nia used him against me, to control me, to get me to do things that I wouldn't have done if it wasn't for the fear of his death. She was cruel, and she knew how to exploit everyone to get what she wanted. Thankfully, he was sent away to be a spy too. I am sure that she used me against him, but we both survived. We serve our people, Octavia. Sometimes that means serving the Queen to protect them."

"But now, you serve Heda en Wanheda," Octavia stated, with a slight question in her inflection.

"With my life."

"So, what should I call you, Sis? Eko? Or, Ash?"

"I've been Echo so long, that I don't know that I could ever answer to Ash again. That girl is dead. And, I am here now. I am not longer Azgeda. I no longer serve Nia or Roan. Ai laik jusgona kom Heda kom Wonkru. Ai laik Wonkru."

"Ai laik Gryfonkru," Octavia teased her back.

"Yeah, that too," Echo replied with a small smile and went back to pounding.

For hours, she heated and pounded. Octavia sat there in rapt attention as the blade started to form. She was impressed. The heat didn't seem to bother either them as Echo continued to work it.

"I need something for the hilt," Echo said, absentmindedly.

"Do you mind if I make it?" Octavia asked her.

Echo looked up and smiled. She shook her head. Octavia was out of the smithy in a flash. Echo went back to heating and shaping. She was proud that she still remembered how to do it. It had been years, but she knew that this blade would protect her "Little Bird."

Octavia came running back into the smithy with two small pieces of wood. She sat back down on the stool as she started carving on the wood. Echo cocked her eyebrow at her but let her work. By the time that Echo was done with the blade and had the tang how she wanted, she looked up to Octavia.

"Here," the brunette told her handing two pieces of carved wood.

Echo turned them over in her hands. One piece was warn down, soft but hard, and had a dark Raven inlaid into it. The other piece had something that looked like the word Ashes carved into it. Echo cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Only you and I will know what it means," Octavia told her as she moved closer.

Echo grabbed some nails and fixed the two pieces to the tang. Once she was satisfied with the placement, she grabbed some thick wire and wrapped it around it the newly made handle. From there, she grabbed some dark leather. She wrapped the entire handle in the leather after coating most of it in some sort of glue. After the leather was laid, she took a small knife and out the the leather that covered the raven so it shown.

She tested the weight. Raven would need to sharpen it, but Echo knew that the blade would serve her well. Then, they both set to making a scabbard and baldric for Raven to use. They knew that they would teach to make her own armor when she was well enough to get out of the hospital, but for now, the blade would do.

As they exited the smithy, they were greeted by Clarke, Madi and Palla. Clarke gave them a look when she saw the sword. Madi just reached out for it. She drew it, tested it and looked it over. She nodded to them both and then gave it back. Palla didn't say anything but even she was amazed at the craftsmanship that Echo and Octavia had put into the project.

"She will be proud to carry that sword," Madi told them.

"I hope so, Heda," Echo replied.

"Come. I want to be there when you give it to her," Madi said as she turned to head back to the hospital. "You will train her with it dull and make her sharpen it as every fos has before with their sekken, sha?"

"Sha, Heda, we will," Echo stated.

"Good."

"Wait, you both made Raven a sword? For what? Why?" Clarke questioned.

"She is my sekken, Wanheda. She wants to learn and I will train her. This will help with her therapy, too. It will give a goal beyond her leg to seek. We also know how stubborn the 'Little Bird' is. If I don't do it, who will?" Echo questioned.

"Do. Not. Hurt. Her," Clarke commanded.

"Never," Echo answered.

They all entered the hospital and made their way to Raven's room. Madi didn't knock. She just went in. Clarke shaking her head behind her. Palla followed Echo and Octavia into the room with a smile on her face. She might not have a similar ceremony among her people, but she knew that the fact that Echo had made her protege a sword, spoke volumes of the trust and loyalty between those of Heda's people.

Echo went to Raven's left side and handed her the sword. Raven took it with wide eyes. Immediately, she turned to Clarke and then Madi. Madi nodded at her to draw it and look at it. Raven sat up a little more fully in bed. She looked it over and admired the craftsmanship. She could tell the skill and love that went into the work that Echo had put into it.

When she reverently ran her hand over the scabbard, she saw the ravens hand carved into it. She knew that it was from Octavia. She reached out and took Octavia's hand, who was standing on the other side of the bed. As she did, her hand moved across the leather covered hilt. She felt the other raven that was inlaid into the handle. She tried not to cry as she looked at the beautiful weapon in her hand, but it wasn't from the beauty of the weapon. It was from the beauty of the friends she had. The leather moved just a little bit and the ASHES could be seen as Raven turned the sword over in hand.

Madi saw the word. She looked up at both Octavia and Echo and then back to the sword. She could see something in their eyes and knew that the word meant more than it seemed.

"Who is Ash?" Madi asked them as they both stared at their Heda in shock.