"Klark, it is time to rise."
"No."
"Sha. Alba will work you twice as hard if you are late."
Clarke sighed and forced her eyes open. Ontari stood beside her bed, a mug of water in her hand. Clarke sat up and took it. She emptied the mug and handed it back to Ontari and bent over to get her boots and fell out of bed.
Clarke laughed and rolled on to her back before sitting up and reaching for her boots. Once they were on, she held up a hand. Ontari took it and pulled her up. "Roan and the Skaiskat are on their way to the stables. Roan left a satchel for you."
"Mochof."
"Come to my quarters for breakfast after your training. Marcus will eat with us. We meet with Trishana and Podakru this afternoon. Titus will join us for supper."
Clarke sighed. "Anything else?"
"I would like you to return to the chambers you previously occupied."
"No. That's not gonna happen."
"I want you near."
"You better find someplace else because I am never going into that room."
"We will discuss this later."
"No, we won't. It's not going to happen." Clarke checked her pockets for the tins and her notebook. "Where are the other tins?"
"I have them. I will return them to you."
Clarke nodded. "I have to go." She stepped around Ontari and went into the common room. She picked up the satchel on the table and the papers beside it. She put the papers in the satchel and went out the door.
Clarke realized she was still drunk when she had trouble navigating the stairs. She slowed down and concentrated on what she was doing. By the time she reached the training ring, she was seriously considering skipping it, but decided that if Grounders could fight drunk, so could she. She left her satchel on the ground near the rack of practice weapons and covered it with her jacket. Before starting, she got another drink of water.
Alba assessed her and smirked. "Long night, Wanheda?"
"Something like that. Let's get to work."
His opinion of Clarke improved a little with that statement. She spent the next two hours getting her ass handed to her, but showed improvement. He pulled her upright and sent her on her way when they finished for the day.
In the Azgeda suite, Clarke ordered bread, meat, and wine before going to bathe. She needed to go over the morning reports and whatever Roan left for her.
Her head was starting to pound by the time she finished bathing and dressing. It didn't help that Ontari and Marcus were sitting at the table in the common room.
"I was coming up when I finished," Clarke said.
"I did not want to wait," Ontari answered.
"Clarke, your mother asked me to bring her two of the chips when we take a break."
"Ok," she said. "Give him one of the tins."
Ontari nodded and pulled one from a pocket.
Clarke poured some wine in a mug and pulled papers from the satchel. Before she started reading, she said, "I hope breakfast is coming."
"Sha."
Clarke nodded. She read the dispatches and set two aside to be dealt with later. The food arrived, and Clarke went through the rest of the papers Roan left in the satchel while eating. It also held a few vials, a knife, and two pouches of coins. Clarke sat it aside and passed the two reports to Marcus, who passed them to Ontari when he finished them.
Ontari glanced at them and put them aside. Clarke looked at her speculatively. "Marcus, will you give us a minute, please?"
"Certainly Clarke." Marcus went into the hall.
"Did you read the dispatches, Ontari?"
"I cannot read."
"Did Nia teach you anything except how to fight?"
"No."
"Ok." Clarke got up and went to the other side of the table. "These are important because they are about Trishana and Podakru. Trishana wants to change the trade agreement. Right now, they are obligated to provide 500 pounds of meat each year in exchange for 100 pounds of salt and 100 pounds of fish. They want twice as much salt and no fish."
"That sounds fair."
"Yeah, except salt is expensive, and then there's the question of what happens to the fish."
"Oh."
"Right."
"Podakru wants to send more warriors to Polis for training, but they don't want to pay anything for it."
"We are supposed to train others."
"Sha, but they are to supply weapons, clothing, and food for their warriors while they are here."
"Oh." Ontari looked at Clarke. "This is difficult."
"More annoying than difficult. This is where Marcus and I help you. We'll talk about this when he comes back. I'll help you learn to read and write. It's important. You need to send and receive messages. It won't be easy, but I know you can do it."
Ontari nodded.
"We'll keep that to ourselves for now. We'll go over the reports at breakfast every morning."
"Mochof, Klark."
"Pro." She looked toward the door. "Marcus."
He returned. "Everything all right?"
"Everything is fine," Clarke answered and returned to her seat. "You saw the dispatches. We're meeting with those ambassadors today."
"Who's first?"
"Podakru," Ontari answered.
"What should we do about their request?" Marcus asked.
"Polis cannot support them. They must supply food, weapons, and clothing as the other clans do when their warriors train here."
"That's reasonable. We will use the same strategy as before. You let the ambassador talk until he's finished. You address his questions and concerns. You tell him what you expect from his clan. Calmly. Podakru should send no more warriors than they can support."
Ontari nodded.
"And what should be do about Trishana?"
"Half as much salt as they request, and ask what they want instead of fish, other than salt."
"You'll still have to deal with the fish issue, but we'll see what happens. Every time you meet with the ambassadors, you want to let them talk until they finish, unless they're out of line. Then you answer their concerns, tell them what you want, and go from there."
"You make this sound simple," Ontari said.
"It's not always simple, but doing it this way shows that you respect them and welcome what they bring to the coalition. It will ease their fears about Azgeda, which is important given your history with the other clans."