Clarke didn't go directly to her room. She detoured to Titus' quarters. It took some talking but the guards let her in. She stayed near the door and waited for him to acknowledge her.

"Here to change my mind? Tell me that Heda won't execute me?"

"She will, if she must. She doesn't want to. I'm not your enemy. I'm not trying to take anyone from you."

"You don't have to try, Wanheda. She comes to you as a moth comes to a flame. She will not know how dangerous you are until it is too late."

"I was leaving, Titus. I was going to Arkadia to try to get Skaikru to see reason, even though both Lexa and I knew I would be imprisoned and possibly executed."

"It was her duty to get vengeance on those who wronged us."

"You don't want vengeance or justice. You want to eliminate Skaikru. Would you tell Lexa to destroy any other clan for the actions of a few of its members? It wasn't all Skaikru. Not all Skaikru approved, and only 10 killed the soldiers. If 10 Azgeda attacked a village, would you recommend wholesale war?"

"Sha, for that is what they understand."

"We can be better. We don't have to act like children whose toys have been taken."

"It was not toys that were taken."

"I know. I saw them. I do not regret asking Lexa to be patient. Skaikru would have surrendered the guilty."

"When? They would still be defying Heda if you had your way."

"They would be starving if I had my way, and beginning to understand that they were on the wrong path. They would have removed Pike from power."

"It would not matter. There was no coming back from what they did. No one would trust them."

"Really? Because Lexa took the Ice Nation as an ally, even after they tortured and murdered Costia."

"One girl is not the same as 300 warriors."

"Because of numbers or because it was Skaikru?"

"Three hundred warriors, Wanheda. All the able bodied adults from several villages. Villages that were left with only the protection of the old, infirm, and very young. Villages that will now disappear because there is no one to farm, hunt or fish."

Clarke watched him silently for several seconds and changed tactics. "Ontari needs your assistance."

"She does not want my assistance. She does not trust me."

"The Natblida need you."

"They do not. There are fighters to train them."

"You teach them more than that."

"You will teach them what you want them to know."

"I don't know your history, Titus. I don't know how your people survived. I don't know why you believe some things are more important than others."

"You did not ask. You came in and demanded we change, that we accept your ways."

"I asked for peace. Lexa sought peace before she ever knew me. Skaikru ended the Mountain without any more of your people being lost. Skaikru gave back people you thought long gone. Lexa did everything she could to avoid war with Azgeda, and succeeded in that. How many lives did she save? How many children will grow up knowing their parents? How many more will live to become adults?"

"Jus drein jus daun."

"It benefits no one. You heard Ontari. She said the debt is paid. The guilty are dead. There is no reason for you to die, as well."

"I am guilty."

"You are. But you forget her last instruction to you."

"I forget nothing."

"'Badan neson-de op kom we yu don badain ai op.' You will disobey her, even though you know her spirit lives?"

They stared at each other. Clarke waited for his answer, but none came.

"Good night, Titus," Clarke said, and left him.

He stared at the door. She had the audacity to repeat to him the last direction Lexa gave him. Wanheda had power over him, as much as any heda had. She should have been screaming for his head, but she was still trying to prevent bloodshed, even that of her enemy. He did not understand her or her ways.

But the last thing Lexa said to him stuck with him. He served four hedas before Lexa, and none lasted as long as she did or accomplished as much. Her power was immense. He never before saw a dead heda speak through the living one. She asked him to serve. It would mean serving Wanheda, as well, for neither heda would set her aside. He did not know whether he could bring himself to do that.

Surrendering his pride would give him time to properly train the next Fleimkepa. Since he was living on borrowed time, it was important that the next was trained. Perhaps Aden. Would Lexa approve? She intended for him to be heda, but being Fleimkepa was important, too.

Titus sat down and began to think through his options.

Several floors below, Clarke changed into her sleeping clothes and got into bed. She was tired, and it never seemed to stop. The position she was in now was so much worse than being Skaiprisa. There was no room for error if she was to keep everyone alive, starting with Ontari.

Clarke sighed, rolled onto her back, and closed her eyes. She was still awake an hour later when Ontari got in bed beside her.

"Why are you here?"

"If this is where you sleep, it is where I sleep."

"You're not going to listen, are you?"

"I listen as you do, Klark. You spoke to Titus. What more was there to say?"

"Nothing. He does not wish to hear reason."

"If he changes his mind?"

"He should live."

"She wants him dead."

"I know." Clarke rolled onto her side and put her back to Ontari.

Ontari turned onto her side and slid one arm under Clarke while putting the over her. She found Clarke's hand and held it. "Reshop, Klark."

"Reshop, Ontari."

Badan neson-de op kom we yu don badain ai op. = Serve the next as you have served me.