Clarke entered the room quietly, but had her fingers crossed that Raven was awake. She was thrilled to see Raven sitting up and hurried across the room. Raven looked up when she saw the motion, and smiled at Clarke.
"I am so glad to see you, Raven," Clarke said, and bent down to hug her.
"Good to see you, too, Clarke."
"How are you feeling?"
"My leg hurts like hell and so does my neck, but I'm OK other than that."
"I'll see if I can get you some crutches."
"I sent someone, Clarke," Abby said.
"Everyone else is a couple floors up."
"I'll see them later."
"Raven's going to stay with me until we're sure she can get around."
"I'll make a new brace tomorrow and be out of your hair," Raven told her.
"We'll see," Abby answered noncommittally.
"It's almost time for supper. When the guard gets back with your crutches, have dinner with me. You and Marcus, too, Mom."
"We'll be there soon, Clarke," Abby answered.
Clarke bent down to hug her mother, too. "Thank you."
"Once I'm sure Raven and Sora have no aftereffects, we'll remove the chips from the others."
"Actually," Raven said, "we should probably talk about that."
"Over dinner. We'll catch up on everything then," Clarke said, and left as quickly as she came.
She gave instructions to her guards while they followed her up the stairs and made a mental note to ask Ontari to give Raven a guard, too.
In the Azgeda suite, Clarke changed into lighter clothes before sitting at the table to go through the dispatches. As usual, she sorted them into two piles: Ones that weren't important, and the ones that Ontari needed to see.
She wrote a quick report to Roan and asked whether he thought they should include Fair in the morning and evening discussions. She cleared the table and got her sketchbook out to pass the time. She drew Fair's serious dark eyes and studious expression before making a quick sketch of the tattoo on Titus' head. When the door opened, she looked up to see Ontari entering.
"Titus is annoyed with both of us today," Ontari reported with the biggest smile Clarke had seen from her.
"Oh?"
"I sent him to his quarters for the afternoon and had the Natblida show me their favorite places in Polis. They know much about the city."
"I bet they do."
"And you had Fair ask questions that made him angry."
"I did not have Fair do anything. Those are her questions. I spoke with her after the lesson."
"He is also angry that you did as you said you would and only listened."
"I can't do anything to please him," Clarke said.
"Apparently not."
"My mom and Marcus and Raven are joining us for supper."
"Raven is the one who can fix everything."
"Sha. We removed the chip from her neck earlier today."
"So it is possible."
"It is. Mom wants to wait a couple days before we remove them from the rest."
"Why?"
"To make sure there are no aftereffects."
Ontari nodded and raised her hand to her neck.
"Their chips aren't like yours. We aren't taking anything from them."
"I know. Heda Leksa explained."
"Did she let you have time with the Natblida?"
"Sha. She said nothing, but she was happy. Just like she is happy when we are together."
Clarke tried to smile and couldn't. A moment later, Ontari's hand was on her arm and she looked up to see Lexa's concerned green eyes looking back. "You will find the answer soon, Klark."
"I'm trying, Lexa. Thank you for letting Ontari spend time with the Natblida."
"They are hers now, but you are always mine."
It was Ontari's hand that cupped Clarke's cheek, but she felt Lexa's touch. Clarke put her hand around Ontari's wrist. She pulled her hand from her face. "You need to let her be," Clarke said.
"Soon," Lexa promised. "I will trouble her no more than the others when we are together."
"Mochof."
"Ai hod you in, Klark."
Clarke closed her eyes and wished again that Lexa said those words while she was alive. Clarke had been too afraid to say them, too afraid they would mean goodbye. Now they frustrated her.
The raps on the door startled them. Lexa receded and Ontari looked sadly at Clarke while Clarke kept her eyes closed and tried to compose herself.
"Enter," Ontari called after several seconds.
Marcus came in first. Raven followed him and Abby was behind her. Clarke waited for them to sit down before saying anything. "Raven, this is Heda Ontari kom Azgeda. Heda, this is Raven kom Skaikru."
"I have heard much about you," Ontari said.
"I've been out of the loop. What happened to Lexa?"
Clarke sighed. "It's a long story, and we'll go over all of it after we eat."
"Klark, we do not have to," Ontari began.
"We do. And we need to know what Raven knows so we can decide what to do next." Clarke got up and left the room. She returned with two bottles of moonshine, two bottles of wine, and a fistful of mugs. She put everything in the center of the table. "Pick your poison," she told them, and pulled a bottle of moonshine and a mug along when she took her seat.
"Clarke, that's not a good idea," Abby said.
"Mom, have a glass of wine. Have two. It's going to be a long night. Dinner will be here soon. We can just talk."
Ontari got up and went to the door. She said something the others couldn't hear to the guards. A few minutes later, he returned with two more bottles and two pitchers.
"Whiskey, better wine, beer, and water," she explained, and poured beer for herself.
Abby gave in and got a glass of wine. "Two glasses of beer or wine and no more," she told Raven. "You still have the sedative in your system."
"Beer," Raven said, and Ontari filled a mug and passed it to her.
Marcus opened the bottle of whiskey and poured half a mug. He sniffed it and smiled. "Mochof, Heda," he said, and raised it in her direction before taking a sip.
She nodded to acknowledge him, and since one else was talking, took the lead. "I spent the day with the Natblida. They are the young ones. One will be heda after me. We spent the morning in extraordinarily boring lessons, but in the afternoon they showed me around Polis."
"Where did they take you?"
"I thought we would go to the market, but they all have a favorite place, and that is where we went. There is a library full of books and pictures. It is huge. There is an old building called a church that has many colored windows. It was very peaceful and beautiful."
"Where is the church?" Clarke asked. She'd been to the library to kill time while Lexa was in meetings with her generals or the ambassadors.
"I am not certain, but the Natblida can take us there if you wish."
"Sounds good." Clarke swigged from her mug. "Where else?"
"The armorer was interesting. She showed us many different armors and let us try to beat some into the proper shape. The others were small places except for the stable. They all like the horses. We are going to ride later in the week."
The door opened before anyone could say anything and guards carried in several trays of food. The last tray had plates, cutlery, and additional pitchers of water and beer. When they were gone, Ontari began to fill her plate. Everyone else did the same. Clarke took small amounts of everything and ignored the looks her mother and Ontari gave her.
Klark, you must eat.
"Stuff it," Clarke muttered.
Raven looked at her quizzically. "Clarke, do you feel OK?"
"I'm fine."
"You are not eating enough."
Clarke turned in her seat to glare at Ontari. "No tag team heda tonight."
"Eat," Ontari insisted. "You are the one who said it will be a long night."
Clarke turned back to her plate. Nothing looked good, so she ate mechanically until the plate was empty. She looked at her mother and Ontari. "Satisfied?"
"No," Ontari said. "You did not eat enough."
"That wasn't much, Clarke," Raven agreed.
"I'm not hungry."
"If you're going to drink like you did last time, you need to eat more," her mother said.
Clarke twitched. Eat. You need to be strong to tell all and hear the rest.
Clarke closed her eyes for a second, then drained her mug. She pulled her plate back and handed it to Ontari. Ontari put the same amount of food on it that Clarke took initially while Clarke refilled her mug.
She looked at the plate and sighed when Ontari put it in front of her, and forced herself to eat everything. When she pushed her plate away this time, everyone else was finished, too.