"Tell me about the chip, Raven. Why'd you take it? What did it do? Why were you in Polis?"

"I was tired of being in pain all the time. Jaha said there wouldn't be any pain in the City of Light. He was right. It was beautiful," Raven said wistfully. "But it's not someplace you can stay. You still have to eat and drink and everything. There isn't any pain, not physical or emotional. It's calm and peaceful and perfect." Raven emptied her mug and refilled it with water. "Until it's not. A.L.I.E. seems nice, but she's cold and manipulative and will do whatever she has to to get what she wants."

"What does she want?"

"You know she ended the world, right? She targeted the most populous areas on earth. She launched the missiles. She thinks humans are a plague on the earth. She wants to eliminate all of us, and replace us with something else. But before she does that, she wants her updated source code."

"Replace us with what?" Abby asked.

"I'm not sure. She uses the chips to gain information. Everyone who has one is connected to her. She can see what they see, hear what they hear. When she's close enough, she can give instructions."

"Why were you in Polis?" Clarke repeated.

"I told you, she wants her updated source code. She thinks it's on one of the Ark stations. She sent me here to find out where they landed. The only one she knows about is Farm Station."

"Why does she think it's on the Ark?" Marcus asked.

"I don't know. She had me go through all the code at Camp Jaha. She's going to Farm Station next. I'm supposed to go back and tell her where the others are, but nobody here knows."

"There's only one person who might know," Clarke said.

"Titus?" Ontari asked.

"Sha."

"The plot thickens," Marcus said softly.

"Yeah," Clarke said. You can do this, Klark. You are strong. Raven has many answers. You will find the rest. She rolled her eyes and drank more. "Everyone here has heard this before, so I'm going to hit the high points. Stop me if you have a question," Clarke told Raven, who nodded.

"I don't know when you took the chip, but the important part starts when Jaha returned to Arkadia. Murphy left with him, but he came back alone, with a chip that Jaha gave him, and got picked up by the guards for ambushing travelers to steal their stuff. The guards found the chip on him and instead of putting him in jail, they turned him over to Titus, who is the Fleimkepa. He's a cross between court historian, professor emeritus, and shaman. Titus doesn't like me, and we'll get to that in a bit." Clarke paused to drink again, and noticed her hand trembling.

Ontari noticed, too, and put her hand over Clarke's on the table. "Marcus can finish," she offered.

Clarke shook her head, drank again, and took a deep breath. "Pike came from Farm Station. There wasn't room for everyone from Farm Station at Arkadia, so Mom reopened the Mountain and put them there. She and Marcus came to Polis so Skaikru could join the Coalition. The minute it was official, Bellamy and Pike busted in, and a minute later you radioed to tell us that Mount Weather was gone. We knew then that the Ice Nation was behind it. Emerson was the only one who escaped Mount Weather, and he went to Azgeda. They sent him back to bide his time, and as soon as Farm Station was in there, he went in and set off the self destruct. Lexa ordered Indra to take 300 warriors to guard Arkadia against an attack from Azgeda.

"In the meantime, Nia stirred up shit here. She challenged Lexa to a fight to the death with her son, Roan. Lexa won the fight and killed Nia and Roan became king of Azgeda. Lexa and I were bringing Nia's body to Arkadia to show them that the Ice Nation had been punished when we found the army. Everyone but Indra was dead. They were slaughtered in their sleep by Pike and his followers, including Bellamy. Pike somehow got elected as chancellor and he rejected the alliance. His stance was that the only good grounder is a dead grounder."

Clarke hung her head, eyes closed for several seconds. Ontari squeezed her hand. You can do this, Klark. It is the past. Raven must understand so she can help you. Ste yuj, Klark. There is not much more to tell.

"I should have let Lexa call the armies then to take Arkadia and put Pike on the tree like the traitor he was. But I convinced her she could be better, that change had to start with her, so she called for her armies to put a five mile blockade around Arkadia, to give them time to realize that Pike's way was wrong, to starve them out. A lot of people weren't happy about this, especially Titus. He thinks I made Lexa weak.

"Part of blockade was that any Skaikru on this side of it would be subject to a kill order starting at dawn the day after all the armies were in place. I was getting ready to leave, and when I went to my room to get what I needed, I found Murphy there. He was gagged and tied and when I went to help him, I found out Titus was there. He planned to shoot me and blame it on Murphy, but he was a bad shot. Lexa came to see who was firing a gun because weapons are forbidden in the Tower, and when she opened the door, Titus accidentally shot and killed her.

"After she died, he removed a computer chip from her neck and threw Murphy and I in jail. Roan came back with Ontari. He got us out of jail and made me Azgeda's ambassador. Ontari beat the other Natblida in the Conclave, and the chip that was taken from Lexa is in her now. They call it the Flame. It's how the commander's spirit is passed from one heda to the next. Titus has a chip, too."

"Why is he alive?" Raven asked.

"Strategy," Ontari answered. She squeezed Clarke's hand gently. Lexa had been talking nonstop since Clarke mentioned the slaughtered army, and from the look on Clarke's face and the way she moved her head from time to time, Ontari knew Lexa was talking to her, too.

"I can hear Lexa. Ontari can hear Lexa. Sometimes she takes over Ontari's body, but I'm trying to convince her to stop doing that. Oh, and Murphy told us that Titus has some crazy shrine in the basement. It has an escape pod from Polaris Station and some drawings on the wall that represent the first commander and the first nightbloods."

"It's a good thing A.L.I.E. doesn't know any of this," Raven said. She drained the water in her mug and refilled it with beer. "That's probably where the source code is."

"Either there or in Ontari or Titus. Can you duplicate the programming of their chips?"

"Probably, with enough time. Why would you want to do that?"

"It's just an idea."

"A.L.I.E. is dangerous. She knows you're removing chips from her followers. She'll try to stop you."

"How can she do that?"

"I don't know. Jaha has her. She's in a case. He's the only one who's allowed to touch it."

Clarke dropped her head. Questions raced through her mind. There were still big pieces missing, but she was getting closer to seeing the big picture.

"What's wrong, Clarke?" Abby asked.

"Nothing. I'm thinking. I want Raven to stay here tonight. She's safer with me than she is with you, Mom."

"You need to check on her every few hours."

"We'll probably be up talking so that won't be a problem. If something happens, I'll send a guard for you."

Abby looked at Raven. "I'll be fine with Clarke," Raven told her.

"You come and see me first thing," Abby ordered.

"I will," Raven answered.

Abby sighed and stood up. Marcus stood up without the theatrics. "Good night," he told everyone and shepherded Abby to the door.

"You didn't tell me everything," Raven accused Clarke as soon as they were gone.

"You didn't tell me everything either," Clarke answered. "And there's stuff Mom doesn't need to know."

"I have a bunch of questions."

"Ask," Clarke told her while refilling her mug.