That night's lesson was more memorization and regurgitation. Fair recited the names Titus reeled off the night before. Clarke didn't really care, but she sat attentively and silently, and when Titus dismissed them, Fair followed her down to Skaikru's floor.
Clarke checked in with Miller and showed him the list she copied from Ontari. He told her a little about each one. Most of them were from Farm Station, and he told her that there were possibly 20 others who hadn't been seen yet.
She introduced Fair to him and explained who she was, and explained to Fair who Miller was. She left Fair with him while she checked on Sora and the others who had chips removed. They all felt fine, and their necks showed no sign of infection. Clarke could tell by talking to them that they were no longer under A.L.I.E.'s control.
She wanted to talk to them to learn what they knew about A.L.I.E. and the City of Light. While Fair talked with Miller, Monroe and Harper gathered Sora and the others in the room they had designated as a common area.
It was hard in the beginning. They were all torn between being glad to be free of A.L.I.E.'s control and angry with Clarke for bringing back into this reality that they wanted to escape. Clarke let them vent. She felt that she deserved it. If she'd returned sooner, things would have been different. If she'd been in Arkadia, Pike wouldn't have been able to take power. Bellamy wouldn't have followed him. The others would still be alive. Lexa might still be alive.
Clarke listened until they finished talking. She asked about A.L.I.E. How much did the A.I. know? How did it obtain information? How much control did it have over its followers? At what distance, if any, did that control abate? What was its plan? What did they see in the City of Light?
She got little usable information. Most of it was still a dreamy haze to them. The only thing they knew for sure was that their pain had been gone and was now back.
Clarke didn't share her pain with them. She didn't tell them that she worried what the A.I. might do. She didn't tell them that the new heda was just as young and unsure as they were, or that Skaikru might not survive the coming months. She told them to join the others in training and to trust Miller, Harper, and Monroe. Clarke told them that she was available if they needed her.
She was drained when they finished. The others returned to their rooms. Clarke went to check on Fair and found that Bryan joined the conversation. She reminded Fair that she had to get up early and that Skaikru would be there to speak with her another time. Fair told Clarke she would leave in a few minutes. Clarke nodded, sure that Miller would end the conversation before it got too late.
Clarke trudged down the hall and took the stairs down to her floor. In her suite, Raven was teaching Ontari to play chess. Clarke picked up the dispatches and sat down to read them. When she finished, she said good night to both women.
Clarke closed the door to her bedroom. It wouldn't prevent Ontari from entering later, but she wanted some quiet. It was good that Raven was doing something with Ontari. The commander needed someone other than Clarke, and chess would teach Ontari skills that Nia neglected in training her Natblida, failing to foresee the slightest chance that Ontari would lead without Nia pulling the strings.
The unanswered questions about A.L.I.E. whirled through her brain. Clarke tried to stop those thoughts, and succeeded in pushing them aside momentarily while she wrote to both Roan and Murphy. It still amazed her that Murphy was the truest friend she had at the moment. He understood everything that was happening in a way that no one else did. He'd seen her at her weakest and watched her struggle to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Clarke set those notes on her nightstand and got ready for bed. She drifted off and didn't notice when Ontari got in bed with her.
100 – 100 – 100
"Chess is the ultimate war game," Raven explained as she set up the board. "You have a king whose capture ends the game. Beside him is a queen, the most powerful piece on the board. She can move in any direction without restriction, so you have to be careful with her. The knights move in an odd pattern, but that is often to their advantage. The bishops beside them move diagonally because historically the church tried to keep its political maneuvering on the down low, so these pieces don't attack head on. Rounding out the back row are the rooks. They can go head on, sort of like siege weapons. The front row is all infantry. Their moves are limited, but if one gets through the lines to the last row on the other side of the board, it can ransom a stronger piece."
"So this is Titus," Ontari said, touching the king, "and me," the queen.
"OK," Raven agreed.
"You," Ontari continued, touching the knight. "Roan and Clarke," she said, her fingers brushing the bishops. "I do not know who the castles are, but the pawns would be the armies."
"Yes. I'm sure you'll figure out who holds the other positions as time goes by."
"How do you know Clarke?"
"Her mom, Abby, got me to fix up an escape pod. She and I were going to come down to find out whether Clarke was alive after her monitoring bracelet went black. We got caught, and Abby bought enough time for me to launch the pod. Clarke was the first person I met after I landed." Raven moved a pawn forward two spaces.
Ontari mimicked the move.
"My boyfriend slept with her, and he kept mooning after her even when she told him she didn't want anything to do with him." Raven made another move, and Ontari mirrored it.
"He went crazy and massacred a village. All old men and women and children because the warriors were with the Commander's, I mean Commander Lexa's army getting ready to take on Mount Weather. She was going to give him the death of a thousand cuts and Clarke killed him before they could start. I was so mad at her for that." Raven continued to move pieces on the board while she talked, and Ontari continued to mirror her moves.
"She did that for me. She endangered the tentative alliance we had with Commander Lexa so I wouldn't have to watch him die slowly. It took me a while to see that, though. I didn't want to see what it cost her, how it made her feel. Even after she killed all those people in Mount Weather, I was mad at her, and then she left."
"Left?"
"She took off and the next we heard of her, she was in Polis with Commander Lexa and Skaikru had to join the alliance or be destroyed by the Ice Nation. Emerson had the self destruct codes for Mount Weather, and the Ice Nation sent him to wait for the right time. He set it off when Mount Weather was full of refugees from Farm Station."
"Sha, Azplana took him in when he came after the fall of Maun-de. He said he knew how it worked, and that he, alone, could destroy it. She sent him back to wait for the right time." Ontari carefully moved a knight as Raven had.
"He picked a good one. The only people who survived were me and Sinclair. He's with Jaha now. That was the thing that pushed him over the edge."
"What pushed you over the edge?"
"Fear," Raven answered bluntly. "Abby sidelined me, and the pain wasn't ever gonna get better, and I was afraid of spending the rest of my life sitting on the sidelines watching, never getting to do anything fun again."
"You are in pain now?"
"Every second."
"I will call a healer."
"That's not necessary. I deal with it and move on."
"What will you do now?"
"What do you need me to do?"
"I want radios. They are very useful. I want the medical machines from your Ark, and any other tek we can use from there and the other section."
"I can do that."
"Good. If you need anything, come to me. I will make sure you get it."
"Thank you, Commander." Raven moved another piece and Ontari mimicked the move. "What's with you and Clarke?"
"What do you mean?"
"I see how you look at her."
"Clarke is my friend," Ontari said stiffly.
"Friends don't usually share a bed," Raven pointed out.
"I must protect Klark."
"Hate to disappoint you, Commander, but Clarke's pretty good at taking care of herself."
"Be that as it may, I will protect Clarke. It is my wish, and Heda Leksa's order and Haihefa Roan's instruction."
"What's Clarke got to say about all that?"
"She does not like it," Ontari admitted. "Clarke is too valuable to risk."
"Both of you said Commander Lexa speaks to you. I don't understand. Frankly, it makes you both sound as crazy as Jaha."
Ontari sat up straighter and her eyes shifted to green. "You doubt me, Reivon kom Skaikru?"
"What the fuck?"
"I asked you a question."
"Commander?"
"Sha. You will assist Klark. She is very close to finding all the answers she needs. You will do as she asks."
"OK," Raven said slowly.
"It is important, Raven," Lexa said. "She and I, we are not finished with what we must accomplish in this life, and those things cannot wait a generation or more for us to find each other again."
"I hear you, Commander."
"Good." Lexa moved a piece. "Checkmate," she said, and returned Ontari's body to her.
"Son of a bitch," Raven said, staring at the board. She looked at Ontari. "That's, I don't even have words for what just happened."
"I am ready to retire."
"Good night, Commander," Raven said distractedly and watched Ontari walk toward Clarke's closed door.