Abby was there, checking Raven for aftereffects while Clarke and Ontari stayed out of the way. Abby finished. "Your vitals are fine. Your heart rate's a little high, but everything else is normal. Does somebody want to tell me why you had me run down here?"
"A.L.I.E. attacked Raven," Clarke said.
"How can an A.I. attack someone?"
"She took over Raven's mind and body," Murphy said. "Raven got too close and A.L.I.E.'s used her body before."
"Stay away from it, Raven," Abby said sternly.
"As much as I can. But we need things."
"We can get them without risking you," Ontari said.
"Where is this A.I.?" Abby asked.
"I moved it away from Raven," Murphy said.
"John, I thought you went to Azgeda."
"I did, and now I'm back. Clarke's going to need help."
"She has all of us."
"But I'm the only one who's been to the City of Light."
"I was there," Raven said indignantly.
"You were in the metaphysical place. I've been to the place it's generated."
"What's it like?"
"I didn't see most of it. It's big. I'll tell you all about it later."
"If you don't need me, I'm going back to my room," Abby said.
"Good night, Mom. Thanks." Clarke hugged Abby.
"You're welcome, Clarke. I love you." Abby hugged her back.
"Love you, too." Clarke gave her a squeeze and let her go. After she left, they all sat at the table.
"I think this will help," Ontari said, and laid the book she removed from the altar on the table.
Clarke looked at it for a moment, and realized what it was before Lexa could tell her. "May I see it?"
Ontari pushed it toward her. Clarke opened it. The first date was a few weeks before the world ended and described efforts to build an improved artificial intelligence. Clarke didn't understand all the science, but she read enough to confirm her initial belief. "This is the journal of the first heda." She closed it and showed the cover to Raven and Murphy.
"That's from a space suit," Raven said.
"It was worn by Beka Pramheda," Ontari confirmed. "Those are her words."
"Holy shit," Murphy said softly.
"I need a day or two to read it, and we'll go from there," Clarke said.
"I'm going to bed," Raven said. "Being possessed takes a lot out of you."
"Yell if you need us," Clarke said.
"Murphy, give me a hand," Raven said.
He did without making any comments, and Clarke stared at their backs for a moment before looking at the journal again. "Titus will lose his mind when he realizes this is gone. He'll come for me right away," Clarke said. She left the room for a minute and returned with her satchel. She sat beside Ontari and got out her sketchbook.
"Look," she said, and opened it to the drawing of the first Natblida. "I showed this to him and it made him really mad. He accused me of sneaking around."
"What did he do?" Ontari demanded.
"What did who do?" Murphy asked as he rejoined them at the table.
"He yelled. That's all," Clarke said. Speak true, Klark.
"It is on the wall in the room this book came from," Ontari confirmed. Titus does not just yell.
"I never saw it before I drew it. Murphy described it a while ago."
"Me and the Commanders are the only ones at the table who actually saw it," Murphy pointed. "Maybe Lexa's trying to tell you something."
"Heda Leksa is telling me you are not being honest about Titus' reaction."
"All he did was yell," Clarke repeated. "I called for the guards when he tried to take my sketchbook, and he backed off."
"Did the guards respond?"
"Instantly. He wasn't trying to hurt me. He just didn't want me to have the drawing."
"We can do better than the drawing," Ontari said, and stood up. "Come, Klark, Skaiskat. We will go to its location." You continue to do well, Ontari. Klark does need to see it. Raven may need to go there, too, but not tonight.
The took the lift down. Murphy fidgeted a little, and Clarke asked him, "You OK?"
"Yeah, just bad memories."
"You didn't have to come."
"You should have told the Commander that before we got on the lift. I'll be fine, Clarke."
"Thanks for coming."
"I need a few minutes alone with you when you get a chance. I have some messages from Roan."
"Before we go to bed," Clarke promised. She turned her head and saw Ontari watching them. She smiled at Ontari, and Ontari smiled back.
She still didn't like Murphy, but his time in Azgeda had been good for him. So far, he was more respectful of both her and Clarke. If it continued, Ontari decided she would return his name. She knew he would notice when it happened. For now, Ontari wished she could hear their conversation, which was drowned in the noise of the lift.
It finally reached the lowest floor, and Ontari led them to the Fleimkepa's chapel. She checked that it was empty before waving them in.
Murphy stayed on the landing. He'd seen all of it he wanted to see. Ontari followed Clarke around. Clarke took a quick walk around before turning her attention to the wall.
This is the story of our people, Klark. Beka Pramheda made the first Natblida from the survivors she found. They dragged her craft here to protect it. The altar, the murals, they were made after her death. The first Fleimkepa, Beka Pramheda's Seken, made all of this after he transferred the Fleim to its new home. Beka chose her successor, and he chose his.
When he died, there was no one trained to take his place. That is when the Fleimkepa consolidated his power. That is when he decided that he would train the next heda. That is when he demanded that all natblida were to come here after their fifth birthdays. He was senile, angry, and alone when he decreed that the Natblida would fight each other for the privilege of being heda. Since then, it is the way things have been done.
"That's not right."
"It is why Roan told me not to kill the others," Ontari said. "There are too few of us to waste the blood."
And the knowledge. We will have a generation of warriors who are educated and trained to lead. They will see other ways to settle our squabbles. If they are trained to respect peace as much as power, they will change the world.
"Like you were trying to do."
"Sha," Ontari answered in conjunction with Lexa.
"Raven needs to see the pod. There might be something there that will help her."
"I will bring her soon."
"Titus is going to throw a fit and fall into it."
"Titus is my subject, and he will do as I command," Ontari said. "He continues to believe himself irreplaceable, but he is not. No one is." Except kept that to herself while she watched Clarke study the murals.
Clarke committed every detail of the murals to memory and took a slow walk around the chamber before she was ready to leave. They took the lift to Clarke's floor. She checked on Raven, who was asleep, before returning to the table.