Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; if you're on this site, you know the drill. Also, thanks are owed to athingofvikings, who gave me a much-appreciated sounding-board for a few aspects of my planned world-building for this particular crossover; hope you like it.
Feedback: Appreciated as always.
The Dragon of Wanheda
Lexa had a great deal to take in over the last few months since the first Skaikru ship reached the ground, but she had to admit that more of it had been for good than for bad, even if some of her people had suffered as a result of the Skaikru's actions. The final defeat of Mount Weather was at least something to be grateful for, and Lexa knew that such a victory was only possible because of the Skaikru, but she knew that she wasn't the only one who had suffered some personal losses when the Skaikru fought back against Anya's tribe before the maunon became their joint enemy.
Still… as much as she would have preferred the plan for the more traditional peace of swearing in the skaikru as a new clan, she was also willing to acknowledge that Clarke had made a good point that her people would have found such an arrangement difficult at best. Just as she had been surprised to meet Clarke's new allies and the remarkable creatures they called dragons, she had to acknowledge that the skaikru had certain views of the world and what they had been expecting from the ground that didn't match reality. She had been fortunate that Clarke had enough authority to encourage some of the Skaikru to explore alternatives to simply trying to take charge straight away, but that still left Lexa to deal with the issues in the Coalition caused by their continued presence.
The most recent issue, of course, lay in the Ice Queen's latest visit to Polis. She was fully aware that Nia had only held back from attacking the Coalition directly so far because the lack of knowledge of Wanheda meant that she didn't want to risk losing the chance to claim Wanheda's power for herself. It was unlikely that anyone had been able to tell the Ice Queen that Clarke had returned to the Coalition already, so Lexa had hope that she could deal with the situation in front of her without Nia trying to escalate matters. The Queen calling for a challenge rather than a vote had been a slight surprise, but it was a twist that Lexa could handle. With her people and the Skaikru having remained in what she believed was known as a 'stand-off' since Clarke vanished, a few of the other clan leaders had been unhappy that she hadn't just eliminated the new arrivals already, but for the most part the fact that she had ended the war with the maunon had allowed her to hold on to a majority among the council to prevent an outright vote.
Nia requesting that Roan be her champion had been a slight surprise, but again, that was nothing Lexa felt she couldn't handle, particularly not if Roan kept to their existing plan.
She just had to make sure that the rest of the clans only found out about Clarke's new allies when the immediate threat had been dealt with.
When the sun rose for the day of the challenge duel against Roan, Lexa was only slightly surprised to find Clarke in her room at the top of the tower, the large creature she called 'Griffin' squatting behind her. She had expected Clarke to remain with her people to confirm that everything was in order back at Camp Jaha, but Lexa wasn't surprised at the implication that Clarke was currently trusting her new allies to keep an eye on things at that end of things.
"Is all well?" she looked cautiously at the Skaikru leader after the other young woman had spent a few moments looking at her in silence.
"Did you know that the Ice Queen's main servant has black blood?"
"Black blood?" Lexa repeated, looking at Clarke in surprise. "A Natblida?"
"That's what the Queen called her," Clarke confirmed.
"And how did you discover this?"
"I was… well…" Clarke began, before she shook her head. "I don't know what I was doing; I thought I might have been able to make some kind of deal to get her to leave my people alone even if this didn't work…"
"You do not believe I can win?"
"I saw Roan kill three people before the first victim had even fallen to the ground; I think I'm allowed to be a bit worried about your chances!" Clarke protested, before Griffin stepped forward with a warning growl.
"Your… dragon… is very expressive," Lexa noted as she looked at the large winged creature.
"They're all… dragons are like that," Clarke responded, reaching back to stroke the creature's chin. "Hiccup's the best at training them, but he's taught most of us how to do it."
"You consider yourself one of Hiccup's clan now?"
"I'm me," Clarke responded, even as the thoughtful expression as she spoke made Lexa think Clarke was still finding the words to properly express her feelings on this matter. "I want my people to be safe, but I also want my new friends to have a chance to learn more about this world. Hiccup and the others could fly away if things turn against us, but everyone from the Ark… and Hiccup's people deserve to know more…"
"I see," Lexa said, unable to restrain her curiosity as she looked at Clarke. "You have joined them, but you are not their leader? And you are content to be so?"
"I'm just their healer," Clarke affirmed. "Hiccup is the leader of the dragon riders, and he's the son of their chief back on their main island."
"I see," Lexa said, once again reflecting on this further evidence at the impracticality of offering to bring these people in as a new clan; at that distance trying to establish her authority would be a petty act that would require far too much effort for too little reward, whereas at least Clarke's tribe had landed in her territory. "You would swear allegiance to him over me?"
"Can I point out that we were still dealing with the fact that there was anyone still on Earth when we first encountered your people?" Clarke countered. "I'm not saying that what we did was right, but there was a lot going on and many of us had no reason to accept that you had that kind of authority. Hiccup not might be much older than me, but he never actually made me swear allegiance to him… and why are we talking about this when you're going to have to fight Roan to the death tomorrow?"
"I have a plan-"
"And so does the Ice Queen; she was talking about making sure that girl becomes the next Commander if you get killed-"
"Which explains why she came this far," Lexa acknowledged with a grim nod, privately glad to be discussing something she could understand once again. "She wanted this; either she would be able to call for me to be removed from power with a vote, or she would be able to provoke a challenge and remove me that way."
"And the black blood thing… you were expecting that?"
"I was not expecting her to have a natblida, but I was prepared for her to have a plan to ensure her victory," Lexa said, giving Clarke a cool stare. "I know that you seek to help, Clarke, but there is nothing that you can do here."
"Even with-?"
"Revealing your dragons at this time would not be safe," Lexa shook her head firmly, anticipating Clarke's next question. "I will face my fate alone, and you must allow me to do so."
"You're giving her exactly what she wants-!"
"Only if I lose," Lexa countered. "I respect that you only desire to help, Clarke, but there's nothing you can do here."
"I can't just let Roan kill you!"
"If that is to be my fate, you must," Lexa said with an authoritative tone. "You're driven to fix everything for everyone-"
"I want to make things better," Clarke corrected. "I'm a healer, not a mechanic; I want to heal what's broken if I can't find a new way to do things."
"Sometimes there is no way but what is," Lexa said, her tone loud but solemnly. "I have to do this on my own, and you have to let me."
"So we're all just meant to sit and watch you die?"
"That is what must be," Lexa confirmed. "The peace must be maintained, even if the price is my life, which requires your new allies and your dragons to remain secret."
That part at least seemed to strike something in Clarke, prompting a resigned nod at Lexa's words. A part of the Commander regretted how she wouldn't have the time to discuss things further with Clarke, intrigued to learn more about Griffin and other dragons, but Lexa had to grimly remind herself that she had other priorities now. There would be time for such discussion later… or there would be no time at all.
From their position at the back of the challenge stadium, Hiccup, Astrid and Clarke waited for the confrontation to start. As much as Clarke hated the current situation, she had concluded that the best way to prepare for what was about to happen was to watch it all unfold directly, which meant watching the battle so that they were ready to act after whatever might take place had happened.
The arena was so crowded that the three of them had managed to sneak into the crowd while leaving Toothless, Stormfly and Griffin a short distance outside the village. They were close enough to the back of the arena that they could get out if things turned against their allies, but the important thing was that they were present when this challenge unfolded. The twins had been volunteered to stay with Clarke's people and keep an eye on things, and they'd left Charlotte behind to keep things simple, but Hiccup had a feeling they'd be all right. The twins might be difficult, but with some of Clarke's friends available to keep an eye on them in turn, he had hope that they wouldn't go too far.
The arena itself was basically just a large open space with twelve chairs set up at one end, which Hiccup guessed was meant to represent the heads of the twelve tribes. Several people had gathered around it, but despite no existing barriers everyone seemed to understand how far they would be allowed to go and did nothing to force their way further onto the 'arena'. The Commander had put on black war-paint around her eyes and was facing a stage alongside the man Clarke had identified as Roan. The woman who was apparently the Ice Queen was sitting in the centre seat, hair tied in a tight bun and something on her forehead that Hiccup hoped wasn't a dragon jawbone even if it looked rather like one from this distance, while an older man with close-cropped grey hair in a long dark robe stood alongside her. After bringing the crowd to silence with a wave of his hands, the man gave a speech in an elaborate language Hiccup had never heard before, but then concluded by waving his right hand in a manner that Hiccup guessed signified the start of the contest.
As the bald man sat down, Roan and Lexa removed their cloaks and received their weapons, pacing around the arena for a moment as though familiarising themselves with the area. Roan drew his sword and moved to attack Lexa, only for Lexa to turn around and catch his sword with hers before it could strike. Parrying the blow, Lexa also managed to cut Roan along his back, following it up with a series of three strikes once he had turned to face her. Roan managed to catch each of them until their swords locked, Roan forcing Lexa down until she managed to grab the blade with her hand. Astrid winced alongside Hiccup, likely remembering some of her own experience with catching blades, before Lexa forced the sword up, catching Roan on the chin with the hilt of the weapon. She managed to get back to her feet in his moment of disorientation, but another brief clash of swords ended as Roan managed to knock Lexa to the ground, kicking her sword away from her hand.
Clarke seemed about to move, but Hiccup placed a hand on her shoulder, which seemed to calm her enough to keep her in her place. He could only guess how hard this was for her when potentially the fate of her people might depend on the outcome of the battle, but if his own culture was anything to go by, having someone else interfere in this fight would just render the outcome invalid.
Even as he tried to be practical, Hiccup was relieved when Lexa managed to force Roan down and not only take his sword but retrieve her original weapon. Roan seemed lost for a moment, but then he struck a nearby guard and took the man's spear, turning back to the fight with Lexa. The two clashed weapons again for a few moments, the spear keeping Lexa at bay even if she was able to deflect her opponent's blows in turn. The stand-off ended when Roan managed to knock both weapons out of Lexa's hands and force her to the ground once again. The crowd seemed anxious at this turn of events, but nobody showed any sign of moving interfere as Roan walked over to stand above his fallen opponent.
Just as he was about to stab Lexa in the throat, she rolled out of the way and managed to catch Roan in the knee before he could properly strike, sending him to the ground as well. They both got up to continue the duel, but after ducking under the spear for a couple of blows, Lexa grabbed the weapon under her arm and pulled it out of his grasp. With the weapon in her hands, Lexa struck Roan in the leg, forcing him to his knees. He stopped her next attack with his forearm, but she adjusted her attack and hit his face with the butt of the spear, throwing him onto his back. The challenger tried to get back up, but Lexa held the spear to his throat.
As Hiccup and the others watched, the Ice Queen stood up to say something in her unfamiliar language, evidently criticising Roan's performance in the fight.
"Get it over with," Roan said, apparently in response to the Ice Queen's statement.
Lexa said something in her own language, and then turned to hurl the spear at the Ice Queen, pinning the older woman to the throne. The crowd all yelled out in shock at this action, but as the queen slumped over in her throne, Hiccup had a strong sense that nobody was going to complain about that particular loss any time soon. He could just about see a young woman with several scars on her face looking at the dead woman in shock from a position just beside the throne, but that concern was the closest Hiccup could see to anyone showing actual concern about this turn of events.
"The queen is dead," Lexa declared to the crowd, before looking down to Roan. "Long live the king."
"King?" Hiccup looked at Clarke in surprise as the people around them cheered, clearly approving of this turn of events. "He's… was he the Queen's son?"
"Apparently," Clarke frowned as she looked at Roan. "Either that or it's some whole thing where Lexa can choose the new leader after she killed the previous one… I never heard anything about him being the prince or whatever term's appropriate, but I didn't exactly ask."
"People don't always think to ask the right questions," Astrid pointed out, looking over at Hiccup with a brief grin. "Isn't that how you ended up being the first one to train a dragon? Nobody ever thought to do anything but kill them before you tried to do something else?"
"Fair point," Hiccup smiled over at her before looking back at Clarke. "So what now?"
"Get back to my people to let them know we're still in a stable situation, and… well, we'll work it out from there."