The morning was devoted to coming up with different scenarios of what could happen and the countermeasures that we could take, but in the end, they were nothing but possible plans. In the evening, all of the Ambassadors, including Kane, met in Lexa's throne room and she gave her command. I would go with Skaikru to capture the traitors to the Coalition and deliver them to Polis. Azgeda was not happy with Lexa's decision, but after the Mountain, my promise held far more weight than normal, and every other ambassador agreed, forcing the Azgeda one to do the same.
I was granted one more day in Polis before I would escort the group back to Camp Jaha. After that, Kane would muster twenty members of the Guard to go with me while splitting up the rest of Skaikru between the three locations that could survive Priamfaya. Indra would move her warriors near Camp Jaha to watch the Skaikru, as well as protect the Skaikru from any possible attack. The other half of Indra's warriors would be sent to Mount Weather to help with security while Abby opened her hospital which would treat any patient that they could, building up the goodwill for Skaikru.
Instead of spending my last day sparring against Anya, Indra took me throughout the city and purchased me proper gear. I had a heavy, black leather jacket with a breastplate and pauldrons that laced together similar to football pads, but they were made with metal instead of hardened plastic. My pants were also made out of thick leather and had bands of metal woven into it which would protect my thighs.
"What do you make of all of this? Do you think it will be enough?" I asked while Indra and I walked the streets of Polis.
"It doesn't matter. We will follow the Heda's order without question," Indra replied.
"And that's enough?"
"Heda wants the Coalition to survive. We can choose ourselves over the rest, but where does that leave the other Clans?"
I sighed and did not argue because I knew that she was right. Indra cared more about her own people than anything else, but she also respected that there were other cultures throughout the Coalition. Despite whatever differences there were between the Clans, her head was still steady.
"Are you coming with me?" I asked.
"This is Skaikru's mission. I will lead the force that watches over the Ark," she replied.
There was a sinking feeling in my gut, and I stopped to look back at her. Pike may not have joined Skaikru yet, but I remembered that they had wiped out all of Indra's warriors that were sent to protect Skaikru from Azgeda. "Promise me that you will have your scouts guarding for Skaikru as much as Azgeda. I will kill whoever betrays us, but I don't want to do this without you and Bellamy won't be there to fight for you this time since he is following me."
"You doubt your people?"
"Yu laik ai kru, (You are my people)," I replied, using one of the few phrases that I remembered from Katye's instruction. "If something happens... Protect Raven. I'll do whatever you and Heda decide, so long as she is safe."
"And Bellamy?"
"My brother, my responsibility. If I can't stop him from doing anything wrong, then I'll capture him myself, but I don't think that he'll betray me. Raven is a brilliant engineer, so she is far more valuable than anyone else in Skaikru," I replied.
"I will assign her a guard," Indra agreed.
"She'll hate it," I chuckled, "but that is her problem."
We walked for a while longer, but I stopped at a small cart because something caught my eye. The woman was selling bits of jewelry and, while most of it looked to be Grounder made, there were a few silver chains that had to have been made before the nuclear apocalypse. When she realized that I was interested in the necklaces, she took them off the hook and held them out to me, saying something in their language.
"She says that you can have whatever you want. Her brother had been taken by the Mountain," Indra translated.
I gave the woman a smile as I picked out one of the chains then looked down at the young boy that was hiding behind her legs, staring at me with curiosity. I held out a hand behind me as I manipulated the ground to make a ball of dirt float up and change into stone by the time it reached my hand. It took a bit more focus than my usual spells, but I turned the smooth rock into a small statue of a howling wolf.
I held out the figurine towards the boy who had pulled away, but his mother pushed him forwards, saying a few words. He took the wolf from me with a big smile and showed it to his mother excitedly. I gave her a nod before Indra and I walked away and headed back to the tower.
Before I headed to my room, I made a stone brick and carried it up with me. Since Raven would be staying back at Camp Jaha, I wanted to give her a present before we were forced to separate. I might have gotten the idea from Finn's necklace that he made for her, but mine would be more than an origami metal bird.
It was only midday, so I had several hours before I expected Raven to return. I sat down on the couch and placed the stone brick on my lap. While I could make a stone figure like I had for the young boy, I wanted to try to make metal since it had been a while since I had attempted something new. The process was the same as turning dirt into stone, but it required about five times the amount of mana and a lot more concentration. The stone brick shrank until it was the size of a finger, but it had taken on a dark, metallic luster. It was darker than silver or steel, yet strangely lighter than I had expected.
"I guess that I shouldn't expect the Law of Conservation of Mass to apply to magically created items," I mumbled to myself.
I poured even more mana into the piece of metal and forced it to reshape itself. The wings stretched out from the body and I created the head and tailfeathers next. I added a small loop at the tip of one of the wings so that I could feed the necklace through then looked at my handiwork. The raven looked almost life-like because of the amount of details that were imposed on the small charm.
A knock on my door brought me back to reality and I tucked the charm into my pocket with the necklace as I called out, "Come in."
Raven walked in as I stood up and she could not help but look me over since I was still wearing the armor that Indra had picked out for me.
I chuckled and did a spin for her as I said, "I look like a real Grounder now, don't I?"
"Yeah," she replied with a light smile on her face while she walked over to me.
"Well, I spent my morning shopping, how was yours?" I asked as we sat down on the couch.
She chuckled and leaned into my embrace. "I finished a couple of repairs for Sinclair, but the Ark is going to be a lot more work."
"You'll do fine," I said, nuzzling her hair, as I wrapped my arms around her waist.
"Of course, I will," she retorted.
I enjoyed the closeness for a while, but I knew that I had to confess to something that she would be mad about. "I may have asked for Indra to assign you a guard."
"You did what?!?" she asked angrily, sitting up and turning on me.
"Has anyone told you how beautiful you are when you are mad?" I teased, resting my head on my hand.
"Octavia," Raven said with a look.
"I know, but things aren't safe," I sighed with a sad smile. "Queen Nia has a history of attacking the loved ones of those she fears. I can't let you be the next victim of my mistakes."
Raven looked a little unsettled by my statement, but it stopped her from arguing more. She snuggled back against me, and we sat like that for a while as we listened to music. Eventually, we went to bed since we would be leaving at first light to return to Camp Jaha.
The next morning, most of the members of Skaikru left Polis with Trikru as guide and guard. Despite our efforts with taking down Mount Weather so easily, there was still a lot of tension between the Grounders and Skaikru. Nothing felt like they would break into a fight over something minor, but the divide between them was clear. Perhaps it was just too early for everyone to accept each other.
Everyone was mounted on horseback, though most of Skaikru had to double up due to lack of experience with horses, and we reached the walls of Camp Jaha by sunset. In the two weeks that we had been away, things had changed. A second wall had been built with the wreckage of the Ark outside of the electric one and had a guard tower at the corner of the gate. A large garden had been planted between the walls, but it was still too early for anything to be showing. Kane welcomed the members of Trikru into camp, but Indra had her people camp between the two walls. She had only brought a dozen or so with her since a couple of them would go with Skaikru and me into the Ice Nation.
It was my first time to actually explore the Ark since I had spent most of my time before drinking outside or inside Medical. It was amazing to think that I was actually standing in the remains of a space station. I might be able to bend the elements like a certain bald-headed monk, plus a few more, but something like this was achieved with science and technology which still felt more real to me than my powers.
Bellamy and Kane would be going on my mission with me, but he was not respected enough to be in charge of setting everything up, so Bellamy came with our motley band to the cargo hold while Kane arranged who would come with us and what supplies we would take. Things had been brought over from Mount Weather and were being sorted through, but the atmosphere was relaxed, and someone had even opened a bar of sorts.
I received more than my fair share of looks, but I was not surprised as I was wearing my Grounder gear. I did my best to ignore it and followed Clarke, Finn, Bellamy, Monty and Raven to a table in the corner. Someone was playing a song on the piano, and strangely enough I recognized the song, and even remembered the scene.
'Add It Up' by Shawn Mendes which had a dark undertone that played through Raven struggling to decide if she wanted to have surgery to help the pain from the bullet wound, Clarke waking up being haunted by the faces of those she killed in Mount Weather, while Monty, Bellamy, Kane, and Indra were desperately trying to find Clarke before the Ice Nation did. I could not help but smile, realizing that I had changed something important as I sat across from all of them with relaxed faces. There were still battles to fight ahead of us, but we were here together, safe and happy.
When the kid finished playing, a couple of people clapped, and I decided to go up to play something which caused a few surprised looks from my group. Obviously, I had a thing for music which started back in my past life. I learned to play the piano at a young age and music was one of my few escapes that I had back then. There were dozens of songs that I could have pulled out, but there was one that stuck out in my mind, and it was from 'The 100' no less.
"No time for rest," I sang as I played the piano.
"No pillow for my head,
Nowhere to run from this,
No way to forget
"Around the shadows creep,
Like friends, they cover me
Just wanna lay me down and finally
Try to get some sleep,
"We carry on through the storm,
Tired soldiers in this
Remember what we're fighting for
"Meet me on the battlefield,
Even on the darkest night,
I will be your sword and shield, your camouflage,
And you will be mine,
"Echos of the shots ring out,
We may be the first to fall,
Everything could stay the same or we could change it all,
"Meet me on the battlefield,
"We're standing face-to-face,
With our own human race,
We commit the sins again and then our sons and daughters pay,
Our tainted history, if playing on repeat,
But we could change it if we stand up strong and take the lead,
"When I was younger, I was named
A generation unafraid,
For the heirs to come, be brave,
"And meet me on the battlefield,
Even on the darkest night,
I will be your sword and shield, your camouflage,
And you will be mine,
"Echos of the shots ring out,
We may be the first to fall,
Everything could stay the same or we could change it all,
"Meet me on the battlefield,
"Meet me on the battlefield,
Even on the darkest night,
I will be your sword and shield, your camouflage,
And you will be mine,
"Echos of the shots ring out,
We may be the first to fall,
Everything could stay the same or we could change it all,
"Meet me on the battlefield,
"Meet me on the battlefield."
People clapped when I finished, and I let out a nervous chuckle because it had been a long time since I had played for a group of people. I rubbed my neck with an embarrassed smile and hurried off to the side then made my way back to my group. Monty asked when I had learned to play the piano, but I just blamed it on nothing better to do under the floor than learn different things while those that knew more gave me knowing looks.
I just smiled and raised up my glass as I toasted, "Days will pass, Mountains will crumble, but in the hearts of friends, Life is eternal."
Everyone clinked their glasses with mine and we downed the shots. Monty and Clarke were left coughing off to the side while the rest of us held back the burn like champions. It was stupid and we would all be paying for it in the morning, but we enjoyed our last night together before we all had to separate.
Someone pounded on the door in the morning, calling for me. Both Raven and I groaned at the rude awakening, but I still called out that I was awake. She stayed in bed while I dressed and I gave her a smile when I was done, kneeling beside her.
"Will you miss me?" I asked with a teasing smile.
"Of course," she replied with a slight pout.
I chuckled, tracing the edge of her face with my finger, then reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out her present. "I know your old one was from Finn, but I think a necklace looks good on you."
Raven plucked the raven out of my hand and looked at it closely while I chuckled again. She gave me a smile and put the necklace on. I straightened the bird on her chest, enjoying the view, before she leaned forward and kissed me.
"I'll be back before you know it," I said softly.
"You better be," she warned before she kissed me again.