Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 34: The Games We Play

Zion is a conscientious guide, warning the group well in advance of any natural hazards – or unnatural ones. Lexa is unsure if it's loyalty or fear that causes him to send his gonas ahead to warn every town they go by that Heda is passing, but he does ensure there are no threats there before they arrive. For the first two days, he even organises places inside for the Skaikru to sleep.

"Stop it," Raven tells Lexa flatly on the next day. "We don't need to sleep inside."

"You are finding the journey difficult," Lexa observes.

"I'm pretty tough," Raven says. "We are all. Sleeping on the ground will suck, sure. But all the others looking at us with a mixture of we-hate-your-guts and you-poor-weaklings in their eyes... that is sucking more."

Lexa blinks. "Point taken." She quietly takes Zion aside and gets him to stop organising places for the Skaikru to sleep. She wonders if due to her liking of them, she has been treating them better than her own – but then, if civilians of her own people travelled with the gonakru, she believes she would be doing the same for them. After all, citizens cannot be expected to be as tough as gonas.

The Ark is due to fall in the north-east part of the Azgeda territories. Bellamy reports Sinclair has been unable to narrow it down much, and that he can't say which stations will fall in which directions. They are leaving something called the Government and Science Station up in orbit, along with a couple more that are deemed unsafe, while sending down the rest. Lexa recognises the name of Farm Station – where Pike will come down – and Alpha Station – where Abby will no doubt come down – but the rest make a confusing list of functions. Prison Station makes sense, but what of Factory Station, Mecha Station, Tesla Station? And Clarke assures her that Arrow Station has nothing to do with arrows at all. Most nonsensical.

They are leaving all prisoners alive, Clarke tells her, because they no longer need to sacrifice people to have enough supplies if they are to fall to the ground. Lexa considers this just as illogical – the people are every bit as criminal as they were before. Sky People are not consistent, and it is one of the things she has always found most concerning about them. It is one thing to change a rule, quite another to haphazardly grant forgiveness sometimes and condemn at others – the people of the twelve clans appreciate consistency.

Right now, they are passing as near to Nia's capital as they will in the journey, and it is making Lexa tense. As a result, she is calming herself by surrounding herself with people. Normally only Clarke would calm her, but having her Skaikru friends around makes Clarke happy, and this makes Lexa happy in turn. So her tent is filled with Skaikru, lit and warmed by the candles Lexa brought. Octavia is not there, still apparently immersing herself in life as a Seken – Lexa saw her and Lincoln playing a dice game of some kind with the Azgeda Sekens. Octavia appeared to be losing badly.

As Finn is also doing at the moment.

"This game is the most boring thing ever," Raven announces, splayed on her side, squinting at the chessboard.

"Too complicated for you?" Wells says teasingly. He's seated next to her, sewing a tear in the front of his light brown shirt with surprisingly quick, clever fingers.

"Too simple, Chancellor of the Nerds," she lobbies back. "Not enough moving parts. Once you've fixed a space station most games are a little too straightforward for ya. I keep expecting them to be able to move in three dimensions."

"And yet you're still better than me, Rae," Finn says mournfully, staring at the board. "If I claim I'm just losing because I'm scared of the Commander, will anyone believe me?"

"I believe you," Lexa assures him. Then she pauses. "Well, I believe you fear me, at least."

Raven cackles and then ducks the knight Finn throws at her. "But seriously," she says, "You couldn't have brought Twister? Twister would be fun." She picks up the knight and hands it to Lexa casually.