Our People (the Third Book of the Her Weakness series)

Chapter 71

Clarke's POV

No matter how many times I ask, Lexa doesn't tell me about her plan, insisting that she'll tell me tomorrow when she tells Octavia and Raven. It doesn't really matter whether I hear it today or tomorrow, but I'm so curious about what her brilliant mind came up with.

It's easier riding bare back on the way back to the Capital. It might have something to do with me being less exhausted and more than happy to have my arms around Lexa. I press a kiss to her shoulder as the capital comes into view.

Lexa and I thank the stable person for letting us use Tyson and the blanket before heading inside the castle.

We walk hand in hand to our shared living room. We sit on the couch and I immediately cuddle up to her. We stay there, only moving when food is brought to us.

Octavia practically stumbles in when it gets too dark to see outside. She's sweaty and looks absolutely exhausted. She flops onto the couch opposite us face first with a groan.

"What happened to you?" I ask. She responds, but with her face pressed against the surprisingly comfortable cushions, it just sounds like nonsense. "O, I don't know what you're saying."

She turns her head to the side, "I got tired of training so I went to see how Raven's doing. She made me carry a bunch of heavy things back and forth between her work tables to the aisles of crap. Once, she made me grab this thing that weighed so much I could feel my spine compressing when I picked it up. And then she only needed it for one tiny spring." Octavia starts grumbling again about how lucky Raven is that she loves her.

We hand her the dinner that was left for her and she groans happily and devours it in minutes. Raven comes in and Octavia starts grumbling again, somehow managing to stay on the couch where she is. Raven grins when she sees Octavia.

"Move, you big oaf." Raven murmurs.

Octavia sighs like it's such a huge inconvenience, but rolls so that her back is to the back of the couch. Her arms open up automatically and Raven climbs onto the couch with her.

"Raven, your dinner is on the table." I say, taking Lexa and I's empty plates to the sink and washing them.

Lexa and I go to our room and leave them alone once we start hearing kissing noises. We help each other take off our clothes and get into bed. Lexa rests her head on my shoulder, letting out a really cute yawn. The poor thing must be exhausted, she stayed up while I napped, and she got as little sleep as I did last night.

Her breaths even out quickly. Despite my long nap earlier, I fall asleep pretty easily.

***

Octavia and Raven are snoring on the couch when we come out of our room. Lexa and I exchange an amused look and head to the kitchen to get all of us food.

They're awake and making out when we get back. It takes them a moment to notice us.

"Thanks for getting us breakfast." Raven says, Octavia helping her sit up. She stretches out her leg and I nearly sigh with relief when I don't see her even flinch. She's better.

"Do you want to change clothes?" I ask.

"Nah." Raven waves her hand dismissively. "This is a lazy day where we sit around and plan murder."

"That's the most morbid way you can put it." Octavia sighs.

"Not really, I could've said something about making people go boom. With Octaven, we can make that happen."

That's the nickname we gave to Octavia and Raven's relationship. Seeing Lexa and I's confused expression, Octavia elaborates. "She named her bazooka after us."

"Pretty romantic, right? It's as explosive as our love." Raven says dramatically.

Nix, Ryder, and Lincoln walk in. They sit down on some chairs near us, no doubt here to listen to the plan.

"What is the plan?" Ryder asks.

I shrug and let Lexa start talking. She takes a paper out of my notebook and puts it on the table. "This is a map I drew of the Noukru camp."

"Why does this one have an X on it?" Raven asks, pointing to one of the buildings.

"That is our first target. Raven, is your gun ready?"

"Your bazooka." I explain when I get what Lexa means. She probably forgot what it's called.

"Yeah it is." There's that smile that terrifies everyone.

"Good. This is what you will be blowing up. It is abandoned, and it will serve as a warning shot."

"Why do we need a warning shot?" Octavia questions.

"This is not just a group of warriors. There are innocent people, including children, that live here. We will give them a short time period after that so they can retreat and go into the buildings. Do not attack anyone that does not have a weapon." Lexa pauses after this, making eye contact with everyone like she's embedding that into their minds. "Then I will give the signal and we will charge. Try to stay in groups. Clarke and I will stick together, and Octavia and Lincoln can stay with Raven. Nix and Ryder, you two will stay together. A word of warning before we go into more detail. These are not just farmers turned into warriors. Many of these fought in the war on the wrong side. Some may be inadequate lay trained, but most will be highly trained and experienced warriors."

After that, Lexa and I start listing off some of our observations. We got lucky yesterday and saw some of them training, so we know how some of them fight. Lexa warns us that this will be a difficult fight, with us outnumbered about ten to one at the minimum. It's a few hours past noon when we finish and I remind everyone to rest their muscles today and to go to bed early tonight. It will be a long day but hopefully we will end up victorious  tomorrow.

Next chapter should be the battle. Remember, I don't kill off my good characters so don't worry!! :) Hopefully this chapter was okay, it feels different writing now that I got a new case for my phone... It's worth it because Holtzmann and a bunch of her quotes are on it! Anyway, thank you all for reading and your lovely comments! Stay awesome!!