Warpaint | Clexa (Completed)

Chapter 19: My People

Clarke, Octavia, Raven and Bellamy entered the capitol building, followed by Finn, Indra, Lincoln and the rest of the Grounder warriors situated at Arkadia. The building was a simple dome shaped hall room with ante-rooms, and it bore distinct similarities to the Council room at the Ark, that Clarke had seen pictures of.

Clarke had been junior Council Representative before she was jailed, and she knew this room all too well.

Lexa was seated beside Thelonius Jaha, with Kane, Abby, and Costia beside her. Pike was conspicuous by his absence.

And then Clarke spotted him.

Titus.

Standing just behind Lexa, a grim determined expression on his face.

"What's this now?" Bellamy whispered.

"Don't know...some kind of announcement I think. Maybe the alliance." Raven whispered back to him.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" Clarke said, her mind starting to get clouded by memories she had best tried to suppress.

"God knows!" Octavia said.  "Heda doesn't keep him around much. He's like our version of Pike now."

"Your mom..." Finn said, "She doesn't look too well, Clarke."

"She WAS my mother" Clarke emphasised. "Before she sacrificed her daughter for the greater good."

Clarke gathered herself, put her steely look back on, and stared up at the Council leaders.

"I don't trust these sky people," Indra hissed from behind Clarke.

"I don't either," Clarke said.

"Heda trusts them. That's okay with me for now." Lincoln said.

The rest nodded, waiting for the sudden announcement for which they had been called to the hall.

Shortly, Thelonius cleared his throat and stood up.

"Good afternoon Arkadians and Trikru. Our history does not go back very long. We have known each other for merely 20 years, and yet those 20 years had been fraught with war and bloodshed."

He paused, looking at the faces before him.

"We are old, and our traditions are dying. And the time now is to prune where necessary. Just as we must accept that the Trikru and all Earth clans have a far diverse understanding of the earth than us, we must also acknowledge the technological prowess of Arkadia. A battle would thus lead to meaningless loss of life and resources. That's not a legacy we want our children to inherit.

What we should instead walk towards is a healthy sustainable future where both clans live and prosper.

Heda, would you like to say something?"

Lexa stood up slowly, and all eyes in the room-Grounder and Arkadian alike, we're focused on her.

Clarke tried to catch her eyes, but Lexa was staring ahead determinedly. There was s steely cold look in her eyes, that Clarke had never seen before. Something about Lexa was as alluring as it was frightening. This was the woman who had shared her own meal with her in the middle of a jungle, and this was also the woman who had hacked into three men at once. And by now, Clarke knew how to read Lexa. The only words Lexa truly spoke in front of people, were through her eyes, and Clarke knew how to read them. However, today it was glassy and steely. She had somehow masked her eyes too, and that worried Clarke.

"Trikru and Arkadians, you stand on the brink of history today. Today, we will take the first step towards what has never been done before. Today, we leave behind our history of war and bloodshed and start a new legacy of peace and stability."