The Ones On The Ground (sequel to The One Who's Fallen)

Chapter 5

Clarke's POV (ft. a brief history of Polis because I'm a nerd)

The first part of Polis I can see is Heda's Tower. Its long, cylindrical black mass stands out against the green of the trees surrounding the road. The gray smoke rises from the top like always. I watch as it slowly gets bigger in the distance, a sign that we're getting closer.

I can't wait to be back in Polis; it has been a while and I have a soft spot for the city.

The next thing I see to indicate that we're getting close is through the trees, I can see the outer wall of Polis. Polis actually has a couple of walls in it from different times it has expanded, which earns it one of its nicknames: the walled city. Lexa's been telling me a lot about the walls while we have been traveling.

Currently, there are five walls, including the one that's the outer wall. The innermost one is obviously the oldest, built back when Polis was founded by the first Commander.

Apparently, back then this entire area was a desolate wasteland, full of nothing but nomadic people and a crap ton of sand. They built the wall rather rapidly when they first decided to stay at Polis, in order to keep the sand out and to keep the sand from continually blowing in their faces. It's the tallest of the walls because they wanted to keep the strong winds out, and only a couple of blocks out from Heda's Tower.

The damage from the sand is visible on the innermost wall. In the places the blowing sand didn't hit, it's a good two or three inches out from where sand did hit. No wonder they wanted to built the wall, right? I would hate to have that blowing at me constantly. And where there is damage, the wall almost looks grainy because of the imprints of where the sand hit. Despite being constantly bombarded with tiny rock particles, the wall is still standing now, almost a century later. There are some minor changes of course, where roads were built after the next wall was built.

The second wall from the center is similar to the first in that it has sand damage. However, it's not as bad as the first. The winds had calmed down by the time Polis got big enough that it needed to expand, so there's only minor damage. The second wall is better than the first in that it's more structurally sound. I'm assuming is because they didn't rush while building it like they did with the first. It also more than doubled the size of Polis at the time.

The third wall is where some plants come in. The third is better than second, because over time they had been researching how to build better walls. The plants are small, little ones that are mainly weeds and grass that grow between blocks and between the wall and cobblestone road. The plants are there and not before because it was built when plants were just starting to grow in the once desert-like area. It's actually kind of pretty to see, the contrast of the gray stones against the green plants.

The third wall has had some minor damage from the roots of plants that got too big. After the scientists of the time figured out what was damaging the wall, they asked the current Heda to form a team for the upkeep of the walls. Which the Heda wisely agreed to. There's still a team today. They work on the maintenance of the walls, carefully pulling out plants that are growing too much and stuff like that.

The fourth wall is the one that was up while Lexa was growing up. There are even more plants on it, including this rather famous vine. It's famous because children love to climb on it, and have been since it started growing on the wall. It hasn't broken once, or snapped, though many kids have fallen off it. It has not been removed because it's become part of the area's charm or something like that.

The fifth wall is the outer wall and was ordered to be built when the previous Heda was in power. It was completed a year before Lexa became Heda, so it's only a couple of years old. It's the largest expansion of the city that's ever been built, and it's already filling up. The wall is the best yet, because it was built with their latest technology and has an area for guards to patrol around the top.

Polis has been growing rapidly for a while, but it's really picked up since the Coalition came into effect. Since there's no fighting amongst the clans (except maybe in Ambassador meetings, which Lexa has said are dreadfully boring), they can't make money from towns they take over or anything. So people have actually turned to inventing and trading.

And since Polis is the center of everything and the capital, as well as a place where all major trade routes go through, Polis has become pretty rich (which is an understatement). The merchants on trade routes either trade with the local merchants who sell their wares to the citizens, or stay in Polis long enough to sell it themselves.

People move here to expand their practice, or to find work, or to flee from a clan. Which doesn't happen often now that there's no fighting.

The sound of voices gets louder as we get closer to the gate. The people must have seen the person in front. In every group with the Commander, there's a person who rides about a mile ahead. They're the scout, they make certain that there's no ambush ahead and they send back a messenger pigeon every 15 to 30 minutes. If they don't, then the group knows something's wrong.

The scout is recognizable by the armor they wear, which is lined with a gold on their plates of armor. So when they come in to a city or town, everyone knows the Commander is 15 to 20 minutes behind them.

In Polis, Lexa tells me, they actually have a system for this kind of thing. There are large bells in every market square, that are rung whenever there's some kind of important news. Like "fire!" or "Heda's back!" or "plague!" or "invasion!" or "Heda has an announcement" or something like that. And so everyone knows to gather at the nearest market square to get the news.

That must have happened this time, otherwise there wouldn't be so much noise from people talking excitedly.

Lexa turns towards me and we exchange a look, evidently having come to the same conclusion. We face forward again and straighten our posture.

Since we knew we would be arriving in Polis today, like everyone else in our party, we have dressed for the part. Lexa and I are both in our armor and are wearing shoulder pads with our colored sashes, and are wearing our warpaint. We need to look strong and personally, I think we look kind of badass. Raven actually wolf whistled at us when we walked out of our tent this morning.

The gates open for us as we approach it and the cheering grows louder now that the people of Polis can actually see us. Lexa looks stoic but I can see the small smile playing at her lips. She's happy to be back in her city.

People start chanting Heda when they see Lexa, and something weird along with it. Every other time they chant Heda, they add an extra word. I can't tell what it is but it can't be a mistake, it's been repeated too many times. I carefully keep my confusion off of my face and listen closer to hear what they're saying.

It sounds like "Heda! Heda too!"

But why add the "too?" What's the point? And is it even "too?" There's so many spellings of it that it could be. It could be Heda to, Heda too, Heda two... Or it could be in Trigedasleng, which would actually make sense because that's the main language spoken here. So... Heda tu? Hedatu? That translates to Commander two. Why would they be saying that?

"Lexa?" I ask, keeping my voice low so not everyone hears me. Though I doubt they could over the shouts. "Why are they saying that?"

"What? Hedatu?" Lexa questions, and waits for me to nod before she continues. "That is you. It translates to Commander two, or more accurately in Gonasleng, the second Commander. Again, that is you, Clarke. They know we defeated the Maunon. I could not have done it without you. They know it was us, it was our partnership, that took down the Maunon. This is them recognizing that."

"By calling me a Commander? Isn't it like, treason to call someone who isn't a Heda, Heda?"

"But you are now. This is the first time in all of our history that there have been two recognized Hedas at the same time. You are a Heda, Clarke. Hedatu."

Oooh! I can't wait to see your reactions! This was something I was really looking forward to show you guys! Clarke's a Heda!!! They can rule side by side! :D Next chapter, Clarke's reaction, and they get to the Tower to start talking about the three clans joining the Coalition (that's Skaikru, ArkKru and Maunkru)! And warning, this means Titus will be back... But not for long ;) Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!