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"Stars got tangled in her hair whenever she played in the sky."

― Laini Taylor


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BY THE MORNING, EVERYONE WAS LOOKING AT THE SKY."It fell from the sky!" the woman cried, tugging at Naomi's sleeve.

"From the sky! From the sky!"

"Calm down!" exclaimed Serena. The Commander and her following had gone during the night. "We will send scouts to search for it."

Naomi stepped up beside Serena. "I'll go," she said. "It's probably from my people. Supplies for the 100." Serena regarded her with interest.

"Of course, Naomi. It fell towards the west, by the border of our clan. Hurry, so that the surrounding clans do not reach it first." She moved to Naomi and handed her a bow. Then she touched her on the shoulder. "I am proud, Little Sister."

Naomi nodded and clutched onto Serena's forearm. She pressed a finger to her forehead and tilted her head downwards in thanking.

She moved towards the gates, where onlookers nodded to her in acknowledgement. Slinging the bow over her shoulders and checking her sword by her hip, Naomi moved into the night.

Naomi was in the forest for what felt like hours of the early morning, looking for the damn capsule that had streaked across the sky. The moon had slowly disappeared behind the mountains in streaks of red. What would the pod contain? Food and weapons, for the 100, maybe. By now, Monty would have most likely succeeded in making contact with the Ark through the wristbands. Perhaps the rest of their people were coming down.

Surely, if Naomi found the pod before the rest of the delinquents did, she would have to bring it to them. What would she say? What would /they/ say? What would they think when they saw a Grounder instead of their best friend? For once in her life, Naomi wasn't sure of this one.

She pulled herself over a log, Wampleiswis hanging comfortingly beside her hip. The sun was beginning to rise and warm streaks of light hit Naomi's bare face. She had not yet been given warpaint to wear. There was no need, Serena had said: "There is no war yet."

Serena's warpaint was fierce, like the Commanders. A thick black bar painted across her eyes, like some evil Goddess of war. The Goddess of war and death was Hel, Serena had taught her. One of Alma's eleven children of the Earth. They believed that Alma lay curled beneath the Earth in a slumber. And if she was woken havoc would wreak between the eleven lesser gods. Religion wasn't taught on the Ark anymore, but Naomi was entranced by the tales of battle and betrayal, that the Trikru believed was how the world began.

Naomi pushed herself forward, past the greenery with her bow over her shoulder. The dropship was near the borders of both the Blue Cliffs Clan and the Ice Nation. If the capsule had been dropped there for supplies, it was a guaranteed beacon for the other Clans to approach. And the Commander had not put protection on Skaikru.

Naomi needed to reach the pod before any other clans did.   

She stumbled through the forest and smelt ash. Naomi turned to look at the mess. The ferns ahead of her had blackened, edges still lit with orange. There was an indent in the dirt from where the pod had skidded along the ground. It leg into a clearing.

Cautious, Naomi drew her bow. She swung herself down into the small ditch, following it to the capsule. It was larger than Naomi expected, large enough to fit months worth of supplies. She clambered up behind it, examining the sides. It seemed old, not like any of the models they paraded around the Ark. The rim was battered too. Naomi touched it with her fingers.

𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍, bellamy blake  ¹Where stories live. Discover now