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

Chapter 58

Clarke's POV

"So are you alright with going to the new clans, Madi?" Lexa asks softly. "It is okay if you are not."

Madi ponders what she has asked and then meets Lexa's eyes. "No one will hurt me?"

"Oh Gods no, sweetie." Lexa says in this gentle voice that makes me fall even more in love with her. "Clarke and I will not let anyone hurt you. Clarke's mother would like to meet you, though."

Madi's eyebrows draw together, looking like she's trying to figure out a difficult puzzle in her head. "Why?"

"We told her that we have been talking care of you. We spoke so highly of you that she decided she wanted to meet you," Lexa says.

"Oh. Is she scary?" Madi asks, her eyes on me now.

"No, honey. She's head healer of her clan, so she's only scary if you're her patient and don't listen to her," I say half-jokingly. Madi's face breaks into a small smile so I call it a victory.

"Ain't that the truth," Raven grumbles.

"And you three are okay with coming with us?" I ask.

Raven looks to her girlfriends, who nod. "Yeah. Are the pets okay to come?"

"We asked mom and she said it's fine. I'm sure the other clans are okay with it too," I say. "What time works for you guys to leave?"

Anya, Luna, and Raven speak quietly for a minute. Anya's the one that answers this time. "If it works for you two, one week would be good for us."

Lexa and I look into each other's eyes. We don't need words to speak to each other. I look to her because I'm not quite sure if we will have time to do everything we need to in a week, and Lexa has more experience being a Heda and dealing with this kind of thing than me. Lexa looks to me because this is something we should decide together, put our heads together for.

We both come to the same conclusion and turn back towards the others. "Yeah, that works," I say.

"I love how they can have a conversation without saying a word," Raven sighs.

"We can as well," Luna reminds her.

"Yeah, because we're awesome too." Raven grins at her girlfriends, warmth in her eyes. Her girlfriends can't help but to smile back at her. "So Madi, I have a feeling the four of us are going to have an awesome time together while the Hedas talk to the ambassadors."

"The three of you," Luna corrects. "As I am now ambassador, those boring meetings with the ambassadors now includes me. I will be with you all whenever I can escape a meeting."

"I will let you escape as many as I can," Lexa says. "I know how dull they are."

Luna sighs. "You know better than I do. I cannot wait to resist the urge to tell some of those idiots that perhaps they would hear you and Clarke better and understand if they remove their heads from their rears."

Raven cackles at that and high fives an amused Luna. "Nice one, babe! Hey, can we petsit too?"

"Only if you have an adult with you," Lexa deadpans.

"An..." Raven squints at Lexa. "Hey! I am an adult!"

Lexa leans forward, a smirk playing at the edges of her lips. "Are you sure about that?"

Madi's giggles makes Lexa beam at her own joke.

***

Turns out, dealing with ambassadors when they think we're doing something stupid is even more boring than usual. Which is saying something. Lexa and I were right, they are being insufferably difficult. Some of them, at least. Luna is one of the few that has been on our side from early on.

We have managed to sway some to at least see our side, or to be in the middle ground between whether they think we should go or not. It helps that we've had Luna on our side since the beginning. She's incredibly well-respected, and people listen to her. If only the ambassadors were like that with us, this "debate" wouldn't have lasted three days already. I guess it's good that they question us and our decisions instead of just giving us complete and total power. Even though that would be so much easier. And substantially less annoying.

Lexa has more patience than I do, explaining to them multiple times why we think going on this trip is a good idea. I weigh in when I have something to add, which basically means being the one to argue with the ambassadors that don't want to listen.

By the time Lexa ends the session for the day, I'm so frustrated that I just want to cuddle with Lexa and Dalul and maybe Lupita if she lets us, or spend time with Madi. It's been weird being without her for most of the day, I've gotten used to her presence.

We walk with Luna to her room, where Madi usually is with Raven and Anya while we're in meetings. Luna opens the door and I'm surprised to see Madi and Anya play fighting with sturdy looking sticks while Raven cheers them on.

"What the...?" I murmur.

Anya gently swipes her stick in the air. It's odd to see her with anything that could be a weapon and swinging it gently, but that's what she's doing. She's being careful with Madi, and I'm grateful for that. Even if seeing her just play fighting with Madi gave me heart palpitations.

Madi swings her stick up and blocks her with surprising grace and ease. Anya grins and compliments her block, and then tells her how to improve. It's so tender that I know she'll make a good parent someday. I know that they've been talking about that. I don't need astute powers of observation to notice the wistfulness in Raven's eyes when she sees Lexa and I with Madi.

"I see you are brushing up on your teaching skills," Luna says softly. She gives Anya a quick kiss on the lips before going to give Raven one as well.

Next chapter, more of this! I'm probably going to move this along so that we can get to the traveling and then eventually to the wedding ;) Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!