Chapter 26: Ch. 26 – Something Has Changed

After opening the bunker and exploring the first couple of levels, our group of four returned to the entrance of the temple to gather the Skaikru engineering team. I parted from the group since I was not needed anymore and made my way through the city. Grounders could easily identify me with the Soul Burn above my brow, so I received looks mixed with reverence and fear as I headed for Trikru's compound in the city where I had trained yesterday afternoon.

The Trikru compound was about half a dozen buildings that surrounded a small courtyard. There were guards watching from the roof and at the entrances, but no one stopped me since it was well-known that I was Indra's Second. I headed to the courtyard and created a new stone staff while I waited for Indra to appear. When she did, she was not alone and had a familiar face with her, though I had barely talked with the woman in question.

"I thought that the Commander needed your assistance today," Indra remarked.

"I completed Heda's task, so she released me for the day," I replied.

"And you have come for your daily beating?" she asked with some annoyance.

"If you want to let me win once, I can take it with a smile."

Indra scoffed, but I could tell that she found my statement amusing. "Anya, why don't you test out, Graun Pulr? Her skill as a warrior may be pathetic, but if she uses her tricks, she might be able to survive your first dozen attacks. As long as she is not killed or crippled, Heda has left her training to me."

Anya nodded and drew her swords as she walked to the center of the courtyard.

"Can I really use my powers?" I asked with surprise.

"Your understanding of the basics of combat has been improving. If I am to teach you how to incorporate them, I will need to see what you can actually do with them when you are being pressed by a strong opponent. You will also be healing any damage that you cause to her and yourself, so remember that as you fight," she warned.

I smiled and nodded my head. Instead of facing off against Anya right away, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my music player. Silly as it might have been, I turned on the playlist labeled 'Workout' and set it play loudly, drawing strange looks from everyone as 'Werewolves of London' started blasting out of the headphones. I dropped it off by a wall and split my staff into two poles that were about the same length as Anya's swords as I approached the center of the courtyard.

Anya gave me an annoyed look, obviously not taking me seriously since I did not seem to be taking her seriously either. I was not looking down on her because I was fairly sure that she could still kick my ass even with my powers. Rather, I was trying to help myself remember that this was just training; I was more scared that if I overdid today as usual and had any marks left over, Raven would be my next fight tonight.

"Try to go easy on my face," I asked as I spread out my Earth Domain.

"You're a fool," Anya said with venom in her voice.

"Yep, I am... but I'm also a fool that you should take seriously," I said, sweeping my hands to the side and sliding the ground out from under her feet.

Anya fell to the ground because of the surprise, but that only made her angry. She rolled herself towards me and slashed out with her swords for my legs. I jumped backwards and, when she tried to push herself after me for a second attack, I sent a pillar of dirt at her face. It was not hard enough to hurt her, but it did prevent her from reaching me. The story where my powers originated from had lots of fight scenes using the different elements, so I had plenty of ideas of how I could use them despite never really using them in a real fight before.

I circled around and away from Anya so that she could stand up properly for the first time since we started. Dirt was still clinging to her chin and chest, and if looks could kill, I would be dead for sure. Still, I smiled and waited for her to make the next move while I rested one of the stone poles on my shoulder.

Anya gave a yell of anger as she charged me, so I swept my hands to the side like I had done before. She jumped ahead right away, but the move had been nothing more than a feint. Instead, I swung my two batons into her swords, pushing them aside, so that I could deliver a shoulder slam that I boosted with the ground underneath me, pushing me forward. She stumbled back a few steps, but instead of pressing my attack, I raised my guard which turned out to be the right thing to do as she lashed out at me before her footing was secure. I blocked the attack, but it gave her time to plant her feet properly, and she stabbed with her second sword for my chest.

I did not have the reaction time to dodge, or even deflect it properly, but I did have one trick that I had been waiting for a chance to use. Harnessing the pent-up anger inside me, I blew out a deep breath which ignited into white flames since I was consciously trying not to hurt her. It worked, though, as Anya flinched at the incoming fire and pulled back her attack. She checked herself over an injury while I huffed at the headache was quickly forming. Using my magic so quickly meant that I was hemorrhaging mana since I was not taking the time to properly form the spells.

"White flames are safe," I explained.

"And the black ones, Natfaya?" Anya asked.

I clenched my jaw as I straightened myself and took my usual stance that I used against Indra, growling, "They are not."

Anya stepped forward, swinging one of her swords to deliver a heavy chop while the second was posed to cut off my retreat. I swung one of my batons to intercept the chop while the second one crumbled and the stone wrapped around my hand, allowing me to catch her second blade. Unfortunately, while my change in tactic did catch her off-guard, she adapted almost instantly and delivered a strong kick to my gut, knocking all of the air out of my lungs and making me dry heave as I crumbled to the ground.

"Are kicks... apart of Trikru fighting style, or is it all Grounders?" I coughed.

"You leave yourself open to them by watching your opponent's weapons instead of their bodies," Indra reprimanded.

"Aren't the weapons going to be the things slicing me?" I asked, standing back up slowly.

"If you can read your opponent's body movements, you can see where they will attack from."

I sighed, nodding my head, as I released the sloppy Stone Cover spell that covered my hand in rock.

"Still, it was better than I have seen you fight before," Indra remarked, giving me a rare compliment.

"Thanks," I replied, pressing the end of my intact baton in the ground so that I could rebuild my staff.

"Now, let's see if you can improve without those tricks. Again!" Indra instructed.

The rest of the afternoon was spent sparring against Anya and, aside from the numerous bruises and nicks, I earned one more thing, Anya's respect. I was still a long way from becoming a warrior by Grounder standards, but the fact that I did not stop fighting had shown her my spirit. That distrust and dislike in her eyes at the beginning had changed to approval.

When it started growing dark, I left the Trikru compound and headed back to the tower. Although I did not like it, I still used the lift to go back to my floor because the other option was to climb a ladder all the way to the thirty-fourth floor. I stepped out of the lift and looked down the hallway, seeing both Dagyn and Raven outside my door. I sent him off to get us dinner while Raven and I headed inside my suite and discussed our day until we retired to my bedroom.

The following days passed quietly. I would spar against Anya while Indra critiqued my mistakes during the days, and the nights I would spend with Raven. As strange as it may seem, these became the days that I would cherish most throughout my entire life... but this was the world of 'The 100' and good things could not last long.

The sun had not even risen when I was woken up by the sound of knocking on the door to my suite. I kissed Raven's neck before I climbed out of bed and got dressed. Something was clearly going on since I had never been woken up in the past week and a half that we had been in Polis. I had been waiting for something to happen, so this was more of a relief than a surprise.

"Come in," I called out as I shut the curtain to my bedroom.

Of all the people to come to my suite in the early morning hours, I had not expected it to be Gustus. "Heda wants to see you in her chambers, now," he growled.

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"Can I ask about what?"

"Farm Station," he replied before he walked out of the room.

I sighed and headed back to the bedroom first. Raven was already getting dressed and I watched her finish while I leaned on the doorway. She gave me a smirk when she caught me as she pulled up her hair.

"Looks like I don't need to ask you to get ready," I remarked.

"Did you think I was going to let you go to her room alone?" she teased back.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that Kane and Clarke will also be summoned, maybe even Bellamy."

"So, what's the new disaster?"

"Farm Station which means that the Ice Nation will be involved, but I'm sure Lexa is going to give us the specifics once we get there," I replied.

"You don't know?"

"Things were quiet for a couple of months after Clarke wiped out Mount Weather. Farm Station did cause some problems, putting it mildly, but that was only after Pike took over the Chancellor position and rejected Lexa's Coalition. Something's changed."

Raven walked up to me and kissed me before she said, "Hey, we got this."

"I like the sound of that," I chuckled, wrapping my arms around her neck, and then kissed her again.

Although I wanted nothing more than to just stay in bed with Raven, I knew that this was important, so we left a moment later. Lexa's chambers were a suite like mine, but twice as big and was attached to her throne room. As I had guessed, Clarke, Bellamy, and Kane were already there as well as Titus, Gustus, and Indra. They were all gathered around a table with a map of the Twelve Clans spread out across it.

"Good, now we can begin. Gustus," Lexa said as we walked into her throne room. While Gustus handed a sheet of paper to Kane, Lexa explained, "The Ice Nation is demanding compensation from Skaikru over the destruction of several of their villages and the deaths of over a hundred people. I sent out a few scouts into the Ice Nation weeks ago, but none of them have returned, or sent word."

"This is a joke, right?" Kane asked with disbelief as he finished reading the paper.

"Only that they would think that I would agree to it. Even if I did, they would still attack us in another month or two, claiming that I am weak for sparing the rest of you. I would only be granting her more time to find allies against me," Lexa replied.

"What is it?" Clarke asked.

Kane crumpled the message, but Lexa explained anyways, "They want either the death of all Skaikru, or Natfaya's head."

"Is that all?" I asked with dark amusement.

"We could announce Praimfaya. If people knew about the rising radiation levels and the Death Wave, they could understand that we need to prepare for it," Clarke said with hope.

"There are over two hundred thousand people that fall under the banner of the Twelve Clans. Even if war was avoided, we worked Octavia and our people to the brink of exhaustion every day, so that we could increase the size of Mount Weather and the Second Dawn Bunker to hold how many? Another thousand, ten thousand? War is unavoidable at this point; it is only how fervently the other side will fight us that we can control," Lexa replied, coldly.

Although I had known that Katye received Lexa's memories, it was unsettling to hear her talk so dispassionately about war. It was clear that those memories had affected her, so maybe I did have it easier than her in the beginning.

"So, how do we delay it then?" I asked with a sigh.

"That is what we need to figure out. We need time to expand the bunkers and repair the remains of the Ark," Lexa replied. "How much longer until the bunker is functional?"

"We've planted the hydrofarm and Sinclair's team had gotten the water recycler repaired, but..." Kane started explaining.

"Relax, Kane. My thoughts were that if your engineers can be spared from the bunker, they would be better utilized for repairing the Ark. You can send another team here that will take over farming and other tasks. Mount Weather is another place that we need to start prepping, but this will cause problems with my people because of its past. Originally, Abby had wanted to open it as a hospital which I would like to happen this time to help ease some of the ill will, but there is a self-destruction code that needs to be deactivated as soon as possible," Lexa said.

"And Farm Station?" Bellamy asked.

"Octavia will lead a team of Skaikru warriors to capture the Skaikru members within the Ice Nation after they are declared traitors by your people. We can put off their executions for a time, but eventually, the war will start. I don't believe your people are responsible for as many deaths as Nia claims, but without proof, the Coalition will be weakened until it eventually breaks."

"And Queen Nia is going to accept me entering her lands?" I asked.

"Let's hope that she is foolish enough to attack you, maybe then we will only fight against one Clan instead of six," Indra said.

"How much time can that buy us?" Kane asked.

"A month, maybe two if it takes time for you to find your people, but Azgeda will be watching your movements," Lexa replied.

I leaned on the table and looked at the map. The lands of the Twelve Clans stretched out across most of the eastern United States and were color coded to the nation with pins marking villages. So many lives were represented on this map, and our decisions would determine all of their fates.

"Which Clans are likely to turn on you?" Bellamy asked.

"That is question that I have no answer to. The actions that we take now will determine our future," Lexa said.

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