ATARAXIA • BELLAMY BLAKE

[ 5 4 ]

"I can't believe you're still on my case about that stupid lamp. I did not break it," I laugh, closing the driver's side door with a mix of disbelief and amusement. The others start getting out of the rover, stretching their legs after the long ride.

"You know you did," Jaime replies, a smirk playing on his lips as he grabs his backpack from the front seat. "Come on, remember? You were trying to catch the remote, and down went the lamp."

I shake my head, slinging my bag over my shoulder. "You were the one who threw the remote like a football!" I say, recalling the incident.

Jaime raises an eyebrow. "And you fumbled the catch. That lamp was an heirloom."

"Everything on the Ark was an heirloom," I shoot back.

"It had sentimental value," he replies, hiding a bemused smile.

"I'm not getting sucked back into this again," I say with a chuckle. The incident happened over a year ago in Jaime's quarters, and somehow, we still can't land on who was at fault.

"So we agree, then?" Jaime grins. "You broke it."

I raise a playful hand, refusing to continue the debate.

As Octavia, Raven, and I begin unloading our gear from the back, Bellamy glances at me impassively before looking at the large metal side door to Mount Weather, which the rover as just climbed this hill to reach.

"Hey, the summit delegation will be fine," I say, guessing that's what's bothering him.

Bellamy shakes his head, eyes fixed on the door. "I should be there."

Tonight, Lexa is hosting a summit in the capital, Polis, which Abby and Kane have gone to attend. Their hope is to make progress on negotiations for lifting Lincoln's kill order, opening trade routes, and getting Clarke back, since, as it turns out, the man that had taken Clarke had worked for Lexa and been sent to catch her so that she wouldn't get killed as Wanheda.

"As soon as your leg heals, you'll be right back out there," Gina says, joining us from behind and slipping between Bellamy and me.

"My leg's fine," Bellamy replies. "Kane's just trying to teach me a lesson."

"You guys, did I ever tell you how I saved Sinclair's ass on the Ark?" Raven says, slinging her backpack over her shoulder with a cocky smile.

Sinclair, the Chief Engineer and Raven's mentor on the Ark, must've had his hands full with her and that healthy ego of hers that we all love her for.

"Please don't," Octavia says on behalf all of us.

"You mean the time you went rogue on a spacewalk?" Gina asks with interest, not as used to these stories as the rest of us.

"That depends on your definition of 'going rogue,'" Raven replies playfully. "I just hopped on a robotic arm and aimed at the solar array..."

I leave Raven and Gina to their story and head towards the door with the others. Bellamy holds it open for me. I smile at him gratefully as I drag my gear inside. Jaime notices how much I'm carrying and steps in to help.

"Let me take some of that," he says, peeling two of the bags off my shoulders.

"Thanks," I reply, pausing to make sure Octavia and the others are following, but Raven and Gina seem absorbed in their own world, so I leave them to it and start leading Jaime toward the elevator with Bellamy and Octavia right behind us.

"So, Bellamy," Jaime begins, glancing over his shoulder. "I hear you've got a training program going for some of the kids in Arkadia."

"Yeah," Bellamy's hoarse voice responds as I press the 'down' button to open the doors to one of the two elevators and we all step inside. "Lincoln too."