fragile | clexa

chapter twenty two

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Clarke wasn't 30 meters away from her and God.

That medicine must've worked magic.

Her cheeks had softened, filled, the bruises were finally fully gone and the transformation from cut to scar in her face had finished as well. There were pale, soft pink scars over her cheeks and forehead, one on her chin, and that was it with any signs of injuries on her face. Her lips had grown fuller too, the split gone and only some dry cracks interrupted the soft flesh.

Her cheekbones were still prominent and so was her jaw, but it looked healthier, like simple sharp face features.

Her hair fell over her shoulders, freshly washed, her back had straightened a little bit and though her posture still wasn't great, it was definitely noticable even from further away that there had grown some muscle. And while Lexa noticed the improvement all over Clarke's body in general, her eyes kept going back to the girl's face.

If Clarke had been beautiful before, she certainly was unbelievably so now. Not that Lexa called Clarke beautiful in any way that didn't include the 'she really made process' kind of beautiful.

Their eyes met when Lexa started riding further down the road, a few calls of her title errupting, and Clarke's head lifted. She was sitting on a bench in front of Lincoln's tent, her cane clutched by still thin fingers.

The man just left the tent with a bowl in his hands when he noticed the Heda too, stopped in his movements and bowed his head once she had stopped the horse in front of them.

"Heda. I was just bringing her dinner. Shall I give her to you now?"

"Yes, thank you Lincoln, I appreciate it a lot. I will talk to you tomorrow."

The man bowed his head again, uncertainly left the bowl on the bench next to Clarke and then disappeared in his tent. Lexa's expressions softened as she knelt down in front of Clarke.

"Hi. I'm sorry I was away so long, but we're on a very good track. Finn is long in my prisons and Jaha will be very soon."

Clarke nodded once, her face ever so empty.

"How was the week here?"

"Good. I spent all days with Artigas."

"And where did you sleep?"

"I- I wasn't sure where I was supposed to. I just stayed in your bed, I'm sorry."

"No, no, that's just right. Were you alone?"

"Lincoln slept on a few furs on the floor close to the tent entrance."

Lexa nodded.

"Very well. Do you want to tell me more on the way back?"

Clarke nodded and, noticing the slight change in weight, Lexa lifted Clarke up on the horse before getting on behind her. On their way, Indra's words were back in Lexa's mind.

Clarke was sitting as usual on her horse, legs around Lexa's waist and face against her chest, with her arms loosely holding onto Lexa's upper body.

Indra wasn't wrong exactly.

She hadn't been able to fulfill her duty for more than three weeks, with the week in Polis it'd been four, and there was no soon end in sight talking about Clarke and her healing process. Of course it had been clear to her that she couldn't just give Clarke some medicine and everything would be fine, starting from her weight and muscles going over her injuries ending at her mental health, maybe the biggest problem, but she hadn't fully thought it through either.