𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐔𝐒𝐓 | ᵇᵉˡˡᵃᵐʸ ᵇˡᵃᵏᵉ

53 ~ alliance

"Where's Clarke?" River asked as she approached Kane in a hurry, slightly out of breath from fighting against her crutches slowing her down.

Kane glanced at a tent nearby. "In there," he mumbled, keeping his head low.

It didn't take more than a second before River started to move towards the tent. Silent sobs neared as she got closer. Clarke. When she pulled the tent flaps away to see the inside of the tent, her heart sank. Clarke was scrubbing her blood stained hands while tears poured down her face. She was shaking, her breath abnormally rapid.

"Clarke," River's soft voice said as she limped over to the fragile girl.

Clarke's tearful eyes met hers. "They would've tortured him. I had to. I—" she sobbed.

River sat her crutches aside before pulling Clarke into a tight hug. ". . . I understand," she whispered as she felt Clarke burry her face in her shoulder.

"What did I do?" Clarke croaked.

Placing a hand to the back of Clarke's head, River spoke. "Listen to me, Clarke. You did what was best for Finn. There was no possible way for him to get out of that situation," she told her, "You spared him for all the torture that was about to come."

River took notice of how her breathing seemed to calm a tiny bit. Soon after Abby entered the tent as River let go of Clarke, so Abby could comfort her daughter. Therefore River grabbed her crutches once more and took place next to Kane. He looked puzzled as he glanced over at Clarke and Abby embracing each other.

All of a sudden a grounder man appeared in the doorway. "The Commander is ready to talk," he informed.

Clarke wiped her tears and stood up, trying her best to hold her head high.

Lexa entered and headed straight for her seat. Her stone cold expression never faltered as she spoke. "Blood has answered blood," she said, "Some on my side say that's not enough. They wanted the murderer to suffer as our tradition demands. But they do not know that your suffering will be worse."

River felt a sting in her stomach and she watched Clarke's eyes fall from Lexa and onto the floor instead.

"What you did tonight will haunt you till the end of your days. Still there will be restitution. The body will be given to the people of Tondc. Murderer and murdered joined by fire. Only then can we have peace."

Kane decided to chip in from River's side. "No, no, we've done enough. The boy should be buried by his own people," he insisted.

"Enough?" Indra repeated from her place behind Lexa. "We were owed the pain of 18 deaths. We were owed our righteous kill. My village deserves justice."

"You don't want justice," Abby stated with gritted teeth. "You want vengeance."

Indra left her place as she moved towards Abby. "You have not seen my vengeance."

"We'll do it."

Clarke's sudden input caused the people around her to grow quiet.

"But when it's over, we talk about how to get out people out of Mount Weather," Clarke declared, "All of our people."

"We want the same things, Clarke," Lexa said, calmly.

"Good. When do we leave?"

"Now," Lexa stated, "Choose your attendants."

River left without saying anything, wanting to get out of there.

———

The walk to Tondc was painfully quiet. River remained at Bellamy's side at all times. He'd aired the idea of him being their inside man at Mount Weather. Safe to say River hated the idea. Ever since he'd told her, she'd stayed close to him as if she wanted to be there if he decided to try to leave.