I Know Places

IV

The carefree boy brushes her hair off of her face, smiling slightly. Lia's laugh echoes through the cave.
"I need you to focus, Naal." The boy attempts to sound serious, but only causes her to laugh more, "Please, just stay still."
Lia rolls her eyes at him, but does as she's asked. He stares at her, taking in every detail, from the slight dips below her cheek bones, to the countless colours in her eyes.
"What are you doing?" Lia sighs, growing impatient already.
The boy only shushes her, flicking through his sketchbook for a clean page. He takes extreme caution as he draws the girl, knowing that he would impress her. Each stroke is taken with care.
"How long is this going to take?" Lia complains, trying to get a rise out of the boy.
"Naal, please be quiet."
So she does. For the next half an hour, Lia stays as quiet as she can. Only complaining occasionally - every few minutes, that is.
"Are you done?" Her energy picks up as the boy lowers his charcoal.
"I guess." He sighs, the girl leaping forward. Too excited to even wait for him to stand up.
"Oh." Her voice is tinged with disappointment.
"Oh?"
"Yes, 'oh'," She sighs, kicking at his foot, "Why don't I have a talent?"
They sit in silence for a moment, before the boy begins to laugh.
"Naalia," The boy nudges her, "Are you done feeling sorry for yourself?"
The two spend their day in the cave, the boy teaches Lia the basics of sketching, and in return she attempts to teach him the old language of the land.
While young, Lia's farther had taught her little bits of the old language. The one that the Mountain Men continued to use. Lia had been fascinated by the history of the earth, and why it came to be the place it is now.
Lia jumps as a loud explosion shakes the ground beneath her. What the hell was that? She runs to the boy for safety. Scared of what may have happened.

Deciding that the cave wasn't safe, the two head out. They didn't want to become trapped in there, or crushed.
"Over there." The boy points to the cloud of smoke rising from the trees. He grabs Lia's hand, pulling her along as he so desperately ran towards the explosion.
They finally reach the crash-site, a smoking, large metal contraption in the centre. A man, a kind she'd never seen before, sprawls out of the machine. Her eyes find their way to the faded letters, NAS, the rest had been destroyed in the crash. He is from the sky, she concludes.
"Lincoln." Lia shouts, refusing to move. "I'm not going with you."
"Come on, Lia," He pleads, "They may need our help."
"He isn't of earth, Lincoln!" She screams at the boy. How could he be so stupid? He would get himself killed.

**

Lia replays the first time she saw a Sky Person over and over in her mind. Almost ten years later, she was their prisoner. She looks around the hold. Metal graces every wall bar one, instead it is held together by a dense plastic like material. Sighing, she sits down on the metal floor, irritated by its cold harshness. Why was she here? Why was locked in this small, freezing cell?
"She's going to be okay though, right?" A familiar mumbling comes from outside the hold. She huffs, wanting to be away from this whole Skaikru nonsense. She wanted to be home, with Lux, without having to worry about the Sky People.
An older woman saunters down the hallway, towards her. Lia preferred the younger Skaikru. These elders were too proud, too confident to say they were on unknown lands.
"How're you feeling?" Her voice is monotonous. Lia only nods. Refusing to answer this strange woman.
"How is your shoulder?"
Lia nods again. Staring at the metal above her. She didn't understand why she was being kept here. The woman sighs, turning on her heals and leaving Lia alone with her thoughts, once again.

"She's not a threat." Bellamy's voice once again echoed throughout the metal walls. His anger was absolute. He had brought Lia here to treat a wound - one that his own had caused. Yet the elders threw her into a cell and treated her like the enemy.
"We can't risk it, Bellamy." A guard raises their voice. Growing impatient with the boy.
"You cleared Finn easily enough!" Bellamy growls, growing angrier by the second.
"Finn is not our enemy."
"Finn massacred a village, with no remorse." He snarls, "He took innocent lives. Yet, she is locked away?" Finn may have been his friend, but he had caused so much damage. He wasn't the Finn he had known just weeks before. The peacekeeper. The one that risked his life for a truce, after almost dying at the hand of a grounder.
The guard shrugs. He didn't determine who was or wasn't locked away, he only stood watch. If Bellamy had a problem, he'd have to take it up with the higher power. He kicks the wall hard, leaning his head against it.
"Can I at least see her?" He sighs.
"I'm sorry-" The guard starts, but Bellamy storms away in anger before he can finish his sentence.