Not All Fun and Games

Chapter 44

Clarke's POV

Polis was incredible. Kids ran here and there, laughing, talking and playing ball. Not warriors. Happy, innocent children. Houses made of stone and logs surround the village and there's one large building in the centre of the village. A tall mountain is just outside the gates. Calvin explained that inside was a large bunker where people had taken shelter when the nuclear apocalypse poisoned the earth. That's how the grounders survived.
I wait in the "meeting room", as the earthborns call it, in the building at the centre of Polis. Kaytee and Calvin are outside. The commander will meet me soon, I was told.
When we arrived, we were met by guards who took our weapons and our supplies, for precaution. I could feel every pair of eyes on us as we stepped into the buzzing village. The children stopped playing and stared at us incredulously. It must have been strange seeing people who had fallen from the sky for the first time. Regardless, most of them welcomed us with open arms. They offered us food and water and a few kids came up to talk to us. They mostly wanted to know about space. I told them that I have a meeting to attend, but I'd definitely answer them after. If the meeting with the commander goes well, that is. If it doesn't, I'm sure Sonthia and her friends won't hesitate to kill me and the rest of the 100.
Suddenly, the door in front of me is thrown open and two people walk in. First, a tall, well-built woman. She must be a guard. Behind her is a slim girl, probably my age, who has long brown hair tinted with black streaks. It's pulled back in multiple braids. She wears a long, leathery jacket and black makeup around her eyes. The commander.
"Hello, Clarke of the sky people. I'm Tuscany." She speaks with the same light and just barely noticeable accent as Calvin. I can't help but notice her prominent cheekbones. She's very pretty.
"Hi. It's... nice to meet you," I reply. I'm distracted by her clothes. They must be made of animal skin, maybe a wolf's. Whatever it is, it's beautiful. I wish I had clothes like hers. Then again, maybe I will some day.
Tuscany says something in the grounder language to the guard, who then leaves, leaving me and the commander alone in the room.
She turns her attention back to me. "You're here to discuss a peace treaty. Is that correct?"
"Yes." I decide to get straight to the point. "Your people have killed and injured too many of mine. I wish to end the violence. We want to live peacefully with you and the rest of the tree people."
I take a deep breath, waiting for her to answer. Waiting for her to say no, pretty much ending my and the rest of my people's lives with one word. There's no way we can fight the grounders and win. We may have guns, but they have an entire army of trained warriors. If Tuscany doesn't agree to the peace treaty, the sky people will all surely be dead in the next week. My head begins to spin. Maybe I shouldn't have come here. Maybe we should have packed up and left, the whole camp. Gone to live somewhere else, somewhere far away from the earthborns. It's too late now, we're all going to d-
"Yes."
I look at Tuscany's eyes, then to her lips to make sure I didn't imagine it. But I don't think I did, because she's looking at me expectantly.
"Yes?" I repeat.
She smiles, her intimidating grounder features seeming to disappear. "Yes, I will agree to the peace treaty."
I let out a breath that I must have been holding in since I left the camp.
Tuscany's smile fades into a worried frown. "But I can't promise your people complete safety," she sighs. "When you came down from the sky, some of my people weren't happy. They didn't wish to share our land with new comers. They wanted to kill you right away, but I told them no. They decided to listen to me, and to not invade your camp. But a few of them weren't happy about that. So they created a boundary. Every time your people would cross it and enter what they thought was their territory, they would attack."
So I was right about that. They attacked us and killed Atom because we were in their territory.
Tuscany shakes her head grimly and continues. "I had no choice but to banish them. They could no longer be trusted. But then others started joining them. They formed a small but dangerous group and are now probably on the hunt for anyone coming into their territory. I'm worried that they might stop waiting. They have nothing to lose, Clarke. They could one day decide that they want to attack your camp and kill all of you."
What she's saying doesn't come as much of a surprise. I knew there was a possibility that the grounders would get impatient and come after us. What I didn't know was that there was only a small group of them that wanted to hurt us. The rest of the earthborns wish to live with us peacefully.
There's nothing Tuscany can do about the vicious group of grounders. Peace treaty or not, we're still not safe. Maybe we'll pack up and leave in the end, anyway.
"How many people are you?" Asks Tuscany. "How many sky people are down here, on Earth?"
"When we came down, we were a hundred. We've lost a few since then," I respond, wondering where this is going.
"One hundred," she repeats under her breath. "I have a proposition," she states. "We're always building more houses in Polis. Right now, there are approximately one hundred and fifty. About thirty of them are uninhabited."
I hold my breath. Could she be asking...
"If you and your people would like to stay in Polis, you would be more than welcome," she says, answering my thoughts.

A/N
I wrote this long before season 3 of The 100 came out, so Polis is described quite differently in this chapter than in the show. In my later chapters, I'll try to describe it more like it is in the show.
-Haley