UnderStanding (Clexa)

Chapter Two

I own nothing
Clarke - Four days since the fall of the mountain

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She's making good time on her route to TonDC but feels it is taking much too long. She knows Lexa's plan was to head to Polis after the fall of the mountain, but she is certain she will find Indra checking on the rebuilding of her village before she meets back up with her Heda. It is that knowledge that has her quickening her pace while trying to stay vigilant of her surroundings. Her grip tightens on the shock-lash rod she has in her possession. Other than her canteen and two small blades, it is the only weapon she wants. She had taken it from one of the fallen guards as they left the mountain, trading it for the handgun she had kept on her. She never wants to touch another gun.

She nears a beaten down path and knows she has found the village. She slows her pace just briefly and tries to relax the tense grip on the rod. She doesn't want to give them a reason to put an arrow in her before she can explain her presence. Taking a deep breath to calm her heart and her breathing she stops walking and listens. The sound of a tree branch straining is her only indication before one of the grounders drops in front of her. She doesn't flinch and stares into the woman's eyes. They are vaguely familiar. The warrior removes her face mask and Clarke can't help but feel slightly relieved. It is Echo, one of the grounders that was held in Mount Weather.

"Ai laik Klark kom Skaikru en-"

"I know who you are, Clarke. Most of us do. Our Heda isn't here," Echo replies. Her words aren't harsh but she has a questioning look in her eyes. "She's already gone to Polis."

Clarke nods, "I'm aware. Which is why I'm here. I'm actually looking for Indra. Can you take me to her?"

She watches as Echo considers her briefly. She can tell there is a question waiting to be asked, but it never comes. Instead, Echo turns and begins leading Clarke towards the village entrance. Just outside she stops and turns, depositing her bow and a short blade off to the side in the waiting bins. Clarke follows suit, depositing her two blades and her shock-lash rod. Echo nods and they continue into the village.

Clarke had assumed there would be whispers, but she is surprised at the silence that greets them as they walk further in. She isn't met with hateful glares as she expected, rather, she was receiving several nods and murmurs of "Heda Klark" and a few other phrases she wasn't familiar with. She gently rests her hand on Echo's arm to get her attention. "What are they saying?"

Echo looks around her for a moment before making eye contact with pained blue eyes. "They are acknowledging you as the leader of the Skaikru, and some are in awe that you were still able to bring down the mountain without our army. Some respect you, others fear you."

The warrior watches her in silence for a bit before Clarke schools her features and starts walking again. "I fear me too."

Echo leads her to a tent near the far eastern side of village and says something to one of the guards outside before nodding her head towards the open flap, indicating for Clarke to go inside. The guards only nod to her as she enters, much to her surprise.

"Klark of the Skaikru. I wasn't expecting you, which in hindsight, means I should have." Indra speaks with her usual tone, but Clarke doesn't take it as an attack this time. "Why have you come? Lexa isn't here."

The blonde resists the urge to roll her eyes as she needs Indra's help. She doesn't want to be disrespectful. "I'm not here to see Lexa. I came to speak to you. I need your help."

Indra is shaking her head before she finishes, "I don't know what you need, but I cannot help you. I have things to oversee here in the next moon before I join our Heda in Polis. Whatever revenge you think to achieve, you will not find it."

It's Clarke's turn to shake her head. "I don't want revenge Indra. I understand why Lexa made the choice she did. I would have done the same." She pauses, looking down and swallowing the bile threatening to rise in her throat. "I did worse."

Indra studied the girl in front of her. She is nearly the same age as Lexa and in some ways seems older, but much younger in others. Her scouts have told her what they saw at the mountain, how they had overheard Skaikru talking about what had taken place. They haven't seen the destruction, but she can only imagine what this young girl in front of her is feeling knowing the deaths she caused. She has watched many of her own go through it, but they are trained for this. However hard it was, it couldn't have weighed on them nearly the same way as it certainly does for the girl that fell from the sky. She doesn't know what it is that made her decide to ask. Maybe it is a favour to her commander, since she knows, regardless of how Lexa tries to hide it, that she feels for this girl. Maybe it is because of the look on her face, how she is seeking out Indra's help, of all people. Maybe she is just bored. "What is it you ask of me? And speak true."

Clarke then knows she made the right choice to come here. She had watched Octavia with Indra and Lincoln. She had listened to his stories about their people as he educated his new love in their ways and traditions. She knows she is doing the only thing she can to try and mend the devastated condition of her heart...of her soul. At the same time, maybe it will bring some relief, however slight, to the Trigedakru for the wrongs she has done to them.

Clarke takes two steps forward and drops to her knees three feet from Indra. Her body is weak, but her voice and resolve are strong as she speaks her request. "I wish to partake in the purification trials. I seek absolution for the unjustified deaths of the 18 innocents taken by one of my people. I seek absolution for the murder I brought to 16 innocent children in my quest to free my own from the mountain. I wish to undergo the trials, and should I come through and be worthy, I wish to join the ranks of the Trigedakru as one of your own." She lowers her head, waiting for Indra's response.

Indra, however, doesn't know how to respond. She is shocked at this request, first that Clarke even knows of the trials, but that she would even ask to undergo them. The trials are not to be requested lightly and are very rarely sought. Those that do, have committed horrible crimes in their own eyes that weren't punished by death, or they were from other clans that have deserted and had to partake to join as a new clan member. Some don't survive. Knowing what the Sky girl has gone through, she can see her wanting this as a form of punishment and maybe, partly, that's what it was. But to ask to join the Trigedakru after...has Indra speechless.

"You know not what you seek," is all she can say. The warrior in her wants to give her this, for her own people's justice, yes, but also because as a member of the Trigedakru that has willingly undergone and passed the trials, her Heda can have blonde at her side, without fallout from their clan, and be stronger for it. But Clarke has to survive. And Indra will have to deal with Lexa's wrath she fears, either way.

"I do know what I seek," Clarke seethes. She stands up and steps closer to Indra, into her personal space so that she could see her eyes clearly. "I seek the pain of 34 deaths. I seek the cuts and burns for the lives of 34. I seek to be branded with the reminder of those I took so that I can face what's to come. I want to rid myself of what I was, to become one that is deserving to stand with the Trigedakru, not out of fear, but out of unity. Beja."

Indra draws her sword and brings it down like a crack of lightning, stopping just short of Clarke's neck. She can't help but release a proud smile when not only does Clarke not flinch nor release her gaze, but she has even tilted her neck to the side, as if expecting the reaction. She is offering her life in that single act, and Indra makes her decision as she sheathes her sword.

"You will rest and be fed for two days before we begin. You are weak and to get through the trials, you must not be. I am doing this out of respect for you, Klark kom Skaikru. Do not make me regret it." She turns and makes her way to the entrance of her tent, speaking quickly to someone outside before the sound of her walking away is heard and someone else is walking inside.

"Are you sure about this Clarke?" Echo asks, a wide eyed look of awe and fear showing in her hazel eyes.

A resounding yes sounds in her head, but she smiles the first true smile in what feels like weeks and decides she may as well brush up on her Trigedasleng. "Sha" she replies and strides out of the tent, Echo on her heels.

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