The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 21

"Go slow Clarke, I would like to see how you move." Lexa says.

She circles me slowly, her eyes running up and down my body as I hit the wooden training dummy. It's something that's always been here, but Anya and I haven't used it with swords.

"Good." Lexa murmurs, "May I move you to correct your form?"

"Yes." I say immediately, pausing my movements.

She studies me for a moment more before gently moving my position slightly. "Either Anya is a better teacher than she was, or you are a better student than I was. It took me a year to perfect this stance. Even then, I was never allowed to touch a real sword."

After such an emotionally draining day, it's relaxing to go through the motions of swordplay, which has become almost automatic. Lexa and I train for maybe an hour more before we head back to our tents.

I'm tempted to invite her in, but I know we're both tired and might end up just falling asleep (which I definitely wouldn't mind sleeping near her... or with her, but now isn't the time for that. Plus, I doubt she sees me in that way).

"Goodnight, Clarke." Lexa says softly, giving me a small smile.

"Reshop, Heda." I respond, proud that I remember the right words.

Her smile grows and she leaves me, my heart a gooey mess in my chest. She's just... so cute.

It isn't too late, but get into my bed and fall asleep almost instantly to thoughts of Lexa.

"Clarke." A familiar voice says, snapping me from my sleep. I groan and burrow into the furs more. "Clarke, beja. Wake up."

When the person says beja, my eyes jolt open. That couldn't be Anya, and the voice is definitely not Artigas'. I turn in my bed to face the person instead of the cloth of the tent.

"Lexa?" I blink, thinking my eyes are deceiving me.

What kind of horrible thing must have happened for her to come in here unannounced? She's a respectful person, always aware of boundaries. Though I don't mind her being in my tent in the least, I know she wouldn't want the first time of her coming in here to be without my explicit consent.

"Clarke, get up. Nyko needs you."

I sit up, knowing he wouldn't call for me or ask Lexa to get me if it weren't extremely serious. Lexa turns her back to me, blushing as I stand, grabbing clean clothes. I strip off the clothes I fell asleep in and put on my clean ones. I move past her to head for the door, touching her wrist and hoping she'll understand that I'm letting her know I'm done and to follow me. 

Lexa gets the message and walks beside me as we hurry to Nyko's hut. He looks up when we rush in, relaxing when he sees I'm here.

"Clarke, mochof for coming. This is out of my hands now, perhaps you can do something."

He glances down at a young boy that looks like he's about the age of ten on the bed Indra was on yesterday. He's badly beaten and barely breathing. I grab my gloves from the bag I brought from my tent and put them on. I go through the motions, checking on him to see the extent of his wounds. My jaw tightens when I finish, immediately preparing to help his lack of breath first.

"What did this to him?" I ask as I work.

"A Pauna." Nyko says.

I take a deep breath and steep my resolve. I know what I'm hunting tomorrow. I'll tell Lexa my plan to kill it after I save this kid.

It takes a long time before he's stable. The sun has set again by then and I have barely rested, not even eating or drinking until Lexa practically forces me to. She stayed by my side the entire time, helping whenever I asked her to, and even got me to take short five minutes that I always ended early when he started seeming better. Nyko helped when he could, but he was mainly busy tending to other small injuries in the village.

I take off my bloody, soiled gloves and know I'll have to have someone make me new ones I can clean easily.

"Come, Clarke." Lexa says quietly, directing my exhausted self back to my tent and making sure I don't trip over any pebbles my tired eyes don't notice.

"Mochof." I yawn.

A nearby guard approaches us and Lexa speaks to him for a moment before continuing to lead me the rest of the way back to my tent. I sit on my chair near the bed while Lexa takes something a warrior hands her from outside the tent. As she nears, I realize she's brought food. My stomach rumbles angrily, protesting against my lack of eating today.

A small smile lights up her features at the sound and she sits across from me, taking some food.

"Lexa." I murmur, wanting to tell her this. Hopefully her inevitably bad reaction to my words will keep me from passing out just yet. "We're not hunting ordinary beasts tomorrow. We're hunting Pauna."

Lexa's eyes widen, and she pauses mid-chew to stare at me incredulously before swallowing her food and speaking. "Clarke, no. That would be suicide. No one has ever succeeded in killing a Pauna. It will kill you." She pleads.

"No it won't." I deny. "Look, it just nearly killed this boy who's about ten, and he would've died if I weren't there. It's killed before, it's going to do it again."

"Clarke, this is the most vicious Pauna in the twelve clans. More than twelve strong warriors went against it together, and yet it still breaths while the warriors do not. It has torn a man in half, Clarke. Beja, reconsider. I do not want to lose you."

"I'm not going to do anything stupid, I promise."

"You are going to try to kill a giant bloodthirsty Pauna." Lexa points out gently.

"Well, yes, but I'm not going to charge at it or anything."

"You will not leave without me." Lexa says, and I know it's an order.

"I won't, Lexa. Plus, I don't know where it is and I have a feeling you've been having some people track it."

Lexa just sighs and slumps in the chair and I know I'm right. "You are going to be the death of me, Clarke."

"I hope not, I like your company."

I was going to have the boy be Artigas, but then again... I'm an asshole, but I'm not that evil and I like him. So no worries, Artigas is okay. Thank you for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!