𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍, bellamy blake ¹

11; what doesn't kill you

"We dreamed together of the world remade."

― Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone

➳ ➳ ➳

"AI... LAIK... NEOMI KOM..." NAOMI TRAILED OFF, SLAMMING HER HANDS INTO THE LOG BENEATH HER. She shook her head and looked up to Serena in exasperation.

Serena just smiled softly. "Again," she said.

Naomi jolted her head and pulled up her lip to exaggerate the confusion on her face. "Why do I have to learn this, anyway? You speak English."

"Only the warriors, Naomi." Her voice still had the accent when speaking her name.

Naomi let out a quick huff. "Ai like—"

"'Laik'," Serena corrected her with a small smile. "Not 'like'."

"Ai laik Neomi kom Skaikru." She racked her brain for the next words. "Ai laik... g-gona... Ai na stay—" {I am Naomi of the Sky People. I am a warrior. I—}

"'Ste'," Serena corrected.

Naomi continued "—na ste wan daun... de— dison," she corrected herself, "wor." {—will stop this war}

Serena looked pleased with Naomi's progression at the language. She smiled and her braided hair fell about her brown shoulders. "Good, Naomi," she said. "Very good. Now, a man gives you bread for free. What do you say?"

"What?"

"What do you say in thanks?"

"Mochof." {Thank you}

Serena nodded. "A warrior is killed in battle. What do you speak to them?"

Naomi racked her brain. "Yo gonplei ste odon." {Your fight is over}

"'Yu'," corrected Serena. "'Yo' implies it is plural. But good nonetheless."

They kept at that for a few minutes, Serena prompting Naomi, and Naomi responding—typically—correctly.

"You meet the Commander. What do you tell her?"

Naomi looked down at her knee and shifted her foot. She was clad in grounder clothes now, tight leggings and a shirt that cut dangerously low at the front. The only thing she wore that was hers, was the necklace of twisted metal that hung around her neck: a present she had received from Bellamy on her fifteenth birthday. She was doing this for them.

She pulled a fur jacket tighter around her shoulders. "I am Naomi of the Sky People and I will stop this war."

Serena smiled again and stood from where she had been sitting beside Naomi. A woman walked past and greeted her kindly, only sparing a glance in Naomi's direction. The grounders had become accustomed to her presence after the few days she had been around, though she wouldn't say they trusted her. The feeling was mutual.

"We'll make a warrior out of you yet," said Serena, reaching out an arm for Naomi. Noe gripped her by the wrist and the older girl hauled her to her feet.

Naomi smiled at her and turned her head towards the horizon. The sun was high overhead, grey clouds rolling in from the east. A storm was to be expected, Serena had told her earlier, which would make the crops flourish. Naomi loved the rain: loved how it felt on her face and on her fingertips; loved dancing in it; loved grinning in it. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before, and, much to Serena's amusement, spun in it the first time she had felt it a few days prior. She was looking forward to the next round.