Not everyone, not you

Chapter 25 - Apprentice

Clarke's POV

The following morning, Lexa and I got ready to go meet Titus so that I could begin the training required to become Fleimkeepa. We were also told that both my mother and Kane will be coming to Polis for the meeting, but only Kane will attend the meeting while my mom will help the healers. We were told that Octavia was in charge while both of them are away. I think that's a good idea, I know Octavia's a good leader.

We walk into the throne room and see Titus next to the throne. He sees us and walks towards us.

"We will be with the Natblidas for the first half of the day. You will get to know them and help me train them for when the time of becoming Heda comes. There will be a break at noon, you and Lexa can eat together and after that, I will bring you down in the Flamekeeper's chambers and teach you about the history of our people and the process Natblidas go through to become Heda." he explains to me.

"Then let's get going, I don't want to waste too much time doing nothing." I respond.

"I will wait outside."he tells me.

Lexa smiles at me.

"You will do great Clarke, the Natblidas are amazing. Titus seems to have changed how he thinks about you." she says.

"Thanks. What will you be doing today?"

"I will be walking around the city and catching up with people and helping with anything I can. I will be back for lunch, I will meet you in the dinning room." she explains.

"Be safe, I love you."

"I love you too."

We kiss and Lexa gives me a hug.

"Have fun, I'll see you at lunch, Clarke."

I smiles and give her one last kiss and I walk out of the room. Titus greets me and signals me to follow him. We walk out of the tower and we walk towards the training arena.

"You aren't going to murder me, are you?" I ask him, jokingly.

"No, I wouldn't dare try to. Although I was taught that Commanders should be alone because it can put them in danger, I do think you make Lexa happy. She is still the same Commander, just now she uses her heart as well as her head to make choices. With you, she isn't the Commander, she's Lexa and not even I have seen her be as comfortable with someone as she is with you. She trusts you, Clarke. If she trusts you, I trust you. I know we have our differences, but you make her happy. Thank you, Clarke."

"There's no need to thank me, Titus. I love her and she makes me happy. Thank you, for trying to understand more about the situation." I reply.

"We are here, I will introduce you to each of the Natblidas."

I nod and we approach the group of children. I find it hard to believe that children are trained to kill people their entire lives because of their blood. I understand why Luna ran away from her conclave now. As soon as the Nightbloods see me they stop training and start making their way to us.

"Clarke!" they say in unison.

"Hey guys, how have you been since we last saw each other?"

"Good, we've all improved. It's nice to see you again Clarke." responded Aden.

"It's nice to see you too Aden."

"Clarke is here as my apprentice. She will become a Flamekeeper alongside me, Heda's orders." Titus explains to them.

Lunch break gets here quicker than I thought it would, but I guess learning more about Natblidas kept me occupied. I wanted to bring Luna up, but I decided to wait until later today, just in case he gets angry about it. We make our way back to the tower in silence and I take a seat in the dinning room, waiting for Lexa. After 5 minutes, the doors open and Lexa walks in and takes a seat across from me.

"How did this morning go?" she asks.

"Excellent, I still don't know why Nightbloods are trained to be killers, but I'm not going to question it. Titus did say something interesting on our way there though."

"What did he say?"

"He told me that he would never attempt to harm me in any way. He told me that he sees how happy you are around me and he wouldn't want to take that away from you. But he still isn't convinced that I don't distract you from making good decisions as a Commander." I reply.

She smiles at me and finishes eating.

"It's good to hear that he's becoming more open to the idea of love. Thank you for showing him that, Clarke."

"You're welcome, Lexa." I smile at her.

We both get up and we kiss.

"I'll see you later babe, Titus is waiting for me."

"I'll meet you in our room after you're done." she says to me.

I walk out of the room and I go to see Titus. He was waiting in the throne room. He sees me and leads me to our next location, the Flamekeeper's Chambers. There was a weird pod near the back of the room, I would need to ask him about it. There were also these weird drawings on the walls, the same woman appearing in each of them. Titus and I walk over to the pod, he opens the door and grabs some sort of briefcase out of it. He opens it and I see a ripped piece of fabric with the word "Commander" on it, almost like a name tag. He unwraps the fabric which reveals a case type thing. He also reveals a set of tools, including a scalpel.

"I know you have a lot of questions Clarke, before I start explaining what all of this is, you can ask your questions." he says to me.

"Where did this pod come from?"

"The first Commander came down from it. She came from the sky, just like you."

"The 13th station...my dad said something about there once being a 13 station in space but it was blown up because they wouldn't agree to docking with the rest of the Ark. I never thought that somehow we are all linked to one another. That's incredible. I'm assuming that's her in all the drawing on the walls." I respond.

"Yes, that's her. Becca Pramheda. The first nightblood."

"She made that in space. That was the reason she was in space, she developed that blood to prevent radiation from killing everyone, I guess somehow it was passed down from generation to generation and why it's rare. The conclave doesn't help either, but I respect your traditions."

"There was a Natblida that fled from her conclave. Lexa wouldn't let me kill her. She is a disgrace to the blood."

"Luna. I know. Did you ever think about the fact that she made a choice. She didn't want to be a killer. She just wanted peace. Not every Nightblood will agree with the traditions."

"I know. But I still wish she would have warned me. I wouldn't have been happy about her choice, but at least I would have known why she left at the time. How do you know so much about her?"

"I met her once, she told me about the conclave."

"I see, would you like to start now, we don't have much time left down here."

"Yes, go ahead"

He told me about the process of the ascension, once there is only one remaining Nightblood. He told me that all of the spirits of past Commanders live in the flame, which is in Lexa. He explained that they talk to her in her dreams, they give her warnings and advice on what decisions to make. He told me that once the flame is inside of the Commander, the Commander must recite all the names of past Commanders. He also told me how you remove the flame from the Commander, once they die. He also told me what the passphrase is to activate to Flame, so that it can be inserted into the next Commander. He told me more information about how the Flame works and how it enhances the brain of the Commander. That sounds like an A.I but he assured me that Lexa is not an A.I and that her brain is simply enhanced by the Flame. That explains why she knew about the City of Light. Damn, I have a smart girlfriend. We finish talking about how the whole Commander process goes and we fall into a conversation about many different experiences we've had in our lives. I know Titus can be kind of a dick, but he has his nice moments. After a couple more hours of talking, we say our goodbyes and we both exit the room.