Our Journey (the Fourth Book in the Her Weakness series)

Chapter 62

Lexa's POV

The next morning, getting everyone up early is more of a hassle than usual. Everyone is still tired from the climb yesterday and are beginning to feel its affects. I know the aches of their muscles will only get worse as the day wears on.

As everyone sleepily eats breakfast, I eat quickly and then slip out of the room to find that Tiope is already in the living room with an excited Mona.

Tiope looks up at me and smiles. "I apologize for not knocking first, but the little one was very insistent on coming in now."

"Heda!" Mona says when she sees me, clambering off the couch.

I catch her as she runs at me, lifting her up and resting her once again against my hip. Mona wraps her small arms around me in a hug and I can feel my heart melt in my chest.

"So you are going to show my friends and I the animals, right Mona?"

Mona nods vigorously, kicking her legs out and swinging them excitedly. "Yes! Nomon said we could take a short walk and I can show you what we see!"

"Sounds good. Will this involve going down to the jungle floor?" I ask.

"Uh huh! But Nomon said that we cannot walk very fast because your friends are tired and one of them has a leg holder."

"That is right, she has a leg brace. You can ask her about it if you would like, but remember that not everyone is comfortable talking about things like that." I remind her gently and Mona nods seriously.

"Okay. Can I go ask her now?"

"Not right now, little one. They are still eating breakfast." I answer.

Mona wrinkles her nose in confusion. "Still? Why did they not have it earlier?"

"They like to sleep in late."

Mona nods and then grins at something beyond my peripheral. I turn to see Clarke leaning against the entrance to the living room from the kitchen. She smiles softly and walks inside. She kisses my cheek and holds out her hand for Mona. She shakes Clarke's hand.

"So you're the one who's going to be showing us the animals today?" Clarke asks.

Mona nods. "Yeah. And then Nomon said Heda is taking you up to see the tree tops."

"Yes, she is."

"Okay. Can you get the other Skai girls so we can go soon?" Mona asks and Clarke chuckles.

"Sure thing."

She heads back into the kitchen and comes out a few moments later with disgruntled looking Octavia and Raven, who brighten up when they see Mona.

"Hey kiddo. We leaving?" Raven asks.

Mona furrows her brows and glances between me and Tiope. "What does that mean?"

"It was a greeting, like hello kid. Then she asked if we are planning on leaving now. Skaikru slang is odd." I explain.

"Okay. We are going now." She looks around, probably making sure that we are all wearing proper gear to be in the jungle and nods to herself.

With that, Mona squirms and I set her down. She takes her mom's hand and pulls on her. She leads us out and then down to the jungle floor the same way we came up. She checks in with us often, which I have to admit I am proud of, making certain no one falls behind.

"Nomon (mom) always says to not to disturb nature so I will point them out." Mona says, serious. She points at a small, lime green frog that is relaxing on a mossy tree branch. "That is a glass frog. There is a bunch of them. If you pick one up and hold it to the light, you can see its' insides. That is why it is called a glass frog."

Tiope continues. "Another way it is different than the tree frogs you see, you can tell if it is a glass frog if its' eyes are facing forward. They are usually high in the trees, but this little one must have come down just for us."

Mona continues to lead us, more carefully now that we are in the jungle. There is an odd clicking-like noise that I heard last night as well. I look around, confused as the sound comes again.

"That is a Toucan." Mona explains. "Nomon calls that their purring noise, they use that when they are happy or as a warning. Now, they are happy. There is a difference."

"Mm. They are noisy and often irritate people that stay here. They usually live in flocks of five or six birds." Tiope says.

They show us other animals, like a Kinkajou, which is an odd monkey-like creature with big soulful eyes that nearly make Raven cry. They tell us of some that we cannot see, like a spider monkey, which apparently is not a spider-monkey hybrid. Or a jesus lizard, a lizard named after some mythical demigod of Old Earth because of the lizards' ability to run on water.

Mona shows us some of her favorite places to go and watch the animals and I am impressed by how good vantage points they are. She tells us tales I am fairly certain are at least slightly exaggerated. Nonetheless, Mona is endlessly entertaining and I find myself sad when we begin to make our way back to the village.

The trek back up is both less and more difficult than it was the first time. More because we are already tired and our muscles are as well from yesterday. Less because we do not have to carry anything but ourselves up, which is a relief. We stop less times, but I think we all keep an eye on Raven just in case.

Mona is yawning by the time we get all the way up and Tiope scoops her up, letting her rest against her. Mona cuddled up to her mom and mumbles out a goodbye.

Octavia and Raven go back to the house with the guards, none of them wanting to come up to the lookout post.

Next chapter, they go to the lookout post! And I'm dead inside after two days of eight am classes in a row, so hopefully this is good! Also, I know it's a day late now but I'm writing this the day before I post so... Happy National Coming Out Day! It's raining here, which I like, except for the fact my laptop may have finally come back today... So whoo! Either I'm waiting or going in what little free time I have on Wednesday afternoons! Thank you all did reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!