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

Chapter 67

Clarke's POV

"It is good to see you both again," Lexa's mom says.

"Yeah, you too. You guys seem to be much better than you were," Raven replies.

Octavia nudges her with her elbow and Raven lets out a soft "oof." "Rae! That's rude," she hisses at her girlfriend.

"It is fine, Octavia." Lexa's mom reassures her. "She is not unlike one of Lexa's mentors and closest friends growing up. Speaking of her, how is Anya? I had thought she would have come to visit us by now."

There's a pause and I exchange a look with Lexa. Lexa reaches out her hand and takes her mother's hand in hers.

"Nomon (mom)..." Lexa begins hesitantly.

Her parents understand immediately. Her dad's hand goes up to cover his mouth. "No," he whispers sadly.

"I am afraid so," Lexa confirms.

"How?" Her mom asks.

"I have told you how the clans and Skaikru have not always been at peace. When the adults first came down, they had just set up their fences around their ship when Anya and Clarke came. They had escaped the Maunon and were covered in mud and earth to try to blend in with their surroundings. The Skaikru saw them coming towards the fence, where Anya was going to drop Clarke off before returning to me. They shot her with their fayogons (guns)."

Her mom's lower lip wobbles and she closes her eyes. "So she is dead."

Raven mumbles something and Octavia gives her such a baffled look it makes me pause. "What?" Octavia asks.

"I said I don't think she's dead," Raven says louder. "Anya's tough, she would let a bullet kill her. Did you see her die, Clarke?"

I clench my jaw at the memory. "No, but it didn't look good. I was rushing to her side when I was shot. They never took her; they assumed she was dead."

"Your own people shot you?" Lexa's dad sounds shocked.

"They didn't know it was me. But yeah, still a crappy thing to do."

"So... You have a conspiracy theory that Anya's just recovering somewhere?" Octavia asks. "Why wouldn't she have contacted anyone?"

"Maybe she got hurt bad, like me with my leg. If that were the case, she would want go learn how to live with it before rejoining everyone," Raven explains.

"That is true," Lexa says. "That is something Anya would do."

"Did they ever find her, anyway?" Octavia asks.

Raven shakes her head. "Nope. By the time the idiots realized it was their Chancellor's daughter that they shot, Anya's body was gone. Spooky, right?"

I put my head in my hands. "You guys are blowing my mind right now. Can we just have one normal meal?"

"Nope," Raven pops the p. "Anyway. How are you two doing, mister and missus Heda? You seem like you're doing well."

"We are," Lexa's mom says. "And please, call us by our names."

"Um. To be honest, I would, but I don't know your names," Raven admits.

"Oh, how rude of us. I apologize. I am Ali and my houmon (spouse, husband) is Priso." Her mom says, giving us warm smiles.

"Priso? That's a unique name, I've never heard of it before." Raven says.

"It is unique," Priso says proudly. "My nickname has been prisa (Princess) for years and when Luna was a child, she could not say Prisa, and so she started calling me Priso. It stuck, and now that is what I have claimed as my name."

"That's awesome. I bet Luna loves that," Raven laughs.

Priso smiles. "Oh, she does. She dislikes when I tell that story. But that is enough about is, I would like to hear from you. How has your trip been? I know it is almost over now."

"I know, it's crazy. It feels like we've been traveling forever," Octavia admits. "It's going to be weird not moving around so much anymore."

"Yeah. Though it will be nice not to be sore from riding horses for so long." Raven sighs.

"I can understand that one. Indra laughed when she saw our attempts at walking after she was retraining us to ride horses," Priso chuckles. "What was your guys' favorite clans?"

"Sankru, hands down." Raven answers without hesitation. "I got to learn how to smith from this guy."

"It was Costia's old Master," Lexa tells her parents.

"He is still alive?" Ali asks. "I should not be surprised, he is too stubborn to die or retire, but I admit I am surprised he was willing to teach another."

"I was too awesome for him to say no to." Raven grins, leaning back in her chair.

"Octavia? What was your favorite?" Priso asks.

"Azgeda. The place we visited was beautiful, I loved the glowing blue crystals. We need to buy some," Octavia tells Raven, her tone leaving no room for argument. "And that snowball fight? Epic."

Raven's eyes widen and she grins. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that! That was awesome!"

"What was yours, Clarke?" Octavia asks, sounding like she already knows the answer.

Lincoln and Ryder come in and begin placing down food, quickly followed by Nix making her entrance, smiling politely at Lexa's parents. She sits down and gestures for us to continue our conversation. While I wait for Ryder and Lincoln to finish and sit down, I answer the question.

"Trishana (Glowing Forest)." I smile shyly. "But I'm probably biased."

"Definitely biased," Octavia agrees.

"Why?" Ali asks.

"You didn't tell them?" I whisper to Lexa.

"Not the details, no. I wanted to do that in person. Sorry, I did not think to tell you that." Lexa apologizes softly and I squeeze her hand.

"It's okay." I raise my voice to answer her parents. "That's where Lexa proposed."

Ali and Priso both lean forward, their faces lighting up. "Lexa never did tell us the details, she said she would prefer to discuss it face to face," Ali says. "Will you tell us what happened? Was she romantic?"

"Of course, I would love to tell you. And yes, she was very romantic."

Next chapter, I probably won't describe what happened since we all know already. I know it's imprinted forever in my brain :) But we'll be moving on soon! What do you guys think about the Anya theory? ;) Thank you all for reading and for your amazing comments! Stay awesome!