A Different Landing

Chapter-12

Brady was not easily intimidated, he was Clarke's second and as such he'd spent a lot of time around a lot of very scary people. Scariest of all was when Clarke was truly angry. He still remembered the first time he'd met her. He didn't think she realized he'd been conscious when she ran a sword through his first's chest. Clarke wasn't like his original first, she would never leave him to die because it was easier. So, Heda's guards didn't scare him like they intended with their glares as he followed Nyko into the commander's building. It was only their second day in the Trikru camp and already he was being dragged in front of Heda. At least, he thought it was because of something good, he was pretty sure. Nyko seemed excited not angry.

"Heda!" Nyko exclaimed, bowing briefly before eagerly looking back up at their leader.

Brady dipped his head cautiously, his arms full of the papers Nyko had insisted he bring. Why Heda needed to see the medical sketches he had no idea, but whatever.

"Nyko is there a problem?" Heda questioned.

The man was practically vibrating next to him. "No problem, Brady show her the papers! Heda it's amazing the knowledge!"

Brady shuffled over to the table and started laying out the pages of the medical text Clarke had been helping them each make. The pages were loose in his volume since he hadn't finished up all of the pages yet. Once they were spread out, he took a step to the side giving Heda room to look down at the table.

He scrunched up his face, watching as the woman stepped to the table and slightly shifted several pages to see them better. Clarke had trained him to watch people, to examine them, to understand, but he couldn't read much from the commander. Her eyes were bright and sharp clearly taking in information, but he wasn't sure what she thought of it.

"These drawings of the inside of a body, how did you get these?" She looked up at him, face blank but focused.

He felt himself swallowing. "Eh, Clarke likes us to draw our own diagrams from experience so we cut up the bodies of some of the dead to practice on." He shrugged.

"The dead?" The commander's voice was hard.

Brady was careful, "Our enemies, before we burn the bodies, or bury them. You got to learn through experience and a mistake on the dead is no big deal." Shrugging, he thought about how to word it better. "Like if ya gotta take a leg offa someone if ya already have done it on a dead person ya'll do alright with the live one."

"Do you ever kill people to be able to study them?" The commander asked watching him with sharp eyes.

"Naw, Clarke hates pointless killing. Though she does want to get ahold of a reaper. If she can see what's wrong with em on the inside maybe she can fix em."

The commander's eyebrows rose in surprise he noticed. He'd thought Clarke would have mentioned that but then again despite Clarke working with them, Trikru weren't trustworthy. He noticed Nyko looking excited though.

"Has your general captured any reapers yet?"

Brady shook his head. "Naw, keeping a prisoner like that when the camp isn't settled is stupid."

Nyko nodded, "Still, if she's able to save the reapers." He drifted off in thought before snapping back to attention. "My apologies, with all the legends about the general being able to breathe life back into the dead I didn't know what to expect. Clearly, she's taught you well." He moved to pull a drawing of the digestive system forward.