𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞²

56. primes

When he was sure I wasn't going to interrupt any further, he looked back to Clarke. "What's your name?"

"Clarke Griffin. What's yours?"

It wasn't the leader who answered, but instead the woman who had walked in alongside him. "He is Russell Lightbourne, seventh of his line, saviour of Sanctum and you will bow before him."

Lightbourne. It was the name that the family had on their uniforms in the picture in the shrine room. They must have been one of the original families, the primes-whatever that meant. 

"I don't think so." Clarke declared, refusing to bow to a leader who had not allegiance to. 

The woman pursed her lips in anger as Russell gave her a gentle smile. "My wife's a stickler for protocol, but she knows you can't observe customs that you're unaware of."

Nor customs we don't care to believe in...

"You have questions, understandably." Russell acknowledged. "And we'll get to them all, but first, we need your transport ship to be flown into Sanctum. You can land in one of the lower fields."

"Why?"Abby inquired. "What's out there?"

Clarke gave her mom a quick look as Russell's wife answered the question. "There are worst things out there than eclipse-induced psychosis. All of them are outside the shield and the worst of them would love to get their hands on the weapons Kaylee says are on your ship."

Them. 

There were more forms of human life on this planet?

"Why are we asking for permission?" Kaylee snapped. "My family is on that ship."

Russell turned to her, a poignant look on his face. "Which is why you'll be on the team sent to retrieve them."

That clearly wasn't what Kaylee wanted, because her face soon fell in nervousness. 

"What?" Russell challenged. "Now you're afraid to leave the shield?"

"I told you, we were late for shelter when we saw that ship. Either we took it or we suffered the Red Sun."

As Kaylee continued to try and claim her innocence, Clarke moved toward her mother, seemingly catching something in her demeanour. 

I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but soon enough Clarke's eyes widened and she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "What?" she demanded in shock. "You woke her?"

All eyes turned to the mother-daughter duo. Abby tried to soothe Clarke, who simply regained her composure. "Never mind." she whispered, clearly hatching a plan. "Raven will fly the ship, but we're going too."

"Maybe we should let Raven decide for herself." I argued, angered by the fact that Clarke was once again commanding all of us.

Raven nodded from next to me. "I didn't realize you were giving orders again, Clarke."

"Fine." Russell agreed, ignoring our small domestic. "Choose your most disposable people. It's time to go."

Clarke nodded, already making her way toward the exit. Before she could get very far, she was stopped by Russell. "You don't seem very disposable."

"None of us are." she argued. "But my child is out there, so I'm going to get her."

So that's what Abby knew that had Clarke so upset. 

"Please. We have things to discuss." Russell begged. "Are you the leader of your people, or not?"

"She is." Bellamy interrupted. "She can speak for us."