Lightning Only Strikes Once - Clexa

Chapter 124: Family Ties

"Well, that's okay," Raven says, giving her a bright smile. "I thought that might be the case so I spoke to Anya about it. They have a wonderful traditional costume for the mothers of the people getting married."

"Oh, that's good," Abby says politely.

"Anya says that since you're not actually Trikru, you don't have to kill the bear yourself," Raven continues helpfully. "The cloak of bear's fur is easy enough to find at the markets. The headdress is harder, but they have a supply of bear's hearts in the kitchens at the tower and she thinks they'll lend you as many as you need. You should probably find the boar tusks yourself, though, because otherwise Clarke's bloodline will be seen as weak and she'll have to eat a raw snake to prove it's not."

Abby blanches, and stares closely at Raven, waiting for some sign that this is a joke. Then she looks at Lexa, who meets her gaze squarely. For a moment, Abby clearly considers saying something, but then she remembers Clarke and Lexa's usual reaction to her criticising Trikru culture and chokes back her words. "Well, that's..." she says, voice failing her. "I should go check my bag. I might have a nice top I could wear with my black leggings. That way I won't need to take advantage of your generosity." She turns and leaves.

Lexa raises an eyebrow at Raven, amused. "That was cruel," she reproves her.

"Hey, I didn't catch you telling her the truth," Raven points out. "Face it, this time, you're an accessory."

Lexa is not sure what jewellery has to do with this, but Skaikru ways are always strange and she has grown tired of questioning them. Sometimes it seems they speak an entirely different language than the gonasleng she is fluent in. "I have had not had the chance yet to tell you how happy I am for you and Anya."

"I'm pretty happy too," Raven says, smirking to herself. "Actually, I owe you some gratitude. I might not have gone for it if it hadn't been for what you said. About finding what I'm looking for."

"Have you found it, then?" Lexa says, raising an eyebrow again.

"No," Raven says. "But what you said made me realise that what while I have all kinds of doubts about everything, I don't really have any about Anya. I'm trying to find some certainty about myself and the world – maybe it's not the worst thing to have someone helping me look."

"No. It is not. It is a good thing, I think."

"There've been a lot of those lately," Raven observes. "By the way, can I have some of your blood?"

It takes Lexa several moments to reply. "My blood?"

"Not straight away," Raven says reassuringly. "You've lost enough lately as it is. But in a while, once we've dealt with the whole missile thing, yeah. I can get Abby or Jackson to help me examine it – whoever's closer. I want to figure out how it works. Also, I'm hoping you'll let me have a look at the roof of the tower. I'm going to get Clarke to tell me exactly when and where the lightning hit and set up whatever remote sensing devices I can find in the facilities we go to. Maybe see if I can get some data."

Lexa cannot stop her smile. "You think you will solve religion, Raven kom Skaikru?"

"Maybe not," she admits. "But I can get some data on it, at least. And even if I don't figure it out – well, so what. Do you know how long it took people to figure out exactly how gravity worked? But the first people to start working on it are still remembered. I might not understand it all now, but that doesn't mean that someone someday won't be able to use what I get to solve the whole thing."

"So you believe in science again," Lexa says.

"No, Lex," Raven says, in the dramatic tones of one having a revelation. "Not just science. I believe in me again. I'm not going to abandon everything I am just because I can't make sense of one or two data points. I'll make it work." She grins at Lexa. "After all, I am a genius."

"So I have heard," Lexa says dryly. "Of course, I have heard it most often from you."

"Is my niron bothering you, Heda?" Anya says, walking up to them, a wicked glint in her eyes. "Skaikru are so impertinent."

"Hey!" Raven says, outraged. "I'll give you impertinence, cheekbones! I'm not the one interrupting a private discussion! You're the impertinent one, jerk-face."

"My mistake," Anya says smoothly, lips twitching with mirth. "Skaikru are filled with politeness and grace. So well spoken, it is like the song of birds, in fact it is nearly poetry to hear them..."

"Oh, you just wait until you hear my poetry," Raven snarls, though Lexa can tell she's enjoying the argument despite her exaggerated annoyance. "Give me a minute to think of some rude words that rhyme with 'Anya' and my limericks will leave you breathless!" She pauses, suddenly lost in thought. "Actually, wait, that reminds me."

Anya blinks at her, wrong-footed. "Reminds you of what?"

"I've been meaning to ask, how's your poem for the wedding going?" Raven asks innocently. "I've gotten stuck on the seventeenth line for mine. It's so ridiculous that the bridesmaids' poems need to be at least thirty lines, the last five lines always end up being so filler-y. I just really don't want to let anyone down. I mean, can you imagine how badly Kane and all the rest of them will react if our poems aren't good enough for the wedding to be blessed by the Star-lords?"

"Raven -" Anya stops and squints at her partner. After a long pause, she says confidently, "You are lying." Then, after another pause, with much less confidence, "You are lying, sha?"

Lexa leaves them squabbling and makes her way back to Clarke. Wells has joined Gustus and Zion beside her, all of them in serious, thoughtful discussion. They break off as Lexa arrives and Clarke smiles at her.

"We're just discussing our honeymoon," Clarke says, putting a hand on Lexa's knee with a casual intimacy that feels impossibly wonderful to Lexa.

"What about it?" Lexa asks.

"Just considering how much time we can buy you," Wells says, giving her a smile as well. "If you ask Indra to stay, she can continue managing enforcement and protection in Polis while Aden and the ambassadors handle the day-to-day decision-making."

"I will go with you, but my guarding will be done from a distance, so that you are private as well as safe," Gustus says firmly. "I will bring only the most trusted gona and your location will be secret. I have suggested a small grove I know of near a waterfall, as there is only one way in so it will be easy to guard. It is also very beautiful," he adds as an afterthought.

"As Fleimkepa, I should take over religious instruction and the overall sentencing of criminals as soon as I can," Zion says. "Sharing the story of your return from death and defeat of the Azplana should keep the clans quiet for some time. I can continue to train whichever Nightbloods are not sent out on Raven kom Skaikru's search, and speak to the others over the radio."

"I think we should have the wedding in three days," Clarke says. "That gives us enough time to organise it, and also enough time for all of Polis to see we're both alive and well, but means we won't waste any of the time we could be honeymooning."

Lexa blinks. "This is a lot of organisation for us to spend one week away," she points out.

"At least," Clarke corrects her. "I said honeymoons had to be at least a week."

"A week's much too short," Wells says, "I think we can get you a month."

Lexa is suddenly struck dumb by the fierce warmth in his expression. In all of their expressions. It is shocking and humbling, how much everyone here wants her and Clarke's happiness. How unclouded their smiles are as they look at her.

A family, Lexa thinks, remembering what Abby said before. This is it. This is a family.