Battle Scars

four.

Clarke could not believe what she was seeing. Tall buildings surrounded her. The tallest was standing sixteen stories high and it was made out of concrete. She was unable to comprehend how different it was from Tondc. The Capitol is out of the world.

The car halted directly in front of a white building. Uniformed men stood outside the building, as though they were waiting for their arrival. Then, one of the uniformed men opened the door and raised his right hand to his forehead as Lexa came out from the vehicle. He did so until Aria and Clarke were also out of the vehicle, and he proceeded to shut the door. Clarke realised that the other three cars were nowhere to be seen.

"I will fill you in later," Lexa offered when she sees confusion in Clarke's eyes. Aria giggled next to her, then grabbed Clarke's hand and pulled her towards the building.

•••

Lexa had changed into her uniform. It was different from the kind she wore in the militarised zone. This uniform is a long-sleeve button-down and is navy in colour. It also comes with a matching colour pants and a black boots. She tied her hair up in a ponytail.

Once she was all prepared, she went over to check on Clarke. The Sky girl was staring in the mirror, wearing an olive dress and she let her hair flow naturally. Lexa admired Clarke's curves from the door until she heard Aria's coughing coming from her back. She turned around and smiled when she saw Aria in a yellow shirt dress that goes perfectly well with her lean body. "You look absolutely beautiful," Lexa complimented. It still fazed her that her younger sister was all grown up. The last time she met Aria, the girl's upper body hasn't even develop that much.

Clarke noted their presence and made her way towards the sisters.

"You look intimidating. Do you always have to wear that on?"

Lexa stared at her uniform, then back at Clarke. "Not all the time, only when I'm on duty."

"Which is always," Aria added.

"I still have an hour left before the meeting. How about I show you around?"

Aria was dissatisfied. This was the millionth time Lexa disregarded her comments.

•••

"Indra and the other Grounders should already be at home with their families by now." Lexa decided to strike a conversation. She thought that perhaps Clarke might be wondering where the other Grounders are. Clarke merely nodded. That was one question down, and there was still so many questions lingering in her mind. She just don't know where to start.

Lexa began by telling Clarke about the damage that was caused by the apocalypse that happened almost a century ago. It melted most of the buildings in every nation but some still stood, though there were still damages done. Polis was one of the city that was not fully destroyed. For the next seventeen years, the Clans rebuilt the city with all the equipments that were left. Lexa explained to Clarke that the people from the Clans were on the verge extinction before the apocalypse, therefore they continue to let people live in their own villages to preserve tribal traditions. That explains Tondc, and many other villages - some owned by different Clans. These villages are also often used as military base or training grounds.

After explaining the existence of tall buildings and concrete walls, Lexa led Clarke into a restricted room. Clarke's eyes widened when she sees more than twenty monitor screens, each screen had a different view of a facility. It was a facility that contains weapons. Not just any weapons. There were guns and grenades.

"You could have brought Mount Weather down with all of these." Clarke gasped. She was amused when Lexa chuckled.

"We haven't touch this in years. The last time we did, the Mountain Men stole them from our men and improvised it into something powerful. How did you think they could get all the equipments to create an acid fog? Or to kill my people?"

Lexa further explained by telling her that Mount Weather started off as an underground tunnel for people to seek refuge. Over the years, they received help from one of the Grounders that fell in love with a refugee from Mount Weather. From an underground tunnel, it developed into a multi-stories structure.

It was a lot of information for Clarke to digest.

"There's also another reason why we stay away from these weapons," Lexa continued. "No one wanted another nuclear war."

•••

The Commander walked into the convention room.

"Speak up," The Commander spoke as soon as she sat down. She stared intensely at the appointed leader of the Ice Nation. "Who was the one who said that people from the Ark are threats?"

It was one of the reason why she was unable to sit still. She did not want her people to think of Sky people as threats.

"It's obvious," the Ice Nation leader stated. She is the one whom people nicknamed Ice Queen. "You betrayed them, Heda. The Sky people were the one who brought the Mount Weather down. They will surely portray us as weak and might try to bring us down."

The Commander hissed. "Is that why you tried to manipulate other Clans that the Sky people are threats? So that before they could bring us down, we shall finish them first?"

"I spoke the fact."

"Enough!" The Commander raised her voice. She was not going to accept anymore negative comments about the Sky people. "If I hear this once more, I would not tolerate it. Anyone who tries to harm people from the Ark will have to pass through me first. Is that clear?"

"Are you sure it's not based on your personal feelings, Heda?" Clement asked. He was a member of The Assembly - high-ranking officials who would come together to discuss matters involving the clans before bringing it up to the Commander. The Commander glared at him.

"Explain yourself."

"We are not fools, Heda. You have been seen behaving intimately with that girl from the Ark on multiple occasions. How can we be sure that the reason you defend them is because of your feelings towards her? How do we know that they are not threats when you betrayed them?"

"No one is to question my decision," the Commander stated sharply. She made sure everyone understood what she meant before leaving the conference room.