Adapting to the Ground (a The 100 fanfiction)

Dancing and Decisions

The children fell asleep after they ate, and Natalie settled them in the hut in her bed with Noah there to watch them. The girl had gotten sleepy and wandered to her guardian after a few hours of rough playing. With promises to find her if she was needed, Natalie left the hut and rejoined the party. The people left now were the younger group, the old had gone to bed with the children. Kay and Dex swayed together in their own little world, and Laina and Talia were entwined in a similar fashion on the other side of the main fire pit. Drane stood and drank with some other guys, laughing loudly and slapping backs.

Someone started playing a flute, and someone else added in her voice, creating a sort of flowing, swaying sound that washed over the redhead. She closed her eyes to listen, feeling the heat of the fire and the chill in the winter air contrast over her exposed skin. She started to move with the music, her arms raising above her head as her hands swirled in the air. Her feet carried her over the frozen earth as her hips swayed in time with the beat, her lips pulled back in a lazy smile. The belt on her coat came loose, and the garment billowed out around her as she spun a little. The beat changed a bit, and she moved to compensate without hesitation. She was pulled from her trance like state when she felt hands on her sides, and she opened her eyes to find a pair of hazel orbs staring at her intensely.

Anya moved smoothly with the music, matching Natalie's motions as if they had practiced before that night. Natalie's coat was removed, somehow, and tossed aside. She blushed under the older woman's study and turned so her back was pressed to Anya's front. She pressed back into the heat there, Anya's touches only stoking the fire that burned under her skin. One hand drifted over the muscles in her stomach, one up her side and up her arm to grasp her own. Natalie's hand, the one in Anya's, bent to rest on the side of the Grounder's face, then slid down, down, down to rest with the arm around her middle. They swayed like that for a bit, and then Anya took hold of the redhead's hand and spun her back around, pulling her flush against her body.

Natalie gasped, her eyes boring into the darkening gaze in front of her. "You dance very well, Skaigada," Anya observed, her voice low and husky, just for the ginger's ears.

"My name's Natalie," was her breathy answer, because she hadn't had time to properly introduce herself to either the Heda or the plangona earlier. They still moved together, Natalie's arms now at Anya's waist while the warrior rested one hand on the back of her neck, the other played with a lock of fire coloured hair.

Anya hummed in response, her breath ghosting over Natalie's ear and sending shivers down her back. "Ai laik Onya kom Trigeda."

Natalie gulped and bit her lip, her skin aflame and her mind a puddle. She was in deep, deep skrish.

Earth: Four Months and Two Weeks After Descension (sometime in January), 2149

Natalie stood as audience to Heda Leksa once more, awaiting to hear what would be done with her. She kept as still as possible, her head bowed in respect. This time, the only other person in the room was Anya, standing tall and stoic as per usual. When she wasn't dancing with the Sky girl or writhing under her fingers or-

"You will come to Polis." It was a statement, a fact, and in no way a suggestion. Natalie resisted the urge to gulp as her face drained of colour. "You will be closely observed until I deem you harmless or useful to my people." The Commander's gaze seemed to soften just the slightest, so much so that if Natalie hadn't have been watching as close as she was through her lashes, she would have missed it. "The children that were put in your care are to come along as well, you will not shirk your duties to them."

Natalie did swallow then, trying to steel her nerves. "Yes, Heda." She bowed her head a bit more, and then walked as normal as possible when she was dismissed, even though she really wanted to run. As young as the Commander was, she was also very scary. She power walked to the training pit, leaning against the rail that stood on one side. Bran and Ana immediately ran to her when they saw her, latching themselves to her person. "Hei, ai yongon," she greeted, pushing her fingers through Bran's curls as she knelt to their level.