Commander Lexa imagines

dison laik ain

As she sharpened her blade, Lexa's mind was clouded in a way she had never expected to happen again. You were sick, not seriously so, her healer's assured her that you would make a full recovery within the fortnight, and yet she was worried about you. After Costia, Lexa had been sure that, whatever fate had in store for her, love would never be part of the equation. She couldn't afford it, she didn't want it, she was better off without it, and yet...

It had been raining when they found you, Lexa remembered because she had ordered her warriors to cover their tracks. Mud would not be the downfall of her army; the Sky People must never know that they had come this way.

It was only as they approached the river that they noticed you. You were lying on the river's bank, your body soaked from both the rain and a swim in the river. Lexa called a halt, her small hunting party already drawing their weapons in preparation for a fight, but there would be none. You were unconscious and barely breathing, with deep gashes disfiguring your bare legs. The river guardian must have caught you, Lexa thought. Despite herself, the commander was deeply intrigued by you; she had never seen a Sky Person in the flesh. Why would she? One does not need to see one's enemy to know them. You were beautiful to her, in an open and kind sort of way, in a way that made hurting you seem like a crime.

"Lexa heda," Indra, the leader of a nearby village, asked you, "teik ai frag em op."

Lexa felt her heart begin to pound, she did not want you to die, she wanted to know you, to see if the light in your soul matched the beauty of your face.

"No," she said quickly, "emo gonplei nou ste odon nowe. Dison laik ain."
No, her fight is not over. This one is mine.

In those few words, Lexa knew she had given herself over to you. If you turned out to be a traitor, her people would kill her for not killing you earlier, but if you became a warrior, she would be praised as a great saviour of the lost.

Lexa smiled at the memory in fondness. She hadn't realised what she was getting herself in to.

After a tense night with Lexa's best healer, you had regained consciousness and Lexa had breathed a sigh of relief.

The first word's you had spoken to the commander were defiant, which at the time, had made Lexa more nervous than she would've cared to admit.

"Fight me!" you had been shouting, "Fight me you cowards!"

You were terrified, Lexa could see it in your eyes and in the way you thrashed when the healer tried to touch you, but your challenge was sincere. You were prepared to fight your way through her entire army, but you would not be a prisoner. Lexa knew then, that she had chosen well.

For many weeks Lexa had helped you regain your strength. She had trained you, put her trust in you, and tried to integrate you into the Trikru, but she had never made you stay.
She could still remember the feeling of your hair in her fingers as she wound your first braids together. You had seemed sad, less bright than the cautious leader had come to expect.

"Is something the matter Y/N?" she had finally asked, her voice betraying nothing more than polite concern.

For a long while, you were silent, struggling to put words to the confusion that swirled within you.

Finally you asked, "Am I a prisoner?"

Lexa's fingers wavered slightly, "No," she finally said, hoping you hadn't noticed her moment of weakness, "yu laik ain. You are mine."

She could tell you still weren't satisfied, so she waited. By now she knew, you took your time before speaking, as though you chewed each word before letting it fall from your lips.

"Am I your prisoner?"

"No," Lexa replied, completing your first braid, but keeping her fingers in your hair, "with me, yu laik klir, you are safe."

"So I can leave whenever I want?" you questioned as Lexa began to run her fingers through your hair, combing it to pull back.

"If-that is what you want, then yes." She replied, her hands gripping your locks slightly, "Is that what you want?"

You had shaken your head then, your hair slipping free of Lexa's grasp, "No, I just miss my friends sometimes." You said with a sigh, "Your warriors tell me you're leaving soon, to meet with the Ice Nation."

"They are right," Lexa replied; glad that you couldn't see the relieved smile on her face, "I'm hoping to form an alliance with them. I want to unite the 12 clans; we can't survive if we keep fighting one another."

"Isn't that going to be dangerous?"

"Yes." She responded. Lexa would not lie to you.

"Take me with you?" you'd asked in a small voice.

"Excuse me?"

"Take me with you. I don't want to be alone here; I want to be wherever you are."

Lexa had felt heat rush to her face, you couldn't have known how that statement would make her heart race, and yet you'd said it.

"Of course you may accompany me," she told you, as you rested your head comfortably against her shoulder. It never ceased to amazing the commander, how comfortable you were with her, your gentle touches were torture for her, but a torture she would happily accept, "I would not want to be apart from you, not while your training is still incomplete."

She imagined that she felt you sigh, "Mochof, Lexa heda. Thank you, commander Lexa."

"Y/N?" she asked, stepping gingerly into your tent, her memories still swimming before her eyes.

"Lexaaaa," you whined, just a disembodied voice from under your cocoon of pelts, "I feel like death."

"It's the flu Y/N, don't be so dramatic." She replied, sitting next to you with her legs on the mattress beside yours.

"I still feel like death, fight me about it." You grumbled, sitting up to be closer to your friend, "Hey, you're not wearing your greasepaint."

Lexa smiled as you poked her bare cheeks, "Neither are you, and I wouldn't dream of fighting you, you would win."

This was completely untrue, so untrue that neither of you could keep from giggling.

"I brought you some food," Lexa said, handing you a bowl of stew, "choj op."

"Mochof." You replied happily, flinging your blankets over your friend, "Hey, Lexa?"

You'd snuggled up to her now, your head tucked neatly into the crook of her neck.

"Yes?"

"I'm glad I stayed."

Lexa smiled, one day soon, she would tell you, but for now, this was all she needed.

"I'm glad too."