It's time to leave.
Raven's made two new radios, neither powerful enough to call up to the Ark like the one she came down with, but powerful enough to reach each other and it. Clarke's decided the one sent by the Ark should be left at Polis – that way the members of the 100 there will be able to talk to their families. She and Lexa will take one of the Raven-made ones with them north, so if anything happens up on the Ark her people in Polis can radio and let them know. The other radio made by Raven will be left at TonDC – she held a brief training session with Nyko and a couple of the others to teach them how to use it – so that way if anything happens at the Mountain they'll know about it too.
In other words, they have everything prepared and set up, and everyone protected. So why the hell is Clarke so goddamn nervous?
She thinks it might be Lexa, rubbing off on her. Even now as they set up to start the walk to Polis, Lexa's got scouts around in every direction and glances regularly at the sky, looking for missiles or other threats. Her nerves don't show on her face of course – it's Lexa – but Clarke's seen her this way enough to recognise it. And she understands. Clarke and Lexa, stationary, surrounded by an army of gonas, would be a very tempting target for the Maunon. (If they know who Clarke and Lexa are. But at some point she's just accepted it as fact that Emerson remembers.)
"Griffin? Griffin!"
Clarke jerks back to her surroundings, blinking. Judging by the scowl on his face, John's been trying to get her attention for a while. She notices that while the rest of them have packs and are wearing as much clothing as possible to protect against whipping branches and the wind, he's dressed normally and has no pack. "What is it?"
"I'm staying," John says, looking very decided. "I'm not leaving this place. If we're gonna have any chance of rescuing Murphy -"
We don't, Clarke thinks. She doesn't say it though. Let him have hope. Besides, what does she know? If Emerson doesn't remember, Murphy could still be being treated as an honoured guest. If Emerson does remember, he might think Murphy and Drew could make good hostages – Murphy's pretty good at talking his way out of trouble. It's just her instincts that tell her the two boys are dead, killed to give fourteen Mountain Men the ability to go wherever they want to.
"- well, I should be here," he finishes. "I'm the only one who gives a damn about him."
"It won't be safe here," Clarke warns.
"It won't be safe anywhere," he points out. "This is the ground, it's not a safe place anytime. I can stay here, help work the radio. Maybe I'll notice something the Grounders miss."
Clarke considers this. She doesn't believe he will, but she doesn't think the Maunon will storm TonDC for the chance of capturing one Skaikru either – well, unless the Skaikru is her. "You stay out of the forest and in TonDC as much as you can," she starts, holding up a finger to silence him when he tries to speak. "Stay indoors whenever possible so you can't be seen. Go ask Nyko for some Trikru clothing so that you blend in more. If you do anything stupid, like trying to get inside the Mountain on your own, the Mountain Men won't have to shoot you because I'll have done it first. Understood?" If they have any element of surprise at all she wants to keep it.
"Understood," he says gruffly. But there's something in his tone that makes her quirk her brow.
"Right, you understand. But will you do what I said?"
"Maybe," he says. At her look, he adds, "I don't plan to get killed by the Mountain, alright? So I'll be careful. But if I see a chance to do something, don't expect me not to take it."
"Fair enough," she says, resigned. She can't drag him with her if he wants to stay.
"Move out," Indra yells, and all the gonas raise their weapons and give a quick shout. Then they're moving forwards. John gives her a little wave goodbye and weaves his way back through the crowds towards the village, out of her sight in seconds. She hopes he doesn't get himself killed.
Lexa's at the head of the group, with Indra and Anya beside her (Nyko's been left in charge of the village). Part of Clarke aches to go to the front and walk beside Lexa, but she knows that if she does, she won't be able to resist brushing against her, touching her. It's been several days since they've done more than see each other in passing, and Clarke wouldn't be able to stop herself from being too obvious about her affection. She promises herself that once they're in Polis – and have some privacy – she won't leave Lexa's side.
Octavia's immediately behind Indra, already throwing herself into being a Seken, and Lincoln is next to her. As she watches, he puts his hand on Octavia's shoulder, and for a second Clarke thinks he's showing affection – then she realises he's steadying himself. He's favouring his leg, still, and weeks of walking are probably the last thing it needs. But he's been trained as a fisa, at least a little, and he must know that. Her repeating it to him won't mean a thing.
Clarke's somewhere in about the third row and falls into step beside Raven. Finn and Wells are behind them, chatting easily – apparently Finn coming clean to Raven has made everything between them return to normal. Clarke only wishes it hadn't had the opposite effect on Raven, who still looks a combination of sad and pissed off.
"Watch still working?" Raven says after a few minutes.
"Yeah," Clarke replies. "Don't tell me you forgot you're amazing?" She holds up her wrist for Raven to see – she got a friendly craftsman in TonDC to make a thong and wrist strap for it. It doesn't look like one of the old mass-produced watches, there's too many uneven bits and asymmetrical parts, but she really likes it anyway.
"I just wanted to make sure you remembered," Raven says jokingly, and grins at her. "That reminds me, I was talking to your mom yesterday and she told me to tell you she was keeping your dad's watch for you and would give it to you when she came down."
"Great," Clarke says, not sure if she means it. Once, she associated that watch with the person she loved most in the world. She's not sure there's any way to recapture that feeling, not anymore.
Raven studies her sidelong. "Any reason why she had to get me to pass that on? She said you keep saying you're too busy to have a private talk with her."
"I've had several," Clarke says defensively. Alright, so they were about logistics and plans, not about personal things, but she hasn't had too much time spare for personal things lately. She knows she's going to have to deal with her mother sooner or later – even if Clarke's managed to move on from her dad's death to an extent, Abby still needs the absolution she hasn't gotten in this world. But it's not a conversation she wants to have over radio.
She and Raven concentrate on walking for a little longer. "Look," Raven says finally. "Tell me if it's none of my business, but is there a reason you're avoiding her?"
"Sort of," Clarke admits. She hesitates. "When my dad found out about the oxygen situation, he told her, and she turned him in to get floated."
"Shit," Raven says. "No way. Okay, that's a good reason. A really good reason. Though I gotta say, she did move heaven and earth to find out if you were alive."
"Oh, I know she loves me," Clarke says. "And I love her. But I also loved my dad. I just think maybe we should wait to be face to face to have that discussion."
"Wow. You guys may be even more dysfunctional than my family," Raven considers this. "Or not. Few things are more dysfunctional than my family."
"Yeah?"
"Oh yeah. My mum drank all my rations, pretty sure she had a kid precisely for that," Raven shrugs, like it happened to someone else, but there's tension in her movements now. "Pretty sure whoever my dad is was a moonshine trade as well. It's a miracle I didn't get foetal alcohol syndrome or something."
"It's even more of a miracle you lived through all that to become the best mechanic in the world," Clarke says, not sure what to do. She squeezes Raven's shoulder for a brief moment, then keeps walking.
Raven relaxes slightly. "Well that's me. The miracle worker. Though I'm not sure 'best mechanic in the world' is saying much, I'm the only mechanic in the world at the moment."
"Hmm. We can organise competitions with the others when they come down," Clarke suggests flippantly. "See who can make me a coffee-maker quickest."
"Ooh. Or a hot tub, I've seen those in old movies."
"A motorbike," Clarke nods. "Much better than all those horses."
"You'd hit a tree in three seconds," Raven scoffs. "What about a toaster?"
"We have fires for that," Clarke points out, "A computer."
"Not exactly what mechanics do," Monty says, joining them. He must have been half-listening for a while. "A jetpack."
"We just came down from the sky and you want to go back?" Jasper says, beside him. "I vote for a camera."
"You just want to take pictures of hot chicks," Monty says. "No. A jetpack is much cooler."
"I just said a motorbike is too dangerous, why would I say yes to a jetpack?" Raven asks.
"We're planning to make bombs," Monty replies. "Is safety really a concern at this point?"
"A hair drier," Clarke says thoughtfully. "I'd like a hair drier."
"Electric razor," Jasper rubs his chin. "Much easier."
"Like you need to shave," Monty rolls his eyes.
"Hey! I shave! Regularly!"
"Regularly, yeah, sure, I believe you," Raven says snarkily. "Your regular monthly shave."
"A welding torch," Finn suggests, joining them. Apparently Monty and Jasper weren't the only people listening. "That would be incredibly useful."
"But if you can do that, you may as well make a flamethrower," Jasper says eagerly, then considers it. "I mean... not to use on people... obviously... but it would be useful for something, I'm sure."
"Fans," Wells says firmly, practical as always. "Fans for summer, heaters for winter. Unlike the Ark, the weather here will change."
"There must be some way to make an electronic bong," Monty says thoughtfully.
"Yes," Jasper says emphatically. "Two votes for that. Did I tell you about these wonderful plants they have here? The Trikru never even thought of using them to get high."
"Just goes to show, we might be next-to-useless at most practical stuff, but us Arkers are still way better at what's important," Monty grins. He and Jasper do their weird little self-five.
Someone clears their throat. All of them look up with similar guilty expressions at Anya's impassive face. She must have dropped back to check on them.
Clarke smiles awkwardly. "Hei, Anya."
Anya looks at her for a long second. For the first time, there is something more than contempt in her gaze, and Clarke wonders what's happened to change that. "I saw a picture once of a thing called a chainsaw," she says eventually. "I would not object if you produced one, Raven kom Skaikru."
The others laugh, at the breaking of tension more than the actual comment, but Clarke just meets Anya's gaze squarely. Anya jerks her head to the side slightly and Clarke veers so that she's next to Anya as the others begin to debate what the most useless thing to create would be (Clarke thinks that 'clothes iron' will probably end up being the winner).
"I..." Anya says quietly, then pauses. She touches her hand to her sword, not in threat, but like she's looking for reassurance. "I said some things to you the other day about Heda that I am grateful you did not pass on."
"When you called her a fool, you mean," Clarke says, also keeping her voice down so no one can hear.
Anya winces. "Sha."
"You didn't mean it. I know that," Clarke says firmly. "You're worried about her. You care about her."
"Sha," Anya says again.
"Well, so do I," Clarke says. "We're on the same side, Anya kom Trikru. We can help you. We will help you."
Anya studies her. "That remains to be seen," she says softly. "But if I could believe it of any of your people, Clarke kom Skaikru, I would believe it of you."