In some places, the borders between the different clans are very clear. A river, a line of mountains, a visible change from forest to desert – they all obviously mark the transition. And some places don't have that clear a sign but the occupants know to an inch which land is theirs and which is their neighbouring clan's. However, other borders are less a line than they are a no man's land, a strip of earth where neither side step in case the land belongs to the other – generally because in the past when they have stepped there, the other side hasn't hesitated to attack. Animals graze in peace and nuts and berries grow wildly, in areas like that.
This part of the border between the Ice Nation and the Woods Clan is like that. Lexa finds it unnerving. It might be the safest place to cross the border, she trusts Anya's judgment about that, but there's something about the lack of any signs of people at all that makes it seem ominous. She's used to seeing the marks of hunters, travellers, and gatherers. Subtle marks like crushed grass or a scraped tree instead of more obvious ones, but marks nonetheless.
Even the Skaikru, who wouldn't consciously recognise those marks, seem concerned by this. The casual chatter in the group has all but ceased.
"How much further to the village?" Lexa says under her breath to Anya. Across this border is the village Anya considers to be the friendliest to the Trikru – perhaps because it has been years since any ventured into the hazy border between the two clans. Good fences, after all, make good neighbours. The only Trikru these Azgeda will have seen in the intervening time are merchants travelling over worn paths to sell them things, instead of hunters and trappers arguing over whose kill an animal is, or Trikru bandits looking to steal from the closest villages across the border.
"Perhaps half an hour's walk at most," Anya replies just as quietly.
"Hopefully Nia's had time to let everyone know they'll be getting a visit from their Heda," Clarke comments. She's no longer wearing Skaikru clothing, having borrowed some of Lexa's clothes – much better defensively than hers, and much warmer. Lexa is biased, of course, but she also thinks Clarke looks more natural in them.
"If she's bothered to," Anya mutters.
Anya's probably right, Lexa knows. While she doesn't believe Nia will attempt to kill her, she's also unlikely to try and ease their path north.
Lexa is wearing her Commander gear in full, as she has not recently. Warpaint is smeared around her eyes, creating the effect of a Natblida crying blood. Her thick hair is carefully braided in the style she uses when she wishes to be unapproachable and regal but also suspects she may be in a fight, small bits of barbed wire and other surprises carefully incorporated so that it cannot be grabbed without pain. Her clothes are black, all ripped fabric and leather and belts, creating an intimidating effect. The only colour is the red of her sash slashing through all of the monochrome.
She has noticed that the Skaikru – excluding Clarke – seem more reluctant to speak to her now that she is dressed as her rank requires. Wells and Finn have become more quiet and deferent, Raven compensates for her wariness by talking with forced cheer, and Octavia avoids speaking to her at all. It is as though her wearing this reminds them of who she is. Clarke, Anya, Indra and the gonakru following them treat her no differently, as none ever forgot who she was.
"There it is," Anya says, sounding slightly relieved. No doubt she feared she had the location wrong. Lexa nods, seeing the village ahead as well. She starts to move quicker.
"HOD OP !" a yell comes.
Lexa blinks, but stills, her hand on her sword. In seconds they're surrounded. A large gonakru, although not close to equalling their force by Lexa's estimate. The gona who moves to stand directly in front of Lexa must be their leader, judging by his confident – bordering on arrogant – gait.
"Greetings," Lexa says, making her voice iron. "Explain yourself."
"You got quite far into our territory before we caught you," he says, ignoring her question. He is very tall – topping Lexa by nearly a foot – and has a long beard, carefully braided. A thick ropy scar stretches across his right cheek and down his chin. Despite this, he could only be a year or two her elder, running on bravado and ego.
"Your territory?" Lexa's voice becomes colder. "All of the twelve clans are my territory. Or have the Azgeda forgotten their duty to their Heda?"
He bows, though not with enough apology for Lexa's approval. "Moba, Heda. I am sorry. The Azplana has ordered that all gonakrus entering must be stopped."
"But not mine, surely," Lexa says, using her most silky and dangerous tone.
The leader just quirks his eyebrow at her, an unimaginably dismissive gesture that fills Lexa with rage.
The man next to the leader, no doubt his second in command, swallows hard. Lexa realises he is sweating. He does not like his orders, this man. His leader may be confident but he is terrified. "Even yours, Heda. The knowledge of your visit is so widespread, our Azplana worries that someone may attempt to impersonate you to enter our lands." His voice breaks a little at the end and he bows, much deeper than the leader. The look he gives Lexa is filled with unquestioning deference, nearly reverence. This man is smaller than the other but older.
Lexa looks at him. "And you believe I am an impersonator?"
"No, Heda," he says immediately, bowing deeply again.
"What is your name?"
"He is my second in command, Zion," the leader says, shooting a glare the unfortunate Zion's way. "I am Rathan. I command here." He sounds boastful of the fact, instead of powerful and weighted with responsibility as most leaders are.
"And I command everywhere," Lexa says coldly. "Zion is wiser than you, General. He is aware I am no impersonator."
"He believes that, he does not know," Rathan says with a tone of smugness. "We must send a messenger to fetch someone who has met Heda before, and they can identify you."
Lexa blinks. It is an absurd accusation for many reasons. An impersonator could not have an army of Trikru. Lexa meets every description of the Heda, including her sacred tattoos. Most importantly, no one would dare to impersonate the Commander. Nia has planned this purely to annoy Lexa, she realises, and she is using this fool Rathan to do it. He is the type who lets his muscles do his thinking for him, who believes his strength and height make him better. He must have leapt at the chance to show the slender, petite girl-Commander that he did not consider her superior to him. Also, this explains his relative youth – he has been given this command only now, and is drunk on the power. Nia has sent him to his death for her own petty spite and he is too foolish to know it. But before that, perhaps Lexa can use this.
"Then I, and my three advisors, shall come to the village and wait, with a guard of course," Lexa says, voice pleasant. She knows from experience that people find her pleasant tones almost more fearsome than her threatening ones – they do not know what she will do next. She glances at Indra, Anya and Clarke, none of whom look happy, then looks forward again.
Zion meets her eyes for a second and then looks down. He is properly afraid, that one.
Rathan does not look down. "Search them all for weapons and remove them," he barks at his gonas. "Her and her advisors first."
There is a rumble of disapproval from the gonas behind them – and behind Rathan, for that matter, though they quiet when he turns and glares. Indra, despite being ordered by Lexa earlier not to speak, can clearly take it no more. "You offend our Heda," she hisses. Her sword is out before Lexa can stop her. Octavia beats her by a second, though, Lexa can see from the corner of her eye. Perhaps Indra is a bad influence on her.
Lexa stares calmly into Rathan's eyes. With one word, one movement, one blink even, she could turn this into a fight. And it is a fight the Azgeda gonakru would lose quickly. But this one is too stubborn and arrogant, she sees it in his eyes – he would order his people to fight. He would not surrender. Many would die.
"Peace, Indra, Octavia," she says instead. She bares her teeth at the gonas in front of her and they step back as one, cringing from fear of their Heda. "Do any of you truly wish to search me? Then you may."
After a long pause it becomes apparent that none of the gonas are willing to search her. Eventually Rathan steps forward and runs his hands roughly along her, removing two swords and six knives quickly. He doesn't linger, and Lexa is fiercely pleased to note that despite his bravado he still has some sense left.
Anya makes a noise like an angry mountain lion.
"Now the rest of them," Rathan says. When still none of the gonas move, he spits the word, "Cowards," at them, and adds, "You will be punished for this later."
When he steps forward to put his hands on Clarke, Lexa tilts her head slightly. "I would recommend you do not do that," she cautions him, letting her voice be louder now so that gonas rows back may hear it. "Clarke kom Skaikru will give you her weapons, you will not search her." She deliberately stresses the word Skaikru – it is important for what she is about to do that every gona here knows that Clarke is one of them.
Rathan bares his teeth and steps forward anyway.
It is the last mistake he ever makes. In one swift movement, Lexa reaches into the sheath carefully braided into her hair – perfectly disguised as always, it is so cleverly designed that no one has ever found it without prior knowledge of it – grabs the hilt of a tiny knife and flings it forward into his throat. "Yu gonplei ste odon, Rathan," she says softly. Then she faces back towards Zion. "Return my weapons, General Zion."
Clarke steps back as Rathan chokes, air bubbling the blood pouring out of his mouth. He slumps to the cold ground less than a foot from her, curling in on himself, hands becoming grasping claws reaching towards her as he dies. She looks down at him unemotionally, making no move to try and stem the bleeding. There is a brief moment when his gonas react with anger and surprise, reaching for their weapons, but not a single one dares to draw one. After a second most return to their previous stance.
Zion glances nervously towards his fallen superior, then bows to Lexa once again. "Sha, Heda."
"And you will accompany us to where we wish to go, as an honour guard," Lexa says, voice hard. "We will set up camp this night outside the village. Organise a room for my advisors and I to confer in by the time we reach there. Also, burn that branwada's body."
"Sha, Heda," he says again. Rashan no longer makes any noise at all. As they leave, Anya stoops to yank the tiny knife out of the body. She cleans it against her sleeve and hands it silently back to Lexa. Otherwise, no one talks.
When they reach the village they are ushered into the village leader's home. He leaves immediately, bowing as well, eyeing Lexa as if she is a snake who could strike at any moment.
"Why did you wait?" Anya asks bluntly as soon as there is only the four of them. "We should have killed that branwada the second he spoke to you with disrespect. We could have."
"I wished to make a point," Lexa says calmly. "Now every gona there knows that touching a member of the Skaikru will earn them their death. That message will spread. I do not trust Nia to tell her people to protect the Skaikru. But fear will ensure that they do."
"I think you shocked Raven and the others," Clarke says. "I should probably go talk with them."
"Perhaps," Lexa says. "You can also speak to the village leader – he will be waiting immediately outside, I expect – and organise them rooms in the village. Your people are not as accustomed to being outside in this weather as the gonas are, and I can see this pace has been exhausting them."
"Except my Seken," Indra says. "She will remain outside with the rest of us."
"And so will I," Clarke says firmly. After a moment, she takes Lexa's hand and kisses the back of it. Lexa raises her eyebrows. Apparently Clarke listened when Lexa commented that there was no point in hiding this from Indra. "If you're fine with that, Heda."
"Always, Clarke," Lexa says with a smile. She takes this to mean Clarke will be sharing her tent for the rest of the journey, instead of with the Skaikru as she has so far – greatly improving the trip. In fact, since most of the tents have multiple people in them and the numbers will only increase once the Skaikru come down, it may not even be seen as suspicious by the others. The gonas will think she is setting an example for them. "Before. I did not...?"
"I'm not that easily shocked, anymore," Clarke says wryly, and leaves with one more look back.
After a second, Anya lets out a chuckle. "Sometimes, yongon, you sicken me," she informs Lexa, just as she once did when she caught Lexa mooning over Costia. "But the Skai girl... she's growing on me, I admit."
Indra doesn't look remotely surprised. Perhaps she already knew that Lexa and Clarke had a relationship – anyone in TonDC who realised would have told her immediately. Or Octavia could have told her, or Lincoln could have, or Raven... or she could even have known just from Lexa's face, as Anya did. "She did not react at all to his death," Indra comments. "Perhaps there is hope for them yet. Though the others did not handle it so well."
"The other Skaikru will become tougher in time, as Clarke has," Lexa says. Then she nearly smiles. "Well. Perhaps not as tough as Clarke."