"So your normal route is between here and the Rock Line clan?" The village leader leans forward, steepling his fingers, and surveys Zion with interest.
"Sha," Zion says pleasantly, wares spread before him. All of Lexa's coaching has paid off – he truly looks like a merchant, now, and is managing to talk like one too. "Everyone knows the Rock Line make the best steel weapons. Just look at these – and these ones are just what has been left over. We were headed back to resupply when the borders were closed and we became trapped here."
The leader looks the rest of them over. "So you are Azgeda, clearly. From further north?"
"Further west, originally, but I have been travelling so long I barely recall," Zion says. He gestures at Octavia and Lexa, who are seated to his right. "My daughters grew up on the road – they are as used to the Rock Line caves as they are to our snow. But I like to think their strength is all Ice Nation."
With their similar colourings to each other and to Zion, and their facial scars (fake in Lexa's case), it's not hard for them to pretend to be Azgeda. Zion is a merchant, and they are his daughters. Anya, Linkon and John all appear tall and threatening enough that it is easy to claim that they were hired as protection. Lexa decided that Raven is to be a Rock Line weaponry expert, here to keep the stock in good condition for sale – that neatly excuses any oddities, as Rock Line is far enough from here for their ways to be strange to the Azgeda. Of course, they need not say most of this story to anyone. The leader of this village accepted without question that they were a merchant group, since merchant groups are typically filled with oddities and people of different clans, the better to make contacts with many places. But it is best that they have all the answers in case someone does pry further.
"Do you plan to camp outside the village?" the leader asks, a little absently, distracted by the stock Zion has laid out. He's examining the wavy line down the centre of a sword, a sign it is one of the Rock Line's most exclusive work. Few of their best weapons are sold outside of their territory. "Or do you have somewhere to stay?" He pulls a strand of his long hair loose, picks up one of the clever little knives in front of him, and tests the knife's sharpness by sliding the hair lightly against it. It cuts through it without him having to pull the hair down, and he raises his eyebrows, impressed.
"We are looking for an old friend, actually," Lexa says, flushing as she speaks up and glancing at the leader nervously. "We hired her for a while down south, and I thought she might let us sleep in her home. I do not know if you know her. Very tall, dark skin, a feisripa tattoo down her arm and back -"
"Keyza!" the village leader says, looking up from the knife, which he has been continuing to inspect. "Sha, I know Keyza, we all do. I did not realise she worked when she went south to visit her cousin."
"Yes, Keyza," Lexa says, a little relieved. This is the name she went by the last time Lexa saw her. "She did not work a great deal, but we struck up a friendship. Could you let us know where she is?"
"I can do better than that." He turns to look at his small, skinny Seken behind him, ignoring the gona to each side. "Fetch Keyza here. Tell her that old friends have come to visit."
"Actually, tell her that her former boss has come to visit," Lexa says, stuttering a little. "It is an old joke between us, that I was her boss for a time." She flushes even brighter, the joke of her ever commanding so strong a person as Keyza an obvious one for everyone here.
He raises his eyebrows again, clearly reaching a conclusion as to the nature of their relationship, but he gives a nod to his Seken and the boy runs off. "This is an excellent knife," he says, switching his attention back to Zion. "I would be interested in considering a trade. You must need food for your journey."
"Of course," Zion says, glancing nervously back at the rest of them. At a look from Lexa, Anya moves forward to help barter, since the limited training in merchant affairs they gave Zion over the past few nights' campfires did not extend to what to do if someone actually wished to buy one of his goods. But Anya knows the value of knives – she has always had a fondness for good-quality weaponry, though her love of sharp swords seems to have been overshadowed lately by her newfound love of devices such as grenades.
Lexa feels a moment of disgust that the leader would trade away food his village must badly need, but then she thinks of how little he ate while sharing his food with them, and realises he is trying to keep her merchant group alive as well as his village. He wishes to strike up a relationship with them and have them return – traders who come to small villages bring valuable news from the outside world, increase the variety of goods available, and can help a village develop connections with other areas to request outside aid against anything from wild beasts to feuds with other villages to future food shortages. She does not think he is a selfish man, he is simply trying to balance the needs of the moment with the ones of the future. Clearly, even though they are running short of food now, he thinks the situation will only worsen, and that he may need their trade connections outside the Azgeda when the borders open again. Concerning.
Lexa uses the moment to move away from the group a little, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness away from the fire. So she sees the Seken coming back with Keyza before the others or the village leader do. She moves quickly towards Keyza and gives her a bright smile that stretches her fake scars. "Keyza!" she says happily, "It has been so long!" She grabs Keyza's hand and yanks her to the side before the woman can make a noise, pressing her against the side of the nearest hut.
The Seken flushes and averts his eyes, moving away from their lovers' reunion. He does not notice that though they are pressed against each other and their faces are close, Lexa is holding a concealed knife so that the tip just pricks the skin of Keyza's stomach, hidden by the folds of both of their warm loose clothing. "Hei, Keyza," Lexa whispers quickly. "It has been a while since your last report."
Keyza is already in the middle of pushing away Lexa's weapon and reaching for her own knife to gut her attacker in return, but freezes when Lexa speaks. "It cannot be," she breathes, peering at Lexa in the darkness.
"You know that it is," Lexa says, discarding every bit of the shy merchant girl from her tone and posture. She stands straight and imbues her words with the steeliness that years of command has taught her.
"You are dead," Keyza hisses. "Everyone says it. Such news spreads quickly."
"As it was intended to," Lexa tells her. "Take me somewhere quiet. We must speak in private." She takes Keyza's hand, continuing the earlier ruse of lovers. No one will think it surprising that they sneak off to share time together – bartering over as valuable an object as a high-quality knife can go for hours.
Keyza curses, but leads Lexa back to her home anyway, hand sweaty in hers. "You cannot be here. This is not safe, Heda," she says once they get inside, face fierce, releasing Lexa's hand as soon as she can. Something about Keyza's uncompromising fierceness and protectiveness has always reminded Lexa a little of Anya, though in appearance they are very different.
"Why? Will you sell me to the Azplana?" Lexa looks at her, eyes stony. "The best reward you could hope for is a quick death." Nia would never pardon someone for placing the alliance before herself, and all know it. She has no forgiveness for what she considers betrayal – ironic, given she has committed the greatest betrayal of their people.
"No, but someone else could," Keyza growls. "Heda, please, let me escort you back -"
"I am where I need to be, Keyza," Lexa tells her, effectively ordering Keyza not to question her reasons. Keyza stops speaking at once and bows to show both respect and contrition. "Now. I need to know what news you have."
"Sha, Heda. The biggest rumour is of your death. Some believe you just to be injured or sick, but most..."
"The news spread quickly," Lexa remarks, "Given the border is closed, I would have expected it to take longer."
Keyza blinks, surprised. "Although the border is still supposed to be closed, the gona there are departing quickly," she informs Lexa. Keyza used to be a scout and it is easy for her to overhear news that others would not. "It is easy enough for people to get through, now. At this rate there will be no gona there at all in a few days."
It is Lexa's turn to be surprised, though she conceals it. "Interesting. Have you heard why the border is opening?"
"Everyone says one of the Nightbloods has taken over Polis by force, supported by the Trikru," Keyza tells her, falling back into the detached tone she has always used when she reports things to her Commander. "He needs every one of them to keep Polis under control. He does not have the Flame and he is inexperienced and foolish, they say."
Lexa considers this for a moment. Even if Aden was foolish, and she knows well that he is not, he could not have lost control of Polis in such a short amount of time. Not while he has the ambassadors' approval and Indra and Anya's forces there. So this move is deliberate – it must be. He is using the tricks Lexa has taught him, feigning weakness. To what end? Does he wish to entice Nia into sending her people across the border? With Polis so close and no Trikru gona guarding the border, it is an effective bait. At the very least Nia will have to send a raiding party, as winter continues and her supplies grow thin – the Azgeda will not accept her hiding away when there is such a tempting target. It is not their way.
So Aden wishes to prove himself, Lexa thinks, pride in her Natblida flickering in her chest. He does not plan to sit and wait for my return, but instead will do as I ordered him to, and try his best to rule even without the Flame. If he incites Nia into sending a raiding party across the border, he may be able to kill or capture them. It will be a risky strategy, but well worth it if he succeeds.
"Do you know where the Azplana is?"
Keyza shakes her head apologetically. "She hides in the far north. My people grow more restless every day. If she does not take some kind of action by the end of winter, her hiding place will become her pyre. I do not know the exact location of her and her loyalists, however."
Lexa comes to the most important question, taking care that her face does not betray her. "Three hundred people passed this way recently. Skaikru natrona, criminals."
"Sha," Keyza says. "I recall, although our orders are not to speak of them to anyone on pain of death. The word is that they have settled in a village to the north of here. It is perhaps five days' walk north and one day's walk east. If you have one of those pictures of us – maps, I think they are called – that you taught me to use, I can mark the location for you."
Lexa has prepared for this and takes out the map of the Azgeda territory she brought. It is more accurate to the south, with the far north much vaguer and speculative, but it is good enough for their current purposes. "Settled in a village?" she asks as she lays it out. "How did the village have dwellings and food enough to aid three hundred people at the beginning of winter?"
Keyza's mouth twists into distaste even as she studies the map. "They did not. The Azplana ordered them to leave. The village is home only to Skaikru, now. The villages all around have received those forced out of their homes. Even my village has three who walked here seeking shelter – they wished to stay near their home village and would have slept on floors to do that, but found that in the surrounding villages there was not enough food. Not because of the start of winter. Because the villages all around those joken invaders have been commanded to feed them and care for them as well as we do the haiplana, in addition to concealing them from anyone looking." She looks up, suddenly embarrassed. "Moba, Heda. I meant no disrespect, speaking so." She bows again, even deeper than before, averting her face in shame. "Please forgive me."
That explains how Prison Station has survived, at least. More than survived – thrived. On the backs of others. It sickens Lexa that Nia can use her people so. Her people help Arkadia to set up, but no one starves to do so, and the Skaikru are expected to learn to carry their own weight and eventually repay the debt. "There is nothing to forgive. My guards and I will stay the night here – we are pretending to be merchants who hired you once in the south, if any ask – and will leave tomorrow for the Skaikru village. If you require food, I believe your leader is about to give us some, and I can leave you a share of it."
Suddenly, there are tears in Keyza's eyes. She clears her throat. "Mochof, Heda. Mochof. What you do... the leader you are... the Azplana..." words seem to fail her. She shakes her head. "Mochof."