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Arriving at the place where 300 of her people, 300 brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, fathers, mothers and friends; had been burned to death, was probably one of the hardest things she had ever had to do and see in her life.
Coriane swallowed hard and refrained from looking at the skeletons and ashes, trying to simply focus on the big metallic thing in front of her.
Behind her, Odeya couldn't stifle a gasp, and Krista, though perturbed herself, had to help the girl by grabbing her arms to keep her from collapsing.
The group stopped once Clarke had reached the metallic ship, and now all, filled with uncertainty, resentment, sadness and disturbance, stood waiting for the girl to make any mistake, any mistake at all, so that she would have an excuse to claim revenge for those 300 lives that burned in that inferno, plus the 18 killed on Tondc.
Clarke led them through the ship to a hatch and climbed through it. As soon as it opened, Coriane could hear cries from the other side, and a desperation and desire to get to the source of the screams had her climbing the stairs with extreme speed despite her armour. Once they reached the top, the first thing she saw almost made her fall down the stairs, and she would have, if it hadn't been for Aren and his discreet but strong grip on her hips.
She finished the entire climb without taking her eyes off her brother's chained body, and soon life began to flash in front of her eyes.
It was one thing to imagine him dead, to consider him dead for having been declared a traitor and, on top of that, captured by the Reapers, but it was quite another thing to see him herself, to smell his blood, to see how his chest was not moving, to see him with his eyes closed, as if he were asleep, but knowing that, from that dream, he would not wake up.
Naga clung to her neck tightly, not to kill her, but as if she was trying to protect her, to shelter her, to embrace her Terra. Outside, the cries of Gus and Gala could be heard. The forest felt Terra's sadness, and it was crying with her.
Her throat began to burn and her eyes began to burn, she felt like she was going to throw up everything she had eaten that week, and a terrible memory came to her: the death of her parents was as present as if it had been yesterday. She hadn't been strong enough then not to cry, not to behave like the warrior they had raised her to be. And yet again, at that very moment, she doubted she could contain herself as well.
Lincoln was her brother. Her brother. The one who had lifted her up when the two of them had been left alone in that cruel world, the one who had never once in her life underestimated her.
Just as it was clear to her that if she ever lost Jensen, Aren, Krista, or Odeya, another part of her would die, in that moment, she could feel the wrenching pressure in her heart, the realization that another part of her had died on that very ground.
The world stopped functioning around her, she didn't even notice when everyone started to get out of control, pointing their weapons at each other. Never mind that the boy she had immediately recognized as Bellamy was pointing his... gun, they called it? At her. Naga had already taken it upon herself to make it clear that if anyone approached the Terra, they would face the pain of her terrifyingly venomous fangs. The snake stretched out its neck to try to bite the man, hissing and baring those small, thin, but lethal and terrible fangs. And though Bellamy recoiled, he did not lower his weapon. Coriane walked over to her brother's body, her steps so absentmindedly that they felt almost unreal, her face pale and contracted in an empty void of emotions. When Octavia saw her approaching, she stepped aside to let the girl pass.
She knelt down and with a trembling, uncertain hand, stroked Lincoln's face.
"I'm sorry, brother..."
She let a single tear run down her cheek and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. Her warriors were behind her, Lexa, her aunt, her enemies even, this was no time for weakness, this was the time to show them that neither Terra nor Skaiheda took her word lightly.
She felt the Skaikrus freeze behind her, uncertain of her next actions, fearful of the promises she had made, knowing deep down, just by looking at her, that Coriane kom Trikru was not a woman who's words should be taken lightly at all.
"Please... don't do this, you don't have to do this, we can... we can..." Clarke began to stammer, in a pointless attempt to stop what was coming to her.
"Remember my warning, Clarke?" Coriane interrupted the girl.
When she looked at the blonde, her expression had changed drastically, everyone could see the fury and pain in her eyes, her jaw was tensed, and, as if it were a portrait, as if the snake could feel and replicate all those emotions the woman was feeling, the reptile's eyes somehow showed that same terrifying fire too.
"Coria..."
"What. did. i. said?" She interrupted again, this time rising very slowly from the floor.
"Stop it!" Bellamy warned her.
Without even having to utter a command, just by thinking of it, Naga reached out to the man with a hiss at a speed at which Bellamy could not react. She wrapped herself around the gun, causing the frightened man to drop the weapon. Before it fell to the ground, Coriane grabbed the reptile to keep it from falling as well and it went curling down her arm to her neck again.
"I'm sorry... I'm really sorry..." Clarke said, trying to pull back as well, to get away from her.
No one intervened anymore, Lexa and the other Triku stood still on their side, making sure that no one from Skaikru tried to stop Coriane, letting Terra's anger send a clear message to those that pushed it too far.
"Kill her."
Naga didn't need another word. Just as she had done with Bellamy's weapon, the snake lunged at Clarke, this time wrapping her body around the blonde's neck and, unlike how she had done with Coriane moments before, she now pressed in for the kill.
"No!" People shouted behind her.
The blonde's face quickly began to turn purple, she was trying to fight for the air that Naga was cutting off and futilely free herself from the snake's grip with her hands, but it was completely useless, Naga was a skilled predator, and the strength she possessed to trap her pray was as lethal as her venom.
The life was draining from Clarke's eyes, her oxygen was about to run out, when suddenly, a sound made everything stop.
Coriane turned immediately and saw a woman she had not recognized when she entered shocking her brother with a stick.
The first one did nothing, but the second one...
"Stop!"
Naga stopped at command, seconds before it was too late for the blonde who was already on the ground.
Lincoln gasped for air, as did Clarke. Naga snaked across the floor until she reached Coriane and made her way back to the girl's neck, climbing all over her body, as if nothing had happened.
Everyone fell silent, the only sound being the coughing and heavy breathing of the blonde.
Lincoln was alive.
He was alive.
Coriane looked at Lexa with her mouth gaping open and her eyes wide, the girl had the same surprised expression as her. They all did.
"Ann?" The dark-skinned man whispered, his voice weak as he lifted his gaze from Octavia to his sister.
Coriane swallowed hard, holding back the new tears that threatened to come.
"Hello, you idiot."
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"Are you all right?" Aren entered Coriane's tent, making her jump in surprise as she had been so deep in thought.
"Yes," she answered simply, looking down at the wolf cub sleeping peacefully on her lap.
The boy said nothing more, Coriane only heard him sigh and proceeded to sit down on the floor in front of her. Astrid took the opportunity to also have a human pillow and laid her head in the boy's lap, making him smile slightly and start stroking her fur.
"Do you think I was wrong?" Coriane asked suddenly, looking up at the boy.
"No. You did what every Commander and Elementa must do: show leadership," he answered confidently.
"Right," Coriane simply nodded, turning her gaze back to the little wolf again. "And do you think... do you think Morgana would have done it too?" This time she didn't look at him as she asked.
"Ann, stop it," the boy spoke forcefully.
"With what?" She looked at him again, frowning slightly.
"With this. With questioning whether you're a good Terra, a good Elementa, or a good Skaiheda. You're the best, of the three. And I mean it," the boy closed his eyes and sighed, and when he opened them again he looked at her more gently, as he spoke more softly. "You strive to be all three at the same time. Even more; to be a good leader, a good sister, a good friend. Don't you see, what other Terra, or Elementa for that matter, has ever had to carry the extra burden of being a Commander? None, not even Morgana. You put balance to all those things. Ann, you are neither Terra, nor Skaiheda, nor even the leader of the Elementa. You are Coriane, and Coriane is a... crazy, chaotic combination of all those things."
The girl fell silent after those words, simply looking at Aren, seeing the seriousness and intent of his words in the brown eyes.
A moment of silence passed until Coriane reacted and smiled sideways.
"You know she'd be very proud of you, don't you? Your parents too."
That comment cut off the circulation of oxygen in Coriane. She tensed immediately and held back a gasp deep inside her. No one hardly mentioned her since the day she was taking away, and even though it had happened years ago, it still made Coriane shiver with guilt and immense grief. Coriane looked at the wolf cub once more, unable to look at Aren any longer.
"I hope so..."
Before the boy could do or say anything else, a third person entered the tent.
"Lexa finished talking to the Skaikru," Isaac reported.
"And?" Aren spoke for Coriane, eyeing the boy with suspicion and distaste.
"No assassin; no truce."
Coriane sighed. That was the fairest thing to do, wasn't it? It was what everyone wanted, what everyone demanded. Closure for the 18 innocent deaths. Justice for the people.
"They're not going to accept."
"That's what Lexa thinks. That's why she wants you to go and convince them."
Coriane raised her gaze again to look at the boy, arching an eyebrow.
"Why me?"
"Because they're already terrified of you, what better way to use that fear than this?"
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The centre of the meeting this time had been Coriane's own tent. For the occasion, most of her animals had retired, with the exception of Astrid, Søren, Roscoe, Pax and Naga. The others waited patiently outside or took the opportunity to go hunting.
Jensen, Aren and Isaac —on Lexa's orders—, were also in the company of the Terra, as well as her two sisters Terran Sectatores. While Odeya sat down stroking Pax's fur to keep the small fox of being too energetic, Krista made a show of fixing her very sharp arrows.
And on Skaikru's side, Clarke was accompanied by Bellamy, Octavia, a brunette girl she knew she had seen before and Clarke introduced as "Raven", Adriel —the one she had finally learned was the name of the boy she had given her knife to the night she had let Lincoln escape—, the woman who had resurrected her brother, who was apparently Clarke's mother, "Abigail", and a man she had not seen until now, with a beard and brown hair and who vaguely bore a resemblance to Adriel. "Orion," Clarke had introduced him. And by the looks of it, he seemed to be some kind of warrior.
What Isaac had said had been true: Skaikru now feared her, which was why they had brought a whole group along for the "simple" meeting they were supposed to have. Coriane couldn't blame them. In fact, she applauded their intelligence and caution.
"So, do you have an answer for the Commander yet?" She asked quietly.
"We're not going to accept. You can't expect us to. Finn is one of us," Abigail replied sternly.
"The 18 people he killed were ours too," Isaac spoke behind her angrily, shaking off every word.
"Isaac, dear, shut your mouth and let me deal with this, okay?" Coriane turned to speak sarcastically to him, making the blond roll his eyes and the other two boys smile in satisfaction.
"He's right," she turned again to look at the others. "18 innocents. Children, old people, women and men. You should honestly see this as a... favour."
"How is sacrificing one of us a 'favour'?" The brunette, Raven, snapped.
Astrid beside her growled at the rude attitude, making a chain between the animals that growled after her and Naga who hissed in warning. Coriane held up a hand, silencing the noise with the simple but clear action.
"Lexa was merciful to ask for only one life in return," she lifted her shoulders with indifference, her expression emotionless. "Your friend, Finn, he took eighteen. If Lexa had wanted to, she would have listened to the demands of many and asked for eighteen life's in return. But she only asked for one. For the killer. Just as you say, you can't expect us to stand by and let this go, to not demand justice for the lives that were lost and the families that were destroyed," there was no hint of emotion in her voice or expression, just pure, pure seriousness.
"Please, I beg you, we beg you, help us convince your Commander that this is not the solution," the blonde pleaded, leaning closer to her. Clarke's voice sounded scratchy and bruised, a side effect of Naga's attack hours ago, and the snake's mark could already be seen clearly and purple on her neck as well.
Coriane was beginning to despair and lose patience with the blonde, with everyone in general. She got up from her seat and moved closer to them, especially to her.
"And what's the solution, Clarke? To let this crime go unpunished? To go home without an answer for the families of the dead? Tell me, since you seem to know justice best, what should we do?"
The girl was silent, Coriane could see the nuts in her head rolling and searching for words for a convincing answers, but there were none.
"Exactly."
"What would you... what would you do to him?" Adriel asked quietly, unable to look her in the eye.
Coriane stared at the boy for a few moments before answering in the same serious voice as before.
"He will die as our tradition dictates: 300 cuts from the people who suffered because of him, plus those of the Commander and the Elementa. The final blow is struck by Terra and the Commander at the same time. That's if Tekara doesn't dictate a special punishment."
Faces of confusion and disturbance were evident on Skaikru's faces. It was Orion who dared to ask the questions they all had.
"What or who are the "Elementa" and who is "Terra" and "Tekara"?"
Coriane laughed frivolously, causing more confused expressions from the Sky People.
She shook her head in amusement and then looked the man in the eye with something dark that made the foreigners shiver.
"You come here, wanting to invade our land with blood and tears, but you have no idea of our society, our culture, how fucked up and selfish does that sound? Huh?"
When none of them answered and they all lowered their heads in some uncomfortableness, she laughed again and sighed.
"Let me fill you in: the Elementa are the protectors of nature, the emissaries and representatives of the spirits that make up this world. We preserve order and protect aspects of life and Mother Earth. Tekara is the spirit of the earth, and Terra is the leader of the Elementa. The emissary of Tekara. They who rule the element of earth and its creatures and is charged with maintaining order on behalf of the entire elements."
The Skaikru were visibly confused but at the same time impressed, they looked at the animals that stood around the girl with awe, and at the girl herself, with much more. Perhaps fear, perhaps surprise.
"I am Terra, emissary of Tekara; spirit of the forest, protector of the land. And Skaiheda, Commander of the Skies," she spoke proudly and with her head held high, as she gently stroked the fur of the huge ligeress at her side.
At that moment everyone swallowed hard, impressed and slightly frightened as well, it was clear to Coriane. It only brought a small, sly smile to her face.
"We can't... we can't..." Clarke whispered after a long moment of silence.
"Is that your final answer?" She looked at the two adults, Abigail and Orion, with an eyebrow raised.
"Yes," the woman replied firmly.
Coriane sighed and pursed her mouth. She looked at Astrid and the feline also looked at her human, asking "what now?" in a whisper that only the Terra was able to understand, Coriane gave a silent answer to the silent question by simply raising her shoulders.
"Well, I guess that's it then. You're dismissed. Say goodbye to your loved ones and... remember that you were well warned. The lives of all those you condemned are in your hands."
Raven did not wait a second to exit the tent in an angry fury, shortly after being followed by a very worried looking Adriel, who was then followed by the warrior. Abigail looked at her daughter as if pleading they got out of there already, but just as the blonde and her mother were about to turn around, Bellamy spoke up, surprising them all.
"Can I speak to you in private for a moment, please?"
Coriane raised a curious eyebrow without taking her eyes off those of the man, his grave expression gave nothing away.
Clarke turned to him with a pale expression, worry contracting the soft features of her face that always seemed to be contracted.
"Bellamy, what are you-" she went to interrupt the intense eye contact between Bellamy and Coriane, but the man softened his eyes when he turned to look at her and cut her off before she could finish her sentence.
"Clarke, please," there was something unspoken between them, and then, against Abigail's own protests and a pleading look from Clarke in her direction, the girl dragged her mother outside.
Coriane lifted her chin a bit more, looking the Skaikru man up and down before speaking again.
"What for, may I ask."
"In private," Bellamy gave an untrusting look to her companions, making them all tense with challenge.
But Coriane, after weighting the request, simply nodded to her siblings an Isaac to leave them alone.
"Ann, I don't think this is a good idea," Aren was the first to express his discontent, Krista and Odeya had stood up from where they sat and their backs were full height with protective looks.
"Don't worry, he wouldn't be stupid enough to try anything here, would you?" She gave an amused look to the curly haired, one he did not shared with his serious face.
"No. I've learned my lesson with you."
After a moment of hesitation from her siblings, since Isaac simply sighed mumbling something for himself and immediately leaving the tent without a second thought, the rest followed, not before giving Bellamy death promising looks if he so much as talked to her the wrong way.
Not that they had to worry, of course, there was a pack of the most dangerous animals in the world right beside her.
Once alone, Coriane stood up from the chair she'd been sitting on the entire meeting and walked closer to the man, caressing absentmindedly Søren's mane in her way.
"Have you, now, because it certainly doesn't seem like it," she crossed her arms, leaning on the round table of the room.
"I don't know why you do this, I've been trying to figuring you out, but I just can't seem to do it."
"Do what?" She angled her head to one side, then huffed a little laugh that made Bellamy tense. "And good luck with that, many have spent a lifetime with no success."
"All of... this," he motioned to their surroundings, then to the outside of the tent, where his friends had vanished. Coriane raised an indifferent eyebrow, and the man sighed in frustration, being brave enough to get a step closer to her.
"You have compassion in you, mercy, even. I know you do. You've had countless opportunities to kill me, and enough reasons to do so, yet I'm still here."
"Yeah, and I'm regretting those decisions greatly in this very moment," she sighed, rolling her eyes and untangling her arms to grab the borders of the table.
"Just... please, you've helped us before, even if it was only for your brother's sake, and you have decided not to kill me, even saved my life, more than once, what's different now, why can't you at least try to help us now?" He got yet another step closer to her, and Coriane raised an eyebrow with a hint of surprise.
"Because, Bellamy, this time, other lives were taken here. Finn took 18 lives form my village, people that had nothing to do with the conflicts between us, people that were good, hard working. Mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. Kids. Finn killed them in a tantrum, so he must die facing the consequences of his actions," the explanation seemed so logical to her, yet so strange for him.
She laughed at his face, and now she was the one to get a step closer to the boy. To his credit, he only seemed to swallow hard and try to make himself look taller, but did not took a step back.
"Honestly, if you ask me he's quite lucky. What's going to happen to him, it does not compare to the things that could've happened if Tekara had felt offended enough to let me take charge," but her words were no where near or a consolation for Bellamy, if the frown on his freckled face said anything.
"Do you really have to do that?" After a moment of silence, the boy laughed without amusement at all and looked her straight in the eyes.
"What? Coming to take the justice that is rightfully ours on one single member of your kind after the murdering of innocent? Yeah, I think I do," she said with a sardonic frown.
"No, I mean making everyone be so afraid of you they can't even look you directly," Bellamy gave yet another step closer to her, making Coriane lift her chin in subtle challenge with a hint of amusement in her brown eyes.
"You are looking at me directly, which is quite impressive, to be honest, considering that your friends looked a breath away from crying earlier," accepting the challenge Bellamy had started, she gave the last step closer before they were too close to even hear each other's breathings, tilting her head subtly sideways. "And no, contrary of what you may believe, I don't usually go around terrorizing people into making them pee their pants every time they see me," a mischievous smile spread across her lips, the kind that usually made those around her shiver. "Well, at least not the ones who don't cross me."
Bellamy did not took her words as lightly as she was taking this whole conversation, and after a moment of complete silence where they only stared at each other with an intensity that only the joy had dared to looked her at with, he laughed without amusement again, and gave several steps back, braking their eye contact.
"I was wrong," he shook his head, seemingly disappointed for a reason completely unknown to Coriane.
"For what," she raised a questioning, confused eyebrow.
"For believing you could be rationed with."
Coriane took a deep breath in while she held Bellamy's stare again, another moment of silence, this one much tenser than the others, stretched between them until Coriane spoke again.
"Lesson number four, Bellamy; it's a tough world we're living in, but quite simple at the same time. Do not cross the spirits, do not alter nature's course, do not play with fire, because it will burn you straight to hell," Bellamy had no words to answer her with, only a look of so many emotions Coriane couldn't pinpoint them all, so she only sighed. "So buckle up, pretty boy, and either burn, or live at peace. Is rather easy, actually," going back to her chair, where Roscoe immediately went over in search of Terra's caresses, she looked at Bellamy with one last sly smile. "Goodbye, pretty boy."
With a sigh, Bellamy had no choice but to accept that Coriane was ending the conversation right there, and that there was nothing else he could do.
"Goodbye, you maniacal psycho lioness," and with that, he exited her tent, making Coriane laugh at her supposedly new nickname.
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"Dad, are you okay?" Adriel asked his father after they had returned to Arkadia.
The man looked at his son with a forced smile, the best he could muster, and patted his shoulder lightly.
"Yes, son, it's nothing, it's just that this situation..." he sighed.
"I know," Adriel sighed too.
The boy excused himself to his parents and left to join his friends.
When he was no longer near the two adults, Elara, Adriel's mother and the man's wife, approached her husband to whisper to him with a frown of concern.
"Will you tell me the truth?" She asked gently, rubbing her husband's back lightly.
Orion sighed again and brought his hands to his eyes, rubbing them hard and squeezing them as if preparing to say something difficult.
"I think... this is going to sound absurd, too unrealistic and crazy. But... but I think I saw her," the man's voice broke mid-sentence.
Elara didn't need more information, she understood perfectly well what her husband had meant. What she didn't understand was the how, or the why of that ridiculous assumption.
Orion felt like he was going crazy, it couldn't be true, it couldn't be. How? How could it be possible for a baby to survive all that?
"What...?" The woman questioned, suddenly without the air to breathe properly.
"I think I saw our baby girl. Our baby girl is alive... our Alana... she's alive."