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After a hard morning's training, all that was left was to relax a little and let the fatigue subside.
That was what Bellamy, Lincoln and Octavia were doing just as Raven came in, asking them to wipe off their sweat and go with Abby and Kane, the adults were waiting for them all for reasons unknown yet.
Heeding immediately, the three accompanied Raven to the Chancellor's office where Abigail Griffin and Marcus Kane were already waiting for them. Along with a feline as black as night and three grounders. Aren, Jensen, and another one that only Lincoln recognized as Rahim, the second member of the Terra Guard whom Coriane trusted the most after Jensen, an older man who fooled most with his white hair and a few wrinkles, when in truth he broke bones easier than he peeled fruit.
Before the man could say anything, the Tate family entered behind them. Roscoe immediately ran to Adriel and greeted him warmly, the boy bent down to allow the animal to lick his face and stroked his head with the same affection.
"Is everything all right, where is Coriane?" Lincoln didn't get a chance to ask the question as he was watching the jaglion and the human intently, instead, Bellamy did.
"Coriane is ok, she sends her regards and regrets not being able to come here in person, but with the Tributum on the way, she is quite busy," when Roscoe returned with the group of grounders, Aren answered the man's question reluctantly.
All the Skaikru looked at their leaders in confusion as Lincoln sighed and put a hand to his forehead, as if he had forgotten something important.
"The gentlemen have come to inform us of an event that will take place very soon," Abigail interjected.
"Not just any event," Aren interrupted again, annoyed at Skaikru's ignorance. "It is the most important day in our culture, Tributum is the day we celebrate the warrior spirits and the emissaries who represent them."
"And what do you want from us?" Orion Tate asked, receiving a dirty look from his son.
"As I said before, it is the most important day for all our people, regardless of clan. We understand that you invaders have no knowledge of our culture, and we have turned a blind eye to many things because of that, but Tributum is out of the question. You live in our territory, you hunt our animals, therefore you will respect our traditions."
"Coriane sent you?" Asked Bellamy, and when Aren nodded, he laughed bitterly and hung his head, shaking it. "Then let her come and personally invite us to her little party."
The three men reddened at the disrespect but did nothing but clench their fists and jaws, giving Bellamy a hint that even if they wanted to slit his throat there and now, they would do nothing for the simple fact that Coriane ordered to remain calm, and whatever she said, whatever they would do.
"Bellamy!" Abigail scolded, sensing the tension of the moment and trying to calm the waters. "We're sorry," she apologized for him, even though he had no intention of doing so, "Of course we will, we understand that your people have traditions and we want to be able to learn from them, you can tell Coriane that we will be happy to accept any invitation."
Bellamy rolled his eyes and not waiting to hear any more of that stupidity, he strided out of the place, ignoring the calls of Abigail and Kane behind him.
Coriane might as well stop meddling in his life, and his damn head too.
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"This will be the last time I say this, Eddard: we're not here to talk about Clarke Griffin, we're here to talk about Tributum, I have no idea where Wanheda is, and lastly, I don't even care where Wanheda is."
"So you're just going to keep ignoring all this like it's nothing?" Asked the man, pounding a fist on the table.
"Exactly what I just said, yes."
"Can you please stop fighting like children and act like adults?" Melisandre interjected, fed up with the bickering that had taken up nearly 20 minutes already. "What Coriane said is true, Eddard, we are here for Tributum and Tributum alone."
"Then we'll celebrate while a huge menace walks free out there."
"Eddard, enough," Dominic spoke up.
They had been arguing for almost 20 minutes —or rather listening to the Caeli do it—, and everyone had had enough. It was rare for Dominic to lose his patience, but the stifling atmosphere in the air and the heat in the room were signs that the meeting was hanging by a thread.
"Have you not thought how dangerous she is, how much danger our Sacralis might be in?"
"No, Eddard, I don't think I need to worry about that because I gave you specific orders on how to guard them, if you think you can't do your duty, that's no longer my issue."
The heat and the sweltering air began to subside at that moment, as she gave a sidelong glance at Dominic she noticed that the man had a proud little smile on his face and did not look as tense as he did a few moments ago.
Again looking at Eddard, a terrible satisfaction came over her when she saw the man's enraged face but she said nothing knowing that he had run out of credible arguments.
"The point is, Terra, sooner or later they're going to find her, whether it's Trikru or Azgeda or any of the other clans, and your secrets aren't going to protect her. And when that happens, it's going to be your fault."
The fury Coriane had felt before in that same place, arguing with the same man, returned in a familiar wave of explosive feelings that threatened to break through her barriers. She took three deep breaths in the poor attempt to calm those impulses that throbbed against her skin.
Coriane had only felt this wave of emotions once, but it seemed as if they had never left, as if they had simply been hidden in a deep corner waiting for the moment to reappear.
"Eddard..." Warned Dominic.
"You're afraid, Coriane, you're remorseful and the guilt is eating you alive, I just hope it does it quickly before you take us to the bottom with you."
There was no barrier that could contain her anymore, the power coursed through her from the tips of her toes to the last hair on her head. As Coriane stood up and slammed her hands on the table, the floor shook violently and dust fell from the ceiling, just like last time.
"Enough!"
Dominic and Melisandre looked at the girl in surprise, their tension completely gone and instead replaced with awe. Eddard on the other hand only looked angry, but he had seen this side of Coriane and as with everything else, he simply considered her inferior.
"That was enough for today. I have nothing more to say to you, and honestly if I hear you talk for one more second I'm going to bring this building down on you. So please go away, when you're ready to talk about really important things like our duties, you'll be welcomed, in the meantime, send my regards to Nia."
The man got up abruptly from his chair, making an annoying noise with it, and stormed out of the room without another word. Coriane stared at the empty Caeli chair with her jaw clenched and her hands trembling slightly. The other two Elementa looked at each other and determined that this was not the best time and, with a delicate squeeze on her shoulders, the two adults withdrew as well.
When the door closed she dropped back into her chair and sighed, she felt the trickle of blood sliding out of her nose but she was so tired she didn't even bother to wipe it away, she just let drop after drop of black blood fall onto the table as she tried to quiet the tumult of voices in her head.
"The power is yours, you just have to claim it."
And just like the last time her explosion had happened, the same voice rang in her head above all others. Coriane raised her head and looked around, there was no one with her. She sighed again and stood up.
Outside, Krista, Odeya and Isadora were waiting for her, as the boys had been sent to Arkadia to invite Skaikru to Tributum. As soon as they saw her leave the temple Isa was the first to approach and recognized the black trail of blood.
"What happened? Are you all right?"
"Yes, yes I am, don't worry, it was just... the same as last time, an outburst and that's all."
The other two looked at each other, not quite sure what to say, so they just nodded and accompanied the girl without saying a word.
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After spending all day meeting with her sectatores to begin organizing the Tributum, Coriane went for a walk in the evening hoping that her message had been delivered in Arkadia.
Arriving at a moonlit clearing that was close to what had once been Tondc she sat on the shore and watched the reflection in the water with Astrid lying beside her.
"Is this your plan, a sweet moonlit evening?" Asked a voice behind her.
Coriane smiled and rose from the floor to jump into Lincoln's arms. The man pulled her into an embrace and smiled as he kissed the crown of her head.
"How are you, tigress?"
Coriane sighed and pulled away from the embrace, walking back to the shore and letting Astrid greet Lincoln before answering.
"You'd better sit down," she said with a deep sigh.
"That bad?" Lincoln laughed as he sat down next to her.
"Terrible," Coriane smiled sideways without much desire.
It had been weeks since she'd seen her brother, for a while everything had been so calm that they'd even had time to mend their relationship, but things with Bellamy had gone from bad to worse, and with Tributum's arrival everything had become even more complicated. She no longer visited Arkadia and the few people who came to Polis to see her were her brother, Adriel and Octavia. Also the last few months had given her time to come to terms with her brother and the Skaikru girl's relationship, she had nothing against Octavia, not anymore at least, but having lost her brother for that period of time when they were fighting and no longer having him always by her side as he had been all her life, had certainly been difficult to handle.
"But first, how are the others? And Adriel? I haven't seen him around Polis lately."
Her brother's expression changed a little at the mention of the boy, but it was only for a few seconds, so little that Coriane couldn't tell what it had been.
"You're starting to worry a lot about him, aren't you?"
The question made her frown, but she ended up laughing and shaking her head, hitting Lincoln's arm and pointing a finger at him, brushing his comment off as jealousy.
"Hey, you're the one sleeping with a Skaikru here. Besides, he's a good boy, and my animals seem to like him. What can I tell you, I think he's the least annoying of them all."
"And Bellamy?"
The smile was quickly wiped from her face at the mention of the other man, she stopped looking her brother in the face and turned her gaze to the reflection of the moon, trying not to let her brow furrow too much so as not to show Lincoln, a person who knew her too well for his own good, what she was feeling.
"What about Bellamy. He's the most annoying of them all, if you ask me."
"I thought that was Clarke."
"Yeah, well, the two of them, they're just right for each other."
Lincoln laughed making her look at him again this time with a confused frown. When the man finished laughing, he shook his head as if the situation had a humor that she still didn't understand.
"You're hiding something from me."
"What?"
"Funny, don't you think? That Bellamy gets the same way you do every time someone mentions your name. What happened between you two?"
"What are you talking about, Lincoln? Nothing, nothing happened. It's just, I've had a really heavy day, Eddard's a fucking idiot who loves to make my life miserable by behaving like a baby, and I've only got a few days to prepare the Tributum and 2 of the 3 Elementa I need to do it," she deflected the subject in frustration, not wanting to hear Blake's name in the conversation again.
"Uh, that's bad."
"Yeah, bad."
Coriane sighed, putting her elbow on her knee and holding her chin with her hand. In a place this beautiful it was hard for her to feel so frustrated. It was as if nature was trying to take some of the stress off her, but part of her was resigned to leaving it anyway.
"Octavia is doing well, learning more and more every day and becoming more like one of us," Lincoln answered her previous question, wanting to take some of the stress off her shoulders.
Coriane couldn't help but chuckle. She lifted her face again and looked at Lincoln with a new grace in her eyes.
"Now, that's funny."
"What is?"
"That your girlfriend wants to become one of us, while you want to become one of them," she said with a sly grin, sweeping the man's clothes from top to bottom.
Lincoln was about to protest but Coriane shook it off, he wasn't going to try to trick her and convince her that that wasn't what was going on. Lincoln lowered his head in defeat and they stood in silence for a few seconds while Coriane looked at him with a smile.
"Are you happy?" She asked after the silence.
Lincoln looked into her eyes and didn't answer for a moment, but she could tell by the way his eyes sparkled and his mouth curved into a smile what his answer would be.
"Yes, I am."
Coriane smiled again and nodded. Though she couldn't deny that it still pained her to see her brother drift further and further away from the life they had shared together, seeing him in love and happy made up for that sadness. Her brothers' happiness was a benefit to her own happiness.
"Between Bellamy and me..." She began to speak after a short silence, Lincoln fixed his gaze on her while Coriane turned to the moon again. "Nothing happened, not technically. What I mean is that... something... I don't know. But we fought, at first I understood his reason for being angry. He was mad at me for leaving them the day of the Mountain but I... I had to go, Lin, Isadora was alive," Lincoln nodded, at first he had been frustrated with her for leaving too, but when he found out that Isa was alive he understood everything, there was nothing he could say to his sister about that. "He got mad and came to see me, we fought, it got a little... bad, and then he said something that..." She shook her head slightly, rubbing her eyes with her hand. What Bellamy had said had been going around in her head for several nights now.
"What did he say?"
"He didn't say it but he implied it, like there was something I don't know, like I don't know myself or who I am. It was strange, but it hasn't stopped confusing me since."
For a moment Lincoln was absolutely silent, as if he had swallowed his words. Before Coriane turned to look at him to read his expression, the boy spoke hurriedly, as if looking for something in the conversation to divert.
"Because you like Bellamy?"
"What? Lincoln, for the love of Tekara," she frowned and denied, but looked away from him.
"Well, then, are you attracted to him?"
"Oh for all the..." She covered her face, red with embarrassment. "What am I, 13? I don't know him, and just when I thought I could get to know him, he acts like a little bitch, so no, Lin, I not like him, I'm just... confused by him."
"Okay, okay, sorry, I'm just saying," the man raised his hands with innocence, and Coriane let out a big sigh.
"Besides, I'm trying to... figure out things with Isa," this time it was hard not to blush, and her brother immediately noticed that of course.
"Oh, really? Are you? And how's that going?"
"Well it's... weird, I mean, we had our problems before she disappeared, but we never got to talk about it so... I don't know, it's been so long, we don't really know where we stand now," Coriane admitted with shame and a hint of sadness.
She had been in love with Isadora since they were both 14, a year later she became Terra, and it made things difficult for their relationship. It only got more complicated with time, and Coriane couldn't help but always feel guilty for Isa's capturing, she told herself for years that maybe, if they hadn't had that stupid fight, she wouldn't have gone so deep into the woods with Isaac to look for a distraction.
But now she was back, and Coriane didn't wanted to push any awkward conversations when Isadora was barely just adapting to live again and recovering from everything she had to endure.
"You'll figure it out, I know you will," he gave her a subtle knock on the shoulder, and Coriane sighed deeply, hoping that his words would become true soon enough. "Thanks for telling me."
Coriane smiled and nodded slightly, laid her head on her brother's shoulder and settled into him. Lincoln put his arm around her shoulders and sighed.
"You're my brother, Lincoln, I can't lie to you."
Thanks to those words, guilt began to eat away at the man's heart even worse than before.