A purpose.
Lexa turns that word over in her mind, mouths it silently.
A purpose.
The letters roll sweetly off her tongue, but their lingering taste is bitter.
A purpose.
How often has she prayed for one? How often has she kneeled at Titus's feet before he accepted her as his student, begging for a blessing? How often has Titus reminded her she couldn't have a purpose, not really, not beyond working at the tower, for Polis, for Trikru, for God?
Now she has a purpose, but it isn't like anything she prayed for, it isn't like anything she imagined.
Her purpose will be to tame a demon.
Her purpose will be to teach a demon God's ways.
But what she may be able to accomplish with a group of young school boys is completely out of reach when it concerns a demon. How do you teach the devil to listen to God?
Most importantly, why does Titus trust Lexa with such a thing so suddenly?
Her, among a selection of the most skilled teachers? Is it because Titus can dispose of Lexa? Because a more skilled and able man would be in the position to ask more money for such a job, and she is not?
Whatever the reason, her day has been turned upside down in less than an hour, and she has only until tomorrow's sunrise to prepare herself for the journey she's about to take on. The prisoners are hidden far away from the population in a village further south, past the borders of Trikru in a village of Yujleda.
Yujleda is a bigger clan than Trikru, but it is Trikru warriors that overlook their borders and Trikru generals that govern their cities. The outskirts of Polis almost touch the border, so Lexa is hopeful that it won't be all to far away, that she'll be able to return home at least a few times to check up on Madi.
Ever since the thoughts of the devil walking the Earth have settled in, Lexa hasn't been able to keep her thoughts from Madi. Her little sister, her responsiblity.
How would Lexa keep her safe in times like this, how would she keep her safe if Lexa isn't even going to be there to protect her?
The Hakas district is not a reputable neighborhood of Polis. Its reputation is brought up on parties and among men unhappy with their wives, it's a name to boys trying to appear mature, or just looking for something to gawk at.
It's a neighborhood you want to be in after too many drinks and when the bars on Polis' main strip become boring.
It's not a neighborhood you want to call home.
But Lexa is too poor for much else, she is indebted to keep working in Polis, and anyway, where else would she go? What neighborhood would take in an unmarried 19 year-old?
Even if she wasn't past her prime marriage age, she wouldn't find a husband. That's a fate that was assigned to her at birth, a fate that might have been different if her mother had been different, a fate that might have been different if the color of her blood was.
Something had been taken from her that day where she had first breathed air, where she had seen the light of the world with the eyes Titus said were black before, had craned her neck but hadn't cried. Not the way a normal baby would have.
She will never bear children for any man, she will never be provided for, cared for, protected by anyone but herself. She will never live in one of those mansions in the Northern district and spend her time cooking, cleaning, raising children, the way of the woman as God wants it. She will never do something stupid like growing flowers or tomatoes in her backyard.
A woman's proper purpose had been taken from her, and now she's stuck with this.
The only thing she really has in this world, besides her job at the tower and apparently a purpose now, is Madi. Sweet, little Madi who isn't like Lexa ever was, who is innocent, whose eyes have never been black and who bleeds red when she scrapes her knee.
Madi, whom Lexa would give everything for.
Madi, who will be taken from her for the duration of this job.
Lexa supposes that at least, if she succeeds, she will earn just a little more trig than she usually does. If she succeeds, she may be able to afford a better life for Madi than Lexa to care for her and the Hakas district to live in. She might even be able to afford a good marriage for Madi.
Lexa sighs and steps out of the tower into the busy crowds of the Strip, the long market street that reaches from the two main gates in the east and the west to the tower in the center. It's strange to be out on the Strip on a week day when it's still bright outside. Usually, Lexa spends these hours under piles of paperwork or in classrooms, sometimes in the tower's library, Titus' office, the church- anywhere but outside, usually surrounded by stone walls in windowless rooms instead of crowds.
Lexa takes a deep breath and among the sweet perfumes, sweaty bodies and many different foods, there's a waft of fried potatoes that practically calls her name. She finds the stand and sits down on a stool by a wooden counter. The seat is heated by the sun and Lexa is tempted to take off her sweater.
In crowds this tight, she could hope for no one to notice the long, dark blue robes of an academic. She could hope for no one to make the connection between her distinctly female shape and the color of her clothes.
She doesn't.
She leaves the sweater on, simple brown cotton that matches her hair, and lets the sun's rays heat her back with an extra layer of fabric.
"Good day, lady, what may I get you?" the young man behind the counter asks her after serving the customer next to her and Lexa knows she made the right choice, leaving the sweater on. Once in a while, being respected actually feels nice.
"Two servings of your lunch special," she says with a glance to the slate board someone had written the menu on. The lunch special was a simple serving of fried potatoes with warm garlic bread, but for Lexa, it's a luxury, and she knows for Madi it will be too.
When the server turns away, the person besides her says in a hushed voice, "Ask him for a drink. They don't write it on there to save money, but the lunch specials come with a drink for loyal customers."
Lexa turns around, and just as easily, when she thought her day couldn't be more unusual, she finds herself sitting across a creature that could be anything from a mad woman over an angel to a devil.
Demons have attacked us. They're unlike anything I've ever seen.
Titus' voice.
She should have asked him for a closer description.
The woman, if she can be called that, does look unlike anything Lexa has ever seen before.
Her back isn't straight, her posture not humble. Her arms are crossed over a chest plate of armor, like only men ever wear, golden armor, like only the Saints ever wore.
It isn't an armor like any Lexa has seen before though, in real life or on pictures.
The gold is shaped around this woman's breasts in the most intricate way, in the most artistic way. It's a deliberately female armor, shaped for this particular woman to wear, and it's adorned so unlike anything Lexa has ever seen before, so unnecessarily indulgent- are those dragons, or flowers?
Her hair is the same color- golden, especially in the sun, but again unlike everything Lexa has seen before.
If women have thick hair or hair that in any way takes up more space than it should, it's cut or braided entirely to hide it. No matter what, hair is never longer than above breasts.
This woman? Her hair is wild and wonderful and like a hundred unique golden waterfalls, some strands braided, others not, some braids adorned, others not, almost reaching her waist.
God, there are so many strange things about this woman, from her hair to her armor to her impossible-to-be-female strength to the bold, grotesque but somehow ethereal paint on her temples, yet it's not this woman's strength or the way she's dressed that catches Lexa's eye most.
It's her beautiful blue eyes, a whole ocean on a summer's day, with bright freckles like the white crowns of waves, with a turquoise like salty water in the south when it has caught the warmest ray of sun. It's a blue sky on an icy winter's day, when the snow sparkles and the birds come out to sing and remind each other that they are still alive in the barren cold.
It makes Lexa entirely unable to move for a few seconds and by the time she catches herself, she's almost entirely sure that this must be one of these demons. She has too much of a hold on Lexa. She's too magnetic. She's too tempting.
Pink lips turn upwards into a smirk.
A teasing, amused smirk that makes Lexa think the demon knows exactly what she's doing.
The demon leans closer and her armor catches in the sun, the gold reflecting and catching Lexa's attention. Her eyes drift lower and jump back up as soon as they find the swell of the demon's breasts far too exposed.
Fuck.
Lexa shakes her head and silently thanks God for making the server bring her food just that moment. She empties her pocket of trig and the copper coins sing their own song on the wood as Lexa grabs the two bags of food. "Thanks," she says fleetingly to the server and then she gives the demon a polite smile. "I appreciate your input."
Then, she disappears inbetween the blurry faces of the crowd. Without a drink.
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