"It was a great shot," Lexa adds. "Some of the most skilled marksman that work under me would have frozen up with the pressure of the moment or missed."
"Thanks," I murmur, squeezing her hand.
"What happened after that?" Mom prompts.
"We found Luna. She had apparently been on her way to TonDC to see 'the girl who fell from the sky' when the Pauna got to her. For whatever reason, it didn't just kill or eat her, it tossed her into a pit near its lair."
"I think it was so it could have an easy snack later," Luna says.
Anya and Raven look stricken at her words. She takes their hands in hers and squeezes, not letting go.
"She just suffered a minor injury, just a twisted ankle." I continue. "It was bad enough that she couldn't climb up the steep sides of the pit. But by some stroke of luck, I noticed a trapdoor near the edge of the pit. Lexa was injured, so I made her rest while I climbed down the ladder and rescued Luna."
"You were..." Luna turns to Raven. "What is the phrase?" Raven murmurs something to her. "Ah. My knight in shining armor. And it was great to be reunited with Lexa."
"You knew Lexa?" Mom asks.
"Sha (yes). She is my little sister. We were both Natblidas (Nightbloods) and grew up in Polis together." Luna explains.
"A what?" Mom questions.
"That's part of the complicated, more confusing part." I say.
"Alright. You will explain it to me later, Clarke."
"I will," I promise. "Luna is also the leader of the Floukru, or the Boat People."
"Alright. What happened after that?"
"Then we went back to TonDC with the body of the Pauna, which was surprisingly delicious. Luna and Anya reunited, that was intense. And then Lexa brought up the fact that there was going to be a meeting in Polis. She asked me to come, and I agreed. Her scouts found a bunch of Maunon along the path we were going to go on."
"Maunon?" Mom asks. "Clarke, what are those?"
"Oh, right sorry. Maunon means Mountain Men. They're the people that survived in Mount Weather and trust me, they're not as friendly as I'm sure you might wish they were. They're extremely weak against radiation so they can't even go outside. If any of them get exposed to radiation, that person will die. So they take Grounders and drain their blood, doing a transfusion that heals the radiation burns. They take the stronger Grounders and turn them into Reapers, which are basically mindless drug addicted killing machines. They kill so they can get the drug from the Maunon."
"That's horrible," Mom says.
"It is," I agree. "So I figured out the Maunon on the road were there to watch us. I managed to get a radio and listened to their frequency. There was this one guy that kept spouting the most sexist things. Um, we captured two of the Maunon and learned stuff from them. We let them go, even though one of them was the sexist guy, then made our way to Polis for the meeting."
I avoid telling Mom how I started dating Lexa on the way there. I tell her about how Titus hates me and vaguely about the meeting, I'm not sure how much Lexa wants me to say. I tell her how Lexa showed me around Polis but not how it was a date.
"On the way back from Polis, the hundred fell just as the Maunon tried to force us into a cave to get away from their acid fog. Lexa and I climbed a tree so we could see where the dropship fell before fleeing into the cave. The Maunon came and used knockout gas on us. They only took Lexa and me."
"Are you alright?" Mom asks worriedly.
"I'm okay," I reassure her. "They kept me under observation. I think they did a bunch of tests on me. They basically kept me unconscious for a week before I woke up enough to get out. I broke out of the obnoxiously sterile room and held this girl, Maya, hostage with a broken piece of glass."
"Badass," Raven comments again.
"Thanks, Rae. So this old guy tried to stop me, calling the Grounders savages. I was really tempted to punch him, but I didn't. They didn't risk Maya's life. Lo mean, the guards he had with him didn't even know enough to turn their safety off. With Maya's help, I got to Lexa. She told me she couldn't go any further or she would never be able to get back. So I let her go after she told me where to find a map of their layout and where to find Lexa." My jaw trembles at the memory of finding Lexa, so she takes over.
"Clarke found me with the help of some of my people they kept in cages. I was in bad shape. They gave me just enough to keep me alive and drained me of my blood, even though they could not use it. I did not want to leave without my people, but my people and Clarke convinced me to go. But we will go back for them. Even if it means we have to kill every Maunon." Lexa vows.
"You have my support to do that." Mom says, surprising me and everyone else. "They hurt my daughter and treat humans like they're lowly beasts. You have my support," she repeats.
"Thank you, Doctor Griffin." Lexa says earnestly. She was nervous earlier so I told her what to call my Mom. "It means a lot."
"Lexa and I escaped and made our way to TonDC. We came here, made a treaty with the hundred and here we are." I finish. "Oh. Um. And one more thing, Mom. Please don't freak out."
"Why would I freak out? Are you hurt?"
"No, no." I take a breath, feeling Lexa's hand in mine for support. "I'm dating Lexa."
"You're what?!"
Ooh... Next chapter we see exactly how Abby reacts to that news! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! :) Thank you all for reading and for your lovely comments! Stay awesome!