Chapter 2
She did not stay alone with her thoughts very long, though, as a man soon came in and asked her if she could move, so she could get the radio out of her pod without damaging it. He would leave for Polis as soon as she had explained how it worked. Anxious to see him go, she agreed and got up - careful to do it slowly this time, so no dizziness would give her away. Her healer might disapprove, but the fates of way more people were at stake than just her own.
Soon enough they were at her pod, and she got in to unhook the radio. She didn't bother to repress a smile when the warrior told her not to try anything silly.
"I'm not gonna drive away on my spaceship, it's toast! And I'm not going to run away, you could clearly outrun me. Besides, I couldn't see them but I'm sure the whole place is surrounded by guards. You're armed, and I've seen people with bows. I don't intend to die... And I'm not going to try and activate the radio because I'm sure what would ensue would not be good for either me or my people."
She finished unhooking the device and turned around in her seat to look at the man. It was important she make a good impression on him, almost as much as on Anya, if he was the one carrying her message to whoever their Commander was.
"Now, here's how you use it." She launched into an explanation she hoped was easy. There were just a few buttons to push, but there was still the matter of the frequency. Still, Grounders couldn't have forgotten everything about technology in the past hundred years, right? Even if they did not have the tools to build it (and why not, if they could do it on the Ark?), they must at least have gathered every ressource that wasn't destroyed in the war. Or they'd know some history... In any case, she must have done it right, because the warrior in front of her was soon able to explain it back to her.
"Great! You're ready to go then! Just, I don't know how often it rains here, but please, try not to let any water on it? Wrap it in something?"
"Got it. It's important to you, isn't it?" the nameless man asked.
"My people? Yeah... I mean, they're not all good, but most of them are innocent. They didn't ask about any of this. Some of them probably don't even know... All they're asking is for a chance to live."
"Don't worry. I'll deliver the message on time." He squeezed her shoulder before he left her there.
"If your Commander agrees," Raven mumbled to herself.
She realised as she saw him gallop out of the village (that was a horse, right? The first real horse she'd ever seen! ... Was it an impression or did it have to heads?!) that she'd been left to her own devices, alone at the edge of the village. She did not even try to run away, though. She did not know whether it was a test, but she did know she was in a world that looked nothing like the previsions they'd made on the Ark, and she did not want to try and survive in it alone. She had no clue where the others were, either. No, for good or bad, she was here now, so she might try and start acting as the Arkers' ambassador here... someone would have to, and they probably shouldn't let the delinquents do it. Even though she did not doubt most of them were decent people. Finn was amongst them after all...
She walked back into the village. The sun had started to rise now, and everything was in shades of grey, but she could see people still going around, even more so than when she landed. Of course she must have woken them up with her crashing down on them (lucky she didn't hurt anyone, or even explode upon landing and destroy the whole village!), must be why they came out to stare at her the first time. Now, though, some of them eyed her suspiciously, but most of them were going about their work without paying any attention to her.
When she walked back into the healer's house, Anya was waiting for her, sitting on a chair one ankle resting on her other knee, and reading through a book. Raven stopped at the entrance. She wasn't quite sure she was supposed to see this - the General entirely relaxed, absolutely not on her guard, a small smile at the corner of her lips from what she was reading. Raven didn't want to bother her, but she didn't exactly have anywhere else to go...
Finally Anya turned towards her. "It's rude to stare. Or did you think I hadn't heard you arrive? You make as much noise as a Pauna!"
Raven knew she should have been offended, but between Anya's smile and her ignorance...
"A pauna?"
"Giant... ape? Gorilla? I suppose?"
"Things have changed a lot around here in the past century, I assume..."
Anya laughed. "Don't they ever?"
"Could you tell me about it? About your world - what happened since the war?"
"Some time. Not now, though." Anya became serious again. "You asked that we help those you call "delinquents". I've decided that we would. We're going to reach out to them - you're coming with us so they'll trust us more, and you can make sure they're alive to report to your Ark, if the Commander gives you that opportunity."
She didn't wait for Raven's assent to get up and go out, probably assuming that Raven would follow her. She gave some orders, and soon enough a group of warriors had gathered around what must be the main square. They looked at Raven suspiciously, but Anya told them she was with them as far as they were concerned and if anything happened they had to protect her like one of their people. If they weren't happy with their general's order, they were good at hiding it. It did leave Raven wondering how bad the local threats were. Surely they didn't just fear the kids?
They kept throwing her looks, and Raven soon realised she wasn't going as fast as they were used to, and she wasn't nearly as silent as they were. But eh, give her a break, she just arrived on earth, she wasn't used to all the crunchy leaves and branches under her feet, and she just crashed, she wasn't exactly in her best health either. Anya, who was leading the group while the others surrounded her, looked back over her shoulder and slowed down ever so slightly, adapting her pace to Raven's.
Raven was certain her plan involved something more subtle than just walking up to the gate of the delinquents' quickly built barricade - sign that they were alive and adapting quick, contrary to the Ark's stupid expectations - but Anya probably ditched that. Raven was anything but discreet, and, as Anya whispered to her troops, the kids had no weapons but knives, and she didn't seem to worry much that they might just try and throw them. Some of the warriors split from the group, and Raven assumed they went to act as sentinels or to cover their retreat if there had to be one. Anya definitely was not taking any chances, even with a bunch of kids. She was probably right, after all, most may just be delinquents, but some of them were murderers too... What went through the Council's heads, to decide to send them all down here together? Or did they just never consider it might actually be survivable?
In any case, Raven found herself walking forward, a safe distance from the gate, with Anya holding her by the arm like she was some hostage, her other hand on the sword at her side. The general called out towards the gate: "I want to speak to your leader!"
Someone hiding behind the gate sneered at her. "And who are you? We have no leader!"
Raven recognized Murphy's voice for all the times she visited Finn.
"I'm the general of the local clan," Anya proclaimed, head held high, ignoring the affront. "You're on our territory."
"Let me do this," Raven whispered.
Anya frowned, but then nodded courtly.
"You have no leader? That's bullshit, Murphy! You want me to believe you're standing watch out of the goodness of your heart? My ass!"
"Raven? The fuck are you doing here?"
"I'm saving your asses! Now, get whoever's in charge to come here and have a chat with Lady General here!"
"You're the one who crashed, aren't you?"
"Yes! Now, get a move on!"
He disappeared behind the barricade, and they waited. After some time, Raven thought they'd never come out, but the gate opened slightly, letting some tall guy come out. Behind him came Finn, and Raven would have thrown herself at him were she not still being held by Anya. But... what the fuck? He was holding hands with a blonde girl that came just behind him?! As they approached, Raven recognized her as Clarke, Abby's daughter, from the pictures she'd seen up in the Council room. They were so engrossed in each other, even as they were walking towards a parley, that Finn only belatedly realised Raven was in front of him, and awkwardly let go of blondie's hand. Murphy behind them grinned when his eye met Raven's. So he hadn't told them on purpose... Part of her hated him for that low blow, but at least now she knew what to expect... To think she'd risked her life for that asshole...
And here he went, trying to pretend nothing had just happened - maybe he thought she was stupid, or maybe he hoped she hadn't seen - and tried to come forward to give her a hug - only to be forcefully pushed back by Anya.
"Step back. She's with us now. At least until we know we have an agreement."
"Are you okay?" Finn asked meekly.
Raven shook her arm, and Anya apparently decided to trust her not to do something stupid, because she let her go. Raven didn't make a move to go towards Finn and the others. She planted her feet firmly on the ground and decided to, well, stand her ground.
"I'm fine!" she assured him, more aggressively than she wished. "I didn't almost die just to save your ass while you were having fun down here, so I'm fine." She turned towards Clarke. It was her Abby sent her for, after all, and if she was going to refrain from making a scene in the middle of the parleys, she had better ignore Finn. "Your mom was worried you were all dying, she sent me here to check on you."
Clarke glared towards Murphy and the other boy. "They took our bracelets off."
Raven glanced at Anya. "We're going to contact them, with the Grounder Commander's agreement." She could not let them know there was a small chance that wouldn't work out, or this whole thing could blow up in their faces. "Meanwhile, I convinced the General here," she was careful not to say her name, knowing Anya hadn't liked that when she found out herself, "to help you."
"We don't need any help," the older boy said. "We're doing just fine."
"You're scaring the game for miles," Anya sneered. "What are you going to eat once you're done with all the weaklings that were left behind? And the winter's fast approaching. You don't know when you can have reinforcements, if you're going to get any. You're going to die out there, of cold and thirst, if the acid fog doesn't get you first."
The kids all shuddered, and Raven knew they had encountered whatever that acid fog was before. Now was not the time to ask questions.
"That wouldn't have happened if you didn't shoot our friend when we tried to get to Mount Weather!"
Raven noticed Clarke rolled her eyes at the boy's words.
"You're the one who wanted to kill him off, Bellamy, and you weren't even there! Jasper's fine, so maybe we can put that behind us!"
Bellamy grumbled.
"Bellamy, uh?" Raven went. "It's funny how you would give the Grounders lessons in civility when you tried to kill the Chancellor!"
"You did what?!" they all exclaimed.
Clarke took a deep breath. "Okay, let's calm down, we'll see about internal politics later! Point is, they're right, we'll need them!"
"Clarke," Finn crooned. "I'm not comfortable making an alliance with the people who've tried to kill Jasper."
Raven wondered for half a second why they directly assumed it was them. Maybe they thought Anya's people were the only ones left...
"They also tried to save him," Clarke pointed out, before she turned towards Anya. "Maybe you have an explanation for that."
"Mount Weather is off limits." Anya simply stated. "There are people living there, and they exterminate my people. Turn them into monsters."
"Who's to say they wouldn't make better allies than you?" Bellamy spit out.
"They would massacre you. They'd find a way to exploit you. Besides, we are not giving you a choice. You can decide to keep living on your own so long as you aren't violent with my people, but anyone who crosses to Mount Weather will be killed. Your Jasper friend was just a warning." She looked down for half a second before she stared back straight ahead. "It would be a small mercy to kill you, really."
Since they didn't seem to believe her, she added: "they're the ones who make the acid fog."
After that, there was a heated, hushed argument between the Arkers, in which Raven could hear something about Bellamy and a pardon, or something. She didn't know what that had to do with anything, but he was probably worried about their contacting the Ark... Not that it was in their control anymore. Clarke seemed very adamant that they agree with Anya's offer, and Finn obviously sided with her. She noticed how he almost wrapped his arm around Clarke's waist before he looked up at Raven guiltily. Like he'd even forgotten she was there...
Finally they all turned back towards Anya, and Clarke held out her hand. "We agree. We'll welcome your help in learning how to take care of ourselves, and anything else you can tell us about Earth, and this enemy of yours. I figure it's gonna be a common enemy now, if we are to be allies."
"I doubt you can do anything against them," Anya snorted, but she did shake her hand - weirdly, clasping her arm at the elbow. Then she seemed to give it more thought. "But if your people has technology we don't, it might come to that." She appraised their quickly built barricade. "At least you're not entirely stupid."
Bellamy almost jumped at her. Surprisingly, Murphy was the one to hold him back, whispering angrily as if that would calm him. "She's not wrong, have you seen the chaos we made when we landed? A freaking twelve-year-old almost killed Wells, and you had me hanged for it!"
"I only meant, you don't know anything," Anya added. If that was how she thought she could smooth things over, Raven doubted a General should ever handle peace talks... "You could learn. Train. Fight alongside us. But that will not happen so long as we're not sure of your loyalties. And your people's response."
The others nodded.
Raven had a hunch that for all intents and purposes the Arkers would be Anya's hostages if things turned sour with the Ark. She'd quickly understood that, for all that they were delinquents, some of them were valuable to the Council. And Raven hadn't painted the most glorious portrait of the Ark. Anya seemed willing to help, for now, but she couldn't blame her for securing her situation. She was already taking a huge bet in offering her help to criminals. Maybe the others would realise that, but Raven wasn't about to tell them. She might trust a few of them, but certainly not all. Hell, she clearly couldn't even trust Finn anymore... She should have known long ago that "family" never was a positive thing to have.
"Alright," Anya said. "Do you need a healer or anything? I imagine your friend has recovered by now?" She must be talking about Jasper, Raven pieced back from the earlier conversation.
"He is, not thanks to you!" Bellamy let out.
"Nor you!" Clarke snapped. "Now stop it! We agreed." She turned to Anya. "Thank you. We won't need a healer, but we could use someone to show us the plants that we can eat and the ones that heal. We only know the ones that existed before the war, and we've had some unfortunate surprises."
Raven wondered for a moment how all these kids weren't dead already. But you had to admire Clarke's levelheadedness. She was a lot like Abby, Raven realised. And whatever show the guys were putting on, she was the one really in charge here.
"We could also learn to hunt," Clarke said hopefully. "As you said, winter will come soon, we'll need food, and we can't always rely on you. I imagine you have your own people to feed."
"You really aren't stupid," Anya smiled, a bit condescendingly. "We're not back to the stone age yet, we do some farming too... We'll bring you food for the time being. You aren't going to get those skills honed in a day... Now, for our part, we will be dealing with your people up there." She pointed at the sky. "But you'll have to respect some ground rules. No guns," she said, looking pointedly at Bellamy, and Raven noticed she had only been addressing Clarke so far. "They attract the Mountain Men, and then you never come back. Or worse. Besides, you would be dead before you could pull the trigger. And you will respect our people. And our land. I expect if your people do strike an alliance with the Trikru, the Commander will want a show of good faith, but we will see to that later."
A few more arrangements were made, and Anya and her warriors seemed ready to head back to the village, Raven hesitated, before she turned to Anya. "Wait for me a moment, while I talk to them?"
The General frowned.
"I just need to tell Clarke about her mom. And some things about the Ark. You can stay if you want to make sure I don't say anything bad about you," she smiled.
Anya raised an eyebrow. "I just assumed you would want to stay with them."
"No. I need to see this thing through. I need to be there when your man returns with the radio. Besides," she looked back towards where Finn was standing, close to Clarke, "there's nothing left for me here."
Anya nodded silently, and stepped away while Raven talked to Clarke. She explained quickly what her mother's plan had been... And delivered the bad news. It was hard - she barely knew the girl, and she wanted to feel jealous, because it hurt to know that she clearly got close to Finn, too close - but she liked Abby, for the small time she had got to know her, and Clarke seemed nice too, even if she'd seen her for less than an hour. She was smart, and yet she still looked like a kid. Raven did not regret her own mother's death, and yet she still remembered the shock it had been for her then. When Clarke crumbled into her arms, she rubbed her back softly - glaring at Finn over her shoulder. If he was to get close, right now, she would snap. She would punch him. This was not his story. To think he had been there for her then, it disgusted her.
Finally Clarke pulled away, rubbing at her eyes.
"Thank you," she whispered. "I know my mother... I mean, I learned things... about her... My father... But still, she's... She was my mom!"
Raven just nodded. She said softly, "There's still a small chance, they've spared her once, when she saved the Chancellor. But... don't hope too much."
"By the way... If you can contact the Ark... try to get some kind of pardon for Bellamy? Especially if Jaha isn't dead... Tell him Bellamy can say who made him do it if he's assured to be forgiven."
Raven took some more news from the other delinquents to relay to the Ark - the death toll was much lower than what the Ark thought, but she would still have to bear the bad news to too many families. Wells, she noted for the Chancellor, was badly wounded by a kid for some complicated story, but he was alive. Recovering. As was Jasper, and a few others. All in all, the kids had adapted better than anyone had assumed. Raven still couldn't believe what the Ark did.
Finally, she left Clarke's side to follow Anya - but someone grabbed her hand. She turned around to find Finn standing in front of her, and quickly shook him off.
"Eh, Rae," he smiled. "You came all this way and you don't even talk to me?"
"Don't."
"What?" He made the usual puppy eyes he gave her when he did something stupid and wanted her forgiveness. But this was not something she was about to forgive.
"Yeah, I come all this way to find you, to check that you're alive, because I love you! And then I find you holding hands with some chick I know for a fact you've known for like a week? What do you expect, Finn?" She tried to keep her voice low. That was no-one's concern but theirs. "I can't believe you did that!"
"Please, Raven, I didn't... It means nothing, I... I thought I'd never see you again!"
"Oh, please. Don't tell me Clarke didn't tell you the Ark was dying and we'd all have to come to the ground eventually! None of you looked one bit surprised when that came up!"
Finn stared at his feet.
"At least tell me you didn't sleep with her."
Finn looked back at her, then down again, before he seemed to find the words to tell her he didn't, in fact. But He'd always been a terrible liar.
"You could at least be honest with me."
"Oh, come on!" He got angry now, and Raven had had enough of this. She didn't even want to listen to his excuse, but she did anyway, and what he said next made her go pale: "come on, Rae, I saved your ass up there, you can't be mad at me for this! It was nothing! I went to prison for you, and now you're angry at me for... for a little tryst?"
"Don't," she repeated, harsher this time. "You saved me and I'm grateful, but that never gave you the right to treat me like that. I considered you family! And you act like I don't exist because there's a couple thousand miles between us? Meanwhile I was also risking my life to come to you." She looked at Clarke who was standing there, a few feet away, trying to piece together what was happening. Raven raised her voice. "I hope she sees you for what you are."
And on that, she turned her back to him, and walked straight to Anya, determined not to turn around. She did, though, when she saw Anya look behind her with a smile. All she caught was Clarke glaring at him and moving away from him.
"So that's why you came to the ground, uh?" Anya raised an eyebrow at her as they walked back towards the village.
"Shut up."