Made of Earth and Sky

Her heart stopped the moment the tent zipped up behind her.

It jumped into her dry mouth the moment the horns sounded.

And it most certainly fell out into the dirt when the sound of pounding hooves faded away into nothing except the eerie silence of battle.

Well, as close to silence as you could get with Raven Reyes next to you exaggerating Ark gossip and munching on the noisiest wheat snack possible. Clarke had given up drawing an hour ago, finding the whole activity a pointless method to distract herself; still, she sat looking blankly at the few lines sketched across the parchment. Lexa had won the short-lived discussion of Clarke’s position during the conflict after arguing the point that as long as Clarke and the baby were on the field then she would be distracted, and a distracted Lexa would be a dead Lexa.

What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.

Deciding that she has waited long enough to make sure she wasn’t overheard, she interrupts Raven's idle chit-chat with what she really brought the brunette here for.

“Did you get what I wanted?”

“Yeah, it’s in my bag” she nods slowly over to the leather pouch on the table, watching Clarke with careful eyes “did you need me to give it one of the men and show them how to set it up?”

“No” Clarke breathes, shaking her head. Raven tilts her head and sends her a confused look.

“No?”

“No” she confirms standing up from her seat on the bed and stalks towards the bag. She could hear the gears in Ravens head turning every time she took a step.

“What’s going on Clarke?”

Raven follows her best friend until she’s a few steps behind her. Her voice tells the blonde that she already knows the answer. That she’s just waiting for confirmation. Clarke just shakes her head, refusing to answer, focusing on the task at hand. She carefully reaches into the bag and places each item on the table in front of her. Mentally counting each one and ticking off the list in her head, she slowly places them back in.

“Rae, where’s the - ”

Before she can finish the question her best friend is stood next to her, remote in her outstretched hand. “I know I won’t be able to change your mind” she explains with a shrug, “Just… just be careful and don’t die okay?”

Clarke slowly nods, letting the words sink in before pulling the girl into a hug. She slings her swords over her back and slides her daggers into their various hiding places. Pulling the bag over her shoulder, she goes to leave when Raven’s calls for her, Clarke turns around to see the mechanic with a wide grin, “Make them go boom”

She manages a weak smile before leaving the threshold into the howling wind; Ilo stands to attention when he notices her with a smile on his face. God, she feels guilty, Lexa is going to have his head when she finds out what she’s done. No, she isn’t going to find out, she will be back before Lexa and successful, or dead on the battlefield… Nope, she shakes her head free from the thought and the guilt in her chest before turning to Ilo face stoic.

“Shil Raven Kom Skaikru op kom sonraun op” He shakes his head.

“Ai na shil yu op, Heda’s hedon”

“And I’m overturning that order with an order of my own,” she says, her voice commanding, face hard.

“But- Heda’s orders…”

Her face softens, seeing the struggle on the man’s face, she feels sorry for him, being ordered left right and centre. “Listen, I’ll be back before you know it, before Lexa knows it. Just make sure no harm comes to Raven”

With a solemn nod, she sets off towards the make-do stables, picking up her armour on the cart she had placed it on the day before. The camp is set up on a hill overlooking the enemy lines, a vantage point chosen but Lexa and the scouts. It’s a miracle really that they secured it before Shadow valley, considering the rate in which they were advancing. Clarke buckles the custom-made breastplate over her chest and stomach as she enters the stable. Her chestnut horse, Astrid, nickers in greeting once she sees Clarke, she strokes her mane twice and gives the horse a kiss on the head before untying her and jumping (well, more like unceremoniously pulling herself) onto her back. She barely sees Raven stood outside her tent before she heads onto the blazing battlefield, not looking back.

--

The sun barely provides enough light to see by, its rays lazily rolling across the battlefield. All the watching, waiting, and planning on their part proved to come in useful, it’s obvious that the Shadow Valley gona had become complacent in their advance. Fooled into the security of more time. Because of that, the smell of death rises with the sun, a reminder of Heda’s power. Clarke rides Astrid away from the camp and the battlefield, from the screaming. The bag is sat between her thighs, her breath catches every time it moves. She just needs to get into the line of trees to the left of the battlefield, send Astrid back to camp for Raven should things go very very wrong, and then run across the battlefield to enemy lines and boom! Simple. God, she must have a death wish. She shakes her head and moves faster.

The forest is dark despite the rising sun peeking its way through the trees. The sounds of the trees swaying in the breeze do little to drown out the massacre only a few miles away. Clarke stops a just close enough to the treeline to see the fighting without being seen herself. She slides off of Astrid, planting both feet on the floor albeit awkwardly, her eyes scan the area before sending the horse back to the camp with a put to its side. Clarke pulls her trusted dagger from the holder on her thigh, the gold accents glinting in the light. She takes a deep breath before sliding the blade across her hand, she dips her fingers in the blood bubbling up from the cut and swipes it across her face. Clarke, Hainofi of the coalition rode into the forest and Wanheda, Commander Of Death stepped out the other side.

Even though she had seen battles before, probably a few more than she would have liked, the sight of dead bodies and the ground more blood than mud makes her gag. She tries to keep her stoic express in place as something, no, on second glance - a dead gona’s lifeless hand, crunches and squelches beneath her foot. She’s got to end this. Clarke slides the straps of her bag over her arms, the bag resting against her bump. She needed to move quickly and drawing little attention. She slides her sword from the scabbard on strapped across her back, she swings it a couple times to adjust her grip properly. When her sword feels right she jogs deeper into the battle.

Clarke hears the slash of the sword through the air before she sees it, she turns quickly, lifting her sword to meet her attackers. If she had been just a second slower, her arm would be lying in the mud next to her feet. Although her attacker is larger and stronger, his bulky frame holds himself like a goufa with a stick, it is obvious to Clarke that before setting foot on this battlefield he had very minimal training, perhaps he was a builder in his village. She shifts her weight and pushes her sword upwards, but the man is stronger when he pushes down. Clarke grabs the blade of her sword just like Lexa taught her and as she sharply lifts it upwards, her foot connects with the man's crotch. He instantly drops his sword to drop to the floor, covering his crown jewels as he falls. Clarke doesn’t think twice before swinging her sword down onto his neck, the sound of the sickening squelch is lost to the clash of metal around her.
She turns away from his still bleeding body, she can see the light from the fires at the Shadow Valley camps. A scream sounded from her left, she turned to see a Rock Line gona pull a sword from the stomach of an Azgeda warrior. The woman falls to the ground, Clarke hesitates, looking between the woman and the enemy camp. She lifts her sword above her head, letting out a piercing war cry. She runs as fast as her pregnant body will carry her and brings the sword down on the gona from behind. He drops dead almost instantly. Clarke drops to the side of the woman. She blinks in surprise, Echo lay there illuminated by the morning sun clutching at her bleeding stomach. The woman is pale.

“Ste yuj, Echo. You hear me? You stay awake” Clarke yells, fumbling through her bag, careful to not to jolt the bombs too much. She grabs the bandages from the bottom of her bag and hastily pushes them into the wound.

“Clarke?” Echo croaks, her eyes are fluttering open. “What are yo-? Why aren’t you…” she chokes a breath “You need to leave” her eyes close from the pain. “Rock Line are turning on us”

Clarke's hands are covered in blood, she pushes harder on the rag. “I know but Echo right now I need to you focus on staying awake okay?” They need to move quickly if they want to live, being in the open like this. Clarke searches her surroundings, there is no cover near that she can get Echo to by herself. Her hands fumble for the radio attached her side. She releases it and lifts it to her mouth, pushing the button.

“Does anyone have eyes on me?” her voice is hard even though she has to blink through the blurriness in her eyes. The radio is silent. “Does anyone have eyes on me?” she repeats. She’s just met with static, Echo’s breathing has become hollow, the bleeding is slowing. She needs to stay awake, Clarke can’t let her die, she slaps Echo in the face. Hard. The woman’s eyes open. “Now is not the time to have a nap”. She attempts to smile through the pain but it just ends up looking like a grimace.

Clarke hooks her arms under Echo’s legs and under her back. She takes a deep breath before lifting Echo into the arms. The woman pushes uncomfortably into her stomach as she shifts her over her shoulder. Echo groans and chokes on the pain. Clarke doesn’t get very far towards the rocks before her legs give out and they both tumble to the ground. She lets out a cry of frustration. Clarke holds the radio in her blood slick hand. “If one of you don’t get your ass over here, then I swear I will float you all” Her voice cracks when she looks at Echo’s grey sweat coated skin. The radio clicks to life.

“I have eyes, I’m coming” Its Lincoln. Good, he won’t ask questions and he’ll know how to save Echo.

“Hang in there lukot, we’ll get you patched up soon” Echo doesn’t reply.

When Clarke lifts her head she can see Lincoln running across the battlefield, chopping down warriors as he goes. He slows when he sees Echo laying with her head in Clarke's lap, eyes closed and deathly pale. “Get her back to camp now” She orders, helping to lift Echo over his shoulder, her mother should have arrived by now. The woman grunts in pain, at least she’s still alive.

Clarke re-adjusts her bag onto her front and stands before giving Lincoln her final order “Go”. She doesn’t look back as she runs across the battlefield to the flickering fires. She doesn’t see any more of her friends, her people in the thick of the battle. A cramp in her lower stomach causes her to slow, she doesn’t stop though, not when she’s only meters from where she needs to be.

----
Clarke drops to her knees behind what the scouts told her was the Shadow Valley medical tent. She quickly removes Raven’s bomb from her bag and places it by the wooden pole holding the structure up. She wipes Echos blood from her hands and connects the two wires just like when Raven showed her in her workshop months ago. There. As soon as she hits the trigger, it will blow higher than the bonfires at Winter Solstice. One down, four to go.

With the bag securely over her shoulder, she takes off to the other side of the camp where the boxes of gunpowder sat. Scouts had told Clarke and Lexa of the weapons Shadow Valley had developed before they left Polis. Grenades, clouds of fire, and some sort of crossbow that shoots biological viruses onto the victim. There wasn’t much more detail that the scout could give them regarding the last one. Either way, they plan to set them loose on the Coalition's gonakru and camp. The boxes are kept in a small storage tent, similar to where food is kept.

The camp is very nearly empty, with most of its inhabitants fighting or dead on the battlefield. Clarke watches carefully from behind a tree just behind her target, she needs to place the bomb in the middle of the boxes to get ‘the largest boom’ as Raven put it. The trouble is she knows that it is extremely probable there is a guard waiting just outside, and she would rather do this without too much attention. Clarke walks slowly, with her back flat against the material of the tent. There's a gap where the fabric meets the pole, she has to squint to see through it. With the boxes being so flammable, there are no touches to light the tent up. Instead, she has to watch the guard using the light from outside, there only seems to be one stationed outside the tent. Clarke continues to sneak around the tent, her eyes watching the guard’s back, she slowly pulls the dagger from her thigh as she gets closer. In one quick movement, she places one hand over the guard's mouth as the other slices the woman’s throat.

Clarke pulls her hood up over her hair and slips into the tent without a sound. The lessons Lexa and Anya gave her when she first moved to Polis proving beneficial. All she now had to do was set the bomb carefully in the pile of gunpowder, and then leave the tent and the camp without going up like a human candle.

That’s easier said than done when you have a blade to the back of your neck.
She raises her hands and slowly turns to face her assailant, it’s light enough now to see who holds the blade. Eriko. The Rock Line general has blood and muck layered on his skin, his tattoos barely visible.

“Finally decided to show your face then general” she spits his rank like it’s acid on her tongue.

“Wanheda” his predators' grin meets his eyes and makes her stomach roll. “From how easy it was to find you, I’d say I made the correct choice in following Shadow Valley.” Clarke’s eyes scan the area, trying to find an advantage. The needle-like blade she has stashed in her sleeve nips at her skin as if begging her to drive it into his throat. Not yet, she tells herself.

“You know, I never believed your powers. And now, seeing you in this state” his eyes flicker over her in disgust “I knew I was right. You’re nothing but Heda’s whore.”

He thinks he’s won, he slides his knife from her stomach to her neck, ghosting over the skin. “I may be the commander’s whore, but she taught me something that you might what to learn from” Clarke keeps her face neutral, stepping closer to Eriko. The blade pushing into her skin hard enough to draw blood.

“And what’s that?”

She smiles, a serpent's smile, the metal box in her hand getting heavier by the second. “Don’t take the victory before you’ve made the kill”

An ear-shattering bang makes him turn, Clarke quickly disarms him before spinning him around and kicking him into the boxes of gunpowder. He stumbles, realising his mistake, and falls, crushing the boxes as he lands. And then, she runs.

She meant to lead him there, and he knows it.

She only gets halfway through the camp before she’s thrown to the ground and a wave of heat washes over her. Her ears ring, they’re bleeding. She needs to move before the enemy realise what she’s done and find her. But she can’t stand, her legs are dead and she has a shooting pain across her abdomen.

This wasn’t the plan, the three unused bombs in her bag feel heavier than before. But that might just be the heaviness of her head, why is it so hard hold up? And where is that pain coming from?

She lifts her hand to her scalp, wincing at the soreness of the action. Her hand is wet and she knows it's covered in blood. She has to get out of here and hope that two bombs were enough. Somehow she manages to pull herself up and start walking to the battlefield. Some of the Shadow Valley and Rock Line gonas have deviated from the fight to investigate the explosions and no doubt, look for survivors. She doubts there are many.

With her hood over her head she dodges the oncoming gona as best she can. But none share more than a passing glance at her, too focused on the fire eating their camp and their people.

---

Clarke’s head is fuzzy. She doesn’t remember how she got here, everything is a blur. She briefly remembers passing through the ongoing battle, dodging blades in a clumsy dance. And now, she’s stood behind the same rocks she dragged Echo behind just hours before. Was it an hour? Or was it more? Either way, the sun is resting comfortably above the trees now.

Another pain in her abdomen has Clarke taking a deep breath. She needs to get back to the camp, back to her mother. She’s done what she’s set out to do, sort of. And she knows that she’s playing with time now, her contractions will soon be coming faster and for longer. She peaks her head out from behind the rocks, the gona from earlier are now all back and fighting with a vengeance, their numbers have noticeably deceased but they are still a strong force. There’s no way she’ll get out of here without a fight, and in her condition, she can barely hold her head up for more than a few painful minutes. She slides down the rocks, her knees pulled into her chest, the throbbing in her head is getting louder. The beat reminds her of a song from the old world that Raven had made her listen to last time she visited Arcadia.

Wait…

That is the song.
Clarke lifts her head just in time to see the buggy, which Raven had affectionately dubbed ‘The Mars Rover on Steroids’, speed down the centre of the warriors, mowing down anyone not quick enough to move out of the way. She lets out a laugh, only Raven would turn up to a battle playing the ‘Black Eyed Peas’ at full volume. The music quickly catches the attention of the warriors, some of them even stop to stare curiously at the strange vehicle and even stranger music. The beat easily drowns out the sound of the ongoing fight. She draws her eyes away from the amusing scene before her as Raven speeds past, Clarke’s eyes catch a familiar black coat swaying on top of the Rover. What is she doing? She’s going to get himself killed.
Lexa’s eyes meet Clarke’s before turning back towards the mass of warriors now following the Rover. All recovered from the strange site and are now drugged on the thought of being the one to kill the commander, and the glory that would come with it. Clarke watches as Lexa and Raven disappear into the distance, smile falling from her face. She watches in horror as a series of explosions take place seconds later. Clarke stands frozen, her eyes desperately searching the flames for any signs of her best friend and wife. A single tear slides down her cheek.

Someone grabs her shoulder, her hand flies to the blade on her thigh. Lexa’s blade.
“Clarke, we’ve gotta’ go”

She’s spun around. Octavia’s face is calm. Did she not see what just happened?

“Come on. We’ve held them off for now” Octavia tugs on her hand. Clarke is still frozen to the spot, her mouth opening and closing like a gasping fish. “Raven and Lexa are waiting for us, we need to go now.”

“Lexa?”

“Yes”

Lexa’s alive, Lexa is with Raven and is waiting for her. But Lexa went through an explosion with a hundred armed gonas after her. Lexa is -

Lexa is a genius.

Octavia pulls Clarke into moving. Octavia is in front, leading them between rocks so they are hidden by the shadows. Clarkes slows, groaning as another pain ripples through her body, this one worse than the last. Octavia turns back, her eyes concerned.

“I’m fine. Keep moving” Clarke orders.

It’s not long before they see the Rover parked behind some trees, intact and unscathed over than a dent in the front.

“Rae! Mrs G told you not to damage the jeep” Octavia exclaims, inspecting the front of the jeep. Raven’s head pops out from the driver's seat.

“In my defence, the tree wasn’t there when I first looked”
“It didn’t appear out of nowhere Rae”

“I hate to interrupt your argument, but we have to get back to the camp,” Lexa says, swinging her legs out from the inside of the Rover. It makes for an amusing picture, Lexa covered in blood in her commander clothes, half sitting in a metal machine with her legs resting outside of it.

“Yes, of course”

Raven and Octavia jump into the front, while Lexa jumps out of the back. Lexa’s hands find Clarke’s face and her lips find her forehead. They briefly check each other over for injuries. Lexa has a few cuts and bruises but nothing to be overly concerned with. Clarke knows she’s in a much worse state. Lexa doesn’t say anything as they separate, and then, she silently helps Clarke into the Rover.

They take a route through the forest to get back to camp. It’s silent, all of them too tired and tense to speak. Clarke watches Lexa, her jaw is clenched but her eyes are full of concern, and… pride? When they meet her own.

--

Clarke is relieved when she sees the familiar tents, the journey was silent and extremely uncomfortable. She could practically feel the unsaid words between her and Lexa. It was suffocating. Raven pulls the jeep to a sudden stop, sending them all forwards. Lexa’s arm shoots out to stop Clarke from flying forward. Raven mutters out a small ‘sorry’.

Clarke’s relief is short-lived when she sees her mother stood in front of the jeep, arms crossed and very, very angry. Both Raven and Octavia turn white, letting out ‘uh oh’s’. Clarke just gulps and looks to Lexa, who takes a deep breath. She won’t admit it, but behind the commander mask, she’s just as scared of Abigail Griffin as the rest of them.

“Clarke Abigail Griffin!”

“Good luck Griff” Raven calls as she jumps from the jeep.

“We’ll talk about this once you’ve spoken to your mother” Lexa gives her a look as to say, ‘you’ve got this, I’m not angry’, and that's all she needs before getting out herself.

“Don’t even think about wondering off Reyes.” her mother calls, after a trying-to-be-but-completely-failing to be inconspicuous Raven. A small ‘shit’ escapes her lips.

Plucking up the courage she had just an hour before she strolls casually past her mother “Hi mom, hope you had a nice journey”

“Yes darling, it was lovely. Especially when I turn up here to find out my daughter has casually strolled into battle with five homemade bombs strapped to her back under the orders to the exact opposite”

Lexa has used to watch the mother and daughter duo argue with interest. They never start by shouting. It always starts with sarcasm and dancing around the subject before one wrong word is said, and the two explode. She stills finds it odd even now. Lexa misses Clarke’s reply.

“You’re eight and a half months pregnant Clarke! How selfish can you be?”

Boom.

Clarke stops in her tracks, her mother stopping short across from her. “Don’t speak to me like that” her voice is calm and collected, but underneath, rage shimmers.

“Why not? You are selfish. You didn’t think once about that baby, or about Lexa!” Abby’s hands are shaking with closed fists as she yells. The guards outside Clarke and Lexa’s closed tent watch on from their positions, hands carefully clasped around the pummels of their swords in case Abby becomes a threat. Ilo looks on concerned for his charge.

“Do not speak for me Mrs Griffin” Lexa’s voice is steady but seeping with authority.

“You know what mom, maybe I was being selfish to my family. But do you know who I wasn’t being selfish to? All those people you walked past and rode with to get here, and their families. I wasn’t thinking of myself when I did what I did because if I hadn’t who knows who would have died? Yes, I can be selfish. But I am not selfish when it comes to the peace we have fought so hard to give our child in the first place mom.”

Clarke’s breath is laboured and she’s panting, a few tears have escaped her eyes and are now rolling down her face. She’s so tired. Her mother stares at her for a moment, blinks, and then turn towards Lexa.

“You told me she would be staying in the camp”

Clarke lets out a bitter laugh. She always does this, whenever her mother feels like she’s losing she will change the subject, or in this case, turn on someone else. Luckily, Lexa knows how to handle her mother, whether its political experience or just a talent, she doesn’t know.

“And she was meant to. She’s your daughter, you know as well as I do she does not take kindly to orders”

“Hold on, why are we so focused on where I was? What were you doing there?” Clarke asks with general curiosity. Lexa was meant to be in the thick of the battle, not riding around on the top of the buggy like a daredevil surfer. Both women turn to her.

“I heard your call on the radio, so I went back to camp. When I got there, you were nowhere to be seen. But Raven was, she told me of your death wish” Lexa explains. Raven smiles sheepishly from her side. Clarke had honestly forgotten that she and Octavia where there. “So I made a plan of my own”

“And the Rover was part of that?”

“No, it was just a coincidence that your mother turned up with it when she did” Abby looks unimpressed.

“That’s all very well, but I placed my daughter's health in your care and you let her act like an idiot” she scolds, her finger pointing at Lexa.

“I agree Abby, that Clarke behaved idiotically but -”

A hot pain shoots across Clarke’s lower stomach and she falls into Raven’s arms. She takes a deep breath but it doesn’t control the pain. This is worse than before, much much worse. Raven’s arms tighten around her as her legs get weaker.

“Hey guys, I don’t think now is the time to argue about how much of an idiot Clarke is”

“Why not Raven? They both seem to be making very valid poi-” Octavia turns to face Raven. Lexa and Abby both still arguing amongst themselves. “Shit”
Clarke is very aware of the facts her waters have broken and she’s now stood in wet trousers. She groans through another pain. Octavia and Raven share a look.
“Mrs G, we need some help” Raven yell at the same time Octavia says “Lexa, she’s bleeding.”
There is a moment before the two arguing women seem to grasp what is happening. And as if some magic switch flipped, both women are by her side. Lexa gently takes Clarke from Raven’s arms and rests her on her own. She places a kiss on Clarke’s burning forehead and then murmurs “Where are you hurt?”.
Clarke groans in response, beads of sweat collecting on her hairline. She knows something is wrong and she’s trying her hardest to stay calm. Clarke moves her hands so that they are resting on her wife's shoulders, and pulls herself up straight so she can look at her mother. Abby’s hands are pressing gently just under her bump. Her face has lost all traces of anger and now is set in a professional calm, the only way Clarke can tell what she’s thinking is the slight furrow of her eyebrows and her tight smiles.

“Clarke, how long have you been in labour for?”

Her mother’s words cause realisation to dawn on her wife’s face.

“An hour, maybe two. I don't know” she replies, “I need to sit down”. Octavia and Lexa take her by the arms and lead her into the tent. Abby quickly sends off Raven with the orders of finding a grounder healer or midwife, Jackson, and grabbing her emergency medical bag. They had discussed in the first few months of the pregnancy the birth that both Clarke and Lexa wanted. Clarke had made it clear that she wanted an all natural birth with no pain relief and as little medical intervention as possible. Even though Abby had not particularly agreed, she knew it was best not to stress Clarke out more than necessary. Raven leaves with a worried expression.
“Right.” Abby nods to herself as if setting her thoughts straight. “Clarke you know the drill, I’m going to need you to lie down. And when the contractions hit, I need you to breathe through them, don’t push just yet. Got it?”

Both Clarke and Lexa nod. Lexa quickly sits on the bed, legs open with her back against the headboard. Clarke sits with her back against Lexa’s chest. When the next contraction hits, she grabs Lexa’s hand so hard she thinks she’s going to break it, but Lexa says nothing and squeezes back. Raven, Jackson and Adela, the grounder midwife she had met briefly a few years before, pile in at some point during the contraction. Her mother quickly and quietly updates the newcomers.

“Mom, what’s happening?” she asks with steely determination. Her mother speaks reassuringly, continuing her exam.

“Nothing, that we can’t fix darling.”

That is not what Clarke wants to hear. “Don’t bullshit me now, mom. I’ve assisted you in enough births to know when something is wrong”

Her mother meets her eye. “Okay. It looks like you have a small intrapartum haemorrhage.”
“What does that mean?” Lexa asks, her voice wavers and Clarke can tell she’s concerned, not understanding the terminology being used. But before Clarke can answer Raven, now sat in a seat near the wall of the tent says,

“An intrapartum haemorrhage is a bleed in the early stages of labour, it can be caused by the premature separation of the placenta from the uterine wall. But usually, the cause is unknown” She looks proud of herself.

Everyone blinks at her, mouths slightly agape. Raven frowns slightly. “What? I’ve been doing my research”

Another contraction disrupts their confusion.
“How bad is it?” Clarke asks through gritted teeth.

“Right now I’m not too worried, it’s a small bleed. Most of the blood looks old, typically we’d usually do a caesarian just to be safe but we don’t have that option here.”

Clarke nods mutely. Lexa thinks back to the information Abby gave her regarding her job as a birthing partner. She grabs the cup of water Octavia had placed on the trunks next to the bed earlier and brings it to Clarke's lips. She needs to stay calm and hydrated. Clarke takes a few sips before pushing the drink away and squeezing Lexa’s free hand.

“Okay sweetie, they’re going to start coming thick and fast now, but you’re going to have to breathe through them like you’ve been doing. You’re not fully dilated yet.”

With Clarke examined and determined that she, or the baby, are not in immediate danger, Abby leaves the tent in order to find food and things for the baby once it arrives. Jackson busies himself with setting out medical equipment, laying down clean blankets and making the tent as sterile as possible. The healer is stood in the corner talking to Octavia and Raven in Trig.
While everyone else was busy and distracted, Lexa leans forward to talk to Clarke. “This is the blessing from the Spirit.”

Clarke turns her head to look at her and lowers her voice, “I thought you weren’t sure if the Spirit existed?”

Lexa smiles and wraps her arms around Clarke's middle and rests her head on her shoulder. “I’ve had my doubts” she confirms, breath tickling Clarke’s ear, “but this baby, it shouldn’t have been possible, we shouldn’t have been possible. But here we are, against all the odds and we’re about to be parents, Clarke. If this isn’t the Spirits work, I don’t know what is”
Clarke smiles, her heart warm from Lexa’s words, and places a kiss on her wife’s cheek. While she admits this isn’t where she thought she would be when she used to think of her future, she knows deep in her heart, that this is where she was always meant to be.

“You stink” Clarke groans, another contraction building.

“You don’t smell so great yourself, Niron” Lexa chuckles, “Now, how long until the yongon is here? I want to meet them before the battle is over”

“Hopefully not long now, Lexa” Abby replies walking, back into the tent, bag slung over her shoulder. “We’ve missed the longest part” she throws a pointed look to Clarke.

Even though the atmosphere in the tent is calm for the moment, there's a contestant reminder of the looming danger this birth could bring, the unspoken agreement of why so many of them are sat in on such an intimate moment.

----

It is when Clarke starts to push that the atmosphere takes a 180 and starts to resemble that of the battle they had been in just a few hours before.

“You have no idea how much I want to headbutt you right now” Clarke growls in a low groan, this particular threat was aimed at both Raven and Lexa, who were coaching her on her breathing technique.

Lincoln had left about half an hour earlier to assist with some of the minor casualties that the healers were simply too busy to deal with. Octavia wishes she had been that lucky.

Octavia doesn’t know what’s more disturbing, the ongoing battle just a few hundred meters away, or the fact a person is currently coming out of her friend. When Clarke lets out a small scream and Abby tells her that the head’s out, she decides that it is definitely the latter and that she is definitely going to adopt. And judging by Raven’s pale face, she knows she’s thinking the same thing.
--- It’s not long after that Baby Griffin kom Trikru en Skaikru is in Lexa’s arms having a tour of the tent. The smile on Lexa’s face grows every time her daughter moves or makes the slightest noise. Clarke watches the two of them from her spot on the bed, much too sore to be moving around with them, with a smile on her face, listening to the rapid Trigedasleng falling from her wife’s lips. It was quiet now, with only the three of them and Abby left in the tent. Lincoln hadn’t come back after leaving and Octavia joined the guards outside the tent. Raven had disappeared to God knows where to get a ‘present’ for the baby. Clarke is dreading what this present could be. Clarke continues watching her wife and their baby as she blinks sleep away.

“You decided not to tell her then” Her mom whispers, sitting on the bed next to her. She looks tired, but her eyes sparkle, the way they always do when she brings a baby into the world. With the amount of death that's surrounded them for the past few years, she knows that this is a welcome change in pattern.

“No, I couldn’t. You should have seen her face when she was trying to guess.” She smiles, remembering all the ways Lexa tried to guess; stones on string swaying one way or another, seeing if she carried more to the front or the sides. “She wouldn’t have cared if she knew we could only have girls. But what with the treatment, I wanted there to be some sort of surprise in the end”

“I understand. She’s great with her, by the way,” Her mom glances to Lexa, who’s blowing raspberries on their daughter’s stomach. “Are you ever going to tell her?”

“Maybe next time”