The Ground
The first time Leksa kom Trikru had seen dust was when the warriors came home from the blockade to the north. She was five summers and had been all bony knees and too long limbs with her tiny little keryon sniffing the air as a pakstoka pup. They spot it falling off the warrior's keryon, clinging to matted fur and scales coated in it. Feathers fluttering dust to the air with every chirp. Teeth were red with blood and warriors were pale with it's loss. Her nontu had jerked her back by her arm, out of the way of the horses hooves. His marten scrambling down his arm and jumping over Leksa scrawny shoulders to land on her pakstoka pup's back, grumbling into ears perked at the sounds of warriors coming home. "Leksa, gon houm." Her father is tall, towering over her and his eyes are stern and worried.
Her chin jerks up and she squares her shoulders. "I ge fisa nontu."
His face twists and he scowls at her before giving a sharp nod. "Sha." So with her nontu's permission she runs to the healer tent, grabbing the supplies she can and kicking at Nyko, the fourteen summers old fisa sekon. He jolts awake, blue spiral on in eye twitching before he is shoving another bag in her arms and his grosbeak fluttering above his head before it take off out the open entrance, Nyko on her tail feathers.
Lexa scrambles after him, tripping over her to long limb at the age of five. Her face is speckled with dirt and her nose peeling from a sunburn but her eyes are bright as she stumbles to a stop beside the warriors. There are shouts and grunts as they get warriors off horses and stabilize them on the ground. Lexa scrambles up the horse's side, sitting atop its shoulder easily so she can unknot the rope keeping the blood cover and dusting speckled male on his horse. She can spot her nontu's dark mane of braids looking for his houmon, her nomon. The warrior in front of her grunts as the rope is released and he slumps to the side, Lexa's tiny hand tangled in his shirt as she keep him upright.
"Daun!" Her command is sharp and the horse below her trembles as it kneels down in the mud. Lexa struggles before the warrior slump to the side, falling the small distance to the ground. She scrambles over him, his keryon is tucked into the saddle bag. She unhooks it easily, careful not to touch the fur matted with blood and dust. She taps the horse's rump twice and it stands easily, another child ducking under the reins to pull the horse to the stables. Lexa takes in his wound, Valerian by her side, amber eyes curious. "Ge fisa Val." The wolf pup scramble through the crowd easily when most would curl in pain at the distance, tripping over her feet only a few times as Lexa rips open the man's shirt and takes in the wound to his side, it is burned. A quick fix in the middle of battle and she take in his pale face and shuddering chest.
His fingers reach for something and Lexa pulls the man with all her might until his finger brushes dust matted fur. His chest shudders in relief before his almost familiar green eyes meet hers. "Leksa."
The small child stare at the man, searching a blood ridden face until she find familiar features beneath the blood. Green eyes as sharp as her own and a scar at his left ear. Her nomon's bro. "Sha?"
His lips tremble and there are tears in his eyes as his finger trails down her cheek, leaving a streak of blood and dust. "Yu nomon gonplei ste odon."
Leksa shakes her head vehemently. "Nou." Her nomon bro reaches into his shirt side and pulls out a bundle of dust.
"Adrostous." He presses the bundle into her hands as he say the name of her nomon's keryon and she opens it. Her nomon's small red braid is in there, covered in dust from Adrastos. "Em gonplei yuj." His large hand cradles hers and she feels tears drip down her face, her lips tremble and Valerian come running back with sounds of concern and greif before she digs her paws into Lexa's thighs. "Ste yuj Leksa." Her nomon bro slumps to the ground, breathing too sharp.
"NONTU!" Lexa screeches and she can hear her nontu's worried shout before he scramble his way through the crowd, he checks over her nomon bro before searching Lexa's face.
His dark eyes are worried and he reaches for her bloodied cheek. "Leksa?"
"Nomon gonplei ste odon nontu." She sniffs as she hands the bundle to him, tears cutting clear tracks through blood and dust.
He shakes his head, swallowing thickly but pressing the bundle back into her hand and bending down to pick his houmon's bro up and carry him to the healer hut, already full of too many warriors injured. Later he will search for his houmon's body on the cart of the dead, he will find her bright red hair and he will scream. For now he will help the injured and watch Lexa. Will watch as her keryon flits from Lexa to the healers tent, the distance greater than any he had seen, his stomach twists and his shoulders grow heavy, eyes crinkled.
After that Lexa sees dust so much it stop affecting her. She watches it fall from the injured's keryon when they are shuffled to the healer tent. She watches it when the warriors practice and land harsh blows that make their knee tremble and their keryons growl and hiss in pain. She sees it falls from the skies when the wall of fog attacks travelers. It coats the ground as they march to war. Lexa watching them leave with a clenched fist and blazing green eyes.
When her nomon bro comes back from the battle with the River Clan he has a grim set to his lips but gentle eyes as he sets a girl down on the ground. She has skin as dark as the trees around Lexa and eyes as grey as the storm cloud coiling across the skies. Her keryon is a smallish thing, big eyed and bucked teeth with dark fur. It is tucked into her shoulder with dust coating its face and clicking its too big teeth at Lexa and the wolf pup at her side, Valerian's big ears and amber eyes so like her nomon and her nomon bro's keryons.
Lexa squares her shoulder, scowling in distrust and confusion at the girl clearly from the river. Her hair is cut close to her head and there are shells tangled in a necklace across her chest, bruises cover her thin arms and a cut to her chin is coated in dry blood. "Leksa, disha ste Kostia." Her nomon bro's voice is deep and gentle, his keryon resting at his feet with sad eyes.
Lexa bows her head, polite like her nontu taught her, Valerian creeping beside Lexa to stare at them. "Heya Kostia, ai wisa yu don houm hir."
The girl scowls at Lexa's greeting, speaking with a low barely controlled rage with a thick river accent. "Disha nou ai houm."
Seven year old Lexa scowls at this girl brought back from war, she turns to help sharpen the weapons and gather supplies for Nyko, who will be taking over for his first soon. Valerian stares at the river girl, sniffing the air before Lexa's nomon bro eyes Valerian curiously the farther Lexa gets. Valerian huffs, snuffing at the two before barreling after Lexa, gait slightly more graceful than years before. She is still a pakstoka, much like Lexa's nomon, still switching when the emotions get to much. A lion for her rage and protective instinct, a small rabbit when her compassion is too strong. A hedgehog to go with the stubborn set to her jaw. A hummingbird when the festivals come near and her excitement climbs. Lexa fights the emotions and Valerian simply waits for the end, content to shift away from a pakstoka from time to time but tongue lolling out as she watches her train with a sword. Her nomon bro's eyes on them, curious and calculating before Lexa's nontu shouts for Lexa, jaw tight as he shoves her to the healers tent, scowling at his houmon's bro who stares at him with familiar green eyes.
Lexa is ten when she meets Anya, brown eyes are shadowed by soot and the girl is rail thin despite being fifteen summers and has fresh burns climbing up her left arm. A village attacked by the Plains Clan, the only survivor of the raging fires. Her pakstoka has patchy fur coated in dust and he snarls anytime someone gets near them. Valerian twitches her ears and huffs indignantly at the two before creeping closer, sniffing curiously. The black furred pakstoka, larger than Valerian but smaller than the older warrior's snarls at the grey and brown pup. Valerian continues to creep closer and her nomon bro's pakstoka huffs, growling softly as his warrior half leads the soot ridden girl to the healers tent where Nyko, now almost twenty summers sit.
Valerian follows after them, showing her curiosity when Lexa is all stiff shoulders and bright green eyes. Lexa stays by the gate, holding a too long sword in her hands. Her nontu comes forward. "Wheron ste Valaryan?"
"Kom nomon bro."
"Leksa, em ste foto." He cradles her thin bony shoulder in his too large hand. She stiffens at the words, the worried tone in them and the hitch of fear and anger. "Ge Valaryan nau."
She ducks her chin to her chest. "Sha nontu." He squeezes her shoulder one more time before watching her run after Valerian, she jerks at the pakstoka pup's fur and they go running to the forest, Valerian shifting from wolf to small lion cub as they hit the forests edge. Costia and her small keryon watch from the shadows of the meat hut.
She climbs the trees like her father had taught her, finding small knobs and knots with her tiny sure hands and feet. Valerian pacing below her before she throws herself at the tree and uses thick claws hidden under golden fur to scramble up after Lexa. They sit on a thick large branch, the small girl's back pressed into the tree. Her keryon on her lap, golden head resting on her paws at the human lets angry tears fall down her face. "Osir laik nou foto." With Valerian's soft words Lexa's fingers tighten in golden fur.
A few weeks pass and Valerian stays by her side, never leaving even as her nomon bro eyes her in confusion. Lexa slams the sword into the post over and over again and again, working on her swing and power. Valerian watches, head on grey paws and amber eyes sad. She roll on her side, huffing and bored with this already, longing to run around the village, find new things.
"Yu gonplei foto." Lexa bares her teeth at Costia's words and slams the sword into the post again, too much energy built up. Costia watches her with sad understanding eyes. "Teik osir gau."
"No." The thing girl's voice is too sharp but Valerian perks up, walking up to Costia, tail twitching eagerly. "Valaryan." Her order is sharp and her keryon shoots her a scornful look jerking a grey chin at the river girl. Costia smiles and turns away, walking to the gates, Valerian on her heels. Lexa grits her teeth, fists clenched and she catches her nomon bro's eyes before she chases after Valerian and Costia, her notnu's words echoing in her head at the distance Lexa and Valerian could keep. At the reprimanding tone and the fear in his eyes.
Lexa follows after them with a scowl, nose peeling and shoulders red from the sun and Costia speaks without looking at Lexa, Valerian trailing after the river girl without hesitation. "Ai ken taut yu kom ge dina."
Lexa's scowl deepens. "Ai ken ge dina ona ai aun."
Costia grins, wild and free. "Nou swima." She shucks off her boots and weapons rolling up her pants and throwing her jacket off. The shells across her throat are bright in the sun and her hairs is in thick curls against her skull. She wades into the racing river that they get water from for the village. Costia's keryon jumps from her shoulder and lands in the water, swimming easily. Valerian steps until the water laps at her paws and Lexa sits on the bank, scowling.
"Ossian." Costia's voice is soft and the small keryon jumps from the river, a swima in its mouth. With a swift flick of its tail Lexa is splashed with water. Indignant the girl stands, letting out a shout of shock and rage. Costia grins, teeth flashing behind dark lips.
Lexa scowls, turning to walk away before stopping and glaring sharply at her keryon. Valerian flops down on the bank at Lexa's scowl, water licking at her fur and she eyes Lexa in challenge. Costia speaks softly. "Em nou ste foto." Her eyes flicker to the gaping distance between Lexa and Valerian. Lexa's shoulders slump and she lets out a sigh, coming to sit by Valerian on the bank, fingers deftly pulling knots from thick fur. They both watch as Costia snatches fish from the river with bright eyes and flashing teeth. It is the first real smile Lexa had seen on the river orphan's face.
Lexa has her toes in the water and head on her knees when something wet and smelly hits her in the face. She looks up in shock and Costia laughs, deep and all consuming. Lexa's lips twitch and she throws her jacket and sword to the ground, lunging through the water to tackle the once River Clan girl.
They land in the water with a screech of shock from Costia and a large splash. Lexa splashes water into Costia's face, green eyes bright once again. "Yu fir raun swima." Costia speaks through her laughter, kicking up water to splash Valerian in the face.
After the river the two become inseparable, Anya scowling at them but sitting down with them at meals. Neither girl flinches or stares when Valerian takes off long distances from Lexa when they scout the forest or get swima from the river. Valerian does this now, darting quickly from Lexa's side as they trek through the forest easily, Anya waving her sword at the long grass around them. "Onya ste sekon." Costia's lips twitch as she bumps her shoulder to Lexa, soft eyes on the older thin railed girl with dirty blonde hair. "Branwada sekon."
Anya flicks dark eyes at Costia, scowling and her pakstoka huffs indignantly, biting the air near the dark girl's ankles as Anya speaks. "Ai nou branwoda sekon. Leksa es branwoda ba nou sekon. Nou yit. Em ste strik."
"Nou laik strik." She stands straighter, shoulders back as she stands tall despite her small stature. Her green eyes are swirling in challenge as she grips her too big sword in her hand, Valerian comes barreling from the forest, amber eyes on the tense scene.
Anya stands, taller than the other two and all lean muscles. Her left arm is a mass of scars from the fire that took her village and there is a danger in her eyes as her keryon shifts too stand, eyeing Anya cautiously with bristling fur before he turns to face Lexa. His fur is as black as the soot they had been covered in when they first got here. "Gonplei ai Leksa." Anya's words are laced with challenge.
"Onya." Costia speaks sharply, eyes twisted in concern.
"Shof up Kostia." Anya's eyes are hard with something as she speaks, Valerian is stiff legged beside Costia as the black keryon huffs quietly, fur still standing on end. "Leksa gaf in gonplei."
Lexa bares her teeth, green eyes flashing at the challenge in Anya's tone. The trembling in the older girls lips. Lexa tilts her chin, lips twitching in a smirk and she rolls her wrist. "Fir raun Onya?" Anya howls much like her keryon should be and she barrels forward, all fury and taut muscles. Her sword is out of its sheath and arching down towards Lexa in the blink of an eye. Lexa jerks to the side, bringing her sword up to block the sharp blade with a grunt. Anya's keryon growls low in its throat before it is grudgingly races forward to tackle Valerian from where she began prowling circles around the two warriors.
Valerian is a shifting of color and size as her dark grey and brown fur twitches to the golden hue of a lion. She roars at the howla and swipes long claws through the howla's hide. He snarls and jerks back, Anya not releasing a sound even as her keryon whimpers with each blow Anya doesn't block. Lexa ducks under blows, quick from dodging between the hooves of warriors mounts. Quick from years of running through the crowds and their keryons. But sometimes not quick enough, Anya lands a fist to Lexa's face and the girl splutter blood over Anya's knuckles. Teeth bared as she swipes her sword at the older girl. Anya blocks it easily, but her left arm trembles under the force behind Lexa's swing and she grits her teeth, pushing against the smaller fighter.
Lexa is an immovable object until she isn't. Until she lets her sword slack and dips her body to the side, causing Anya to stumble forward with a grunt of shock and anger. Valerian bites into the dark wolf's tail and he howls in pain, spinning and biting at Valerian's golden shoulders. Lexa lets out a soft cry but Anya makes no sound as she spins to hit Lexa with her elbow before swinging her sword up, focusing on Lexa's left. She repeatedly strikes on the younger girl's left, her weaker hand. Each swing comes closer and closer. Lexa pants with exertion before she ducks into a roll, gritting her teeth as Valerian's shoulders spill dust, she uses her sword to throw dirt into the pakstoka's eyes and Anya blinks but ignores it until Valerian bites into the left foreleg of the other keryon. Anya releases a screech. Wounded and shrill. She scrambles after Lexa striking harsher than before, faster and faster. Lexa struggles to keep up, a cut on her bicep dripping blood lethargically.
Valerian slowly backs Bayanai away from Anya until Anya stills, releasing a sharp gasp as her keryon gets to far away. Lexa stands tall, slightly slumped as she watches Anya struggle to catch her breath. There are feet audibly thumping across the ground and Lexa looks up, her nontu barreling through the tree. He is panting. "Em pleni!" His eyes are wild as they catch the blood on Lexa and the sharp gasps of Anya. His hands sweep forward to grip at the back of both girl's shirts. "Valaryan." His sharp voice causes the lion to release Bayanai. With a grumble of barely audible words Valerian trots over to Costia who scowls at her two bleeding friends.
They are shuffled through the gates, Anya's shoulders pulled back even as shes lead like a goufa through camp. Her dark eyes catch Lexa's and the older girl grins, wide and bloodied. Lexa returns it, green eyes sparking.
When Lexa is thirteen summers and Costia fourteen springs they share a kiss and Lexa swears dust flutter behind her eyelids and through her body. Costia is water wrinkled hands and spring water on her lips, Lexa sword calloused hands and dirt ridden cheeks. It is the first of many.
With the kiss comes changes, changes to their daily schedules. Lexa quits seeing dust each time she trains, Costia's stormy eyes on her and Valerian quietly grumbling to Ossian. Her shoulders are taut with determination and pride, each day she grows bolder in her actions and each day Costia's grin grows and blooms. Some days Costia hunts fish at the river, Lexa's feet dangling in the water, shoulders sun-kissed and cheeks red with heat. Dust is far from their minds, the Clans had been quiet and war no longer hanging over their heads. Other days they scramble up trees until the ground is far below their feet and Costia's heart is in her throat. Lexa never sees dust up there, only sees the storm cloud eyes of Costia and hears Ossian's clicking teeth from Costia's backpack, Valerian lounging on a branch above them.
Most of the days Costia helps the other orphans with their chores, dark fingers rubbing smudges from too thin faces and Lexa's nimble fingers pulling too long hair into thick braids. The small children play with her sword, their keryon coming to life with each second that passes. They take them fishing and feed them until their stomachs pooch. They drag their kills to the lost children's tent, adults watching them cautiously. Each day they do this Costia kisses each and every child's cheek, eyes lost in her own memories as she cares for those like her.
And a few of the days they sit in the stable for the horses, the smell of their skrish around them and the dust in the air, horse hair tickling at their noses. These days they watch Ossian lounge at their feet and Valerian sleep on the rafters above them. In the stables they speak of Costia's home, with the snort and stomp of horses around them they are closed off from the others. In the stables Costia cries for those she lost and Lexa curls around her, soft-spoken. Valerian coming to nose at Ossian's tail and Costia's hair.
Today they lay in the grass, nets full of swima in the water and keryon splashing around in the banks. Lexa plays with the shells tangled in Costia's short hair. There is a change in the air that causes Lexa to stiffen, she rolls to her feet hand grabbing the knife at her side. Costia stiffens, keryon slinking from the water to glare into the forest. Ossian stiff standing under Valerian's chest. "Komba raun!"
There is a familiar chuckle as a dark pakstoka slinks from the shadows, Anya on its tail. "Leksa, Kostia."
Lexa huffs and Costia laughs, stepping forward to pull the tall gona into a hug. "Onya." The two orphans squeeze one another tightly.
Anya pulls back and stares straight at Lexa, tilting her chin to the knife still in Lexa's grip. "Yu don os, strik gona."
Lexa scowls, putting her weapon away with a huff. "Onya."
Anya grins, eyes sparking. "Strik gona." She grins like she hasn't in a long time. She is eighteen summers and she smiles like it doesn't hurt anymore. She eyes their closeness and her grin widens. "Leksa." Lexa stiffens at her tone as the new gona prowls around them in a circle, taking in their close proximity and Costia's rolling eyes. "Costia yu smuch Leksa op?"
Costia pinches at Anya's side, dipping between the ridges of her light armor. "Shof up joka."
Anya laughs loudly jumping away from Costia's fingers. She dodges around the River girl to rub at Lexa's head tauntingly as she winks at Costia. There brunette shoves away her hand with a scowl, but green eyes dance with amusement and embarrassment. Anya pokes at Lexa's now strong shoulders, seemingly taking in the changes over the last six moon cycles. "Nou krei strik nau."
Costia rolls her eyes, lips twitching into a grin as she heads to the river, pulling the nets up and tossing them at the two having a stare down. The stumble under the weight and smell of fish. Anya sighs, slinging the net over her shoulder with ease, new scars peeking from under her clothing and muscles stronger than when she left. Her training and scouting missions leaving her thinner with hunger but stronger. With laughter between them and their keryon ambling behind them they make their way home.
Seven moon cycles later the village is attacked. Dust thick in the air. Keryon run around, looking for the opposing keryon to fight but there are none. The gona's raiding the village are ripas. They have no keryons at their side, no recognition in their eyes and no dust to match the blood being spilled. Lexa grips her sword tightly as she goes running from her home, her father ahead of her and Costia grabbing children and leading them away from the heat of the battle, Ossian clicking her teeth harshly in nerves even as Costia's face stays calm.
Anya goes running past Lexa, Bayanai a dark streak beside her. Lexa doesn't stop running but Valerian comes to rest at Costia's side. Costia strokes the pakstoka's face with trembling fingers and across the village Lexa's shoulders stiffen with a final resolve, Costia's touch fleeting across her. Strengthening her. Valerian nudges Ossian with her head before she is racing after Lexa, howling into the air, a battle cry even as Lexa remains stonic and silent.
Lexa is in the midst of it, eyes on her fellow gona, she catches her father's tall head and thick braids. Anya's strong shoulders and Bayanai's patchy pelt. They are enough to strengthen her as she blocks swings of swords and swift knees. Her heart races in her throat as she struggles against these too strong men. She watches dust spill around her, none of it the ripas. They have no keryon. Are missing the thing that makes them what they are and confusion and fear bites at her stomach. She hears a familiar cry and her eyes find her nontu's marten. She screeches again, full of agony before bursting into golden dust. Lexa screams then, chest tight. Tears spring from her eyes and she slips her sword into the heart of a ripa. No dust spills for him but his blood drips down her hand, her tears falling into the bloodied mess on her finger. "Em pleni!" She screams. She screams for the fighting to stop. For the death to stop and the ground to stop soaking up the blood and dust of the dead.
The two generals are gone, their blood spilling from their bodies and Lexa watches as the ripas tear the rest of them apart. They are only a hunting village with a small force of gona. They are not ready for a battle with no generals. A battle without directions. They will surely all die and then the children with perish. They will be taken and Costia with them. Valerian stops above the body of a ripa, howl turning into a loud roar as brown and grey shifts to orange and black with that thought.
Lexa is thirteen summers when her keryon settles. She is thriteen summers when she fights her first battle. When she kills her first opponent. She is thriteen when she longs for the fighting and death to stop already. "Em pleni!" Her words are punctuated by the roar of Valerian. "Seifas em.
Lexa shouts at gona three times her age. Valerian begins to corral the ripas, snapping and snarling at them. Lexa turns to Anya and the young gona smirks, tilting her chin before she and Bayanai join in with Valerian. "SEIFAS EM!" Lexa's roar echos and there is no hesitation, with a plan formed and an order the remaining gona get to work. They circle the ripas, caging them with their swords and the shear amount of keryon and remaining gona. Some still fall and Lexa is cut more than once but when the last ripa body falls, with no dust to announce his death Lexa stands stiff and tired, Anya standing by her side before the gona opens her mouth and howls loud, her keryon joining in. The other gonas shout their own victory. Behind Lexa her nomon bro watches her with narrowed eyes and a bleeding head.
Anya shoves Lexa's shoulder. "Branwoda." Lexa looks up to the girl turned woman who has been helping her. They are both coated in blood, eyes bright but heavy. Lexa's face is streaked with dirt and blood, similar to the strikes that are sleek and proud across Valerian's new form. Neither of them notice her nomon bro eyeing Valerian's stripes.
Anya becomes Lexa's fis at only eighteen summers. The gona already commanding a small group of warriors twice her age with the new chieftain's approval. The new woman changes the gonas training, moving the younger ones up and the older gona to training and strategy. Lexa flourishes under Anya's firm but teasing tutoring. Morning are filled with Anya sweeping her feet out from under her and the teasing glint in her eyes as she tells Costia to quit distracting Lexa.
The moons pass with Costia and Lexa growing closer, keryons touching again and again. Anya notices the stare of Lexa's nomon bro, keeps him in her mind as she moves Lexa's training from the village to deep in the forest, away from his prying eyes. The peace lasts only two moons before it is ripped under their feet.
Costia watches Lexa's nomon bro speaking to a balding man with marks on his head, the fliemkepa. Her heart seems to stop in her chest and her stomach drops as the man eyes Lexa bounding in from the forest, her green eyes bright and lips wide in a grin, Anya grumbling behind her. Valerian greets Costia with chuffing, saying her name once in the middle of all the noise. Costia lets her fingers trail over dark stripes as she eyes the man in distaste. Lexa forgets the distance from her keryon as she shoves Anya around, knocking into one another and the fliemkepa get this look on his face that has Costia walking to Lexa, Valerian following her in confusion. "Leksa." Costia greet the girl with a soft press of lips, Ossian biting at Lexa's ankles teasingly.
Lexa blushes to the root of her hair but returns the kiss eagerly, bruised knuckles brushing a shell tangled in Costia's hair. Her green eyes are bright and and cheeks flushed. Anya makes a noise of disgust and whacks Lexa's sword with the hilt of her own.
Lexa is fourteen summers when the fliemkepa walks over to them and bows his head. She is stiff shoulder at the distrust in Costia's eyes, caution rolling in her stomach at the tension in Costia. Her nomon bro swallows thickly behind the man and Costia feels a hatred for the man who broke a promise to Lexa's nontu the second he had passed. A hatred for the man who spoke to the fliemkepa, who she knew could ruin Lexa. "Leksa, ai laik Titus." He meets her gaze, find the intense green and almost smiles. "Yu don heda keryon."
Titus changes everything. For fourteen, almost fifteen summers he had searched for the new heda, believes he has found heda in the sun-kissed trikru sekon and her feisripa keryon. In the sekon who had commanded a group of village gona easily. A sekon who had found love already. Titus had scowled at that weakness, the thing that could end everything they are fighting for. The thing that tore the last commander to pieces. Lead to his death. Titus' spider, hidden among the tattoos on his head watches the soft touches between Costia and Lexa, the weakness in her bones and the touching of their keryon and something in the man twitches, a scowl settling across his face, pulling his wrinkles down and his tattoos taut. Eight beady eyes watch Lexa like she is the answer to everything.
Titus plans, he speaks with the girl's nomon bro and sends his message to the others in Polis, letting them know of his discovery. In his bones settles the knowledge that Lexa is the heda, the spark in her eyes too familiar to be any other. The far away look when she first wakes, memories that aren't her fading to the background. The language she had never studied leaving her tongue easily. All the signs are there and he longs to pull her away from this village, to mold her like he couldn't the last. To save her like he couldn't the last. He gathers the horses, leaves harsh words with the stable hands and insistence that only three accompany him to Polis, Lexa the heda keryon, Anya her fis and her nomon bro.
He stalks to the war tent with stiff shoulders, coming through the door with a bowed head to the heda keryon. "Leksa."
The girl lifts her chin. "Titus."
He sets the map down and traces the trail they will follow, telling her where she and Anya will train and stay.
Lexa is stiff with her chin tilted high in defiance. "En Kostia?"
Titus holds her growl, his stiffening shoulders but his spider bursts with the energy, skittering across his head and Titus speaks. "Em set raun."
Valerian sits quietly in the far corner, eyeing Titus through half lidded eyes as Lexa grips her sword with her hand, still tucked away in her scabbard. "No, em kom op."
Titus stares at her stiff limbed and glowering as he test the gleam in her eyes. "Yu gaf in Kostia sin in yu wan op?"
Lexa grits her teeth, Valerian bristling across the room, no longer half lidded as Lexa growls out her answer. "Ai nou gon wan op." Titus leaves it there, allowing Lexa to go back to her tent and pack, his spider twitching across the markings on his head.
He sits in the war tent, dipping fingers in dark liquid and whispering chants to the keryons of the past. Lexa tosses and turns in her sleep, dreams, memories, haunting her with each word that leaves his lips. Costia comes to settle her, dark fingers soothing over the wrinkles in Lexa face. A soft kiss to Valerian's maw and fingers teasing through Lexa's hair, pulling out knots and calming both girls. Lexa stills in her sleep, murmuring softly as Ossian curls in the crevice of her knees.
The next morning Titus pulls Lexa from her bed, alone. Valerian is gone as are Costia and Ossian. Lexa doesn't answer Titus questions. "Valaryan kom op. Chil au."
Anya shift atop her horse, Bayanai grumbling as he paces around the horse, stiff legged and glaring balefully at Titus.
There are hooves tapping against the hard earth and Lexa looks up, Valerian slinking forward from the stables, Costia on a horse behind her, Ossian tucked into her jacket front. Lexa sits up straighter, eyes bright and a grin flashing across her face. Titus clenches his aw and spins his horse around, conceding a battle he knows he will loose.
The trip to Polis takes half a day and Titus spends it watching Lexa smile at Costia, Valerian prowling around the forest, easily keeping pace with the horses as Bayanai nips at Titus' horse's tail, causing it to jolt every once in a while and divert his attention from Lexa to controlling his horse. Costia spends it grinning at Lexa and listening to Ossian murmur words of discomfort and dislike about Titus, preening under Lexa's fingers when she stretches across the distance to stroke Ossian's fur.
The gates of Polis are large and Lexa stares open mouthed at it, Anya almost smiling behind her. Lexa had yet to travel to Polis for the gathering of that summers sekon tournaments. She had yet to see the city in all its glory. A capital for the Commander, made by the commander and housing all twelve flags, all of the Commanders people. A place untouched by their intolerance of one another. Where the twelve clans mix as one without disputes and hatred. It is there, lying in wait under slack faces but in the City of the Commander they behave.
Anya kicks Lexa's boot with her own and the sekon closes her mouth, wide eyes finding Costia's before she straightens her shoulders and nudges her horse forward. They are stripped of weapons at the gate. Lexa twitching as they pat down Costia. Anya tilts her jaw minuscule, only Lexa catches it and the girl holds her tongue. Gona, with patches on their shoulder pads, it has twelve knobs, one for each of the clans, grooved together. One line connect top to bottom, cutting through the inner circle the other four lines meet. The symbol of the Heda. Valerian stares at them blinking slowly. They watch her with the same knowing eyes before leading Lexa to a building, Costia and her nomon bro left at the door to the domal building. They move through tunnels, twists and turns, Anya's presence a comfort to Lexa as they head deeper and deeper into the darkness. Titus motions Anya back and Lexa is led through the doorway alone. Candles light the room and there are objects all over the room, flooding the tables and flowing to the floor. "Sad op sis." Titus leaves with those words, the door shutting with a resounding thud.
Valerian sniffs the items, batting at them with large paws she would grow into. Lexa looks around the room, completely alone. Her eyes zero in on red and something in her eyes flash, heat blooms in her neck and Valerian turns, trotting to the red and pulling it off the table. Lexa touches it with hesitant fingers that jerk with the touch of soft cloth. There is the feel of fire around her, ash in her throat and the frayed burnt edges of the red sash make her face itch with pain. She jerks away from it, Valerian pulls it gently to the door, eyes haunted.
Her frame trembles as she walks around the room, there is a tugging in her chest, an ache she felt on certain days of the seasons. Her fingers brush along all the items, Valerian pressed into her knee for comfort. Feathers under her finger, then metal before her hand trembles across the hardness of a pad. He left shoulder aches, throbs in time with her heartbeat as she presses her fingers into the large gouge taken out of the shoulder guard. She picks it up, hands curving over the creaking rubber. Dust is settled over it. It had been sitting untouched in this room, awaiting the next commander. She sets it down atop the red sash, rubbing absently at her shoulder. A phantom flicker of pain deep in her bones.
She touches glass, cold against her finger tips and feels nothing. She picks up a bow and feels nothing as she sets the ornately carved thing down. She fingers the feathers, knowing Anya would have gone for the bow. Would have taken it with gleaming eyes and an excitable tenseness to her shoulders. Lexa brushes her fingers over Valerian's head as they move as one to the left furthest corner of the room. They move armor and weapons out of the way, hands growing stiffer with each objects moved until her hands settle on a pair of gloves, they are covered in dust and she wipes it away, the metal atop them gleaming under her hands. Her bones ache with a sudden cold, joints in her fingers creaking like she had buried them in ice cold water. Valerian unsheathes her claws and retracts them over and over again, trying to get the feeling to leave their limbs. Lexa stands on shaking legs, breaths fogging in front of her as she carries the gloves to set them on the shoulder pad.
Valerian mewls softly, pained and so quiet from across the room. Lexa goes to her and falls to her knees, staring at the object in front of her. It is a wooden rattle, carved with so many details and full love. Vines climbs up the handle to surround the circle etched with keryon of different statures. It is glossed like it is freshly made, worn only at the bottom of a handle. Like it was gnawed on by a child or a keryon. The is this dropping in Lexa's stomach, this sadness that coats her entire being. That crushes her and with a shuddering breath her fingers tangle into Valerian's fur. She feels this loss that makes her hunch over, tears prick her eyes and they falls down her cheek into Valerian's fur. The tiger curls around her, fur standing on end as she trembles along side Lexa. They seek comfort from one another before Lexa takes the baby's toy and sets it cradled in the red sash.
Next is a sword calling to her across the room, thinner than a leaf with a thick handle. The sword is almost as long as she is tall. It gleams in the candle light and her fingers brush across it, there is a despair that haunts her chest when she touches it. Ghosts clinging to it. The sound of battle in her ears and blood thrumming through her veins. Valerian presses into her side with a soft sounds, eyes darkening with each object they find. She pulls it free of the rubble and swings it quickly. It fits her hand like it was made for her, like it was forged to fit her small hand. She hears screams as she swings it again and she halts, blinking her eyes free of a memory that isn't hers. Valerian shakes her head, coming back with Lexa, eyes wide with emotions not her own. They move as one, Lexa slipping the sword into her belt loop and they make their way to the back of the room, easily wading through the clutter before they both still.
The last is a dark scrap of metal. It is burnt and twisted beyond recognition. She falls to her knees, they crack on the hard floor as she stares at the scrap of metal. She touches it and fire blooms behind her eyes. Her body feels like it is being torn apart and she shudders. Screams in her ear, pain in her bones and red behind her eyelids she stands on trembling legs to take the metal to the door. She sets it by the others, reaching down to pull the shoulder pad on, it is too large on her but she knows she will grow into it. The red sash fits into it easily and she slips the gloves on like they're a second skin. The rattle and the metal are hooked to her belt beside the sword. With steady hands and a heavy heart she raps on the door. Shoulders pulled back she meets the eyes of Titus' keryon.
Valerian is stiff with greif, Lexa staring without actually seeing, too many emotions flooding between her and Valerian. Anya looks at her full of worry but Titus' eyes are bright and his keryon skitters across his head.Titus bows his head and leads her to a room where they set aside the belongings of the commander. The objects placed over a thick metal frame built like a warrior. He leads her to a building, the firelight of the street candles dying slowly as they make their way to a thick wooden door.
They spend the night in the house for guest, the thick door barred with a wooden block. Costia and Lexa pressed together in the bed, Anya watching over them with a furrowed brow. Bayanai paces the room, fur bristled and they wait out the night. Valerian licking Ossian gently.
Titus comes for her in the morning, dragging both her and Anya to a room below the flat oval fighting grounds. Anya helps her dress, tightening a shoulder guard with a tense jaw, worrying for her sekon. For her friend. "Win au." Anya swallows, dipping her fingers into a bowl, her fingers streak across Lexa's face, over her eyes and to her hair before climbing down her cheeks. Anya's fingers tremble. "Win au strik gona."
"Onya." Lexa's throat is tight and she stars at her first, her shoulders straighten and she tilts her chin up. "Ai nou wan op."
Anya squeezes her chin before trembling fingers, leaving behind marks of black that she carefully wipes away. "Yu bilaik feisripa. Bilaik Valaryan." Lexa looks down into the mirror Anya holds to her, stripes paint down her cheeks like the black of Valerian and her heart seizes with emotion. She latches onto Anya, pulling her into an embrace that is stiff before the fis relaxes.
Bayanai nips at Valerian's tail but licks the tigers shoulder before skittering to Anya's side. Anya steps back, pressing a sword into Lexa's hand and moving to tighten her braid. There is worry in Anya's eyes but also faith. A victory already won. Anya had heard Titus the same as Lexa had. Lexa had found all six items unlike the other eleven heda keryon. Unlike the chosen from the other clans. Anya squeezes her shoulders and bows her chin like Lexa is already the Heda, like they had already won and the girl straitens her shoulders with the unwavering faith of her fis.
Costia comes running down the tunnel, barreling int Lexa's side as Anya watches on. They don't speak, simply hold one another until Costia presses something into her hands. It is a knife, the blade a gleaming silver and the handle a thick smooth wood the fits perfectly in her hands. The silver knobs across the handle are cold to the touch. Costia kisses her, fingers covering the black stripes down her face before she pulls back to press her forehead into Lexa's. "Komba hir ai Lexa."
Lexa closes her eyes and breaths in the familiar scent of Costia, Ossian pressing into her shins and she lets out a shuddering breath. "Sha Kostia. Otaim." Tears fill Costia's eyes but they do not fall as Anya pulls her back. They are young, far too young to cry tears of fear and death.
With renewed vigor and a new knife tucked into her belt she makes her way into the sunlight, Anya walking out another door to standing on the sidelines. Costia forced to stand in the crowd, Ossian gripped tight in her hold. Lexa continues to walk until she stands in the last remaining spot in the circle of the twelve heda keryon. Titus stands in the middle. "Hashta heda gonplei, bilaik won hedon noumon: jos won ste raun."
They twelve of them stand with their Clan's insignia etched across their shoulders and weapons in their hands. Keryons stand tense and ready. Lexa looks down at her hands, the right curled around her sekon sword. She remembers the screams when she picked the commander's objects up. Remembers the feeling of loss in her stomach and the pain in her body. She drops her sword and stares straight ahead at the others with her chin tilted high. Some of them are young, younger than Lexa and some of the are a few seasons older.
Titus looks at her, then to the sword on the ground. He has already called the battle but none have yet to move, focused on Lexa. "Wan emo op."
Lexa tilts her chin high. "No." Her voice echos around the arena and all eyes are on her.
Titus' spider skitters its legs in agitation. "Yu souda."
Lexa motions to the others, Valerian stiff by her feet as her vice echos in the silence. She does not want to see dust today. Does not want it coating her hands. "Emo nou gafen wamplei."
He grits his teeth, keeping his words low as he steps closer to her. "Emo frag yu op kom au heda."
She looks to the crowd then the other contenders before meeting Titus' glare head on. "Ba din ai no frag em op."
There is a silence that echos around them, the other heda keryon shifting their feet in confusion and hesitation. A boy with scars etched across his face moves faster than a snake, a spear leaving his hands to embed in the chest of a boy with dirty blonde braids and a cloth tied around his head and shoulders. His keryon, a small wolf like creature the color of sand, bursts into dust. Lexa lets out a shout and Valerian is already moving, tackling the boy and then pinning his small white bear keryon down by it's throat. Teeth draw dust and the boy stills.
Another raises his spear and Lexa rips bolas from her belt, spinning them to wrap around his chest and arms. He had sharp teeth tangled in his hair a bear claw across his throat. He hits the ground with a grunt and his keryon, a small cat like creature growls at Lexa. Lexa stands tall under all the stares. "Empleni! Der nou badan gafen wamplei."
The boy with the mark of Azgeda is glaring at Valerian and his white keryon shifts his gaze to Lexa. "Hakom ste bilaik?"
Lexa pulls all the confidence into her chest and lets it flow from her lips. "Ai laik heda en ai hedon em." Valerian roars as the bear twitches under her and the boy moves like a snake, slipping a knife from his belt to Valerian. Lexa pulls Costia's gift from her belt and throws with all her might. It buries into his left shoulder and he howls as Valerian spins from his knife and roars in his face. His bear stiffens but holds still at Valerian's growling.
The boy, a few seasons older than Lexa speaks through clenched teeth. "Ai nomon frag yu op."
"Teik em trana. Ai laik heda, ai nou wan op." Lexa is all tight shoulders and finality but for the first time the conclave ends, not with all the others dying but with Lexa ending the blood shed.
"Won fali treot," Titus speaks with a clenched jaw and she nods, letting Valerian follow after the other competitors as they make their way to their people, weapons taken away. The distance between Lexa and Valerian growing greater and greater until the crowd bows at the feet of their new heda, proven to them by the distance and that familiar gleam in her eyes. The Commander's spirit had chosen one who did not think blood first and for the first time in a long time the clans eye one another and the commander in confusion and loss.
Titus tells her love is weakness every chance he get. Be it when Lexa comes home from battle and Costia is waiting for her or when Costia comes down with a chest cold, her coughing thick and harsh and Lexa calls off her journey to the Ocean Clan to be by her side. He tells her it when she watches Costia speak to the orphans in their own tongue, all of them from different clan brought to the capitol for the care if their tribes could not provide it. She spends her nights tangled with Costia. Her days training with Anya and Valerian. Her mid-days training and getting to know her Heda gona. Afternoons with the trikru gona. Thick rippling muscles and hard eyes. There is no pattern to her days, each is different than the last but her nights are always the same, spent with Costia.
When she leaves on scouting missions, Anya by her side Valerian trails ahead of them and Costia is left behind, her storm grey eyes worried as children grips her fingers and shirt tails. Ossian sits on her shoulder, weighing it down the larger he grows. Titus watches from the tower with a twist to his lips. Lexa comes home bloodied and thinner than normal a moon later. Costia cradles her face in her hands and the orphans swarm around Lexa, their keryon shifting and bright. She hands them all objects from her travels, gifting the children with them and a brush to their shoulders. Valerian presses into Costia's legs, taller and thinner than before as they make their way to Lexa's house, tucked near the orphanage by the sea.
Each moon is spent fighting for the combining of clans. A coalition that makes Costia's eyes water in pride and earns her a deep kiss and fingers in her hair. Costia wipes the stripes down her face away and cleans up her bloodied and bruised flesh with water and kisses. As Lexa grows taller and her muscles strengthen Costia flourishes in the sea, fish in her hands and children at her feet. Laughter lines her face as does worry. Before each journey Lexa presses her lips to Costia's and the once river can murmurs familiar words. "Komba hir."
And Lexa murmurs back. "Otaim." Every time Ossian nips at her covered ankles with sharp teeth and Valerian butts her head into Costia's hips and they leave, tears in their eyes.
With each death and battle Lexa loses herself a little more each time, she fights for peace. For a calm surrounding the clans but it is hard and grueling. There is too much hate between Clans and she goes to each, trains sekon and gona at all the villages she comes across and leaves gifts of food and fur with all those she comes across. She spends nights helping build stronger fences in a far away Plains Rider tribe. With horse's nipping at her shirts and the stars visible in the clearings. Not a tree in sight she aches for home. She spends days on the river, shoulders bright red and fish landing in the boat as she speaks with Costia's thick home tongue leaving her lips.
She heads to the mountains where the rocks are harsh and the trees short and enclosing around them. She helps clear pathways to other Rockline villages and leaves dried meat and fruit with them as well as a few horse to help them move up the mountain faster. She spends a grueling three nights in the ice, surrounded by those with scars on their face, decorative and raised. She spends three nights curled around Valerian at her front and Anya at her back. Their lips are blue and they shiver but the haul logs upon log to the villages for firewood.
She has chapped lips from the desert and her face is red and shoulders blistered. Anya is a red as she is and they sooth themselves in the shade with leaves from the Broadleaf clan. Green paste coats them and they smell but they are soothed. With promises of more help from Lexa to each village and Clan they head back to Polis to finalize plans. Costia greets them at the gate, hair freshly cut and news shells tucked into the tight curls.
Three seasons of this life pass and Lexa is verging on her eighteen summer when tragedy strikes. The Blue Cliff Clan are invading the Plain Riders Clan and Lexa is forced to go play peace maker. Three moons pass of Lexa stuck in treaty meetings and battlefields, Anya is haggard by her side, arm in a sling and Lexa is worn tired as they finally make their way to Polis. Her fingers brush her knife over and over on the ride back and she can't wait to see Costia again, three moons the longest she had been gone from her. The trip takes five days of nonstop day riding before they enter the capitol in the darkness of the night.
Anya shuffles to the healers tent with a squeeze to Lexa's arm and Lexa makes her way up to the tower where she knows Costia will be waiting, the orphans tucked in the rooms around them. Too many to fill the small house they had lived in two summers ago. The tower is a home to Lexa and orphans like herself, with Costia's easy coming and soft love surrounding them. She makes her way to the very top, Valerian with her tail dragging behind her until they come to her room. She opens the door and there is a lump on her pillow, she blinks in the darkness, looking for Costia but all she sees is an Ossian sized lump on her pillows. She lights a few candles and releases a scream that rips through the tower. Her heda gona come running to her, as exhausted as she is but ever present.
Valerian yowls in grief as Lexa falls to her knees beside the bed, trembling fingers brushing Costia's cheeks. They are cold to the touch, chilled by something. Her eyes are wide open and in her mouth is a bag. Lexa pulls it out and opens it. Dust, barely a handful, fills it. Like the dust would prove Costia is actually dead. Lexa brush fingers through Costia's hair, too short to braid and there is this keening sound in her ears before strong familiar arms wrap around her. Anya is speaking in her ear but all Lexa can do is stare at her soulmate. At Costia's head and unseeing eyes. The floor is empty, no orphans in it and that should have been Lexa's first warning. Costia would never let the children be forced out of the tower.
Another scream builds in her throat and Valerian roars to echo her. Valerian tears the room apart, ripping the curtains and gouging holes in the wall. Cuts mar the left side of Costia's face, her ear gone. It makes Lexa cry harder. Bayanai releases a long sorrowful howl that chills the bones of those in the room. The capitol awakens to the pain of those who lost a loved one.
She sets Costia's head in the cooling room, awaiting the rest of her body as she stands on the balcony. There are footsteps behind her and she doesn't turn around before speaking. "Ha?"
Titus stiffens at the cool emotionless tone, the stiffness to her stance. "Emo don kyon em tu natshana."
"Chon?" Her fingers tighten on her knife and Valerian snarls at him from her seated position int he corner. "Hakom yu nou tel ai op?"
His face is impassive and his spider sits calmly on his head. "Don wor mou meija."
She spins to face him, face blazing with anger and her heart aches, her hands still tight around the knife. "Chon?"
"Azgeda." A calmness settle over Lexa and the girl leaves the room on the day of her birth, Costia's death on her mind as she heads down to the armory. Titus yelling behind her but there is a ringing in her ears as she loads her horse up. Anya is beside her and she blinks in confusion but keeps heading to the gate, her heda gona slowly falling in line beside her without question. Lexa marches through the forest in silence. Valerian by her side and Anya all clenched teeth and pained scowls.
Valerian sits by her feet, trembling stripes as she speaks to Lexa, quiet and drawn. "Leksa, ai beda don kamp raun Kostia."
"Foutaim ste foutaim Val. " Lexa's eyes are glistening with tears and she doesn't reach out to stroke Valerian like she once had. She doesn't touch the familiar striped fur for comfort they both needed.
They ride for three days straight until they come upon the gates to the Ice nation. Lexa's chest is heaving and the bag of dust sits heavy in her pocket.
"Kostia gaf in ogonzaun." It is Anya, soft and as broken as she is. She lost a best friend, a sister and her grief is as palpable as Lexa.
"Ai gafen frag emo op." Her hands tremble across her sword and she wants blood on it, wants screams in her ears and dead at her feet. She wants dust on her face and blowing away in the air.
There is a familiar harshness to Anya's eyes as she glares at the gate. "Ai get in."
Instead of leading a killing spree on the Ice Nation Lexa marches into the thrown room, taking any guard down she can but not killing them. She moves with a speed and mechanicalness born from greif. Before they know it she has the prince on his knees, a familiar white bear held down by Valerian and other keryons. "Kostia stedaun." Her voice doesn't shake but her eyes gleam with intent.
"Sha." There is blood flecked on the queen's hand, a bite to her knuckles by large teeth Lexa knows by heart. The queen tilts her head to her son with bored eyes. "Roan wan op Kostia.
The man below Lexa stiffen but say nothing about the lie leaving his mother's lips. Lexa grits her teeth, longing to bury her knife into the queen's eye. " Yu don glong op kongeda."
The queen looks up in shock, barely concealed. "Hakom?"
"Maun-de laik baga." The ones lost in the middle of the night. Sleepless moons spent at villages torn apart by red smoke and bullets. "Osir souda gonplei ogeda."
The queen looks intrigued. "Kostia's ripa?"
Lexa tightens her grip on the prince's throat, forearm trembling. "Ai ban em au."
Nia smiles, letting her hands twist together. "Yu gaf heda." A flick of her wrist has her own warriors are carrying the man from the room, taking him from Lexa with a tense nod from the heda.
They leave the Ice nation without bloodshed and Lexa is tense muscles and dust in her pocket.
Anya looks at her before they enter Polis days later. "Leksa."
"Kostia ripa wan op." She pauses jaws tight and eyes dark with treacherous thoughts. "Azplana wan op pas maun-de slip daun." Her tone is murderous and her face as smooth as stone, she has yet to touch Valerian since Costia's death, her emotions are hidden easily behind this new mask.
Two summers pass and she is no closer to taking down the mountain but finally all the clans are in the coalition and trade is happening, the villages every where are flourishing but the reapers attack constantly. Valerian lays basking in the sun, Bayanai at her side as Lexa and Anya fight with sword, practice that is a relief for both of them when something streaks across the sky in a blaze of smoke fire and a red cloth and gleaming metal. Lexa stills, watching it disappear into the trees. "Onya, dig chit au don."
Anya's eyes are flickering the smoke trail, calculating the distance before she nods. "Sha heda." Anya leaves with a quick clasp to Lexa's should and a clicking tongue to her horse, Bayanai on her hooves. Valerian sits by her side and they stare at the fire streaked in the sky. Smoke the only evidence left of it.