Chapter Text
Clarke was a creature of habit. She got up at the same time everyday, ate a mixture of berries and warm bread for breakfast and then took a ten minute walk down to the training pits. Now, she did understand that becoming predictable was dangerous. Nia had tried to drill it into her head from an early age but honestly Clarke took any oppourtunity to ignore the bitch. Some might call it petty but to her it was the only way to show that the vile woman didn't control her every action. Anyway it was better that she chose to have a routine instead of killing the entire royal guard. (A thought that hadn't ever crossed her mind because, obviously only an idiot would try to kill the Queen's favourites- even hypothetically.)
The blonde walked into the pits her breath clouding above her in little condensed clouds. Even at seven in the morning the pits weren't quiet, the familiar sound of metal against metal echoed around the underground systems. It had been Nia's first decree when she'd become the Azplana. That the workers, and slaves from wars fought before and after her rise to power, would build a magnificent cave system beneath the city so that even in the worst weather the warriors could still train to 'show off Azgeda strength in future battles'. To the builders credit the training pits were a feat of ingenuity for those whose only tools were pickaxes and hammers. Clarke raised her head as the other fighters came into view. She was- however much she'd tried to barter her way out of it- a member of Nia's guard and it wouldn't do for the normal citizens to see her as anything less than their superior. Her mouth twitched at that thought, yeah right. She did it so people wouldn't try and talk to her.
Taking off her fur coat, she laid it over a training dummy and started her stretches. Her arms out straight she started moving her arms in small circles to relieve the tightened muscles in her shoulder blades, the small circles then became bigger and bigger until Clarke was moving her arms around like how a child uses a Shepard's sling. Slowly she made the circles go smaller again and was greeted by the accompanied twinge of her muscles. The first time she'd usd her muscles it had ached for days but she had only been four. Clarke went through the other familiar motions of stretching before grabbing her knives from their ever present places on her waist. Everyone in Azgeda had enough common sense to carry a weapon even young children. Nia's reign wasn't known for being the most peaceful. Clarke could recall a particular situation a couple of years ago where... no. It was best not to think back on her earlier blunders. It always made her grimace at her younger self's lack of logical thinking.
Master Choal had made it so she could've thrown a knife blindfolded and still hit bullseye. He had always hit her round the back of the head and making her clean up after the other trainees. It had been humiliating but drove her to work harder and for longer just to see their smug faces turn shocked as she'd beaten them all. Come to think of it, her old master had probably had that in mind. At eight she'd had been an outsider, not born of Azgeda and had to work twice as hard to get half as far and hadn't found it fair. But the old man had found a way to make her keep going and look where she was now. At least the old bastard would've been happy.
Clarke drew back her arm and brought it forwards releasing her breath and the knife at the same time. It wasn't a surprise when the blade sank into the middle of the yellow circle, on the near invisable black dot. After Choal had carved a warrior out of the young blonde she'd been dumped into Nia's greedy hands. And had soon learnt that the Queen didn't like mistakes. Goosebumps rose over Clarke's arms at the thought, but she simply rubbed them away and yanked her knife out of the bullseye. Her mind was too clouded, and whilst she liked a healthy dose of rebelliousness with her morning routine she didn't want to explain to Nia why she'd stabbed herself during training. Grabbing her coat, the girl walked out of the pits again and back up towards the castle.