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Lexa approached the leader of the Sky people close to evening, with the sun settling in to the horizon for the night. The faint glow was slowly replaced with flickering from the flames of the fires set to burn throughout Ton DC, casting a warm light around the village.
Clarke herself was speaking with Octavia, a warrior Lexa regarded with quiet respect. She had proven herself well so far, and that was something the commander could appreciate.
The Heda drew nearer to her lover, taking her time in order to appreciate the way the light made Clarke look truly otherworldly. Four winters since their victory against the maunon and still, Lexa was struck each day anew by the woman who fell from the sky. The hushed mumblings of conversation became clearer as she caught the tail end of a talk that, had the two women been paying attention, she probably shouldn't have.
"Look, I'm telling you Clarke, she's planning something big!" Octavia said urgently, brimming with excitement.
"I think you're seeing things, O. If there were something that big coming, I think I would've noticed! We live together, hiding stuff becomes way, way harder."
"Clarke Taylor Griffin. I am telling you now, Grounders do not just visit the kikon keryon-"
Gaining the gist of the conversation, and not liking where it was going, Lexa cleared her throat loudly to announce her presence. Both Octavia and Clarke span around, the latter almost falling from her place on the log. If Lexa wasn't so nervous, she might well have found it comical.
"Clarke, if you have a moment, I might speak with you alone?" The commander asked, cutting a striking figure in the shadows even without her warpaint. Clarke, of course, immediately stood from her seat and brushed off the dirt on her jeans.
"Yes, of course. O, I'll catch up with you later?"
The young grounder nodded once, and stood alongside the blonde.
"I better go find Indra actually, make sure she doesn't need me to do anything. Heda." Octavia salutes, raising her fist across to her opposite collar bone in the grounder fashion. Lexa, being of higher status, inclines her head in reply.
"Come, Clarke. We have matters to discuss."
"Is everything okay? I thought there had been no word from the Ice Nation." The Sky Princess inquired, watching her dark haired friend walk away and towards the stables.
"There has been no word, my love. I wish to speak with you, though."
Lexa leads Clarke away from the fire, and they walk to the command tent instead of the war room. It's a welcome change for the blonde who, like most of the Skaikru council, was loathe to spend another day cramped together, planning death and battle. Lexa ducked inside, holding the canvas back for Clarke to step in after her. Immediately, Clarke noticed there was something different. A large chest sat beside the throne, just adjacent to the entrance to their living quarters, and the usual assortment of weapons was tucked aside with the maps instead of strewn about.
"You actually tidied up? Now I'm a little worried, Lex." Clarke grinned, reaching out and pulling her girlfriend in for what started as a chaste kiss, but as usual, Clarke wanted more. At the first touch of their lips, a slow burn began underneath Clarke's skin, as it did whenever she kissed her warrior. Before she could deepen it any further though, Lexa pulled back slightly.
"I did actually want to talk to you, Clarke." She smiled, before the nerves once again settled into her gut. Clearing her throat and muttering to herself softly in Trigedasleng, Lexa ran her hands softly down her lover's arms, and tangled their fingers together. She lead Clarke over to the throne and gestured for her to sit. Though wary, Clarke went with it and seated herself.
"Seriously? Okay, Lex you have to talk to me here. Why am I sat on the throne?"
The grounder didn't answer, and instead went to pick up the chest the sky girl had noticed earlier. She moved it to her own side, and knelt at Clarke's feet. Taking a shaky breath, Lexa began to remove her armor and outer clothing until she was left in just her deerskin trousers and a tank top Clarke had left at her tent days ago.
All the while, the blonde had sat and watched with curiosity, knowing her lover well enough to know that she did nothing without precision and purpose. When the commander had thrown her garments to the side, Lexa looked back up into Clarke's eyes, drew a deep breath, and took her hands, once more entwining their fingers.
"I do not know how this works amongst your people, ai prisa. But what I do know is that I am weak for you. Hodnes laik kwelnes, but I am weak for you, Clarke kom Skaikru, and I do not care. I am the commander of my people outside of this tent, but within its walls you allow me to be Leksa."
Pausing for a moment, Lexa gave Clarke's hands a short squeeze before pulling away and opening the chest to her side. Out of it, she first pulls a set of shoulder armor. It is different from that which she wore in the times of fighting, lighter and more intricate. She turned back to face a still very confused sky girl, and smiled.
"With this armor, should you accept, I pledge to protect you from anything or anyone who may wish you harm."
Lexa smiles softly, and even has it in her to laugh a little when Clarke doesn't realise she's waiting for an answer. Rising up on to her knees fully, she cocks an eyebrow, and gestures with her hand. Soon enough, the message gets through and the blonde laughs with her.
"Yes, I accept. Lex, can you please tell me what this is abou-"
Lexa cuts her off with a kiss, then places the pauldron over her love's shoulder, clicking it into place and brushing back the loose strands of hair that threaten to get caught.
"Soon, Clarke. Soon."
The commander goes back to the chest, still on her knees, and retrieves a full blade. Clarke gasps at the sight of it, and with good reason. It's a beautiful weapon. The grip is molded practically, but the blade itself is a work of art. All long the length of the metal there are intricate etchings, and Clarke uses what little Trigedasleng she knows to make out the 'Leksa' near the base of the sword.
"With this weapon, I offer you my self. The means I have to defend myself are yours, for I trust you, Clarke."
Lexa stands now, rising to her feet and nodding that Clarke should stand also. With careful hands, she straps the blade around hips that she knows so well from countless nights spent tracing the skin there with her fingertips. The brunette takes a step back, and nods to herself, exhaling slowly. Clarke looks beautiful.
She looks beautiful, and powerful, and strong, and perfect.
For the final time, Lexa pulls an object from the chest. Clarke is, at first, confused. It looks like just a box, but then her love turns it in her hand and something silver catches in the light. Clarke has seen only one of these since her time on the ground, only a few weeks ago in fact, when Octavia had received her warrior tattoos from Indra.
The grounder looks straight into familiar, storm grey eyes and breathes. For a few moments, she just drinks in the beauty laid bare for her, then she speaks.
"Clarke, I am in love with you, you know this. I do not know if your people express this ceremony in the same way, but earlier I made the climb to the kikon keryon. I would not imagine you know what this is?"
The blonde shook her head slowly, the quirk of her eyebrow willing the commander to continue.
"The Keryon is not so much a what, but a who. There comes a time in the life of each of the Tri Kru where we must go and seek the blessing of the Keryon. They grant us advice and counsel, in line with the fate set out for us. In this particular request, I was granted permission to continue by the Keryon herself."
Lexa took a deep breath with her eyes closed, appearing to center herself before locking her gaze to Clarke's storm blue eyes.
"Clarke Kom SkaiKru, I wish for you to enter into a union with me."
Clarke's breath catches in her throat. There, in front of her, looking the most vulnerable she had ever been, was Lexa. Not the Heda, not a warrior in times of war, but Lexa. The woman she was in love with, the woman she shared her home with, the woman who had just asked her to marry her.
Seeing the shock register on her girlfriend's face, Lexa nervously pushed onward.
"To enter a union is a lifelong commitment, there are many who would not consider the notion. Add to that the fact we are both leaders of our people, I would understand if you did not wish to-"
"Yes."
"-be unioned in this way. I am sure your people would-"
Clarke laid her hand across Lexa's arm to bring her attention back from her ramblings, an pulled her into a sweet, deep kiss that knocked what little air she had out of her chest. They broke apart soon after, the Sky Princess coming to cup the grounder's face, resting both of her thumbs over Lexa's cheeks.
"Lexa, yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes."
And then their lips met, fiercely. With the first swipe of Lexa's tongue across her bottom lip, Clarke made the kiss impossibly deeper, pulling Lexa in closer to her. The newly betrothed couple made out passionately for what could only have been minutes, but what felt like hours, until the commander went to move her hand to the back of Clarke's neck and remembered what she currently gripped in her palm.
Coming up for air, Lexa breathed heavily against Clarke's lips.
"Clarke, there is one more thing. In order for us to be unioned, I would take the marks of your people, in whichever way you see fit to gift them them to me."
Lexa offered up the tattoo gun in her hand, once again fixing her stare at the blue eyes in front of her. Clarke didn't break eye contact, but took the gun from her and nodded slowly.
"Sit with me, let me see your arm."
The grounder complied, sitting indian style and facing Clarke. She offered her right arm as the sky girl gestured for it, and watched the blonde go about setting herself up with the ink and water nearby. Within a few minutes she had begun, but neither woman made small talk. In fact, neither spoke at all, Clarke completely focused on her work and Lexa content to just watch the woman who was soon to be her wife.
There was no telling how long had passed, but then Clarke was wiping a cool cloth over the surface of her forearm and Lexa looked at the markings Clarke had chosen. From the first glance, the commander of twelve clans was in awe.
Starting at her wrist, Clarke had drawn a shaded tree, with branches that twisted around and up the length of her tan skin before evaporating into the night sky, constellations of stars mapped out as far up as her elbow, but reaching right into her heart. In all of her many life times, Lexa was sure she had never seen something so symbolic, and so devastatingly meaningful.
"Do you like it?" Came a nervous voice, fidgeting more as the grounder took longer and longer to examine the finer points of each part of the design.
"I will admire it always." Was the response, as Lexa looked back up to her betrothed with a heartfelt smile in her eyes.
Clarke shot a grin straight back at her, and then her smile turned more sincere than happy. The blonde then reached for the buckle on the armor she had almost forgotten she was wearing, clicking it open and laying it carefully to the side. Under Lexa's watchful gaze, Clarke reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it up, straight over her head.
Once it was set aside, the sky girl picked up the gun she had just used to place her markings on Lexa, washed it carefully, and handed it over to the woman opposite her.
"You are mine, Lexa. But in the same way, I am also yours. If you bear the mark of my people, I want to have yours."
Nodding slowly, Lexa allowed her entire being to relax.
Maybe being weak really wasn't so bad.
*kikon keryon - living soul