Chapter Text
It wasn’t as if she’d been expecting any different. The Triku delegation had made it the neutral grounds to negotiate, but they were not happy about it. Well, neither was Skaikru. So, again, she wasn’t expecting anything different. The sour faces, the skeptical looks, and especially the glares that Octavia threw her way. It was not a surprise. Even then, however, Clarke felt an uneasiness in her chest that ebbed closer like the tide on a full moon as the progressed through negotiations.
“We have farmers on our own clan,” she spat, “How would merging ours with yours benefit our clan?”
Clarke tried her hardest to not let the disdain show on her face, but sensed that some of it might be seeping through her hard gaze at the black-haired delegate. A pause. “Our farming technologies are solid and proven by science. We can enhance the crops, build special shelters to grow crops during the winter.” This was something that she had already explained.
“So, your people wouldn’t starve.” Octavia said, raising her chin an inch defiantly. Clarke almost sighed in frustration; instead, she drew a breath in and explained that the crops may be enough to supply both clans, but only if they had access to the land and materials they would need to build them. Octavia hesitated for a minute.
“Look, we came down without any knowledge of the existence of people on the ground. We were prepared to use the land as our own—“
“As conquerors—“ Octavia interrupted.
“No, not as conquerors. As settlers. Like the old days. Obviously, that is not the plan anymore, since we have arrived on your land.” Clarke finished explaining, “The ark sent us down with enough supplies to survive, but not to establish ourselves here. We have enough to build shelters, but not permanent ones. We are in late spring. Summer is beginning and before we know it, autumn will be here. My people can survive for six more months on what we’ve been able to accomplish so far, but without proper land accommodations and building supplies, we cannot protect ourselves from winter.” Clarke disliked admitting it, but she needed Triku’s help and their land. “I hate to state the obvious, but I think it needs to be reiterated that we are the ones with something to lose here.” She looked into Octavia’s eyes. She was afraid to seem weak in front of her, simply because she did not want to come off as desperate, at least not desperate enough to let the grounders do whatever they wished. She needed an alliance and a way to unite their clans without upsetting fair balance. A compromise that would ensure they both got a win out of this.
“Octavia pursed her lips and nodded slightly with consideration. “I’ll let my brother know what you’ve brought to the table.” She stood, and everyone else did too. Clarke positioned her shoulders back and held up her head. “There is much to discuss and think about. Are your people in accordance with what you have offered?”
Building materials, seeds, and the permission to expand by quite a few acres. Everything they would need to build a lasting settlement. They would only need to provide workers and engineer trainees for a joint effort in evolving Trikru’s technology.
“They are aware of what this discussion entails.” Responded Clarke. Her people: a bunch of teenagers and a few children who had at one point been criminals in their original society. Some who were starving and some who were sick. This was what Clarke could do for them at this point. Their immune systems had not been prepared for life on the ground, even when they had all been vaccinated and trained for what to expect. Still. 18 of them had died in the last month due to infections and viruses that Clarke had no knowledge of. Things that she had never seen in the Ark. Her heart was heavy with guilt and powerlessness when she thought of all the ones she attempted to save with futile efforts.
Octavia nodded. “I will see you here again in three-days time.”
Clarke nodded back at her. “Safe travels.”
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“You think their commander will accept the terms?” Raven said, after swallowing a mouthful of dried venison. It’s the first question she had gotten about it all day.
“It’s quite possible.” Clarke responded, drinking some tea she had made with herbs found nearby. “Their general, Octavia, seemed like a bitch, but she’s not stupid. She knows we have good things to offer.”
“They might not see it that way. We may be walking into a trap.” Finn said, from the end of the table.
“Maybe,” Monty said, “but at least we tried it.”
Clarke sent a small smile Monty’s way and focused back on her tea. She’d love to have some sugar to tame down the bitterness in it, but this would have to do, for now. They all finished their dinner, cleaned, and packed up for the night, ensuring that no animals would get into their supplies for the trip.
Clarke and Raven went into their tent, while the boys retreated into theirs. They comfortably undressed and set up for bedtime. It was much less awkward now than when Raven had first come down and the love triangle and been exposed. Raven broke it off with Finn a few days after she landed, and Clarke made peace with her by confessing how valuable Raven was to the group. Although Clarke would never trust Finn with her heart again, she knew they could all work together for the better of the group.
“What do you think he looks like?” Raven asked, as she settled down on her sleeping bag.
“Who?” Clarke asked, as she settled down in hers.
“The king.” Raven replied, smirking with her typical sassiness at Clarke. “You think he’s some sexy grounder king? Or maybe a gross, entitled, jerky king?”
Clarke laughed and she looked sideways at her friend, “Well, first of all, he’s not a king. He’s a commander. And second, he’s probably gorgeous, considering how his sister is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”
“Excuse you!” Raven scoffed, smiling from ear to ear, “Who do you think you’re talking to?”
Clarke laughed again and Raven followed.
“Who’s keeping watch?” Clarke asked, yawning. Raven informed her that Finn was out there with one of the guns they’d found in the bunker. Clarke nodded and shortly after, she fell asleep.
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Raven and Clarke spent the day before Octavia was due back bathing in the stream and talking about strategy while the boys did their own thing. She let Raven know her concerns about the logistics of the alliance. Who was to go with Trikru and who was to stay at the dropship. They agreed that Raven and Wells would stay behind to oversee construction of the lodging and settlement while Clarke and Monty would got to Tondc to secure the alliance and begin preparations for the green houses, since Monty was the expert with that one. The groups would split evenly, with the exception of an extra hunting party of 5 people that would stay behind with Raven and Wells.
“It won’t be easy to be away from you,” Clarke confessed to Raven and they both soaked their feet in the stream. Raven nodded slightly and smiled at Clarke.
“I know.” They both laughed, “All jokes aside though, we trust you, Clarke. We know you will do everything in your power to help us survive, and eventually thrive.”
“I promise,” Clarke assured Raven, meeting her beautiful brown eyes. They both seemed to communicate that way and pledge each other their friendship for as long as they would live.
The night seemed to last forever, as Clarke was unable to sleep deeply. They had talked about all the arrangements of the alliance, but they didn’t even know if a deal had been struck yet. And Clarke worried. Anxiety gnawing at her insides and her heart. All she had to do was wait.
The next morning when Octavia’s party arrived, there seemed to be a larger group that the original amount of escorts. Clarke panicked for a second, thinking that they were here to decline the deal and kill them, but Octavia advanced unarmed with two escorts at her heels and stretched her hand out to Clarke after informing her the commander had accepted their terms with some conditions. Clarke shook her hand and began to walk into the tent the grounders had set up a few days prior for negotiations followed by Raven and Monty.
Octavia stopped her, "Could we talk by ourselves today?"
Clarke, Monty, and Raven stopped and exchanged looks of hesitance, but Clarke nodded at them and they receded. Clarke walked in and the sat at the makeshift table specifically made for this dialogue.
They talked about what they had already agreed on and moved on to the new terms commander Blake had sent with his sister.
“His council advised him to accept all other terms with two of his own making.” Octavia explained, “The first is that you will accept some of our people into your settlement. The reasoning behind this is that we want to be sure your people are following through with your commands and building according to the laws of Trikru. The commander also instructed these volunteers were to provide help to your people, as needed, as well as protection from any unforeseen circumstances.”
Clarke processed the statement. “So, they are armed?” she asked, even though she knew the answer.
“Yes,” Octavia answered, “However, they will be proving weapons to your people as well. To prevent unbalanced power.”
Clarke agreed to this after a moment of thought. She was sure her people would be uncomfortable at first, but had to admit that if they wanted a true alliance with Octavia’s clan, they would have to get used to its people and eventually embrace them as their own.
“And the second?” Clarke asked, assuming that this second contingent was just another part of logistics.
Octavia sat still for a second, searching Clarke’s eyes with an intense gaze that made her second guess herself. “It is customary here that clans unite by marriage.” Octavia said simply.
It took a moment for Clarke to decompress and comprehend what Octavia was truly saying.
“Marriage.”
“Yes.” Octavia replied, “One of your leaders with ours. Someone essential to Skaikru.”
There was a long pause from Clarke, and Octavia raised her eyebrows at her, as if expecting an immediate ‘yes.’
“Do your people do this often?” Clarke inquired. Where they trying to trick her? Or was this a tradition, something common between grounders?
“Very.” Came the reply. “Powerful families do it all the time as long as both parties consent.”
Clarke had never considered herself a romantic, especially not since the whole situation with Finn had broken her heart so severely, but somehow this sounded… wrong. How could they expect her to give one of her people to a stranger? Someone they had not fallen in love with? Someone they had not chosen?
“Has your commander determined who would give themselves to this marriage? Willingly, of course.” If they were asking this of one of her people, they were asking this of one of their people as well.
“Yes,” Octavia said, and there was something in her voice, something uncomfortable about the statement she was making, that made Clarke feel like Octavia wasn’t completely on board with the idea either. “The commander himself.”
Clarke drew in a sharp breath, puffing up her chest and squaring her shoulders. She was expecting someone in the higher ranks… but she was not expecting this. If he was willing to put himself out there to make this alliance work, because what else could she make of this? Then, she would have to do the same. Her brain worked fast, as she listed reasons why she had to be the one as well. She was the one they had agreed on sending to Tondc anyways; She was romantically uninvolved, unlike Raven, Wells, or Monty; and she matched the position of leader among Skaikru just like commander Blake did among Trikru.
“Does he have anyone in mind from our clan?” Clarke asked, before she volunteered.
Octavia made a face, raising her eyebrows and looking incredulous, as if she was saying, ‘What do you think?’ and looked Clarke up and down.
Clarke smiled stiffly and let the words come out of her mouth, “Then I would be glad to take the honor.”