Shadows

Chapter Eleven

(Clarke's POV)

Clarke hadn't been this nervous in a long time. If she made one wrong move it was game over. Not just for her, but for the entirety of her people. She felt intimidated by everyone in the room, including Lexa. She had forgotten just how scary the Commander could be. Lexa had given a short speech, reminding everyone of how things would proceed, and then she had sat back down, letting the first person speak. Clarke had some difficulty distinguishing between the different clans and made a mental to note to ask Lexa about it later. Right now it didn't really matter who they were, so long as she was able to gain their trust. A large man sitting to the left of Lexa stood up first. He had a long grey beard and small beady eyes.

"I am going to keep this short. With all due respect Heda, I fail to see why those girls are even allowed to sit here with us. All my life I have lived in fear of the Mountain Men, knowing we did not have the power to fight back, and then these sky people show up and finish them off like they were nothing more than a bothersome fly. They should not be trusted. We need to get rid of them before they have a chance to do anymore harm."

He nodded sharply and forcefully sat back down. Clarke risked a glance over at Lexa, but for all that she got back she might as well have just looked at the wall. A young woman with wavy blonde hair and tan skin stood up next. Luna, Clarke breathed a sigh of relief. The young leader made a point of warmly smiling at her before beginning her speech.

"I have not had a chance to talk with the leader of the Skaikru myself, however, I have witnessed something that made me set my mind up about her. I saw her fully willing to sacrifice herself so that her people could be safe. My clan mistakenly captured her and, not knowing who she was, were going to execute her. She never made any desperate pleas for her life, she never told us who she was to save herself, and she was willing to die to save her people. Anyone that shows acts of selflessness like that should be trusted. Clarke and her people have helped us and I believe we would be foolish not to enter into some sort of treaty or peace agreement with them."

She slowly met the eyes of everyone around the table before sitting back down. Clarke let out a breathe she hadn't realized she had been holding. She was extremely thankful that Luna saw their whole incident as an act of sacrifice to save her people, and not what it really was. The rest of the leaders rose and spoke, leaving Clarke and Lexa as the only ones left. So far, three clans were in full support of Skaikru and eight were not. Clarke took her time standing. She stood tall and tried to keep her hands from quivering. This is it.

"Hello, my name is Clarke. Clarke Griffin kom Skaikru. I understand that many of you feel threatened by me and my people. I can see that. I can't imagine what it must feel like to have lived in the shadows of that mountain all your life, only to have a group of people fall from the sky and annihilate them all without a second glance. It must feel scary and I fully understand why you want to kill us all, but please, let me explain our side of the story. We thought the ground was uninhabited, that we were the very last of humankind. Imagine our surprise when we landed here only to find there were other people already on earth. At first glance it seemed we were very different. We were from the sky and you were from the ground. Our clothes, our language, our customs, our views on the world...they all differed so much; but I have come to learn something. We really aren't all that different. We all want safety, we all want to belong, we want to matter, we want to create a better world for everyone, and we all want to be loved. We can all work together to fulfill these things. Please, give us a chance. Just imagine all the good we could accomplish we if are able to work together, if we are able to live together in peace."

Clarke took her time to let her eyes wander to every person in the room. She desperately hoped that had been enough to convince them. She sat back down and Octavia gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Lexa stood once again.