"You're letting her cloud your judgement. I am. You are too personally... Here she is." Titus said.
Lexa, Faye and Titus broke up their small conversation when Clarke walked up to them.
"You wanted to see me, Commander?" Clarke said.
"Yes. We need to discuss the fate of the last Mountain Man." Lexa said.
"I believe he deserves death."
"She can speak for herself, Titus." Lexa firmly turned to Clarke.
"Titus is right."
Titus looked over the throne towards Faye. With a proud head he looked back at Lexa. "You see? It is human nature to need vengeance. Only once satisfied, can there be peace. That is our way."
"That was our way." Faye protested. She stepped down to join the rest of them.
"Faye is right. Clarke?" She looked at the girl standing before her. "So, blood must not have blood applied only when it is my people who bleed?"
"That was about stopping a war." Clarke compared. "This is about finishing one. I'm sorry, but if you want my advice, I agree with Titus. He deserves to die for what he did."
"I'm not looking for advice. I'm looking for a decision."
"He was gifted to you." Titus said. "The crime he stands charged with us against your people."
"So, what will it be then, Clarke? Banishment from our lands forever? Or death by 49 cuts from your hand? You have till sundown to decide." With her words, she left.
- - -
"Did you talk to her?" Clarke asked Faye as they listened to the beating drums.
"Of course I did." Faye said. "But not on your behalf." The guards entered, leading Lexa into the room as she walked to the throne.
With a raise of her hand the room was silenced for her. "We come together tonight, as we have countless times before, to watch a man die. Wanheda."
Lexa drew a knife and handed it to a man next to her.
"Vengeance is yours." Of course it was the same knife Faye had given Lexa.
Clarke stepped down. There was a long moment as she took time, considering something to herself. "No." She said, letting everyone know.
Faye turned her head slightly. From the corner of her eye Titus a cocky look of victory.
Clarke faced Emerson. "I don't know if your death would bring me peace. I just know I don't deserve it."
Titus stormed down the steps. "This man must die." He said. "If Skaikru will not take his life, then Heda will."
"Heda will speak for herself." Faye said, stepping down to meet Titus and defend her commander.
"Enough," Lexa said, "Titus."
"What is this?" Emerson asked.
"I wouldn't be killing you for what you've done. I'd be killing you for what I've done. I give this man his life. Blood must not have blood."
Everyone in the room murmured among themselves. Whispering and sending suspicious looks.
"Silence!" Lexa yelled. "The crimes of the Mountain cannot be answered by one man." All the whispers had died. "Wanheda knows this. Her actions show us a promise for a new future. A world in which violence does not always answer violence. A world in which our children can flourish, without the shadow of death."
Nobody chose to say anything against her. Faye watched the silent but mutual exchange of looks between Clarke and Lexa.
"This prisoner is banished from my lands. He will live. But he will live with the ghosts of those he has lost. Haunted until the end of his days by the knowledge that he is the last of his kind."
"May you live forever." Clarke told Emerson.
YOU ARE READING
Atlantis
Fanfiction"I'm sorry, I just can't pretend to be something like that." "But you are something. You are Worheda." Faye kom Trikru will have to put her past behind her to save her future and people.
