A few days later, Lexa informed you that there was to be a feast. She said something about an old Grounder tradition at the first hunt of a new sun. You shrugged and put your armour on as she did. It had taken you a couple of tries to get it almost perfect, but Lexa still had to help you adjust it.

"It's time to put your war paint on for the first time." She tells you and mixes more paint than usual.

"Why now? And the last time I checked, we weren't at war." You ask, taking the bowl from her and starting her paint.

"Because you have armour now."

"But I have been walking around the city for the last week with armour on." You frown in confusion. She smiles and you almost smudge the paint because you didn't expect the response.

"Yes, but this is the first formal occasion to which you are attending since I gave you your armour. Its like a, uhm, that thing you were telling me about when people become a certain age?" She stumbles and you don't know if you'll ever stop finding it cute when she tries to relate her traditions to your own.

"A rite of passage?" She nods and you don't say anything else until you pass her the bowl. "What happens when two warriors get together? How do they know whose paint to wear?" With Octavia and Lincoln it was easy because Octavia wasn't a warrior, and from what you have seen of the Tree People's culture, men and women are seen as equals. It is strength that is the most respected trait.

"Sometimes it is age, others it is strength. Some of the clans we have joined with in the past use a form of marking to keep a track of how many people they have killed, so sometimes they use that. But most of the time, the couple just picks." She tells you, dipping her fingers into the paint before she pulls the corner of her bottom lip in between her teeth and begins painting you. You cannot help the swelling in your heart at the utter concentration in her eyes. You wonder if that is what you looked like the first time that you did her paint. She does one side, then the other, and when she connects the two halves, she smiles. "All mine." You lean forwards to kiss her, but she stops you with a hand on your chest.

"What's wrong?"

"You will smudge it." She frowns.

"You have let me kiss you more times than I can count with your paint on. It's been on my nose, my cheeks, my boobs, and my thighs." You take her hands and you're pretty certain her cheeks redden a little.

"Yes, but this is your day."

"I thought you said that this was some kind of tradition?" You raise an eyebrow and she tries avoid your eyes. "Did you lie to me?"

"Not really, it is a tradition." She sighs and looks up. "But usually it is for a whole class of warriors, rather than just one person."

"Lexa." You coo and pull her hands against your chest.

"I wanted to honour you." Her jaw squares and she swallows hard.

You are about to say something when a general comes in and tells you that it is time for the feast. She straightens your armour one last time, tightens a strap that was loose, and kisses the very tip of your nose. It makes you smile and you take her hand.

You take your seat beside Lexa, overlooking the mass of people who have gathered for a feast in your honour. There will be people all over the city tonight feasting and drinking in your name and you cannot believe how happy it makes you because the Tree People have welcomed you with open arms. To your left is Lexa and to your right is Octavia. Next to Lexa is one of her generals. You look in front of you and easily find your mother, Kane, and Bellamy. Everyone is here, and you have no doubts that Lexa made sure of it.

You certainly don't miss the look your mother gives you when she sees your armour or your face paint. Her eyes widen almost comically and you are glad that there are hundreds of other people around, because you're sure that she wouldn't approve of the choices you have made.

The Commander gestures for everyone to sit while she remains standing, ready to address the people.

"We are all gathered on this night to celebrate Clarke of the Tree and Sky People." She says, speaking first in Trigedasleng and then in English. Lexa looks at you and you take your cue to stand up. There is a loud cheer that the Tree people begin and the Sky people soon join them. "She has trained hard and worked well and I think it is time that we celebrated her progress in becoming a Warrior." Another cheer erupted. "Let us feast and drink, and when we wake, Clarke will be a Warrior." The crowd cheered again and you waved your thanks to them.

"Mochof!" You call and look to Lexa. She motions for you to sit and she follows soon after. Her hand finds yours on the table and you look at her and smile. "Thank you for this." You tell her as people place trays of food in front of you.

"Anything for the Sky Princess." She smiles and for once, you don't hate being called 'Princess'. She brings your hand to her lips and kisses it.

As the night wears on, you watch your friends dancing, drinking and joking with each other. A few people come up and talk to you, but you cannot bring yourself to leave Lexa's side. She keeps smiling at you and you don't want to miss a single one. Her hand doesn't leave yours until Octavia comes up to give her a status report on the watch. She had gone to check up on her squad.

The next time her hand leaves yours, she gets up, puts a hand on your shoulder and whispers that she will be back shortly. She places a quick kiss to your cheek and disappears. You carry on talking with Monty and Jasper who have gotten more and more drunk as the night wore on. They soon leave and you laugh at their hyjinx around the campfire. Your mother is the next to join you.

"I haven't seen you in a long time, Clarke." She smiles tightly at you.

"Please don't try and tell me that I need to start spending more time in Camp Jaha." You turn back to the table and tear off some bread.

"I'm not going to. Lexa came to speak to me a little while ago. She told me how you didn't feel comfortable there anymore. That was the last thing I wanted." Your mum tells you and you are angry for a moment that Lexa felt the need to fight your battles for you, but at the same time you're glad because whatever happened, seemed to have done the trick. "I still don't trust her, Clarke." You go to cut her off but she puts her hand up to silence you. "You, on the other hand, seem to trust her explicitly. That should be enough, right?"

You look at her for a few moments and you can feel the tears welling up in your eyes and a lump forming in your throat, because all you wanted from you mother was for her to just accept that you were capable of making your own choices.

"So you approve of our relationship?" You clarify. She nods.

"Seeing you like this," She gestures to your face paint first, and then your armour, "will take a little bit of getting used to, however. I never thought my daughter would be a Grounder."

"Mom, a few years ago, you never thought that any of us would see the ground." You laugh and she smiles. The two of you chat like old times. Like you were still on the Arc and none of the bad things had happened.

A short while later, Lexa appears in the centre, right next to the campfire. As people notice her, they quieten down and your mother takes your hand and grins at you. You look at her quizzically until the Commander starts talking.

"People of the Sky, People of the Trees." She speaks as she did earlier, first in Trigedasleng and then in English. "It is with great pleasure that you all bear witness to this moment. It is not one that I take lightly, but begin with great pride." You look around and see slight confusion on everyone's faces, but your friends and mother. Lexa looks at you and you raise your eyebrow, assuming this has something to do with you. She seems to take a breath to collect herself before addressing her people once more.

"As many of you know, our relationship with the Sky People has been a difficult one. We waged war against each other when we did not understand one another. We aligned with the Sky People, only to leave them for dead at the doors of Mount Weather. But you all know that the Sky Princess found it in her heart to forgive us and led us all towards another alliance which has proven to be prosperous for both sides. The Sky People are Tree People now, as we are Sky People." When there were no sounds of disapproval, Lexa smiled at you. It was a full smile and your heart skittered in your chest, because Lexa's smile was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen. And this was the first time that she had allowed her smile free outside of her tent. Octavia stood and joined the Commander. In her hands was something wrapped in a red cloth.

"Over the last few months, the Sky Princess and I have gotten a lot closer. I have honoured her as well as I know how. I have tried to join our traditions as well as I could. The traditional show of strength for the Tree people is to hunt the biggest animal you can and to present it to your partner. I knew that Clarke would not appreciate this, so instead, I showed my strength by training her to be a Warrior." Your heart leapt into your throat as you start to put the pieces of the last seven months together.

"Mum?" You whisper as she grasps your hand tighter, smiling and nodding towards the campfire as Octavia stepped up to address the crowd.

"Do all present find this an acceptable way to honour Clarke of the Sky and Tree people?" You could see that Octavia could barely hide her grin as she took in the resounding cheers from the people. To your surprise, your mother joined in.

You chanced a look at Lexa and she gave you the half grin that you used to get so infuriated by, but now love because it means that she knows she has done something right.

"I have gifted the Sky Princess with many things. Clothes to her taste, one of my finest horses, my very first training sword and a full set of armour. I have one final gift to give her." Lexa turned to Octavia who handed her the red package before coming up to you and taking your hand. You look up at her and she looks so happy to have been given this part in the biggest moment of your life. You let her lead you around the table and up to Lexa who has unwrapped the gift. She kneels before you and presents you with a sword sheathed in an intricately designed leather scabbard. You look at the handle and it is a work of art, not unlike the scabbard, with gold artwork woven into the leather. The Commander pulls it out a little way and you are beyond knowing what makes a good quality blade, but you have to assume that it is.

"Do you accept this gift, Clarke of the Tree and Sky People?" Lexa asked. You swallow hard and try to swallow back the tears that are threatening before you answer.

"Of course." She stands and tells you to turn, before removing your training blade from your armour and attaching the new one.

When you turn back to her, you swear you see tears in her eyes, which you know match your own. She clears her throat, eyes never leaving yours as Octavia addresses the crowd again, asking them if the gifts that their Commander has given you are enough to honour you. You barely register the sounds of cheering as she steps closer to you. Her breath tickles your face as you lose yourself in her eyes. You don't care that there is an entire army around you watching. Neither does she apparently.

"Heda?" Octavia prompts. She blinks a little and if it wasnt for the orange glow of the fire, you know her cheeks would be tinted slightly red. "They approve." She informed and backed away.

"Mochof, Okteivia." Lexa took your hand and knelt again in front of you. Her eyes were the only thing that gave away her nervousness as she looked up at you. You tried to smile reassuringly at her, but you knew you were crying and it probably looked more like a grimace. "I have been advised by your people on this next part, because this is a tradition that your people take part in. It is strange for my people and even more foreign for me as Commander." She looks down and takes a deep breath before returning her eyes to yours.

"Clarke, from the moment I first met you, I knew that you were a force to be reckoned with. You are so strong and intelligent. You led your people with both your head, and your heart and it made you an astounding leader. And I fell in love with you right away. I told you that love was weakness all that time ago, but you have shown me that love is the greatest strength that one can possess." She holds out her hand and Octavia places something in it. "Clarke, I want to live the rest of my days by your side. You challenge me like no other ever has. You push me to do better and to be better for our people. Please, will you do me the honour of marrying me? Of bonding with me?" She holds a ring up to you. It is a plain metal band, but you don't care. You are crying at full force now, but you don't miss a beat before giving her your answer.

"Sha! Sha, Leksa!" You pull her up to you and wrap her arms around her neck. She buries her face into your hair and you can feel her shoulder shaking as she begins to cry. Neither of you care about the state of your face paint at the moment, because this is actually happening.

Lexa set all of this up for you. She thought to ask someone about Sky People's tradition and you bet that it was Octavia. Lexa cared enough about you to risk her position as Commander by making herself appear weak in front all of her people, and whatever visitors they had at the time, by bearing all of her feelings to you to honour one of their own traditions. She could have just not asked to marry you, but she thought that you were worth the risk.

"Ai hod yu in, Leksa." You tell her as you pull away from her. She sobs and smiles, taking your cheeks in her hands to kiss you with force.

Neither of you noticed that the people were cheering or coming up to you both until Octavia put her hand on your shoulder, as she gently reminded the Commander that she needed to put the ring on your finger. You saw her blush that time as you held your hand out for her. The next thing you knew, your mother was beside you talking to Lexa.

"Thank you for your help, Abby." She says, offering a hand for your mother to shake but she just ignored it and pulled Lexa into an awkward hug.

"You know, you will probably have to start calling me 'mom' soon!" The horrified look on Lexa's face was enough to make you laugh.

"With respect, Abby of the Tree and Sky people, I had a Mother and she has now passed. In our culture it is disrespectful to address anyone else otherwise, especially after death." You take Lexa's hand and stand beside her. "It is not something I am willing to compromise on."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I have yet to learn about a lot of your customs." She back tracks a little, "I didn't mean to offend you in any way. I didn't know about this. I apologise. You can just call me Abby then. I won't have any of this 'Sky and Tree People' stuff though." Your mom offers Lexa a warm smile and another hug after Lexa reassures her that she is forgiven.

"She came to you for help?" You ask, kind of shocked that Lexa had been to your mother of all people. She just nodded proudly until the Commander spoke up.

"I did go to Octavia, but she informed me that Sky People tradition dictated that I ask your father for your hand in marriage. However, since that was not possible, your mother was the alternative. We argued it out and Abby finally came around." Lexa told. Your mother soon dismissed herself, wishing you both to enjoy the rest of the night, but she had patients to tend to, so she had to leave. When she was out of earshot, you turn to your fiancée.

"You lied to her."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She says in between polite nods and thanks for well wishes.

"The Tree People thing about their parents." You raise an eyebrow at her. "I could tell by your tone of voice. Lying is not something you do well."

"My mother is dead." She smirks at you quickly before returning her attention to the people. Most of them were leaving, but there were still a fair few that wanted to see the party through to the end.

"She will find out eventually, and when she does, I will not protect you." You kiss her cheek and she laughs at you again. "I'm mad at you by the way." Lexa's head whipped around so fast that you honestly thought that it would fly off her shoulders.

"Why?" her eyes widened almost comically and you reach into your pocket.

"You beat me to it." You pull out a ring almost identical to the one that she had given you and slip it onto her finger.

xx

It is another few hours before everyone starts heading back to their tents. You and Lexa have been sat on a log next to the fire for as long as you care to remember. Her arm wrapped itself around you as you leaned into her shoulder. That is where you stayed. You joined in with any conversation that was directed at you, but for the most part, you were content to just sit in her embrace.

Her hand began stroking your arm slowly and eventually, when you assume her arm got a little tired, it slipped down around your waist and stroked your side. You had both abandoned your armour a little while ago. It had been left with Lexa's guard who had strict instruction to take it back to her tent and place it with the utmost care onto the mannequins.

You find it incredibly hard to stop playing with the ring on your finger, and whenever Lexa noticed, she kissed your hair and took your hand in hers for a while until she needed it again. You knew that Octavia would give you two hell tomorrow for being too cute where people could see you, but tonight, you didn't care and you knew that Lexa didn't either. Tomorrow might be another matter, but it didn't bother you.

Eventually, when you are confident that there are very few people around and Lexa is just staring into the fire, you tilt your head upwards a little so that you have the perfect view of the impossibly soft skin on her neck. You bring your lips to it and kiss it softly. Her breath catches in response, so you suck a little and let your tongue flick across the skin.

"What are you doing, Clarke?" She hums, running her fingers through your hair after you have sucked a couple of marks into her neck.

"Nothing." You whisper into her ear and suck on the lobe. She shivers and you know that it's not from the cold. "I love the taste of your skin." You whisper again before nipping the fleshy skin.

"Thanks, I grew it myself." She laughs, but you don't stop. "Clarke," She warns, her voice having gotten a few octaves lower.

"Yeah?" Your hand comes up to her cheek to tilt her head to the side a little so you have better access to her jaw so you can kiss and nip your way along it. She swallows hard before answering.

"We need to go back to the tent." You tilt her mouth down to yours and connect your lips. Your tongues meet and she immediately lets you into her mouth and you know you have won whatever subtle war you decided to wage. When you eventually let her explore your mouth, you suck on her tongue and she moans into your mouth. "Damn it, Clarke." She pants, resting her forehead against yours.

"I'm innocent in all of this." You stand and hold your hand out to her. She glares softly before taking it. You tug at her sharply and she falls into your arms. "You're just so tempting, Lexa." You mumble against her lips before claiming them in a rough embrace, your teeth clashing with hers, but neither of you care.

Soon, she pulls away from you and starts leading you back to the tent. But you don't have enough patience to wait until you get back there. Not when you are following behind her and her ass is swaying from side to side. You know that she isn't doing it on purpose, but in those tight black pants, they frame it perfectly. You dig your heels in the ground and she looks back at you.

"What's wrong?" her brow furrows in confusion, her lips parted slightly and the light tint to her cheeks is the only thing that give her level of arousal away. You close the distance between you two and push her against a nearby wall to some old building that is falling down. You kiss her harshly, but as soon as she comes to her senses, she flips you over and presses into you. "You're not playing fair, Clarke." She bites your lower lip and pushes her thigh between your leg. You gasp against her. Her lips are at your ear before you can really register it. "Do you know how badly I want you right now?"

You can't help the moan that pulls from your throat when her hands bring both of yours above your head.

"What I wouldn't give to be able to have you right here where everyone can see how desperate you are." Lexa tells you, applying more pressure with her thigh. "You should know better than to toy with me when I can't do anything about it."

"You want me to apologize?" you grit out. She holds both of your hands in one and runs her finger slowly down your neck. Your body wants to surge forwards into her, you shiver at her touch and feel goosebumps erupt in her wake.

"No. I want you back in that tent. Now." She growls and your knees turn to jelly.

"Why not here, now?" You whimper as the very last atom of upper hand that you had over her falls.

"Because our people could catch us, and I am not prepared for that." Lexa pulled away from you and immediately, you felt like someone had dumped you in the middle of the coldest winter known to man. You needed to be near to Lexa. Her warmth was incomparable.

You catch up with her and join your hands, leaning into her side. She walks a bit faster and you don't complain. Her tent has never seemed as far away as it does right now.

When you finally reach the tent, Lexa holds the door open for you, following closely behind. The flaps barely have time to shut before she is pressed against your back, her arms around you and her mouth on your neck. She bites down and you know that she is trying to commit her payback for earlier. But she won't succeed.

You turn in her embrace and wrap your arms around her neck. You kiss her softly and you feel the tension between the two of you all but disappear.

"We're getting married." You grin against her lips.

"I could think of worse people to be married to," She smiles back playfully and your heart clenches at the echo of words that you once said to her, "ai Heda." Lexa whispers before connecting your lips once more. Your breath catches at the meaning behind her words and you barely noticed that she pulled back a little to begin freeing both of you of your clothes.

When you feel a tugging at your arms as she lifts your shirt, you look at her and her eyes are so open and raw, so full of emotions that she used to swear that she would never feel. You just want to crumble. You want to take her up in your arms and protect her, but you know that she doesn't need you to. She is the Commander of the the Grounder army. The fiercest, most ruthless leader that you have ever heard of.

And she is yours.

Her lips are on your skin again and your whole body shivers. She feels it and smirks against you. All thoughts of love and romance flee from your mind, replaced with one desire. The desire to wipe the smirk off of her face and to replace it with with a creased brow and cries of your name.

You turn the tables on her, taking away what control she thought she had. You push her backwards until the backs of her knees touch the bed you had made her install. It was causing havoc on your back to sleep on the hard ground all of the time. You kiss her as you work on undoing her belt. She turns to putty in your hands when you move your tongue just right.

You push her down and she bounces a little and you cannot help but let your eyes focus on her chest. She catches your gaze and raises her eyebrow.

"You have the rest of our lives to gaze at my breasts, Clarke." Lexa reaches out for you and pulls you down on top of her.

"Well if you want to use that logic, then I have the rest of our lives to have sex with you, so shall we call a rain check on tonight?" You make a move to get up and fake a yawn, "I am feeling pretty tired." She grabs your hand and pulls you back, her hands gripping themselves into your hair as she brings your lips together once again.

It's all you need to unleash your desire upon her.

You kiss down her body, easily finding the spots that make her toes curl each and every time. She is squirming and moaning against you by the time you reach your destination. You pull away to give her a brief reprieve and she sits up, resting her weight on her elbows.

"You are beautiful." you tell her. She blinks a couple of times before cupping your head and guiding it to where she wants it. Her leg lifts onto your shoulders and you groan when you smell her dripping sex.

You press into her and take a long lick through her folds. She breathes your name and you look up at her while you suck on her engorged clit. Her head falls backwards as you tease her entrance with your fingers. Her chest is flushed red as it heaves. Her heel digs into your back when you slowly push two fingers into her.

"Oh, Clarke!" Her hips cant forwards and you redouble your efforts on her clit, flicking over it with your tongue, tracing patterns across it. Her pussy clenches around you, her hands trying to find purchase on the furs beneath her. One tangles itself in the bedding while the other falls across her face when your fingers curl upwards, hitting the rough patch of nerves within her.

Her moans get louder as you fingers move faster. She's close, you can feel it. Your jaw is starting to ache, but you don't mind. It will be worth it to see her fall apart.

"Clarke," she whimpers, unable to control her body anymore. You move your other arm from around her thigh and grab her hand when she starts to quiver as her orgasm hits her. Her hips push into you and her back arches. Her hand grips yours impossibly tight and you want to cry out from the pressure of her heel digging into your back.

You feel her wetness coat your fingers and smile against her while you stroke her down. You don't remove your fingers, instead giving one last kiss to her clit and leave a trail wet open mouthed kisses up her body, her leg making no attempt to leave your shoulder. Your fingers continue to move slowly. You lift her arm away from her face and she blinks up at you. She's breathing hard and she's struggling to focus her eyes on you.

Slowly, you ease a third finger into her and she lets out the dirtiest, loudest groan that you have ever heard leave her lips. You rest your forehead against hers, teasing her lips with your own as you draw your fingers out to the tips, before languidly returning them into her tight, clenching heat.

"Beja, Heda Klark," Lexa whines in her sensitivity.

"Tell me, Lexa." You finally take her lower lip between your teeth and bite down gently as you tug on it.

"Faster, beja!" Her voice holds tones of certain desperation and you are happy to oblige.

With renewed strength in your arm, that had started to tire, you drive your fingers into her at a speed and force that is only accomplished because of the gain in strength now that you are a warrior. You are thankful for it. Her hands cling to your back and her nails break through your skin. The leg that isn't hooked over your shoulder, spreading her even wider for you, wraps over your hip. It's not going to be much longer before she is coming undone beneath you.

"Let go, Lexa." You breathe against her and she's gone. "That's it." You gently guide her through her release and her body quakes before going limp. You allow yourself to be smug as you take your fingers out of her and lick them clean. She struggles to keep her eyes open to watch you as your mouth wraps around your fingers.

"Don't look so self-satisfied." she mutters, arching her back to stretch. You move her leg from your shoulder and place it on the bed slowly, sure that it would probably be a bit sore by now.

"Why not?" You press your body down against her and stroke her cheek.

She sighs from tiredness, "Because I have done this to you a lot of times." She turns on her side, effectively pushing you off of her, before she curls into your side. A few moments pass and you think she has fallen asleep, but then she speaks again. "I'm really going to miss this."

"What?" You sit up and look at her face, forcing her to jolt awake.

"Well a tradition of the Tree People is that, after having agreed to bond with each other, after the initial sex the couple might have if they choose to, they agree to not be intimate with each other again until their bonding ceremony.. which is typically three months later." Her voice is sleepy, but very serious.

"You're kidding right? Because, like, I don't want to complain or anything but you came twice and you're about to pass out and I'm turned on here, Lexa. I don't think I can go three months without sex. Normally I wouldn't care, but three months, Lexa. I like sex. I especially like sex with you!" You ramble because seriously, someone could have warned you about it. She just looks at you, her expression void of any kind of emotions. You lean over her and make her look in your eyes. "Listen to me, Lexa, can we at least touch ourselves? Because if not, you get super grumpy and I get really angry, so maybe we should just not see each other until we get married."

Lexa shakes her head and gets up to get a drink, assuming that she isn't going to get the sleep that she so desperately wants. But you need answers.

"Lexa?" She ignores you, gulping down a cup of water. "Please answer me?"

"Do you want a drink?" she rolls her eyes at you.

"I want you to fuck me, that's what I want." You say in a frustrated sigh and let a small hopeless whimper leave your lips. She comes up to you with a cup in her hand and stands between your legs. You bury your nose in her stomach and her hand strokes through your hair.

"Clarke, look at me." she tells you, tugging gently on your hair to get your attention. You take one last deep breath from her skin and look up at her. "I was joking." She smiles, proud at herself for finally making an effective joke. It takes a few seconds for her words to finally sink in.

"You are not getting any from me for at least a week." You mumble and fall backwards against the bed.

"Any what?" Her brow furrows in confusion as she takes her place on top of you, and you know that you won't push her off.

"Sex. It's a phrase." You explain and try to ignore her lips on your skin. Lexa laughs and her warm breath against you makes your skin break out in goosebumps.

"Sure." Is all she says before a moan breaks free from your lips.

The passion only seemed to escalate from there. The night didn't end until the sun had begun to rise and the birds began to chirp outside the tent. You and Lexa were spent, laying haplessly over each other; legs tangled and fingers intertwined. The only thing going through your mind as you drifted to sleep, was that you could not wait for the rest of your lives together now that you had found true happiness. Now that you had found Lexa.

As you about to succumb to sleep, you couldn't help the white hot flash of panic that tore through you.

All of this could be taken away in an instant the next time war comes.

The End… Sadly