Lexa's Story

They didn't call me a leader at first. At first I was just a girl, a girl who lived in the valley. Who gathered nuts from the tops of trees and tricked boys into trouble. I loved life in the valley, it was so small however, and one scrape on my knee changed my life forever. I was pulled away from my parents, taken here, to Polis, at the age of six. It all happened so suddenly.

2 year old Lexa's POV

My mom watches over me carefully as I struggle to walk in front of her. I have to learn though, I can't be weak out here. Weakness gets you killed, as my mother always says. So I keep walking, one foot in front of the other towards home. We walk further from home and back everyday, teaching me the way home so I'd never get lost when I start running.

3 year old Lexa's POV

I am pretty good on my feet, running around with my friends with our parents watching from a distance. For a rambunctious kid, I never get hurt. No one starts warrior training until they're six, for now we are to pick berries and nuts with our parents and learn our way around plants. Learning the difference between poison and food. 

I touch the giant oak tree with my soft, bare hands. Its leaves shiver way above my head. One day I'll climb to your leaves, I think as stare up to the sky. My mom calls my name, forcing me to run back home. 

Author's Note: I do not know tridasleng (like most people) so therefore most dialogue is in english 

"This time I made Lexa's favorite, tomorrow will be your's" I walked into a conversation between my mother and older brother, Kasio. My brother is six and recently began warrior training. Like most children, he doesn't have commander blood so he trains at the village square. I like watching sometimes, even though it scares me when they spar.

"Yay!" I love the way mom cooks the pork perfectly and puts just the right amount of berries in my favorite meal. After awhile however, I find out what she had to trade to get the meat and begin to feel bad. I don't want to eat something if it costs my mom her favorite beads or an entire necklace. I make up for it by "perfectly" handcrafting new beads for her to use. A couple weeks later I hand over a dozen wooden beads.

"These are perfect!" Mother exclaims as she rolls a lumpy bead in between her fingertips. 

"Thank you! I'll go make more so you don't have to!" I am so glad she likes them, maybe I can be a beads-maker instead of a warrior. I don't like fighting that much.

"How about you come help me pick nuts and I'll teach you to climb instead?" Mother always has the best ideas. I take her hand and she leads me near the giant oak tree. After a few minutes of walking we arrive at the practice trees, small trees with carved out footholds for beginners. My mom stands next to the smallest tree as I attempt to climb it. My strength isn't very good so I can't quite pull myself up to the branch right above my head.

4 year old Lexa's POV

I run as fast as I can towards the tree before leaping up to the first branch. I grab on and pull myself up. I take a moment to calm my breathing before continuing up the tree. At the top, where only the lightest can sit, I pluck the unripe nuts and drop them below. When I finish, I make my way down the tree just the way mom taught. I gather up the nuts and put them into my new satchel I earned for becoming four. Even though everyone gets one, I feel special as it bounces off my hip when I run. I dump out the contents of my bag on the dusty wooden floor. All the rotten and defected ones are set aside, the rest I leave for mother to split for me. 

The horn blares throughout the village, everyone runs calmly to the fog shelter. The fog kills anyone caught in its way. Luckily there are caves and tunnels everywhere to take shelter in. I am not to enter the tunnels however, my mom doesn't want me caught by the reapers that haunt them. We all stand shoulder to shoulder and wait for the fog to quietly pass. When it dissipates after a couple hours we all put in effort to push back the heavy metal door that had been pulled shut with a vine rope.

I breathe deeply through my nose and release the clean air through my mouth. My brown hair is knotted up from being pressed together in the shelter so I head home to get it brushed. Everyone is walking back to their task they'd left behind. I run into a sluggish Kasio on the way back, he hasn't been acting like himself lately.

"Hey."

"Hey." He isn't usually quiet. I want to know why.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Why isn't making comments about me? 

"You're acting like you ate Jobee nuts earlier." He doesn't answer. "Wait, did you?"

"No! I'm just nervous, ok? I have to spar tomorrow,"

"No way! Kasio nervous? I have got to get this down on paper, this is a once in a lifetime moment." I tried making him laugh but he just focused straight ahead. "You can do it, can't you? You've been training for a while now."

"Yeah sure." We walk the rest of the way in silence.

5 year old Lexa POV

If you have the blood of the commanders, no matter how old, you are taken to Polis. My mother sometimes speaks of an older sister I once had. The commander's spirit didn't choose her during the conclave however. Mom always speaks of the different commanders. Ice Nation has killed most of the commanders, only one recently made it past year 2 command, Polis is running out of nightbloods so my mom says scouts will arrive soon to collect more.

I don't understand why some are afraid of the scouts until they arrive. They have no hair on their heads, instead tattoos cover most of them. Most of our village is made up of nightbloods, I know because I'm the only kid who doesn't get hurt. Mom tells me to head to the trees and to stay until they leave. I know better than to disobey and climb as fast as possible into the cover of the fall leaves.

It's dark when mother appears at the base of my tree. "They're gone, it's okay to come down now." I hesitantly lowered myself onto the ground.

"Why did I have to hide? Do all the children hide?" We are cleaning up after dinner when I finally ask the question that I've been wondering the past couple of days.

"No, just you, because you have the blood of the commanders."

"Then we should go to Polis!"

"That's not how it works, honey."

"But it's my birthright!" 

"Listen. They'll turn you into a killer, which I know you aren't"

"I won't be a killer, I might be commander! The commander isn't a killer."

"There are things you don't understand about becoming the commander, things I can't teach you right now. I can tell you this," She bends down to my level and holds my skinny, yet muscly arms. "It isn't as simple as being chosen, you have to fight to be commander."

"Fight? How? Like spar?"

"No, Fight until someone dies." My eyes glaze over at the thought of killing someone. I've seen death before, death is common around here. But I haven't seen someone be killed. I shiver and back away from my mom.

6 year old Lexa's POV

There is no way I am going to let Joa {joe-ah} win this hunt. I run as fast as I can and jump as high as possible over the log that was rigged with a surprise. I land on the other side and turn to watch this amazing moment. Joa jumps over the log with no problem but runs directly into the tripwire, pulling it away from the nearby tree. It triggers the lever quickly and when Joa lands the wood claw swings out in front of him with a handful of the grossest bugs I could find. He bounces backward too late and gets a face full of bugs. I fall over laughing at the fact that my revenge trap worked. Joa had pushed me into the river a month ago and all my previous traps had failed, so I was overjoy to discover the best way to get back at someone.

"Eww," Joa gags.

"Got you back!" I can't stop laughing.

"Not cool, at least the water I pushed you in was clean."

"You still soaked my clothes, and this was payback." I giggle.

I run to my favorite giant oak tree like I do everyday. Mom forbade me from trying to climb it, especially with the scouts around again. Ice Nation got to the commander again.  I need so badly to climb it though, I know I can make it to the bottom branch. I back up until I bump into a tree behind me. I run as fast as possible, and then I run up the tree and grab the bottom branch, which is at least six feet off the ground. I have my arms and legs barely wrapped around the branch and try to lift myself on top like I do on the smaller trees. I can't grip this tree like the others, the branch is too thick for my short arms and I begin sliding. I'd never fallen from a tree before, I began to panic and reach for the ground that was an entire two feet under me and at the same time hold on to the branch. 

My arms finally gave out and I fell. I landed on my knees and yelped in pain. The impact sent a surge throughout my entire body. I begin to cry as I bring my legs in front of me. My legs were scraped up for once and my knee was gushing blackness. I tried to stand to get home but my legs throb and grow into searing pain when I try to walk. So I stay seated and hope someone finds me.

Someone finds me, except I don't want him to find me, because I am bleeding the blood of the commanders. "Come on, my dear, I'll help you home." The scout helps to my feet and brings me home. "And what is your name?" He's a lot nicer than I had imagined. I pictured the scouts to be heartless monsters who kidnapped children. 

"Lexa," 

"Go pack your things Lexa, you must come with me," but I don't want to go, I'll never see the valley or mom, or the giant oak tree. I'll never get to trick Joa again, Kasio will be lonely with no little sister to pester from his grave. I can't go, I won't go, I have to hide.

I can't run, I can barely walk. I must find mom. I limp to the bedroom. "Mom," my voice is shaky and weak from being scared.

"oh dear what happened?"

"I'm so sorry," I cried, "I just wanted to climb the giant oak tree." I said in between sobs, wishing I could go back. "The scout found me." I see the fear in my mom's eyes before I bury my face in her clothing. I hear her whisper underneath her breath but I'm too busy crying to understand what she says. "I don't want to go," I sniffle in between cries, trying to control my emotions.

"You have to be strong now," my mom crouches down and holds my head in her hands. "You can do this." She wipes my tears away and looks me directly in the eyes. "You are strong."

"But what if I'm not? What if it was all an act?" I have no tears left, I've always pretend to be stronger than anyone else so that no one messed with me, I don't know if I'm strong enough to be in the conclave with other competitors that started a lot younger than me.

"Sshh... don't think like that now." The scout who'd found me and two others walked into the room. "Okay, it's time," I could see my mom trying to fight back tears. "Listen-listen very closely, don't let them turn you into something you're not. I-I love you honey." She wraps her arms around me and holds on tightly before letting go completely. "Goodbye, my dear."