It had taken three days until Cattleya woke up with a jolt. "Hey, hey. Calm down." Lincoln forced her to lay back down on his bed. "How are you feeling?"

"My head is pounding. My face hurts. My chest fucking hurts! Did you lay bricks on me?" Lincoln chuckled as he handed her a cup of water. "What the hell happened? How did we escape?"

"Octavia gave her people jobi nuts." Cattleya noticed a small smile form on Lincoln's face as he looked down at her sleeping on his cave floor. "Octavia's a smart girl." Cattleya let out a small laugh only to have pain run through her body.

"She is." A silence developed in the small cave.

"I've been training her." Lincoln mumbled out.

"To be a healer?"

"A warrior." Cattleya scoffed.

"Well, if she wants to be a warrior let her be trained by a proper one." She laughed at Lincoln but, again, stopped when a sharp pain ran up her body.

"You would train Octavia?" Lincoln genuinely asked.

"I could help." Cattleya corrected. "At least one of their people could learn something." She rose from Lincoln's bed, carefully stepped over Octavia and began to gather her belongings.

"Their people want peace."

"Their people?" Cattleya scoffed.

"Finn." Lincoln specified. "He said he will get their leader to side with him."

"Bellamy won't listen. He's too stubborn."

"Not Bellamy. The girl, Clarke."

Cattleya heavily sighed. "Look, I've tried what I can to get them to trust me and this is how they repay me. Maybe some people shouldn't be saved."

"You don't mean that."

"I don't, I don't know...I know that the Clans want them dead because they're scared. Because now we know they actually exist and there's no going back." She took a breath in. "If they want peace, we need Anya." She looked down at her bandaged arms and shook her head.

"She won't want to make peace if she sees me like this. My face probably doesn't look its best right now either."

"Do remember anything that happened in there?"

"No. I was in locus...why?" Lincoln took a moment as he looked around the room as if he was searching for the words to say next.

"...Cattleya, you died." Cattleya only stared at him; well, she didn't expect him to say that!

"What do you mean I died?"

"That's why you have the gauzes on your arms." She looked down at her forearms and noticed both of forearms covered in blood spotted gauzes. "Bellamy used the poisoned blade I stabbed the Finn with to cut you...but, he also brought you back."

What was she supposed to do with that information. Was she surprised he went as far as to kill her? No. But bring her back? That's new. Why did he bring her back? What did he gain from it?

"Anya is definitely not going to negotiate-"

"Then don't tell her, you have to convince her."

"She's my leader-"

"She'll listen to you, she always does." Lincoln begged Cattleya. Cattleya knew Anya would listen to what she had to say, but making peace with the people who tortured-no, killed her second was asking too much. It would make Anya look weak and gullible.

"I'll see what I can do."

Lincoln sighed, "If we meet, they ask for no weapons."

"Now you're asking for a miracle." She scoffed.

♾

It was mid-day when Cattleya left Lincoln's cave, and nightfall had come when she had reached camp. Cattleya walked through camp ignoring every stare she received as she approached Anya's tent. Anya's guard immediately stopped her when she tried to enter.

"I am Cattleya of the Tree People, her Second in Command. Let me in." Cattleya commanded.

"Cattleya?" Anya asked in disbelief. She rushed out her tent to find confirmation. Anya was convinced that the Sky People had killed her. She had been gone for so long. "Let her in." The guards didn't move in their stubborn protection of Anya. "Let her in. Now." The guards moved and Cattleya followed Anya in her tent.

The fire inside of Anya's tent shone a light on Cattleya's battered face and bandaged arms. Anya grit her teeth. "I will make them pay for what they did to you."

"No. I don't want vengeance."

"They hurt my Second...my family. We must have blood!" Anya yelled.

"I'm still alive and breathing. No blood needs to be spilled." Anya smashed her fist against her desk.

"They already spilled it." Convincing Anya that the Sky People want peace would be just as hard as she thought. If not harder.

"They want peace." Anya laughed aloud.

"Are you crazy? Have they drugged you?"

"No." Cattleya said. They had poisoned her but it was better if Anya didn't know that. "Their leader wants to make peace between the Tree People and Sky People."

"Cattleya, have you seen the bruises on face and your arms? How could those people talk about peace when they have tortured you?" Anya argued.

"They did it to protect their people. Like we would have." Cattleya argued back. "They are ignorant people who knew nothing about our society. How could we slaughter them, if we haven't even given them a chance? Anya, I'm not asking for anything permanent. They only want to talk. They have medicine, farmers and more from their people in the Sky. The Sky People's leader, Clarke, gave me her word that they will help us when they come down."

"Before or after they tortured you?" Anya snapped. "Or, before or after they burned a whole village." Cattleya had no idea what she was talking? "You don't know, do you? They sent three fires flying down on small village earlier this week." The rockets. Shit.

"That wasn't their intentions. Please, if they want peace, they will help us. And, if not then I will help you plan for war. I know their weaknesses." Cattleya stated.

"I expect nothing less. You will help destroy the Sky People once they have betray us."

"If they betray us." Cattleya corrected.

"Either one." Anya heard. "If we talk, we talk at first light and at first light only at the bridge." Anya sternly stated. "Send that to those Sky People. If they cannot make it, we declare war."

"They also ask no weapons." Anya scoffed.

"I won't need one if you're there." Cattleya nodded before turning to leave Anya's tent until she had called her name. "I'm glad you're back." Anya sincerely stated.

♾

Cattleya rode on her horse, Patroclus, to Lincoln's cave. The sun was beginning to brighten the sky once again. "Lincoln." Cattleya called him from her horse. A few seconds later, Lincoln emerged from his cave with Octavia right behind him. Octavia gasped at the sight of Cattleya's white horse. "She agreed but only tonight at the bridge." She spoke in English so they both could understand but she reverted back to Trig. "If they don't show, Trikru has declared war."

"Did she agree to no weapons?" Lincoln's asked. Cattleya nodded her head. She turned her head towards Octavia.

"You need to hurry and tell Finn before your time runs out." Cattleya told her before turning Patroclus back towards camp. She gave him a small kick and rode back.

At camp, Anya was preparing her warriors for their worst case scenario. Cattleya may believe the Sky People but she didn't. Anya will kill them if she even sees them flinch. Anya heard Patroclus approaching the camp and she quickly sent her warriors off to meet at the bridge.

Cattleya hopped off Patroclus and tied his reigns to a post. She walked to her tent preparing herself for the meeting: Cattleya braided a single braid starting from her hairline down her back. Then, Cattleya opened a small bag of black ash and painted her face. One long, thick streak across her eyes and a three lines going down: one over her right eye, one down the middle of her face and another over her left.

Once she finished her face and hair, Cattleya put her on jacket and gathered her weapons but Bellamy had taken her daggers, again. Her father's sword and her a few small knives would have to do; Cattleya sat on her cot as she sharpened her sword and dagger blades with a smooth rock. Cattleya used to love watching her parents sharpen their farm tools. She loved the way it glistened in the light and the sound it made would put her to sleep.

The flap to her tent was lifted and Anya's face poked through. "It's time." Cattleya placed her sword back in its cover and followed Anya to the horse stables. Lincoln stood by Patroclus petting him.

"Are they ready?" Cattleya asked him.

"As ready as they can be." Lincoln continued to pet her horse.

"I'm assuming you're riding with me?" Cattleya jokingly smiled at him as he smiled back.

"Anya wouldn't let me ride with her." He joked back. Cattleya rolled her eyes and climbed on Patroclus before Lincoln climbed on behind her.

♾

Bellamy thought it was stupid and reckless trying to make peace with the Grounders. Especially, after the Grounder escaped from their camp with Cattleya. Bellamy knew if the Grounder went back to his people with a dying Cattleya, they would want nothing more than to kill his people. Peace was out the question, yet here he was hiding in the trees with guns in his hands, trying to make peace. "Someone's coming." He stated.

"What's Octavia doing here?" Jasper asked.

Through the eye piece of his gun, Bellamy spotted the escaped Grounder running to Octavia with open arms. He watched Octavia happily jump into his arms making Bellamy place his finger on the trigger. He knew then that Octavia helped the Grounders escape. "I guess we know how they got away." Raven said aloud.

Bellamy continued to watch through the eyepiece as a Grounder warrior emerged from the forest on a white horse. Immediately, Bellamy recognized the paint on the Grounder warrior. "Cattleya." He whispered.

"How the hell is she still standing?" Raven asked. Bellamy didn't care, she was alive. Or maybe that wasn't the best thing. She probably wanted to killed his people now after what he did to her; she probably wanted to kill him. He saw Cattleya nod her head at the Grounder before she signaled a loud whistle. A few seconds later, three more horses come out from the edge of the forest. Cattleya remained on her horse as another Grounder walked toward the center of the bridge. They all looked like the warriors he would read from the Greek mythologies.

Clarke met the Grounder halfway and held out her hand but the Grounder didn't shake it. Bellamy watched as they bickered back and forth both growing angrier with each other. "Grounder Princess looks pissed." Raven said.

"Our princess has that effect." Bellamy groaned. Then, Bellamy began to hear Jasper panic behind him.

"Oh, no. No. This is bad." Jasper said pointing his gun toward the trees.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Raven asked him.

"They're Grounders in the trees." He stated.

"What?" Raven asked as she and Bellamy quickly looked through her eyepiece at the trees.

"Where?" Bellamy asked.

"Are you sure?" Raven asked seeing nothing.

"I don't see anything." Bellamy stated.

"They're gonna shoot! " Jasper ran out form the behind the trees. "Clarke, run! Run!" He shouted as he began shooting randomly at the trees. A Grounder fell from the trees.

"Clarke, get down!" Finn shouted trying to get closer to Clarke but stopped by flying arrows.

"Finn, get back! Go, go!" Clarke shouted at him. An arrow aimed straight for Clarke's chest but was cut in half by Cattleya's sword. Cattleya looked toward the tree line and made eye contact with a pair of dark eyes. It was a man with war paint painted curving upward from his eye to his forehead. Xerxes.

Bullets and arrow were everywhere. Cattleya saw Bellamy, Raven and Jasper at the other edge of the forest with machines in their hands. She didn't know how to fight against those things. Everything was going wrong. Cattleya watched as Anya pulled out a dagger from her sleeve but was stopped when her it was forced out of her hand by the Sky People's machines.

Quickly, Anya ran to her horse and rode back into the forest with her guards behind her. Cattleya noticed Lincoln at the other end of the bridge on his knees and an arrow through his left shoulder. She raced to him with her sword in her hand. Cattleya cut the end of the arrow before swiftly pulling out the head. "Cattleya, go!" She nodded and climbed onto Patroclus following after Anya.

♾

"What the fuck where you doing at the bridge!" Cattleya shouted as she blocked Xerxes way back into camp with her horse. Xerxes rolled his eyes and moved around the horse. Cattleya climbed down and gently slapped Patroclus commanding him to his stable. "Answer!"

"I don't take orders from you!"

"We were trying to make peace!"

"The Sky People would have never agreed with our terms." They both heard Anya. Both of their attention turned to her approaching them. "I commanded him to watch in the trees."

"You lied to me." Cattleya stated to Anya. "You told me you wouldn't bring weapons. That I was your weapon."

"She was right not to trust those people! They killed three of our men!" Xerxes argued.

"Well, you shot one of our own people. Lincoln!" Cattleya said.

"If Lincoln continues to trust the Sky People, he well be declared a traitor." Anya stated. "Tonight we rest but tomorrow we plan for war." Anya walked off towards her tent. Cattleya began to stock off to her tent until Xerxes grabbed her arm. Cattleya took it back.

"Don't touch me." She sneered at Xerxes.

"What is it with you and these Sky People? Look at what they've done to you!" He said indicating Cattleya's wounds.

"We would have done the same! Remember you were the one to throw the spear first! They are only trying to survive. Why should they be punished for that?" Xerxes stood close to Cattleya but she pushed him away.

"They should have stayed in the sky."

"Their people are dying up there. They need Earth to survive. " Cattleya explained.

"Maybe they're better off dead." Cattleya stared at him. Xerxes had never wished death on anyone. It's the one thing, if not the only thing left, she respected about him. He had killed several times, but he never outspokenly wished death on anyone.

"What is wrong with you?"

"You've changed Cattleya. All this peace talk. Those Sky People have made you weak. They have made you one of them." Cattleya connected her fist against his cheek then raised a knee to him. "Fuck!" Xerxes said as Cattleya pushed him to the ground.

"The only one who's changed is you." Cattleya sneered at him and marched off to her tent. Tears brimmed the surface of her eyes. Trikru was no different than Skikru. All her people have ever done was try to survive whether it was against one another or against the Mountain Men. Why was it so wrong to make peace with them?

Cattleya's stomach had growled out loud making her roll her eyes. It had dawned on Cattleya that she hadn't eaten properly in days. She walked to the camp's dining hall. There weren't many people in the dining hall, but the few that were, starred at her as she walked down the stairs.

Ignoring them, Cattleya grabbed a metal bowl filling it with cooked meat and vegetables, then grabbed the wine and poured some in a chalice. Cattleya ate in silence as everyone continued to stare. "Say what you need to say or I will gouge your eyes out." Almost immediately, everyone went back to their own business.

A new set of footsteps made their way down the dining hall stairs. Cattleya watched Tris make her way next to her. "That's a lot of food." She joked. Instantly, Cattleya's mood was lightened.

"You should always eat like it's your last." Cattleya joked back.

"Word is going around that you defended the Sky People."

"Yes, I did." Tris carefully touched the bruises on Cattleya's face.

"Why?" Tris snapped. "Look what they did to you."

"It doesn't matter now. Trikru declared war on Skikru."

"Good."

"No. Not good. No one should ever want to start a war. Once an innocent person has died, both sides have lost. A warrior is meant to fight for what's right." Cattleya said.

"I guess I never saw it that way."

"I know you didn't. That's why I'm telling you." Tris looked down at herself.

"I'm sorry." The little girl said. Cattleya lifted Tris's face to look at her.

"You don't have to say sorry. You didn't know." Tris heavily sighed.

"Did it hurt when they tortured you."

"I don't know. I was in Locus." Tris gasped.

"You went to Locus! It's true you can go there! Can you teach me?" She asked making Cattleya laugh.