heda | clexa

two

A purpose.

Lexa turns that word over in her mind, mouths it silently.

A purpose.

The letters roll sweetly off her tongue, but their lingering taste is bitter.

A purpose.

How often has she prayed for one? How often has she kneeled at Titus's feet before he accepted her as his student, begging for a blessing? How often has Titus reminded her she couldn't have a purpose, not really, not beyond working at the tower, for Polis, for Trikru, for God?

Now she has a purpose, but it isn't like anything she prayed for, it isn't like anything she imagined.

Her purpose will be to tame a demon.

Her purpose will be to teach a demon God's ways.

But what she may be able to accomplish with a group of young school boys is completely out of reach when it concerns a demon. How do you teach the devil to listen to God?

Most importantly, why does Titus trust Lexa with such a thing so suddenly?

Her, among a selection of the most skilled teachers? Is it because Titus can dispose of Lexa? Because a more skilled and able man would be in the position to ask more money for such a job, and she is not?

Whatever the reason, her day has been turned upside down in less than an hour, and she has only until tomorrow's sunrise to prepare herself for the journey she's about to take on. The prisoners are hidden far away from the population in a village further south, past the borders of Trikru in a village of Yujleda.

Yujleda is a bigger clan than Trikru, but it is Trikru warriors that overlook their borders and Trikru generals that govern their cities. The outskirts of Polis almost touch the border, so Lexa is hopeful that it won't be all to far away, that she'll be able to return home at least a few times to check up on Madi.

Ever since the thoughts of the devil walking the Earth have settled in, Lexa hasn't been able to keep her thoughts from Madi. Her little sister, her responsiblity.

How would Lexa keep her safe in times like this, how would she keep her safe if Lexa isn't even going to be there to protect her?

The Hakas district is not a reputable neighborhood of Polis. Its reputation is brought up on parties and among men unhappy with their wives, it's a name to boys trying to appear mature, or just looking for something to gawk at.

It's a neighborhood you want to be in after too many drinks and when the bars on Polis' main strip become boring.

It's not a neighborhood you want to call home.

But Lexa is too poor for much else, she is indebted to keep working in Polis, and anyway, where else would she go? What neighborhood would take in an unmarried 19 year-old?

Even if she wasn't past her prime marriage age, she wouldn't find a husband. That's a fate that was assigned to her at birth, a fate that might have been different if her mother had been different, a fate that might have been different if the color of her blood was.

Something had been taken from her that day where she had first breathed air, where she had seen the light of the world with the eyes Titus said were black before, had craned her neck but hadn't cried. Not the way a normal baby would have.

She will never bear children for any man, she will never be provided for, cared for, protected by anyone but herself. She will never live in one of those mansions in the Northern district and spend her time cooking, cleaning, raising children, the way of the woman as God wants it. She will never do something stupid like growing flowers or tomatoes in her backyard.