At lunch, Chieftess Hunts served Toro-Burgers and several other finger foods for us to enjoy while talking amongst ourselves. We pretty much all stayed with our families, except for Oliver who shifted from group to group. My parents were surprised that it wasn't like an actual dinner party, but to be honest, I was glad. We were all forced to sit and eat together during training, and I personally prefer being able to get seconds. Alaric, Axia, and Oliver were not kidding when they talked about the Chieftess' cooking; it was all amazing.

Quincy introduced me to his sisters, Mary and Kari, who're twins. They are both older than him, and Defensive Guardians of the Fence. I learned that the reason Quincy is so... shy, is because their parents sheltered him, and the rest of the family pretty much disowned him for choosing to become a Medic over a Warrior. They told me this while Q was speaking with my own parents, so I'm just going to keep the fact that I know a secret. I wouldn't want to embarrass him; he's already closed off enough as it is. Except for Axia, who apparently was his first friend in childhood.

After we all finished eating, Chieftess Hunts gathered us around a fireplace in order to actually get to know everyone. "Thank you all so much for coming today. I have been wanting to get together with all of you since the moment I learned the names of Alaric's teammates." She says, a peaceful smile spreading across her face. "I'm very sorry, Oliver, about your parents having to leave. I didn't plan on it, at first, but so many teams are stranded and they are simply one of the best."

"That's okay, Ma'am, they stopped by the medical tent before heading out." He replies, accepting her apology with a pleasant smile. "Plus, you're my second mom anyway. It's only fitting that I get some quality time with this side too." He then adds, giving her an enthusiastic thumbs up before shoving a handful of sweet crystal candies into his mouth.

"You're too sweet. I can't believe you and Alaric are both 22 now. Seems like just yesterday you were playing in the yard while I worked." Chieftess Hunts gazes loving at the two boys before then looking towards the rest of us. "I'm so glad to see you as well, Axia. You've all grown up so much in these past few years."

While Axia's parents talk to the Chieftess, I sit between my mom and dad on the couch opposite the fireplace. I can tell that they feel out of place, being so relaxed in front of Viadon's leader. I do too, especially since over our 3 years of training, we were taught not to be casual, but here we have Mr. Li, Axia's father, calling the Chieftess by her first name, Rose. He is the head of a Founding Family and a member of the Council, so I guess it's to be expected.

The Council is made up of 10 members, including our leader. Most members are descendants of the Founding Families, like Commander Riley, Axia's father, and the Chieftess, but some are like Oliver's father, who took over when someone else stepped down. Most of the decisions made by the Council are about our population, rationing food, and the happiness of our people. No decisions are made without a vote, and if it's not unanimous then they bargain until it is. Their biggest concern is to make things fair for all of the citizens.

"It's so nice to meet you as well, Deanne and David. Alexandria, I've heard a lot about you from my son's letters." The Chieftess turns towards me and my family, and I almost cringe at the use of my first name. Apparently, Alaric can't even call me "Lexa" in his letters.

"It's great to meet you too, Ma'am. Thank you so much for inviting us." Mom replies happily, squeezing my hand lightly in excitement. She has always dreamed of being important enough within the city to meet the Chieftess. Of course, Mom has always loved our simple life, but meeting the higher up officials is deemed a very big honor, especially as a farmer.

"It's been my pleasure. I'm glad we have this opportunity to get together. Your daughter is quite talented as a Warrior. Her scores in training were way above average, that's why she was placed with Alaric. When he takes over as Chieftain in the future, he will have a great number 2."

"Wait, what?" I ask, furrowing my brows in confusion. "I was only placed on this team to become his second?"

Chieftess Hunts nods in reply, before sighing softly, "As you know, every Chieftain or Chieftess has to go through training and be an Elitist for 10 years before they can assume the position. Every time a blood relative of Damian Hunts, our founder, goes through training the top trainee is chosen to be placed on the team... as well as become the new Chieftain's right hand." She stops and hesitates before continuing, "Your scores were well above Alaric's. You'll make a fine Commander."

My eyes widen in disbelief before suddenly narrowing angrily, "So, you're telling me that I was forced to give up the chance to lead my own team just because you wanted someone good to protect your son?"

"Alexandria, it's not that simple." Alaric cuts in, stepping forward as if to draw the attention from me, "We all already knew you weren't chosen as leader of our team because of my name." He reminds me, his voice calm. I can tell he's not looking for a fight.

"No, I know that. What I didn't know was that my entire career was already planned for me." I scoff, "What happens if I die in the field?"

"Lexa, don't think like that." My mother says, squeezing my hand once again, a prominent frown crossing her face.

"No, I want an answer." I look towards Alaric, and then the Chieftess.

"If you were to die between now and then, the position would go to Axia as your Tech Specialist." The Chieftess replies monotonously, though it's clear that she wasn't expecting me to react this way. "Becoming the next Elitist Commander is a job that's wanted by every single Elitist out there, I thought you'd be more accepting."

"I told you she wouldn't want to find out this way," Alaric says quietly, though still loud enough that I could hear.

"No, I would have liked to find out from you, a year ago when we were placed together. I know we aren't particularly friends, but if I'm really supposed to be your second then that requires trust? How can I trust you if you're keeping secrets?" I fire back, standing from my seat in anger. I look towards Axia, and then Oliver and Quincy, "Did you all know?"

"No." Oliver and Quincy immediately reply, both shaking their heads in denial.

Axia, however, sits silently with her parents, looking down at her hands. "I did." She finally responds after a few seconds.

"Axia, really?" Quincy questions, pulling her attention from me.

"It was confidential, I didn't have a choice. I only knew because my father is on the Council." She explains quickly, a bit of panic filling her voice.

I press my lips into a firm line before shaking my head in disbelief. "I'll do what I need to do, but don't think this is all okay. No more secrets." I say, looking back and forth between Alaric and Axia. At this point, I don't have a choice. It's either reject the job as future Commander and I'm still stuck on this team, or I take the job and deal with my pre-planned career.

"No more secrets," Axia promises quickly.

"Mom?" Alaric says softly, and I look over to see her mouthing "no" in return.

"What is it?" I ask, narrowing my eyes once again.

"There is one more thing..." Alaric begins but is immediately shushed by Chieftess Hunts.

"No. That is confidential until you're at your placements." She says sternly, scowling angrily at her son before turning back to me with a calm expression, "Lexa, you'll just have to trust us on this one."

"Trust?" I laugh softly, "How can I trust someone who can't trust me? If I'm supposed to be the Elitist Commander in 10 years, why can't I know confidential information? Axia knows, doesn't she?"

"Axia's father is apart of the Council, which she too will be apart of someday."

"Makes sense," I say, shaking my head once again. "I'm gonna get some air." I glance towards my mom and dad for a moment before walking out of the room, not wanting to hear any more from any of them. By the logic that Axia knows confidential information because she'll be on the Council, then I should also be granted access to that information as the future Commander. It makes no sense.

I walk down the long corridor and out of the front of the building, wanting to take a few minutes alone to gather my thoughts. "So stupid," I whisper to myself as I try and come up with a good reason as to why my teammates would keep something so important from me. I got over the fact that I wasn't chosen as a leader, what made them think I wouldn't be okay with becoming Commander?

My eyebrows furrow as new anxiety takes over me. I'm supposed to be the next Elitist Commander in 10 years when Alaric takes over as Chieftain. That's a position I never thought I'd have a chance at. Commander Riley is a Founding Family Head, so I always just figured that was why he was given the job. How am I supposed to become "Commander material" in 10 years? Our history teachers taught us that all of them trained their entire lives for the position.

"You okay, dear?" Dad's voice rings from behind me, and his hand lightly rests on my shoulder for comfort.

"I will be." I sigh, closing my eyes for a moment before turning around to face him.

"But you're not right now." He smiles gently before pulling me in for a hug, "Your friends would have told you if they thought they could."

I scoff as I wrap my arms around him, "They could have. Any time over the past year."

"It was confidential information, Lexa. What do you think would have happened if they told you?"

"I wouldn't have spoken a word," I reply with a frown, becoming silent for a few moments as I think it over. "It doesn't matter though, because they were probably told that our team would be eliminated from Elitist Training if they told me."

"Exactly. If Alaric wouldn't have graduated, the Chief position would go to another family. Chieftess Hunts doesn't have another son. Alaric probably didn't want to risk letting down his mom, or his ancestors." My father pushes away from me gently but still holds onto my shoulders as he continues, "They didn't have a choice. His family has been in power for two-thousand years."

My frown deepens as I realize just how right he is, and I sigh deeply. "What about the Chieftess, though? If I'm supposed to be Elitist Commander one day, why can't I know the next big secret?"

"The Elitist Commanders have always come from Founding Families or at least a family that has a lot of say," My mother interrupts, coming from inside of the building, "I stayed to hear an explanation. The Chieftess didn't want anyone knowing until you all graduated, that's why she waited to tell you."

"That doesn't answer my question, though. What did she stop Alaric from telling me?" I inquire, stepping away from Dad to hug my mom as well.

"She wouldn't tell me everything, just that your team has been placed at the East Gate Station." Mom returns my hug gently before kissing my cheek.

"The experiment station?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion before pushing away from the embrace to look at her. "Why would we be going there?"

"I have no clue, sweet girl." My mom sighs, giving me an empathetic look. "Just try not to be angry at Alaric and Axia. Your team is supposed to be your second family, and what do we say?"

"Family is everything..." I mutter, giving her a slight nod in approval. Mom is right; we're supposed to trust each other. Even though they've been keeping secrets, I've got to try and see it from their perspective. Between wanting to protect our team, and trying to be loyal to the Hunts family, I can see why they did it.

"Your mother's right. You will get through this." Dad adds in, reaching out to squeeze my shoulder encouragingly.

For the next few minutes, I listen as my parents praise me for my future position, their words both flattering me and causing more and more anxiety. All I wanted was to be able to see the dinosaurs outside of the Fence, but now, in the future, I'll be expected to command an entire troupe of Elitists. That's something I never thought I'd have to worry about.

Eventually, my parents and I decide to go home since they live only a block away. On the way there, they catch me up on what happened on the farm over the past 3 years. Once we got there, I spent my time helping them catch up on missed chores. I used to help my dad work before I left for training, and I missed it a lot while I was gone. He did pretty well by himself though, it's almost like he didn't need my help all that time. He did have 3 whole years to get it together though, so maybe I'm giving him too much credit.

Hours later, after dinner, it's time for me to go back to the Training Academy. Thankfully, since I'm graduated, between assignments I'll be able to make trips to see them. Our team's rover is ours, and we can use it to travel around the city as well as outside the Fence. Guardians are the only people in the city allowed to use Rovers. Viadon simply doesn't have enough for its citizens and its military. The city is broken into four parts, however, and each section has enough resources for every person who resides there, plus some. Defensive Guardians also help with transportation, using their Rovers to transport goods from one end of the city to another.

Once I say goodbye to my parents, I walk alone back towards the Academy. Thankfully, it sits not too far from the Deployment Field, so the walk only takes me 15 minutes. I'm glad that I got to spend the day with my family, even though ambushed with a crazy amount of information. I also definitely disrespected the Chieftess by storming out, so I'm expecting some kind of punishment for that as well. I'll probably end up cleaning the mess hall for days when we get to the East Station.

As I reach the Training Academy, I enter the large building and immediately head for the barracks. The first thing I need to do is find my team and apologize to Axia and Alaric. I shouldn't have immediately assumed that they kept the secret maliciously. They wouldn't do that, especially Axia, who's loyalty has always been unquestioned. She's loyal to both Alaric and me, but she never seems to question my leadership skills like she has Alaric's. It was unfair of me to accuse her of being dishonest. I reach our barracks room and enter, pleased to see that all of them are already there. Even though boys and girls are in separate rooms, we always have team meetings in ours.

"Lexa!" Axia jumps from the bed immediately, "I'm so sorry. I didn't-"

"I know." I interrupt, giving her a small, apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, to both of you. I shouldn't have gotten so mad. I still believe the Chieftess should have told me, but I get why you couldn't." I explain, looking between my two teammates. "We're supposed to be a family.. and my dad always says that family is everything. No apologies needed from you two."

"You said no more secrets." Alaric sighs, nodding to accept my apology. "We're being sent to the Eastern Station for you to be apart of an experiment." His words confuse me, but he doesn't give me time to question him before continuing. "Tomorrow, when we get there, Commander Riley will give you the details. Even I have no clue what's going to happen, but apparently, you're the "last chance" the experiment has."

"So, it's just me?" I finally get the chance to ask, still baffled by his words.

"The whole team will partake, but your title is being changed to Handler instead of Warrior. You're who's important." Axia answers for him, hesitating for a moment as she looks at Alaric, "We don't know what's going on."

"I overheard Mom talking to Commander Riley earlier and they said the experiment failed miserably in the past. I debated with myself for hours after what you said, but decided to after hearing that." Alaric says, "If your life is going to be endangered, you deserve to know."

"This makes no sense. Why tell me about the fact that I'm going to be Commander if I'm going to possibly die?"

"Again, we don't know. I thought it was weird too." Alaric frowns deeply, clearly also trying to think it through.

"Handler is typically a word us Vets use for Farmers who work with animals, that's exactly what your father is." Oliver pipes up, "Maybe it's something to do with that."

"That makes no sense too..." Quincy murmurs, sighing softly.

"Well, I guess we'll find out tomorrow," I say, shrugging my shoulders. "There's nothing else we can do until then. We can speculate all we want, but really there is no telling what they're going to make us do. As long as we aren't sent to the ocean."

"Hah! I forgot you're scared of deep water." Oliver chuckles, "The Eastern Gate is only a few miles away from the beach, you're so screwed."

This thought takes my mind completely away from the original conversation, and I physically shudder at the thought. Elitist Teams are sometimes sent to the ocean on boats to catch fish to bring back home, and some times those ships don't return. It's not so much the monsters that live in the water that scares me, it's the thought of drowning and being unable to breathe. The Mosasaurus is a scary creature too, though, and has been known to bite straight through our boats from underneath. It's not like it can eat the boat whole, but once it sinks, the people are stranded in the water as a snack.

"Okay, okay. Boys, get out. We have to be up at 3 AM to head out for the East Station, so everyone needs to rest up." Axia says, and I nod in agreement, "Goodnight, everyone."

The boys all leave after saying their goodbyes, and us girls quickly get ready for bed. I'm glad that I was able to get over my anger and understand Alaric and Axia's side of things. Rifts within the team will get us nowhere. We have to trust each other.

As I lay down to sleep, I try not to think of what's in store for tomorrow but fail miserably. The term "handler" is stuck in my head. If Oliver's right and it has something to do with my father being a farm "animal handler" then why would they still want me as their Commander? A farm experiment makes no sense, and I'm not a Veterinarian, so an animal experiment wouldn't be right either.

I eventually fall asleep, restlessly tossing and turning all night.