It is called Trigedasleng, the language of my people the Grounders. Most of life on earth was destroyed in a nuclear attack, along with many of the languages. Only Commanders and certain warriors know English.
[Julian is absolutely dumbfounded. His people had been on the brink of nuclear war some time ago but it's been a long time since then. And yet somehow humans survived, as evidenced by Lexa's existence, apparently. It does make him want to tease Garak about human resilience and how underdog stories are valid and representative of the human condition.
Yes. Most people died, some fled to the sky. Clarke was in the Skaikru, the people in space. They thought we were all dead when they came back down to earth, but we survived and thrived. My people were strong.
[ Julian reads "Skaikru" to himself, mouths it a couple of times and finally understands. Sky crew! He wonders if other words in her language work like that.]
They must have been, although I can't blame Clarke's people for thinking that.
[ And it feels strange hearing Lexa speak in past tense. He doesn't feel like his life on deep space nine is a thing of the past--why should Lexa think hers is? ]
They had no reason to believe otherwise but it was our land. We eventually tried to make peace and I added the Skaikru to our clan coalition, but it was not easy. My people did not like outsiders.
Nightblood is a sacred term to my people, but the answer is yes. The title itself is for those born with black blood instead of red. The majority are born with red. Those born with black are chosen to train as future leaders, as I was.
Clarke is Skaikru, they are not Grounders. They were not raised with the cultural significance, only the logic of what the blood is.
[ Never doubt how uncomfortable talking about this with an outsider makes her, but Lexa is determined to grow outside of those limits. But the Flame she will never discuss.]
The survivors of the Praimfaya, the nuclear apocalypse, were given the Nightblood to survive the radiation. They were our ancestors. But as they bred and established themselves, not all of their children and grandchildren were born with the same blood. It was recessive. They all have enough resistance to survive on earth, but only the Nightbloods can survive radiation on the level of a Praimfaya. When a child with the black blood is born, they are sent for training to be our next leader. You could say it is a royal bloodline.
[He knows better than to point out that likely there are more Nightbloods than Lexa knows about because of a founder effect from Praimfaya. That is her culture and he won't dispute it. After all, it's similar to ancient Earth royalty.]
I told Clarke this--Nightblood would have been extremely useful for my people. In space, there can be dangerous and lethal levels of radiation. I offered to study it to Clarke.
[Would it be disrespectful to Lexa to further explore the properties of Nightbloods?]
We don't know everything the people here are capable of. We don't know if anything similar could happen here as what happened to your Earth. I would like to study the special properties of nightblood to see if they can be applicable on a wider scale if needed.
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Not just that, but someone with enough skill to attempt incapacitation.
[ Instead of, yknow, out right killing. ]
Also, what was that word you said to Garak? Was that your native language?
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Yes, my native tongue is Trigedasleng. The word niron translates to loved one. I did not think you were married, or the word would have been houmon.
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Is that what she really thought?
It takes him a couple of minutes ]
I'm not certain where you got that idea from--Garak and I are just friends.
[ Her two choices were "loved one" or "married"--what in the world--?! ]
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I see.
[Very skeptical.]
The word for friend is lukot, and best friend is meijon.
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Moving right along.]
Interesting. It doesn't look like any language I've heard I don't think.
[ He would probably recognize the words in Standard if he heard a few. ]
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[Julian is absolutely dumbfounded. His people had been on the brink of nuclear war some time ago but it's been a long time since then. And yet somehow humans survived, as evidenced by Lexa's existence, apparently. It does make him want to tease Garak about human resilience and how underdog stories are valid and representative of the human condition.
But that's for later.]
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They must have been, although I can't blame Clarke's people for thinking that.
[ And it feels strange hearing Lexa speak in past tense. He doesn't feel like his life on deep space nine is a thing of the past--why should Lexa think hers is? ]
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[Wait a minute. Clarke had told him something that seems relevant to this conversation.]
Did your people have Nightblood, then? To survive the radiation?
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Did Clarke tell you that term?
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[So Lexa has nightblood as well...how interesting.]
But your people survived on an irradiated Earth did they not? How could they have survived if everyone doesn't have nightblood?
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[ Never doubt how uncomfortable talking about this with an outsider makes her, but Lexa is determined to grow outside of those limits. But the Flame she will never discuss.]
The survivors of the Praimfaya, the nuclear apocalypse, were given the Nightblood to survive the radiation. They were our ancestors. But as they bred and established themselves, not all of their children and grandchildren were born with the same blood. It was recessive. They all have enough resistance to survive on earth, but only the Nightbloods can survive radiation on the level of a Praimfaya. When a child with the black blood is born, they are sent for training to be our next leader. You could say it is a royal bloodline.
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[He knows better than to point out that likely there are more Nightbloods than Lexa knows about because of a founder effect from Praimfaya. That is her culture and he won't dispute it. After all, it's similar to ancient Earth royalty.]
I told Clarke this--Nightblood would have been extremely useful for my people. In space, there can be dangerous and lethal levels of radiation. I offered to study it to Clarke.
[Would it be disrespectful to Lexa to further explore the properties of Nightbloods?]
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We are not in space, why would you want to study it here?
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[Julian is Starfleet though--he's been taught to respect other cultures and he'd rather not offend someone that's helped him and Garak both.]