They let her go, all of them. And not one of them tried to stop her. Raven, Bellamy, Octavia, Finn, the rest of the Ark survivors and her delinquent friends. They were all too afraid to go, and Clarke began to hate both sides of it. This was something she wanted to accomplish, alone or not. It was a foolish decision of her to make, especially to trek through the open woods at night. She thought at least someone would've thought the same way as her.
Her personal mission was to prove the woman they met recently, a grounder named Anya, wrong. Clarke started a war she didn't know how to end, and she was going to do what it took to end it before it could really start. no one else on the drop ship saw it this way, they believed the war had already begun and they were just surviving it.
Clarke was alone. She refused to equip herself with a gun for protection to further prove her point that they all wanted peace. Her knife was there holstered on the side of her hip more of as an object of survival; to cut and to hunt. Because as far as she knew, Clarke had no clue where she was going. No sense of direction to where Anya was, if she was near in a camp, or simply going in the wrong direction leading away entirely. Clarke reached the bridge to where they met and crossed to the other side, and that made her one step closer.
The next hint was the faint smell of smoke in the air, a fire nearby. Her feet were tired and aching but she continued forward. A small crack filled the silent air, Clarke halted in her tracks for the time being, deciding on if she was being followed. The noise was either the snapping of twigs on the ground or cracks of the fire in the distance. She wasn't sure. The territory further each step became more and more familiar to her, and not in a good way. Passing a few trees, it came back to her that she was approaching the camp where she failed to save Tris.
Once the realization came to her, a large arm hooked over Clarke's hand with the hand suctioning to her mouth to avoid her from screaming. She did scream, however, muffling into the hand. She was met with a low shush once a blade came to her throat, and she understood to keep quiet.
"Yu, Skaiprisa." The grounder was rather tall, it wasn't Anya, but rather a large male grounder in her place. "State your purpose or be slain." His hand slowly fell from her mouth and one word quickly gasped out of Clarke's mouth.
"Anya." Clarke was careful to breath silently to catch her breath, the cold blade still against her throat. The blonde girl held her hands up in surrender, signaling no harm was coming from her. "I wish to speak with her. Is she near?" Her nerves calmed, subsiding greatly once she no longer had a blade to her throat. The grounder looked around in the distance for others, trained to sense traps and ambushes when they came.
"Anya will not be pleased with your unexpected arrival. You've been warned. Move."
Clarke obliged right away to keep her safety at whatever level it was at with the grounder man. He looked familiar to her, unable to place exactly why. She guessed he was one of the horsemen when they first met at the bridge. She walked in front of him with his sword held up to her to move, guiding her in the direction of their camp. Clarke hated feeling like a prisoner, there was nothing else she could do to help prevent war between her people and the grounders.
They approached the camp not even ten minutes later of walking in the direction she was guided in. Clarke saw all the stares upon the faces of every grounder gathered around a large fire as predicted. Some glared, others snarled, and none of them were the grounder she was really looking for. Clarke did pick up that they used a different language than English to communicate with. That fact intrigued her, and gave her the hope of learning it one day if she was to live on the ground with them.
The grounder led Clarke away from the fire and to a large tent outside the encampment. It was Anya's tent. Inside, the grounder woman was seen meditating around a few lit candles, almost mirroring a seance of some sort. Clarke tensed up upon seeing her again, at the same time felt a sense of relief. She couldn't place her finger on why her sense of safety skyrocketed. This night, warpaint wasn't shadowed around her eyes, only thin black scrubs to where it had been wiped away.
"Forgive my intrusion. I found this one lurking among the forest east of here by herself." The grounder man informed Anya. Her face lightly scrunched up in annoyance to being interrupted during her time of serenity. When her eyes opened up, Clarke Griffin was the last person she thought she would see before them.
"Skaiprisa, in the flesh." There was that nickname again. Clarke wished she knew what the second part of that phrase was for them both to call her it. "As you were, Nyko. Make sure she wasn't followed by anyone else Skaikru. She stays with me." Clarke's skin crawled to Anya's tone. Her goal was to stay unafraid to make things easier for peace. Anya made that task that much harder with one stare, resulting in a hard gulp.
"As you wish." Nyko complied without second guessing his own judgements. Clarke barely turned her head to hear him leave through the way they came in, the flaps hitting against each other.
"I wasn't lurking around by any means. I was looking for you specifically." Clarke tried defending her actions. "I don't want a war, Commander."
Anya laughed, and Anya rarely laughed at anything. "You are such a fool, Sky Girl. I am not the Commander. If I was, your people would be dead already." The grounder stood up from her cross legged position, stretching her legs back out as she walked over to Clarke, beating the blonde's height by only a little. "Did you really think sacrificing yourself all the way out here, by yourself, was going to solve all of your problems? Finding me should have been your fear, not your mission."
"I-"
Clarke opened her mouth to speak, except Anya saw the knife holstered around Clarke's waist that Nyko had failed to disarm her of. Her hands were quick to grab the blade by the handle and pulling it out up to Clarke's throat, making that second time in twenty minutes she was held prisoner.
"How important is your life to your people?" Anya challenged her to make a move, using tactics taught to her that she was passing down to the Commander. Clarke tensed up and flushed her mind away from the question. "Would they mourn for you after you left them?" The cold blade pressed more up into Clarke's neck but not enough to draw any blood.
Anya heard a small whimper escape from Clarke's lips, the only sign of fear she showed to her, and faltered. She lowered the knife from her throat showing a small sign of weakness herself. The newfound feeling shook the general away from Clarke and tossed the knife to the ground.
Clarke watched closely as to why Anya spared her life this time. The two barely knew each other well, but Clarke knew Anya well enough that this was unlike her or the grounders attitude to back off so easily on outsiders. Her knowledge of safety grew more with Anya unexpectedly.
"I know you don't mean to harm us intentionally. If an attack happens, both sides will have casualties. All I'm asking for is a way to avoid that. Please."
"It's not up to me to decide." Anya breathed deeply and paced over to her tent opening, pushing the curtains to one side. "Have Nyko escort back in the direction you came from."
Clarke turned her body and frowned to her dismay feeling unaccomplished in her mission. But she couldn't go back to the dropship now to face everyone who chose not to stick with her, who would rather stay put partying and drinking their faces off all night long expecting war without consequence.
"Can I stay instead? With you?" Clarke was full of surprises tonight, and Anya was unsure how to face each one of them. "I don't really have a place to go right now. And despite you pushing a knife against my throat, I feel safe with you." She chewed on her bottom lip.
"You give me more reasons to call you foolish, Skaiprisa." Anya wasn't the only one showing off weakness. The Commander could never find out about them, nor could any of her people around her in the camp. "Fine. You interrupted my meditation, now you get the privilege to meditate with me. Sit." With an exasperated sigh, Anya closed the curtains to her tent and pinned them shut to keep anyone from barging in anymore.
"Thank you." Clarke removed her holster from around her waist and placed the knife back inside. Anya was watching her closely for any ploys being plotted in Clarke's mind. It was still the smallest whimper that changed Anya's mind. She never showed mercy, but there was also a first time for everything. "Can you explain to me what Skaiprisa means? Minus the Skai part, I get that."
"Sky Princess." Anya pierced Clarke's eyes with her gaze as she watched Clarke place the knife and holster next to her lantern in the tent. "One of my men heard one of yours call you that."
"So why do you call me that if you hate me?"
Anya rolled her eyes to the question and resumed her position back for meditation next to Clarke. Clarke never meditated before so she copied the stance necessary to do so. Anya ignored Clarke's question and instead quipped one of her own. "Have you not meditated before, Sky Girl?" Clarke shook her head yet was eager to learn how to. "You have a choice when you meditate. To let get everything on your mind and focus on keeping it blank, or focus on one specific thing and hold it. Control your breathing."
Clarke nodded and shut her eyes to give the first choice a go. Her mind went blank, yet it wouldn't stay blank. Something, or someone, chose to barge right back in. It was either the the last time she saw her father, Jake, before he was floated into space or the image of the rest of her friends and her mother at on the brink of death if things don't go their way.
"What do you usually think about when you meditate?"
"The peace and quiet." Anya muttered back with a wince in her eyes again. Clarke sighed out in slight frustration, like it couldn't be that hard to sit cross legged and shut everything out from around her. For Anya it was easy, like second nature. And it was what Clarke said to her next that threw her off for the second time that night, beating Clarke's unexpected arrival.
"Got something in mind now?" The grounder woman asked.
"Yeah. You." Clarke's eyes shut at the same time Anya's opened, staring over at the blonde sky girl who seemed rather calm now, and it was strangely because of her. Anya couldn't place why, never having done anything much but throw obstacles at Clarke and sparing her life tonight. The last thought on her mind; feelings. Clarke barely knew her, and she barely knew Clarke. To their people, they were enemies. Tonight, they were not.
Much to Anya's surprise, no more questions or any talking of sort for a good half hour while they sat next to each other meditating. Clarke's heart rate significantly dropped from its heightened state previously through the night. For all she knew, it could've been her last night alive if it weren't for Anya. She quite enjoyed the silence, minus the fire cracking outside the tent yards away with other grounders speaking in the distance. Clarke only focused on her own breathing and listening to Anya's right next to her. More importantly, the fact that she proved everyone wrong back at the dropship helped her settle as well, because she was inches away from the grounder everyone feared the most, and they found peace together.
Neither knew how much time had passed, it was the small yawn that Clarke gave out that ended their session, causing them to open their eyes at the same time to each other.
"Get some rest, skaiprisa. Tomorrow marks the start of a long journey for you." In Anya's tent was a small bed fitted for her size, and she sighed to the thought of sharing. She could be cruel at times, no question or thought, but as long as she welcomed Clarke as a guest and not a prisoner, she would treat her as such.
"Are you taking me to the Commander?" Clarke stood up to her feet with Anya.
"You wanted to plead your surrender to me when you thought I was the Commander. Do you wish to do the same with the real one?"
"A treaty to call off any further attacks, Anya. Not surrender." Clarke frowned to her, maybe she did need some rest to clear her mind off of things. Anya removed her black general coat from her shoulders and placed it on one of the few tables set up, and blew out all candles, letting the lantern dimly light up the inside of her tent.
Upon nearly lifting her shirt above her head, Anya caught Clarke's gaze on her and paused to stare back at her. "Strip." That caught Clarke by surprise increasing the pink forming on her cheeks. "You haven't slept out in these parts of the woods, Sky Girl. The heat becomes intense, and you sweat waterfalls." Clarke, to this day, had never seen a waterfall with her own two eyes. She was shown them up in space, and even painted a few on canvas, with hopes of one day getting to see one and take a swim.
"Yeah, okay. Um...just going to, yeah." Clarke fumbled with her words while she slowly peeled each piece of her clothing away from her skin, letting the cool night air splash against her. Their clothes piled up on the ground for the next morning. The blonde girl focused on not looking up to the other woman shedding away her clothes, and keeping her mind away from the fact that the cool air managed to harden up her nipples through her bra.
That simple task failed because Clarke's eyes peered up at Anya and fell into a small daze of admiration. It wasn't a hidden fact Anya's body could be mistaken for one of a goddess underneath all the clothing she did wear. The tone of her stomach and muscles along her arms, the way her tattoos curved perfectly against her skin. She wasn't completely nude, Anya was draped with loose rags resembling underwear that Clarke wore, but close to it.
"You're drooling." Anya stated feeling the blonde's gaze reflect off of her and flashed a smirk towards her. "Is staying in my tent going to pose a problem for you, Sky Girl?"
"You seem to be asking a lot of questions, Anya. It's like you don't trust me bunking with you." Clarke returned the smirk to her in a lighthearted moment between them. Now it was Clarke who felt on display, watching Anya's eyes scan each square inch of her body in one solid motion. As Anya stepped closer to her, Clarke could feel her skin bump up like the grounder was teasing her. "Besides, Anya, I'm not afraid to tell you that you're really beautiful."
"Hmm." Anya hummed. The grounder pushed the cloth blanket on her bed aside for herself to climb into first, moving her body aside to leave enough space for Clarke. Clarke wasted little time feeling herself wanting to be closer to Anya on both a physical and mental state, and saw the road ahead of that to achieve.
Clarke's skin glided against Anya's to get comfortable in their sleeping situation. It had been too long for Anya to remember the last time she shared her quarters with anyone, and now she was sharing it with the Sky Princess. On Clarke's end, she took a deep breath that she exhaled into a tiny smile because she was safe with Anya. And she was right. The heat in the forest picked up greatly on the two of them. Clarke was tired and shut her eyes immediately to get some rest.
In one swift motion just before Clarke could full drift away into her sleep, Clarke's chest was met with Anya's back as Anya leaned back into Clarke like a puzzle piece. Anya wouldn't have done this first choice, the decision beat the hell out of fidgeting throughout the night avoiding each other. Clarke didn't have the strength nor the will to question Anya anymore that night. Once her arms snaked around the grounder's body, Clarke was asleep just like that holding Anya close against her.