4 years and 6 months ago:
A sixteen-year-old Clarke sat with her mother in the hospital wing when the brown haired girl came in for the fourth time that week.
"I will take this one Mom." She said as she walked over to the girl. "Will you please follow me?"
The girl nodded as she limped over to the section the farthest away from the others.
"So, I guess it is your leg you have hurt." Clarke said as she lowered herself down to inspect the girl's left leg. The girl hissed. "Sorry."
"It's okay." The girl said. "It's just a scratch."
Clarke lifted a little bit up the girl's leg and saw a message in her shoe. Clarke quickly took the paper and put it in her back pocket. "We are going to be fine, Raven." Clarke whispered.
"I really hope so, Princess." Raven limped out again as Abby came up to Clarke.
"Do you know her, Clarke?" She asked worried.
"No, Mom." She shook her head. "Not at all."
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Now:
Clarke wiped sweat off her forehead. After long hours of hard work, they were still not done.
"Who do we have here?" A voice sounded from behind her. Clarke smiled and turned around. A dark skinned woman in her late twenties with a dark brown pixie cut and her two guards were standing behind her.
"Aera." They hugged. "Long time no see."
"Only a few weeks, Clarke." She shifted her leg. "I still do not get the purpose of your kind of greeting."
Clarke smirked. "Just go with it."
Aera looked at the half finished camp and the Ice Nation warriors still working. "Do you need help with setting up your camp? We have the time."
"Please do. We have a lot more of work to be done, before night falls."
Aera nodded and yelled to one of her guards. "Get some of our warriors over here to help the Ice Nation! After that, we can catch up with our friends!"
Little did they know a shadow was hidden close by. Or rather, they simply did not care about the shadow. They knew who had sent it and who it was going to report to.
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"Is there new information, Anya?" Lexa asked, when she stepped into the tent.
"Indra is right. There is something weird about the Ice Nation. The way General Clarke greeted General Aera… It was a greeting where like, if you had hidden a knife the other would die in that instant, if it was to be used. Something you would do to close family in private, but they just displayed it for everyone to see."
Lexa hammered her knife into the throne. The Ice Nation.
"Do we know about any connections between the two clans?" She asked Indra, who was standing to her left.
"No, but something could have happened between them without us knowing. There is after all a border between them."
"The Ice Nation is full of surprises."
"Yes, Heda. They are."
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"I still cannot believe you do not help your warriors." Clarke said as they watched warriors from both of their clans finish the camp from afar on a small hill. Hours had gone by and night would soon be upon them.
"I still cannot believe you help yours." Aera answered, and Clarke shook her head as she put her head on Aera's shoulder. The smell of lake water hit Clarke and she smiled. Then they just sat in silence, until they heard cheers.
"They must be finished."
"Yes, they must…"
"We should get back to them…"
"Yes, we should…"
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"There you are!" Jasper yelled, when he saw the two leaders. "The campfire is already started."
And it was. Around small bonfires, people talked and enjoyed themselves. No one was drunk, but no one was totally on guard either. Right then and there they were not warriors who would soon be sent to war. No, they were just people who hang out with friends. People who made personal connections.
They smiled as they walked over to Raven, who finally had come out of her tent. "Raven." Aera said to get her attention.
"Aera." They hugged though it was a very awkward hug. They became silent.
"So…how is your sister?" Raven said to break the silence.
"Still mad… she cannot get the color out of her cloth. I don't know what was in the weird balls-"
"Balloons."
"In the weird balloons but it sure was effective."
"I know." Raven smirked.
Aera opened her mouth to say something, but got cut off by Octavia's voice.
"Hey, turtles! Come over here before the sun comes up!"
"But the sun only just went down…" Area mumbled, but followed the now laughing Clarke and Raven.
"It is just a saying."
The rest of the night went smoothly. Everyone had a great time. No one talked about why they were there or their worries about dying. They were living in the moment. Like they said in the old times; You only live once, so live it to the fullest.
As the stars came out everyone else went to bed, except the guards. The Lake people had gone back to their camp. Everything had become quiet. Clarke sat in her tent on the edge of her bed. Head in her hands.
"You should be sleeping by now, Princess." She quickly looked up at the person addressing her.
"Raven…" She smiled lonely. Raven went over and sat beside her. She put her arm around Clarke. Clarke sank into the familiar warm body.
"Shhh… it is going to be okay… maybe not now but someday…"
There they sat like so many nights before. Sometimes with Clarke comforting Raven and sometimes the opposite, but one thing was for sure. They would not have made it so far without each other.
"I do not know if I can take it anymore…"
"Of course you can, Princess. You are you." The same lines like the same answers.
After a while, they had moved to the middle of the bed. Just lying on it in each other's arms. It was calming.
"Will you stay?"
"Since you are asking so nicely… sure princess." Raven took some hair out of Clarke's face. "Just don't fall in love with me. I do not think; my lady would be happy if you did."
"Shut it, Raven."
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6 years ago:
A tiny version of Clarke sat in the cafeteria with Wells, looking at people and observing them. She noticed a girl sitting alone with what was left of her food.
"I am coming back in a minute." She quickly said to Wells, as she went over to the girl. "Hey… I'm Clarke…" She held her hand out. The girl just stared back at her.
"Raven." The girl answered blankly.
"Raven…" She felt the name in her mouth. "I think we will be very good friends."