Ever since the ceremony, members of Trikru visited often and offered to help build makeshift homes. Lincoln had also enlisted a few other grounders to help Bellamy extend the camp walls, and several healers from various clans had traveled near and far to exchange knowledge with Clarke. She offered to let them shadow her with three other delinquents she called interns.
One of the first shelters that the team of grounders helped build was a Raven's workshop. Clarke was taking over the dropship for medicinal purpose, and there wasn't enough room for both of their projects. Besides, Raven liked the idea of her own space to work.
She had been busying herself to ignore the grief of losing Finn. On the Ark, all she had was him. He was her family. Sure, everyone here in the camp was family, but it a different kind of family.
Unaware of Murphy's presence, she pounded on the silver metal box and cursed aloud.
"Geez, Reyes, what did that radio ever do to you?"
"Shut up." She turned to look at Murphy, "This piece of crap radio won't work. I've been going through every station I can get, yet I still can't reach the Ark."
Suggesting that she start over, Murphy walked over next to her and sat on the stool next to her.
"You know there's a ridiculous number of static stations," she said. He pointed back at the radio.
"I know that, but try again. Come on, I'll even turn the knob so your hands don't get tired."
"Fine," she huffed, "and for the record, my hands never get tired."
Murphy shook his head and let out a silent laugh before turning the knob back to the first notch. Raven pressed the her thumb down on the button and brought the radio to her lips.
"This is Raven Reyes. Can anyone here me?"
Static.
"See, I told you."
She looked at Murphy who only rolled his eyes.
"Moving on," he said. The two sat there for about ten minutes laughing and making impressions as the spoke over the radio.
"This is Raven Reyes," she paused, "Is there anyone alive out there?" Murphy stared at her when she spoke with an accent. "What? Did you never see that really old movie, Titanic, while you were on the Ark?"
"No."
"Dude, it's like an Earth classic. This first class girl falls in love with a man from third class,"
"Okay. Let's be real for a second, Raven. That's literally happening in this camp as we speak," he said referring to Clarke and Bellamy. She knew exactly who he was talking about.
"Shut up. The guy in the movie dies. Don't jinx them," she said playfully slapping his arm.
"Hello?" a voice crackled to life. They looked at each other. "Rav? This —Ark."
"Do something," Murphy said when he noticed Raven froze. He startled her causing her to jump up and fumble with the radio.
Raven spoke into the radio while rotating the knob to get the right frequency.
"This is Raven Reyes. Can you hear me?"
"Yes, Raven. It's me, Abby," the voice said.
She found it. She found the frequency. She looked at Murphy.
"Mount Weather must have been jamming our signal when I tried this station." She squealed and threw her arms around Murphy. He lifted her off the ground. "I did it!"
"Raven, can you hear me?"
The two awkwardly stared at each other at the realization of their closeness before he set her back down.
"Go! Get Clarke. I'll talk to her."
"Abby. Hey, this is John Murphy. Raven is going to get Clarke."
"Clarke's alive?"
"Yes. She's actually the one who's been keeping us alive," he said. If it weren't for the static, he could almost hear a sigh of relief over the radio. They chatted briefly before Raven came running back in.
"She's coming," Raven said. Clarke walked through the curtain and looked at Raven and Murphy. She walked over to them, and Raven handed her the radio.
"Mom?" she said.
"Clarke? Honey, are you okay? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. We're all fine. Are there still people on the Ark? I thought you'd all be out of oxygen by now."
"Yes. We did too, but we found a way. There's only a few of us left though."
"How many?"
"About two hundred. We don't have much oxygen left though. We've been making the necessary preparations to come down, and we're planning to come down in about three weeks once we're in position. We won't have much oxygen to last any longer than that," Clarke looked at Raven who grabbed the radio.
"Abby, it's Raven. Do you have a map?"
"Yes, hold on," Abby said, "Okay, what am I looking for?"
"Mount Weather," Raven said. Her words sent chills down her's and Clarke's spines.
"Okay. Now what?"
"We're about twenty miles east of the mountain. We landed on the wrong side. There should be a river about five miles on the other side of us to the east."
"According to this map, it should be the Potomac River," Abby said.
"Wow. It has a name," Murphy said dryly, "It's not the river with the giant radiation snake that almost killed Octavia anymore." Raven elbowed him in the side. He winced.
"We'll talk later about where you should aim for. We need to make sure you land close enough so you're easy to reach but far enough you won't destroy anything when landing."
"Okay. Honey, did you guys have any luck getting into Mount Weather? Were there survivors? Supplies?" Abby asked. Raven and Clarke looked away both teary eyed and unable to find the words to speak. Murphy leaned over.
"Hey, Abby," he dragged out, "that's sort of a sensitive topic around here." He looked at the girls. "I'm sure you'll be filled in on it later, but for right now, can we avoid that topic of conversation?"
He placed a hand on Raven's shoulder, and Clarke mouthed thank you to him.
"All right, sure. Sorry," she said. "Can we talk about bringing the Ark down?"
"Yes," Clarke spoke up, "Plan for three weeks. Discuss it with Raven, and I'll discuss it with Lexa on the way to-" she paused leaving her sentence unfinished. Mount Weather. She was going with a few others to gather supplies under Lexa's protection. They were also planning to bring back Finn's body to be buried outside the camp walls with the others.
"Do you want to come?" she asked Raven who only shook her head. Raven didn't have the strength to go back there.
"Who's Lexa?" Abby asked.
"Raven will fill you in," she spoke into the radio. She raised her thumb from the button so only Raven and Murphy could hear her,
"Please don't mention the baby, or me and Bellamy, or the coalition, or joining it. Not yet, at least. Just say there's people down here and that eventually we've made peace with them. I'll tell her the rest later. Also, we need to let them know who all is dead. I'll be back," Clarke said.
She forced a smile before walking out of Raven's workshop. Raven waited until Clarke was gone to speak up.
"Abby, Clarke asked me to fill you in on the basics and when she gets back she'll give you all of the details." Raven paused long enough to hear a soft okay from Abby. She could only assume she was nodding her head. "So first things first, we're not alone."
"What do you mean you're not alone?"