The next time Clarke saw Lexa was three days later.

After Clarke's 'success' at hunting, even if it was just a rabbit, Bellamy seemed determined to prove that he could hunt better than her. In all truth, he probably could, but it wasn't like she would tell him that.

Clarke had gone out with hunting parties multiple other times, but this would be her first time alone since the Lexa incident. She went out with the excuse of hunting, and she actually was trying to, but what she wanted was something different. Something secret.

"I don't understand how you still have animals around." Clarke turned sharply, unsurprised to see Lexa calmly following her path. "All of you walk like you're trying to step on every little thing you can."

"Well I'm sorry if I didn't grow up in a forest," Clarke said. "We can't all be ridiculously silent."

"I could teach you."

Clarke had to pause for a second to make sure she heard her right. "What?"

"I could teach you." Lexa crossed the distance between them, settling comfortably against the trunk of a tree just a few feet in front of her. "I said I would help provide food. My way of doing that is teaching you to provide food."

There was no reason to deny the offer. "Okay. Let's do it."

Lexa nodded, her face turning all serious. "First we must fix your feet. You step too loudly. Any animal could hear you coming." She pushed herself up. "Walk a bit for me."

Lexa had her walk maybe five feet before she stopped her. "You are trying to walk quietly, but it is not working. You put all your weight on wherever you step instead of distributing it. Walk on the outer edges of your shoes and roll your feet forward after you place down your heel. I suppose part of the problem could be your footwear, but we will have to make do."

Lexa knew what she was doing. As they moved, Clarke watched how Lexa walked and reveled in how silent she was, even when walking so casually. By the time Lexa decided it was time to part ways, it had been over an hour. Clarke didn't feel as if anything had changed, though Lexa insisted it was an improvement.

"We'll make a hunter out of you yet," she said, a small smile curving onto her face. "For now, though, I do believe I promised to provide." She took a knife out from her belt and threw it into the bushes in what to Clarke looked like a pointless maneuver, but Lexa followed after her knife and produced yet another dead rabbit.

Clarke looked at her in awe. "How did you do that?"

"Practice and experience," Lexa said, handing the rabbit to Clarke. "It is how we produce our food. Anyone who is able-bodied learns to hunt." Her eyes rested on the dagger strapped to Clarke's waist. "Perhaps next time we'll have to see how good you are with that knife."

"And when will 'next time' be?"

"The next time I catch you alone in the woods," Lexa smirked before turning around and disappearing into the foliage.

That girl was definitely something.

It wasn't until later that day that the topic of Mount Weather was brought up among her 'rebel group,' as the delinquents called them. It was something Clarke had avoided talking about ever since the startling truth of it had been told to her by Lexa.

"So, Clarke," Jasper said as he tore into a rabbit leg. "What happened to your desperate plan to get to that mountain?"

Clarke shrugged helplessly, her mind racing to think up a reasonable excuse. "From here, it has to be an eight-hour hike or so. If it really is the stock-full bunker we think it is, just the six of us wouldn't be able to get everything we need from there to here, much less across the thirty-something miles between."

"So Princess did her math," Finn said. "Any reason you didn't figure this out before?"

"Optimism." Clarke prayed that would be enough, that would be the end of it. Of course, it wasn't.

"People are starting to realize that Bellamy isn't a very good leader. We could rally up however many are willing to go and, I don't know, scout out the path there?" Monty said.

"Leave the rest behind, that's what we do." Octavia threw a scornful gaze at the people sitting around the main fire. "If they don't want to save their own asses, then fine."

"We can't do that," Clarke said. "We're not leaving them behind. That's another reason I'm hesitant to go. I don't want to have three dozen miles between them and us."

"Leave a trail or something. Maybe they'll follow us."

Clarke sighed. She really hoped Bellamy got his shit together soon. If she wanted to tell them about their newly acquired allies, she'd need him to get them organized. He was the only one the delinquents seemed to listen to. If he opposed her, she'd never get anywhere.

"Whatever," Clarke muttered. "I'd rather wait until the camp isn't such a mess to pursue anything that big."

Octavia narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure you're okay? This seems… sudden."

"Maybe I was just hanging onto hope all before now." Clarke looked toward the distant peaks, internally hurting as she imagined how Lexa's people felt being ripped from their families by whatever horrible people ruled the bunker. It was enough to make her determined to keep her people away from the same fate, and Lexa's as well if she could. If she could.

Her people come first.

This was the fourth time this week she'd seen Lexa.

She'd fallen into a routine. Every other day, she went out alone to go 'hunt.' Bellamy tried to convince her to go with a hunting party, but she shot him down, saying she did better alone. He couldn't argue, considering the last two times she'd come back with food.

Clarke was picking up quickly on Lexa's teachings. Knife throwing came easy to her; she could throw well, only needed to refine her aim. Her stealth was improving, but it was still a far cry from what it would need to be in order to hunt efficiently. Lexa was still providing the meat, though she was certain that given another week or so Clarke could perhaps catch something herself.

The relationship between the two was awkward. It was all business, and though Clarke had taken a liking to the grounder girl, Lexa wasn't as willing to put her trust in Clarke. She could understand that; it's hard to like someone when you don't know whether they'll still be around tomorrow.

Clarke's knife struck just inches from the X Lexa had carved onto the trunk of a tree. Lexa nodded, pulling it out and tossing it back. "Getting closer. Again."

Clarke shifted her posture a bit to the right, the knife hitting a few inches off on the other side. Lexa repeated the same action she'd been doing since they'd started. "Don't adjust your body, adjust your throw. Aim your body at the target, aim your throw at the mark."

Clarke shifted back to her original stance, the knife sinking in maybe two inches top-left of the mark. Lexa tossed the knife back and Clarke once again aimed and threw.

At the same time, a horn blasted in the distance, messing up her aim and sending the knife crashing into the bushes. Lexa looked up sharply, her eyes turning toward the mountain in the distance. Clarke followed her gaze and was startled at the orange mist descending from its sides.

"We have to hide." Lexa scooped up the rabbit she'd pre-hunted and beckoned for Clarke to follow. "Come."

"Wait, hold on," Clarke said, not moving. "What is that stuff?"

"Acid fog. It burns the skin of anyone it touches. We must find shelter," Lexa said, once again starting to move away.

"But my people! How will they know to find shelter?"

"Would you like to go back and warn them?" Lexa asked. "Your 'dropship' is closer to the mountain than we are. The fog moves fast. It will reach them before we could. We must save ourselves and hope for the best."

Clarke took one look at the fog rushing toward them and knew Lexa was right. She nodded her consent and followed her away.

"So do you have a place to hide around here?" Clarke asked, struggling to keep up with the hard pace Lexa had set.

"In this area? No. We will have to find somewhere."

They sprinted in the opposite direction of the fog, Clarke blindly following, having no idea where they were going. She felt something catch on her foot and fell to the ground with a thud. She turned to look at the orange haze in the distance and scrambled to get up.

"Come on!" Lexa grabbed her wrist and hauled her to her feet, turning to continue their sprint, but Clarke held her back. Lexa turned to yell at her but Clarke was more focused on whatever she had tripped over.

Clarke dusted the leaves away, revealing a small handle stickup up out of the ground. She grabbed it and pulled, feeling it give slightly before something began to push back. "A little help here?"

Lexa crouched beside her, grabbing the handle and pulling with all her strength. It groaned open, the rungs squealing as if it hadn't been opened in a century and a half. Lexa seemed hesitant to go down into the unknown bunker, but another glance at the fog that was almost upon them made her relent. She slipped down and Clarke followed after her, pulling the hatch closed just as the fog swept over them.

She held onto the ladder, unsure of what was below them with no light to see in the pitch black. She heard Lexa drop onto the floor and carefully dropped as well, bending her knees to lessen the impact. She could hear Lexa shuffling around ahead of her and stretched out her hands. She felt for the walls, finding one on her right and feeling all over it. There was a switch there. She flicked it up. The overhead lights flickered for a second before shutting back off, but it gave Clarke enough time to find what she was looking for. Clarke moved carefully over to what had looked like a desk tucked against the wall, running her hands over it until she felt the rubber rim.

Lexa flinched as Clarke flicked her newly acquired flashlight on, aiming the beam into the darkness in front of them. The bunker was small, looking unused as if it had been prepared but never gotten the chance to be lived in. There was a dusty couch, a dirty bed, two small coffee tables, and a few various shelves and cabinets hung onto the walls.

Clarke sighed heavily, smacking the couch cushion and coughing through a cloud of dust before sitting down. "So. Does this sort of thing happen often?"

Lexa hovered awkwardly at the opposite end of the couch. "Perhaps twice a moon cycle. They only release it when we get too close."

"They? This is from the maunon?" Clarke sat back against the cushions, mumbling under her breath, "damned bastards."

"Sha, this is maunon." Lexa finally sat down on the couch, keeping a good two feet between them. "They don't want to risk us getting close, despite that there is only one impenetrable way in."

"Only one? Are you sure?"

"Sha. It is a great door, one that never opens. It is many feet thick."

"Never opens," Clarke repeated. "If it doesn't open, how do they get in and out? With the reapers and all?"

Lexa clicked her tongue absentmindedly on the roof of her mouth. "You suspect they have another entrance we do not know of. I suppose it's possible. It's not often we get very close." She looked up with Clarke, something new shining in her eyes. "You are smart, Klark kom Skaikru. I have not thought of such an approach."

"Really?" Clarke was surprised. "Have your leaders not sent anyone out to investigate?"

Lexa grimaced. "Nou. They have eyes in the trees. We cannot get close without meeting with ripas, maunon or the fog. Believe me, we have tried. No one has yet returned alive."

Clarke nodded, deep in thought. The maunon obviously had tech like the Ark, they hadn't left it behind as Lexa's people had. She guessed the eyes were cameras, and if they could find where the cameras were and avoid them, then perhaps they could get to the mountain's edge. If not, maybe they could try and communicate a peace with them, or at least try and understand more about them.

Clarke realized that there was so much more that they could do for Lexa and her people than she had realized. The things they had, the knowledge they held, it could be so much more helpful than any of them had thought it would be. Clarke looked at the hatch, seeing the tiny wisps of orange haze drifting in through the cracks. "I'm going to help you defeat the maunon."

Lexa looked up at her, surprised. Clarke caught the corners of her lips twitching up into a smile before being forced back down. "I'm not sure you quite understand. The maunon cannot be defeated."

"With what you had before, no." Clarke lifted her wrist, her eyes searching over the tiny metal transmitter. "But with what we have, maybe they can be."

"Doubtful. The maunon are too powerful."

"But you've never had tech. They'd never think you'd have tech. If we could combine our minds, use both your people's skills and our machines, maybe we could at least do some damage. It's worth a try, is it not?"

Lexa couldn't help the small grin at the thought of finally bringing down the mountain. "You are right. There is no harm in trying."

Clarke grinned back at her. Lexa was always so serious, it was nice to get some hope out of her. Lexa's eyes moved down to the wristband she'd been looking at. "What is the metal bracelet? All of your people have one, or had one."

Clarke's grin slipped as her mind returned to the delinquents. "They're transmitters. They send our vitals back up to the people on the Ark, let them know if we're alive, injured, dead, the likes."

Lexa's eyes widened slightly. "Even when your Ark is in the sky?"

"Yes. The wristbands release signals that get picked up by receivers on the station. It's nothing that complicated."

"If that is what you call 'not complicated,' I would like to know what you would consider complicated." Lexa relaxed back into the couch, finally seeming more at ease now that the topic of the maunon had passed. "Tell me more about this 'Ark' of yours. You grew up on it, did you not?"

"I did." Clarke went on to tell her about her experiences on the Ark, feeling relieved that there was finally someone she could complain to that wouldn't immediately report her to some higher authority. Perhaps it was still too early to make judgments, but Clarke trusted the grounder girl. She just seemed so authentic. Clarke couldn't help but admire her.

She was something new. Something she'd never seen before.

Clarke wanted more of her.