The woods always amazed me. I had read about it numerous times, and attempted to draw it by the words written by those before me who'd seen it, but I never pictured it like this. It was alive, like I could feel it's heart beating when I walked along its brown floor. The trees seemed endless, reaching up toward the sky, like they were trying to escape the Earth, but their roots kept them grounded. I loved the noises it made, the rustling of the leaves, the songs the birds played aloud, the patter of the animals, it all seemed so harmonized.
"Clarke" my mother drew me out of my thoughts "did you get the berries and leaves?" I nodded and handed her different assortments of vegetation found around the forest. "These do help, well according to the Healers. I've only heard of a few, but we're getting low on medicine, so herbs and homemade remedies will have to do" I nodded again, not overly in the mood for talking. I hadn't spoken to Lexa all day, and when I did see her, she said nothing to me, she'd walk right on past. So, I jumped at the chance to leave camp when my mother and Raven asked me to join them for a walk to get the things they needed.
"Well, I'm ready to go" Raven said, hauling a large pile of bark and branches behind her on a makeshift toboggan. She was planning on building some kind of tower to get her radio frequencies to go even farther, and also insisted she got all the supplies herself. My mother nodded and we started off back toward the camp, until we heard the horn. We froze, looking at each other with helpless faces. Neither one of us had a bag on, and the horn meant Acid Fog, but no bags meant no tents to protect ourselves. "We'll have to run for it" Raven said, before dropping the rope from her toboggan and running as fast as she could. I took off behind her, my mother following suit.
We ran as fast as we could, but we were far from camp, and I knew there wasn't any nearby caves or old hideouts to get away from the deathly fog. The horn kept sounding, but I knew we were done for. My mother was falling behind, and Raven's brace wouldn't hold on much longer, and we were still a long ways from camp. "We're not gonna make it" I shouted to them, and I could see on their faces that they knew it too. That's when I heard the sound of a horse galloping through the woods. Charging at us was a dark horse thick with armor, and a brown headed commander, holding a bag in her hand. She said something to the horse, who quickly stopped to let her off, but then sped back the way it came.
Lexa opened the bag, throwing a tent toward my mother and Raven and removing another. She quickly opened the tent, while my mother set up hers. In no time, we were inside, protected from the fog that would have been our demise. I tried to calm myself down, but being so close to death can take a tole on you. "Thank you" I finally said through long breaths.
"It was nothing. I couldn't have you dead" Lexa said. She was so close to me that I could feel her heart beating. Soon the tent got darker, and I could see the fog rolling over us. I turned back to my companion, taking in everything about her. The way her eyes were so stern and determined, yet grew kinder with every day that passed. I could make out a light scar running from the back of her ear that ran all the way down her neck until it disappeared under her armor. "You're staring at me." she said, and I switched my gaze back to the roof of the tent, a blush creeping up my neck to my cheeks.
"Just admiring" I said softly. I could see her smile out of the corner of my eyes, so I turned to watch the blush that turned her tan cheeks to a light pink. She looked away so I looked up again at the roof, knowing the thick Acid fog could take a while to pass over us.
"Clarke." Lexa said, drawing my attention back to her. She always seemed different every time I looked at her. I was awe struck. She had to be one of the most beautiful things I've seen in all my life. Her eyes searched my face, and I smiled at her, reaching my hand up slowly to lightly touch her cheek. I expected her to move away, to tell me to never touch her again, but instead she moved her head so my whole hand could touch her. I pushed back her brown hair, my hand now holding onto her. She closed her eyes, and for a second it was silent, like the world knew something extraordinary was going to happen. I leaned into her slowly, thinking it was now or never, and soon my lips lightly touched hers. She kissed back, and it seemed so natural, like we were destined to be here, at this very moment.
I've kissed people before, granted not many, but kissing Lexa was different. The hard front she always wore shattered in a few seconds, and she seemed nervous and shy, not knowing were to put her hands or how to move her body right. I pulled apart from her, just slightly. "Lexa. Is this... is this okay?" I asked. She nodded and pushed our lips back together. We kissed, our tongues colliding and lips smiling, while a deathly fog rolled over our heads.