With rising chest and frayed nerves Clarke stared up at the woman who stood over her. She didn't know what to think or say or do as realisation dawned on her. She didn't know if she could even put to words the thoughts screaming through her mind.
People were alive.
They had survived.
They had lived on the ground for a hundred years while her people had thought themselves the only humans left in the universe. Shock. Shock was what she felt.
Anger at years gone by when hope had always been there came next. And there was sorrow. Fears. Agonies and incomprehensible thought all sifted together.
But as those thoughts slowly calmed Clarke began taking in what the woman wore.
She wore leathers, a jacket buckled closed across her chest with thick straps. Metal plating, as ornate as it seemed practical was stitched atop the leather and Clarke knew it would protect her and give her the ability to move, ran, dive if she needed. Even her forearms had braces of delicate metal strapped across them. Just like her torso and arms, her pants were armoured and Clarke could see the handle of a knife sheathed against her thigh.
A thundering roar echoed out around them and Clarke's eyes snapped up to the hatch in time to see it reverberate and shake. Dust or dirt fell from the cracks and Clarke winced and flinched way from it half expecting the beast to come crashing through.
But the woman was calm, she was steady, she reacted not to the commotion and Clarke found herself staring into piercing green eyes that hardly gave any sign of what she must be thinking.
That paint across her face contrasted starkly with her skin, it made her seem ethereal, dangerous, something unfamiliar and a threat all at once.
Clarke swallowed the lump in her throat. She slowly backed up away from the woman who hadn't moved yet. Clarke didn't think she even consciously did it, but something in her mind told her body to make space, to give this woman a wide berth lest she be threat.
Eventually Clarke's shock died down. Eventually the raging in her heart slowly eased. Eventually every crazed thought in her mind was wrestled under control and she forced her breathing to even out, she forced her mind to focus and she forced herself to think.
"Thank you," Clarke said quietly. Her voice was hoarse, her lips dry. Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth.
The woman's head tilted to the side ever so slightly in response before she slowly lowered herself to the floor until she was sitting cross legged in front of her. Clarke's eyes followed the movement as if the woman was a predator that could lash out at her without warning. Clarke even flinched slightly as the woman shrugged a shoulder to reveal a small pack she pulled around to her front.
"I think I would have died out there," Clarke added once the woman stilled.
Clarke wasn't entirely sure she knew what to expect the woman to say. Perhaps to ask her who she was. How she had got where she was. Or even what she was, for Clarke could tell this woman lived a life without any kind of technology from the way she dressed or from the construction of her pack that appeared constructed from nothing but natural materials, fabrics and leathers.
But whatever it was wasn't what Clarke heard in response.
The woman's voice was calm, careful, cautious, as she spoke at her slowly but Clarke's eyes widened and she found herself stupidly staring at her as realisation slowly set in.
The words Clarke heard sounded close to english. They sounded close to something she thought she should understand but she didn't and Clarke realised this woman didn't understand her no did she speak english.
"Ai laik Lexa," the woman said slowly.
Clarke swallowed again. This time to give herself the time to think and to consider. Her eyes darted back up to the hatch as she heard another loud thump above them.
The woman hardly flinched at the sound again but she pointed up and frowned before lowering her hand.
"Pauna," she said.
Clarke didn't know if she meant danger, she didn't know if she meant the hatch was locked, safe, if she was asking her something or telling her something.
"I—" Clarke tried to shake her head as politely as she could. "I don't understand," she felt so stupid as she said her words slowly only to realise it mattered not how slowly or how clearly she enunciated for the woman wouldn't understand her just as much as Clarke wasn't able to understand she said too.
"Pauna," the woman repeated and this time she made a lumbering motion with her arms.
Clarke recognised the motion as something similar to how the gorilla had moved and she thought she understand.
"Pauna," Clarke said slowly, the syllables upon her tongue clumsy as she nodded her head.
"Sha," the woman said with a slight smile.
Perhaps that small smile was enough for Clarke's mind to relax, to ease. Perhaps if the woman could smile it was enough for her to relax. Surely they were safe. Or as safe as could be expected given they were now trapped underground for the foreseeable future.
Clarke started really looking around her then. Whatever place she was in now was large enough that she thought it could house five, six, maybe ten people if they squeezed in. But with just the two of them there was plenty of space to relax, to find space away from the other.
On one side of the bunker was a weathered, old wood shelf. What looked like buckets and other supplies were organised across it. Against the other wall was a small table with chairs that had seen just as much use. There was even what Clarke assumed to be a large fur covered bed against another wall and she realised that this place must have been a refuge for this woman and her people to use if they ever had the misfortune of finding themselves fleeing from the beast. From the pauna.
That simply made Clarke realise just how deep this woman and her people's history must have gone. Just how well prepared they had become to living on the ground. Perhaps they were the survivors of Mount Weather. Perhaps they had been who had emerged and forged a life for themselves after the nuclear fallout. Clarke found herself wondering if they had villages, cities, societies that her people had somehow missed.
Clarke slowly sat up more comfortable, she shifted the rifle in her hands and—
The woman's eyes darted to it, her hand dropped to her knife and Clarke froze.
She registered the change in demeanour at the same time the woman's body coiled as if she prepared to strike. Danger spiked in the air and Clarke didn't realise at first what it was.
She saw the woman's eyes narrow, she saw her eyes move from the rifle and then to her and Clarke realised the woman saw her rifle as a threat. She realised the woman must have seen and heard it firing at the gorilla. She realised the woman must think it some kind of tool that could do more harm than good.
"Sorry," Clarke whispered quietly. She slowly put the rifle down on the ground before she held up her hands in an attempt to tell and to show her that she meant no harm.
Clarke watched as the woman seemed to study her for a moment longer before relaxing a fraction. Her hand moved away from her knife and Clarke let out a sigh of relief. She was under no impression she'd come out on top in whatever scuffle could have occurred.
But the realisation that this woman seemed not to know what her rifle was other than the fact that it was dangerous simply told Clarke that the use of any kind of technology had been lost to time. There was a vast divide in their people. Clarke could see that much. But for whatever reason the woman had saved her life and Clarke also realised that the times she had felt eyes on her must have been this woman watching her, following her.
Or she hoped that was the case and not that she had been losing her mind slowly the last few days.
She didn't even hold it against this woman. Clarke didn't even know how she'd react if she was in this woman's shoes. She didn't know what she'd think if someone had come crashing down to the Earth in a ball of fire with things, tools, gadgets she had no frame of reference for.
Despite the divide in their way of life, despite the divide in their language Clarke wanted to reach out in spirit if not in words.
"Thank you," Clarke said it again, she said it surely, purposefully. She made sure her eyes met this woman's and she tried to let her see the truth in her gaze. "Thank you for saving me from the pauna," Clarke continued. "It would have killed me."
The woman must have understood the sentiment for she simply nodded her head with an understanding. That made Clarke feel more relief than she had expected.
This woman was the first one who she had spoken to in days but it felt like centuries. She didn't realise she had missed it, she didn't realise she had longed for something more than what she had and— and Clarke felt tears suddenly welling in her eyes, she blinked, quickly wiped the back of her hand across her face and turned from the woman.
Clarke didn't want to cry. She didn't want her to think she was helpless or afraid of the situation for she wasn't. It wasn't the fact that she was scared or fearful that she cried, it was just the feeling of being overwhelmed, of being consumed by everything she couldn't control and Clarke hadn't realised the pressure, the stress, the expectations would weigh so heavily on her.
"Sorry," Clarke whispered as she fought her emotions back under control.
Eventually she looked back at the woman to see her looking at her cautiously as if she didn't quite understand what she looked at.
Clarke didn't blame her one single bit.
The woman said something in return, the words were lost on Clarke in the moment but the sentiment behind them seemed kind or at least understanding. Clarke smiled in an attempt to say thanks before she sniffled and wiped her hand across her eyes just once more before she settled her mind.
"I guess we'll be stuck in here for a while?" Clarke half asked and half said. She even gestured up to the hatch before gesturing around them at the bunker and she hoped the woman understood what she tried to say. "Pauna," Clarke added before she mimed it walking around with two fingers.
The woman's lip twitched up at the corners before nodding her head.
"Sha," she said again.
"Sha," Clarke repeated quietly.
The woman's head tilted to the side.
"Yes," Clarke looked at her and nodded her head before she started looking around for something.
Clarke couldn't find exactly what she was looking for but her eyes settled on her rifle she had moved aside. She looked back at the woman to find her eyes narrowing a fraction again.
"Sha," Clarke said carefully as she nodded her head and lifted her hand palm towards the woman. "Yes," she said before slowly lowering it towards the rifle. "Sha?" she asked and she made sure only to gesture to it with a finger as she shook her head. "Sha?" she tried to make it a question in some kind of way only to wince at how stupid she must have looked to the woman—
"Nou," the woman's voice interrupted her embarrassment.
Clarke looked at her and smiled.
"Sha," she said. "Yes," she lifted her hand away from the rifle. "Nou," she pointed to it. "No."
Clarke found herself smiling a little more fully as she saw recognition dawn on the woman's face. Clarke couldn't help but to feel just a little lighter than she had just moments ago as she realised she had somehow formed at least some kind of connection with someone else. It really was only two, three, a handful of words but it was enough for her to feel more connected to the world she was in than she had days earlier.
Clarke's stomach growled at that very moment and she felt her cheeks flush as the sound she was sure echoed out inside the bunker. Clarke felt the tips of her ears burn as she slowly shrugged off her backpack and opened it.
It was stupid, more stupid than it really should have been but for whatever reason Clarke didn't want this women to think her helpless and unable to care for herself in any kind of way.
Clarke found one of her nutrient bars and pulled it free. It took her just a second or two to unwrap it before she lifted it to her lips but just before she did she realised what she was doing. Clarke paused, she lowered it and looked at the woman to find her studying her, perhaps eyeing the food she was about to consume and Clarke didn't mean to be rude, she didn't mean to not think of the woman who had saved her life.
Clarke reached up and pulled off a piece of the compressed, congealed protein and offered it to the woman awkwardly. She knew it probably didn't look that appetising. But it was the least Clarke could do.
The woman paused for only a second before reaching out and taking the piece of food in her hand. Clarke slowly lifted her own remaining half of the bar to her mouth and took a bite. While she did so she tried not to watch the woman too rudely but she couldn't help but to stare.
It was half because she was amazed, awed, so unbelieving of what she was seeing, and the other half was simply curiosity, intrigue, a desire to know more.
The woman sniffed the food in her hand. Clarke watched her take the smallest of bites before her lips twisted at the corners in something close to displeasure.
Clarke blushed, she looked down in her lap and really wished she didn't feel as embarrassed as she did. Of course the woman wouldn't find what she had given her appealing. Of course the taste was terrible.
The Ark had nothing. Nothing that could come close to a tenth of whatever her people must have been able to grow, to hunt, eat and survive off of.
Clarke cursed herself before she looked back up at the woman to find her simply put the rest of the food into her mouth and chew and swallow before smiling a small thing that touched the corners of her lips.
"Sorry," Clarke whispered. "I—" she paused in embarrassed thought. "It's good for you, at least," that much was true.
Clarke watched as the woman reached into her own pack before pulling out a small parcel of what she thought was wrapped in leaf and tied together with a small twine or string. She stared as the woman slowly unwrapped it to reveal strips of something. It took Clarke just a second to realise that what she was looking at must have been some kind of dried food. She couldn't tell if it was meat, fruit, vegetable or something else but she could see what she assumed to be spices sprinkled atop the dried pieces.
The woman held out her hand, the parcel of leaf wrapped food offered towards her. Clarke paused for a moment. Part of her couldn't believe it. Part of her refused to believe this was real but it was and Clarke found herself watching her own hand reaching out cautiously. She didn't want to seem too eager, too pathetically desperate but part of her mind was screaming out at her to snatch all of it lest the woman decide to retract her offer.
But Clarke wasn't rude. She wasn't going to be rude. She took hold of just a single piece of the food before she slowly brought it up to her lips. She took a subtle sniff and scents she had never experienced before hit her with such intensity that it made her eyes widened.
She could almost taste whatever it was on her tongue as she slowly held up the piece of food before her eyes and stared at it. She could see dark reds and browns and orange spices worked into the fibres of what she assumed to be meats. It was juts slightly sticky to the touch, tender, it had a little give and Clarke was sure whatever it was would more than shame her nutrient bar.
"Thank you," Clarke said to the woman and she was sincere, so open and honest in her words and she hoped the woman understood.
Clarke took a careful bite and she moaned.
Flavours hit her, they swelled within her mouth and Clarke really tried not to do anything too embarrassing over eating a simple piece of spiced meat.
It was salty, there was a tang to it, an aftertaste of sweetness she couldn't describe but it was real. It was food. Something no one on the Ark had ever eaten before and she found her eyes beginning to well with tears once more.
Clarke laughed. She couldn't help it.
She felt an emotion bubble to the surface with such intensity that she knew she looked crazed, haphazard, mind broken and soul lost to the woman but she didn't care in that very moment.
Eventually Clarke's laughing died down and she found herself stupidly smiling at the woman and the remainder of the meat in her hand. She just sighed, shook her head and took another bite as she tried to figure out what to do next.
She really wished she could say more. She really wanted to say more, to give this woman some kind of message to explain everything. Clarke would figure it out in time. She would need to. But for the moment she was content to eat, to share in this quiet company that had truly been the last thing she could have ever expected to find.
Clarke realised then that she knew not what this woman's name was. She knew not how to thank her in the ways she wanted to. But reaching out was all she could do.
"Clarke," Clarke said. She watched as the woman's eyes snapped to her again. "My name is Clarke," she said as she lifted a hand a placed it over her chest. "Clarke."
The woman seemed to understand for she slowly nodded.
"Klark," the woman repeated it slowly, the sound just a little accented to her ears but Clarke smiled. She smiled for the woman understood and she felt her heart thrum with an excitement and a desire.
"Sha," Clarke said.
The woman smiled at her and there was a knowing glint in her eyes.
"Lexa," the woman said. "Ai laik Lexa," and Clarke realised she had heard that phrase earlier.
And so Clarke fought not to smother the smile that grew upon her lips as she looked this woman, this Lexa in the eyes.
"It's nice to meet you, Lexa."