How to make a Friend

[Klara]

Clarke seemed surprised when Klara said she was a scout who took care of orphans. Maybe it was because all she had seen of the Grounders culture was the Jus drein jus daun - Blood must have blood - part which is a huge part of their culture but they weren't all like that. Klara wasn't like that but she totally understood why Clarke could think this way.

"We needed to understand our enemies so we could spy them easily, that's why scouts learn English like warriors do. Plus, I find English very interesting and I've always wanted to learn it!". That was true, Klara loved this language since the first time she heard warriors speaking it so when she became a scout, she already knew some words and she learnt the rest very quickly.

Klara listened carefully to Clarke while the latter was talking about who she was. Klara felt like Clarke didn't really know what being Wanheda meant, which was understandable because Clarke didn't know a lot about their culture, so she wasn't able to say if she was this Wanheda or not. She seemed very lost and confused, probably since what happen to Mount Weather. And when she spoke about the first contacts between Trikru and Skaikru, Klara felt guilty even if she didn't kill Clarke's friends so she wasn't directly guilty. "I'm sorry for what my people did to yours." She truly was and the idea that all she could do was apologize for her people who was unforgivable for what they did to Skaikru made her feel very sad but it also made her more determined than she already was to help Clarke!

Tag: Clarke Griffin

[Clarke Griffin]

“For what part?” Clarke asked her, clearly weary of dealing with Grounders and everything around it. It was a general thing, nothing personal against her. Her eyes still held softness, gratefulness for her help. She knew not every person was the same. She knew some of them had to feel different about what happened. They were all individuals. But their culture made them like that. Clarke had noticed how it was about fight, war and all that. It was not even a surprise with the mountain close. Their cultures clashed. And while they never did anything to go towards the Arkers, the Arkers have not been given a chance to create peace from this situations. They bent to them. Every time they bent to their culture.

“The first time we met your people, they threw a spear into the chest of my friend. No words, nothing. Then they tied him up to serve as bait for a panther. The second and third time were similar: We got killed without any word of explanation. We made mistakes, we were scared, but… your people sent 300 warriors to kill 80 kids. It went on from there. I had to kill my boyfriend because of… There’s a lot of stuff between our people. I don’t think it can easily be fixed anymore. The deal at mount weather was just the tip of the iceberg…. And for most of my people not in the slightest unexpected, I’m afraid.”

Klara

[Klara]

"For everything. My people didn't react like they should have because they were scared but it wasn't a reason to persecute your people... But that's how my people had always reacted: with violence... That's the only way they know to act against a potential threat but they should have sent someone to speak with your people before attacking..." Klara was truly sorry. She would have done things another way if she had been in charge because she found Skaikru interesting and she wanted to know more about their culture.

Klara felt pretty uncomfortable because Clarke seemed to trust her at least a little bit even if her friends were killed by Klara's people. Why did she trusted her if she hated Grounders because of what they did to her? Klara couldn't find a satisfactory answer to this question because if she was Clarke, she will probably not trust someone who came from the enemies' clan. So there were two possibilities, either Clarke was unaware of the risks she was taking by follow a girl who belonged to the enemies' clan, which wasn't the case because Clarke seemed too smart for that, or she understood that Klara wasn't like all the Grounders, that she was special and that she wanted peace not a bloodshed. But that confidence and the way Clarke opened her heart to Klara made her feel like they could become good friends.

Tag: Clarke Griffin

[Clarke Griffin]

“They were scared of a bunch of uneducated kids?” Or maybe of the unknown, because, yes the Arkers were uknown to them, entirely unknown factors even, but there was absolutely nothing they could do about that, or maybe even nothing they should. Once upon a time Clarke was willing to lift the fear. Now that very same fear cold protect her people, maybe. Because they did what the grounders had been unable to do for so long: They brought down the mountain, something that the grounders were unable to do. They had brought down the mountain, the grounders should have respect from them now. They needed to. Or they would make them. They should make them. 

“Your culture is based on fighting.” Clarke pointed out. There was no other way to say that. That was what her culture was. It was in many way necessary for them as long as the mountain was around. But now they were here and they brought the mountain down. “I don’t think it would have ever looked differently.” It didn’t matter on who was in charge or why. Nothing would have changed. Nothing could have changed. It was, simply, impossible. “Some few of you disagree with your cultures faith in this violent life. But you are rare.”

Klara

[Klara]

"They are always scared... The first unknown thing afraid them..." Sometimes, Klara found her people really annoying, they weren't curious about new things whereas Klara liked observing these things and trying to understand them. She felt different from the rest of her people, she didn't feel out of place with them. The Skaikru seemed very interesting to her, plus they had brought down the mountain and Klara was very respectful for that because by doing that, they saved loads of her people and they eliminated a huge threat so she will be able to let the orphans outside of the camp longer before starting to worry. So she didn't understand why her people was trying to catch Clarke to kill her instead of thanking her and being respectful.

Klara listened silently to Clarke and looked down as she talked about grounders culture being based on fighting, a culture which couldn't change according to her. Klara looked at Clarke when the latter one said there were few people like her who disagreed with this violence. "Unfortunately, you're right... there is very few people who think this way and I think it's a shame. That's a reason why I want to help you... Because I don't want to belong to this world of violence and because I can't believe that my people is hunting you whereas you saved us... My people really act stupidly sometimes.".

Tag: Clarke Griffin

[Clarke Griffin]

"We all have a brain." Clarke whispered. "And brains can be quite stupid. Originally humanity was programmed to just survive. Then we learned social skills and lost survival skills. Apparently we've not fully developed back, which makes us make shitty decisions." After all killing those people was a shitty decision in Clarkes book. She had killed for minor reasons and boy did she hate that. She hated it so much.


"Everyone has to live with what they do. So do your people." And they were okay with it. "I don't think saving is a concept knowing to your people. Not int hat. What seems to be much more important than savig seems to be power. I don't understand that. It was a huge power struggle and in the end innocent people died. There were children in the mountain, children had no idea. They had no choice. We had no choice."

[Klara]

Survive... What a hard thing to do... especially in this world... "Sometimes I can't help but wonder what is the point of surviving if it is to be witness, when it isn't victim, of more violence..." And each time Klara thought about this, she ended with the same conclusion: the only reason why she was always fighting to stay alive was the orphans, she couldn’t leave them, they had already lost too much.

Apparently Clarke hated killing people as much as Klara did which made the latter one think about her victims... Every time she took a life it was because she didn't have another option... and now, like Clarke said, she had to live with that, the scars on her shoulder reminding her what she did and that she would have preferred never to. But unfortunately, she knew how hard it was to take someone's life even when you have no choice so she understood how Clarke felt right now and when you felt like that, the last thing you wanted to do was talking about it so as they weren't far from the hiding place, Klara changed the topic of conversation "It's not far off. We're almost there." she said smiling at Clarke.

Tag: Clarke Griffin

[Clarke Griffin]

Clarke nodded at the girl. It was weird. She felt weird with her, but it was a good kind of weird. A kind of weird that didn't fit into this world. It seemed, to Clarke, like she too had to do things that she didn't want to do. Sometimes there was no other way. Sometimes not even the way out was a good one. Clarke sighed once more, walking with her. "What's your story then? Why are you... not open to war like everyone else?" Because that was what er culture was based on and yet she seemed to refuse the very thought of it, something that Clarke loved. She was done with fighting and war.

"I think staying in this area is too dangerous for me in the long run." Not with everyone, but her apparently, out for her head because of her killing someone - which made her sick to the stomach, still. Killing wasn't great. It was cruel. It was what she needed to do at that time, but also what she hated with a passion. "I guess I'll have to leave the area." Or return back home, but that would be too dangerous. She couldn't even go back home.

[Klara]

When Clarke asked her what was her story to understand why she wasn't open to war, Klara was happy because it meant that Clarke understood that she wasn't like all the other Grounders and she answered "My story... War took my father... Because of it I never knew him and it could have make me angry enough to want to revenge but I saw how much my mother was hurted by my father's death and it made me aware of how much sadness taking a life brought... That's why I'm not open to war, because taking a life not only makes you a killer, it also makes you the cause of the unhappiness of many livings... That's also why I took care of orphans, to try to make them forget a part of their pain...". Every time Klara took a life it was because she had no other choices and she wished she didn't had to do this.

"Trust me, you can stay in this area for a little while. Nobody comes here in general. Trikru warriors don't go here because it's to close to Azgeda territory and Azgeda warriors don't come here because it will be an act of war since we still are on Trikru territory..." Klara said looking at Clarke, she seemed a little worry so Klara continued "And if Trikru warriors decided to come search this area, I'll be here before them and we will go in another place!". Klara was really ready to do this to help Clarke not to get caught because she could feel that she was a good person, that she wasn't this Wanheda that everyone thought she was.

Tag: Clarke Griffin

[Clarke Griffin]

"War makes nobody happy." Clarke pointed out. Nobody liked war, except maybe those making money from it. Maybe people who made weapons, maybe leaders who wanted more power through war, other than that, Clarke couldn't imagine anyone wanting more war than there already was. Death was around them, the smell still so clear in her nose, that her stomach turned on the spot, threatening to make her sick once more. She hated the smell. She hated the simple memory of it. But as she spoke to the young grounder, she felt, for once, that she might relax around someone. She experienced loss. She knew war was pointless. She knew it only hurt people, which was so much more than the rest of her culture knew. 

"I can't imagine anyone liking to kill." But it seemed to be the case with many grounders. They needed more like her. They needed more people appreciative of peace. Maybe there was hope after all. Maybe she could get a message to her people, inform them of what the grounders were doing, how they hunted her. Maybe they could put an end to it. But for now, Clarke might be able to rest.

"Is there access to water close by?" She asked her as she kept on walking with her. She would have to thank her. She would have to do so many more things for her. She might essentially be saving her life and so much more. "Great thinking on the spot. Playing the dynamics of the clans against the other is very clever."

Klara

[Klara]

"Actually I would love that to be true but unfortunately some people enjoy war like the leaders of some clans, the Ice Queen being the first person on that list..." Klara explained to Clarke. "All she is interested in is power and she doesn't care how many lives are taken by her people for her to have more power." Klara could have told Clarke that the Ice Queen wanted to take her life to get Wanheda's powers but she didn't want to scare the Skaikru girl so she stopped there. Klara won't let Clarke getting caught by Azgeda anyway, she felt like she was making a friend and she will never let a friend down no matter what could happen.

"Maybe I won't believe that either if I wasn't living in this world full of violence..." Klara had been victim or witness of this violence since she was born so she knew some people didn't care about killing but for her taking a life was such a horrible thing, it wasn't only ending someone's life, it was also breaking the heart of those who loved this person and it hurted and Clarke seemed to understand that more than anyone else.

As Clarke asked if there was access to water close by, Klara smiled at her and answered "Actually, there's a water source not far from here. That's also a reason why I chose this place..." Klara had already used several hiding places around here, all of them were great but this one was the closest to the source. Then, as Clarke complimented her about the choice of the place, Klara looked down blushing and muttered "Thank you" she wasn't used to be complimented, her parents were gone to soon to do that. Klara looked up again and noticed they were arrived "Here is your new place." she said beckoning to Clarke as she entered in the cave.

Tag: Clarke Griffin

[Clarke Griffin]

The cave was big. It was a wide and rather open. With the turned exit, it was possible to stop people from looking inside. If they put up some vines, they might be shielded from view. They could be safe here. She could be safe there. At least for a little while. It was almost cozy. It could become very cozy, cozier than a lot of things she saw before.

"This is... beautiful. This could be a real home." With the right things here. She had seen so many things in this world, that this was just pure and wonderful to her. As was her host. She didn't know how she could repay such a genuine offer. If that was a real one. But right now she thought it would turn out to be a real one. What reason would she have to trick her? She doubted she did. 

"Thank you for your help. You have a gift, bringing out hope where there is none."

Klara

[Klara]

When Klara turned back to face Clarke, she saw how impressed she looked at the sight of the cave and she was glad that the girl seemed to like the place. "Of course it needs some plants to hide the view to be really safe so I'll help you to find some and put them there but expect for that, it can be quite a comfortable place.". Her words were true, she liked this cave, it actually was one of her favorite places. She didn't usually share its existance with other people, not even with other Trikru scouts but the situation was different. Clarke couldn't hide from Trikru in their territory and it was the same for Azgeda so this unknown cave at the border seemed perfect.

As Clarke spoke about the place being beautiful, Klara said "Well... I try to keep this place as great as I can so feel free to tell me if I can help make it feel like a real home." According to what Clarke told her and to what she had heard, Klara was pretty sure that it was hard for the girl to feel like home down there so if she could do anything to help with that, she would be happy to do so. Helping people, especially psychologically lost people, was a need for her, that was one of the reasons why she took care of the orphans and that probably was what pushed her to help Clarke.

When the Skaikru girl thanked her, Klara replied "You know you don't have to thank me, helping people is what I do and if it can bring them some hope too, then I'm glad it does. But I don't think it's a gift, I think it's understanding... I mean, I know that hope can be a dirty four letter word sometimes... but there's always a little light somewhere to chase the darkness in your heart."

Clarke Griffin