Chapter Text
Clarke stared into emerald eyes, a feeling she had never experienced before in her life drowning out all sense of rational thought. The stranger had saved her. She was no longer in danger so why did her heart beat so fast as they gazed down at her.
A Few Weeks Earlier...
Clarke Griffin loved to travel. She loved to have adventures and discover all the wonders the world had to offer. She had visited the Berlin wall when she was eight. She had drank tea in China when she was twelve. She had stayed with native tribes in Central Africa and Indonesia and India. She had travelled extensively with her parents, the world reknown Griffin family, her mother a prestigious philanphropist medical doctor and her father an award winning anthropologist.
So at age 23, when she was asked if she wanted to travel with them to a remote part of South America to live with an Amazonian tribe, she was excited.
They arrived in the already established camp with the team. Clarke met them all and setup her own tent, laying out her sleeping bag in the centre and placing her large backpack in the corner.
"Hi!"
Clarke turned around to see a young brunette entering her tent. She had her hair tied back in a ponytail and was wearing sensible loose clothes and hiking shoes.
"Hi," Clarke said politely. "I just got here and haven't got to know everybody yet. You are...?"
"Raven Reyes," the girl said, "your guide."
Clarke got to her feet, wiping her hand on her shorts.
"Clarke Griffin, you don't sound local."
"I was born here but my folks moved to America. I know the land like the back of my hand and have some connections to the Aguila tribe. What's your gig?"
Clarke shook her head, smiling back at her.
"No gig. My parents are on the team and I'm researching traditional native South American art styles for a research paper I want to write."
"Ah, researching art..." Raven said with a grin. "That's awesome. I can help you with that. I know a few sites in the area. I'll take you some time. Better be careful though. The region is a lot safer than a few years ago but there's still some tensions between the indigenous people and the farmers."
"I understand," Clarke said. "I'll follow your lead. You're the expert here."
Raven grinned.
"I think we're gonna have a blast. I'll introduce you to the rest of the team."
"Sure."
Clarke followed Raven outside where the brunette proceeded to detail who everyone was and what they brought to the group. As she listened patiently, Clarke thought to herself that it was going to be a great summer and that she had been absolutely right to escape Arkadia and all of her friends and get away for a while, especially from Finn.
Just a few weeks later and she was staring down death, convinced that this time she had gotten in over her head. Raven had showed her a site, just a little way from their camp. She knew not to go alone into the jungle but she took supplies and a radio and thought it would be okay given how well she knew the route now and how close to camp it was. She had been there a few times on her own before, enjoying how isolated it was and had never seen a single soul there so she reasoned it was okay to risk it again.
She set off with her backpack and found the site fairly quickly. It was barely a few slabs on top of each other and there weren't even any remnants of symbols or artwork on them but she wanted to sketch the structure, fascinated with the way it was arranged.
She was so busy sketching that didn't notice the hungry predator stalking her. Clarke turned when she heard a low growling and was face to face with a yellow and black jaguar. Clarke was paralysed with fear immediately. In her mind she tried to tell herself that jaguar attacks were rare, that humans were almost never attacked by them and a million facts about them raced through her mind but her body didn't listen and she was convinced she was dead.
She felt the impact of something hitting her sideways knocking her to the ground behind the ruined wall and thought she was about to be mauled. She clenched her eyes shut waiting for the pain but it never came and when she opened her eyes she was staring instead into the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen.