Chapter Text
It’s raining – thick, heavy sheets of water fall in wavelike patterns across the sky. Thunder rumbles in the distance, always preceded by a quick flash of lightning. 6-year-old Clarke Griffin sits up in bed, blonde hair in disarray. She brushes a few strands out of her face, gets out of bed, and plods over to the window.
Outside, illuminated by the sporadic flashes of lightning, is the familiar old oak tree that Jake taught her to climb. Other than that, in all directions, is just a large expanse of grass.
But Clarke’s attention is caught on something new – in the distance there are, for lack of better words, pointy shapes. They seem to be fluttering in the storm, tossing back and forth whenever the wind decides to become particularly harsh.
Clarke tries to see more closely, even pressing her nose flat against the window, but to no avail. It is too dark outside, the shapes are too far away, and the lightning disappears too fast. With a sigh, Clarke clambers back into bed, pulls the covers back over herself, and resolves to try and sleep through the storm. The pointy shapes in the distance can wait until tomorrow.
The next morning, all signs of the storm have vanished. Clarke pads downstairs from her room softly, her toes curling slightly against the cold of the furnished wooden steps. Jake and Abby are already downstairs, fixing breakfast.
“Morning,” Clarke utters softly.
Both of her parents turn around from the stove. “Good morning honey!” Abby smiles.
“Hey kiddo!” says Jake, grinning as he flips a chocolate chip pancake expertly in the pan. “Sleep through the storm ok?”
“Actually,” Clarke replies, “I saw something pointy outside my window during the storm.”
“Something pointy huh? Right outside your window?”
“No, no,” Clarke says quickly. “It was far away. I couldn’t see because it was dark.”
“Ahhhh,” Abby interjects. “I think you saw the circus tents!”
“Circus tents?” Clarke repeats wonderingly. “What’s a circus?”
Abby looks at Jake knowingly. “Well you can find out tonight, how about that?”
Clarke shrugs. Satisfied for the time being, she accepts the plate of pancakes that Jake has handed to her and begins to eat.
It’s a Saturday, and a rare Saturday as well, since neither Jake nor Abby have work scheduled for the day. Abby is a doctor—professionally known as Dr. Griffin--but her clinic only opens on weekends if there is an emergency.
And Jake is a clockmaker, both designing and fixing all kinds of intricate clocks with fancy designs. It is because of Jake’s job that the Griffins moved to the country before Clarke was born—the open space gave Jake all the room he needed to tinker and store supplies. Orders for clocks come in at sporadic times by way of mail, but this happens to be a special Saturday where Jake happened to not book anything.
Since it is a free day for all 3 Griffins, they spend most of the day inside, reading books and playing games. Clarke is dubbed by both parents as “the best hider” in hide-and-seek, as her small body allows her to fit right behind the drawers that were supposed to be propped against the wall.
Both hiding and seeking take their toll on the Griffins though – by the time they’re all ready to eat dinner, all of the running around combined with the hot muggy summer air has resulted in 3 sweaty, tired family members.
The Griffins all shower, and Abby and Jake prepare dinner. When Clarke comes downstairs in her bathrobe, freshly clean, her eyes widen. Both of her parents are dressed to the nines.
Jake is sporting a crisp white dress shirt and black slacks, topped off with a red tie. His jacket is hanging near the front door, but it seems hard to believe that anyone could stomach the full suit get-up in this type of hot weather.
Abby, on the other hand, is wearing a long form-fitting black dress made of velvet, dotted with various sparkles that swirl in indistinguishable patterns. Her hair is twisted and placed on the right side of her neck, and there is a red rose attached above her left ear. Abby sees Clarke coming down the stairs and immediately stops plating dinner.
“Oh Clarke honey, we have to find you something to wear! I almost forgot,” she exclaims.
“Like what?” Clarke wonders.
Abby leads Clarke back upstairs, rummages through Clarke’s closet, and pulls out a simple black-and-white dress. The top part of the dress is black velvet like Abby’s, but with no design. The skirt, however, is white and frilly, and just a bit shy of being as voluminous as a tutu. Abby helps Clarke into the dress, as well as her tights, and then ties Clarke’s hair into a ponytail with a black ribbon.
“There you go, my beautiful daughter,” Abby appraises.
“Thank you, Mommy. You look pretty too,” Clarke replies back shyly.
The two of them then head downstairs, where Jake has finished plating the food. Dinner is relatively quiet, since all 3 Griffins are hungry from chasing each other around the house all day.
After dinner and family dish-washing time, they head over to the doorway to put on their shoes. Jake decides to forgo his suit jacket, and they proceed to head out the door—all in great anticipation of the circus.
Clarke walks between her parents, Jake on her left, Abby on her right. She swings her arms as she walks, chattering excitedly.
“How long will we have to walk? Why did we dress up? What’s inside a circus? How long are we going to stay there?”
“Calm down, Clarke,” Jake reassures. “We’re almost there.”
And they are almost there – the pointy shapes that Clarke saw the night before have materialized into being. They are actually the tops of circus tents, each with a long triangular flag hanging limply in the summer air. Clarke looks on in wonder, all questions forgotten. She walks a little faster too, pulling Jake and Abby along as they chuckle at her intrigue.
When they reach the front of the circus, Clarke gasps at just how tall the closest circus tents are. She walks up to the gates barring the entrance to the circus and presses her face gently against the bars. There is a ticket booth, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone inside.
“Come on, kiddo,” Clarke hears. She turns to see Jake and Abby smiling at her affectionately, motioning her over.
And then Clarke also sees, to her chagrin, a long, long line of people waiting for the circus gates to open. Clarke pouts as Jake and Abby lead her to the back of the line, waiting in anticipation.
At nightfall, just as the last few rays of the sun sink below the horizon, Clarke hears a soft popping noise. She turns abruptly and then sees small sparkling lights dot themselves all across the circus tents, flickering in the randomest of patterns.
And then when all of the tents are aglow, stretching as far as the eye can see, the front of the gate begins to spark.
More small lights flicker to light, previously unnoticed on the iron gates, spelling out scripted letters:
Le Cirque des Rêves
“The Circus of Dreams”
And then finally, the iron gates open. They unlock seemingly on their own and swing outwards, welcoming the long line of people inside to the circus.
The ticket line starts moving slowly. With each step Clarke takes, her curiosity increases. When they finally, finally reach the front of the line, Jake speaks briefly to the man behind the counter and then shakes hands with him firmly.
“It’s good to see you again, Bailey,” he calls as he walks away.
Clarke is too busy trying to peer around the various tents to realize that the three of them have gotten into the circus for free, without tickets.
The rest of the night passes by as if time does not exist. Clarke follows her parents down looping path after looping path, exploring clusters of tents in all different sizes. Marking the entrance to each tent without fail is a rectangular sign, black as night with font scripted in white, providing a title for each tent.
There are tents with the sort of thing any circusgoer might expect: firebreathers, jugglers, palm readers. But there is also a tent with an entire river inside, a tent with a garden made entirely of ice sculptures, a tent with different-colored paper planes that seem to be flying on their own.
Clarke’s eyes are now almost permanently as wide as saucers as she takes in tent after tent, spectacle after spectacle. She exits one tent and enters another, and the circus accommodates, providing an endless supply of entertainment.
Clarke loses track of all time, but it seems that her parents have not. Jake, after all, is a clockmaker. She’s just about to rush into the next tent, when she hears, “Clarke! This is the last one for tonight okay?”
Clarke spins around and pouts, “But I want to have more fun!”
“I know honey, but you’ll see the circus again, and it’s getting late. One more tent. We’ll let you pick,” Abby replies.
With this new information in mind, Clarke resolves to skip the nearest tent and looks for one that seems truly exciting.
And then she sees a tall, thin tent, the tallest she has seen as of yet. It is a soft white color and towers above the rest of the tents in front of it.
“That one!” Clarke points, and then they’re off.
The Griffins make their way inside tent once they’ve reached it, and immediately see an iridescent white structure that takes up the majority of the tent. It is made up of various platforms, each shaped in some way like a cloud. Some of the platforms move slowly, while others remain stationary, and the spacing between platforms varies from level to level.
There are white ropes keeping platforms suspended in place, while others have netting or poles. All in all, it looks like—
—“A cloud forest,” Clarke breathes, eyes alight with excitement.
Jake grins. “And there’s clouds on the floor too, Clarke. Look!”
Jake gestures to the floor of the tent and Clarke sees the thousands of small fluffy white spheres littering the tent floor. She picks one up, and it is just about the softest thing she’s ever felt. Clarke marvels at this wonder, and then gently sets it back down.
Jake tosses one of spheres in his right hand, the other stroking his chin. “Hmm…” he ponders out loud. “How about a race, kiddo?”
“A race?” Clarke repeats.
Jake nods. “Sure. First one to the top wins! And if you win, I’ll buy you a circus treat, how’s that?”
“Me against you and mommy?” Clarke clarifies.
“You got it.”
And with that challenge, Clarke sets off, determined to beat her parents to the top of the cloud forest. She clambers from cloud platform to cloud platform, sometimes bravely jumping across platforms as well. She completely forgets about how high the tent goes – that is, until she reaches a dead end.
Well, not entirely. The platform that Clarke jumped from was one that moved, so she can return to her original route by timing the platform’s motion correctly and jumping. However, the adrenaline of racing her parents has now worn off, and Clarke feels a little frightened now. How is she supposed to get down?
She chances a glance downwards and tries her best to squeeze her imminent tears back into her eyes. Everyone at the tent entrance level is so small that they seem more like sticks than people.
Clarke clenches her jaw and closes her eyes, trying to screw up any courage she has left. That is, until—
“Are you stuck?” she hears from a little bit away. It’s a girl’s voice, high and clear.
Clarke opens her eyes, and sees on the other side of the moving cloud platform a young girl who seems to be her age. The girl has her hair in a braid, tossed over her right shoulder.
“I—I think so,” Clarke stutters out. “Can you help me?”
Without responding verbally, the girl jumps gracefully onto the moving platform and then right to where Clarke is, showing no fear or hesitation whatsoever.
However, rather than be impressed with the agility of her new potential savior, Clarke is preoccupied with the girl’s eyes – they are the greenest eyes Clarke has ever seen, and remind her of the forest where Jake once took her to harvest wood for his clocks.
When Clarke snaps out of her thoughts, she realizes the girl has been speaking to her.
“What’s your name? Hello? Are you okay?” the girl asks.
“Oh—oh yeah! I think I’m okay. My name’s Clarke. How do I get back to the—the big cloud area?” Clarke responds quickly.
“Okay, I think I can show you, but it will probably be easier if I just do it with you,” the girl urges.
Clarke, unsure why she already trusts this girl with pretty green eyes who she doesn’t know the name of, nods slowly.
The girl straightens up. “Okay grab my hand, and when I say jump, jump with me okay?”
Clarke’s heart skips a beat and her eyes widen in fear. “Um…um...” she gets out.
The girl looks directly into Clarke’s eyes. “It’s okay, I got you. I’ve been in this tent tons of times, so we’ll be alright.”
So Clarke takes the girl’s hand, and jumps when the girl urges, “Jump!” And then they’re on the moving cloud, and Clarke figures that a second leap of faith can’t hurt, and jumps again when the girl prompts her to.
When they finally return back in the main part of the cloud forest. Clarke’s hand is sweaty from fear, so she carefully detaches it from the girl’s and wipes it on her dress. She breathes hard for a second, and then turns to the girl.
“Thank you,” she beams. “What’s your name?”
“My name is Lexa.” The girl—Lexa—responds calmly.
“Lek-sa,” Clarke tries it out. “I’m Clarke.”
Lexa smiles at that, small and simple, and Clarke can’t help but smile back in return.
“Well, Clarke,” Lexa responds in kind, clicking the ‘k’, “Would you like to climb to the top with me?”
“The top?” Clarke gasps. “You mean-?!”
Lexa ducks her head, smiling again. “Yes, the very top.”
Clarke’s features instantly school into that of determination. “Let’s do it.”
But instead of just taking off like Clarke expects, Lexa holds out her right hand, palm up. She looks at Clarke expectantly. And Clarke? Clarke is helpless, already, after knowing this little girl for less than 10 minutes.
Clarke places her left hand in Lexa’s right, and they slowly but steadily begin to climb up the cloud forest. Together.
Lexa, of course, has been in the tent ‘tons of times’, and has no trouble navigating through crowds of people or tricky cloud platform paths that seem to disappear and then reappear again.
Clarke, however, becomes increasingly stumped every time a platform floats away from them, just out of reach. She grumbles a little, but Lexa is always there, reassuring her that there are other paths, that they didn’t need that little cloud anyway.
At some point, their hands become detached, because they don’t just have to jump, but also clamber up bigger cloud platforms and climb up ladders. And then finally after following Lexa up one last cloud ladder, the two six-year-olds have made it to the very top of the tent.
Clarke is panting a tiny bit from the exertion, but her breaths soon even out. She does a full 360-degree spin slowly, gaping the whole time.
The people down below still look like small sticks, but this time Clarke can appreciate the soft white clouds floating around the tent in every direction. The platforms were solid, but all around her now are fluffy wisps, some amorphous, some shaped like animals. They move slowly, some rising up and down while others gradually make their way around the tent.
“Wow,” Clarke breathes. “Thank you for showing me this.” She instinctively reaches for Lexa’s hand and receives a reassuring squeeze in response.
“Thank you for letting me,” Lexa replies quietly.
They stand there for a bit, just taking in the view. Clarke’s chest expands with this feeling of freedom, and she smiles at everything and absolutely nothing. Lexa on the other hand is stoic compared to Clarke, but the small smile that once appeared on her face has returned once more, and her green eyes twinkle appreciatively.
“Wait…” Clarke ponders after some time has passed. “How do we get down?”
“We jump.”
“What?!”
“Do you trust me, Clarke?” Lexa urges.
“I…well I guess so.”
“Then jump with me on 3. Ready?”
“I—I—” Clarke stutters out.
“1, 2, 3, jump!” Lexa raises her voice a little bit.
And Lexa jumps, and it really shouldn’t be a hard decision for Clarke. She’s already traversed the cloud forest with Lexa, twice, and plus their hands are still attached. So Clarke closes her eyes and springs off the topmost platform, throwing her trust to her new friend.
When she opens her eyes again, Clarke realizes that they’re floating. Well, they’re falling down towards the entrance level, but at a calm, reasonable pace. Clarke turns towards Lexa.
“We’re…floating?” she questions.
Lexa affirms with a nod.
Lexa seems content to just enjoy their slow descent, so Clarke closes her mouth and urges her questions away. When they finally reach the floor, Clarke realizes that she had wanted the journey back to last even longer. This was, after all, the last tent of the night. Lexa, coincidentally, seems to have picked up on her thoughts.
“Did you come here with anyone?”
“My mommy and daddy are waiting for me I think,” Clarke says reluctantly.
The two of them step through the endless fluffy white that surrounds them on the ground until they reach the entrance. To Clarke’s disappointment, Jake and Abby are in fact waiting there, relieved smiles appearing on their faces when they see their daughter.
“Hey kiddo, where have you been?” Jake opens his arms as Clarke runs into them.
“I got stuck! But then Lexa helped me and then she showed me how to get to the top and it was so pretty and did you know you can just jump off and—”
“Slow down honey,” Abby cautions. “And is this Lexa?”
“Oh yeah!” Clarke grins enthusiastically. “This is Lexa, my new friend!”
Lexa steps forward, chin lifting just a bit. “Hello sir, ma’am,” she says politely.
“Oh come now, none of that ‘sir ma’am’ business,” Jake chides good-naturedly. “You can call me Jake, and this is Abby.”
“Thank you for looking after our Clarke here,” Abby adds.
“You’re welcome,” Lexa replies with just the ghost of a smile.
“Mommy! Daddy! Do we have to go?” Clarke jumps back in, whining and tugging on both of her parents’ clothes.
“You heard what we said Clarke. This was the last tent for us,” Jake responds, adopting a stern manner.
“We have to go, so say goodbye to Lexa ok?” Abby nudges Clarke.
Clarke turns towards Lexa, her blue eyes filled with sadness. “I have to go Lexa, but I hope I see you tomorrow! Thank you for saving me.”
Lexa’s expression doesn’t change, but somehow Clarke can read from her eyes that she is equally as disappointed as Clarke. She doesn’t say anything, so Clarke rushes forward and wraps her in a hug. She feels Lexa stiffen slightly, but then arms come around her neck and squeeze gently.
“I am glad I met you, Clarke. May we meet again,” Lexa says softly into Clarke’s ear as they hug.
When they part, Clarke is slightly confused as to the “may we meet again”, but doesn’t question it right then. She gives Lexa one last smile, turns around, takes her parents’ hands, and walks out of the tent. The whole way back home, she makes sure to give Jake and Abby the most detailed account of her adventures through the cloud forest with Lexa.
The next day, Clarke looks out her window immediately upon waking up. But there are no pointy tents in the distance or flags fluttering in the breeze. Just the vast expanse of grassy fields that have always surrounded her house.
Still refusing to believe her eyes, Clarke rushes downstairs.
“Mommy! Daddy! Can we go to the circus again today too please please please?” she rushes out.
Abby looks at her with a sad smile on her face. “Oh Clarke honey, I think the circus has left already.”
Clarke just stares at her mom, then turns to Jake nonplussed. “How can it just leave?”
“Magic, kiddo,” Jake teases.
Clarke pouts. “Can we still go see if it’s there? Just in case?”
Jake thinks for a moment. “Sure. I have to head towards town anyway – the mayor wants me to check out what’s wrong with the clocktower. Let me just grab my tools and we can go!”
Clarke perks up immediately, “Okay!”
Jake goes to gather his necessary tools as Clarke puts her socks and shoes on carefully. When he comes back, he holds out a hand. “Ready to go?”
“Yup!” Clarke responds as she takes his hand.
“See you tonight dear,” Jake says to Abby, swiftly kissing her on the cheek.
Abby laughs, “Goodbye! Take care of Clarke.”
“Bye Mommy!” Clarke says as she walks out the front door.
Clarke and Jake head towards town, crossing the field that acts as a giant backyard for their house. They take the exact same path that led the Griffins to the circus the night before.
But when they get to where the circus was, there is just an empty stretch of field. Nothing exists to suggest that there was an entire grand circus present just the night before – no peanut shells, wrappers, or even ticket stubs. There is just the hot summer sun and a young Clarke holding on to her father’s hand.
Clarke looks up at her dad, shielding her eyes from the sun. “The circus was here last night, right Daddy?”
“Of course it was,” Jake responds gently.
“Will it come back?”
“I think so. It usually does, right when you least expect it.”
“Good,” Clarke nods determinedly. “Because I want to see Lexa again.”