The first time Eden Kane met Roan of Azgeda, he was saving her life.

Somehow, she had found herself back in the same water that Octavia was in when she was attacked by the giant water snake. She hadn't realized this was the spot Jasper had rescued Octavia and had developed the crush on the girl who had transformed into a Grounder in front of all of their eyes. Instead, she had found a spot from which she could jump into the water and cool off by herself. But then after a few minutes of swimming around, her clothes up on the rocks, she noticed something moving under the water and froze. The scream she let out when the creature sunk it's teeth into her thigh, tearing through the flesh, was piercing and was sure to catch the attention of any living person within close distance.

Before it could do much more damage to her flesh, someone had stabbed the snake with a long sword. She watched with wide eyes as the water turned even more red with the blood of the creature mixing with her blood. And then, as if he hadn't even taken a second to think about what he was doing, the mysterious man lifted her up out of the water and began to carry her to shore. Her hands gripped his shirt, her eyes wandering his face. She had never seen him before, of that she was sure: she would have recognized the tattoos and the scars covering his skin, she would have recognized the beauty behind the tough exterior. And maybe it was because she had lost a fair amount of blood or because she was so damn lonely, she was glad he had found her and saved her.

Once they reached dry land, he gently set her down and examined her leg. Only then did she realize that she was only in a pair of underwear and a tank top. If he had been looking anywhere but her thigh, he would have been able to see through the wet material and see the her that no one had seen in a long time.

He spoke, but she didn't understand the words he said, knowing that he was speaking in Trigedasleng.

She pouted softly and responded with, "I'm sorry, I'm one of the Sky people. I don't... I don't understand your language completely."

"Of course you don't," he answered her, the gruff tone of his voice making her shiver. "Do you have attachment to your clothes?"

"Don't rip them?" she said, squirming under his gaze, almost trying to create physical interaction between them again.

He chuckled, "I'm not Lincoln kom Trikru. I'm not having sex with you, Sky girl. I want to wrap up your leg to stop the bleeding."

She let out an almost disappointed sigh and nodded, "Okay. Those are some of my only clothes, so please only ruin them if you have to."

He nodded back to her. She watched as he inspected her leg, then lifted his own shirt to tear off a strip of the fabric. This movement had exposed some of his stomach to the girl. It took a lot of self restraint not to reach out and touch him as he began to wrap her leg in the slightly wet strip of t-shirt.

"Where are you from?" she asked him, wonder obvious in her eyes when he glanced to her face.

"I'm from what you people call Ice Nation," he told her, focusing on her leg once again.

"And what's the Grounder name for that?" she asks, groaning as he tightens the tourniquet around her wound.

He looked back to her face, almost shocked by her actual curiosity about him, "Azgeda. There you go. Once you get back, you can have one of your healers clea-"

"I was in training to be a medic on the ark," she told him, smiling slightly. "I know what to do. I have proper medical materials back at my camp, if you'd help me get there?"

He shook his head, "I don't want to seem like I'm friendly to you Sky people. I'll get you as close as possible, though."

To that, she shook her head, "I don't live in Arkadia. I have my own camp."

He almost seemed surprised by that information, "Okay. Let's get you upright."

So he extended a hand to her and she took it without a second of hesitation, letting him haul her up to her feet. She used one arm to cover her own chest, not wanting him to see through her shirt. Just one step in the direction of her clothes caused pain to shoot through her leg. She stumbled and he caught her, his hands gripping her bare waist, as her top had ridden up to expose her skin. A gasp came from her lips at the warmth of his hands against her skin, goosebumps popping up along the skin of her slightly tanned arms and legs.

"Relax," he told her before using one arm to swipe her legs out from under her and catch her with the other arm. Again, she let out a gasp at his strength, but rested in his arms. "Let's get you to your camp."

He took a moment to grab her clothes off the ground, then looked down to her for directions. She simply pointed in the direction of her camp, letting one arm wrap around him and the other rest on her stomach. The fear of him seeing more of her than she wanted was gone at this point, she just didn't care anymore. Neither of them tried to carry on a conversation as he trekked through the wooded area, her directing him with just her hand.

Soon, they reached a small clearing. In said clearing was a tent, a circle of rocks to light a fire in, and a little shack that Murphy had built for her to store her meat in. His eyes almost immediately went to the small pile of berries by her fire pit and his eyebrows raised, looking down to the girl in his arms. Her eyes, though, were focused on the tent.

"You can set me down on the log seat right there," she said, gesturing to the spot she wanted him to leave her. "And if you could grab my medical supplies before you take off, that'd be great."

He listened, setting her down where she asked, "Where are they?"

"In the tent, the red bag," she told him, looking down to the strip of shirt wrapped around her leg that had already been bled through.

He easily found the bag she had told him to grab, placing it in front of her as she unwrapped her leg. The sight of her own blood made her wince, closing her eyes and looking away. She didn't realize he was still watching her until she opened his eyes and he was looking through the bag, at all the different supplies she had in there.

"I need to stitch up my leg," she told him. "So the black material that looks like thread and the needle."

"Needle?" he asked, pulling out the sutures.

"The sharp, silver thing," she told him, smiling at how almost incompetent he was with the medical supplies.

He nodded, finding what she meant and pulling it out of the bag and handing it to the brunette, "And you're going to do this on your own?"

She smiled at him kindly, "Yes. I have to, don't I?"

He looked her in the eyes for a moment, then held out his hand. She looked at him questioningly, to which he said, "Just tell me what to do. I didn't save your life just to have you die while trying to tie together your skin."

"It's called stitching up a wound," she told him as she handed him both the sutures and the needle.

So once he had those, she told him to grab some of the moonshine that Monty had brought her before the mountain men grabbed a group of delinquents that included the younger boy and that she hadn't even dipped into yet, thankfully. He poured a bit of that on the wound, then his hands and the needle, before she began to instruct him further in the process of stitching up her leg. He threaded the needle and then listened intently as she told him how to stitch up her leg. The pain was quite intense, but she refused to relax for even a second, in fear of passing out and leaving him on his own. Once he gets to the end of stitching up her leg, she smiled down at him gratefully.

"Thank you," she said, reaching out for the needle. "I'll tie it off, okay?"

He nodded, letting her take them from him. He watched, admiring her as her hands worked deftly to tie off the stitches. Once that was done, she told him to grab gauze and tape out of the bag. He did that without hesitation, watching as she covered up the wound that was all stitched up. As soon as she had that done, she let her head roll back and let out a loud sigh, thankful that it was over. When she opened her eyes again, he was still there, watching her.

"You saved my life and I have no idea what your name," she realized aloud, making him chuckle.

"Roan kom Azgeda," he told her with a faint smile. "And you are?"

"Eden Kane of the Sky people," she told him, wincing when his eyes somewhat narrowing.

"Your father is Marcus Kane?"

She nodded, "Yes, he is. I think I may go to bed now, try to sleep this off."

"Okay," he said, standing up and holding out a hand to her. "I'll help you get there."

She grinned, taking his hand. He directed her to her tent and when she stood at the opening, staring at the sleeping bag inside, wondering how to get in, he chuckled. Then he knocked her down again, easily catching her in his arms. She laughed as he laid her down on top of the sleeping bag, not oblivious to hot hot it was in the tent. She grinned at him as he stood outside the tent, looking down at her.

"Roan, thank you," she said softly, looking at him admiringly. "But why did you save my life?"

"It was my pleasure," he told her with a smile. "And because I couldn't let a pretty girl die for no reason."

She grinned, her face feeling warm, "Well, again, thank you. I should be fine now, you can go back to your clan."

"Farewell, Eden kom Skaikru," he told her with a faint smile. "And you may want to put on more clothes in case anyone drops in to check on you. Unless you want them to see almost all of your body."

A blush covered her face as he walked away, his chuckles sounding like music to her ears.