Thank you for your patience. I hope you enjoy this next installment. I am hoping to be able to post one a month as I am working on other stories. Thank you to Norbertsmom for your excellent Beta skills.
PS ...I don't own the Hunger Gmaes.
When she finally arose, she could hear a man's voice calling to her. The sound of the ocean meeting land filled her ears. Her head felt heavy as she dragged herself up from her sandy bed. Her soaked kirtle became a hindrance, her weak legs tangled in the material.
"Gale," Katniss croaked, her voice sounding hoarse.
"Hush, my lady."
Strong arms helped Katniss slowly sit up. Everything was blurry. She gripped her head.
"Please my lady you mustn't move," the man said.
Her head hung low as she tried to regain her balance. The piercing sunlight blinded her. The sun was setting and it felt as if it was setting inside of her head. She shaded her eyes.
"Here drink," The man offered her a flask.
She took a sip and coughed as the liquid burned her throat as she swallowed. "What matter of poison is this?"
"A curative drink meant to woo your wounded soul."
Katniss wiped her eyes, "Please, kind sir. Tell me where my brother is?"
Blight said, "He lost, I am afraid."
Her silver eyes flew to Blight.
"Blight, please lie to me. Tell me my brother is alive."
"I am afraid I cannot my lady. The ship and all of its passengers perished as she paddled away."
Katniss looked to the heavens. They were overcast, pregnant with the storm. Her lashes slid shut. She recalled the moment well. The angry sea driving the ship her brother was on deep into its murky cradle.
"I am alone," Katniss whispered.
All of her life she desired to be alone. To be able to do what she wished and fate cruelly granted her wish. First the illness stole her parents and younger siblings and now nature stole the last of her family. Her prayers were answered in the cruelest of fashions.
Silent tears fell from her eyes.
"My lady, you must take comfort that you survived." Blight's words were meant to comfort her.
"Blight I am nothing, my life is worth nothing."
Blight kindly said, "But you have life, my lady."
Katniss shook her head questioning why she survived when others couldn't. Her body shook from the cold and the shock.
"Castor, Pollux. Go find drift wood. We need to make a fire," Blight commanded.
The two brothers who survived with them left to do Blight's bidding.
"Without the contract, Sir Cray will never marry me now. I am but an ordinary scrap of flesh," Katniss said shivering; she wrapped her arms around herself. Everything was lost with the ship her records, including her dowry. She was common now and women this distinction held little or no prospect.
"Do not speak that way, my lady. Have faith. Life does not go as we planned, but know it does not end poorly for the pure of heart," Blight said.
"Why are you so kind to me Blight? I am condemned by my own race."
"My lady, my mother was widowed with me still in the womb. She raised me the best she could given the strike against her sex. She suffered greatly. I vowed never to treat any female young or old poorly."
Katniss wiped her face. "Thank you."
"Tis nothing, my lady," Blight took his dry cape and draped it around her shoulders. "You will see; opportunity will knock."
The men returned with dry wood. Blight set them to work.
It took some time for them to start a fire, but eventually they did. Fresh fish was cooked over the fire. The men spoke amongst themselves quietly.
Katniss remained to herself. Her sad thoughts revolved around her fate. No one she knew except for the men that surrounded her knew she was alive. To the world Katniss Everdeen perished on a ship bound for Thread Island.
She buried her face in her hands. A woman had to be married or she lost her integrity before the church and mankind. The only commodity she had was her body, and Katniss recoiled at the thought. Selling herself meant living outside of the law, at the mercy of men's desires. She could be jailed, or killed for such an act.
"You have been quiet this evening my lady," Blight stated.
"I have been considering my lack of prospects. I am as useful as ocean water to a thirsty man."
Blight gave her a mysterious look.
"I do not have a trade, have no money. I have no proof of paternity, no right to inheritance, no value before the eyes of man. I am as my namesake Eve, covered in mortal sin. Who would have me for a wife since I am of an advanced age."
Blight scratched his face. He lifted his finger in the air and scuttled away before coming back. Triumphantly he said, "You have this."
Blight handed her the oblong package. Opening it up, she gasped, her hand frantically connecting with the handle. Its rich wood carved out by her great-grandfather. She bit her bottom lip. All this time she thought she'd never see this again.
"Look, a gold pin?" Castor asks as he points to the pin nestled in the sand.
Blight handed her the pin. Katniss replies, "This is my family's crest."
Pollux, the soft spoken brother, asked, "What type of fowl is it?"
The cool salty ocean breeze blew. She gathered her limbs closer before speaking. "It is the Mockingjay, native to the woods of my home. There is a legend that surrounds this bird."
"Tell us the story," Castor asked.
All of the men sat in front of Katniss like eager children wanting to listen to their mother tell an adventure.
Katniss smiled sadly, a tragic figure on the beach. Her silver eyes filled with pent up emotion; they looked like drops of mercury. Waves after waves of memories assaulted her mind. Without knowing it, Katniss emulated the way her mother told her the story. Her sultry voice was soft as she spoke, "During the age of the Roman occupation in Panem, our people rebelled. The Romans were losing battle after battle. They wanted to know what the military plans were."
One of the twins asked like an eager boy, "Did they infiltrate the Panem's forces?"
Katniss fingered the pin, "In a way?"
"What do you mean, my lady?" Blight asked.
"Have you ever heard of a Jabberjay?" Katniss asked quietly. All three looked at Katniss with wide eyes shaking their heads. "A Jabberjay is bird that speaks." Katniss looked at each one of her audiences' hands. They had calloused hands, a contrast to her smooth virginal ones.
"I heard of such birds," Castor announced.
"They are loyal to their masters and repeat everything that they hear." Her small smile betrayed the hurt her silver eyes displayed as she remembered the many hunting lessons her father gave her. He told her silence was golden in the forest. If there was a Jabberjay present it would repeat whatever was said to warn the rest of the woodland creatures of their presence in the woods.
Pollux softly spoke, "The Romans used the Jabberjays?"
"Correct." Katniss softly spoke. Pollux question brought her back to the story. Her mind conjured up the boys' room at night, from her room across the hall. She could hear her mother recite the story. It was Vic and Rory's favorite bedtime story.
Filled with lonesomeness she continued speaking. "They brought the Jabberjays to spy on the people of Panem. And for a while it worked. The birds would listen to secret conversations of the rebels and repeat them to their masters. The Romans began to win battles."
"Did the people of Panem catch on? Did they hunt them down?" Blight was invested in the story.
"When the people found out the purpose for the Jabberjays they began to hunt them down. Until the people of the Seam, a province in the northern mountains, noticed the fascination the Jabberjays had with the song of the Mockingbirds."
"I have heard the Mockingbird's song. They are quite beautiful," Castor said.
"The Jabberjays look like Mockingbirds but have purple and black plumage on their heads. The poor birds were a Roman experiment raised in captivity, they had never heard such beauty before. They are hatched and raised in captivity. They flew after the Mockingbirds trying to replicate the song. In their quest to learn some began to mate."
The men chuckled at the imagery and leaned in closer as her voice became softer.
"The Jabberjay mate for life. They settle with their chosen partner, nest, and never depart its side. My ancestors decided to pair both birds together. Their offspring became the Mockingjays. They can replicate any tune they hear. The rebellion used this ability to warn each other of the movements the Roman soldiers made." Katniss showed them the pin. The trinket suddenly had more value than its weight in gold. "They became the symbol of our rebellion and of my family. We are known as the Mockingjays."
"My Lady, What happened to the Jabberjays?" Blight asked.
"Well, when they did not return, the Romans found that the Jabberjays were working for the people of the Seam. They hunted them down and killed them. But by then it was too late, the remainder flew into the woods surrounding the northern mountains. As you know the mountains are where the Romans could never conquer. When their empire fell they were still trying to beat us. They never could. They abandoned their posts and headed home."
One of the twins asked, "Have you ever seen a Jabberjay?"
Katniss answered, "I have heard there are a few Jabberjays that exist in the forest that surround the Mountains in the Seam."
Castor inquired looking at his brother momentarily, "Your family was part of the rebellion?"
"Yes we were. This bow belonged to my great-grandfather. See the carving of the Mockingjay on the handle. This has been passed down from father to son for generations. Until-" Katniss swallowed as she recalled her brother. "I will never see him."
"You will do the same one day, my lady." Blight's promise that she would see her brother fell on her deaf ears. Momentarily her faith was shaken. She did not comprehend the senseless deaths. She looked at the tall rocks surrounding the beach. The twinkling stars and the endless ocean made her think of her sister. Primrose would have loved this. Her sister was the romantic one in the family. Katniss was more of a realist, never caring for anything other than the woods.
The pain of losing Gale brought up the pain of losing them all. She wiped her face, secretly willing herself to stop crying. She clutched her last connections to her family closely.
"You should rest my lady," Blight suggested.
Katniss yawned. The day wore heavily on her shoulders. "Will we be able to leave the beach tomorrow?"
"We are headed into town in the morning; you shall need your rest."
Katniss agreed, as she nestled on the beach. Hoping a new dawn would help her broken heart.