"Thwak!"

The satisfying sound of an arrow striking its target resonated through the momentarily silent forest. The peaceful air was short-lived however as any nearby birds, having heard the ominous sound, took to the sky. Their beating wings and shrieking cries shattering any peace left to the mist-filled forest air. Dawn was always Tessa's favourite hunting time.

"Nice shot." Gideon whispered, eyes trained on her fallen prey several metres in front. "How many is that now?"

"Five. We've done well this morning." She grinned, beginning to jog towards the lifeless bird, partially covered by low-lying scrub.

"Enough to get that book of yours?"

"Definitely." Tessa's eyes lit up at the thought, her fingers already itching to flick through the well-worn pages. However, for now at least, she had other things to do. She yanked the arrow swiftly from its bloodied corpse, wiping it through nearby grass before replacing it in her quiver. Handing the bird over to Gideon she stood up and surveyed the area, scuffing dirt roughly over the rust-coloured stains they'd left behind before turning to follow her friend.

"Does Nate know about the deal?" he asked, turning his head slightly towards her as she caught him up.

Tessa snorted. "It's my meat I can do with it as I please."

"Good." He smiled back at her "Finally." His eyes crinkling further as she shoved him lightly to the side.

"I'm not doing it just for you."

"Oh of course not, no, I'm sure my encouragement had nothing to do with this new-found backbone of yours." He smirked. "Way to boost a guy's ego."

"Whatever." She smiled, grey eyes light for once.

Flash Forward

Tessa handed her three birds over to the small, hunched women sitting behind the market stall. Her wrinkled face pulled up in a smile, grimy complexion only deepening the familiar lines.

"Took your time." She announced, her voice pleased none-the-less.

"You know as well as I that it's useless going hunting in the rain." Tessa replied, eyes searching the tangle of objects that lay on the creaking table. "You still have it don't you?" She looked up quickly into the woman's brown eyes, a deep brown that could almost be mistaken for black.

"Of course she frowned, who do you take me for?" And so saying she reached down into the tangle of cloth that hid her battered frame and withdrew the plain leather cover of a well-worn novel.

"Oh thanks" Tessa grinned, reaching forward eagerly.

"Not many of these left around." the woman mused as she handed it over. "Not like they're much use anyway" she continued. "Not many literate folk left in these parts."

"My father taught me." Tessa spoke briefly, her mind already absorbed in the tiny treasure. That her face remained happy at the mention of Dorin Everdeen spoke volumes about how important this book was to her.

"Thank you." Tessa glanced up once more before turning back to the grinning Gideon. Smiling shyly up she shoved him once more before walking past, her nose already buried in the opening pages. He turned as well to watch her go, but the smile was quickly wiped from his face as he caught sight of a furious Nate, limping towards the unsuspecting girl.

"Is that another one of your INFERNAL books?" He cried, grabbing the offending object as Tessa jumped backwards in surprise, but she was quick to recover.

"Give. It. Back." She hissed, voice low so as not to attract any more attention. "It's not yours; you have no right to touch it!"

"You can't keep going around wasting precious food on TOYS!" He glared, "These BOOKS" He almost spat the word. "Are no use to us. That food is what keeps us alive! Pay attention to what's necessary!"

"ME? Pay attention, ME!"

"Yes you! Have you forgotten how hard it is just to survive?!"

"I can't live like this Nate." Tessa threw back. "Just 'surviving'! I can't do it, I want something MORE . Just eat, work, sleep, eat, work, sleep, Life is MORE than that! I want to LIVE Nate!" Her voice rose as she jabbed her brother furiously in the chest. "All you do is sit around or go off with all your girls and expect me to feed you and look after you and tend to your every need!" Each word punctured by another jab in the chest. "You use that DAMN leg of yours to get out of doing ANYTHING! I look after EVERYTHING and then as soon as I want one small pleasure you go SHOUTING at me! This is my ESCAPE Nate! My one way out of this hell hole don't you DARE try and take this from me." Tessa's stormy eyes locked blindly onto her brother's as she finished, daring him to speak.

Looking around furiously at the crowd that had begun to gather he shoved back the book and simply hissed; "This is not. Over." before pushing out of the circle of faces. Leaving Tessa, body crumpled now that her passion was spent, to close her eyes tight and sink slowly to the ground, book clasped tightly in her arms.

"Bastard" Gideon glared as he joined her on the ground.

"He doesn't mean it." Tessa whispered, eyes still closed, head downcast. "He's not normally like this."

Gideon's face was sceptical but he kept to silence. This was a fight he was never going to win.

"Thanks for not hitting him this time though." Tessa said after a few moments. Finally looking up as the memory of Nate's shocked face tugged a half-hearted smile onto her lips. This brought Gale's attention back from the task of glaring at the few curious faces that remained nearby. He grinned and rubbed his knuckles slightly;

"It was a close thing."

Tessa choked out a laugh at that, smiling despite herself up at the man sitting in the dirt beside her.

It was good to have a friend.

Current time

Tessa dragged herself slowly out of the dream. Eyes damp.

It was not how she wanted to remember her brother.

A full flashback chapter this time, I felt like her background needed to be fleshed out a bit.

I promise there will be more Will next chapter! :)