Chapter 6

Katniss' POV

The next morning I slept in later than I usually did. My dreams made my sleep restless. I was haunted by visions of previous Hunger Games. Every few hours I would wake up fitfully. A few of my dreams consisted of me being set on fire.

Despite waking up later than usual, I was still up early. I dragged myself into the shower and randomly pushed different buttons. My actions were rewarded with blasts of icy cold and boiling hot water and a not particularly fun scrubbing with bristled brush. I was dried and rubbed down with lotion.

I came out of the shower wide awake and made my way to the closet. I found a pair of tight black pants and a burgundy tunic with long sleeves. After I brushed through my hair I put it in a simple braid. It was nice to look like myself again.

I didn't recall being told a certain time to come to breakfast but felt hungry. In the dining room I was delighted to find the long table covered in breakfast foods. There had to have been at least 20 dishes there. I asked the man standing in the room if I could serve myself and he simply nodded. The sun rose as I pigged out on eggs, sausage, batter cakes, and purple melon. When I had finished with that I had a new plate of hot grain.

My thoughts drifted to my family. My mother would be preparing the usual breakfast mush while Prim milked her goat before school. It was hard to believe that only two days earlier I had been at home with them. I wondered how they felt about my fiery debut the night before. Did it comfort them or make them more nervous?

Haymitch and Peeta entered the room and bid me good morning. Peeta was dressed identically to me which irked me a bit. Why display us as a team when in just a few days we would be trying to kill each other?

I felt nervous about the first day of training. We had three days when all the tributes trained together. On the last day we would each have a private session during which we would be rated. The rating would help sponsors decide who had the best chance of surviving.

Haymitch ate numerous platters of stew before addressing me and Peeta. He took a long drink from his flask.

"Ok, time t get down to business." He said. "Do you want to be trained separately?"

"Why would we be trained separately?" I asked

"In case one of you has a secret skill you want to hide." Haymitch said.

"I don't care one way or another" I said

"Same" Peeta said

"You can coach us together" I said. Peeta nodded in agreement.

"Ok, what skills do you have?" Haymitch asked

"I'm ok with a bow and arrow" I told him

"She's more than ok, she's really good" Peeta stated, "I don't have any skills unless you count baking and frosting cakes"

"You could use your experience from the bakery" I said

"Yes, frosting, the final defense against death" he said with a completely straight face

"You're strong. I've seen you lifting those flower sacks in the market." Turning to Haymitch I said, "He came second in our school wrestling competition and only because his brother won."

"There might not be any bows and arrows in the arena but show the Gamemakers what you've got during your private session." Haymitch instructed me

He tuner to Peeta and added, "Don't underestimate your strength. Physical strength can give you an advantage. There are weights in the Training Center but don't show the other tributes how much you can lift. Spend your time on things you don't know. Learn how to tie a knot, start a fire, etc. And keep an eye out for allies"

Percy flashed in my mind.

"Now go." He said shooing us, "Effie is waiting at the elevated to take you down."

We were silent on the way to the elevators.

Even though it isn't officially time to start yet we are the last ones to arrive.

I noticed Percy over at the fire starting station on the way over to the edible plant station. He looked up briefly. I breezed through edible plants. I kept my family alive for years by relying on the forest. There wasn't much left for me to learn. I noticed Peeta having an issue telling poisonous night lock berries and blackberries apart. That mistake could get him killed.

I left him and decided to, despite Haymitch's warning, practice archery. I strung a bow and nocked an arrow. I had a rush of nostalgia and longed to be in the woods at home. I took aim and hit the target dead center. The instructor seemed impressed and started talking to me. I didn't pay much attention to what they were saying. I wanted to practice speed shooting. In 20 seconds I had about 30 arrows in the center of the target. Some even split the arrows preceding them. The trainer decided to make it a bit more difficult and launched a group of fake birds into the air. I shot a volley of arrows after them and didn't miss any of them. I realized a lot of people were staring at me. The room seemed to get brighter for a moment but soon the light died down and I disregarded it. I blushed when I saw Percy looking at me. He got up from his place at the fire building station and approached me.

"Hey, you're amazing with a bow" he complimented

"Thanks" I said blushing even more. Since when did I blush just from a guy giving me a compliment? Hat was happening to me?

"I suck at archery," he told me, "would you mind giving me a few tips? I'll teach you how to use a sword"

I'd never used a sword before. Why would I have? It seemed like a useful thing to know. Plus, for some reason I really wanted to spend some time with Percy.

"Um sure" I said

I set him up with a bow and pointed him towards the target. The end result was not good. The arrow completely missed the target and bounced around the room.

"Heads up!" he called a bit too late. One of the instructors turned around angrily, pulling an arrow out of his ass. I knew I was in over my head.

"Sorry" Percy kept repeating.

I gave him a few pointers on how to stand and position the arrow. We got to the point where he could shoot in the general area of the target. I had to give up on getting him to actually hit the target. He brought me over to the sword fighting station where some of the careers were practicing. He picked up a few swords then put them back down. I looked around for a moment and when I turned backaround he had a three foot long bronze sword in his hand.

"So first we need to find a well-balanced sword for you" he told me. I wasn't exactly sure what that meant but before I could ask we heard one of the careers talking.

"Like this guy knows anything about sword fighting" Cato from District 2 said.

"If you are so confident about that why don't we spar?" Percy challenged him confidently.

They moved onto the practice mat and began their sparring. You didn't have to know a lot about sword fighting to know that Percy had this guy beat. He was giving it everything he had while Percy yawned and easily defended himself. Percy twisted his sword around and knocked Cato's sword to the ground. He sparred with all the careers and beat them easily. He even beat the instructor though he lasted a little longer.

I couldn't hide that I was impressed. Percy had just beat five people without breaking a sweat. He showed me how to hold a sword properly and I blushed when he held my hand in his though I don't think he noticed. He also showed me a few moves like the on he'd used to disarm Cato. He even let me practice the moves on him. While we practiced I saw the Gamemakers observing us. They paid me and Percy a lot of attention.

We spent the rest of the training period teaching each other things. I taught him about edible plants and in return he taught me how to use a trident.

We spent a lot of time together. We ate and trained together. I didn't want to admit what I knew was happening. I was falling for someone that would either die or live while I died.

On the second day of training he stopped me on the way to lunch.

"Hey Katniss" he called as he ran up to me.

"Yeah?" I answered

"Follow me" he instructed me.

"What about lunch?" I asked

He held up a picnic basket and blanket.

"Got it covered" he said with a grin

I looked at him for a moment trying to figure out what was happening then followed him.

"Where are we going?" I asked

"You'll see" he said. We climbed flight after flight of stairs until we got to the roof.

"Wow" I said, stunned, as he pulled me through the door and onto the roof. There was a garden and a great view of the city.

"My stylist showed me this the other day. I thought you'd like it" he said

"Wow" I repeated.

I stared at the city as he spread out the blanket and set out the food. He motioned for me to join him. He poured a steaming brown liquid into two cups from a thermos. Then he picked up a roll and dipped it into the drink. I made a face.

"Try it, it's good" he coaxed me, "It's called hot chocolate"

I tried to stay open minded as I ripped a roll in half and dipped it in the hot chocolate. I took a bite and my eyes widened. The hot chocolate was rich and warm and went just right with the bread.

"I think this is the best food I've ever had" I said

"Same, except for when we have Victors. Then we get food and my mom makes the most delicious blue chocolate chip cookies." he said wistfully. He was lost in thought for a moment but judging by his expression he was thinking of something unpleasant.

"Are you ok?" I asked him.

"Yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking about my mom. All we have is each other and she's probably insane with worry. When she was young her parents died in an accident and my dad was lost at sea." He said

"I'm sorry"

"It's ok" he said dismissively, "What about your family? I saw your sister at the recap of the reaping"

I suddenly felt sad at the thought of Prim on reaping day.

"Sorry, you don't have to tell me." he apologized

"No it's ok." I said, my voice hollow. "My dad dies in a mine explosion when I was young. "

My mom went off the deep end and mentally checked out after that." I continued, eyes watering. "I had to slave away to keep us all alive. Before he died my father took me into the woods near my house and taught me how to shoot a bow." I was worried I was going to start crying.

I must have looked it too because a moment later Percy wrapped his arm around me.

"Hey, it's ok"

"I can only vaguely remember him and that scares me. I don't know what my own father looks like!" I admitted. "I do remember when we went into the woods together. He would sing and all the birds stopped chirping and listened."

We sat in silence for a minute, his arm still around me comfortingly. At some point we got a real conversation going. We just talked about stupid unimportant things then watched the sunset.

"It's beautiful" I whispered, "I've always loved to watch the sun rise and set"

"I never get up early enough to see the sun rise." he said

"I always wake up early" I told him

"I wake up late and go to bed late" he said, "The sun set looks amazing over the ocean"

"I wish I could see it" I sighed.

I don't know what he was going to say because at that moment Peeta burst through the door.

"There you are" he exclaimed, "Effie has been flipping out and I think your escort was looking for you too Percy."

"What time is it?" I asked

"Almost dinner time"

"Oh crap. We'd better get going. Bye Percy" I said as Peeta and I walked towards the door. He followed after us and went to floor four to find his escort.

When we got to the twelfth floor we found Effie freaking out about being off schedule.

"You are five minutes late to dinner!" she scolded me

"Sorry" I apologized half heartedly

I picked at my food, still full from my picnic with Percy, and then went to bed. I thought about my day and fell asleep thinking of Percy.