"Hey Mar, come here! I found some of those berries I told you about!"
Nearby, the song of the stream rushed as Mar kept watch over Cirrin's things. Cirrin had gone off with his plant guide to find edible plants. Both of them had been hungry when they met, and neither of them had had any food. It hadn't been hard to designate food as their top priority after teaming up.
"Should I bring your pack?" Mar called out.
"Nah, just leave it. It won't be long. Come on, these things are delicious!"
Mar took one last look around, then set out through the forest toward Cirrin's voice. He found Cirrin crouched beside a bush, plucking off berries and popping them into his mouth. "Come on!" he said around a mouthful of berries. Mar needed no second encouragement. He plucked a salmonberry and briefly examined it before popping it in his mouth. The cool juice spread over his tongue, filling his mouth with its delicious, sweet taste.
Cirrin had swallowed his berries and was watching Mar expectantly, a faint smile on his face. "Well?" he asked.
"It's the first delicious thing I've eaten in the Games," Mar breathed. Cirrin's grin grew wider. Together, they eagerly stripped the bush of all the ripe berries it held, devouring them with a speed and enthusiasm that would have mortified their mothers.
When they had eaten every berry they thought was ripe, and a few more besides, Cirrin stood up and wiped the juice from his mouth with the back of his hand. He half-turned away, motioning for Mar to follow him. "Come on, let's go back to the stream. My stuff's still there." He noticed Mar's faraway stare, shooting off into the trees, and turned back toward him. "What's wrong?"
Mar was silent for a moment. Without looking at Cirrin, he asked, "Do you think we'll ever eat anything that delicious again?"
Cirrin put his hands in his jacket pockets. "Don't talk like that. Come on, let's stick close to the stream. We'll have all the water we'll ever need, and an escape route in case someone finds us. Let's go."
"How much longer can we survive?"
Mar's blunt question jarred Cirrin. Two ominous truths loomed over both of them: one, that the Witch was still out there, and was far more capable of victory than they were; and two, that even if she died somehow, there could not be two winners. At least one of them would have to die as well.
"Don't talk like that," Cirrin repeated calmly. "We need to focus on the here and now. Let's go back to the stream." Silently, Mar got up and followed Cirrin back to the spot where his pack lay. A cold atmosphere seemed to hover over them the entire time they walked. Neither uttered a sound, allowing the background noise of the forest to dominate their ears.
They reached the stream after about a minute of walking. Cirrin's pack lay where Mar left it, undisturbed. Just to be sure, Cirrin checked its contents and found nothing missing. The icy silence was starting to suffocate him. To get both their minds off the subject of their mortality, he called, "Hey Mar, you're from District 4, right? Do you know how to make fishing rods? We won't live off berries forever. And I don't know about you, but I'm still hungry."
At the mention of fishing rods, Mar's face lit up, and he turned to Cirrin with a broad grin. "We don't need them! Help me find some bait, like a worm or something." Together, the two of them scoured the earth for something fish would eat. It didn't take Mar long to find a wriggling earthworm. "Found a worm! Here, watch this." He moved upstream until he found a relatively shallow area. While one hand gripped the worm loosely, the other took off his boots and socks and rolled up his pants. He walked into the water until it was about knee-deep; then he put the worm in between the fingers of his right hand and plunged it into the water. Cirrin watched him curiously from the bank.
For about two minutes, Mar concentrated intently on the water while Cirrin looked on. "Wait for it," Mar said quietly. "Wait for it… Now!" Suddenly, his hand burst out from under the stream, sending water flying into the air. A small fish landed on the bank and flopped uselessly.
Cirrin raised his eyebrows. "Wow," he said. "Well done, Mar."
Mar grinned at him. "Thanks. I can do that as long as we have bait, so we won't have to worry about food."
"Is that how you've survived this long?"
"Nah. I actually didn't remember it until just now," he said sheepishly. "I don't know, I guess I've been so scared this whole time, it just slipped my mind."
Cirrin gazed down at the writhing fish. "Well, now what?"
Mar looked at the fish, too. "In District 4, when we didn't have time to cook fish, we'd just eat them raw. It's perfectly healthy."
The look on Cirrin's face made it clear that he wasn't too thrilled by the idea. "Let's cook it, at least. Seeing how few tributes are left, making a fire can't be that dangerous anymore." With that, the two of them set their minds to the task of gathering firewood and preparing the fish, temporarily shutting out the dangers that surrounded them.
