Artemis started the day with a yawn as she forced herself to wake up. She hadn't been used to waking up this early but, according to her new partner Gale dawn was the best time to hunt.
She roused herself up out of bed towards the window that overlooked the small merchant square. The sky was turning light either the dark blue sky giving way to a shade of purple. She slipped on her clothes, pulling her hair up as she snuck quietly down the stairs. No one was up yet. Perfect.
She slid onto the couch and proceeded to shove her feet in a pair of boots. She had learned the hard way that boots were the only kind of shoe meant for the woods when she had accidentally stepped in a mud puddle and lost her slip on shoe. Gale had smirked at her as she trudged home with one shoe. Serena was upset. She had told her mother that she had lost it climbing over some piles of wood while trying to get to Gale's house.
That was another thing.
She had stayed quiet about hunting for them in the woods. Her father would have her hide displayed on the wall is he found out she was doing something illegal. As soon as the last boot was tied she was headed towards the door. She had almost made it when a voice surprised her.
"Where are you going?" Torq sternly asked. The sound of his deep voice made her jump away from the door handle like it was electrified. Artemis glanced down at her feet while rubbing her hand.
Think of something.
"I was just going to take a little walk. Stop by Beau's and then Gale's. See if they wanted to do anything today." Her voice was meek yet steady. She could feel herself break out into a cold sweat.
"A walk at five in the morning?" He chided, placing his hands on his hips. "Pretty early for a walk." Her father's face as solid as a stone just as hers was. She knew he didn't believe her. But she had to come up with a way to make him believe her.
Finally, she got it. She tried her best to look solemnly at the ground. It didn't take much to make her somber nowadays. Her father noticed her deflated attitude towards the situation. He had rarely seen her so submissive.
Torq knew what she was going through. The family took a pretty hard toll when Gemma, Artemis's close cousin, was reaped into the games. She ended up suffering in the bloodbath. He remembered how depressed he became, or how it strained his relationship with his brother. They still remained somewhat distant.
Torq let out a deep sigh. "Seriously, Artie, if you ever need to talk about what's going on, your mother and I are here."
Artemis's lips were firmly pressed in a fine line across her face as she took in the information for the hundredth time. She had been asked that same question over and over again so many times that she felt as if she was suffocating.
She was relieved that her parents cared, and the Hammond's but, it had come to the point where it was overbearing. She begrudgingly placed her hand on the door handle while pointing to the outside.
"I'm just- I'm going to go clear my head. Start the day." Torq nodded his head with a grunt. "Be back before sundown. Don't cause trouble." She didn't seem to look back to see her father's upset face as she let the door slam on her way out.
The humid air hit her like a wall. There was no time for complaints about the weather. Only a couple citizens milled around outside at this time in merchant square. One being Mr. Mellark from the bakery.
She sent over a small wave towards him as she passed by, he nodded in return. It wasn't unusual for him to be mute. She could count on all ten fingers the times she's actually had a conversation with him. The man liked his silence. This was probably the only time he had to himself, the rest was probably absorbed by Mrs. Mellark and her bossy ways.
She thought of the last she had seen of the games. Peeta and Katniss were still alive. Katniss had just been wounded by a fireball, Peeta was now camping out with a few careers trying to find her. He was leading them in the opposite direction of her.
He was noble, Artemis would give him that. But stupid.
Extremely stupid.
However, if his selflessness that was displayed on television wasn't Peeta she didn't know what was. He had always been that way. Katniss seemed to be doing fine on her own right now. She was just hanging out in a tree for now.
In a way, she had hoped Katniss would never return home. It would ensure that Peeta was coming home, however while she was around that couldn't happen. But, what would be the consequences of that? She'd be hunting all the time, that's for sure.
She also never considered how this effected Gale. Gale never brought up the games. He was suffering like her. That's part of the reason why she liked hanging around him.
Though their friendship - if that's what someone would call it - was brief Artemis was relieved she could finally talk to someone who wasn't too focused on how she felt about Peeta being in the games. Perhaps he didn't bring it up because it pained him as well.
She let her mind wander to the situation if only Peeta had returned home. Would Gale hold a grudge against her? What if the situation was reversed and Katniss came home instead. Would their daily adventures in the woods end? Would she have to learn how to hunt on her own?
Lord knows she couldn't use a bow.
Gale recently let her try using his, he had told her to shoot at a small bird that had perched itself on a low tree branch. She couldn't even draw the string back all the way without it cutting at her fingers.
As she released she had missed by a long shot, hitting the trunk of the tree instead and scaring the bird off.
She smiled as she remembered the image of Gale frowning as he stared up at the arrow in the tree. There was no way he could get it down. That was also the day that he had taught her how to make an arrow.
Artemis continued to learn how to set traps for now, hoping it'd catch something. Nothing so far yet.
She plopped herself down on a rock just outside of the fence near what Gale called "The Hobb", waiting for him to show up. She watched as the purple hue in the sky meshed together with a subtly pink and a vibrant orange as the sun began to rise.
Footsteps startled her.
She turned to see Gale approaching from behind, backpack slung over his shoulder. He gave a brief wave along with a small smile. "Ready, Arts?" He called out. Artemis frowned in displeasure at the new nickname. "Don't call me that." She earned a scoff from Gale as he caught up to her, a small hint of a smile playing on his lips that soon disappeared. "Whatever, Arts."
Artemis groaned as she struggled and fidgeted the backpack that was packed with a few birds and hares. One hare she had caught in her trap. She placed that up on the scoreboard next to Gale's hundreds of kills. It was a satisfying victory for her. Hell, even Gale was a tad proud of her.
Gale nabbed the backpack away from her as they approached the fence. Artemis looked up at him confused. He had never done this before. "We're going to the Hobb." He simply stated in a gruff voice.
Artemis made an oh sound before following him through the fence. "I don't want you-" He trailed off as he passed under the wire. "-to get into any trouble." Artemis gave him a cocky grin as she looked at him through the fence. "Oh, why thank you, oh great and noble sir Gale." She mocked a curtsy which made him roll his cloudy grey eyes.
"Would you stop?" He pleaded, as she snickered coming through the fence. She had gone through careless. She yelped as a small spike from the wire scraped the under part of her eye. Artemis held up her hand to it and pulled away. Of course it had drawn blood. Begrudgingly, Artemis pulled her sleeve over her hand, covering the wound to try to make it stop bleeding.
She winced at the sudden pain that the pressure had caused. Gale turned around to watch her wince as she placed a hand under her eye. "What'd you do?" He asked, trying to sound concerned. Artemis cursed as she managed to catch up with him.
"A barb caught my eye." She answered. Gale chuckled a bit. "Well maybe if you didn't fool around that wouldn't've happened, you ditz." Artemis opened her mouth, gasping in shock at the insult. If there was one thing Artemis was, it wasn't a ditz. "I am offended." Artemis whined. "Here I am basically bleeding out and you're insulting me." Gale smirked and shook his head from side to side. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're absolutely ridiculous."
As they approached the Hobb Artemis instinctively fell back behind Gale. Being in a strange environment scared her. But, Gale had told her stories of how from time to time that someone would get a little too rowdy, a little too feely with Katniss, and he'd have to put them in place.
She didn't want that to happen. She dropped her hand from her eye, not wanting to draw attention to herself. "Remember-"
"Don't cause any trouble. Yeah, I know Gale. I'm not trying to get murdered." Artemis hissed out as they crossed the barrier into the Hobb.
The smell of it along was enough to make anyone queasy. Nothing but burning coal and rotting trash laid within. The only good thing that came wafting into Artemis's nose was some soup that was being fashioned up by Greasy Sae.
She was the only person Artemis truly admired in this place. But, of course that stop was for last. At least in Gale's book.
She rolled her eyes as Gale caught her by the sleeve of her jacket, dragging her towards a stand where a man with an eyepatch stood. She quickly learned that this man's name was Bomber, who was extremely hard to understand.
He usually liked any finch that Gale had managed to catch. This time Gale provided him with two, in return Bomber gave him a small amount of spices and herbs that he said he would give to Mrs. Everdeen.
Bomber then proceeded to find a small rag that was on his stand and insisted on giving it to Artemis. Gale passed the cloth on over to Artemis. She took it in her hands, she noted it was small and torn, definitely dirty but, it was a kind gesture. "Thank you." She smiled at Bomber who in return gave her a toothless smile back and motioned for her to press it on her eye.
While still smiling uneasily, she dabbed it against her eye to appease the old man. "Thank you, very much." She repeated. As she turned to follow Gale she swore understood Bomber say, "You have a good day now" in a garbled mess. Gale turned back as Artemis finally caught up with him. "I think he likes you." He teased, forcing Artemis to chuckle a bit. "That's a first."
"Quit being dramatic. He's not the first person to like you."
"Explain why I only have two friends then." She fired back.
Gale's pace seemed to slow a bit after her statement. His face held a discontent look as he gazed at Artemis. She held out her arms confused. "What?" She snapped. It was almost as Gale's lip seemed to pout. "I'm not included on that list, am I?" He wondered.
Artemis pursed her lips. He wasn't but, she still didn't know whether to treat him like a friend or a partner. Gale took her silence as a no and frowned. "C'mon. Let's keep moving." His voice seemed a little more cold than usual.
Artemis let out an anxious sigh as he passed her. She shouldn't've made it seem like he wasn't her friend. They were together nonstop for the last few days. Acquaintances wouldn't do that.
Her heart seemed to sink a little in her chest as she thought about how she had hurt him.
The next person to trade to wasn't as pleasant as Bomber, in fact he had almost gotten hostile with Gale. He wasn't budging on providing him with a wheel of cheese in exchange for a hare and a robin.
At one point Gale had even offered to throw in some berries that Artemis had picked while he had cut down some of his snares. The man didn't budge.
Gale eventually settled on some home grown carrots, while he gave him a robin and a few berries. Artemis was keen on glaring at the man while Gale moved on.
"Who was that guy?" She asked pointing back over her shoulder. Gale rolled his eyes as he gazed back at the man with a red scraggly beard. "That's Atticus." His voice seemed low and agitated. "Surprised you don't seem him. He lives pretty much in merchant square."
"Is he usually that angry?"
"Most of the time. His favorite thing is turkey. But, do you know how hard it is to come across a turkey and not sell it for a higher price?"
"Pretty high?"
"Well Davet gives me a fair amount of money in exchange for one. Not some stupid carrots." Gale's face seemed to flush with frustration. "Katniss is usually better with him."
Artemis felt as if that were a blow towards her statement earlier. She timidly started to trail behind him again. Artemis was relieved to see Greasy Sae as Gale slapped down the sack of meats on the counter.
Greasy Sae smiled at the two as she continued to stir what was cooking in the pot behind the counter. "Well, good day you two. What brings y'all down here?" Her voice was much more pleasant than Atticus's, and a lot clearer to understand than Bomber's.
Gale shrugged his shoulders as Artemis perched herself on a stool in front of the stand. "The usual." Gale replied. He opened his sack and pulled out a nice hare and held it towards Greasy Sae.
Artemis heard a low wolf whistle come from behind. She swiveled around to see a boy who was in her grade, maliciously staring at the hare with a smirk. "That's a good lookin' bunny right there." He complimented, as he took a seat next to Artemis, smiling at the three.
"What's your name, darlin'?" He leaned over towards Artemis with a flirtatious smirk. She could feel the heat rush to her cheeks as he closed the small distance between them. However, he was getting too close for comfort and she leaned back with an annoyed look on her face.
Gale lowly chuckled at the boy. "Leave her alone, Lin. She's not interested." Gale taunted as he handed Greasy Sae the hare. In return he asked for seven eggs and two bowls of her soup. "I'll do the same." The boy beckoned towards Greasy Sae who smiled in return. "Artemis, this is Linden, he's-"
"Basically his brother." Linden chimed in just as a bowl of soup slid his way. Artemis watched as Gale rolled his eyes. "He's a nuisance."
"But I'm your nuisance." Linden said in a sing-song voice. "But you're my nuisance." Gale reassured.
He cleared his throat catching Artemis's hungry gaze. "Greasy Sae, may we wash up?" Gale questioned, pointing between himself and Artemis.
Greasy Sae, wiped off her hands onto her apron while tugging at a large wooden pale. "Hope you don't mind," She huffed as she placed it towards the edge of the counter. "Been usin' it to wash some dishes. Not too bad in there. Better than nothin'."
Artemis stared at the mucky water terrified. Something was definitely lurking under that water. Whether it was alive or not, she didn't want to touch it. "'Smatter?" Linden mumbled out while chomping down on a piece of meat within the stew. "Never touched some water before?" He teased.
Gale jutted an elbow between her ribs causing her to hiss in pain. This was a clear indication to not be rude and wash her hands. She needed it. Dried blood remained on her fingers from when she had touched her cut.
Reluctantly, Artemis stuck her hand into the cold pale, gasping at the sudden icy water. She began washing her hands in a circular motion, sometimes brushing up against Gale's hand which made her abruptly move to the other side of the pale. Somehow they ended up bumping into his again. "Sorry." She mumbled out.
"Hm, well, I'll be damned." Linden cursed, causing Artemis and Gale's heads to veer towards the television that held the games. Artemis gasped a little. There Peeta was, lips locked with Katniss Everdeen.
"Why's she kissing him?" Artemis wondered aloud, placing her hands on her hips and squinting at the screen. She wasn't jealous or anything, she was just surprised. She also had a bad feeling Katniss was just using him.
She peered over towards Gale who's expression was priceless to her. Stone faced, with cold, stormy eyes as he glared at the screen. It was obvious he was feeling a little envious. Artemis couldn't help but, let out a chuckle under her breath at him.
"Gale, stop it." Linden warned as he took a bite of soup. "Keep glaring at that thing and it'll explode." Gale whipped his hands out of the bucket after accidentally touching Artemis's hand for a third time. Artemis seemed taken back by the brashness of his action.
Though his cheeks were flushed red with anger his glare towards Peeta was clearly green with envy.
She brushed this off and sat next to Linden, digging into her stew. The kiss was clearly a ploy to win over sponsors. At least she had hoped. She knew Katniss would never give Peeta a chance if they were in the district.
"So how long have you known Gale?" Artemis asked Linden, trying to make small talk while Gale continued to watch the games. Linden tilted his head from side to side as if he was thinking about it while chewing. "Since we were about eight. So around ten years. Then Dakota came in the picture when we were ten, so he's been around for eight years. Katniss started hanging around him," -He pointed towards Gale with his thumb- "Since we were about fourteen, four years."
Artemis nodded her head as she listened to him drone on about their friendship. She was actually a little envious of Gale now. Even though he had somewhat considered her as a friend he still had a lot, she didn't think of him as a friend and she only had two. Maybe she should start classifying him as a friend to gain more? No. That's horrible.
Suddenly, something shined brightly into her eyes. As some of the sun rays flooded through the creeks of the roof up top of the makeshift trading hole, it seemed to have made something reflect into her eyes and irritating them.
She moved her head a little out of the way of the sun beam to see exactly what was causing the shine.
Artemis raised her brows in admiration as she looked at it. It was a simple chain necklace with a small pendant in the center that appeared to be made out of the only gemstone she knew, opal. It was the most beautiful object she's ever seen. She would've never guessed it would be in a place like this. Whoever sold it needed something bad.
Linden seemed to follow Artemis's eye sight and let out another wolf whistle. "Greasy Sae, lemme see that." Linden beckoned, pointing towards the necklace. Greasy Sae abided and set the simple necklace down in front of Linden.
"Wow." He admired, showing it in front of Artemis. Linden's gasp drew Gale's attention from the television screen to look at what his friends were hooting at. "What'd they sell this for?" He asked, latching onto the pendant of the necklace.
Greasy Sae shrugged her shoulders. "You know I can't trade and tell." She responded with a snide smirk.
"Sassy. How much?"
Greasy Sae let out a scoffing chuckle. "More than you could afford, Linden." She stated while taking back the necklace. "I debated on even putting this out on the shop. It's a pretty little thing. Expensive for sure. Hope the right person comes along and takes it."
Artemis admired it from a ways away as she gnawed on the last of her stew. She probably could afford it. Not at a time like this. She wiped her mouth clean of the stew and pushed the bowl forward. "Well tell whoever gets it I'm jealous. It's beautiful." Artemis stated while standing up and stretching out her legs from sitting.
She sauntered over towards Gale who was just finishing up his stew as well. "I'm going to head out. Promised Beau I'd spend time with him today. See you tomorrow?" She bid while rocking back on her heels.
Gale shook his head while wiping his mouth. "Promised Dakota and this goon I'd go fishing with them. No hunting tomorrow but, I'll try to catch you a fish." His voice was cold.
She couldn't determine whether he was still upset from earlier or if watching Katniss snuggle up with Peeta was eating him up inside. Artemis pursed her lips into a thin line and nodded her head. Linden elbowed Gale's arm.
"You're welcome to stop by later in the afternoon. We should be home by then." Gale offered. His voice was still cold and it threw Artemis off a bit. Once again she nodded her head. "See you tomorrow then."
Once she was gone Gale looked towards Linden who held a sly grin on his face. He rolled his eyes. Linden eyeballed him as if he had known something all along.
"No." Gale stated.
Linden still held the same face.
"It's not like that." Linden wasn't backing down. He had known Gale for almost all of his life. He could tell something was up. Gale shifted uncomfortably in his gaze. After a few more moments, he let out a defeated sigh. "Greasy Sae?" He called out, catching her attention from the stew pot. Linden's lips curved into a smile as he heard the words fall out of Gale's mouth. "How much for that necklace?"