Chapter 36: Quarter Quell, Day 1

The Mentors' Bar is the quietest I have ever heard it. That's partially due to the fact that only 35 Victors remain who are not already dead or about to be dead, once lifted into an arena again within a matter of minutes. Plus, not every Victor still on the outside needed to come to the Capitol to mentor their friends. Of the 35, there are only about 20 of us here. I scan the room: the Career mentors have already shoved their tables together. Luster Lancaster and Song Nuo are at bat for the Delacroix twins; Lupus Pagano and Boudicca will be mentoring Brutus and Enobaria. Jules Elmer of 7 is all by himself helping the District 3 Victors, and I hope his arthritic fingers can navigate the sponsor screens; I resolve to assist him if it looks like he's struggling.

I hear a CLICK as a wheeled table connects seamlessly with mine, and I glance up to see Halibut Shore and Mags Flanagan smiling at me.

"Allies, right?" The ink is dry on the contract. I smile at Halibut in confirmation.

"Let's just hope that one of our tributes doesn't decide to go rogue and break the deal," I comment wryly.

Mags' gums are flapping, and I can't make out what she's saying, but Halibut translates easily enough. "What makes you think any of them would?"

I grimace. "My girl might. She can be a little obstinate. Though in fairness to her, how can you honor a contract when you don't even know about it?"

"What?" Halibut stares, stunned.

"Don't ask," I put up a hand, "My kids didn't want any allies…. so I took the liberty of choosing one for them."

"That's a little underhanded for you, Donner."

"I'm willing to do anything to keep my kids alive, Shore." I eye the young District 4 Victor hard. "Anything. Can't you say the same?" His silence speaks volumes. "That's what I thought."

The clock strikes 10 AM, and the screens above the bar go live; Luster and the other Career mentors stampede over to the counter, screaming in excitement. Halibut helps Mags hobble over; remembering Jules, I circle back to help wheel him forward.

The camera is tracking a tribute rising up through the tubes, but since it is filming from that tribute's perspective, we can't tell who it is. The glare from the sunlight is blinding, so bright that little circles of rainbow colors appear briefly in the bottom corners of the screen. Something is making the sun's rays bounce back sharper than normal. It doesn't take long for the camera to settle for us to learn why.

Yards of water stretch out from the tribute pedestals on all sides. Somewhere off to my right, I can hear both Abram Mills and Connor Murphy dropping expletives like they're acid. Next to me, Halibut and Mags sport smiles, pleased.

Plutarch warned us that an element of water would be involved in the arena, but I didn't think it would be something demanded of all the tributes. As in, they literally have to swim for it to reach the Cornucopia, set on a jagged, rocky island about forty yards ahead from this tribute's perspective.

Whoever's eyes we're looking through, it sounds like a female, and she is breathing heavily. She makes a sweep to her right: Cashmere Delacroix is on the same slab of water with her. To her left, Brutus is also scanning his surroundings and getting a read on Matthias Fletcher, who is one pedestal over from him. The District 5 drunk takes one step forward and peers over the edge at the lapping waves nearly at his feet. Between Brutus and this mystery woman, there is a spoke of rock. I frown. Who the hell designed this death trap?

A pull back to a wide shot gives us mentors a better layout of the arena. The Cornucopia seems to be at the center of the arena, shaped like a circle that isn't very big. From Cornucopia island, rocky spokes jet out across the water.

Emrys Avery quickly counts them. "A dozen spokes. Like the spokes on a wheel!"

That's it, then. From what I can gather, every rocky spoke creates a watery 'wedge' with two tribute pedestals inside it.

We are back to watching from this girl tribute's perspective as Claudius Templesmith announces, "Let the 75th Hunger Games begin! …. May the odds be ever in your favor!" This girl is positioned so that she can see directly into the mouth of the Cornucopia, but her eyes – the camera – are now darting about rather frantically. She is still gasping, panting, and the breath seems to be forming a word. A name:

"Peeta…. Peeta…."

I turn white. Oh, shit. We are watching from my goddaughter's perspective. It's Katniss. And she's been placed probably deliberately between two Career tributes, one of whom is my old mentor.

Damn you, Plutarch.

"Katniss, get out of there!" I yell.

"5….. 4…. 3…. 2…. 1…." Claudius finishes the countdown.

To my surprise, the camera pitches forward and dives into the water. It bobs up towards the surface, tilting evenly as Katniss makes nice, clean strokes. I stare, shocked but relieved. I didn't know Katniss could swim. Where she could have learned or how Belley or Glen might have taught her. However it happened, she's probably one of the few Victors – other than Finnick and Annie – who does know how to swim. I wonder if anyone else possesses the skill. Depending on the answer, this Quell could end very, very quickly, and too, too cleanly.

There is another stampede as we all scramble back to our tables and datapads, watching the live feeds for any sponsor money that might come trickling in. I am also obsessively watching the little screens that keep a camera constantly running on both of my kids.

Now watching from a bird's eye perspective, I observe my goddaughter reach the rocky spoke to her left and haul herself, dripping wet, onto it… just ahead of Brutus. Katniss gets to her feet before my old mentor has fully lifted himself out of the water and breaks into a run. Brutus takes a few loping steps after her but then refrains from giving chase, watching her go, snarling.

Katniss speeds up into a sprint for the horn, scanning for incoming combatants left and right. To her right, she sees Gloss Delacroix on the spoke one over from her; he must have been on the wedge on the opposite side from his sister, which means Cashmere won't be far behind. The Victors from 1 and 12 keep eyeing each other as they begin a race for the supplies.

With long, ungainly strides, Gloss is the first to make a mistake. His foot catches on a rock, and he tumbles to the earth with a shout, causing Katniss to win the race by default. She is the first to reach the horn out of the entire field, arming herself with a bow and arrows. Stringing it, she wheels around and gets a recovered Gloss in her sights, who skids to a stop. She fires, her arrow catching him in the leg. Gloss tumbles into Cashmere and Katniss's watery wedge.

A noise, or a shift in the air currents maybe, causes Katniss to spin again, another arrow in the notch as if by magic.

And its tip is pointing nearly in Finnick Odair's smug face. Halibut and Mags' tribute is grinning almost wolfishly, though there is a charm to it. "Good thing we're allies, right?" His hand not holding a trident is lifted very deliberately, prominently displaying the golden bangle on his wrist. I see Katniss recognize it, but she doesn't move.

"Where did you get that?" she demands.

"Where do you think? Your godmommy has good sense."

A frantic beeping is suddenly blaring from Katniss's little screen, and I pull up a blue holographic schematic. A blinking, red dot labeled '5' has reached the island and is rounding the horn, estimated at ten feet away from my goddaughter and dwindling.

"KATNISS!"

The grin drops from Finnick's face with the speed of a curtain going down. "Duck!" he commands, so forcefully that for once in her life, Katniss obeys without question. The trident sails over her head.

THUNK.

There is a grunt as Matthias fucking Fletcher sprawls backward to the rocks, not two feet away from my tribute. He was unarmed, but I doubt that would have stopped him much. A couple more seconds, and Katniss may very well have been the first kill of the Games.

Instead, the first cannon fires for a traitorous drunk. BOOM.

Finnick strolls over and yanks the trident out of Matthias's chest. The drunk is spluttering, gargling, choking on his own blood. "You…. rat…." he croaks at Finnick – his last words picked up on a hot mic before his eyes roll back into his head and he lies still.

"Don't trust 1 and 2 – I'll take this side, you hold them off! I'll go find Peeta and Annie!"

Peeta! As Katniss whirls with another arrow to shoot at an incoming Enobaria (the woman from 2 swan dives into the waves so that the tip misses her entirely), I snap my gaze back to my son's screen.

He has still not moved from his pedestal. Why, oh why did Dannel and I not think to teach the boys how to swim?

My Peeta is smart, though. Scanning his surroundings, he quickly realizes that only about a third of the field has even moved from the pedestals so far. Tentatively, he reaches down and brushes the lapping waves with his fingers. It's probably a wise move, especially since he watched my whole Quell and knows how important poison was to the arena. Who knows if the water is even safe to enter, if there are other risks besides drowning? Seeing Katniss, Finnick and a few of the others have safely traversed the water, however, he realizes toxins are not a factor. Still, he doesn't move, stranded like the rest of them.

"Hey, Mellark!" Peeta turns, and I curse quietly. My son has the distinct pleasure of being stuck in a water wedge with Roan Tully, the man from 10. "I did want to give my regards to your girlfriend. Since I can't have her, you'll do." And with that, he jumps.

I scream, and Peeta barely has time to get into a wrestler's defensive stance before he's caught Roan in the chest and both men are dislodged from my son's pedestal. One of them – I can't tell who – yells as they hit the water.

I flip through the available sponsor gifts frantically. Is there something I could send? A weapon? No, a parachute would take too long. As I watch in horror, Peeta manages to surface, followed by Roan. My son doesn't even know the strokes and mechanics of swimming, so he just bobs there. Luckily, Roan seems to be at just as much of a loss, though the two men do manage to master treading water by doing, as they both quickly become involved in a punch-out fistfight.

On his commentary, Claudius Templesmith seems oddly gleeful at this: "Well, folks, looks like there won't be an alliance between 10 and 12, am I right?"

If Plutarch's insane plan actually works, I will personally kill him for orienting the tributes this way.

Peeta gives as good as he gets, though, and sends Roan back with one punch, far and long enough for him to paddle clumsily back to his pedestal and attempt to remount it. A height advantage. Smart. He is almost over the lip, when Roan grabs him by the ankle and attempts to pull him back down. Gritting his teeth, Peeta holds fast.

Meanwhile, Katniss is rifling through the supplies. The Careers and one or two others are advancing back towards the island.

"Nothing but weapons!" she reports to Finnick.

"Grab what you want and let's go! And do something about that, would you?" Brutus is now charging like a bull down his spoke towards my goddaughter. Face stony, Katniss notches an arrow and takes aim.

Here is where we'll really get to see how a middle-aged tribute reacts to the rigors of the arena. I have to hand it to Brutus: he's very resourceful and is already divesting himself of his belt and snapping it taut in front of his face like a shield. Katniss fires and he lifts the belt up and slightly to the left, actually catching the tip. A strange, purple liquid coats his face as a result, slowing him down, and Katniss growls, reloading and firing again. Brutus drops to the rocks, rolls the few feet to the water and submerges.

On the main screens above the bar, Finnick is turning onto a spoke a quarter of the way around the horn, where Annie is just arriving on the island. Pulling her to him, he kisses her sensuously, and she purrs happily… but these quickly turn into urgent squeaks and she wrenches free of his lips, pointing.

"Peeta? Where?" Finnick spins, and actually turns pale. My son is back in the water, still punching Roan Tully. "Oh no….. Oh no, no, no…. KATNISS! Annie found Peeta; he's over here!"

Katniss is at District 4's side in an instant and they run along the one rocky spoke. Katniss is stripping herself of her weapons, but Finnick stays her hand. "I'll get him."

She frowns obtusely. "I can…"

"Best not over-exert yourself. Not in your condition." And he pats her abdomen for emphasis.

Katniss clues in and lets Finnick dive gracefully into the water. She takes aim at Roan with her bow as back-up, Annie swaying on the balls of her feet, jittery. But the District 4 girl has enough of her wits about her to mildly ask, "How far along are you?"

Katniss eyes her bemusedly. "Two months," she blurts stupidly. A few people in the bar chuckle. I have to admire my goddaugter's intelligence. I know from experience that two months is not far enough along that she would be starting to show, but this will also play well to the audience.

Peeta is attempting to remount his pedestal again. Finnick is swimming frantically to the fight, now maybe six feet out. Suddenly, there is a yelp and Roan drags Peeta all the way under. Katniss freezes and drops her shooting stance, eyes wide with terror.

On Peeta's small screen, the footage is a jumble of water and bubbles and skintight tribute uniform fabric. There is a deadened sound that, if not underwater, might sound like a crack. A BOOM echoes from the screens above the bar, and I whimper. On Peeta's little screen, there is movement, and the camera from his perspective breaks the surface.

The first thing it casts on is a body floating in the water. Roan is dead.

"Peeta's alive!" Halibut calls. I slump back in my chair, overcome with relief.

We see through Peeta's eyes as Finnick swims the last few feet over to him leisurely. "Atta boy, Peeta, atta boy!" Peeta flinches back, but Finnick only smiles wider. "Relax. I'm here on your mommy's orders." And he flashes the bangle. "Need a tow?"

"Lead the way," Peeta holds out his arms trustingly, and Finnick instructs him to loop them over his chest.

"Now, let's get back to our women, shall we?"

The men swim back with long smooth strokes. Whimpering, Katniss frantically reaches out a hand towards Peeta as they draw close. Clasping her arm, Peeta hoists himself up and kisses Katniss right on the mouth. She stiffens a little in surprise, mewling, but then returns it. They break apart lovingly.

"Howdy," Peeta grins from ear-to-ear. "We have allies."

"Just as your mother intended," Katniss quips dryly.

Watching the Star-Crossed Lovers embrace has clearly made Finnick romantic. He rather dramatically gets down on one knee.

"Annie, my love, will you marry me?"

"Oh, darling, I thought you'd never ask me!" she gushes. Despite the fact that she is back in her worst nightmare, Annie seems to be almost herself as long as Finnick is near her. "But you could have chosen a more romantic setting…"

"Hey, Cassanova! Watch your back!" Peeta yells out a warning. Seeing what's coming, Annie lets out a startled scream.

Finnick turns almost disinterestedly as, with a roar, Nolan de Naro (who actually managed to swim away from the Cornucopia and reach the beach on the far side) makes a desperate lunge for him. Finnick holds him off with his trident, catching the force of Nolan's lunge and then reversing the energy of it, knocking the District 9 Victor off-balance. Twirling his trident, he advances on the attack, even as he continues making wedding plans with Annie.

"And for our honeymoon…. District 5…"

"Yes…"

"District 10…." He blocks a vicious swing of Nolan's fists, spins and thrusts the other man through.

"Yes…"

"Sunny District 9!" Finnick yanks the bloody prongs out of Nolan and almost merrily tosses the trident in the air, catching it. BOOM.

"Why not?" Annie giggles. She lets out a squeal as Finnick literally sweeps her off her feet, bridal-style.

"Madame: shall we?"

Looping her arms around his neck, Annie beams and Finnick jogs for the treeline of the jungle. My kids race after them, Peeta smirking in awe as Katniss flips him a machete she recovered from the horn.

"Even in the arena, he's a suave cad…."

"I heard that, Lover Boy!" The quartet disappears.

Halibut finally allows himself to sink into his chair. "Whooo! That was some good, quality television!"

Mags is sniffling, her eyes filled with tears. Despite the fact that they are together, I think she wishes that she was the one in the arena instead of Annie, to spare her. I pat her on the arm soothingly.

Back at the Cornucopia, the Careers have taken over the horn, with Brutus installing himself as Pack Leader. Gloss and Enobaria are digging through the mound like a pair of kids at a birthday party. Brutus is twitching with excitement. Something catches his eye, and my old mentor laughs.

"Oh, check it out!"

Poor Woof is stumbling down one rocky spoke at a snail's pace, just about to reach the island.

Brutus grins wickedly and snaps his fingers. Enobaria tosses him a spear. "This one's mine, and with it, the greatest kill record of all time!" With a roar, he lunges and throws, the spear's tip sailing right through Woof's neck. Woof chokes, staggering back a step so that his feet catch each other and he flails back to the rocks with a crash.

"NO!" A woman's scream, plaintive and horror-struck, makes Brutus wheel around. Cecelia is bravely charging the entire Pack. A growling Enobaria moves to intercept her, but Cecelia dives for a triplet set of chakrams, kicks some dirt up into the District 2 woman's face, and flings one.

Only Enobaria's staggering back saves her, ironically; her body shifts in such a way that the chakram grazes her bicep. Cecelia chucks another of the round blades at Brutus and he ducks; the sharp steel still manages to nick his bald head, blood gushing from a wound. Roaring, he leaps forward, jabbing with the spear and driving Cecelia back; she snarls in kind. Unable to get to Woof and with the Delacroix twins moving in as reinforcements, she turns and flees down one spoke and into the jungle.

"Let her go, let her go!" Brutus bellows as Gloss prepares to give chase. A sudden, high-pitched shout makes them all snap their gazes back: a dripping-wet Mitt Compton has leaped onto Cashmere's back like a monkey and is holding fast. Unfortunately, he has no weapon other than himself with which to attack her. Furious, Cashmere lets herself stagger back into the gunmetal of the horn and then slams Mitt against it; there is a SNAP as his spine severs and he slides off her.

Two more cannons belatedly go off.

Several hundred yards away, Johanna has succeeded in meeting up with Blight and the District 3 Victors at the top of one spoke.

"All right, camp counselors, we got all the kiddies here?" Johanna makes a headcount.

"Not without that wire!" Beetee states firmly and just as Johanna's back is turned, he begins a mad sprint for the Cornucopia.

It's a little pathetic to watch, considering he's pushing 55 and his best attempt at a sprint is only a degree or two faster than a light jog. Johanna wheels around and screams.

"IDIOT! You blundering fool!" Beetee is windmilling his arms now, actually picking up speed, though he's huffing and puffing. Johanna has to sprint herself in the hopes of chasing him back down before he reaches the horn. "Keep her down!" Johanna calls back over her shoulder to Blight, referring to Wiress.

Here in the bar, the Career mentors are hooting, egging Beetee on. "Keep going, Volts!"

Caesar is delighted by the "valor" of it, and helpfully decides that the tape needs to be dwindled in slow motion. Inspirational music plays, the iconic chord progressions coming from a really old, ancient American movie called Chariots of Fire. Still moving like molasses, Beetee falls to his knees before the weapons pile and begins digging through it frantically. Johanna is about fifty paces from the end of the rocky spoke. Hearing the commotion, war whoops go up as the Careers round the horn, Brutus in the lead. Grinning maniacally, Enobaria dances around him and raises a blade, plunging it down towards Beetee's back.

Johanna's eyes go huge. The entire damn thing is still moving slow-motion and she lunges forward, letting out a "No….." The blade's tip is just sinking into Beetee's back when -

"GAHHH!" Beetee screams.

"ERRRAHHH!" Enobaria howls as Johanna tackles her in a flying leap, causing both women to sprawl backwards away from Beetee, into the Careers so that the rest of them fall like dominos. The vicious woman from 7 intervened just at the last second: the blade doesn't stay lodged in Beetee's back, but it still slices a path down from between his shoulder blades.

Recovering quickly, and with Enobaria pinned under her, Johanna punches her in the face and leaps to her feet. Behind her, a weakened Beetee slaps a hand over what he is looking for: a bundle of wire and holds it up triumphantly. He manages to get to his feet, but sways dangerously.

Glancing back, Johanna sprints to him, catches him under the armpits and begins to drag him back up the spoke, cursing all the way. Beetee screams as Johanna's hand placement is causing the wound in his back to flare up; she just continues dragging him anyway.

The Careers are still down and struggling to get up. Enobaria kick-flips to her feet, blood spurting from her nose. "That little cunt….." She strides forward, but Gloss reaches to restrain her.

"NOW!" A man's deep baritone bellows and suddenly, Chaff and Seeder are bursting out of the water, pelting for the supplies.

The distraction does its work. Brutus's eyes bulge in a panic. "Box them out! Box them out! Don't let them arm themselves!"

Too late. Chaff has come up with a scythe and Seeder has a pair of blades known as sai. Standing back-to-back, the District 11 Victors engage as all four Careers swarm them.

The fight is over in seconds. With only one hand, Chaff can only manage a few blocks before Enobaria is slicing off his other hand with a broadsword and stabbing him through the gut. She bites his neck, just for effect. A little ways away from them, Brutus and Seeder are dancing around each other, shouting and swinging. Finally, my bored mentor grabs Seeder by the hair and rams her head into the lip of the Cornucopia, crushing her skull. I clap a hand to my mouth to stifle the sob.

The duel has bought Johanna enough time to get Beetee back to the beach. Seeing that Blight is otherwise engaged – Circe Montoya from 5 and Evelyn Morris from 9, in an alliance, have attacked him – she starts dragging Beetee all the faster, ignoring his cries.

Blight Gavin manages to wrest Circe's sword away from her, and smacks her in the face with its hilt. Blood spurts from her nose and she crumples to the sand. Now armed, Blight parries Evelyn's swings with a pair of tomahawk axes.

Dropping Beetee into the sand next to a cowering Wiress, Johanna sneaks around, outflanks Evelyn, and then closes in. Catching one of the older woman's wrists, Johanna twists until it breaks and with a cry, Evelyn drops one of the tomahawks.

It's all over. The District 7 Victors butcher poor Evelyn and Johanna is now armed with her weapons of choice.

Panting heavily, the beautiful District 7 girl stomps over to Beetee and sticks a finger in his face. "Never do that again, or so help me Panem, I'll kill you myself! Understand?!"

Beetee nods fearfully.

"Let's ride." And Districts 3 and 7 melt into the trees. All but forgotten, an unconscious Circe Montoya comes to a minute or two later and crawls away into the jungle.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. Three more cannons sound to signal Evelyn and District 11's deaths.

"What a bloodbath – eight dead! Wow-weeee!" Caesar whoops. "And an unusual number of alliances this early in the Games: five so far, with three still standing. Let's go check on our friends from Districts 4 and 12, shall we?"

The camera picks up on the quartet hacking through the jungle. My son is in the lead, hacking with his machete, Finnick is in the middle still carrying Annie, who clutches one of his tridents in her fists, with Katniss and her arrows bringing up the rear. She is scanning the jungle for any potential attackers, and her eyes only focus in on Peeta ahead of her just as it's too late.

"Peeta, NO!"

CRACKLE! There is a sizzling and Peeta's body is being launched back, crashing right into Finnick and Annie and sending them sprawling. Katniss is thrown to the ground too, and she crawls over to Peeta's smoking and all too still form. "Peeta? Peeta!" My goddaughter begins to panic, slapping his face and crying. "He's not breathing! Peeta!"

Finnick firmly pushes Katniss out of the way, opens Peeta's windpipe and blows against his mouth. Next moment, he is pumping his chest. An arrow halfway out of her sheath, Katniss freezes, softening and crawling forward again as she realizes that Finnick seems to be trying to save Peeta, not finish him off.

"Come on…. Come on…. Come on, Peeta!" Finnick growls.

Katniss is weeping. "Please wake up…. Please, Peeta…. Peeta…."

Just when I think the cannon is about to sound for my youngest son's death…. he stirs.

Katniss bends over, whispering his name like a prayer and caressing his face, and to her, it seems like my boy is the only person in the world.

"Oh my God!"

"Careful, there's a forcefield up ahead," Peeta cracks weakly.

Katniss laughs through her tears and presses her lips to his. "You were dead! You were dead! Your heart stopped!"

"It's working now…" Peeta is still joking and I don't know whether I want to wring his neck or hug him.

"Do…. do you want to stand up?" Katniss whimpers.

"Yeah." She helps him to his feet and they cling to each other. Unnoticed by either of them, Annie is beaming knowingly, while Finnick is glancing between the two of them confusedly, trying to figure something out. If he ever thought for a moment their love wasn't real, then I don't know what he was watching last year (when my kids literally had steamy sex in a cave!) but if it takes this for the playboy to clue in… well, better late than never.

Halibut Shore points to the beads of sweat sticking to our tributes' faces. "We need to get them something cool to drink, fast! Before they all drop from dehydration."

I wheel through the sponsor supply category labeled WATER but find nothing. Anything remotely to do with liquid is out of our price range. In the stratosphere. Even a bottle of water is grayed out; I can't click on it.

I try to keep my breathing even and calm. "What do you suggest?"

In answer, Halibut spins his screen out to show me. A thin, cylindrical tool is spinning on his datapad. Then Halibut points to the trees on the coverage. "They can tap water from the bark using this. It costs a pretty sesterce, but it's still in our price range, so…."

I breathe through my nose. "Do it."

He nods and sets to work.

About five minutes later, the tinkling of chimes can be heard and a parachute lands right at the foursome's feet. Finnick lets Peeta claim it, and my boy passes the tool from hand to hand, before dealing it out to the others. At their quizzical expressions, I curse myself for not thinking to include a message explaining to them what the heck it is; I should have asked Halibut to wait a minute.

Luckily, Katniss figures it out. "It's a spile!" she hollers, and turning for the trees, she marches up to one. Selecting a rock from the jungle floor, she uses it to bury the spile into the trunk.

After a suspenseful moment, water begins to trickle out.

Finnick restrains himself just enough from lunging for the steady stream gushing out to stand aside gentlemanly. "Ladies first."

Annie smiles weakly, pecking him on the cheek and heads over to the tree. Katniss considerately lets Annie drink before her, then follows once the stunning redhead has her fill. I notice Finnick nod his head to her in thanks. Then the men slurp and guzzle. Thirst quenched, they sit down and begin to make camp.

"At least we have water. But we still need to find food. Is there anything in these woods we can hunt?" Peeta wipes at his brow.

"Only one way to find out," Finnick rests his trident over his shoulder. "Peeta, why don't we let our womenfolk get better acquainted, while you and me try and rustle something up?"

"How very misogynistic of you," Katniss glowers at him. Peeta is eyeing Finnick warily, causing the playboy to laugh.

"Peeta, if I wanted you dead, I would have just sat back and twiddled my thumbs while you expired from walking into an invisible wall. Come on, I won't hurt you."

Peeta nods. "I believe you," he allows, glancing to Katniss. Nodding once, she turns to Annie.

"You really have the most beautiful hair."

Annie blushes, touching the long, auburn strands shyly. "You think so?"

"Absolutely. But it would be better if you had it up, out of your face. Have you ever tried braiding it?" Circling Annie, Katniss begins to lovingly braid Annie's hair, prattling as she goes. "I do this for my sister all the time…"

Finnick smiles at the sight gratefully, probably realizing that what I told him was true: Katniss really does have a soft spot once you get to know her. He and Peeta step away into the trees, going hunting, while the girls continue to braid each other's hair and chatter. Katniss has never exactly been a girly-girl, but she listens as Annie chitters on.

Their men come back empty-handed, and Finnick decides they should set up camp. A still exhausted Peeta is allowed to sleep, while Finnick and Katniss take first watch. Comfortable with Peeta by her side, Annie settles down to sleep too.

I'm feeling a little drowsy myself.

"Go ahead and nod off, Maysie. Mags and I will cover you," Halibut says.

He utters something else, but I don't catch it, as I drift off.