Author's Note: Oh, dear god. I'm sorry for not updating Artemisia in a while, but I update when I feel like it. If I don't feel like it, then it turns out forced and crappy. So, here it is: Chapter Three of Artemisia.
She lay on her scratchy bed sheets, eyes closed, voice silent. But her mind was up and running.
The claw-scratch of a moon was high above their heads. The fight between her and the man, now lying in chains on the floor, seemed to take days. But it was less than an hour. Katniss opened her grey eyes. The beaming moonlight bounced off of her skin, giving her face an eerie glow.
"Don't even pretend that you aren't awake," Cato murmured, his voice husky.
Katniss was hushed by his words. When he wasn't criticizing her, his voice was quite-
No! she internally screeched at herself. Don't think like that. Think stuff like…. He wants you to die…. Yeah...
When she was silent for several awkward moments, he spoke again. "You there?"
The young woman's blinked as she was drawn away from her train of thought. "Oh-erm. Yeah, just thinking."
Her right arm stretched up towards the ceiling, her index finger tracing the swirled markings in the wood from afar. Katniss soon began to hum a tune she would have normally assumed to be lost in her memories. Eventually her lips began to move, and she whispered the song lyrics.
"Mother of darkness, daughter of light. Earth beneath us, soul in flight…."
She was silent for a few moments, then continued.
"Songs of love and love of life. Guide us to our hearts…"
Katniss continued her song until the end. By the time she was done, her words were slurred. The young woman's eyes closed as her mind drifted into a state of dreamy, ignorant bliss.
Cato's Point of View~
His harsh thoughts about her were washed away into oblivion when he heard her sing. Katniss was so quiet; he could barely hear it. Just the innocence of her voice tugged at his heart, making him want to forgive her for everything she's done.
But the thought made him tremble with fear. What if she wasn't actually doing anything evil?
No. Just turning away from the face of God is the worst thing you can do, he thought. But wait… If it was so terrible, why did he insert the word 'just' in his thought train? Cato shook the thought away. It terrified him to think that all his life, everything his closest family and friends ever told him, everything that guided him through his childhood and still-blooming adulthood, is it all wrong?
Author's Note: Please forgive me. This one's a shorty. X3
THANK, THANK, THANK YOU to my reviewers! Not only do I love hearing compliments (wink), but it's heart-warming for you guys to be keeping an open mind regarding the plot. You are all awesome-sauce. 3