Thane and Tessa were huddled up together in a cave. When the gong had sounded at the beginning of the Games, the two began to sprint north. Tessa had snagged up a pack on her way, as she had been on the wrong side of the cornucopia. She narrowly escaped getting impaled on a sword. Thane had slowed down to wait for her, which made her sprint faster. When she reached him he took her hand and they ran off together, through the trees that bordered the meadow and towards the mountains that loomed over the northern lake.

The pack had contained starter wood, a book of matches, two pairs of gloves, two winter hats, a small steel pot, and a bag of dried fruits. They had resolved to stay by the water in order to have a source of hydration. Thane had picked up a spear on the fringe of the supplies, and they figured they could use it to attempt to catch fish in the lake or the river. In addition, they had collected a rather large pile of firewood on the first afternoon, before the snow had started. They figured it'd be useful no matter what, and since the weather and turned cold they had been using it as sparingly as possible.

Their cave was hidden behind a waterfall. A river with a source in the mountains spilled over the side of the cliffs and formed a small pool before continuing on to feed the lake. The waterfall provided a screen of protection that they had tested, and even a fire couldn't be seen through it.

When the snow began to fall, they had each put on a pair of gloves and one of the hats, as well as drawing up the hoods of their vests. They rationed the dried fruits, which had run out earlier that day.

"I guess I have to give hunting a go now," Thane said with a laugh as his stomach grumbled. Tessa smiled at him and pulled away from his slight body heat.

"I'll come, too," she said, "you know, for moral support."

Thane laughed again, getting to his feet. They had been holed up at the back of the shallow cave, in the right corner. Their meager pile of supplies occupied the other corner, a couple meters away. Thane picked up his spear and sighed. "Okay. Hunting."

"It'll be fine," Tessa giggled. "How hard can it be?"

"Let's find out," Thane said in a horrifying impression of a Capitol accent. Tessa grinned at him, laughing, and began to walk towards the entrance of the cave. Thane jogged ahead of her, spear at the ready. He peeked out of the cave and, after determining they were still alone, waited for Tessa before continuing out.

The cave was a couple of meters above the surface of the water. A thin ledge jutted out from the entrance and trailed down a gentle slope to the ground. The waterfall was so close that Thane could reach out and let the water run over his hands if he wanted, which he didn't. He and Tessa descended slowly. The fall wasn't far at all, but any injury was an injury they wanted to avoid, not even to mention the very prominent possibility of hypothermia.

Once on the ground, the two walked through the snow along the pool until they were near where it transformed back into a river. "So, uh, I guess we wait?" Thane asked.

Tessa shrugged. "All I know if you're supposed to keep your shadow off the water, but it's too dark for that to matter."

"Do fish even swim this late?"

"It's not that late."

With a shrug, Thane faced the water. He searched for a shadow of a fish, squinting in the dying light. He would see flashes of silver fairly often, but they were always gone before he could get a better look at them. He sighed, becoming frustrated. He'd have to at least try catching something instead of standing there, poised to catch something as though for a photograph. With the next flash of silver, he thrust his spear forward, but came up with only water. Tessa chuckled a little behind him.

He turned and she clapped a hand over her mouth, but her eyes were smiling. He stuck his tongue out at her and then turned back to the water. He stabbed at every fish he saw, but failed consistently. Finally, just when he was ready to give up because his hands were growing numb and his patience had run dry, he managed to snag the tail of a sizeable fish. Quickly, as adrenaline filled him, he tossed the fish onto the land and stabbed at its writhing body. It flopped around for a few more minutes before lying still.

Silence.

"I, uh, did it," Thane said, uncomfortable with what he had just done. He wasn't a killer. The sheer energy that had filled him, the thrill of the kill, it scared him. Tessa slowly walked over. She looked at the fish for a while, a gaping hole through its neck.

"You did."

Silence.

"We should head back," Thane said awkwardly. "We can cook it."

But Tessa wasn't listening anymore. She was staring out across the surface of the pool, watching the snow fall. "This doesn't add up," she said finally. Thane cocked his head to the side, confused. "It's been below freezing for nearly three days. The lake should be iced over. The snow shouldn't just be melting into it."

Cautiously, Tessa took a step so that she stood right on the shore of the pond. She squatted down and slowly pulled off one of her gloves. As though in slow motion, she reached her hand down and test it with her finger. After a moment she dunked her whole hand in.

"God, that's good," she sighed.

"What?" Thane inquired worriedly.

"It's warm!" Tessa proclaimed happily.

Thane held back, his mind racing. "What if it's poisonous?" he said nervously.

"Nonsense," Tessa replied. "If it were poisonous, it would have killed us already. We've been drinking from the waterfall for days. I can't believe we never noticed it was warm! We always boiled it so we never knew!"

Still uneasy, Thane refused to put his hand in the water. "Tessa, we need to go back."

"Why? I just want to strip down and jump in!" she shrieked with delight.

Thane grabbed her other hand. "Tessa, no. It's a trap. They want you to jump in because when you come out you'll be twice as cold. Or, alternatively, maybe they'll suddenly make the water frigid so your muscles will freeze up or something and you'll drown."

Tessa pulled her hand slowly out of the water. She gasped as the freezing air met her skin. She quickly shook off the excess water and wiped her hand on her boots before sticking her glove back on. "That was. That was good thinking. Thank you," she said quietly, embarrassed.

He smiled in relief. "My pleasure," he responded. She leaned into him and he put his hands on her waist, but before they could kiss, the Capitol anthem began to blare. They pulled apart, both mildly annoyed, but curious enough about the tributes that had died that day.

"The snow stopped," Thane observed.

"Probably so we can see the projection of the dead," Tessa pointed out. Thane nodded.

The anthem finished. The two stood side by side, faces tilted up to watch the inky blue sky, now flecked with the light of the stars rather than the snowflakes that had been falling perpetually all day. First to light up the sky was Yuki. "But she's a career," Tessa breathed. Thane shrugged, equally confused. The District 3 tribute faded from the sky and was replaced by Apollo. "Poor kid," Tessa continued. "He was one of the youngest. Oh god this whole thing is terrible. I need to sit down."

She turned and began to run to the cave. She jogged up the slope and disappeared behind the waterfall. Thane thought he heard a sob, but he couldn't hear well over the roar of the water. It wasn't that he wasn't upset. It was that he didn't want to show it. He didn't want to appear weak. He didn't think he had much of a chance of winning these Games, but he knew he'd have to be able to stomach death if he was going to make it out alive.

Disgusted with himself, he picked up his spear and the fish he had caught. He walked slowly back to the cave, worried about Tessa. Worried about both of them.

Would it be possible for them to win?

He shook his head and shivered, not wanting to think about it. He entered the cave to see that Tessa had started a fire. He welcomed the warmth, realizing his extremities were numb with cold. He set the fish and the spear down before sitting next to Tessa and wrapping his arms tightly around her.

"You okay?" he asked softly.

He felt her nod.

They stayed like that for a moment before Thane gently released her and stood back up. He felt like a bit of an ass for ruining the moment with something so trivial, but, "Do you know how to cook this thing?"

Tessa uncurled herself from her ball position and nodded slowly. "My mum loved fish. She would buy it whenever it was available and we had the money. I'll do it."

"Can I help?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. I guess not really." Thane nodded and sat across from her, passing her the fish. He watched as she maneuvered the head of the spear with a degree of difficulty as she went about preparing the fish. First she sliced off the head and set it aside. Then she did the same with the tail. Then, gently, she cut through it horizontally, separating it into two halves. She then cut each half into five pieces, an inch or two in width.

Looking up, she said, "We can make a cooler and freeze the extras so they don't go bad. They probably won't in this temperature, but I don't know with the fire."

"I can make one by the entrance," Thane offered. She nodded in agreement. He got to his feet and went to the entrance, where snow had been collecting on the ledge. From the edge, where their feet had not kicked away the snow, he took a sizable pile and moved it so it was just inside the cave. He made a fist and created a hole in the center of the pile of snow. He then patted out the edges and closed up the top a bit so that his hand could just get in and out.

The smell of cooked salmon began to fill the cave. Wordlessly, Thane picked up the extra fish and dropped it into his snow cooler. He then returned and sat down beside Tessa as she watched the salmon in the steal pot on the hot coals. After a few minutes of silence, Tessa broke it.

"It's going to be a little bland, but it's food."

"It'll be fine," Thane told her. She shrugged.

"Hey," he said quietly. She looked up at him. "Everything will be fine."

She looked away. "But how can you say that?" she asked quietly. "Thane, we're going to die. That's it. Poof. People like us don't make it out of the Arena. We die. The Capitol is amused. That's it."

"Well I don't want to look at it that way," Thane said, equally quiet. "My brother died in these Games. It drove my parents half mad. If I don't get back to them they'll go proper insane. I can't do that to them. I have to hold out hope that I'll get out alive. And you should, too, Tessa because…"

"Because why?"

"Because I really like you, okay? And maybe we can find a way to both make it out of here alive and then we can live together in one of our Districts or the Capitol and we can have a family and see our parents again and try to live a half normal life despite these Games."

Tessa shook her head sadly, tears beginning to spill from the corners of her eyes. "It won't happen like that, Thane. It never happens like that."

In one swift motion he leaned forward and kissed her. She jumped, startled, but she didn't pull away. And they stayed like that, kissing, until they finally broke apart, slightly breathless.

"I love you, Tessa."

"Eat your fish," she responded with a smile.