Hello everyone!

I am apologizing in advance but I have a midterm on Monday, and a huge homework due Friday so, the next update will be at least one week away from today.
This chapter does contain some more HG characters, so pay attention.

That being said, I can promise that Finnick will be in the next update so stay tuned!

Disclaimer: I don't own Hunger Games because if I did, I would own Katniss's interview dress.

Please read and review, inspire me for my rough, stressful week ahead.

When she could no longer see them flying in the sky, she immediately set to work on finishing the first shirt.

Each time she touched the stinging nettles, she was in still in silent agony. The pain never lessened, no matter how long she had been at it. She did have callouses start to develop so it took much longer for her to bleed but they did nothing to shield her from the sting.

Still, Annie persisted through the pain, the bad weather days, and her hunger when she had trouble catching fish or finding roots and berries to eat.

It was a hard year, harder than the first year since she knew she was far from done.

Somedays, to give her feet and hands a rest from the nettles, she composed a few little songs on her recorder.

Sometimes they were happy, like when she thought of the sea or of how she and heard brothers used to play.

Other days they were sad, and expressed her loneliness and despair.

And still other days, the tune was neither sad nor happy but resolved to carry on in hopes of a better day.

Annie was also forced to wander farther now to find more nettles while she waited for the closer patches to grow. She had to go about two days walk from her cave.

One time, she decide she could get the nettle fibers before returning to her cave and that trip was when she saw the sisters.

While she was stomping on the nettles, she heard a young girl's giggles. The sound was so foreign to her now, that she stopped out of curiosity as to what it could be.

Annie crept out from her spot to the edge of the woods and peered out.

She saw two girls playing in the surf. The younger one whose giggles she heard had pale blond hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a pale blue dress just a mite too short and her feet were bare but her smile was bright and her moves were carefree.

She looked a bit like a porcelain doll, Annie though wistfully, fingering her clumsy braid and eyeing the scratches on her forearms and hands.

The second girl was closer to Annie's age, probably younger by a year or so. She had piercing grey eyes and rich brown hair woven into a side braid. She had a bow and quiver on her back. She wore a forrest green dress and brown vest. Her feet were bare as well. Both girls were very thin, not starving but thin.

She didn't look as though she smiled a lot, but Annie saw her face light up at the younger girl's joy and splashing.

Suddenly, Annie just knew that they were sisters and all each other had in the world. Something in the older girl's eyes and how she watched the younger girl told Annie that they had a hard life but the older sister strove to save her baby sister from it all. Annie had seen the same look in her brothers eyes when their mother married Snow.

Annie felt her throat tighten as the two girls whirled around and then collapsed while holding hands. She remembered when she and her brothers used to play together and before she was hidden away, she had friends too.

How she wished she could join them!

But she knew she had to stay with her task, and she couldn't afford delays or even explain to them why she had to stay, without words.

Then, she heard the older girl singing a song about a valley. Her voice was beautiful, so pure and strong.

Annie continued to watch and listen in silent envy until she shifted her legs and a tree branch cracked.

Immediately, the older girl had her bow strung and was looking around.

Annie kept her head down and held her breath.

The younger girl looked worried as well.

Suddenly, a bird flew out of the woods, cawing loudly.

The older girl relaxed her bow, though not her eyes.

"It's alright Prim, I think we're alone."

As the young girl nodded, reassured, the older girl continued. "Still, we'd best keep moving, out of King Snow's kingdom to somewhere safe."

"Yes, Katniss." The young girl said as they headed away from where Annie knew her home to be and off towards one of the boarding kingdoms.

Annie cried herself to sleep that night, in sheer loneliness and longing to be with her brothers. When she did finally fall sleep, the King plagued her dreams with his blood red roses.

The next morning she got up, having hardly slept with red rimmed eyes and shaking hands.
But Annie's heart was strong, she was more determined than ever to save her brothers and pulled and stomped with renewed vigor despite the never ending pain.

One day she and her brothers would be together, just like those sisters. Annie vowed. They would have fun and play in the surf.

She even composed a tune for the sisters, based on the song she heard.

By the time the second year rolled around, she had finished two shirt entirely and had already started making the yarn for a third shirt.

Her brothers came to see her once more and filled her head with tales of their travels to other kingdoms and what they saw and overheard.

They told her of a baker's boy who loved to paint in the woods and who gave them scraps of bread despite his cruel mother beating him.

They observed him until he left to join the Royal Navy, to escape his mother and earn a living for a family someday.

Her brothers then talked of how they tried to see mother but how they couldn't get to close the castle without being shot at, no doubt to the king's influence Gale muttered darkly.

Annie played them a few of her songs and Rory especially loved them.

She tried to tell them about the sisters by miming.

She was able to convey most of the story to them, thanks to Cinna, Beetee and Bogs understanding what she was trying to say.

Gale and Haymitch were hopeless though, it made her smile and giggle on the inside.

Before they all left, Cinna handed her green beaded headband for her hair.

"I saw it fall off a table at a market and thought of you." Cinna said quietly. "I am still betting on you to beat the curse."

Annie kissed his cheek and put it in her hair at once. She stayed to watch her brothers like she always did, sad but full of purpose too, renewing her vow to save them.

Just as a little teaser, Peeta, Katniss and Prim will be back again in the later chapters. Any guesses as to how Annie will meet them?