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THE VALLEY
(Day 1, Evening)
Birds call softly in the trees, as the sun slips down behind the mountain peak. Night comes early here; the high peaks block out the sun as the day winds down, plunging the forested slopes into a long blue twilight before sunset. Rapunzel smiles to herself. She'll have to find a nest of her own, soon. For now, though, she's content to keep walking.
She couldn't ask for a lovelier arena, after all. It's a beautiful place to spend the rest of her life.
There's a little valley uphill from the Cornucopia, and after the first frantic rush to get away from the slaughter, she paused to get her bearings and spotted the flash of sunlight off a cascading silver waterfall. It meanders in a stream down the valley; perhaps the running water carved it from the mountainside in the first place, if this is a repurposed natural landscape and not completely terraformed for the Games. Rapunzel thought of cool water, for drinking and washing up, and turned her steps up the slope.
No parachutes have come yet, and she isn't expecting any. Maia Gothel made her chances of sponsorship perfectly clear when she saw her off this morning. The stream will keep her from dying of thirst, and she managed a quick dash into the chaos at the Cornucopia to snatch up a rucksack. Whatever else she may be, Rapunzel is fast, and well-equipped now to enjoy a few last days in the woods. At least for now, she's free.
At mid-afternoon, she passed a marshy area laced with thorny vines, heavy with hanging clusters of shiny blue-black fruit. Blackberries. She hesitated before picking them, then laughed at herself. There are far worse ways to die in this game. The fruit was sweet and juicy, warmed by the sunshine, and she hasn't felt any ill effects yet. Whatever the Gamemakers have in mind this year, clearly they don't plan to starve the tributes out.
The flanks of the mountain are closing slowly in around her as she climbs steadily upward and onward. Rapunzel feels almost sheltered by the steep sides of the valley, rising high overhead. The forest here is so alive. She stops for a moment, and closes her eyes to listen to the whispering of the pines in the wind. Reaching back, she lifts her heavy braids off her neck and lets the breeze cool her sweaty skin.
She's still listening comfortably to the sounds of the forest when a faraway cry of terror splits the air. It echoes faintly off the tumbled rocks, then fades.
Rapunzel shivers, opens her eyes and keeps climbing.