Chapter 15
Allies
It's clear she's in pain, because she moves slowly, cautious of each joint and movement. She looks upon her new weapons with elation. She takes a few moments to practice her shooting, aiming at a tree.
She has a full quiver of twelve arrows, when she adds the one she pulled from her tree. After only two shots she has a feel for the weapons, she picks out key facts from both of her missed bull's eyes.
She aims for a knot in the tree bark, and I quickly see how excellent of a shot she is. The first arrow drags a bit to the left, and it pulls to the bottom. The next arrow lodges itself to the upper right corner. The third arrow is a direct hit.
The fourth arrow is a direct hit. The fifth arrow is a direct hit. The sixth arrow is a direct hit. She doesn't shoot further, but if I had to guess Katniss Everdeen just became the most lethal tribute in the arena.
Not only can she kill with uncanny accuracy, she can do so at a distance. By placing herself in a tree she could easily pick off any tribute that comes her way, even Cato.
At this point being able to use a weapon accurately is vital to survival. Not only is Katniss now able to kill tributes, she's also able to hunt. She has a reusable food source that works quicker than her snares; she sees she shoots.
There really is nothing else that could guarantee Katniss a victory this late in the games; her bow and arrows are crucial to her becoming the victor. She is very skinny, and it's clear she needs food. She's also dehydrated, and she is certainly covered in wounds.
She applies more burn medication to her calf and hands and on the stings, though it has no effect on them. She takes off in the opposite direction she came in, knowing her path by the destruction she left behind.
She works up the energy to hunt along the way and after a few moments she has a rabbit. I can tell by the way she examines the carcass, and her arrow's penetration point that it wasn't the shot she was expecting. To anyone other then her, however, a nice headshot is just as impressive as whatever shot she meant to execute.
An hour later she finds a shallow stream. She washes up in the water and allows the water to purify beside the stream. She polishes her weapons and she munches on some crackers and strips of beef.
She treats her burns again, because the stream water has washed off the ointment, and she begins trekking upstream, and consequently uphill. A little ways up she comes across a bird that looks familiar. When she shoots the bird, and approaches it I can see that it's groosling. Groosling!
Mmmm… Back at home we have them occasionally, when they wander into our fields we get to eat heartily for a day. It's a rare occurrence, but the meat is delicious and Prine especially loves the taste.
When Katniss stops to build a fire and cook the meat as the sun goes down I retreat to the ground to collect some food for my supper. As Katniss collects twigs and branches for her fire I collect roots and leaves.
I find some more plantain leaves, which I store for later. I also gather some more of their roots to cook over Katniss's fire later-hopfully. I move around silently-until Katniss puts the first bits of groosling over the fire.
The scent brings me back in time, and I remember the first time Prine ever tasted groosling.
She was seven at the time, and she had just begun working in the orchards with the rest of the family. She was a bit younger than all the other workers, but she could reach the highest branches, so her work was never finished, and neither was mine.
She had worked for six hours half of our twelve-hour harvest schedule, when the flock of groosling wandered in. The Peacekeepers had taken them out, and had them roasting for a few minutes before they called us workers in for lunch.
Prine hopped over a few trees and joined me in collecting oranges. She whistled to the mockingjays for a few moments when she smelled the groosling's delicious aroma.
"Rue," She said, inhaling deeply. "What is that smell?"
I turned to her with a smile and said, "That, is our lunch."
Her face lit up and when they called us for lunch she bolted from the tree. While we waited in line with our bowls she couldn't stop smiling.
The lunch workers put a few pieces of groosling in both our bowls, and we moved down the line where the other workers added a broth to the meat. I remember Prine's thank-you. She's never been so sincere.
Meat is hard to come by in 11 and when we have it only workers get to eat it. Prine hadn't been working until she turned seven, so her, and all the other seven year olds were having groosling for the first time.
When she tried her first bite I've never seen her happier. I remember slipping her the last few pieces of meat from my bowl, and her protesting.
"No, Rue, that's yours."
"I know, and I want you to have it."
"Why?"
"Because you like it more than I do." I told her. It was a lie, but only a small one. I did like groosling, but I liked seeing her smile more, so sacrificing my meal was totally worth it. She never smiled enough.
Snap! I'm jerked from my memory when I hear the twig snap under my weight. I curse myself silently, because I know Katniss will not have missed the noise. I flinch, anticipating her investigation, and knowing that there is nothing I can do to hide.
In one quick motion she has her eyes on me, and though I'm behind a tree I can feel her eyes on me. I freeze because I know she sees me.
I'm about to come out of my hiding place, hands raised when she speaks.
"You know, they're not the only ones allowed to form alliances," My mouth drops open, is she insinuating at an alliance between us?
I peek out from behind my tree in disbelief, "You want me for an ally?" I can't believe that.
"Why not? You saved me with those tracker jackers. You're smart enough to still be alive. And I can't seem to shake you anyway." I'm shocked into silence, so I stand there blinking like an idiot. She seems to take my stoic silence as indecision and decides to say, "You hungry?"
I swallow, trying not to think of what I'll be turning down if I say no to this alliance, to absolve Katniss of guilt. My eyes-of their own accord-flick to the roasting meat, and she smiles. As she turns to wave me forward I catch a gold glint from something attached to her jacket. I look at it closely. It's a mockingjay. As if I needed another reason to trust Katniss. At this point I take it as a signal that teaming up with her now is the right decision.
"Come on then, I've had two kills today." I think for a moment, weighing the good I can do for Katniss, over the effect it could have on her if I die. I don't think she'll give up if I die-of course not she has to be there for her sister-so I decide to accept this alliance, for as long as she thinks it's needed.
"I can fix your stings." I say repaying her for her offer.
"Can you? How?" I dig into my food store and pull out a handful of plantain leaves.
"Where'd you find those?" She asks in wonder, it's almost as if she's seen these leaves before. Perhaps she has, but she couldn't find them or remember them.
"Just around," I say lightly, telling her the truth-they're everywhere in this arena to counteract the nests I assume. "We all carry them when we work in the orchards. They left a lot of nests there. There are a lot here, too." I say by way of warning.
"That's right. You're district 11. Agriculture," I smile, because she knows my district, which must mean she's noticed me. "Orchards, huh?" That must be how you can fly around the trees like you've got wings." My smile grows: she has noticed me. "Well, come on, then. Fix me up."
She settles down by the fire and rolls up her pants to show me the sting on her knee, assuming I don't already know about her wounds. I decide to play along with her, allowing her to not know about my careful aid over the past few days in the arena.
I sit beside her and begin chewing up the leaves. I worry she might protest, but if she recognized the leaves she must be close to someone who knew how to use them. Perhaps a doctor, or a healer in her district had shown her their use long before her games.
I press the gross mass of chewed leaves to her knee and wait for her conscious reaction. "Ohhhh." I know the feeling, it's as if all the venom is being pulled from the sting itself. Even after three days of being treated it still feels nice.
I giggle a little. I can only imagine her reaction to this process had I not treated them before. Then again, if I hadn't she'd probably still be out cold.
"Do my neck! Do my cheek!" She says excitedly, as if I were going to run off with my magic sting leaves.
I chew some more leaves and apply them, though I remind myself to collect more leaves later. I press some chewed leaves to her neck, and her cheek, and her reaction is just the same. She begins to laugh, and the sound is so musical that the mockingjays actually pick up her song. I smile with her.
"I've got something for that." She says, putting her bow and arrows to the side, and pulling out her burn ointment. She rubs some on, and I can't help but sigh.
"You have good sponsors." I say, wishing I had something more to give her, because this burn medicine-which has immediately stopped my burn from throbbing as it has been for days while I cared for her-is precious. She shouldn't be using it on me.
"Have you gotten anything yet?" I almost laugh at her question. What sane Capitol citizen would sponsor a tiny twelve-year-old like myself? I shake my head. "You will, though." She says, in a tone that suggests she wishes she could believe it. "Watch. The closer we get to the end, the more people will realize how clever you are." She leans forward to turn over the meat, which smells intensely appetizing.
Her use of the word 'we' isn't lost on me. "You weren't joking, about wanting me for an ally?" I ask, still in disbelief.
"No, I meant it." She says with a smile.
"Ok," I hold out my right hand, and she takes it. We shake, "It's a deal."
I smile at her easily, though I can read the reluctance in her eyes, she knows that this is a temporary alliance I'm sure, and I doubt she thinks I will kill her, so her weariness must be because she fears me being killed either during or after the alliance.
That's the problem with allies. You have to spend time with them. Unfortunately getting to know them makes them more human, and, consequently, harder to kill.
Hey! Oh my gosh, you guys! I cannot believe the response I've had to this story. I'm sad to see it coming to a close so soon, but I'm proud to say it's been viewed just under two hundred times just this month! I hope you like it, please please please review. It means the world to me.
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