A/N: In this chapter, Prim helps Gale, and Gale gets a little nervous ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.

Chapter four: Sae~

Gale walked along the brick pathway leading up to the shelter, the cardboard box in his hands. He really had no idea what he was doing or where he was going; Katniss had been extremely vague about the mysterious luggage she had dumped on him. Go find Sae, she'd said. Yeah. Too bad he had no idea who that was.

Gale stopped to peer inside the box he was holding. It held...yarn? Knitting needles? Paint by Numbers? ...Doylies? What the hell was this?! Who in their right mind brings this stuff to a family reunion? Just then, Prim trotted up beside him.

"Hey, Gale. What'cha doin'?" She asked, pigtails swaying as she stopped next to him, hands behind her back.

Gale turned to look at her. "Uh, nothin', it's just...do you know what all this stuff is?"

He tilted the box down to her, and Prim stood on her tippy toes to look inside.

"Mm...looks like stuff for the raffle." She said.

"Raffle?" Gale echoed. "What raffle?"

"We have a raffle every year to raise money so we can afford booking a spot here next year." She explained.

"Oh..." Was all he said.

Prim began to walk away, and Gale ran to catch up to her.

"Uh, hey, do you know where to put this stuff? Katniss said I should bring it to Sae, but...I have no idea who that is," he admitted, scratching the back of his head.

Prim's eyes brightened at the mention of Sae's name, and he couldn't help but feel that he shouldn't have asked.

"Come on," she said, grabbing hold of his hand. "I'll show you."

Prim led him up the walkway, past the foliage and fold-out chairs, past a group of older people sitting and talking and grilling burgers, through a back door, and into the shelter. It was very dark compared to outside, and Gale had to trust Prim's better judgement as she led him by the hand like a blind man while he attempted to readjust his vision.

"Here we are," said Prim, letting go of his hand.

"Uh...thanks," Gale said, standing there quite stupidly.

He still couldn't see anything, but he knew that he must have been rather close to this 'Sae' person because Prim shrieked,

"Grandma Sae!"

"Grandma?" He said to himself. Sae was a woman?

"Oh, I'm happy to see you, too!" The woman in question replied.

The gap of silence told him that she was probably busy hugging Prim, but he couldn't be sure.

"And who is this?" The woman asked, clearly interested.

Gale blinked, clearing his vision. "Uh...Gale," he greeted, holding out a hand to the dark figure in front of him.

"Oh, now that's no way to greet family!"

Gale felt an arm wrap around his neck, and once his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness he could see that she was hugging him, Prim smiling brightly at him from behind her grandmother. The woman pulled away smiling, eyes crinkling. She was an older woman, but not the frail, brittle kind. Gale could clearly tell that she had a spunk, a sort of flare all her own; he also knew that - for him - that probably wasn't a good thing.

"Hello, Gale. Are you a friend of Prim's?" She asked.

"Uh...no. I mean yes! But...I came here with Katniss," he fumbled over himself.

"Oh, I see..." she smirked, looking at him weirdly.

"Oh, Katniss and I are just friends," Gale clarified.

Her smirk only grew wider. "Mm-hmmm..."

Feeling an awkward silence coming on, Gale cleared his throat. "Uh, so you're Sae, right?"

"The one and only," she said proudly, jutting out her chin and placing her hands on her hips. "But it's Grandma Sae, dear. Prim told me you needed help with something?"

"Uh..." Gale looked behind the old woman, but Prim was nowhere to be seen. "Yeah...do you know where I should put this stuff?" He asked, holding the box out to her.

Sae peered inside. "Oh, that's raffle stuff. Just put it over there by the tables."

She pointed to the far end of the shelter, towards a stone fireplace, where two fold-out tables sat apart from the rest of the generic wooden picnic tables. They were both covered by tablecloths, and one was already full with various knick knacks and toys and other prizes for the raffle.

"And then you and I can have a little talk," Said Sae wryly.

"Haha...thaaanks..." Gale laughed nervously.

Sae turned around to greet another newly arrived family member, and Gale immediately slipped away, moving quickly toward the other side of the shelter.

"I'll pass..." He whispered to himself, eyes wide.

A/N: Yep. Grandma Sae's looking a little devious, ain't she? XD Or should I say ornery, because she's old? Eh, never mind.

I really think that shorter chapters (like, less than 1,000 words excluding the Author's Notes) are working out great for me. There's still plenty going on in each chapter, you're not overwhelmed with all these thousands of words, and I don't have so much to proofread ^^

Anyway, in the next chapter we'll start to see the beginning hints of Galeniss. Just saying ;)

'Til next time.