Eliza lost track of time. Despite her best judgment, she spent a long time stroking Gale's hair, noticing him falling asleep, and the lines of his face finally relaxing.
When looking down continuously became too uncomfortable, she stared at the lake. Seeing the ocean was one of the things she dreamt about since she was a child. That was not exactly the same, but she was not complaining.
"Gale! Hey, Gale!" Someone screamed with all their might.
Gale opened his eyes immediately at the sound of his brother's voice, and got up a second later. Eliza followed him, slightly less swiftly even though she was not the one that had been asleep.
"Oh, there you are," Vick said, appearing from behind the rock a moment later. "Come Posy, down there."
In a second, the two children were by their side.
"You scared me," Gale complained in a harsh tone, looking at Vick, "I thought something was wrong."
He sat on the sand again, not as close to Eliza this time, and waved a hand on his face, likely trying to steer the drowsiness away.
"Gale, we din' know where you were." Posy complained, swinging her arms around his neck when she got to him.
"I told you I was going to take a walk and rest for a bit." He answered grumpily, but returned his sister's embrace.
Eliza enjoyed the fact that she could move again, and stretched her legs by walking to the edge of the lake and damping her hands in the cold water.
"What were you two doing here alone?" Vick asked. There was no other meaning implied in his question, but Eliza was glad to be looking the opposite direction, otherwise they would have seen her blush like a tomato.
"I told you, I just wanted to rest in a quiet place for a bit, and Eliza probably felt the same."
"Lisa, I want to wash my hands." Posy said. Eliza barely had time to pull the girl's sleeves back, before she started to splash water on everything.
"Hey, hey, watch out or you'll get everything wet" She said, pulling her back a few steps.
"But I want to play!"
"I know sweetie, but it's getting chilly. If you don't dry it out in the sun then it will stay wet and make you cold."
Posy looked her way with a sad face, but didn't protest anymore. Eliza proposed, once noticing the markings of dirt and smoke on her little face, "Come here, let's clean your face instead, okay?"
She didn't look very excited, but seeing Eliza touch the water again was enough to cheer her up.
"C'mon, try doing it like this. Your hands are a cup, joined together." She cupped her own hands, showing her. "Then, looking at the ground, you bring water to your face, like this." The cold water sent a huge shiver down her spine, and took all her might not to curse out loud.
Posy tried her best, but kept dropping out most of the water just before reaching her face. Eliza swallowed a laugh, and when exchanging a glance with Gale, noticed he did too.
"Wait, let me do it, maybe it is easier." Eliza took small bits of water and managed to erase the spots in her face. Then she retrieved her handkerchief back from her pocket and wiped the excess with a cleaner end of it. It was far from ideal, but still better than nothing.
Once they were finished, Eliza overheard Vick saying to his brother, "Gale, Eliza is my new older sister now. She is much nicer than you."
"Oh really? How long did that take you to decide? Two hours, and you've already replaced me?"
"Yeah, and you wanna know why?"
His brother raised his eyebrows in question.
"She doesn't boss me around, ordering me to do things. She asks nicely."
Gale laughed, despite himself.
"Really? What if I ask you nicely to shut the hell up?"
Vick got up and threw himself at his brother, giving Eliza a minor heart attack, until she realized it was all part of the joke. In no time, Gale had him stuck under one arm and tickled him, making him laugh out loud while trying to escape.
"Me too, me too! I wanna play too!" Posy exclaimed, jumping on to Gale's lap and trying to tickle him with her little skinny fingers.
"Oh no, Posy, you're killing me!" He complained, freeing Vick altogether. He laid back on the ground while his younger siblings kept on torturing him.
The scene warmed Eliza from inside, but just as she was about to have a trip down memory lane, something caught everyone's attention.
A strange noise became more audible by the second. Everyone looked around, trying to make sense of it.
First it seemed to come from behind them, but after a few more seconds, Gale exclaimed:
"There is something up there."
Eliza looked in the direction he was pointing, and saw it as well. Some kind of aircraft she had never seen before was approaching, closer to the ground every second that passed.
"Who could that be? Why would the capitol come so near us? If they had found us, wouldn't they be bombing us again?"
"I don't get it either," Gale said, "but we should get near the others. C'mon, let's go."
It was like they could not get there fast enough. No one seemed sure of what to do. Some people instantly ran to hide in the forest, while others waited expectantly, hoping for a saving party. Eliza felt stuck in between the options, either one of them making little sense.
When the craft finally landed, a man with the look of an experienced military officer got out.
"People of District 12, we are not here to harm you."
"Why did you set us on fire then?" A man that helped on the hunt screamed for everyone to hear.
"We weren't the ones who bombed you, and we didn't come from the Capitol. We're from District 13. And we are here to take you there."