"Do you guys know how to cook this?" Eliza asked, turning to Vick and Rory. The former had fallen asleep, with his head on top of Eliza's bag, while Rory had kept himself busy by building an improvised structure over the fire.
"I know," he answered, "but Gale usually is watching."
"We'll have to manage until he's back. Is there something we can use to hold some water in? Just in case we need to put it out."
He shook his head.
"Then…maybe we could use this," she said, handing him the old bedsheet. "Can you get it damp in the lake and bring it back here?"
He disappeared with the white fabric in the next second.
Eliza, in her turn, focused on finishing what was left of the last rabbit. As strange as it could be, she was thankful to have a task to focus her attention on. Most likely she was not doing a good job, but at least it kept her mind away from thinking about how tired and swore she felt.
Once Rory got back, he helped her put the two rabbits in place to cook.
"How did you learn to do this?" she asked.
"Gale and Katniss taught me. Sometimes I do it while they're out selling the meat, and mom is working."
She nodded, impressed at the swiftness of his movements.
Once it was done, Rory and Vick (that had woken up at the smell of cooked meat), hurried back near Mrs. Hawthorne and Mrs. Everdeen with some of it for them and the injured to eat, while Eliza stayed back, separating it into portions.
As Gale had predicted, a few people had started to gather around them, once it was clear they had food. Eliza just wanted Gale to be back at once, because she had no idea what to tell them. She waited for a few minutes, and that was how much it took her to yield and start dividing the meat with the knife, giving it out in small pieces.
"Please form a line, otherwise there is no way we can divide it equally." She tried to sound firm, but could hear the crack in her voice when trying to make herself audible over the dozens of people that had gathered around.
In a few minutes they were down to the last rabbit, and no clue what to do once it was done.
"Hey boy, we have been waiting for ages! When can we have some?!" A man said rudely to Rory, once he took a little bit of meat and ate it himself.
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait." Eliza said, stepping in. "We're almost out and there are children who haven't eaten anything either."
She gave a bigger piece to a little girl as if to prove her point.
"That is not fair, her portion was too big! You have to be careful about that!"
Eliza felt her breath falter and the sudden rush in her heart. It was difficult enough already, without people screaming at her. She decided it was easier to just ignore him, and tried to focus on her breathing exercises while seeing to the people next in line.
However, a few minutes later, she saw him move in the corner of her eye, getting closer to Rory and giving him a shove while uttering, "C'mon, just hurry up with that."
"Leave him alone!" Eliza asserted, this time not worrying about being nice, "You can always go into the woods for yourself, if you don't want to wait!"
She didn't know where the bravery to utter it out like that came from, but at least it seemed to snap the man back to reality, because he dared not say anything else.
A few moments later they were out of food, and she had to tell the crowd exactly that, wincing once some others started to protest.
"Maybe I should go look for Gale," she told Rory. "He looked tired, he could need help."
Rory laughed without humor, "My brother never needs help."
Turns out he was absolutely right, because only a few moments later, Gale was back on the edge of the forest where he had disappeared from, this time carrying a whole lot of game meat.
Eliza hurried to meet him, helping with some of the weight. He was visibly tired, but in a better mood, nonetheless.
"You already finished with the other ones?" He asked when seeing the traces of the skinned rabbits, "that was much faster than I expected you to, Burrich."
"Don't be impressed. I took my time. We just ate it really quickly. Also, I'm sorry, but I gave most of it away...I saved some for you though."
"That's okay. At least tonight we won't have a problem."
They carried the dead animals back to Rory's bonfire, and this time, once they saw that Gale was "in charge", a few people offered to help skin and prepare it as well, probably recognizing him from the Hob.
"Here, have this." Eliza shoved the piece she had kept wrapped in Gale's hands the first second she caught them free. "You have to at least eat something, if you're not planning on resting."
He exhaled, but accepted the food, "Thank you, mother. Anything else?"
Eliza blushed at the comment, and turned away to cooking again, wondering if she had overstepped.
At least for the next few hours she was busy enough to not have time to think about it.
