Thicker Than Water

Day Two and Three: Training

She mindlessly wandered over to where Johanna was throwing her ax into a few pixelated people. She knew she had Johanna in the arena, and she knew Johanna was the last person who would want to kill her and Finnick. She would at least buy them time. Kallan picked up a few throwing knives on her way over, and stood next to Johanna. She started the simulation, watching the holograms run across the boxed in area, and she threw. It was mindless at this point, chucking the knives into the oncoming people. Since picking up the skill in her first Games, she'd used it at home to fish. She'd liked the precision as opposed to a spear, but both would come in handy in the arena.

"Who are you trying to impress?" Johanna asked as she tried to catch her breath. It was unclear how long she'd been doing it.

"Just practicing," Kallan replied, throwing another one, landing a headshot. It was mostly true. She didn't need to impress Gamemakers, she didn't need to impress judges, she didn't need to impress her fellow tributes, not all of them.

"Really? Because it seems like your new friend is captivated by you."

Kallan's next knife missed.

She tried to shake Johanna's words, she tried to shake Peeta's gaze. She hated that it stuck with her. She knew, though she wished she didn't that she at the very least found him attractive. That at the very least, his gaze made her nervous. She hated that it did, but it wouldn't matter. There was no acting on it. They only had 3 more days before they were thrown in to an arena to kill each other. Even if they were allied, at some point that would end. And either one of them could die.

She needed to do something she was good at, something that wasn't putting knives in people's heads. She went over to the makeshift woods, and she gathered a few supplies, then went over to a work bench, and started making a fishhook. She was skilled at that, she knew how to do it like that back of her hand. She weaved a small string from a vine, then sharpened a part of a stick, attaching it all together. Her hands flew across the fishhook, pulling the small rope tight.

"That's beautiful."

Kallan looked over her shoulder, seeing maybe the last person she expected. Katniss Everdeen was standing beside her, looking at her handiwork.

"Uh," Kallan didn't mean to falter. "Thanks."

"You learn that in your district?" Kallan nodded.

"My..." her what, her mom? She didn't have the energy to explain it to Katniss right now. "Mags taught me, when I was like," she shrugged, "eight maybe."

"She's your mom?" Katniss asked, and Kallan kept her eyes on her work.

"Not by blood," Kallan said.

"That why you volunteered?" Katniss asked, and Kallan finally looked up to meet her eyes. She reluctantly nodded. It wasn't just for Annie, it was for Mags, and on top of that, it was for her brother.

"Part of it," Kallan told her.

"It was really brave," Katniss said, and Kallan felt her lips briefly lift into a smile, just at the corner. She looked back down at the fishhook.

"Thanks," Kallan said quietly.

"Can you teach me?" Katniss asked, and Kallan glanced at her again, then back at her hands.

"Sure," Kallan agreed, though thinking that she didn't really need it. She could spear a fish, she could get it with a knife, she could, when she had to, catch it with her bare hands.

"I could teach you to shoot in return," Katniss suggested, and Kallan felt herself laugh a little bit.

"I'll be okay," Kallan told her, and Katniss just nodded.