"You said you took supplies from the career camp; can we see what you've got?" Tom says, liking how much more relaxed and friendly Harry seems now that he knows he's been accepted.

"Oh, not much," Harry says, and starts walking out of the cave, beckoning for them to follow. Once out on the hillside the cave is on, he takes them to a nearby bush, and pulls out a bag made of some kind of thin grey material. Harry opens the drawstring at the top, and pulls out a silver bow with four or five arrows, an axe, and several knives, the smallest one wickedly fine, the largest looking like it could bring down a medium-sized tree if used with enough force. Harry takes the sword out of his belt and lays it next to the other weapons, then goes back to the bag and takes out three water canteens like the one they already have, two woolly-looking black blankets, a roll of bandages and a bag of dried meat.

"That's all I took, but I wanted to be able to carry it all, and one of the others looked like she was about to wake up, so I just took it," Harry says, stepping back and shrugging like he's disappointed with what he got, while Danny grabs the axe with the biggest grin Tom's seen since they got in the arena. Danny turns it over in his hands, and then, with speed Tom would never have expected, whips round and throw the axe, sinking it deep into a tree 50 feet from where they stand

"Whoa," Dougie says, jumping up and hugging a satisfied-looking Danny with one arm whilst jumping up and down. "That was awesome! Where'd you learn to do that?"

"Back home... we use the axes to fell the trees, and I just liked throwing them with the other kids too!"

"You're good, Danny. Really good," Harry says, walking forwards to pull the axe out of the tree, and even with all his muscles, Tom can see that it's difficult. When he gets it out, Harry hands it back to Danny and looks at the others. "So, I'm assuming from that, and his earlier display of fighting prowess that Danny is the brawn of this little outfit..."

"What earlier display?" Tom asks, not able to remember Danny actually doing anything to show his strength while Harry has been with them.

"When I arrived, Dougie was sitting looking out of the cave, so I had to jump on him so he wouldn't yell and wake you up, because I didn't know if you would give me a chance to talk. Unfortunately, he's a wriggler, and we woke up Danny just as I got him to lie still," Harry explains, looking askance at Danny.

"Yeah, they kicked me, so I jumped on him, and he hit me!" Danny grins, pointing to the bruise on his cheek, which had developed into an attractive purple colour.

"It was instinct, but I stopped after that," Harry says quickly. "Sorry, by the way, for that, but you did get me back," he says, pulling up his shirt to show his own marks up one side of his ribs.

"Then he said if we didn't keep quiet he'd kill you before you could get away, so we shut up, and you woke up about a minute after that," Dougie puts in. Tom raises his eyebrows at Harry.

"I wouldn't have actually done it, but I thought they would be more likely to respond to a threat against you rather than themselves, and it worked, to be fair. Sorry for that, too, though, I suppose."

Tom nods to show the apology is accepted, taking a moment to marvel at how Harry knew the others cared more about protecting him than thinking about themselves so quickly, while Danny laughs at the absurdity of the apology.

"So if Danny is muscles, what do you two do in this little group?" Harry says, continuing his earlier question.

"Dougie is brains," Danny says, clapping him on the back as Dougie blushes slightly.

"Not really... I just know how to do stuff..." he mumbles, looking embarrassed but pleased.

"Yeah, and you thought of that thing we were going to do today!" Danny says, enjoying the younger boy's awkwardness.

"Huh?" Harry says, looking confused. "What were you going to – "

"'Scuse us, Harry," Tom says, grabbing the other two and pulling them off out of earshot of Harry.

"Are we still doing that, now that Harry's with us?" Dougie asks, "I mean, we've said he can stay, but should we trust him to do this?"

"I think so, I mean, there aint much time, so we oughta just do it I think," Danny says, keeping his voice down so Harry can't hear.

"Yeah, but we'll want to split up, so that we can get as many as possible," Dougie mutters, a note of urgency in his voice. "I mean, I want to trust him too, but it hasn't even been an hour since he arrived and we want to go out alone with him?"

"I know what you're saying, Dougie," Tom says, feeling a little worried about what he feels they have to do, "but I also agree with Danny that we don't have much time to spare. With Harry gone, the careers might try to go after him, because he's their biggest threat now, so we want to be prepared."

"I'll go with him, and you two can go together, so if he turns nasty I have the best chance of getting away," Danny says, his voice not quite as confident as he's obviously trying to be.

Dougie says "Okay," at the same time as Tom says "No," making the other two look at him with surprise.

"I mean, if someone else attacks us, then we need a good fighter in each group, and Danny and Harry are the best. I think I should go with Harry, and you two go together." Tom sees Danny about to protest and stops him, "Really, this is better. Besides, like Harry said, Dougie's the brains, and Danny's the brawn. I'm just the guy that's with you; I'm more disposable if Harry turns out to be lying."

"Don't be stupid," Danny says, grabbing Tom's shoulder so he has to look him in the eye. "Without you, our whole peace plan would never have started, and you have common sense," Tom snorts, feeling if peace and common sense is the best they can come up with, he definitely needs to be the one risking stuff for the benefit of the group. "Seriously," Danny says, gripping him more tightly, "without you I would've walked straight into Dougie's fish trap thing, and you know where to sleep, and what's important, and who to trust!"

"Like who?" Tom asks, wondering who they've had to decide to trust except Harry, and he's still pretty undecided on that front.

"Dougie, obviously!" Danny says, shocked he has to ask, and if Tom thinks about it, it should have been obvious. Dougie gives a little wave, as if to emphasise his presence. "I was thinking we should watch him for a while at least, and he could've left that trap for people, or he could zap us with his fish cooker thing, but you decided he was good, just like that!" he clicks his fingers.

"Yeah, but that's not really useful for surviving, is it?" Tom says, making a face.

"That's the basic stuff you need before you have anything else, Tom," Dougie says, looking serious. "If you'd acted differently this morning even, then things could have gone much worse, but you were perfect."

"Yeah maybe, but – "

"No, Tom," Dougie interrupts, sounding unusually stern. "You're what keeps us together, like our leader, or team captain or whatever. We need you just as much."

"You're going with Harry," Danny says, finally releasing Tom, and beckoning Harry over, "but not because you're worth less. Because of the needing a fighter on both teams thing you said."

"What was that about?" Harry asks, finally reaching them and looking curiously at them.

"Tom just had a bit of a stress, but it's sorted now, and we have something to tell you," Dougie says seriously.

"Okay, what is it?"

"I can't explain here... come with me to the cave, and Danny and Tom can cover for us," Dougie says, leading the way back with Harry following, looking as confused as the other two probably did when they were told the plan.

"Tom," Danny says, holding him back and letting the others go ahead a bit as he lowers his voice. "Seriously, we do need you, so don't go and get yourself killed."