The parachute's descent is accompanied closely by Rhys, who picks it up as soon as it's in reach.

"What is it?" Coral asks as soon as Rhys takes the spile out of the box.

"Not sure" he answers while examining the piece in his hands.

"Can i see it?" Coral reaches for the spile.

It's now clear to all of us Rhys doesn't know what a spile is. Our hopes lye on Coral but they soon fall short as she also doesn't know the object in her hands.

"Well, that's that" Haymitch stretches himself on his chair. "We knew it was a long shot"

Neither Peeta nor I respond, I still want to believe one of them will figure it out.

We all stand still watching them debate what it might be for.

"Ok, so we know our mentors are working together and my brother and Katniss told me they would only send us things when we couldn't obtain them ourselves" Rhys starts.

"So far, we need food and water, we both have shelter and weapons. So, I think it's safe to say that that thing can get us either food or water" Coral narrows the list of possibilities.

"I don't see how we can catch food with this thing: it's short and doesn't even cut. Also, I don't remember seeing a weapon like this in the training center" Rhys adds.

"Me neither"

"So, this might mean this thing will get us water" Rhys concludes.

Our spirits lift when we hear them correctly reach the propose of the spile.

"But where are we supposed to get it from, and how do we use that thing?" Coral is now looking around trying to find a possible place holding water.

I can tell Rhys is thinking the same as he's so deep into thought he's not listening to Coral.

"I've got an idea" He says lifting himself and running towards the nearest tree.

"He's got it!" Peeta happily chants. I nod and smile in return.

"About time" I choose to ignore Haymitch's comment.

Rhys and Coral spend some time hugging the tree, waiting for the water to come out. The three of us happily watch as the water finally comes out and they're able to drink and wash themselves.

As soon as their content, we watch them return to their camping site and prepare for the night.

"Well, there's that. You should take the fact that is night and they are both safe to have some sleep." Haymitch says. I know I won't be able to sleep but I want Peeta to rest so I choose to support Haymitch's idea.

"It will be fine. Nothing happens at night and if it does I'll call for you the minute it happens" Haymitch says, seeing Peeta's reluctancy. "You can take the tablets with you, that way Rhys will always be close by" He adds.

Peeta finally agrees and the two of us leave to our floor.

I make him take a long hot shower to relax and then take one myself. I leave the bathroom to find him already tucked in to bed and waiting for me.

I climb next to him and hug him tight.

"I love you" I whisper in his ear. After the day, he has had I think he needs to hear it. He knows that by saying I mean so much more: that I'm here, that I'm with him – always.

In return, I get an "I love you too, always" and his embrace tightens around me.

Knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep, I lie close to him until I hear his breathing settle.

Then, as not to disturb him with my tossing and turning, I decide I'll be more helpful down stairs with Haymitch.

I'm almost at the elevator when I start to think Haymitch will bug me for not resting and I'm not in the mood to hear it. So, I find myself turning, heading for the roof instead.

I walk to the garden thinking there's no better place to be alone that there where I can't be seen or heard.

I'm almost at the benches when I'm surprised to see they're not empty. Someone else – a victor - is occupying one of them.

There, alone in his thoughts, as I was planning to be, Finnick sits peacefully grazing the garden.

The two seconds I take to decide to turn around and leave are enough for him to spot me and destroy my intentions to leave without talking or being seen.

"No, no don't leave. Come sit with me girl on fire"

"Everything alright with our tributes?" he asks as soon as I sit in the bench next to him.

"They're both alive and preparing for the night"

"Good, good" We stay silent for some time. I find it unbelievable that he's seating here and doesn't even make the effort to see how his tributes are doing. Is it his way to coping with loss?

I'm about to ask him this last question when he breaks the silence.

"How's Peeta?" I look at him before answering. I don't understand why would he care, but his eyes show me nothing but concern, which is strange.

"I honestly don't know"

"I might have an idea" He abandons his characteristic flirty look replacing it with an ancient weary one.

"You mean Annie, right?" I ask remembering one night of games where Johanna mentioned her.

"She was once my tribute" He nods. This is a matter I've been curious about ever since I learned about her. I take the opportunity to question him about it.

"Did you know her before? How did you..." Not sure if the word love is the correct one, I leave the question halfway.

"Fell in love with her?" I nod, I guess it was. "Funny you should ask, I'm not quite sure myself" the smile is back in his face.

"I didn't know her before she was reaped. I watched her climb to the stage and onto the train like I watched dozens of them. I tried to keep my distance, to help without getting attached like I've dozen dozens of times" He looks at me "I know I must sound insensitive, cruel, cold, but you'll see, you'll learn... It's the only way to survive"

He doesn't give me time to reflect on his words as he immediately goes back to his story "But at every interaction we had, I found myself getting more and more interested. Without realizing it I started to notice the very things that made me fall in for her: the way she places a strand of hair behind her ear when she gets serious, the dimples that appear in her cheeks every time she truly smiles and most importantly her way of always seeing the good in the world. She always knows the right thing to say"

"When did you know?"

"When she left the arena, that's when I let myself start to feel something, but probably before that. Of course, I didn't act on it until much later... You know how dangerous it is for us to love someone, how easy a target they become... But by then she started having her episodes and I couldn't stay away. In the end, I think she kind of grew on me, a little like I imagined it happened to you with Peeta"

"Oh, I know it's real" he interprets my silence as an admission his comment was right, which it kind of was. "Sure, I thought it was an act on your part like everyone else, Johana is still not convinced, but then I saw the way you act around him, the way you look at him... It reminds me of me and Annie!" I didn't know he was paying that much attention to Peeta and I. I misjudged him he's far more attentive than I thought.

"So..." He says when it becomes obvious, I'm not going to respond to his comment "Am I right?"

"I guess" He's been so honest I feel like owe him to do the same, but that's as far as I can go.

"Figures" Is the only comment he makes to my admission. I'm starting to like the real Finnick, he's actually a really nice person, far from the phony Capitol loving playboy. It's right then that I decide to like him, once you get through the outside layers, he's actually a good person, like me or Haymitch, turned Capitol pet by Snow.

He too does everything he can to survive and keep his loved ones safe, just like the rest of us with loved ones to lose.

Which makes me think of Annie, she lost her mind when her district partner died in front of her and was never the same. She's mostly left alone, nobody wants the company of a mad, unstable victor.

"How is Annie?"

"Oh, she's fine. Most of the time anyway. Of course, there's some things that set her off, that remind her of her time in the arena and it takes Mags and me a long time to calm her and bring her back to us. I wish there was something I could do to help her, but at least her condition keeps her away from the Capitol and Snow and for me that's even better than a cure" I get what he's saying, she's lucky her condition makes her undesirable to the Capitol.

"I wish I could meet her" I'm very curious to know the girl that conquered the great Finnick Odair.

"You will, I think you'll like her. She has a lot in common with Peeta"

"So how did you manage to convince her to even like you?" I continue, lighting up the mood.

"Sweetheart, look at me! I'm Finnick Odair" his characteristic smirk is back on.

"Oh, I could I forget?!" I mock back.

"Well" He says while getting up "I got go, duty calls"

"Having to marry Peeta is not the worst deal you could get" He says just before turning the corner and leaving me alone.

He's right, marrying Peeta is actually the best punishment a victor could get. I don't know how I would cope with having to do what Finnick has.

I have no doubt that if Peeta had died in the arena Finnick's life would be my own and I would do the same thing as he does to ensure that Prim and my mother continue to live.

I take a few more minutes to contemplate the garden and then leave for the mentor's lounge.

I gave it enough time for Haymitch to think I have rested, but not enough to lose something important, at least I hope not.

On my way down, I pass by mine and Peeta's room to make sure he's still asleep. I manage to go into and out the room without making a sound, he hasn't moved a muscle since I left –good - I think.

When I enter the mentor's lounge it's almost one in the morning, the whole place looks very different than what it did this afternoon.

Most stations are empty or have only one mentor on it. I query the statistics tv next to me and find that two more tributes have lost their life's since I left, leaving half of the tributes still alive. 2 districts have been completely eliminated which explains the empty stations.

I wonder what happens to the mentors who no longer have tributes in the arena, do the immediately return home? Does this make them more available to accomplish their social agendas here in the Capitol? Or are they responsible to prepare the casket's return to the district? I hope not, I hope them don't make us face these poor children in their coffins.

I make a mental note to ask Haymitch about it, to find out what happens to the mentor and tributes once the games are over.

Speaking of whom, I find him alone in our station glued to the screen, it takes me one moment to reach him and another to find out what he's fixated on.

"Back already?" He doesn't take his eyes of the screen.

"Couldn't sleep" I shrug.

"Can't say I'm surprised. I actually thought you would be here sooner"

"So, what did I miss?"

"Not much, Cinder is asleep in some bushes, Coral is also asleep and Rhys is guarding their camp. Nothing much as happened. Except, at midnight a lightning storm stroke that big three" he points to a tree on the screen "And it has been calm ever since. I'm still wondering what that was about"

I look at the screen and do find Cinder hidden in the bushes fast asleep. Next, I discover Coral lied down on a bed of leaves and Rhys seated on top of a rock looking down.

Fifteen minutes pass without any developments. Then, almost imperceptible, I see a curtain of fog forming and advancing towards Rhys. As it becomes closer it grows darker and thicker, so I quickly search the database to see what this fog is and whether it is dangerous or not.

I reach the conclusion that this is far deadlier than the ordinary fog we have every day in the district at the same time as it reaches Rhys.

By then he has already seen it, but is unsure of what to do until he touches it. The contact with one of his fingers is enough send him to the ground contracted in pain.