☆°.˙ ▍𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐘𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐘

⎰𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞⎱

          "𝐋𝐄𝐓'𝐒 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊." Katniss proposed. "I need to get another look from above."

          Katniss climbed a tree as the other four sat down and tried to ignore their extremely parched throats. Fleur's mind wandered to Johanna and wondered how she was doing. Her mind also wandered to Ben, and wondered how he was coping. He was too young to have seen his father's death but now, his aunt had almost been killed and might die of dehydration in a couple days.

          "The force field has us trapped in a circle. A dome, really. I don't know how high it goes. There's the Cornucopia, the sea, and then the jungle all around. Very exact. Very symmetrical. And not very large." Katniss stated as she came down, back to the four.

          "Did you see any water?" Finnick asked.

          "Only the saltwater where we started the Games." Katniss replied causing Fleur to frown. An Arena without a freshwater source had never happened before.

          "There must be some other source." Peeta stated as he frowned. "Or we'll all be dead in a matter of days."

          "Well, the foliage is thick. Maybe there are ponds or springs somewhere." Katniss replied in a tone that said she was doubtful about that. "At any rate, there's no point in trying to find out what's over the edge of this hill, because the answer is nothing."

          "There must be drinkable water between the force field and the wheel." Peeta insisted.

          The entire group knew that this meant going back to the Cornucopia with an extremely weak Peeta and Mags.

          Instead, they decided to move down the slope a few hundred yards and continue circling to see if maybe there's some water at that level. By mid afternoon, it became clear Peeta and Mags couldn't go on any farther.

          Finnick chose a campsite about ten yards below the force field, saying that they can use it as a weapon by deflecting our enemies into it if attacked. Then he and Mags pulled blades of the sharp grass that grows in five-foot-high tufts and began to weave them together into mats.

          Since Mags seemed to have no ill effects from the nuts, Peeta and Fleur collected bunches of them and fried them by bouncing them off the force field.

          "Finnick, why don't you stand guard and I'll hunt around some more for water." Katniss stated.

          No one was thrilled with the idea of Katniss going off alone, but the threat of dehydration hung over them.

          "Don't worry, I won't go far." Katniss promised Peeta.

          "I'll go, too." Peeta stated.

          "No, I'm going to do some hunting if I can. I won't be long." Katniss stated before she walked away.

          Fleur sighed as she took a deep breath and swallowed thickly to keep her throat from becoming extremely dry. Finnick, knowing she was feeling extremely dehydrated, put a soft kiss to her forehead before promising her that there was water in the Arena, it was just that they hadn't found it yet.

.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

          When Katniss came back, everyone turned to the younger girl hopefully, praying that she had found a water source to soothe their dry, parched throats. To their dismay, Katniss shook her head.

          "No. No water. It's out there, though. He knew where it was." Katniss replied as she showed them all a skinned rodent "He'd been drinking recently when I shot him out of a tree, but I couldn't find his source. I swear, I covered every inch of ground in a thirty-yard radius."

          "Can we eat him?" Fleur asked softly.

          "I don't know for sure. But his meat doesn't look that different from a squirrel's. He ought to be cooked. . . " Katniss trailed off, knowing that the smoke from a fire would give away their position.

          Peeta took a cube of the rodent's meat, skewered it on the tip of a pointed stick, and let it fall into the force field. There was a sharp sizzle and the stick flew back. The chunk of meat was blackened on the outside but well cooked inside.

          The sun sank in the rosy sky as they all gathered in the hut they had made. Katniss was still leery about the nuts, but Finnick explained that Mags had recognized them from another Games. The rodent tasted strong and gamey but surprisingly juicy, something Fleur knew most of District Eight couldn't afford with their wages.

          Finnick wrapped an arm around Fleur as they had finished their meal and looked up at the sky, waiting for the faces of the dead appearing in the sky.

          The anthem sounded and the faces were projected. The man from District Five was the first to appear, meaning that everyone from One through Four are still alive. His face is followed by male morphling from Six, Woof, both Tributes from Nine, the woman from Ten who Fleur recognized as the person who tried to kill her, and Seeder from Eleven.

          Fleur closed her eyes sadly after Woof's face was projected, knowing that the man was her brother's old mentor and didn't deserve to die. They all sat in silence until a silver parachute landed near them. No one reached for it.

          "Whose is it, do you think?" Katniss asked after a moment of silence.

          "No telling." Finnick replied.

          "Since Peeta died today, why don't we let him claim it?" Fleur suggested.

          Peeta untied the cord and flattened out the circle of silk. On the parachute sat a small metal object.

          "What is it?" Katniss asked.

          No one replied. They passed it from hand to hand, taking turns examining it. It was a hollow metal tube, tapered slightly at one end. On the other end a small lip curves downward. Peeta blew on one end to see if it made a sound. It didn't make one. Finnick slid his pinkie into it, testing it out as a weapon. It was useless for that.

          "Can you fish with it, Mags?" Katniss asked, frowning when Mags shook her head.

          Fleur looked at it in utter confusion before turning to her other allies. "I've never seen anything like this back in District Eight." Fleur informed the others. "You can't sew with it, and it has nothing to do with textiles."

          Katniss stared at the tube in confusion as she tried to figure out what it was. When she couldn't, in frustration, she jammed one end into the dirt.

          "I give up. Maybe if we hook up with Beetee or Wiress they can figure it out." Katniss stated as she stretched out and went into deep thought.

          Fleur sighed, knowing that if they didn't find either of them in a couple of days, their chance of figuring out what that tube was used for was gone along with their life.

          "A spile!" Katniss exclaimed as she shot up, surprising everyone else.

          "What?" Finnick asked as he glanced at Fleur who shrugged. Neither of them had any idea of what a 'spile' was.

          "It's a spile. Sort of like a faucet. You put it in a tree and sap comes out." Katniss stated as she looked at the trees around the tributes. "Well, the right sort of tree."

          "What do you mean by, sap?" Fleur questioned.

          "To make syrup." Peeta explained. "But there must be something else inside these trees."

          Everyone got onto their feet immediately. It all started to make sense. Their thirst. The lack of springs. The tree rat's sharp front teeth and wet muzzle. There could only be one thing worth having inside those trees. Finnick went to hammer the spile into the green bark of a massive tree with a rock, but Katniss stopped him.

          "Wait. You might damage it. We need to drill a hole first." Katniss explained.

          There was nothing to drill with, so Mags offered her awl and Peeta drove it straight into the bark, and buried the spike two inches deep. He and Finnick took turns opening up the hole with the awl and the knives until it could hold the spile. Katniss wedged it in carefully as they all stood back in anticipation.

          At first nothing happened. Then suddenly, a drop of water rolled down the lip and landed in Mags's palm. She licked it off and held out her hand for more.

          After they wiggled and adjusted the spile, they were able to get a thin stream of water running out. They all took turns standing under the smile and wetting their parched throats. Then Mags brought over a basket, and the grass was so tightly woven it could hold the water. They filled the basket and passed it around. They took big gulps of the water and splashed their faces clean.

          After they had drank the water, they all realized how tired they were. They made preparations to sleep. Fleur leaned on Finnick as she let sleep take over her body, allowing her to have a peaceful night, well as peaceful as she could get after being thrown into the Hunger Games again.