The Sterling Nightingale ⟷ Finnick Odair/OC

That I find myself

Chapter Twenty Five | That I find myself

"Had she but turned back then, and looked out once more onto the rose-lit garden, she would have seen that which would have made her own sufferings seem but light and easy to bear – a strong man, overwhelmed with his own passion and his own despair. Pride had given way at last, obstinacy was gone: the will was powerless. He was but a man madly, blindly, passionately in love." Emma Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel

The hour flies by far too quickly. Before she knows it, Sil is stepping into the tube and watching it close around her as she is lifted up into the arena. Everything feels like a blur, as if the seconds are melded together. At once she is blinded by an intense sun, and before she even has the chance to look at her surroundings, a Gamemaker's voice sounds around her.

"Welcome to the 75th Hunger Games. Let the countdown begin!" The timer immediately starts, ticking down from 60.

Time continues to blur. Sil looks around from her pedestal, which is in the middle of an ocean. Upon closer inspection, it is more like a large oceanic lake. A beach cuts around it, and a jungle around that. There are more pedestals around her, circling the cornucopia, which she will have to swim to. The thought makes her a little sick.

She's not very good at swimming long distances. Her small pool back in the Cornelius Estate isn't exactly the best form of practice. District 1 is a desert; all sand and no water. Her training to become the rebel she is today had occurred in increments, and always in the vault beneath Mr. Dorsey's shop or far out in the desert of her home. She can shoot a gun easily enough, but this? Water is her weakness...and it is Finnick's strength.

She sees him five pedestals down, standing tall around the lapping water, as if he can't wait to jump in. She should have made him teach her how to swim when they were in District 4! Now she is helpless, the one thing she cannot be in the Hunger Games.

"10...9...8..."

Sil drops into a crouch, clutches the edge of the pedestal tightly, and gets ready to propel herself into the water. She's afraid, but what else can she do? If she waits around, then she'll become a target. She has to at least try.

"7...6...5..."

She sees Finnick dropping into a similar position, propping his foot on the edge so as to push himself off. He lifts his head and looks at her, but he's too far away to read, and Sil just swallows thickly. That is always the problem, isn't it? He is always just out of reach.

"4...3...2...1!" A loud boom goes off and Sil dives in.

There's only one consolation for her ineptitude, and that is that most of the other Victors don't know how to swim either. She's not the only one struggling to push through the water.

It's always surprising, how far a person's will can get them. Sil is determined to reach the Cornucopia, and she does, but she is not the first. Finnick, as expected, had been the first the haul himself onto the nearest stony outcrop that spans from the cornucopia. The moment Sil's arms touch the rocks, he drags her spluttering form up like she's a ragdoll. He's already holding a gleaming silver trident and a belt of knives. When he lifts her up, he does so quickly and effortlessly, righting her before shoving two knives into her hands and pulling her to where Katniss and Mags are already waiting.

"Peeta is still out there!" Katniss is saying. She doesn't even seem to care that Sil has joined their group. Finnick must have already settled things with her.

"I'll get him," Finnick volunteers. "You get to the beach. I'll meet up with you there."

Oh great, more swimming! Sil deflates but doesn't argue. They need to get off this tiny island before it becomes infested with other Victors. They are already crawling up the rocks as Finnick dives back into the ocean with one expert motion, and Mags pulls Sil down one of the rocky trails. Katniss falls behind them, bow drawn and a fierce but anxious look on her face.