The Sterling Nightingale ⟷ Finnick Odair/OC

And an icy ocean all in one

Chapter Fifty Six | And an icy ocean all in one

"I would still exert every faculty I possess for his sake; but I might be powerfulness, for I might arrive too late, and nothing would be left for you but lifelong remorse, and...and...for me, a broken heart." Emma Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel

Mr. Dorsey gets a rude awakening in the early hours of morning from the last person he expects. In all fairness, he should probably expect it. Finnick Odair, Victor from District 4, has been head over heels for the Sil since before he even realized who the girl is. It's still a little annoying to be pulled out of a peaceful sleep by a man having a full-blown panic attack though.

"Where is she?!" the Victor demands immediately, barging into Dorsey's room and shaking him awake quite unapologetically. Dorsey takes one sleepy look at him, rolls his eyes, and pulls his blankets up to his chin in a pathetic attempt to ignore him. It doesn't work, not that he's all that surprised.

"Dorsey, where is Silver?" Finnick insistently asks. There is an edge of frantic hysteria driving through his voice. It certainly isn't a pleasant wake up call.

With a grunt, Dorsey mutters, "Where'dya think?" He starts to roll over, but Finnick grabs his shoulder and slams him back. The move makes Dorsey blinks in annoyance and sit up, sleepy eyes turning angry.

"She's in District 1. She left last night. Happy?" he demands impatiently.

Finnick doesn't look very shocked at this revelation. No doubt he'd already suspected as much. When he found her note and rushed to her room to look for her, his nerves had been on fire. There was something permanent about her message, as if she believed it would be the only chance she'd get to tell him what he's been longing to hear. When he hadn't found her in her borrowed room or anywhere else he could think to look inside and outside the manor, Finnick had rushed here to Dorsey's room to interrogate the man, but inside he already knows that Sil would not be here. There is only one place she could have gone.

"She's going to get herself killed!" Finnick exclaims frantically, starting to pace across the room with a worried expression blazing across his face. Dorsey just sighs and stares at him, looking unimpressed and tired.

"You need to relax, kid," he mumbles, throwing his legs over the edge of the mattress and rubbing at his eyes. "Sil knows what she's doing. Have a little faith."

Having faith, though, is not such an easy thing to do when the woman you love has dived headfirst into the squalor of a riotous district intent on ending anyone loyal to the rebellion. Silver Lamprey Cornelius is quite well known there, more so after her identity as the Sterling Nightingale – rebel spy extraordinaire – had come out only weeks before.

She's in danger. If they realize who she is, she's done for. It's one person against an entire city.

When he says this aloud, though, Dorsey rolls his eyes, "She's not alone. Half the League is with her, and Tommy too. She's hatched some insane plan to stay one step ahead. Felix won't know what's coming to him."

In his sleep addled brain, the final sentence leaves his lips without thought or care. He forgets, for a moment, that Finnick doesn't know about Felix's location. He doesn't know that the man had been sighted in District 1. Cussing darkly beneath his breath as the Victor turns to him with eyes that are even more frantic, Dorsey sighs. Him and his big mouth.

"Felix?!" Finnick asks, voice riddled with angry confusion. "Are you telling me that Felix is in District 1?"

The stilted silence that drags between them at the query only serves to answer Finnick's question, and the Victor runs his hands through his hair as he starts pacing again.