Come Back to Me

VII

"Do not overlook the importance of survival skills," The instructor said simply, moving her gaze over the twenty four children, "twenty-five percent of you will die from natural causes of the arena, dehydration, starvation, poisioning, rather than someone else's weapons."

Cordelia's eyes left those of the blonde woman standing in front of them all. She had heard this very instruction just last night so, she took the repetition as an opportunity to scope out her competition more closely. Her eyes floated over the district one male, his size and arrogant aura making it obvious which district he had come from. His blonde spikes were styled well, his jaw line holding a faint stubble, his brown eyes almost black as they met her's, a sickening smirk falling over his lips. She snapped her gaze back to their lead instructor.

"And there's no need for getting into it with fellow tributes, you'll have plenty of time for that in the arena," The woman nodded, "there will be instructors at each station there to lead you through combatical skills, how to build fires, what to look for in eatable and posionous plants found in this year's chosen ecosystem."

The girl glanced around again, settling on district two's female. She was stood away from the rest of the careers, which peaked Cordelia's interest. She remembered something about her being younger then the usual careers and not having volunteered which was another difference. Her strawberry blonde hair was thrown into two french braids, that ended at the bottom of her shoulders and her green orbs watched the instructor intently, truly taking in the information. Her pale face was lined with freckles, as well as her arms. A little ways beside her was the boy from district seven, Cordelia only being able to tell where they had come from by the grey numbers on the short sleeves of their training unifroms. His head was mostly shaved, other than the small patch on top that had several locs, pulled into a ponytail. He was tall and skinny, his brown eyes covered with round glasses, a faint shadow covering his dark skinned face.

"In a moment, I'll leave you to training. It will be up to you which skills you practice and what skills you deem unimportant. After all, you only have three days before your final evaluation determing your scores and, you won't have time to truly learn every skill," The instructor had her hands behind her back as she paced back and forth and, it was rather intimidating to some of the smaller tributes, "your scores will determine your worth, your worth will determine your sponsors."

Soon enough, they were left to their own devices, most careers heading off to find their desired weapons, some tributes going off to an obstacle course. Cordelia had Finnick in her mind telling her to stick to survival. She knew some things, like how to make a fish hook, or how to weave a net but she didn't think she could brush up on the skills enough.

"It's important to know how to identify clean, drinkable water while your in the arena," This instructor was a man, his brown hair buzzed close to his scalp, "you'll want the water to be clear, to lack odor. Any cloudiness or turbidity, could be signs of contamination, contamination will likely lead to infection, which will lead to the end of your life."

"What the hell is turbidity," Cordelia looked to her direct left to see the boy from seven. He nodded in her direction with a greeting smile, "Parker Winsley, it's nice to meet you."

She nodded, keeping her face hard and void of emotion.

"It means cloudiness, or covered in matter," The small boy from twelve piped up, "I'm Carter, Payne."

The instructor went into more detail of how the water could be used as a form of posion in the games, and that you'd need a purifier to clean it. Purifiers would most likely be found in the Cornicopia, or sent from sponsors.

"Do you suppose you could use the water as a weapon, if it were poison?" Cordelia questioned.

"Well, yes but, you'd want to be careful not to let it touch your skin." The man explained monotonously.