A fate worse than death~~A Finnick Odair story~~

9. Knife fishing

"Okay where to now?"
"Shhh!!"
Okay jeez, if you didn't want to talk you could have just said.
"I'm trying to hear if someone is following us."
"Ohhh..."
Ohhh? I don't give a shit, of course he thinks about stuff like that!!
"No, no coast is clear, we're going this way."
He gesticulated with his arm before starting to walk, and I blindly followed.

"When did you even have time to finde all this?"
"Well, after I got a few weapons and the bag I swam over here, I'm a pretty good swimmer so there was no danger. Then, while everyone else was trying to find camp I snuck around and familiarized myself with the island, then I found the cave and, well, the rest is history."

"Ohhh."
"Ohh? What do you meen ohh, what did you do?!"
"I swam, then I ran, then I hid."
"But you knew where the water was!" "Nope, I was just guessing." "Seriously?!"
"Seriously."
"Didn't you listen when Finnick and Mags told you how to best survive!!" "Well, well….I listened to Mags!! I can make fishing hooks from almost nothing, and know how to survive on little resources, but Finnick…."

"Yeah, Finnick??"
"Maybe I kind of tuned him out…." "You did what!!"
I didn't answer, his utter shock almost made me laugh, but this was serious, I couldn't laugh now.
"Honestly it was a miracle you made it through the first night!"
"It was a miracle I made it through the timer!"
"Elizabeth!!"
"That was funny!!"
Okay, I could laugh. He mabye couldn't, but I shore could.

"See those bushes?"
"No."
"Them right there!"
Jamie pointed like I was stupid, the bushes were almost right in front of us, of course I saw them!!
"No where!!"
"Elizabeth are you serious now?" "Nope."
He huffed and mumbled something about annoying teenage girl, and I smiled. So he continued towards the stream that he was going to see if there were fish in.

There were three different kinds of berries on the bushes, two were edible. Despite that, I picked all three. It was easy to see which were edible and which were not, the edible ones were blue, looked like blueberries or nightlock, but were neither. The poisonous ones on the other hand were bright red.

A single berry could temporarily paralyze a person, and if you were unlucky, too many could kill. First, the body would shut down, and slowly but surely, all vital organs would also stop working. But they were great for rashes and could soothe the most irritating itching.

I smiled at the thought that the entire capital might frown on what I was doing now. It was the first time I considered that probably thousands of people were watching my every move, but the thought that they might think I had intended to both eat and share the red berries made a small, slightly evil smile spread across my mouth.
Maybe they were thinking about all the money they bet on Jamie that would be lost because a little girl couldn't carry her arms, little did they know.

When I thought I was done with the berry picking, Jamie still hadn't come back with any fish. So of course I did the exact opposite of what he asked me to do and went to look for him. I followed the path I thought he had taken and in no time at all I had found both Jamie and the stream.

As I got closer I could hear low swear words from the boy, so as quietly as I could I whispered.
"Jamie."
No reaction.
Jamie!"
"What!"
I jumped at his sudden exclamation. "How is it going?"
"What do you think?!"
Good?
"I do not know."
"Not fucking good, I can't catch a single fish!!"
"But how are you fiching?"
"Sooo, I don't have nets, rods or spears, so I use my knives!"
"How?"
"I throw them obviously!"

Jeze, the bad fishing luck seemed to put Jamie in an even worse mood. Still, I ventured closer and stood next to him. I just had time to see him throw his knife, and miss a fish before I got up the courage to ask.
"May I try?"
"It's not as easy as it looks!"
"I never said that..."
"Okay, fine but you're using your own knife!"

In just the time it took me to get my knife out of the pocket I kept it in, Jamie had time to pick up his, throw again and miss again.
"How many times have you tried?" "7."
"I bet I can catch one in less than 7 tries!"
A small smile slipped across his lips. "You're on!"

I waited a while for the fish to come, and to make a long story short, I threw my knife and poked a fish.
"I, I got one!!"
"Not a chance!!"
"Well look, I promise!!"

So when the young girl took out her knife, it had indeed pierced a fish. "Nah, that was just beginner's luck!!" Slightly offended, Elizabeth could not keep her thoughts to herself.
"I've been fishing for as long as I can remember, I'm not a beginner!!" "Then you have to catch another one before I do, or I win!"
Win?
"Did you just make this a contest?" "Sure did, and you're gonna lose!!"

Elizabeth did not lose. She won big, 2 to 0 to be exact, but who's counting. So they went back to the cave, Elizabeth happy and Jamie, well let's just say he was a bad loser.

Once inside the cave, Elizabeth, the winner, was given the great honor of cleaning the fish. Jippi. When that was done she emptied her pockets of berries and they were about to begin their feast before Jamie very nearly ended his life.

"Don't eat that!!"
"What!"
He had picked up a red berry and was about to put it in his mouth when Elizabeth stopped him.
"It could kill you!"
"Why on earth did you pick berries that could kill me?!"
"They are not meant to be eaten!"
"No shit!"
"For God's sake Jamie doesn't you recognize them?!"
"No, no I don't."
"It's Bloodfain!"
"What?"
"Witch berries?!"

"Ohh but why didn't you just say that, and why on earth did you pick Witch berries!!"
"They help with rashes, I thought we might need them later."
Jamie sat quietly for a moment, as if considering what she had said, until he finally nodded and said.
"Be quiet and eat your fish."
Elizabeth listened to what he said for about two seconds before speaking.

"So, this meens technically, I've saved your life twice today."
"Ahh, I'm sorry Lizzy, but you have not."
"I werry well have! Now with the berrys, and before with the fish, you would have starved without me!" "Firstly, I wouldent have starved, and secondly, the berry doesn't count." "Why not!"
"Because you're the one who picked them and put them with the other berries to begin with."
"But I--."
"Elizabeth I swear to god!!"

So she said nothing more, but she smiled the rest of the evening, even into her sleep. It felt good to know that she had helped, that, even though Jamie would never admit it, she was needed.