•𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗔 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲•

5

A/N: Hi everyone! More characters will be introduced in this chapter :D Enjoy!

     Katara tried to stay as far away from the other tributes as possible. Especially Zuko, who stared at her like he wanted her dead each time she got close to him. Which he probably did. She couldn't say she blamed him.

     Katara decided to spend her first day of training learning survival skills. She was decent enough at bending, but she couldn't tell you how to light a fire. So while most tributes were shooting down people in a simulation, she was rubbing two sticks together in the corner.

     She grew frustrated as the fire wouldn't start, and she felt like she was wasting her time. She threw down the sticks and walked over to a trap station. Fire gave away your location in the end.

     She spent the next few hours making snares, recognizing edible plants, and learning how to treat infections. She remembered the speech a woman gave to them earlier that day. "My advice is don't ignore the survival skills. Everybody wants to grab a sword, but most of you will die from natural causes, ten percent from infection, twenty percent from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife."

     If she had to go, she was sure it wasn't going to be by dehydration.      

     "Lunch break!" Someone said over the speakers, and everyone reluctantly put down their weapons. Katara was grateful for a distraction that wasn't based on her impending doom.

     Maybe you can make some allies now, she thought. Real allies. 

     Her mind strayed to Zuko, but she soon snapped out of it. He had already made himself buddy-buddy with the Careers. The Careers were the kids who were from the first districts and had trained their whole lives for the Hunger Games. It was technically illegal, but no one ever enforced that rule. Katara couldn't believe someone would actually want to be here.

     Katara sat down at the end of the long metal table. She still wasn't used to her short hair. She occasionally ran her fingers through it only to be shocked when it cut off. But she figured it might be easier in the arena if she didn't have to maintain so much of it. 

     She was given a bowl of rice and vegetables, and she smiled gratefully at the servant. She started to grab her chopsticks, only to be interrupted by loud laughter coming from the Career's table. 

     She looked over and saw a short girl storm off angrily. She was headed in the way of Katara. She was wearing a green dress and had her hair up in a headband, her black bangs covering most of her eyes. The girl slammed her bowl down on the table across from Katara.

     "Mind if I sit here?" The girl asked, her voice seething.

     A small part of Katara wanted to say yes, she did mind and enjoy her time alone. But the more logical part of her said that she needed to make some friends. 

    "You can sit here," Katara said, holding out her hand. "My name's Katara."

     The girl didn't shake it. "My name's Toph Beifong."

     "What district are you from?" Katara asked. "I'm from Twelve."

     "Eleven," Toph said.

     "How old are you?" Katara inquired. Toph looked really young.

     "I'm twelve."

     Katara sighed. That was a really young age to go out in the Hunger Games, but the age limit was twelve through eighteen. Every year there was a young kid, and they usually didn't make it that long. Katara figured Toph already knew that.