"Now it's your turn."  I said.  She said, "Well, you've seen most of my food, but I have some strips of beef and a couple of crackers."  She put them in her pile of food she was getting out.  

"You know my main weapon is a bow and arrows, but I have this knife that I used for cutting the tracker jacker nest down.  Here's everything else I got."  She laid her backpack down and pulled out some things.  "This is my sleeping bag and this is my bottle of iodine.  This is my wire and my plastic bottle for water.  Here's my matches.  And someone dumb put these stupid sunglasses in that don't even work."

I gasped.  "You mean, those?"  I took them from her.  "Oh, these aren't for the sun.  They're for darkness.  Try them out tonight.  You'll be able to see anything in a mile's radius, even more."  Katniss smiled.  "How come you know so many things I don't?"  I shrugged.  "Well, they sometimes pass them out to those highest in the trees, like me and Rue, when we work through the night.  The torchlight doesn't reach too high up, but we still need to see as much as anyone else.  There was once a 10 year old boy, Marvin, who acted like a little kid.  Wasn't right in the head.  He hid a pair of it in his pants, and they killed him right on the spot."

Katniss took back the glasses in disbelief and inspected them.  "They murdered a boy for taking these?"  I nodded.  "I bet he just wanted to play with them, too."  We split up our food, and I gave her some leaves for her stings, in case they hurt again, and she gave me some matches.  Then we traveled up by the river, looking for a good tree to sleep in for the night.  

"Do you sleep in the trees?"  I nodded, shivering a little bit in the chilly night air.  Katniss said, "In only your jacket?"  I rummaged in my pack and pulled out the socks.  "These are for my hands."  She bit her lip and then said, "You can sleep with me, in my sleeping bag.  We'll both fit with room to spare.  But only if you want to, of course."

It was all I could do to not drop my jaw.  "Are you sure?"  This was more than I could have ever hoped for!  Katniss nodded.  We picked a tall tree and got ready for bed in a fork high up in it.  The anthem began to play.  There weren't any deaths today.  Katniss covered her lips with her hand and whispered, "How many day did I miss again?"  I covered my lips with my hand, copying her, and whispered, "Two.  The girls from 4 and 2 died.  Ten of us left."

She whispered back, "Two days ago, something strange happened.  Well, I think it did.  It could have been the tracker jacker venom settling in.  You know Peeta, the boy from my district that's with the Careers?  I think he could have saved my life."  I shook my head.  "Maybe.  But I've been spying on their main camp, by the lake.  He's not with them anymore." 

Katniss said, "If he did save me and had to run, it was just part of his act to make people think he loves me.  That only makes sense."  I looked up at the sky between all of the branches, thinking of the interview.  "I don't think that was an act."

She said, "Of course it was!  He worked it out with Haymitch.  Our mentor."  The sky suddenly went dark.  The anthem had ended.  Katniss put on the glasses, and looked around.  "Wow.  Rue, you're right.  This is amazing!  Do you know anyone else that got a pair of these?"

I said, "Well, the Careers have two.  But they've got everything down by the lake in their camp.  And they're so strong and powerful."  Katniss said, "We're strong, but in a different way.   We can stay alive and get our own food."  She looked at me with a dangerous glint in her eyes.  "But- they have everything they need."   pointed out.  Katniss said evilly, "Well, what if they didn't?  They won't be able to last for long.  I mean, it's the Hunger Games."

I sighed.  "They're not hungry, though."  Katniss grinned.  "I think we're going to change that."

************************

When we were all ready to sleep, Katniss and I crawled into the sleeping bag.  I looked up at the sky, thinking about home, about my family, about the Harvest.  I felt my eyelids droop and I snuggled close to Katniss.  I trusted her, the only person in the whole arena I could trust.  She was my ally.  I whispered the word.  It sounded so amazing.  Ally.  Ally.  Ally.  Ally.  I felt myself slipping away from the world.  The last thing I heard before drowsiness overcame me was a mockingjay whistling, whistling my tune...