I opened my hands.  "I was thinking we could have eggs for breakfast."  Katniss said, "What kind of eggs?"  I shrugged.  "Dunno.  Found some in a marshy area over there."  I pointed to the path I had followed.  We decided that even though we want to cook them, we can't risk a fire now that the Careers are back in the games.  So I put together a breakfast of berries, nuts, and two apples that I had found growing on a tree while coming back from the marsh.  

Katniss got out the rabbit, and soon we were both sucking out the insides of an egg, eating a few berries and nuts, eating an apple each, and having a whole rabbit leg all to ourselves each.  It was the best breakfast I had ever had in the arena.  I finished eating long after Katniss, but when I was done and had licked my fingers clean, Katniss said, "Ready?"  I jumped up.  "To do what?"

Katniss had that evil look in her eye again.  "Today we steal the Careers' food."  She said.  I was confused.  "Are we really?  How?"  I asked.  She said, "I have no idea.  Let's figure it out while we hunt, okay?"  She picked up her bow and arrow, and I picked up my slingshot.  

We didn't catch anything because we weren't really hunting, just planning while walking.  I told Katniss everything I could remember about the Careers.  "I've only been there a couple of times, but I know a few things.  They set up their camp by the lake and their supplies are piled up some yards away.  In the daytime, they leave the boy from Three to watch their supplies."  Katniss interrupted, "The boy from 3 is working with the Careers?"  I nodded.  "Yes, he stays at their base camp  all day.  He got stung with the tracker jackers, too.  Um, I think his name is Noah.  He's not all too big, but he acts as their guard.  And he has a spear."  Katniss asked, "Is that his only weapon?"  I nodded.  "He might be able to hold me off with that, but Thresh could take him easily."  

Katniss made a thinking face.  "The food...  It's out in the open, with no booby traps of anything?"  When I nodded, she said, "Something's not right about that."  I nodded again.  "I know, but I couldn't tell what.  But Katniss, how would you get rid of the food anyways?" Katniss smiled.  "Dump it in a lake.  Burn it, soak it in fuel if we have it."  She poked me in the belly and said, "Eat it!"  I giggled.

She continued, "Don't worry, we can think of something.  Destroying things is funner and more easy than making them."  Because we wanted to do something useful, we dug for roots, gathered greens and berries, and whispering strategies to each other.  I somehow find myself talking about my family, how I'm the oldest of my five siblings.  How I give almost all of my rations to my starved family, and how I am very protective of them.  How I forage in the meadows nearby my house.  Katniss eventually asked me, "What do you love the most?"  I said, "Oh, music, of course!"  Katniss looked startled.  "Um, music?  Do you have time for that in District 11?"

I said, "Oh yes.  Everyone sings all the time.  At home, at work, at school.  That's why I think your pin is so wonderful."

Katniss looked at her pin.  "You have them there?"  I nodded.  "I have some that are my best friends.  I sing for hours back and forth with them.  They carry messages for me, like when the flag comes and signals quitting time,  I usually see it first, so I sing a short tune, and the mockingjays spread it to everyone else.  This is how it goes."  I sung the four notes, then continued.  "They can be dangerous if you go near their nests, but you can't blame anyone for that.  It's nature."

Katniss takes off her pin and places it in my hands.  "You can take it, because it has more meaning to you than to me."  I gave it back to her in a heartbeat.  "No, I like to see it on you.  That's how I knew I could trust you."  The moment I said those words, I knew they were true.   "Besides, I have this necklace."

I showed her it.  "It gives me good luck."  Katniss pinned the Mockingjay back on her shirt.  "Well, it's working so far.  You should keep that instead."  When we go back for lunch, Katniss has formed a plan, and I couldn't wait to try it out.  Katniss helped me collect the wood and place it in two huge piles far apart.  I would have time for the other later.  I said, "We should meet where we ate our first meal together when we finish."  Katniss confirmed it.  Katniss gives me more food and matches just in case and made sure I was all ready.  Then she dug out her sleeping bag and gives it to me.  

"What about you?  Aren't you going to be freezing?"  Katniss said that she'll get another by the lake.  She said, "You know, it isn't illegal to steal here."  She grinned.  I decided to teach her the tune, so when we get back, we can whistle it and the mockingjays would pass it on to the other, so she knows they're all right.

When we're all ready, Katniss said, "If all goes well, see you for dinner."  I hugged her tightly, feeling tears falling down my face.  She hugged me back after only a moment.  "Please be careful."  I whispered to her.  She said, "As long as you will be, too."  She let go and walked back towards the stream.