A Court of Thorns ↠ Peeta Mellark [2] ✓

06 ; Fights from Within

The next morning, Noah and Emberly both are being awoken by Wilsha knocking on their doors. Today is the first tribute training day, and Emberly's been dreading it. She hasn't touched a weapon since the arena.

Not even when Elijah and her were training, she'd ended up having a panic attack when even asked to pick up a knife. The dream of Clove stabbing Marvel to death still fresh in her mind, and she doesn't even want to get started about holding a bow.

Elijah had told her to just focus on finding Katniss and Peeta and having them work on knots and other things that may help them in the arena. But Emberly knows her fear of weapons will have to be pushed aside soon, being the victors are going to be looking out for the weakest links and Emberly refuses to be the one they all go after.

Emberly places on a pair of black leggings, a black tank-top, and a loose fitting black jacket, with a pair of lace up riding boots. Her hair extensions are still flowing down her shoulders, being that she's going to have to wear them in the Games. Apparently, many Capitol children loved Emberly's hair, and when she'd blow her bangs from her face before shooting an arrow, it'd became one the things she was known for by her "fans".

Noah is a silent giant beside her, arms crossed over his chest as him and Emberly step into the tribute training room. It's totally different from before, the stations are in different places. There's an anarchy station close by, along with a few other stations for tridents, spears, knives, and knot-tying.

Katniss looks up upon Emberly entering the room, she nudges Peeta beside her with her elbow and Peeta is looking up and glancing in Emberly's direction. His eyes are a calming sight, and Emberly feels her muscles relax but Atala is continuing to speak about the different stations before letting them disperse.

Katniss and Peeta are on Emberly in seconds. Katniss grabs Emberly's hand, giving it a tight squeeze before dropping it. Emberly smiles faintly, knowing that's Katniss's way of hugging her without actually hugging  her.  

Peeta gives her a side smile, before he's leaning in to whisper. "Haymitch wants us to start requiting allies. He says that  these Victors have known each other for years, and since we're the newbies, he's thinking that they're going to be going after us three first."

"But we have each other," Emberly says, scrunching up her eyebrows. "we won the Hunger Games, doesn't that show our skills enough?"

"Apparently not," Katniss says, before she's looking around. "I think we should disperse around and talk to everyone. Try to see who we want and who we don't want, just try to see our options."

Peeta and Emberly nod, all three of them moving in different directions. Peeta heads towards the camouflage station, Katniss towards the knot tying station, leaving Emberly with a few options. Turning away from the archery station, Emberly instantly frowns upon seeing a darkened part of the training room waiting for someone to enter it.

Upon closer inspection, Emberly see's the room is darkened for a reason. It's filled with large rusting cars and other obstacle courses. But overall, it looks to be in good shape. There's a weapon rack on the outside of the room, filled with spears, knives, and bows.

Emberly guesses those are the only types of weapons you're supposed to use in this section of the tribute training room. There's a cherry red button on the wall with the word 'start' on it, and Emberly sucks in a soft breath as she looks down at the weapons on the rack.

A spear isn't a weapon she's ever been good with, Marvel was the best spear thrower in their entire district. Plus, Emberly didn't like the unpredictability of the weapon. A bow isn't much better, but at least Emberly felt secure and comfortable with the aerodynamics when shooting one.