Almost as if on cue, Arbor has said something. I quickly turn to face him, in sync with Piper. She seems to have missed what he said as well. “Sorry, what?” I ask. “Uh, hey guys… I’m here too,” he says. Ugh, I forgot to consult with him about the alliance. “Sorry,” I say. I’m technically already allies with both of them, so theoretically they’d be working together, but I need them to like each other, even if it’s only a little bit. "Uh, hi Arbor. I'm Piper, me and Rosemary have been getting to know each other and um, I'm from District Twelve." He looks her over. Hard and long. I inhale and cross my fingers that he likes. "Nice to meet you, Piper. I think we'll make good allies, don't you think?" she gives him a small and relieved smile. "I do." she says. I exhale. As Arbor puts his arm around me, I smile at Piper. Now both of my best friends are my allies. And I trust both of them. I’m feeling better about going into the games then I did before. “Anyways,” I say, realizing that the dynamic of the three of us standing here silently was slightly awkward. “I’m going to go throw axes,” Arbor says briskly, and walks away. “I think I’ll go to the archery station,” Piper says. “Wait!” I tell Piper quickly. My voice barely a whisper, I tell her about the letter. “I got this letter…” I start, as I figure out how to proceed. “It was hidden in my drawer in my Capitol room. I opened it and it had instructions to…” I pause and furtively glance around to make sure no one’ listening but Piper. “Break the arena,” I finish hoarsely. “Whatever we do, we need an axe,” I tell her. She stares at me for a moment. I wonder if she’ll take back her ally offer now that she knows the definite danger she’d be in. But no. She nods and says "I'll do my best." She takes a tentative look around, but evidently doesn’t see anyone watching us, because she continues. “Does Arbor know?" she asks. Gosh, I didn’t even planning on telling Piper, let alone my best friend ever. I didn’t want to put him in danger. "Not yet," I say quietly. But he will soon. He deserves to know, I just truly don't want to put him in danger. She nods again. “Ok, best we split up for now, so no one suspects us.” she says to me. I nod and follow after Arbor. But when I’m almost there, I swerve and decide to go to the knot tying station. I don’t know how to tell him yet. I need to decide my precise words first. Presumably since I tie each knot correctly first try, the instructor tells me to try a special knot. He demonstrates a knot that he says you could, for instance… tie at the top of a tree then dangle from it and the knot won’t snap. Could he possibly be one of the Capitol rebels who wrote the letter? I get slightly mixed up trying to figure this new complicated knot out, but once he demonstrates it again for what feels like 1000th time, I finally manage to get it. “Thank you,” I say, and nod to him. He nods back tersely. “Good luck in the arena,” he says. For a second, my mind takes that as a “good luck breaking the generator”. But it couldn’t be. This all must just be merely a coincidence. But is it?
