Chapter Text
Katniss awoke with a start, her head snapping up quickly when she heard what she guessed were heavy footsteps, but she couldn’t be sure.
What the hell? Is that a human or an animal?
It sounded like a herd of elephants had descended upon her, the noise was so loud.
She blearily rubbed at her eyes, confusion and exhaustion clouding her brain. Her head felt fuzzy, and her ankle throbbed, and she had no idea where she was.
Why am I lying on a couch in a…log cabin? Am I in a log cabin?
She gingerly sat up and rubbed her forehead, groaning at the way the sudden movement made her body pulse with pain. It felt like she had been hit all over with a baseball bat.
“Are you okay, miss? Would you like any medicine? I think I have some painkillers around here somewhere,” she heard a gruff voice say. Katniss moved her head in the direction of the sound, startling immediately when she laid eyes on the man who had addressed her.
He was big.
The stranger was tall, muscular, and attractive in a rugged sort of way. His curly blonde hair was tied in a messy knot at the top of his head, and his beard reached his collarbone it was so long. His face could have been considered classically handsome if not for the raised, jagged scar that bisected his left eyebrow. He wore a flannel shirt, mud-caked jeans, and worn leather hiking boots. In his large, calloused hands he held a chipped teacup filled with some sort of steaming liquid. Chamomile tea, if her nose guessed correctly.
“Miss?” the man repeated. His brow furrowed in apparent frustration, and under his breath he muttered, “I knew this was a terrible idea. Should have just left her there.”
“Sorry,” she finally replied. “I just…I have no idea how I got here.” Her voice cracked with fear as she realized she was likely alone in the apparently empty cabin with the gargantuan stranger. She was at his mercy, and though he seemed concerned for her well-being, he was large enough to snap her like a twig if he so desired.
His face softened, and his expression appeared almost gentle for a few moments. “That’s a bit of a mystery to me as well. How about we discuss it over a cup of tea?”