If You Go Down To The Woods Today...(Arya & Ariel)

Ariel waited, poised to attack, as the footsteps grew ever-nearer. She was reminded of a time many years ago when she and her brother had been playing in the woods and a stranger had threatened him with a knife. It was a shame, really, the fate of that stranger. Ariel wished she hadn't of had to do it.
Shaking herself out of the moment, Ariel decided to get a better view. Clutching the blade between her teeth, the girl clambered easily into the branches and looked down.
There. The person, walking toward her. She recognised her - the green eyes and fearful look where memorable to say the least. Strange. Ariel did not usually take much notice of her surroundings.

Ariel watches the girl pass below her and decides, after some thought, that she is harmless. Not stalking her, not armed. Harmless.
Suddenly a little too aware that she was perched in a tree with a knife between her teeth, watching someone pass below her, Ariel slips the knife back into its sheath and decides to wait until the girl leaves.
Watching the girls eyes from above, Ariel urges her to keep moving - yet the girl is eyeing the small clearing as though she is about to settle down for the night there and then, in the middle of a forest. It's obviously not safe, thinks Ariel carelessly, deciding to wait in the tree until the girl falls asleep. Taking a deep breath the girl hears a twig snap beneath her. Such a tiny sound - so slight, yet the girl below is obviously on edge.
Ariels eyes grow wide.

Ariel jumps as the girls face becomes level with hers. She is quite high in the tree, yet within a swing and a leap she has reached the ground and stands, looking at the girl. She fingers her knives, wondering why the girl has such a confident expression on her features. She's unarmed, and the woods are very dangerous at night.
"Who are you and what the hell are you doing?"

Ariel opened her mouth in mock astonishment at the girls words. None of her business? Little girl?
Ariel looked around herself, not in the least but worried or put off by the howling and calling that was going on around her. The darkness quivered in places, and she welcomed the howl of the wind on her cheeks. Without a jumper, Ariel hoped that the snow would cease to fall sometime soon.
The girl moved. Sighing, Ariel did not speak. She waited until the girl had settled down beside a tree, and then went and sat beside her, legs crossed, staring right at Arya.
"There are things in the woods," she said testingly, offering the girl a knife.

Looking at the girl carefully, Ariel decided to smile. She looked at the jacket and shook her head. It was below freezing - she knew this from the snow that was settling and never melting on the ground, the ice that was catching on the trees. And night was growing darker. The girl would need all the warmth she could get. To Ariel, the girl seemed naive. The forest was freezing and dangerous, yet she had brought nothing to keep herself alive.
"So, what are you going out in the big bad woods late at night?" the girl asked, and Ariel smiled into the darkness.
"I could ask you the same thing."

Ariel never ever opened up to people. It was her rule. After all, she was Ariel Flynn. Sister of the boy who came second and died to save his tribute ally in a games many moons ago. The unreadable. Unbreakable. Alone. Nobody touched her, and nothing ruffled her exterior. The girl avoided her pointed question asked the same in return. Ariel was about to argue, to scowl at the girl and leave her in the night, but she was struck with a feeling of surreality.
What if she did tell the girl what she was doing? What then? How did it matter, in the whole scheme of things if this one insignificant girl knew why she was alone in the forest at night? What was the worst she could do? Sighing and thinking that maybe not everyone was out to get her in trouble, Ariel smiled and began to speak.
"I come here most nights. Practically grew up here. It's better here. Better for hunting. Training. Collecting things..." Ariel stopped and squinted at the girls berries in the moonlight that sifted through the trees. "Although, I wouldn't eat that if I where you."
Ariel rose from the ground and pulled a knife from her hip, in one swift movement sending it sailing toward a tree. It couldn't have taken more than a moment for the blade to leave the sheath at her side and make it's way to the bird perched on a branch. It didn't have a chance.
Pulling her bloodied knife from the birds body, Ariel brought it back to the girl and sat down beside her. Reaching out to grab the berries from the girls hand she spoke again. "I just saved your life. Now you can tell me who the hell you are and what the hell you are doing here."
Ariel grinned and began to strike a march from her pocket up against a small pile of sticks.
Light filled the forest.