inksplashed | 02: ferid and katniss.

ain't no ~~mountain~~ ledge high enough.

Katniss stares at the ledge with narrowed eyes and crossed arms. Her Taillow perches on her shoulder, taking care not to grip too tightly and break the skin. She's been here for nearly ten minutes now, after some idiot on a ride Tauros came barreling toward her and caused her to lose her footing.

She's pretty pissed at them, but they don't matter. What does matter is the fact that she can't get back up onto the damned ledge.

Behind her, Ferid clicks his tongue. His Skitty watches Katniss with a sympathetic look in her eyes. Katniss pays them no mind; she's going to get up this ledge. She's going to teach that stupid ledge a lesson, even if it takes forever.

Determination renewed, Katniss walks toward the ledge, takes a deep breath, and—

Fails. Horribly. As it turns out, attempting to jump up onto the ledge just results in someone falling right on their butt. Annoying.

“As charming as it is to see you refusing to give up, Catnip,” Ferid says, amusement heavy in his voice, “we really must be going. It's getting late, and the next town—”

“No. No way. Not until I find a way to climb up this stupid ledge,” Katniss replies as she stands and dusts herself off. Gale lands back onto her shoulder, wings fluttering as he makes sure every hair is in place. “You can go if you want, but I'm not leaving until I do it.”

“Stubborn as ever,” Ferid says, but there's something like affection in his voice—not that he'd ever admit it.
-----
The next morning, Ferid finds that Katniss is, in fact, not in the inn. Nor have any of the townspeople seen her around. He'd be worried, if not for the fact that Katniss is good at roughing it. What he does do is make his way to the same route.

There's a tent pitched not too far from that pesky ledge, but Katniss is nowhere to be found. He starts to worry—did a wild Seviper make quick work of her? Certainly not. Katniss isn't the type to allow herself to be felled by a snake.

And then he hears hoofbeats, and he's more than intelligent enough to know to get the hell out of the way. And as he does, he sees—

Katniss. On a goat.

Said goat bends its legs and leaps over the ledge, much to Ferid's utter shock and… awe? Something like that. Successfully having conquered the ledge, she turns her oversized goat to face him.

Katniss's grin would be utterly infuriating if he didn't like her so much.