He could feel the beat of his heart, thumping against his ribs, thick in his throat. He could hear the echo in his ears, in the otherwise still forest. The words hung between them, the ones spoken, and the ones not.

The ones he could see in the lines around the man's mouth; the ones he could feel swimming in his chest. Words he wasn't actually sure existed in any language he knew, or if he'd even be able to give them voice if he did.

"A part of me wishes that ya were back in the Capitol. I wanted to know ya'd be safe, er, at least, as safe as any of us can be. ...But I meant it, when I said we were in this together." He paused, a beat, knuckles whitening on the shaft of the spear. "To be honest, I don't think I could do it alone if I wanted to. Not anymore."

Not for some time now.