The morning sun burns against my back and sweat pools at my brow as I move roof tiles into the position for Valde to nail down. This is one of the hundreds of homes in District 8 that needs repaired. It requires windows and a roof, most of the houses are worse. Almost all of the buildings were destroyed in the rebellion. We are left with the Justice Building, the school, two of the huge textile factories and the 24 houses in the victor's Village. Almost all of the other houses were flattened and the ones that remain need roofs and windows, and many of the west facing walls need repaired or replaced.
By lunch my body aches and my hands are cracked and dry, Valde and I clamber from the roof and walk the short distance to the square. Lunch is plain, bland vegetable soup and a slice of bread. Break ends as quickly as it started and I am back to the roof in no time. From the corner of my eye, I catch a glint of sunlight reflecting from the windshield of a gleaming blue truck bumping across the terrain. I climb back down the ladder as the truck approaches the house.
"We're looking for some place to stay," says a violet-haired girl through the open window. In the passenger seat sits a girl with too much makeup and skin dyed to an unnatural tan. There are two more children in the bed of the truck as well.
Valde speaks from behind me, "There are some houses across town, nothing in so good of condition as this," he indicates toward the house we have been working on, "But they'll hold you alright for now," He is infinitely more kind and trusting than me. Their appearance and the polish of their truck scream that they are from the Capitol. After a lifetime of anger at the Capitol and fear of the games, distrust comes naturally.
"Gale will get you there," Valde continues. I look back at him in disbelief and he smirks. I roll my eyes at him. The purple-haired driver nudges her passenger out of the seat and then motions to me.
"Climb in, Cowboy." She flashes a smile at me. I do, and point her up the road. "I'm Emerald."
"Gale," I say. She must sense my irritations because she says, "I get it, you know. We're from the Capitol, and you don't want us here. But we have nowhere else to go. We are just like you, Gale." She says my name too confidently, like she knows exactly who I am. "We intend to stay," She says when I don't respond.
It's about a twenty minute drive to the village and we drive most of the way in silence except for my short directions.
"We have dinner in the square at seven. Listen for the bell." I tell her, as we approach the village. If she is shocked by the destruction she doesn't show it. "Most of these houses are not being used, you can take your pick. If there is anything you need, the Justice Building houses all of our useable resources." I think that is enough information to get them through the night so I hop out of the cab. I see Valde pull in behind us and climb into his truck as he climbs out to go talk to them. He is probably just repeating what I told them. But he will be more inviting, it's probably a good thing that he does it. After a short chat, he is back in the truck and we are headed for the square.
The newcomers don't show up for dinner in the square.
The morning bell rings too early. My body is sore from ten hour days of hard labor. I jerk awake at the first chime of the bell, I pull on my clothes and am ready to go within a few minutes. There are only a few people in the square when I arrive for breakfast. I am surprised to see that Emerald is one of them. She is talking to Autom. When the kitchen doors open, she jumps up and asks if she can help. I think she is overcompensating, it seems insincere.
I watch as Emerald carries large trays of food to long tables. She is wearing a yellow shirt and black pants with blocks of green. With her purple hair, all of these colors make her look like a peacock. They are too vibrant, too bright. There is a tattoo peeking out from under the collar of her shirt. As I watch her prepare to serve breakfast I think the district residents will get a kick out of being served by someone so clearly from the Capitol.
When the breakfast bell rings, I am among the first to line up. Breakfast is plain: fried potatoes and toast. There is also coffee, which I have developed a taste for. Emerald is at the end of the serving line with Autom keeping the coffee fresh and pouring glasses of orange juice.
"Morning, Cowboy." She smirks at me as I add sugar to my coffee.
"Emerald," I nod. "Your friends are getting a late start, I see." None of her companions have arrived this morning.
"Siblings. And I would lower my expectations of them real quick," She says and turns to Maron, who is pouring a cup of coffee. I watch her chat with everyone who passes like she knows them all. She is more sincere than I gave her credit for.
Breakfast is over and I head to work, but she is there again at lunch and again at dinner. In fact, she becomes a permanent fixture in the kitchen. Her siblings are rarely seen, they come out for meal time and keep together with their heads bent and avoiding everyone.
Every Saturday we have something of a party in the square. A celebration of the successful rebellion. The kitchen has made a special dinner and Valde made some punch out of liquor and fruit. There will be music. Almost everyone stays in the square after dinner. I am surprised to see all of Emerald's siblings have stayed, although they are not socializing. They sit in a clump with their heads bent. They are always whispering, like they are plotting something. I am about to walk home and go to bed when Emerald and Autom plop down across from me.
"Where are you going?" Autom asks, shoving a large glass of the alcoholic punch into my hand.
"Bed." I say, standing to leave.
"No, no, no. I have spent all day in that kitchen slaving over a cake and Emerald said after a few of these she is going to teach us all of the latest dance moves from the Capitol." She takes a big gulp from her glass.
"No." Emerald says rolling her eyes and sipping her drink.
"Good night, ladies." I say.
"Really, I insist." Autom grabs my arm. "You are all work and no play. You haven't made friends with anyone but Valde since you got here. And he is like 50. It's not healthy!"
"That's a little dramatic," I say but I sit back down.
"No, it's true." Emerald laughs. "There is a serious shortage of young people here and they are effectively grouped up. I don't think there is any chance of penetrating that clique." She casts a mock glare on the group of kids from Eight. "We outsiders need to stick together."
"Well what about you, Autom." I ask. "You are from here. Why aren't you in?" I had long watched her strange dynamic with the rest of the residents. She clearly knew everyone, but she seemed cast out. Before Emerald arrived, she never appeared to have a friend.
"Me? Well, I'm no really from here, am I? I was born in District One and lived in the Capitol for about five years."
"How is that possible? No one Moves between the districts, and especially not to the Capitol." I ask.
"Things were a little different in One and Two, I think. But my father was a peace keeper," She tells us. I think I might leave after all, but she must see my distaste because she continues. "Which is total crap. The capitol made it seem glamorous. Like we were somehow improving our station. Well, maybe it was like that for my parents, not for me. Snow must have thought it was a good joke. We get here and none of the other peace keepers have kids. I was expected to just blend in at school, I was thrown into the snake pit. Loner doesn't even cover what I was. And the compensation wasn't that great. I mean, we had food and everything, so that was an improvement. But I was still in for the reaping."
"What about you, Gale? Where are you from?" Autom asks. That is something I don't want to talk about. In the weeks since the rebellion, I have done everything I can to forget. To forget my district that lay in ashes. To forget the last bomb I dropped on the Capitol. To forget Katniss.
"Twelve," I say flatly and hope she drops it.
"Oh—" Autom says, looking away.
Emerald breaks the uncomfortable silence. "Well, I heard there was cake. Let me go get us some.
"And I'll get us refills," Autom says, collecting the tumblers. Emerald returns first with three large slices of cake.
"I can't apologize for what the Capitol did to your home. But I can sympathize with you." She says I know she is being sincere but it doesn't help.
"How? Your home still stands. You could rebuild if you wanted to, but you chose to run." I growl.
"You keep saying that like you know the first thing about me. What do you know of my home:" She spits back
"The Capitol is still there." It is just like a Capitol brat to play the victim. So we destroyed her home, they destroyed our lives for a hundred years.
"You know, for all your victimizing and humble beginnings, you really have no concept of home. Yes, my house is still there. Intact, even. I suppose you think that means I got lucky. But my home is destroyed. My family is dead, my history wiped away. The Capitol doesn't want us anymore than you do."
Autom is back, she plunks the three full glasses onto the table, sloshing a little out of each.
"Well, stop talking about me, then." She giggles.
"Your cake is amazing, Autom." Emerald says between mouthfuls.
"Really? We are going to talk about my cake? Come on, Emerald. Let's dance!" And she drags Emerald toward the stereo that is playing something loud and fast. I watch them for a few minutes and then leave the square. I can hear the music all the way back to the house I share with Valde.
Sunday is a late breakfast. Something called quiche, a sort of pie with eggs and vegetables. When I get to the end of the line, Emerald is adding milk and syrup to iced coffee.
"You shoved out early last night," She smirks at me.
"You didn't seem to care."
"Yeah well Autom is better company than you, anyway." She quips. "Enjoy that, it's my favorite breakfast. We got a shipment from the Capitol this morning." When they are through serving, Emerald and Autom sit down across from me. I'm not sure when or why they decided to adopt me as their friend, and I'm not sure I like it. The girls are chatting away when Valde walks over. He pulls a lavender envelope out of a back he is carrying and hands it to Emerald. She looks at it and the color drains from her face. As fast as it came on, she regains composure.
Though the color returns to her face, something dark hangs in her eyes. She distractedly pushes the quiche around on her plate a minute. Then suddenly leaves without a word.
"Well, that was different," Autom says, watching her leave. I nod. Jolai calls Autom back to the kitchen, leaving me to finish my breakfast. I look back down the road after Emerald. I think she is heading home but she walks past her street and continues. She must be headed into the forest. I look over at her brother and sisters, they didn't seem to notice any of this. I decide to follow her, though I am not sure why. She is moving fast and I lose her just inside the tree line. I am about to turn back to the District when I catch a glimpse of her violet hair.
She is sitting at the base of a huge tree with her head down in her knees that she has hugged tightly to her chest, the lavender envelope floats across the clearing with the breeze and a matching sheet of paper is crumpled in her tight fist. I clear my throat as I walk into the clearing. She jumps and furiously wipes tears from her face but only stares at me.
"Are you ok?" I ask.
She closes her eyes and breathes a minute. "I will be," She says when she opens them again. I sit across from her and she rests her head back on her knees. I watch the top of her head as she tries to control her breathing. I feel suddenly drawn to her, whether by her tears or something else, I don't know. I inch a bit closer to her and say the first thing I think of.
"During the rebellion they bombed my district to the ground. More than half of the citizens were killed. We that survived relocated to the nearest district; Thirteen. We are welcome there and they didn't understand why we couldn't settle in. We had lost everything. Homes, friends, family. There was no way to explain that we felt homesick for a home that didn't exist anymore."
I watch her digest my words. She doesn't say a thing but allows one last tear to fall. The wind pulls the letter from her now-slackened hand. I catch it but she tears it forcefully from me.
"Whatever it is, you should talk to someone about it. Autom, or your family. It will destroy you from the inside." We sit in silence a minute and just as I am about to leave she thrusts the paper into my hand and hides her face in her knees again, she is not crying. I read.
My Dearest Emerald,
I cannot express my relief at hearing you made it out of the city. I knew you could. You were always built stronger than I.
I know your life has been difficult because of the woman I chose to be. Had I known the peril that my loving your father would put my children in, I hope I would have made a different choice. It is too late for me to patch our broken relationship and to make amends for who I am. I just hope you will learn, in time, to forgive me. Please give my love to your brother.
I am sorry to say that this will be the last time I can talk to you. I was placed on trial, along with Ingrid Snow. The rebels have sentenced your father's wife and I to death for war crimes.
There is nothing left to write. I pray you will make your way wherever you land, and I pray you can forgive me.
I love you my dear,
Fucia Treet
I stare at the letter and its implications and am overcome with rage. I realize that I consider her a friend. As I followed her into the woods I felt drawn to her, now I feel only disgust. I want to put as much space between her and I as possible. She is watching me as I fold the letter back up and hand it to her. I've lost my words, so I stand and leave. I hear her say my name as I trudge back through the forest and a pang of guilt twists in my stomach but I ignore it. She is the daughter of Coriolanus Snow.
I haven't decided where I will go, I just walk. There is still work to be done in the District and my body must know it because I end up at the house where I have been repairing the west facing wall all week. The work is easy and frees my mind to consider the revelation. Emerald, too, must not have known what to do because I watch as she returns to the kitchen.
I am sitting on the floor in our main room when Valde returns from dinner in the square. Reconstituted chicken soup did not appeal to me so I had returned home when the dinner bell rang.
"Tell me." Valde says when I don't greet him as he walks in.
I decide to play dumb, "What?"
"I saw you follow Emerald into the woods. That girl is a fool for telling you who she is." I stare at him blankly. He knows who she is. My rage turns to him. Then I hear her voice from behind me in the woods again. The guilt returns and my anger abates. Valde continues, "You must know it is not her fault. Just like you didn't mean to take a front seat in the revolution, it landed on you." Damn. Guilt tears through my stomach and I feel sick. I nod because he is right. Then I leave.
She's on the bench outside the dining hall, the purple envelope still clutched in her fist. The streets are already cleared, nobody stays out late after a day of hard labor. When she sees me she stands to leave.
"No, wait." I call after her. She doesn't stop and I have to run to catch her. My fist tightens around her arm. She tries to pull away but I hold firm. There is a fire in her eyes as she spins around to look at me, and for a moment I think she will hit me. Instead she says, "What?" Through gritted teeth. Her mother is right, she is built strong. I don't see the Capitol girl when I look at her, I see a survivor who trekked halfway across the country to save her family. She and I are not so different.
"It's ok." I say. She gives another tug and her arm is free.
"I didn't ask for your approval." She spits.
"I just mean—." I stutter
"Save it!" and she turns to leave. Shit, that didn't go as planned. But she turns back. "If it had gone the other way, you might be in my shoes. Searching for a new home in a country that wants you dead. I shouldn't have shown you. I guess I thought I had done enough to prove myself. If I wanted to continue as Coriolanus Snow's daughter, why would I put so much effort into building a new life here?"
"I know," I say. She plunks down onto the bench next to me.
"Don't- Don't tell anyone."
"So your half-sisters-?" I ask out of morbid curiosity.
"Anjelica and Victoria Snow. But it's not their fault either."
"True, but they are slightly less redeemable." I laugh. A ghost of a smile touches her lips before she lays her forehead on the table. "Have you told them?"