The door opened. The words were unseen, unheard.
Althea watched carefully, looking for any signs of fear in the girl's face. She didn't want anyone like the last few. They had all been disastrous, with numerous amounts of paperwork as a result. She generally preferred not to have to do that.
With this, there was no muss, no fuss, no paperwork to be done. It was genius, really. So genius that Althea was surprised she hadn't thought of it earlier than now. She wanted to commend herself, but she forced herself to save it for when she really had something to celebrate.
She leaned in closer to watch the interaction.
Unfortunately, the Capitol Ethics Committee forced Althea to offer the girl a choice (Yes, the Capitol did actually have an Ethics Committee. They stepped in every so often to interfere in the Games to prevent absolutely disastrous things from happening, like rape, cannibalism, necrophilia, and all sorts of things). It was either this or scramble to find a new one before next year's Games. Althea didn't often fall back on her faith for anything, but she leaned back briefly to mutter a quick prayer, letting her eyes close.
Last year, the 226th Games, had been one of the greatest successes, seen in the eyes of the whole of Panem. But not to Althea. Not to her predecessors, to the ones Althea was trying to live up to.
Pushing the memory aside, Althea tapped her ear to activate the communication device with her lackey. A small beep in her ear told her that the device was listening, that her lackey was waiting for instructions. She opened her mouth, said, "A choice."
She saw the lips of her lackey's mouth move. "But don't be too generous with the compensation." After a moment's pause, she added, "And don't tell her about the condition until I say so."
She saw the girl's face fall after her lackey spoke. But then it rose into an insane, lopsided sort of smile. After all, would she be getting a better offer?
"Tell her what happened." Althea said. She sat down in the chair provided for her and carefully watched the girl's face.
Althea was nothing if not an excellent manipulator. She would provide a perfect offer to her little prisoner. One she would not be able to refuse. And because of the girl's…tragic circumstances, so to speak, she would create an arena that Althea had in mind for this year. It was perfect. Almost too perfect. So she kept her face neutral, not wanting to tip off anyone in the room as to what she was feeling. God, if she wasn't in therapy, she didn't know what the hell she'd do. Her therapist was always telling her that she shouldn't feel guilty for a role that was passed down to her, but Althea felt it would be awhile before she could accept that as true. She still felt guilty, still felt upset. She was human, she couldn't kill children without feeling anything at all. Stealing human lives was despicable, but Althea was under orders from much higher than her own authority. For the sake of peace, for instance, tradition, things like this. But she was repressing the hell out of this. Something she thought her therapist was trying to unravel. But if she did, she'd unravel the entirety of civilization.
"Does she accept?" Althea said. She saw her lackey relay a message to the girl. The girl swallowed, but she eventually said something. She stood, and her orange jumpsuit was jarring to the eye. Two guards grabbed her roughly, and a laugh bubbled up in Althea's throat as the girl jumped when she was touched.
"She accepted. Shall I give her the condition?" Althea's lackey said.
"Go ahead," Althea said, feeling all her anxieties melt away. Honestly, as long as she could hold off for another year, before preparations for the Quell began, she was fine. This was temporary, completely, as it was a last ditch effort to patch things up before the whole thing unraveled.
Althea knew the exact moment that the girl heard the condition. She was smiling before, but as soon as the words fell from her lackey's mouth, the girl's face fell. Althea smiled. "Excellent," she said, reaching into her pocket for her bottle of medications, taking one out and swallowing it, feeling at peace and no longer worried about ten thousand things like she normally did.
The room erupted all at once. Althea's assistant, Calypso, burst into the room and immediately started squealing. She was quite a small figure, with brightly colored blue hair and almost freakishly white skin and microbladed makeup, so she almost always caught Althea off guard. She also happened to be one of Althea's best friends.
"Oh my goodness, congratulations, President Lamm! I just knew she'd agree! You make the best offers to everyone, they're all so fair, she is so smart to agree with you, oh I'll just pop into their office to carry out the logistics and everything. Don't worry about a thing, we will figure it out. Gosh, we're so excited!" And she left as quickly as she came in. People were crowding into the room, talking and discussing the various arrangements, but Althea did not move from her seat. One of the side effects of her anxiety medication was intense headaches, so she sat down and tried to massage her temple, though she didn't see how it would help.
Footsteps approached Althea, and she could tell right away whose they were. She'd grown up with this gait, matched it with her own several times. She looked up from rubbing her head and saw Magnolia, Althea's best friend since they were both six, looking down at her with a vague expression.
"Would it help if I made them go away?" Magnolia said. Althea nodded, turning her attention back to her legs, closing her eyes, rubbing the sides of her eyes in the vain attempt to make the pain go away. The room cleared, and Magnolia sat down opposite Althea, waiting for the pain to subside.
"What in God's name did you promise that poor girl?" Magnolia said. Althea looked her best friend up and down. Magnolia was not free from Capitol alterations - she had multiple piercings climbing up her ears and one in her nostril, a few small tattoos, and her hair was an ever shifting myriad of colors, and today was a dark navy blue color. But she was the most down-to-earth person Magnolia knew. Though it was impossible, Magnolia's voice was free from the Capitol accent, and she always said that the alterations she got were for her. Never to fit into the latest trend (piercings, according to Calypso, were "so two years ago, after that one tribute got a spike driven through her ear and died from blood loss."), only to satisfy her own standards of beauty.
And today, Magnolia's standards were just as unforgiving as ever. Althea knew she would never betray her, that nothing she ever said would get past this room.
"Do you know who that is?" Althea said, referring to an image on the screen paused to show the girl she was referring to. Magnolia shook her head. "That's Polinetta Dart." Magnolia's eyes widened and she gasped.
"We all thought she died!" Althea covered Magnolia's mouth and gave her a stern look.
"Shh! The list of people who knows who that girl is Polinetta Dart is extremely short. And I'd like to keep it that way." Althea hissed. Magnolia fixed her with a hard stare until she spoke again. "She was good. She was too good to kill off, too good to keep away from the controls, and after last year's disaster…I can't take another bad year, Maggie," Althea said, feeling the beginnings of another headache begin to creep into her head.
"Tell me what happened." Magnolia whispered.
Althea sighed. "Fine. But what I say here goes nowhere besides this room. What is said in here is not ever repeated under any circumstances ever, unless you wish to be executed without trial for sharing state secrets." Magnolia nodded eagerly, her dark eyes sparkling with intrigue. "Polinetta was always too…rabid for anyone to handle. Thankfully she was only Head Gamemaker for four years before she had a complete psychotic break, but those four years, Maggie…they were the best anyone had seen in a long time. When the time came to get rid of her, I decided I didn't want to have her killed." Althea shrugged. "So I didn't. I'm the President, I decide the rules, so I decided I wanted her institutionalized instead of killed. I was hoping that they'd gotten some progress on her by the time I checked up on her about a year ago, but she was still the same as when she had her break." Althea squeezed her hands together. "So I took something for her, and she's been obedient since then. She's listened to the guards, to the nurses and the doctors. Not that it's been…that that's helped, obviously, but it felt like a good idea at the time." Magnolia looked down where Althea's hands were squeezing tightly and squeezed her own hands tight.
"Naturally, when the time came to choose a suitable candidate for Head Gamemaker, none of the people who approached me, or were presented to me as a choice, seemed good enough. Then I remembered I had the perfect little prisoner all wrapped up in a neat little bow. She has one thing of mine, I have one thing of hers. It's an even trade. She knows the consequences if she refuses, and believe me, she's far more scared of what I will do to her if she fails than what will happen to me if I fail."
Magnolia stared into Althea's face, almost searching. "What did you take from her? And what are you going to give back to her?" She looked tentatively at Althea, like she was scared of the answer.
"I…" Althea said, hesitant. She took a deep breath. She trusted Maggie with her whole life, had trusted her ever since they jumped down that small cliff when they were eight and Maggie called for help and never left Althea's side. She trusted Maggie with this. The words came out of her mouth very suddenly. "I blinded her. She has no sight, she cannot see." Maggie gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.
"You didn't…" she whispered.
"And I promised her that I would give her back her sight if she succeeded, and if she didn't, then I would take away her hearing."
Maggie sat back in her chair, gasping and breathing heavily. Althea looked down at her shoes, ashamed.
"You know how despicable it is to manipulate someone like that? To give her a job she needs something you took away from her?"
"Maggie," Althea said, taking Maggie's hands in her own and rubbing her thumb on Maggie's hand. "I can't do this without your help. I couldn't think of anything else to do. It was just easier to do it this way."
"I just-" Maggie stopped speaking halfway through the sentence to bury her face in her hands. Althea waited a few moments for Maggie to accept the idea. There wasn't one thing Althea had done so far that Maggie didn't support.
"The idea you have for the arena better be really good, Althea." Maggie said, looking frustrated, but she squeezed Althea's hand back, tight.
Althea smiled. "Oh, just you wait."
A/N: Hi all. I'm back from the dead (not really), and ready to start a new SYOT story. With a bit of a twist. I have created 24 tributes already, and I am seeking a victor. I am open for submissions right this moment. Please go to my profile for all the details. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor.