President Coriolanus Snow stared at the young boy who was chosen to read the story of the founding of Panem. The story itself was just as boring as the boy that they had chosen to read it. "Each of the fourteen districts of Panem elected one justice to vote on their behalf in the Judicial Council. The Judicial Council will be the final answer in all matters. The President will rule, with the support of the council. The Council may at any time impeach the President and remove him from office, and replace him with a candidate that passes a majority opinion of the Council…"

"This has to be Desdemona Merrythought's idea of punishment for not naming her daughter to the Gamemakers," President Snow whispered to his wife who was trying to look as joyful as possible. He glanced up towards the High Council.

"She is just making him read it to show that you have no power in this Chamber," Priscilla Snow muttered almost silently so that only her husband could hear. It would not matter: the only people in the entire chamber were the President, his wife, the boy, who was the court reporter and the thirteen justices that sat on behind a semi-circle judicial bench. Marble floors made the chamber feel cold and empty. For years President Snow had tried his best to ignore the council on most issues. Their only real duty was to preside over court cases that were appealed, but that rarely happened. Since the Great Rebellion, the Council had lost most of its power. The elected Justices had been removed and replaced with high ranking citizens from the capital. Yet, as a group they could be more powerful than the president if they wished to wield their power. In the past ten years they had only agreed to take on five court cases, and in those five cases they always choose to vote on the side of the government. It was unusual for them to call the President to appear before them, yet today they had. President Snow returned his attention to the Council as the boy finished his reading.

"It has come to our attention that you have decided to change the rules for the Quarter Quell." A vulture like woman said leaning over her area of the judicial bench.

"I have come up with a game that I think will stop the rebellion in the districts," Snow barely able to conceal his hatred for Desdemona Merrythought.

"Sending past victors into the games?" Merrythought said hurtfully. She lowered her square glasses and looked over them at him with a look of utter hatred.

"To teach the districts that even their strongest cannot hide from the power of the Capitol," President Snow replied back trying to keep all of his emotions to himself. He did not want to give her any reason to make this procedure more drown out than it already was.

"A foolish move," an elderly male justice said. "All you will accomplish is that the Districts will rebel more when they watch one of the few people that they thought were safe is sent back into the arena." President Snow reached back into his memory to remember that the man was the one appointed by the capital after the rebellion to sit in the seat for District 12. He had been on the council for close to fifty years.

"Plus we will have to deal with rebellion here in the Capitol once they realize that the Victors that they have loved and adored for years will no longer be coming back," a squeaky sounding plump woman who represented district 3 responded.

"We have decided that we will not allow your idea of the Third Quell to take place. We have decided that we will force 8 tributes from each of the districts into the arena." The male member of the council said with his eyes focused on the President. "Last year's games were not well received by the Capitol. There was not enough violence. Your Gamemakers spent too much time focusing on the love story between the two victors. That is leading to the rebellion which is still growing."

"The Head Gamemaker has been dealt with!" Snow said with a snarl.

"That is well and good, but it does not excuse your part in the rebellion Mr. President," Desdemona Merrythought said looking over her square shaped glasses. "You did not use the time that you have already had with the new victors to ensure that peace reigns in the districts. The Victor's Tour every year is used as a time to re-enforce that those of us here in the Capitol control every aspect of their pathetic lives. During this year's Victors Tour all that was accomplished in keeping the rebellion at bay was more riots. Do you think we did not notice that just moments after the victors spoke in District 11 that there was a mass protest? You think that we would not realize that the wedding proposal that that Peeta kid did at the very end of the tour was just a publicity stunt to hide the fact that there was never any love between the two of them. They played you and your Gamemakers Snow. We currently have control over all of the districts, but the moment we send in the victors to fight it out, the more likelihood of the rebellion growing multiplies tenfold. We have to make them hate the victors on their own. We want the tributes fully trained when they enter the arena. We have decided that with the 98 tributes heading into the area this year that we would need to increase the likelihood of blood. We want each of the past victors to assist a district that is not their own. That way when each of the tributes is killed you can say that their mentors must not have trained them on what they needed to survive. Muttations will not be killers in these games, just used to send the tributes closer to each other. Those that just want to hide will be sent to those that want to kill." Merrythought said. She did not wait for the President to understand what she was saying before she stood up and left. The other members of the council followed her.