The sunlight was soft as the gentle sea breeze scattered salt on their skin. The tinted morning sky was welcoming the brilliant sun amongst the early sky, the colours swirling and mixing together to form a beautiful horizon across the stretched sea. The water's edge rippled against the shore and licked at the support pillars of the docks, clinging to the skin of people who passed, spreading the bumps of chill down their skin.
She was no exception. Her skin was dappled with bumps as the hair on her arms stood straight up to the morning routine. She was slender and the pallor of her skin was a delicate sight among the men of the many boats which lined the dock. Her long mane of pale golden string was weaved into an intricate braid down her back as she glided across the wooden structure, a basket of her own catches held close to her side. She was dressed in a simple dark cotton sleeved shirt which was slightly covered by the opaque beaver vest over her shoulders, dark leather pants and her high rubber boots.
It was a common sight to see the young porcelain beauty among the dreary outtakes of the dock and the fisherman who lived among its shores. She had developed a clock schedule around her days, which some men of landing boats had looked upon as an invitation to see the one fish they would never catch.
The little mermaid princess, some called her. Her castle was the chilling waters of the sea and her knights rode in on sea foam which gathered on the shore, the hulls of their ships driving away all threats of man which found their way towards her. She was untouched by man or at least that was the rumor which had infested the many docks she would visit, the men upon them taking bets as to whom might one day collect the winnings of her form; though only one man had grown even a sliver close to the winnings and even he was uninterested in such things.
He was the son of a well known fishmonger on the main dock. Both his mother and father haggled and bartered prices of fish and other sea creatures, usually winning what they wanted. Neither had ever been on a boat, his mother saying that the ships of the port were always cursed with the dead; though when she had first told the blonde beauty this, the mermaid had given her a sharp glare which resulted in a swift scolding from the mother. "Jest 'cause yo' don't like' hearin' doesn't make it any less true," she had told her, the small children which were clutching her skirt laughing at the embarrassment which the blonde had shown.
"I swear that woman will never like me," she groaned playfully as the two found their normal spot among the rocks, "I think it's because I'm a fisherman's daughter or something and she just holds it against me."
"If she didn't like you, you'd know," he laughed, adjusting the pole and spear which rested against his shoulder, a woven basket in his other hand, "besides, if she really didn't like you, I'm sure she wouldn't always remember that you like your fish cut thin and smoked, instead of grilled like mine always are."
She pushed her lips together and thought about it. It was true, she had once asked how the blonde liked her fish and she had told her. Though the older woman had commented somewhat rudely on her liking of fish, she had not once forgotten and always included two sandwiches marked for her within the lunches she prepared.
That was how their day always began. She would find her way to his house across the small river which fed into the ocean. The house was small like hers, but the family inside was large. There were three bedrooms, shared between the family of eight. His mother and father got the only downstairs room, while the six children split up equally between the two upstairs. His two brothers shared a room with him while his three younger sisters had the room opposite them. She had always found it crowded, but never cold like her house.
"Looks like the weather's blessed us with a kind day, Harper!" she shouted excitingly as she hopped from rock to rock, the swaying sea beneath her boots.
"More like it blessed you, Koi fish." He laughed as he followed behind the blonde, "Besides, what kind of blessing would the weather give on a day like today?"
Koi stopped, her body pivoting on the single rock she was perched on. Harper was right, about that, today was not a day to be blessed about, "Well, at least today we'll see who won the bet this year," she gave a cocky smile as she hopped off her rock, her feet sinking into the wet sand.
"I'm telling you, that Grant boy is definitely going to volunteer, he just looks like one of those damned Career's," he laughed hooping beside her as she jammed her own spear within the soft sand, "but I can't see that Trevor boy you're betting on volunteering, he just seems so…soft."
She began to uncoil the wire around her pole, the hook already tied and weighted properly, "But that's just it," she replied back, reaching for the bait which was neatly wrapped in plastic from the basket, "Trevor Hathoway comes from a family of volunteers and winners. I mean his dad was a victor of the 60th game, so what's stopping him from doing it this year?"
"But he's so skinny! I swear, if anyone was to volunteer, he'd have to be strong enough to hold his own," Harper replied to his pale friend, copying the motions she was going through, "and that one girl, Mellie Delphy, yeah, not really volunteer material, if you ask me."
Koi laughed, "Please, you think that Ashland girl is going to be the one to volunteer this year," the fair haired maiden casted her line, the small ripples of the line showing her where she had landed, "I think she'd be more worried about breaking a nail then volunteering!"
"Okay, so maybe I was going on looks," he admitted, climbing back on one of the rocks to get a farther cast, "but she has this glint in her eyes…I don't know, she's kinda scary if you ask me."
Koi's pale lips pulled into a smile as she too took a perch upon some rocks. The blonde girl knew the faces of each person who passed their lips, the trained individuals having spent many years preparing for the games. Harper had known a few, he told her, "Well, before I dropped out I knew them, now half of them seem alien to me all over again." She wished they were alien to her, but they were all too fresh in her mind.
She had once known them from both school and training, before the accident. She had been friends with most of them, knowing the intimate details of their lives before they left hers. Koi could remember having to beg her mother to let her go to the training school like her older brother, wanting to participate like the other students at her school. After nearly four years of asking, after her twelfth birthday, her first Reaping year, her mother had caved and she had begun her training.
At first the training was simple survival skills, though the young fisherman's daughter did have to catch up on the many years she had missed. Survival came easily to her, allowing her to pass many of the other students within a few weeks, which didn't help when they got to the weaponry and fighting portion of the lessons. There she was battered and bruised often for being a fisherman's daughter, for being smarter in survival and camouflage, and for just being her.
Her brother, Minos Sliverfin, had pleaded several times for her to drop out of training, taking on the same mind set as their father had about the games, "People always volunteer for them, so a fair girl like you doesn't have to worry about being picked, because someone will always volunteer for you." She didn't believe his words, because on some years Reaping, no one volunteered, even if it was the child's first year.
"You think Minos might be picked this year?" Her head shot up and her brow furrowed together, "Hey, hey, sorry! Just thinking outside the box is all." Harper shot back as he put up his hand in defense against her icy glare.
"Minos has one more year and after that he'll go work for the Sirenia, just like you. That's that. No being reaped or going to the Capitol for him." She proudly stated, watching as the light bob of his floater signaled for a catch.
"But how many slips are his this year? I mean, he has to have at least twenty by now," Harper mentioned as he began to real in his own line slowly, the tug of a fish on the end.
"Thirty six," she corrected, watching her own floater intensely, "but I know he won't be taken from me, I just know it."