Allies

Chapter One: Boy Meets Girl

"Every now and then the stars align/

boy and girl meet by the grand design/

could it be you and me are the lucky ones?"

~ "The Lucky Ones" by Lana Del Rey

Cato was showing off again.

He was the biggest of the eight year old group in the "unofficial" District Two training facility, and his size was an advantage he didn't really need. It was barely ten in the morning, and he had already bested two older boys at hand to hand fighting. Now his peers were watching him with mingled admiration and apprehension as he chucked a spear around. But when the door opened and the little girl walked in, the attention shifted to the new arrival.

She was the very picture of innocence. Her frame and features were petite and elfin. She had small but stern black brows that gave her doll-like face a startlingly intense appearance. Her dark hair was pulled into two childish braids, and constellations of freckles stood out sharply on her pale skin. Even compared to the other five year olds, she was small; built so fine and delicate that she got a few chuckles when she walked in the door.

The chuckles didn't last long.

Within an hour of her entrance, Clove had beaten every other trainee - both male and female - from the five to seven year old age group, sending several of them home in tears. The training had largely halted for the day while everyone watched this tiny, fairylike girl defeat children who had been training since she'd been in diapers.

And then she set her sights on Cato.

Even at eight, Cato was a hard person. He had coached himself to be that way. He liked to think that he didn't allow fear into his mind, but at his heart he was a coward. And when Clove turned her dark brown eyes, gleaming with a harsh pride, onto his... a slow chill ran down Cato's spine.

The attitude in the room had shifted. Everyone was whispering worriedly now, concerned for the young girl. She couldn't beat Cato. He was going to flatten her with blinking one blonde eyelash. Shouldn't someone get between them before things got ugly? But nobody dared to.

Cato narrowed his blue eyes as Clove circled him. She'd scared him, and fear made him angry. He would show this little girl that no one could threaten him and get away with it. He'd been watching her carefully; he'd watched her get sloppy when she had someone on their last legs. Her excitement made her careless. He could use that.

But even as he planned it, mapping out the attack in his mind, Clove moved in on him. She was fast, a lot faster than he was. She landed blows against his ribs and then ducked away before he could lash back out. Cato was slowly being filled with fury that he was being shown up by a girl who was literally half his size. He moved to strike her, but she was behind him, and gave him a hard shove that he didn't have time to brace for. He stumbled, and she tripped him, sending him sprawling hard to the floor of the training center. Then, like lighting, she was on him, pressing the tip of a knife to his throat.

The whole place was silent. Cato, winded and wounded, looked up in the eyes of the little girl who had beaten him. In the oddest way, it was like looking into a mirror. His anger slowly ebbed and flowed out of him. It was the first and last time that he ever felt any enmity for her. After a moment of looking into those madly gleeful mischievous eyes, Cato understood that what drove Clove was the same thing that drove him. He'd never felt connected with another human being before that moment, and it was a feeling he could no sooner let go of than he could stop breathing. After seeing himself in her eyes, Cato found himself unable to be angry with Clove.

It seemed like she saw the same thing, felt the same spark of recognition between them. In fact, it seemed she'd known it before he had. She gave him a secret smile that only he saw. Then she leapt gracefully back and held out one tiny hand to him. Cato was too dazed to do anything but let her pull him to his feet.

The entire training center erupted in stunned applause.

From then on, Cato and Clove were inseparable.