They are sitting around the table, worrying. The whole country has been shaken by the Dark Days, and shocked by the Capitol's final blow. The most powerful of the Capitol sit around a table.
"We can't! Do you want another Dark Days?" shouts a middle-aged ruddy-faced man.
A young pretty woman puts her hand on his arm. "Papa."
She looks at the president, a frown playing on her red lips.
"My father is right. If you want to have respect, and ultimately, submission, from the districts, we must treat them with kindness."
The president puts his face in his hands. Finally he turns to his advisor.
"Neel. What do you think?"
Remus Neel stares at him. He says, "Do whatever you can to keep the districts in line. If you must do this, then you must."
"We'll vote on it," says a woman with steel-gray eyes. Despite the fact that she has white hair, she is in no way frail.
"All who disagree with this preposterous idea?" blustered the red-faced man.
He and eight other people, including his daughter and the old woman, raise their hands. The president counts.
"All in favor?" asks a young man, notorious in the government for his money-and his habit of taking his unlimited anger out on everyone. He and nine people raise their hands.
Neel stares at the president. "You didn't vote," he observed.
"Yes, yes."
"Your vote will decide," points out a balding, mild-mannered man.
"For my son, Coriolanus, I say yes," bursts out the president finally.
The young man cracks a smile.
"Let the first Hunger Games begin."