- CHAPTER TWO -

I sat on the ground glumly. I had just said goodbye to my mum and brother, and I was feeling sad and distressed.
"Dove, we have to go now. They're loading the train and we'll be off to the Capitol as soon as they're done." Gallin held his hand outstretched, beckoning me to grab to hoist me up. But I didn't want to go.
"They'll make you go no matter what, Dove. We have no choice, you know that." I nodded. He could always tell what I was thinking. I shoved his hand away and stood up, brushing the leaves and dirt off. We headed off to the trains in silence. It was unbearable. When we reached the doors of the train, a kind person gave us complimentary chocolate, a good luck pat on the back, and closed the doors behind us.
"Your rooms are in Carriage 7, boy's on the right, girl's on the left. No funny business." The woman said, grimness and just a touch of anger in her eyes. I just nodded, too dull to think as I walked down the corridor to my room. No. It'd never be my room. Not the one on the train, not the one at the Tower. My room was back home. Where I would never return to. I quickly slid the door closed, and almost instantly fell to the floor, tearing at my hair, screaming and crying. I wanted to go back. I wanted to go back. I wanted to go back…

I awoke suddenly to a knock on the door.
"Dove! Please! Let me in!" called a desperate voice. I sighed, then got up and opened the door.
"Wha do ya wan…" I slurred from sleepiness. Gallin laughed, a twinkle in his eye.
"To sing you good morning of course!" he laughed even harder at my terrified gaze. He ran into my room, thrust open the wardrobe, picked out some clothes and threw them on the bed.
"Here. Get dressed." Then I was the one that burst out laughing, his cheeks turning red as he realised his mistake and backed out of the room. I shook my head, still grinning, and picked out some nicer clothes to wear.
A couple minutes later, there was a swift knock on the door, and I opened it to let him in again. Gallin was dressed in a loose-fitting olive green tunic, with a black belt, long scruffy pants, and shoes that looked way too small for him. He saw me looking and shrugged.
"It's some of my best clothes. And you aren't wearing any better." Probably the first right thing he had ever said in his life. I went over to the mirror and had a look myself. I was wearing a buttoned pale blue shirt with baggy shorts that came down to my knees. At least the sandals were nice. I turned to him, grinning. Then he pulled me in and kissed me, arms wrapped around my waist. Just like that. After a moment's shock, I started kissing him back, hard and passionately, grabbing his hair. I explored his lips, his mouth and tongue, fascinated. He eventually softened to almost just touches, and then stopped all together. It was amazing. Without speaking a word, he gave me a quick peck and left the room, my heart pounding wildly. Then I cursed myself - and him. One of us was going to die, and now it had just become an awful lot more complicated.

I arrived at breakfast late. It took a lot of courage to get up at all and even more to drag myself to the dining table.
"So you're finally here, are you?" I turned around, and Gallin gave me a nervous smile. I smiled back.
"Yeah."
"Do you know who's teaching us?" I shrugged, acting like it had never happened.
"Well I guess it has to be Larje for me; but it could be either Paulio or Uwen for you." I grimaced. Larje was very strict and stubborn. She won because she refused to ally with anyone, and ambushed the groups at night until she was the only one left. Paulio was a cheerful man who won by poisoning everyone's food when they weren't looking. It was really quite clever, and people couldn't work out why others were just falling sick and dying. Uwen was a rather sensitive and quiet man, but excelled in the art of fist fighting and knife throwing. He never missed.
"Who do you want?" I asked Gallin. He scratched his chin as he thought carefully.
" I reckon I'd want…" he was stalling. I rolled my eyes.
"Hmm…" I raised an eyebrow at him, and he laughed.
"OK, OK. Probably Paulio, cause he's fun to work with. But then again, Uwen is amazing at the hand-to-hand combat, and I really need to brush up on that. Oh, I don't know."
"Well then you're lucky you don't get to decide, aren't you?" interrupted a voice. We turned around, and upon seeing Paulio, we both cracked up laughing. Paulio glared at us, before joining in.
"Oh, I love kids. They stare in the face of death, and laugh all the same." He shook his head. "But we must get to work. We need to decide what to focus on for your training. As the famous Rilla once said, never show your best skills in a simple battle. Save them for the fight to the death, where surprise counts most. Or did she say to jump on your enemies when they were sleeping under your tree? I never remember." Silence surrounded the room now, but it was a good silence. The kind that makes you feel happy inside.
We spent majority of the afternoon joking with Paulio, but grew serious as we discussed proper tactics. Then something occurred to me.
"Paulio… Where's Larje?"
"She's at a meeting. She'll be here tomorrow, when we train separately. But don't worry about that for now. We must discuss our – err, your tactics for the games." He turned to face Gallin, who gulped.
"So. What can you do?" Paulio asked. After a brief pause to think, Gallin shrugged. Paulio frowned. "Surely you're good at something?" Still Gallin shrugged. Paulio sighed. "What was your score for this year's AA?" Gallin gulped, looking at his shoes.
"I… I'm not in the Academy." He whispered. Paulio rolled his eyes and groaned. Then he turned to me.
"What about you? Are you any better?" he pleaded me. I nodded my head ever so slightly. He grinned. "How old are you, Dove?"
"Seventeen." I replied.
"Seventeen? Hmm. You don't look like it…" he commented. It was true. I was short and skinny, with freckles and crazy brown hair that was forever as curls. My eyes were no better; a vibrant green that, I swear, were getting brighter as I aged.
"Yeah, I get that a lot."
"You were in group seven… yes?" I nodded and he smiled. "What was your FAR?" I grew silent, and he started to groan again. "Please just tell me. I don't care if it's horrible. Well, actually I do, but-"
"Commander." I whispered.
"Huh- what? What did you say?" Paulio cupped his ears towards me. I gulped. My position was rare; firstly, being a commander from District One, secondly, being a commander sent to the Games.
"Commander." silence. Paulio stared at me, mouth agape.

"You have got to be kidding me."