Chapter two: in the light of the day...
In the light of the day, everything looks different. Worse. The island's arid landscape of the Seam heavily juxtaposes with the small pools of greenery surrounding Merchant Hill and Merchant Harbour, where inhabitants can afford irrigation, and then of course Papas and the forest, which are always green. Pruna summers are always harsh, usually spanning the four months from May until August, intense sun without a drop of rain, even the forest and Papa's start to fray at the ends. It is ironic that water should be our main concern, seeing as we are an island. But it's like the Ancient Mariners rhyme, water water everywhere and not a drop to drink ... or to irrigate crops with. The result is dry earth, dry mouths and dry spirits. Those who can get away, do.
Merchants. Those who profit from their land and their businesses, because they have ownership of it. Most Merchants are ex-pat citizens from the Capitol or Districts 1,2 or 3, mainland Panem, but you will also find citizens from districts three to twelve who have done well, and earned their place on the hill or in the harbour. They are the ones able to afford to escape the fierceness of the summers.
But for those like me in the Seam, on over taxed government land and are vastly employed in government mining work, I hope the rain will come soon.
Crashing at Madge's place after our late night dip, I opt against facing my mother and grandparents, for a solitude stroll through the Seam, it will be my last chance for a while. Swapping the dress for one of Madge's t-shirts, shirt and a wrap; I hang my mother's garment up neatly. Also pulling a pair of flip flops out of Madge's over stuffed walk in wardrobe, I start the thirty minute walk down Merchant Hill. As I twirl the end of my braid through my fingers, I try not to think about later today.
...
I did not check the time at the Undersees before leaving, but, judging by the lack of sun and the morning activity, it cannot be more than five in the morning. In the distance, I can see some of the miners on their way to work. Miners are the only ones who walk. All Merchants drive their own privately owned cars, a few take the bus, but it is very rare. Some Miner families of course own cars, it's whether they have the money to run it. Again, some of their children are lucky enough to take the bus to school or hitch rides from Merchants, but for a miner's five thirty start, with the sun still cool, there is no reason not to start the day with a walk. At least that is what Papa says.
In the summer of 2005, the king of Panem died and his brother, nicknamed 'Snow', because of the harshness of his rule came into power, and it was like winter had fallen on the tropical island. Miner's wages were cut, tax increased, and the only decent meal my siblings and I were guaranteed at school, stopped.
My sisters and I always took the bus to school. When times got hard we would walk, but more often than not, a Merchant family would pick us up on the way. When times were really hard, and I guess it showed in our physique, they would bring a packed breakfast for us, but I would always decline, and despite the loud rumblings of our stomachs, insist that we were fine. That was the way it had to be. I did not want to owe any Merchant family, and Miner's already had it hard enough.
"- Miss Everdeen", a voice calls me out of my somber recount of hard hard times. I am nearing the bottom of the hill, where a few Miner family dwell. My papa no longer works in the mines, but if I am walking at this time of the morning, quite often on the weekend when I am not at school, his old work friends would always be ready for a conversation. My afternoon departure, of course, the hot topic. They say how proud my papa is of me, but I am not so sure. Still, I accept their well wishes of good with what I hope is a sweet smile.
The Seam. It lies either side of Merchant Hill. Extreme wealth next to poverty. I have come to the crossroads at the birth of the hill. If I turn left, it will lead me to the Seam extreme. Extreme because poverty is much more intense, and folks there have come across extreme hard times. If you have a dog that wanders across to that side of the Seam, it is not coming back. Carrying further you will eventually meet the mines, or Pruna airport.
A hard right, will take me to my Seam and the forest. Although this side of the Seam, we have come across hard times, we never complain, because we know that the Seam folks to the left of us have it harder. Whereas all houses here have some sort of electricity, there, most everything is done my candle light.
Then a regular right will lead you on to Merchant Harbour, where more Merchant's reside but also their businesses. It also leads to my school, Pruna Private School for girls. I used to go to Seam Academy, which is located in the right of the Seam, and one of the reasons I know how harsh hard times can get there. But again, after Peeta Mellark showed an interest in me, my Capitol grandparents suddenly appeared and plucked my sisters and I out of that institution, and we have been going to school on the 'right side' of the island for almost two years.
I bear a hard right, and am met by the entrance of Papa's land. An oasis of nine acres of fertile land, lying where the Merchant quarters meet the Seam. Papa in really lucky to have this land, and many of a Merchant has come to try and buy it off him, or the government, who will probably sell it on to some Merchant or Capitol citizen as their second home. But Papa, unlike most families in the Seam has rights to this land, everything he profits on this land is his, he does not have to give sixty percent to the government like most families. Which is why so many of its citizens resort to the dangerous trade of working in the mines, it is the only way to make a decent wage. That, or if you stay the course of school, you can work for the Merchants. Gale says he would rather die though, then work for a Merchant.
My Papa inherited this land from his Capitol father, who left it in his name before he went back to his family in the Capitol. Papa says he does not feel a way about his father's neglect, he was a man approaching his sixties when Papa was born and Papa says things were different back then. Besides, in Papa's mind, he gained something better than a father.
And he was right, I think, smiling at the sun which has now appeared and trying to break through the expanse of trees. I pick up a fallen mango, and idly observe whether anything has changed since I left yesterday afternoon, when my mother dragged me back up the hill.
Up until thirty years ago, District 12 used to be farmland, like our much larger neighbouring island, District 11. But then they found coal, and a lot of the land was flattened and transformed for industry, and for cost efficient reasons, took over District 2s industry. 2's main industry now is research and development - weapons.
Added to that, the elderly Queen of Panem, on one of her visits at the turn on the millennium had complimented the beauty of the island, going on to reside in Pruna for six months. I met her once. She came to visit my nursery school in the Seam, she smiled down at me with kind blue eyes, her glistening silver hair pinned up in a bun. She asked me to sing, and so I sung the Valley Song. In the silence that followed, I had opened my mouth to apologise, thinking I had done something wrong. But she had placed a hand on my lips and smiled down at me, whispering to me that my gift was my song because even the birds had stopped their song to listen to my voice. That experience aside, since the elderly Queen of Panem's stay, the amount of ex-pats relocating to Pruna increased, and it suddenly became a number one tourist destination. Ours as well as every districts' second most important industry, tourism.
Reaching the small three room wooden house where we used to live. I once again trade clothes for my father's hunting outfit, stopping to pet Prim's goat, Lady, before heading deeper into the trees towards the forest.
The forest is kings land, and so sectioned off by a high electric wired fence to the rest of Pruna. From what I learnt in my extra history lessons with Effie, they have sectioned areas like this in all districts, in an attempt to preserve wildlife. I think its funny, they go out of their way to concern themselves over the welfare of their animals, but not their own people.
The exact size of the forest, is over one hundred acres, stretching most of the right side of the island, me and Papa tried to measure it once on a camping trip, and that was as far as we got. Technically, no one is allowed in there, but technically we are not trespassing as the forest naturally flows into Papa's land, an oversight that they have not yet discovered because no government official is legally allowed on Papa's land without his permission.
There are a diverse range of animals in the forest, ranging from the native wild pigs and rabbits, to the imported deers and squirrels. The only fence that we do have, is the wooden one that Papa installed to stop the animals eating our crops, and risking the chance of exposing our secret. However I would love to see everyone in the Seam's faces when they see a live full grown fat stag walking down their street.
Six acres or so into the forest, I locate the tree where Papa hides his bow and arrow. We do not really eat a lot of meat, on account for all the fruits and vegetables that we grow, but Merchants and the tourism industry do, and so do a lot of hungry Seam families. We have to be careful to who we sell our meat to, we would not want the information getting into the wrong hands. However, with our summers increasingly becoming more extreme, and stretching into our spring and autumn months, a lot of government officials buy and turn a blind eye to our trade.
Approaching the hollow log, I smile at Rue's cat, Thorn, because of the large thorn in the cat's paw when Rue found her as a kitten. Thorn waits for me by the tree. Her brown tabby coat, blending with the tree trunk and the earth. I give her a scratch behind her ears. Like me, she does not like our new dwelling on Merchants Hill. Unlike me, she is able to stay down here.
...
I am cleaning one of the rabbits I shot next to the muddy pool, which in the fall rainy season, turns into a great lake; about thirty or so acres into the woods when I hear it. The birds echoing Rue's song. Full already with animals' entrails, Thorn hears it too; the solo crescent moon shaped leafy green eye that had been lazily watching me, suddenly becomes two full orbits. And with a long stretch of her sleek body, she leaps off the hot stone she was resting on, disappearing back in the direction of Papa's land.
A wave of guilt washes through me. I promised Rue we would go to Papa's and the forest together, one final outing before my departure. She has quite a knack for hunting. While her archery skills are not the greatest, her traps are almost second to none. Gale teases it is because he is a better teacher than I am. Although, his brother Rory is quite adept with a bow. One person neither of us has had success with is Prim. Even getting her past Papa's territory and into the forest.
I look over to my pile of carcasses: a solo squirrel, four rabbits and three wild pigs, all with a straight shot through their eyes. For a nearly four month summer with not a drop of rain, it is a king's feast. Whereas in cool places, animals hibernate in their winter, in Pruna, it's summer. I feel almost guilty, hiding out in a tree top, the family of three pigs, I took advantage of their desperate dash for a sip of muddy water, one of them a very late suckling piglet, rolling and playing around in the mud, I doubt it even knew it was hit. I do not know what came over me, but my bow and I were on fire this morning, for reasons I do not even want to think why... Ah well. It will feed more than a few hungry stomachs in the Seam.
It is going to take at least two trips to lug them all back though...
I wonder what time it is.
That is the only negative of the forest and Papa's land, the canopies are so high, I cannot place the sun to gage the time.
..
In the end I just take one pig, the squirrel and rabbits, and the other half of the animal entrails for Prim's cooking fat 'Princess' Buttercup. Stringing the rest of it up on a nearby branch for Gale to collect later. Gale and his family are the only ones who know about Papa's secret entrance to the forest, I do not know how others think we access the forest, probably the same way they could, by sea or creating a gap in the fence. It is supposed to be electric, but Papa says it has not been turned on in over ten years. There was once a time when the lake would always be full of water, regardless of the summer. But I guess even the king's water is becoming scarce.
I cannot find Rue back at Papa's, she must have fed and walked Lady and the chickens and then left. Back in broad daylight, I predict the time to be about 8. The sun is already hot, by 11 it will be unbearable. Even Miners work during the summer months stop at 10:30, and then resume at 13:30 until late in the night. When the mines first opened, workers used to work through the day, but on account of all the hyperthermia related deaths, they adjusted the time. According to the old folks, the summer of '83 was so excruciating, they lost almost half their mining population that year.
Seam folks are out. Washing, cooking, playing, some on their way to the same place as me. From the wide concreted Merchant road that follows all the way from Merchant Harbour to the Airport, to the heavily pot holed dirt track narrow streets of the inner Seam, Miners greet me as I go. Some having gone to Mother's party last night, but most, although invited, opting to decline. As always, their wishes are for my wellness. But lately I am having more and more trouble accepting them. Not because I feel they are in-genuine, they have respect for me, for surviving hard hard times. But there has been a definite shift in our relationship, since mother moved us up to Merchant Hill.
But I cannot afford to worry about how others see me. I have Prim and Rue to worry about, their welfare is at the top of my list.
Posy and Rory meet me on the way as I pass my house. They live on the right side of the Seam. Gale's father, Cane, was not so lucky as mine. When his Capitol father returned after Pruna gained independence from Panem, he sold his land, leaving Gale's father with nothing. Cane died the summer of 1995, when Gale was thirteen years old, leaving Hazelle with three boys to raise on her laundry wages, which like most non-mining work in Pruna, is seasonal with the tourism, November to May. The legal working age for a miner is sixteen, but with the family falling on hard hard times, Cane's old boss let Gale start working aged 15. Quitting school early, he has been working their almost five years. They make enough to get by, and every Sunday, we hunt for meat for him to sell and his family to eat.
The Hob. Pruna's black market, where Gale and I sell our meat, you do not get Merchants round here, although sometimes you will find more than a few of them in the evening. I smile as I recognise a few of Papa's mangos. There are mango trees all over the island, but this particular mango, you only find at his. The young boy selling the mangos shyly looks away, but I do not mind, since moving to Merchant Hill, hunting has become more of a sport for me, and a ways in which to provide for Gale's family.
I sell my wild pig, to one of the young peacekeepers, Darius. Peacekeepers are law enforcement employed by our government to police our activity, to make sure that no one is making a profit where they should not be. Peacekeepers also have to live in the area they are policing. I like Darius, he buys my meat and turns a blind eye to a lot of the 'unlawful' activities that go on in the hob, and in return I make small talk with him and laugh at his terrible jokes.
My rabbits and squirrel, I sell to the old lady we call, Greasy Sae, who owns a rum house that sells food. When I say food, I mean one dish. Some kind of meat stew, until Gale and I started trading with her, I was always dubious about what kind of meat ended up in her pot, because I know as much as anyone that goats with their milk and chickens with their eggs are too precious to eat, but I would never question. Food is food.
...
I leave The Hob as soon as I can, eager to get back to Papa's.
I bump into Thresh on his way out of Papa's. Thresh is our neighbour, he is the same age as Gale and works with him in the mines. He was invited to my leaving party last night, but like Papa, it is not his sort of thing, and I admire him for that. Ever since I was a child, I have always been in awe, verging on crush for him. His own parents dying when he was very young, Papa took him underneath his wing, and so he has always been around, helping Papa work his land.
"Miss Everdeen", his deep voice greets, his full carved lips the same colour as his dark, almost ebony brown eyes smile at me.
I hate the fact that he addresses me like that, like every other person in The Seam, after knowing me all my life, I wish he would address me as Katniss.
"Mr Thresh", I greet politely, and he laughs. It is so infectious, that I cannot help laughing too.
Despite our history, I would not call us friends. He is Papa's friend, so I am his friend's annoying daughter.
Two years ago we both competed in the Panem Games, you have to be over 18 to compete, but they have a junior training league, from which you can compete in as young as 14. That year we represented District 12, him as an actual tribute, me as a junior. Merchants enter for fun but for folks like us from The Seam, it's a ticket to change our stars and allow our families a life outside of starvation and tireless work, to live the rest of their days in comfort. Thresh did not manage to win any awards his year, as for me, they say my greatest win was Peeta Mellark's heart.
My sister, Rue, looks like a good bet for gymnastics, but it is whether she would get through the strength training. Besides, being a tribute is not her dream, and I do not want either of my sisters doing something they do not want to do as a means to survive. That is why they have me, that is why I am going along with this charade.
I realise that Thresh is still smiling at me, and my face starts to heat up.
He rests a large hand on my heavily padded shoulder from Papa's hunting jacket.
"Just don't let them change you, Jabberjay".
...
Papa's hunting clothes hung back up on the hook where he left them, his leather hunting boots positioned underneath, I am pulling Madge's top back over my breasts when I feel someone's eyes on me.
They clear their throat.
Yanking the top the rest of the way down, I turn to meet the grey eyes of Gale, smiling lazily at me against what used to be mine and my sisters' bedroom door.
Before I know it, I have closed the distance between us and I am enveloped in his strong embrace.
It is so familiar.
I feel so ... safe.
He rubs my back gently, but I am not ready to let go, so grip on tighter to him.
He chuckles and grips on tighter to me.
"So", he soothes, "I heard you caught a wild pig?"
I nod, suddenly finding it quite hard to speak.
I blink and bite back what I think may be the same tears that have been following me the last month. They settle on my heavy heart.
"There are two more strung up in the tree near the lake. One to sell and one to eat".
He does not speak, only grips me tighter.
"I wish I could go with you", he says eventually.
And I snort, the first real smile of today forming on my face. "You in the Capitol".
And he chuckles.
"Who would be here for the kids?" I smile, referring to our siblings.
"At least I will be near you, make sure your safe".
I finally let go of his embrace. "I'm going to be fine", I assure him, looking deep into his eyes.
He smiles eventually, "yeah, I know you will be, because if anyone tries anything, they will get an arrow through their eye". He sighs mournfully, "I just don't want them to change you".
That is the second time someone has warned me of this.
"They're not going to do that", I say firmly.
A smile pulls to one side of his face, "I wish I could believe that".
I scowl and he laughs, bringing his lips to smooth my frown away.
"I have to go", he hums against my forehead, "I need to get back to Posy and Vick. I'll see you at the send off".
I move back slightly and grab his hand in mine; his gaze moves down to them joined. "Don't forget the wild pigs", I address his frown.
"I won't".
"I know you'll look after the kids".
"I will".
I go to give him a kiss on the cheek, because I know he will not come to my send off. But his face moves, and his lips end up on mine.
...
I am perched up against a giant limb in the big mango tree, contemplating Gale's kiss.
Or was it mine?
I do not think I meant it more than a kiss on the cheek ... all I meant to do was kiss him on the cheek, but then he moved and it ended up on his lips.
Two years ago, I would have said it was a friendly slip up. I probably would not have thought twice about it, but after I returned from the games, something change- my thought process gets stopped because of a light tickling sensation.
I look up and smile at the Mockingjay perched on my bare right knee.
Jabberjays are native Pruna birds. When Mockingbirds where imported in from the Capitol, they mated and so Mockingjays were produced. Sometimes in The Seam we call Capitol people Mockingbirds, because of how they like to mock and play around with citizens lives in other districts. The Mockingjay was my symbol during the games.
"Waiting for Papa?" a soft voice asks from below me, I peer down to see my mother, Lily Everdeen. She is rubbing her hands together in circles. She does that when she is nervous.
I rest my head back on the limb of the tree, dismissing her presence and question and close my eyes.
"You know he's not one for goodbyes", she says, and silence follows for a long time afterwards.
"...Katniss...", she says after a while. "It's time to go".
I am silent.
" ... I know you don't want to g-"
"Then why are you making me!" I spit down at her, breaking my vow of silence to her.
"I'm not making you do anything, Katniss", she soothes, and then pauses. She rests against the trunk of the mango tree, and I rest back on the limb. "... I'm trying to do what's best for you!" her voice juxtaposing, and suddenly angry.
I roll my eyes. The one plus about going to the Capitol, is not having to be in my mother's presence.
"I don't get you, Katniss. Every other gir- "
"Well I'm not every other girl!" I shout, moving to get down, if this argument gets anymore heated, I will cause myself an accident. Then where would Prim and Rue be. " - and if you took one second to recognise anyone other than yourself you would know that!" I bite at her when I reach the bottom, venom in my eyes, exhaustion in hers.
"I'm doing this for you Katniss, so that you can have a better life then the one you have been given so far. So that Rue and Prim, can have a chance of a better life!"
And there it is.
My Achilles heel.
A low blow.
And she knows that it is low.
But she is right. I know she is right. I am just giving her a hard time, because she is the only person apart from myself I can blame, and would care.
My back is to her now, but I can hear the car keys jingle, being played nervously between her fingers.
"You're prep team has arrive. I've come to dri-"
"I don't want it. I can walk on my own two legs".
...
My prep team visibly cringe when I enter mine and my sisters bedroom, a yelp actually escapes Flavius' mouth. Despite there being two vacant bedrooms, I share with my sisters, I think because my grandparents are worried about who I may bring back to my room. I do not mind, apart from the few months after they were born, I have always shared a room with them.
Flavius, Venia and Octavia were part of my prep team during the games, and were hired again by my grandparents to get me ready for college. I personally think it is a ridiculous over the top gesture, but the thought of my grandparents throwing their own money down the drain makes me soar.
I am sure I must look a sight. Walking up in the post-11 o'clock baking sun, after almost two hours of hunting ... I must not smell to great either.
"What time is her flight?" Octavia asks worried.
...
By 15:00 I am dressed in an outfit I did not pick buy allegedly designed; my new brand suitcases are packed with label clothes that have never entered my wardrobe, make up, hair items, shoes, bags ... all suited for a possible future Peeta Mellark's girlfriend, but not for Katniss Everdeen.
My stylist and friend, Cinna, pins the final touch, my Mockingjay pin, before resting a cupped hand against my cheek. He rubs his thumb across it soothingly, his eyes full of sadness, before standing up and leaving me alone in my room.
Prim and Rue enter. I try to smile at their new matching frocks. Again, ones which I allegedly designed.
They sit either side of me on our large double bed. I flop back first, and they both fall beside me momentarily. Rue turns on her front, and plays with the Mockingjay pin on the lapel of my coat. Prim rests her head on the right side of my chest and places her small hand on my heart.
It is beating wildly.
Rue leaves the pin to play with the artificial curls in my hair.
"We don't want you to leave Katniss", Prim whispers, and I can hear the tears in her croaked voice, feel them collecting on my chest.
"I know Little Duck", both arms trapped under their weight, so I rub her thigh soothingly, "I don't want to leave you both either, but I have too".
"You don't, I can hunt and Prim can sell Lady's milk and cheese".
"It's dangerous and illegal to hun-"
"But you do", Rue protests.
"That's because I have to", I say simply, "I don't want you going into the forest without Gale when I'm gone either".
Rue is silent.
"Rue", I warn. She is stubborn just like me.
"OK", she mumbles.
"I'm sure grandma and grandpa won't really leave us with nothing if you just stay here".
Prim.
I scowl. I wish mother would not speak to them about such affairs as if they were adults. But who am I kidding, being from The Seam, despite my best efforts, at age 13, they are already adults. Even sweet little, Posy, at two years old, sometimes wears a look I wish she would not. The product of being brought up around hard times, they do not have to be told, they can see with their own two eyes.
"You know what?"
"What?" they both reply.
"I'm looking forward to going to the Capitol"
"You are?' Rue queries, not sounding convinced in the least bit.
"I am", I assure - more to myself. "I am going to learn, see and experience things I would never be able to in Pruna, and if you work hard at school, you will be able to too".
"And Peeta is nice", Prim whispers, and my breathing stops, she moves her head,and I look down at her red eyes looking up at me hopefully.
"Yes", I put on a smile, "Peeta is nice".
...
The drive to the airport was heart renching for two different reasons. Saying goodbye to my beautiful Pruna, waving to the people who had come to see me off. Gale - as I predicted, despite his family being there, was not. Hazelle had said that he had been called into the mines last minute, but I suspect that was not true.
The other reason was because of the ugly side of Pruna. The sad bony cows munching dry earth in their mouths, producing now milk. Children of The Seam, slight, and with bones protruding, too hungry and thirsty to play, and I remember I am going not only for my sisters, not only for Gale's siblings, but all my siblings young and old in The Seam.
But seated in my own specially hired private jet for me and my entourage - more money wasted down the drain. Effie, prattling on about the big big week ahead of us, and Haymitch whining at her to stop, all I can think about is my upcoming reunion with Peeta Mellark. Is everything what everyone is saying true...? Or is it all made up?
Hi!
Sorry for no an with the first chapter, I did not really know where this was going until I wrote the second chapter. I tried to get as much of the context out of the way.
Thank you for the reviews, favourites and follows. I was not considering to do Peeta's POV, but maybe I will slip a chapter or two later on in the fic.
Reviews will get you everything
Until next update :)