2. Working late
As soon as Katniss realises Peeta is looking at her she lets out a shriek. Her reaction confirms Athena's earlier suspicion that despite Katniss's outwardly tough nature, the district girl is very shy and naïve. Katniss belatedly throws her arms over her private parts and backs away into her bedroom. Peeta simply stands there looking bewildered, although Athena notices that he makes no attempt to avert his eyes.
It strikes Athena as amusing that Katniss should happily display herself before Cinna, Haymitch and her, while being horrified that Peeta should see her dressed so immodestly. But then Cinna has presumably already seen her naked; Haymitch is too drunk to notice anything; and Athena is a nobody in the girl's eyes. Yet again, Athena silently questions what possible role could Fate hold for Katniss. A Hunger Games tribute needs to show courage and skill to survive in the arena. A silly timid girl is merely fodder for those tributes who will exploit any weakness. And if Katniss doesn't survive the 74th Hunger Games, then how is she to perform whatever role Fate has ordained for her in the battle to overthrow the evil rule of President Snow. For it is that battle which Athena believes more than ever that she and Katniss are fated to play major roles. Fate. It always comes back to Fate.
Peeta returns to his room while Athena finishes tidying up Haymitch's contribution to the room décor. It suddenly dawns on her that she hasn't seen QE788 for a while. Athena completes her work and goes to look for QE788. She finds her sitting by the service elevator eating a plate of food. There's a second plate placed by her side, which Athena assumes is her share of the meal made up from the tributes' leftovers. It's not much, and she briefly wonders whether QE788 has sneaked some of Athena's share onto her plate. It's an easy trick to do, and there's minimal chance of being caught if you're careful. Athena gives a questioning look at QE788 but she shows no sign of guilt. Athena settles down to eat the cold food. She eats slowly so as to make the meagre rations last as long as possible. An Avox soon learns how to minimise the effects of hunger.
Athena and QE788 still have another hour of duty before they are due to be summoned to the Avox dormitories in the basement. The dormitories are little better than a line of large prison cells, each with bunks for twelve Avoxes. Since they will be among the last Avoxes to finish work tonight they'll be forced to sleep wherever they can find a bunk. Officially the dormitories should be segregated by gender, but the supervisors never enforce the rule, and an Avox isn't in a position to complain. Early in her training Athena had learnt to be wary of two-legged predators in the mixed gender dormitories. Even so, it's far better than being forced to live and work in the dank service tunnels underneath the Capitol.
The empty plates are dispatched to the kitchen as soon as Athena finishes her meal. The suite is quiet now that the tributes have retired to their rooms and Haymitch seems to have fallen asleep. A short while later they are disturbed by a sudden noise. Both Avoxes go to investigate and they see Cinna preparing to depart.
"Haymitch has passed out," says Cinna. "Check on him before you go off duty in case he has been sick again."
Both Avoxes nod in acknowledgement. Both hope Haymitch will be okay. Anything which delays them in reaching the dormitories may mean only the bunks in D5 will be unused. Dormitory Five is the regular night time domain of the notorious Avox KT184. Both Athena and QE788 are fearful of KT184 ... a great brute of a man with violent tendencies, particularly towards women. Even the supervisors are careful in his handling. Why he is allowed to work in the Training Centre is a complete mystery. Thankfully he is usually assigned to work in the District One suite.
Cinna leaves. The two Avoxes set about tidying the lounge area and preparing the table for breakfast. They will be back on duty at seven o'clock in the morning, but the more they can prepare in readiness for the morning, the less frantic their early morning duties will be.
Athena is setting the table for breakfast when she hears the door to Katniss Everdeen's room open. She continues with her work although she watches the girl in case she requires something. Katniss looks around her as though she doesn't want to be noticed. It's a forlorn hope since not only does Athena see her, but at least two security cameras have her in their sights. However, she may be lucky. The cameras aren't likely to be actively monitored at this time of night, and Athena has no reason to betray her. The cameras have motion sensors capable of alerting the security officers in the control room of any detected movement, but the sensors won't be switched on until after Athena and QE788 finish their work.
Katniss sees Athena, but she doesn't seem concerned by the presence of her silent witness. As for Athena, she simply watches as Katniss walks towards the adjacent room. Peeta Mellark's room. Athena notices that the girl is still wearing the skimpy nightie, despite her earlier embarrassment. Katniss knocks lightly on the room door and it is promptly opened. The speed of the response to Katniss's knock suggests Peeta Mellark is expecting his visitor. An assignation is easy enough to arrange. The communications console in each room enables both voice and video calls to be made to almost anywhere in the entire building.
Athena is wrong in assuming that the meeting between Katniss and Peeta is of a romantic nature. Notwithstanding the alluring attire Katniss is wearing ... which doesn't leave Peeta entirely unaffected ... their meeting has a more serious purpose. What Athena doesn't know is that the subject of the conversation between Katniss and Peeta is her. She would panic if she knew how careless the two tributes are being by openly talking about Athena in full view of a hidden camera. Fortunately the camera has switched off automatically because Peeta is present in his room. The Head of Security would have liked to override this half-hearted attempt at granting privacy to the tributes, but the Gamemakers insist. Not that the Head of Security always complies with the Gamemakers commands, but in this case he has done so.
Katniss is far from happy about Peeta's demands that she come to his room tonight. But Katniss owes him a favour for covering up her mistake at the dining table. She now realises that she could have caused both herself and the Avox girl serious trouble by claiming that she knew the girl. The Avox girl is obviously a traitor ... Katniss admitting that she knows the girl would draw unwanted attention to Katniss and her family. Fortunately, Peeta's smooth words made it appear to everyone listening that it was a simple case of mistaken identity. He was lying though. Peeta and Katniss both know that the Avox girl bears no resemblance to Delly Cartwright.
Favour or not, it's an odd time of night for Peeta to be wanting to discuss the Avox girl. Katniss assumed at first that it was simply a ploy by Peeta to get Katniss into his room. She'd noticed the way his eyes never left her body as she fled to the safety of her bedroom earlier. It took her a while to sort out her emotions about that incident. She was shocked and embarrassed, but also rather pleased that she could draw that kind of admiration from a boy. It's not that Katniss hasn't thought about boys and sex before, it's just that she's always been too busy trying keep herself and her family alive. And now, when her life may be abruptly ended within a few weeks, she finds that such thoughts have forced their way to the surface of her mind.
It took Katniss a few moments to agree to Peeta's demand for a late night meeting. It was only when Peeta solemnly promised that he would make no sexual advances that Katniss agreed. Actually, she would probably have agreed anyway, and a small part of her is disappointed that Peeta felt the need to make such a promise. Katniss is the sort of girl who doesn't react well to being given orders, or having limitations put on her actions. Out of sheer stubbornness she decides against changing into more appropriate clothing, and she flounces into Peeta's room in a state of near nakedness. After all, although Peeta promised not to make sexual advances, Katniss didn't promise that she wouldn't do likewise. If nothing else, it means Katniss can use the new found power of her body to bend Peeta to her will.
To Peeta's credit, he tries hard to hide the disturbing effect the sight of Katniss's body is having on him. Like Katniss, he has never been an active participant among the circle of school friends who are constantly finding ways to explore their flowering sexual emotions. He would probably do himself and Katniss a favour if he stopped the pretence and invited Katniss into his bed. But both of them are inexperienced, and neither realises how much the other secretly wishes to throw caution to the wind and make out.
So a sexually charged meeting is limited to a discussion on politics and the like ... and what crime the red-haired Avox girl could have committed to warrant such a punishment. Far from dampening Katniss's obsession with the girl's background, Katniss is even more determined to make amends for her failure to help the girl in the woods of District Twelve. An hour later, Katniss returns to her room. She's surprised to see the two Avoxes are still here, although they are preoccupied in dealing with a problem in Haymitch's room. She debates whether she should investigate the problem, but it's unlikely there will be anything she can do that the Avoxes aren't already doing. Besides, Katniss doesn't feel inclined to give Haymitch some free eye candy. Instead Katniss goes to bed.
Athena and QE788 are both secretly fuming at Haymitch's unreasonable demands. Just before they are due to finish their duties, Haymitch staggers out of his room calling for drink and food. Not an easy to prepare snack, but something that will require time to make. He must have the constitution of an ox given the comatose state he was in barely an hour earlier. Athena relays the order to the kitchen, but the supervisor informs her that the kitchen is closed until morning and that they will need to prepare the meal themselves. QE788 draws the short straw and spends nearly twenty minutes in the kitchen while Athena serves Haymitch with a succession of drinks. By the time QE788 returns with the meal, Haymitch is intoxicated once again and has forgotten that he had ordered a meal. In his confusion he nearly knocks the meal onto the floor, and promptly falls onto his bed and goes to sleep. Athena and QE788 are in the process of secretly eating the unwanted food when Katniss emerges unnoticed from Peeta's room. It's fortunate Katniss doesn't investigate what was going on, or both Avoxes could be in serious trouble.
It's nearly one o'clock in the morning when Athena and QE788 finally report to the area in the basement which serves as the Avox living quarters. As they had feared, their late arrival means the only unoccupied bunks are in Dormitory Five. They quickly prepare for bed, taking great care not to disturb the slumbers of KT184. It's going to be a sleepless night for Athena and QE788, and both of them are determined to be up and ready for duty before the other Avoxes in D5 are woken at six o'clock. Getting up early will at least mean they can shower and dress unobserved by the other Avoxes in D5. It isn't a plan which will guarantee avoiding an encounter with KT184, since the door to D5 will remain locked until six-thirty. Once freed from their cell, Athena and the others will have twenty minutes for breakfast and a further ten minutes to get to their assigned suites. Avoxes aren't permitted to use the elevators, so Athena and QE788 will need to climb the stairs to the topmost suite in the building.
After the tributes' breakfast has been cleared away, their supervisor orders QE788 to help in the basement kitchen. Athena is left alone to tidy up the District Twelve suite. Katniss and Peeta soon leave for their training sessions with the other tributes, and Haymitch doesn't stay for much longer. Athena knows she isn't really alone. The security cameras are everywhere, and everything she does is monitored. Nevertheless, Athena manages to take a good look in Katniss's bedroom as she services her room. Personal belongings can tell a lot about a person, and Athena wants to know as much about Katniss as she can possibly find out. Fate has linked Katniss to Athena's destiny, but the reason why still eludes Athena.
Unfortunately Katniss wasn't allowed to bring any personal belongings to the Capitol, other than the clothes she was wearing at the start of her journey. The blue dress doesn't tell Athena much, other than Katniss comes from a poor, but not destitute, family. Fortunately other things can give clues about a person ... the last television channel their entertainment console displayed, for instance. In Katniss's case, the television hasn't been used at all, which is unusual. However, Athena recalls seeing Katniss go into Peeta Mellark's room late last night. She didn't see Katniss return to her own room, although her bed has been slept in.
Peeta's room provides more clues; both about Peeta and Katniss. Peeta's bed shows signs that only one person slept in it. It means Katniss's presence last night wasn't likely to be for a romantic tryst. It's not conclusive evidence. Athena only needs to recall how she and Gideon used to make out. It was far from being a comfortable position for Athena, but Gideon felt the comforts of a bed were for wimps, and Athena's views didn't count.
Athena continues her investigation while she cleans the room. What nobody here knows is that Athena is very observant and spying is her speciality. That's her main role in the secret organisation plotting to overthrow President Snow. It's still a role she performs for her allies, despite her enslavement. Only now, of course, she needs to be cleverer than ever in carrying out her role.
It's mid morning by the time Athena completes her duties. Now comes the hardest part of the day. She must simply stand and wait in case one of the guests comes to their suite and requires something. A humane regime would allow Athena to sit, but there's nothing humane about the treatment of Avoxes. She must stand in full view of a security camera, and woe betide Athena if she's seen leaning against a wall or is caught nodding off. To break the boredom, Athena mentally recalls all the things she has learned through spying in the Training Centre since her arrival. It's an impressive list, although Athena hasn't been able to relay all of her gathered intelligence to her contact in the secret organisation. To Athena, though, the critical piece of intelligence which is missing is what role in the overthrow of President Snow is Katniss Everdeen destined to play.