Union of the Stars: The 220th Hunger Games

Kayvan, newly minted Mu handler, and his charge are en route to their first assignment: containment duty in District 10's reaping. Along the way, Kayvan learns a bit more about Roan, the red type Capitol Mu he is responsible for from here on out.


Train #281

Departure from: The Capitol

En route to: District 10

Kayvan quickly discovers that Roan is quiet, and disturbingly so. His silence is almost like the silence of an avox, except Roan can speak and instead chooses to stare blankly out the window the entire time. The emptiness of thought and emotion in his expression is a stark reminder that no matter how much he appears and sounds like an average young man, Roan is a Mu and Mu are not human. Perhaps they evolved from humanity, but now they are considered an entirely different species.

But Kayvan is human. A human from the Capitol. He is accustomed to noise, lights, and music that vibrate with life and stream out of every crevice of the city he calls home. Studying was so difficult for him because he couldn't concentrate with people talking and playing music all around him, but he couldn't sit still without it, either.

It presses against him now, a physical force compressing against his ears insistently. The sound of the train passing over the tracks is near silent thanks to modern technology, giving him nothing to focus on except the Mu sitting across from him. He fidgets, tapping out the theme song to his favorite drama and even making an attempt to hum it, but he quickly grows bored.

The train is heading south, set on course for District 10. It will keep going without a single stopover until it reaches its destination down the mountains, across rivers and plains, and across the very continent of Panem itself.

They will arrive in Ten on schedule for the reaping of the 220th Hunger Games. The rest of the personnel on the train are all riding along for that purpose. Escorts, the Victor Mu who act as mentors, camera crews, several groups of Peacekeepers for security, as well as other Mu handlers with their charges. Everyone is here for the same reason.

None of that helps Kayvan's current situation.

There is nothing Kayvan can speak to Roan about to break the silence. He doubts the Mu wants to or is even capable of talking about fashion, music, TV programs, or last year's Games. He never asked if they even allow the Mu to watch the Hunger Games. Seeing their own kind kill each other could be considered a negative influence. Capitol Mu are docile, but that is only because it's possible to detect them at younger ages than the District-born Mu and training starts early.

Dread pools in his stomach when he thinks of the consequences of letting the Mu, even one as mild as Roan, watch the Games.

Finally, when the silence is so harsh that Kayvan is convinced he is going to scream if he doesn't hear anything aside from his own thoughts, he leans forward and fixes his eyes on Roan. It's worth a try at least.

"How exactly does your containment job work? I know your abilities let you amplify the performance of the psion suppressors, but how do you do it? The books don't describe the process, at least not the ones I've read. And you can probably explain it better than those stuffy papers and reports."

There. That should force him to give a decently long answer.

However, Roan frowns and narrows his eyes, lips still pressed together. It takes a full two minutes for him to respond.

"I…do not really know how I do it," he admits. He also lifts his eyes to stare over the top of Kayvan's left shoulder as he speaks.

It's a habit engrained in all Capitol Mu since childhood because it's easier to read a person's mind when maintaining direct eye contact, apparently. Having them concentrate on a different spot during a conversation is just another precaution taken to keep everyone safe. All Mu can read minds, after all. It's easily one of the more disturbing abilities they possess.

Well, short of the select few strong enough to crush a person's heart without even touching them.

Kayvan takes a deep breath. Despite the lackluster content of the response, Roan's voice is still the same as it was earlier. Warm, not quite intimate or even friendly, but not standoffish or distant, either.

"Is it difficult to do? Or easy?" Kayvan prompts him.

"Easy. Because I specialize in amplification, it's easy for me." Roan's incredibly stiff posture relaxes to the point that he almost looks normal.

Kayvan remembers the instructional videos they watched during class. The reaping is a huge, nationwide event that gathers together not only every citizen in each District, but also the rogue Mu that have yet to be detected. The only way to ensure the citizens' safety is to maintain an equally large suppression field. He never imagined it to be an easy job; Roan is just one small, human-shaped body against at least a few tens of thousands.

"I see," he nods. No point in questioning his abilities. Roan has been assigned this work since he was sixteen. "Do you have to know how the suppressors work in order to amplify them?"

"Not…really. Just the basics. I think about the result I desire and concentrate, and it happens."

Normally, one would shrug to express their uncertainty here. Kayvan would. But Roan does nothing except continue to stare at that point just to the left of Kayvan's shoulder. He blinks, but it is painfully slow when he does.

"If you are worried about my proficiency, there should be records in my files–"

"I read it," Kayvan says, voice rising sharply. He read it a grand total of twenty times, in fact. Over and over again, just in case.

"Sorry." Roan quiets down with a flat, quite insincere apology, and Kayvan wonders if he should bother to rebuke him. On one hand, he shouldn't be allowed such disrespect. On the other hand, he might be in a foul mood today. They recommend that handlers not push their charges too hard. Mu might not be human, but like other animals, they do have off days.

Besides, Roan's file indicates that he hasn't seen any fieldwork since his last handler quit two months ago, so perhaps it's a case of going stir-crazy. Who knew Mu could be as testy as humans?

However, they are back to silence now, as a result of the lapse in the conversation.

Capitol trains are the fastest they have ever been, but it still takes quite a while to reach the outer Districts. Kayvan sighs and taps at his tablet, flipping through Roan's file for the twenty-first time since he received the thing.

There isn't much to read. One page is enough space to summarize a Mu's entire life.

Roan is just above the average in every aspect except physical fitness and capability. The most interesting thing on his page is the score that indicates he is healthier than most Capitol-born Mu.

Kayvan never took the science-oriented classes, so he has no idea why this is, but the raw psionic potential of the Capitol-born Mu tends to be stronger than District-born Mu. Most chalk it up to a fundamental difference between people in the Capitol and the Districts, which is a given. Everyone knows that. The curious thing is that Capitol-born Mu tend to have weaker bodies, up to and including various vision, hearing, and speech impairments.

The file says that Roan is prone to ammonia, so he shouldn't be left operating out in the rain for too long. But other than a minor weakness in his lungs and below average physical stats, he is healthy.

Humming as he reads the file again, Kayvan looks up to ask Roan the one thing that isn't written there.

"Roan. What was it like growing up? You were born in the Capitol and brought to the facility when you were young, right?"

Capitol Mu can generally be detected in infancy due to their stronger psionic wave patterns, but the powers themselves don't manifest until later, around the same age as District-born Mu. Kayvan knows that they undergo training of some sort to make them safe for humans to handle, but little else.

"I was born in the Capitol, but I lack many memories from my childhood until my powers manifested," Roan explains. His eyes narrow a bit in concentration. "As far as I know, I was raised in the facility with the other Mu in my age bracket."

Kayvan frowns. That is certainly strange. Memory loss seems like a big deal, something that should be in his file. But maybe no one has asked him this question before to find out.

"What did they teach you?" Kayvan asks next, leaning forward eagerly. He figures that he's lucky for getting that much out of him already.

"How to control our abilities," Roan provides succinctly. He says nothing more.

Kayvan leans back with a huff. He had thought that, despite being nonhuman, a Mu would at least have enough social graces to hold a conversation. Apparently, he was hoping for too much. The Victors, of course, have plenty of personality. But Kayvan needs at least another decade of experience before he can work with them. For now, he's stuck with Roan.

Time passes and the two occupants keep to themselves.

Eventually, however, Kayvan can't stand the quiet. He used up an hour tapping out emails and answering his friends' phone calls, but when he has exhausted those forms of entertainment, he is back to staring at the Mu in front of him.

"What does it feel like to…" Kayvan hesitates. Even thinking of this could be considered dangerous, but he has wondered ever since he started learning how to be a Mu handler. "What does it feel like to read someone else's mind?"

However, Roan simply blinks and looks down at his hands. His fingers are perfectly aligned, curled slightly like a cat elegantly lounging in a windowsill.

"It feels like when I speak with you," he says. Kayvan frowns at that answer. "Only, my throat hurts less."

Kayvan straightens in his seat, a thin stream of adrenaline coursing through his veins like fire. This is the first time he has volunteered information that Kayvan didn't have to pry out of him, and it's a complaint to boot. He doesn't seem sick; his cheeks are pale, not overly flushed, and his eyes are clear and focused. His voice doesn't waver, either.

"Are you ill? You should have said something earlier. Your file says you're prone to sickness, and they predict it will be cloudy and overcast in District 10. You really need to tell me these things ahead of time. I know you're a Mu, not a human, but communication is of utmost importance in–"

Roan leans away as if retreating from an approaching hand even though Kayvan isn't anywhere close enough to touch him. How odd.

"That's not." He pauses. "I'm not sick."

He emphasizes the word 'sick' in a way that startles Kayvan. That isn't a Capitol accent; it's more like one of the middle Districts'. Every other word was spoken in his normal, warm voice that contrasts so much with his stiff posture, except for that word.

"Then what are you?"

"I'm not used to talking so much," Roan says.

Kayvan just notices that he has been swallowing an awful lot for someone who hasn't been drinking water.

"Oh," Kayvan says, feeling silly. Of course, most people would feel as Kayvan felt earlier, so this would never normally come up. What is there to talk to a Mu about? They don't exactly make for great conversationalists. If Kayvan wasn't so bored, he wouldn't even have tried. "Sorry, then."

"You don't need to apologize," Roan says. "If you have questions, it is best that you ask them now while we have time."

That's one of the rules. No talking to the Mu in public. It would be dangerous if some impressionable citizen got it into their heads that talking to all Mu is as safe as talking to trained Capitol Mu, or even the Victors. The only talking they are allowed is anything pertaining to their job.

"Right. So, District 10." Roan's file says that he has never been assigned there. Last year, it was to District 12. "I think District 10 is a lot nicer than Twelve. I've never been to any of the Districts, actually, but it looks a lot less gloomy in the videos."

Roan nods politely. "The air was dusty in Twelve."

"It'll be dusty in Ten, too," Kayvan points out. He pauses. "Twelve is more sooty than dusty, though…"

Roan has nothing to say to that. And, honestly, neither does Kayvan.

Right. This isn't working. Kayvan does not want to spend the rest of the train ride comparing the air quality in Twelve to Ten.

Roan goes back to staring out the window, leaving Kayvan to wallow in the silence alone.


I see people ask questions at the end of chapters often and thought it would be fun. You don't have to answer them, as there is no sponsorship system (well, in the story there is, of course).

What do you think of Kayvan and Roan? What role do you think they play in all this?