"Morning, Thalia." James catches her up when she walks by his room. He is wearing the same clothes as her, a training suite they were given. "Are you ready?" he asks with his exited tone.
"For what?" Thalia turns to James.
"We are going to the training center today." He grins, but he has something very old, and wise in his expression that again, reminds her of a friend she lost.
The training center is a skyscraper that is located at the center of the Capitol. This is probably the worst part Thalia is afraid of.
They are taken to a gymnasium filled with training stations and obstacles courses. The smells of metal and bloods cover the room. Thalia is nervous, so she is thankful that James is beside her. James leads her to the practicing weapons first, where he chooses a sword and she picks up her bow and arrows.
"What a choice you've got there." He smiles. Thalia shrugs, placing the arrow onto her bow. It has been such a long time since she uses a weapon like this, and Thalia isn't even sure if she has forgotten how to use it.
"You too." She says, nodding at the sword.
James draws his sword for a moment and then he walks toward the other tributes, where a brunette girl is standing with her sword. Thalia turns away, looking at her bow. She takes a deep breath, which is what she usually does before aiming at the target. She places her fingers, holding her bow tightly and closes her right eyes for a better vision. When she lets go her arrow, the arrow plugs itself into the little red dot in the middle of the board. She sighs in relief. Far away, the clinging sound between James and the brunette girl is quite noticeable. Everyone gathers around to see them, and Thalia decides to sit back and watch. The girl takes her first hit. She punctures her sword and James was able to block it. He hits back, but the girl was shorter than him so she bends down and draws it to his legs. He jumps, but not fast enough so the sword hits him, not hard enough to take him down but he loses his balance. The girl seems to be cocky about it, she didn't notice James is hitting her sword so many time that she wasn't able to block all of the hits. Soon the girl looks more than tired, and with that advantage, he takes away her sword just by a simple hit as he brings it down to her neck. The girl raises her hands in defend, and James drops his sword, grinning.
"Did you see me fight?" James comes to her when he finishes his duel with the brunette girl. His face is red from the heat of the blood, sweating from the fight.
"Who was that?" Thalia asks.
"She is a girl, Anna, from District 1. She said I could join team career if I'm interested."
Thalia nods slightly, for some reason, she hates the idea of him being in another team.
James seems to read her mind. He tries not to laugh and looks at her raising a brow.
"Jealous?"
Thalia hits James in his stomach.
"Let's go have some lunch, I'm tired." She says, picking up her bag. She shakes her head slightly while James follows behind her.
Thalia passes James her Snickers. He has already eaten his and now glancing at her for more.
"So how old are you?" James asks, but she thinks he can guess. She looks about the same age as him, maybe even younger.
"19. You?" Thalia eats her salads with mashed potatoes.
"I'm 21, but people always say I look younger than my age." James keeps looking at her, when all she wanted to do is looking away from him. They stay quiet for the rest of the lunch, since the afternoon will be their private session with the judges. Easy, she knows she is only good at one thing, and it is archery. James on the other hand can blow them away with his amazingly sword fighting skill.
Thalia leaves the dining room, heading back to her room for some thinking. James stays, talking and laughing loudly with team career. On her way walking, she bumps into someone.
"Look where you were going." She scowls.
"Sorry" He says without looking up.
"District 5, right? I'm Mike, District 4." Mike offers his hands even though he catches her frown. Last night Kane sent her a simple message saying "Get to know the others and try to team up." So here she is, turning her frown up.
"I'm Thalia Grace…How did you know about my district?" She asks.
"It's weird, but I figure most of the tributes from your district look either unhappy or scared. You look like you are having a bad day."
"Not bad, just a tired day." She says. Mike seems to be a nice guy, and she learns that District 4 is good with surviving in tough conditions, like in water environment. "I really have to go. Prepare myself for the sessions this noon."
"I hope to see you again." He grins and disappears behind those doors. She leaves, heading to her room and takes a nap. She still has a lot of things to do in he afternoon.
"Thalia Grace." The peacekeeper calls her name and tells her to walk in the room. She has slept through 3 hours and now, more tired than ever. She crosses a long hall to reach to the room. She can feel the eyes of the judges above, looking down at her despicably.
"You may begin." Seneca Crane says. So the first thing she does is going to the bow section. They have a rack of golden, silver arrows hanging. She takes one up, doesn't look up to see if anyone was paying any attention to her. She takes the shot, but the arrow misses the center of the board. Her face turns red, but she decides to give herself another try. Instead of the golden arrow, she picks the silver one. It reminds her of Lady Artemis, of the life she used to have when she was a huntress. Her hands are shivering, but she only cares about making through the shoot. She releases the arrow as she hears a clap from one of the judges. She bows slightly, leaving the room and passing James when he is on his way.
