We go down to the training floor in an empty elevator. The others must be there already. I took a little too long nibbling on breakfast, I think. I hadn't been checking clocks, and no one felt like telling me to hurry.

The doors slide open, Furio and I walk out, and the cloth between my shoulder blades shifts as something is safety-pinned to my shirt. Before I can turn to check, Furio shouts at the blue-shirted worker trying to get behind him.

"Hey! Youse don't sneak up on me unless you wanna get whacked."

Stiff-shouldered with alarm, he snarls as the worker, gripping a paper labeled "9," looks ot her fellow employee for help. Her eyes are so startled it's hard for me to keep a straight face.

"Give it." Furio tears her hand off the paper and glares until she willingly forfeits the safety pin. He checks over his shoulder again before pinning the number to the front of his shirt and storming ahead.

"Come on, Violetta."

"Ah." I nod and scurry after him.

The other tributes have already gathered around an athletic-looking man in a slightly different blue uniform. I step up quietly, behind the reasonably short girl from 10. I still have to peer around her, but it doesn't look like I'll really need to see the instructor ahead. It would be nice, but... Here, I'm not the Cadaverini granddaughter... I'm just another tribute... I have no power.

"You! Move it." Furio, taking a big step in front of me, seizes the bare shoulder of the girl in front of us.

"Excuse me?" She turns, her eyes narrowed. Once she strains her neck enough to look Furio over, she frowns and squishes closer to her district partner.

"Ah!" The brunette laughs lightly. "Dude, if you wanted to cuddle, you could have just asked."

She locks her gaze straight forward. "Don't make yourself more of a nuisance than you already are."

Furio makes those on the other side scoot over as the 10 boy folds his arms.

"Aw, lighten up a little, Adrian. You're just as bad as our mentor."

She wordlessly tightens her rolled-up sleeve.

"Violetta?"

"Ah..." I look up to see Furio beckoning me towards the front. "Thank you..."

The instructor gives my district partner a bemused but disapproving look before starting on his speech. His name is Neoptolem, but we can call him Neo. He and the other workers are here to assist us. Fighting between tributes is not allowed.

He glances at Furio during that part.

Various stands are available to teach us combat and survival skills. Lunch will be provided here, and no one is to leave this floor of the building until we all break for dinner, after which we will remain in the building until this same hour tomorrow. One the third day, we'll train in the morning and demonstrate our skills to the Gamemakers in the afternoon. We're expected to give them a great show, so we should do our best to polish our skills while we can.

We are free to train.

Adrian stalks off immediately, and her district partner seems a bit confused but wanders away from Neo. The crowd of tributes slowly continues to disperse as I look to Furio.

"Where should we start...?"

He frowns. "Think I'll go for the axes. Youse wanna come with, or try somethin' else?"

I rub my thin arm just above my elbow. I'm not going to be swinging any axes... "I'll... try the plant station..."

"All right. You let me know if somebody's givin' you a hard time." He glances at one of the workers, frowns, and turns back to me.

"Thanks..."

He gives me a nod before starting off for the axe station. It takes a bit of wandering before I can locate the sign for the edible plants stand. Just edible ones...? It would be useful... to know the poisonous ones as well...

Another tribute is already seated at the square table, so I take the seat across from her. An array of leaves are set out before us, but it's not very clear what we're supposed to be doing.

"H-hello."

I tilt my chin up to watch the girl across from me. Her voice was rather small, and she looks too young to be here at all, but I guess she isn't. The quicky little pretzel she's styled her hair into doesn't make her seem any more mature, either.

She stares at me before flicking her gaze to the side and chewing on her thumbnail. "Um, I don't know where the instructor went, but she said all of the leaves laid out right now is itself edible."

"She did...?" I look over the leaves, but only one looks familiar. I never would have thought to eat it back home, though... Or felt the need to...

I sift through the papery, green sheets for a minute, but the instructor still doesn't make an appearance. Maybe she's busy with another stand... There's really not much for her to do here if we're only memorizing the shape and texture of certain leaves...

"My name is Pearl Fey." The girl across from me has sat up a bit more, her eyes bright. She's more willing to speak now, I guess, now that I've lost my interest in the leaves for the time being. "I'm from District 5."

"...Viola Cadaverini... District 9. Nice to meet you..."

"You, too!" She scoots her leaves into a pile. "Do you do a lot of cooking?"

Why would she...? Oh. I guess a cook would be the most interested in this stand...

"Not really... I do bake a lot, though. And make coffee... Very strong coffee..."

"I've never had coffee..." She hesitates before brightening up again. "But I'm sure I'd love to taste yours. What do you bake? I—I'm great at little cakes!"

She's really anxious... It's almost making me upset. But I'm actually... kind of numb right now. I can keep talking.

"I'm best with cookies..."

"I bet they're great!" She nods enthusiastically before staring back at her leaves. "But we can't really cook anything for each other right now, can we?"

"I don't think so... They might consider it too dangerous..."

She puts a hand over her mouth. "Dangerous? I—" She pushes up one of her sleeves—"I'm sure you're not that bad of a cook!"

I chuckle, and she shivers a bit.

"Thank you..."

"Ah! I'm sorry!" calls someone from my right. I swing my head around to see a uniformed instructor hurrying toward us. As she draws nearer, why I thought was a scar across her cheek turns out to be a thin line of a welt. "Another tribute was being uncooperative, and I tried to help out."

She taps a few fingers to her cheek and winces. "I'll get you started—" she nods at me—"and grab some ice. So, what you have in front of you now is all edible—but only the leaves."

"She told me..." I glance at Pearl.

"Okay. Okay." The instructor wipes her hands on her thighs. "I'll get you some more samples—these will be plants whose roots are edible. Memorize them, mix them up with the other leaves, separate them. Good way to learn." She hurries to a bin at the far side of the station and snatches several leaves. Hurrying back over, she dumps some on my side and some on Pearl's. "I'll be back. Tch."

I watch her go before turning back to the table and the girl on the other side of it.


"That's all of them. Good job, ladies." The instructor leans back in her personal chair. "You can come back to review later, but there are other skills to learn out there. Go knock yourselves out."

I nod. I should probably catch up with Furio...

"Miss Viola?"

In the middle of getting to my feet, I pause and look at Pearl. She's already standing.

"Yes...?"

"Can I—" her smile fades to a serious, lucid-eyed stare—"...trust you?"

"What do you mean...?"

She keeps her eyes locked on mine. "If we meet in the arena, will we still be friends?"

"I..." That's a big promise to make... but... Pearl? If I were to meet her in the arena... we would either be friends... or trying to kill each other.

Trying to kill her would just... be evil...!

"I think... we could be friends... Yes."

She smiles. "I'm glad. So—" She puts a hand on her nine-shaped necklace. I'm sure I've seen it somewhere... on television...? "—if you see anyone wearing this necklace, don't hurt them, okay?"

I draw back. Anyone? She could give that to any of the tributes here...

My eyes drag across the aisle of the stands, all of the tributes I don't know who need me dead to get out alive. Is this... a promise I can make?

Pearl gives me that stare again. "I don't mean them."

She disappears before I can figure out how to respond. With a sigh, I just get up and start walking towards the axe stand. Furio should be easy to spot, even if he's moved on from where he started. I'd rather not spend much time wandering, though...

"Come on, Ronnie! You've got to try harder than that!"

I eye one stand, a particularly long one with a length of rubbery track bordering the aisle. An instructor sits at one end with a timer in hand. Two tributes, both from 6, catch their breath as they walk away from him.

"But Dessie! You know I'm never going to beat you!"

The woman, her large earrings swinging, smiles. "Not with an attitude like that, you aren't. Come on—give it your best shot this time."

The... man, I guess... slumps. "But I have been giving it my best shot..." He tilts his head to the side, eyes focusing off to his side. "No, that's not right. I guess it's impossible to give my best shot everytime... But maybeit depnds n hwy th..." I can't hear what he's saying anymore, but his mouth keeps moving for a while longer.

"Oh, hey!"

I snap my gaze back to the woman, who's smiling at me, one hand on her hip.

"Do you want in on the next sprint?" she asks. "Maybe Ronnie'll do a little better if he's not just trying to beat me."

"Oh... I... That's all right..." The man flinches at my voice as I take a step back.

His district partner comes to a stop. "Sorry. I guess I'm being a little pushy when I don't even know you. I'm Desireé DeLite. This is my husband, Ron."

I can feel my eyes widen. "Ah. I-I... I'm..." I can't figure out whether I'm trying to introduce myself or give condolences.

"Are dese two givin' you a hard time?"

I recognize the shout before I see Furio step up next to me, leaning in towards the DeLites with a snarl. Desireé just flinches, but Ron emits a whining screech and stumbles over his feet. My ears ring so violently from his outburst, I can barely stay standing myself.

"No, no." Desireé puts a hand on her chest. "We were only introducing ourselves."

"Why should I believe youse?" Furio doesn't budge.

"She's... telling the truth." I step up next to him. "It's nothing..."

"It better be." He gives the two another glare that sends Ron clenching and unclenching his fists. Then Furio starts walking. I follow, letting the pair slip away from my thoughts as they slip out of my sight.