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Chapter Three: A Discovery

I remember honestly thinking that we would never see civilization again. Days felt like weeks. I was very impressed with how these trainees from District Thirteen were handling themselves though; they acted as if they were used to life in the wilderness and I knew that my brother certainly was not. With that being said, they must have taught him quickly. The leadership qualities were not as surprising, he always had those back in the academy in District Two. I always respected Ostro and found that most people did respect him, despite his relationship to me. It was something about his presence that demanded your attention.

Not only did I learn a little more about my brother in these weeks, I also learned more about Layla, someone who I had known as Crystal Vox for weeks.

"I've lived in District Thirteen for as long as I can remember," She said, one day, as we strolled through the plains of Panem in what used to be farmland. Though the land was still used for this, it was much sparser than before. "Everyone has some sort of a duty there. Mine just so happened to be helping out with the intelligence. It intrigued me, I guess."

"And what did you first do with their intelligence?" I asked, watching as Obadiah skipped through the fields, cackling all the way.

"Well, I made sure everyone had their juices and coffee in the morning. That was the first thing," She said with a smirk. "Then, I was moved up to intern and I was an irregular, I guess you could say. I did so well behind the computer that I was moved up quickly. Those two were in training for a position like this for many years. For as long as you worked with the Capitol, that's how long they worked for District Thirteen. Your brother just caught on fast, he discovered us one day and he's been a professional ever since."

"Ostro mentioned Seneca and so did you earlier. When did he become involved with District Thirteen affairs?" I asked, tucking my hair behind my ear as a strong gust blew over the plains.

It had taken me this long to even mention him. For many days, I did not dare even speak his name. It caused me so much pain to even think of him. However, during those long nights when I had nothing else to dwell on, my mind wandered to what Seneca could have possibly been keeping from me. In all honesty, I wanted to think that there was a lot that he hadn't told me. I mean, he had been able to organize this whole extravaganza without my knowledge.

At the mention of his name, Steele looked over his shoulder at Layla, a look of warning on his face. She turned her gaze to me and muttered as he turned away," I'm not in the best position to delve into those details yet, but he's been involved for as long as I can remember. Even when he was young, he discovered us. Listen, I'm really in no position to say much else-"

I laughed humorlessly at this," He was my husband and yet I can't know this?"

"It's just that Seneca's involvement was very, very classified information. At one point, anyone caught even speaking his name outside of locked doors would have been punished severely. Amongst us intelligence, he was a grand man who was aiding our quest to conquer the Capitol, but amongst the other residents of District Thirteen…he was feared. He was a Capitol man; Capitols were not to be trusted," She explained under her breath to me. She emphasized the last part very strongly.

"Who's to say they're going to welcome me with open arms then?" I asked, meeting her blue eyes.

She swallowed hard and opened her mouth to answer, but paused for a moment. She took several moments of silence before saying," That's precisely what we're nervous about. However, you will be escorted by the lot of us. They will believe anything that we tell them, or rather what Coin tells them. That's the president, by the way, President Alma Coin."

I raised my brow at this before nodding," Ah, so they've a leader too. Is she an improvement upon President Snow?"

Again there was silence, as if she were in a trance, but she soon realized her paused and cleared her throat," Oh, of course. S-she's much better. Much."

Her answer wasn't exactly confident. I made mental note of this and before I could ask her any more, Obadiah was slowing down and I quickly ran back to pick him up, placing him on my shoulders for the remainder of the walk. When I came back, Layla was walking up beside my brother. It was still strange to see her without the blue hair; I shouldn't have been so surprised that it was only a hair piece and her real hair was long, brown, and curly.

BREAK

When we set up camp for the night, Ostro, Tomas, and Layla had wandered off to find some sort of food. By this point, we had reached the edge of the plains and were nearing a forest. It wasn't anything too spectacular, but they hoped it would have something worthwhile in it. Our supplies were running low after a long trek through the mountains and bare plains.

"Momma?" Obadiah asked, picking up a stick and showing it to me as if it were the finest thing he had ever seen. This transition for him had been very rough, to put it mildly. He was used to luxury and the wilderness led to many nights of tears and fits. Any time he was laughing was a memory to be cherished.

"Oh, yes. Stick," I said to him, pointing at his new toy.

"Stick?" He repeated, as if he didn't believe me.

"Yes, stick," I confirmed, smiling as he examined the branch.

Steele, who was sitting on a log just across from me, called Obadiah over to him. In these weeks, Obadiah had warmed up to everyone in our group. Currently, the dark-haired man was holding something in his hands. He and Obadiah had become quite the companions and the two-year-old thought it was always a treat when Steele wanted to speak with him. In all honesty, I hadn't said much to Steele ever since the incident at the beginning of our trek with the Peacekeepers. I tried to keep my distance from him, but in a group of five adults and a toddler, it's hard to keep away.

"To mommy?" The little boy asked, trying to keep down giggles.

"Yes, to mommy," Steele confirmed, glancing over at me before transferring whatever it was in his hands to my son. I could tell by the look on the man's face that he was up to something.

Obadiah could hardly contain his giggles as he trotted back over to me, beaming from ear to ear. I kept an eye on Steele, wondering what this could mean, before returning my eyes to my son's blazing blue ones. He was filled with this innocent joy as he cupped his hands around mine, giggling as he opened his hands and dropped something incredibly slimy into my hands. I squealed at the feel of this and looked down to see a large, grimy worm in my hands. Not expecting this texture, I dropped the critter to the ground as Obadiah scurried over to Steele, who was giving him a high five.

I narrowed my eyes at him," Very mature."

"Oh, please. A little worm never hurt anyone," He answered, his lips turning upward into a smile as Obadiah perched himself on the man's lap. "The victor of the 64th annual Hunger Games afraid of a little worm?"

I had to chuckle at this boyish trick. In the weeks I had known this man, I knew very little about his past, but I knew that he had a certain charm about him. Now, don't take that the wrong way, but he was charismatic. But at the same time, he had a good head on his shoulders. Clearly, from the first night, I could tell that he wasn't one for stupidity or even anything that seemed remotely unintelligent. He certainly was a protector which wasn't at all a bad thing. In fact, after all the risks that I had lived through with Seneca, being around people who wanted to stick to a plan was rather comforting. Now, I suppose that isn't entirely accurate seeing as they were part of a rebellion against a very powerful Capitol, but there was no reason for me to feel unsafe in their hands.

I rolled my eyes," Please, I've seen far worse than a worm, as I'm sure you can imagine."

He kept that smirk on his lips as he bounced Obadiah on his leg," Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

Never did I think that a worm would be a conversation starter for a personal question.

I avoided his eye for a moment before looking at him, fearing what he may say," Yes. What is it?"

He started to speak, but then shook his head," No, I probably shouldn't with him here-"

"Oh, really it's-"

"Obadiah! I've got something to show you!" Ostro called from several yards behind us, coming from the woods with what appeared to be game in his hands. Almost instantly, the little boy jumped from Steele's leg to run and greet his uncle. In a way, it was a good thing for us to be in this position. Obadiah was being able to meet the uncle he never knew before. It was sweet to see their relationship blossom.

Steele's eyes looked back to mine as he stood up. Just as he did this, Ostro and the others came strolling back and began to drop all of their supplies. Ostro went off to show Obadiah one of the animals he got while Tomas looked back to Steele.

"Can you run down to the gorge over there? We need water, but uh, we sort of have our hands full. Shouldn't be too far of a walk," He asked, dropping his supplies on the ground as he pulled out the tents from their bags.

"Sure, uh, Savera would you mind going with me?" Steele asked, picking up a bucket from Tomas's supplies.

"Of course. Tomas, can you keep an eye on Obadiah? Not that I don't trust Ostro, but just don't let him out of your sight," I said, looking at the other man who was starting to put up the tents.

From the distance, laughter could be heard and Tomas looked up at me," I think he'll be just fine."

I smiled before nodding and turning to walk down to this gorge with Steele.

At first, the silence was incredibly awkward. I remember sticking my hands in my pockets, hoping that something would cut this long period of silence. After all, he had mentioned that he needed to ask me something. It was for this reason that I was slightly uncomfortable and confused.

"How old is Obadiah? Two? Three?" He finally asked after several moments, breaking the silence.

"He's two, almost three," I answered.

"Wow," He muttered under his breath before looking back at me. "He's too young to have gone through all this."

I nodded," In all fairness, you aren't really ever old enough to go through what he has. I guess I'm just thankful he's young. Hopefully, this can be blocked out from his memory."

As we continued through the forest, I learned a little bit more about Steele. Conversation flowed a bit more naturally, but it was still broken at times. Maybe it was unfair to him, but I still didn't feel completely comfortable around men since Seneca. It had been, I don't know how many weeks, since Seneca's death and yet there weren't very many moments that passed when my mind wasn't wandering to him. That aside, this gorge was much farther than Tomas made it out to be.

"Is he sure there's water down here?" I asked, as we pushed farther into the forest. It wasn't dark yet, but it would be soon.

"They had to have seen it. Trust me, it's not like Tomas to take anything for granted," He said with confidence as we continued on.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, stepping over a branch. "You and Tomas known each other for a while?"

He nodded," We've known each other since childhood. Believe it or not, we haven't always been friends though. Growing up in District Thirteen, we were sort of the opposite. He was very much into learning in classes and I was more…well, I wasn't focused on classes. I got bored far too easy."

I chuckled at this. Finally, in the distance, I could see what appeared to be a gorge.

"How about you? You like school up there in District Two?" He asked, shooting me a glance.

I laughed at this. It had been so long since I actually talked about my life in Two. As a matter of fact, I enjoyed keeping those memories repressed. My life in the Capitol was a great deal more glamorous than my time growing up. Of course, I loved my family and my time spent with my siblings, but there had been a lot that happened in that time between then and now. In that time, I had not only been exposed to a new lifestyle, but I also did a lot of personality adjustments. Whether I liked it or not, the Capitol and Games taught me a lot about myself and people in general.

I shook my head, bringing myself back to reality and the question still hanging in the air.

"Oh, well. It was…interesting," I said quietly, looking down at my feet.

I felt his eyes lingering on me, waiting for more of an answer.

"School wasn't all that bad, it was the required training. I wasn't exactly the strongest person there, if you can imagine," I joked as we came within yards of the gorge.

"The victor of the Hunger Games? Not the strongest in her class?" He teased, climbing over a fallen tree en route to the tree. As he climbed over and got to the other side, I followed close behind. Just as I was to jump down, I noticed him standing just on the other side of the log. I met his green eyes then stared at his hand, offering me assistance.

I should have just taken his hand and thought nothing about it, but I stood there for several seconds simply looking at him. In my mind, I couldn't help but think that even by accepting this kind gesture from another man…it was childish of me to think. I shook my head and muttered an apology before placing my hand into his, allowing myself to be steadied before hopping down to the forest floor.

"Yes, between this and the bug, we have established that I am not a perfect victor. Any other criticisms?" I asked, several moments later, trying to pick up on the conversation from before.

By this point, we were nearly at the river. Steele smirked at me once before shaking his head," Oh no, of course not."

With that, he sprinted off to get water from the flowing gorge. As he did that, I smiled at his response, but also noticed something just beyond the gorge. There was some sort of fence up; it wasn't very sturdy seeing as there were large holes all along the wall. Initially, I couldn't entirely tell if it was a fence or not. It was camouflaged with heavy shrubbery growing on and around it. Several steps closer told me that it was indeed a wall. Slowly, I stepped on a few protruding rocks from the river and crossed to the other side where the wall lay. Steele was distracted with gathering water as I moved closer to this barrier. Intrigued, I furrowed my brow as I quickened my pace and came face-to-face with this rickety wall.

I looked back over my shoulder to see Steele still distracted with the gorge. I could hear him saying something, but my sights were not set on this. I placed my hand on the wall before kneeling down to catch a glimpse into what lay behind the tall barrier. As soon as I saw it, I gasped.

"Steele!" I called, stunned at where we were.

A/N: Let me know what you guys think! Thanks for reading so far! Where do you think they are?

Thanks again to BooksMakeMagicForMe :)