"And now let's all welcome Mia Pearl, District's 4 female tribute!" Ceasar Flickerman announced my appearance.

I walked onto the stage, towards him. I thanked my stylist for allowing me to stay barefoot as she deemed necessary only a beautiful painting of the waves and seabirds on my legs, exposed yet again from the cut of my dress. My steps were steady and fast-paced, just like the way Finnick instructed me. I waved at the audience and smiled at them as bright as I could. Their applause indicated that all this facade wasn't in vain.

"Mia Pearl.. As I see your dress is fitting to your beautiful name." Ceasar noticed, refering to my beautiful black and blue dress. It was strapless, long and decorated with beautiful white sea shells and shiny pearls. Countless shiny pearls. I bet my stylist was aiming for a "name pun".

"Thank you Ceasar. It is definitely the most beautiful thing I've worn in my life." I admitted.

"Beautiful indeed. Beautiful and appropriate for a girl from your District, don't you agree?" he asked me, trying to get me to talk about my homeland. Challenge accepted.

"Of course I agree. District 4... You should visit it sometime, if you haven't already, Ceasar. We have much more than fish and handsome victors to offer you know." I was sure Finnick was smiling somewhere in the audience. He had a sweet tooth for flattering.

"Every citizen of Capitol, and especially the ladies, are pretty gratefull for those things though." he laughed, almost blinding me with his snow-white teeth. Goddammit, did he bleach them white or something? Still, I ignored his unnatural smile and laughed with his little joke about Finnick being a ladies man. The entire audience seemed amused too.

"Still I wonder... What else does your District have to offer? What else do you people do?" he asked, his voice indicating genuine curiosity.

"What else do we do... Well, when we are not fishing we are either taking long walks on the beautiful shores with the golden sand, we are swimming in the turqoise blue waters, we are searching for shells around the rocks. We hang out, light fires on the beach, sing around them." my own words filled me with nostalgia for my home. I felt my eyes tearing up, but I forced my tears to run dry. I was gonna see my District again.

"Oh, and we also breathe. Because sometimes, Capitol seems to forget we are human at all." I added, seconds after my initial statement. It was too bold, and I knew it. But how could I ever forgive my self if I silenced my voice to play Capitol's sweetheart? Ceasar seemed a bit uncomfortable with my comment, so he rushed to return the conversation to my previous statement.

"So, in your District people like singing. Could you sing something for us?" he asked. His offer really got me unprepared. I love singing, and most say I have a pleasant voice. But singing in front of the entire Panem? My audience was usually 10 to 20 tired fishermen... Oh well. What did I have to lose anyways?

"I am not the best my District has to offer in terms of musical talent, but I can give it a try." I answered and took a deep breath to prepare my voice.

Will you, will you come along with me?

Beneath the waves, within the sea?

Here, the dolphins sing a lullaby

Will you, will you listen to it with me?

Here, the water makes you feel you fly

Will you, will you fly away with me?

Will you, will you come along with me?

Here, beneath the waves, where we can both be free?

Will you, will you come along with me?

Beneath the waves, withing the sea?

As I finished singing this melody from home, silence covered the entire stadium. This thick, almost tactile silence lasted for some seconds, only to be shattered from the loudest applause I've heard in my life.

"Oh my, not only you look like a mermaid, you also sing like the most enchanting siren!" Ceasar commented, genuinely impressed.

"Thank you Ceasar. It's was a great honor, singing in front of the entire Panem!" at least I wasn't lying. Singing for the Capitol wasn't really inspiring, but gifting a careless moment to the people of the wounded, tortured Districts... That was worth it.

"It was an honor listening to your beautiful voice, Mia. I truly hope we will listen to it again. May the odds be ever in your favor!" he concluded. It was about time I left the stage, for the next tributes to follow. About time. The tributes from District 1 and 2 came before me, giving boring speeches about the glory of Capitol and the honor of representing their Districts in the Games. Damn they made me sick. Especially that Basil, who assured Ceasar that he would be taking his interview again, after he won the Games. How I wanted to erase that arrogant smile off his face.

Michael's interview followed mine. He was much more reserved, sticking to answering Ceasar's questions. At least, he didn't appear full of himself. I never liked him much, but at least he didn't seem happy about all this... Because all the other Careers did. He did this for the money that would help his family, not the fame or the joy of killing. I could at least respect him for that.

The tributes from District 5 were both quite shy and distant. From their interviews I learnt that they were cousins. I immediately felt terribly sorry for their families. Losing one child is terrible itself, but losing two of them... That must be beyond hard. District's 6 tributes gave me the impression of trapped birds, like the seagulls some of the fishermen kept in cages in order to teach them to fish for them later. They must have been cheerful and kind children before all this. They boy was 13 years old, too young and innocent, just like the girl, Pamela Baker, even though must have been 15 years old at least.

District's 7 boy Nathan Ryan played a very clever trick. He mentioned his sweetheart back home, a 17 year old girl named Mary, to whom he got engaged to right after the Reaping as: "There was no time to waste." This move certainly got him a handful of sponsors, since Capitol's citizens were dying for a nice dramatic romance.

"We should pretend we are a couple." I heard the two tributes from District 11 discussing.

"Hell no, Mark! We could say we are related though." Alexia was clearly joking. Her milkish white skin would have made it hard to pretend she was related to me with my fairly tanned complexion, let alone Mark with his chocolate brown skin. I laughed slightly, and I saw Alexia's eyes meeting mine. She smiled at me, in a friendly way that almost shocked me. So far I couldn't be friendly towards no one of the tributes, knowing that probably I would have to kill them in the arena. Still, her smile changed something. These were probably our last days alive. We couldn't ruin them by being ice cold, could we? So I smiled back at her.

Both children from District 8 barely said a word. The were truly nervous and their hands were shaking all the time, as the rythmic motion of their long sleeves showed. They were both wearing long sleeves and gloves, probably because their hands were full of scars from the various machinery used inside the factories. I couldn't even imagine the pain of having your finger pierced by a needle.

The girl from District 9, a beautiful, blonde girl in a long, white dress, that seemed really kind and honest in her interview caught my eye.

"Ceasar, I am not gonna lie to you. I am not happy to be in the Games. I am terrified. In less than three days I will be thrown in an arena and I will be asked to kill. I am no killer. But I can't stand there and get myself killed either." It was a simple realisation, but it truly touched me. She wasn't afraid to speak the truth, even though she did it in a much more reserved manner than mine. All I could see in the audience were buffled faces. Behind all our pretend and bright smiles that attracted sponsors they have truly forgotten that we are human. Maybe because we were too afraid to show it.

I don't remember much from the interview of the tributes from District 10, but I noted to myself that I should keep an eye on them. I doubt butchering animals and butchering tributes is in any way similar, but caution never hurt anybody. Those children most definitely knew how to handle a knife.

Next was Alexia from District 11. She wasn't wearing a dress, but a pair of bright yellow pants and a matching shirt. Her shoes were white and flat, pretty cute and girly-like, perfectly matching the white flowers that decorated her fairly short blonde hair.

"The worst thing about these Games for me is that I will be competing against my childhood friend, Mark. The idea that either one of us or none of us is going to be alive in a couple of days from now really breaks my heart." she admitted. That must have been horrible. At least I was competing against people I barely even knew. Alexia took some more time to talk about her District, the tall trees, the flowery fields and the crystal clear rivers. It must have been a beautiful place to live in. Ceasar asked her if she had any special past-time or talent, something he asked every single tribute after my performance. She answered a simple "no". Her answer was hiding a lot. So was her partner, Mark, that simply repeated what she had said. They were both pretty secretive, though no one could blame them. Keeping your tactics for the Games secret ensured your survival a lot more than being an open book.

The girl from District 12 followed:

"From District 12 let's welcome Ellie Craig!" Ceasar announced her. She was beautiful in her short black dress that ended with a beautiful pattern of flames. Her shoes were of the same color pallete, black, grey and crimson, though they left a great part of her feet exposed, to show a beautiful temporary flame tattoo. Her appearance really stroke an impression, but it was all that I expected. Her District counted only one winner, Heymitch Abernathy, who, despite his drinking problem, was trying his best to expand the victor's catalogue. And between her and the twelve year old boy that would barely last a minute in the arena it can't have been tough for Heymitch to choose to fully support her.

Ceasar noticed how beautiful her dress was and commented on that. She casually answered:

"Well since they ripped every single hair off my legs, I might as well show them."

The audience laughed at her simple way. And their laughter was renewed when she offered to lend her dress to Ceasar since he liked it so much. That statement brought an honest smile to my face. Ellie then proceeded to assure Ceasar she was joking. He later asked her what she thought about the Games. She was again honest, admitting that she had come to terms with the fact that her life could be terminated at every second after her first entrance in the arena.

"Still you might be this year's winner." Ceasar commented.

"Yes, it's a possibility. And like I've heard many times befores: May the odds be ever in our favor..." she answered simply, with a tone of melancholy in her voice. She then proceeded in leaving the stage.

As she went down the stairs I heard her whispering: "As if this line could bring us luck in any way..."

"The odds are never in our favor." I answered and looked at her in the eyes. She returned the stare and smiled at me, as she nodded in agreement.