The Palace
We arrive at the Capitol at the next morning just like Levi had said and I have never seen a place like it. I look at Eren and he is also in awe of this grand metropolis. There are buildings ten times taller than our tallest tree's back home and there are twice as many people.
The people from the Capitol are strange. I expected them to act strange because I know Hanji is from the Capitol but Hanji seems normal compared to the people here. Everyone is wearing odd clothes and have weird hair colors and styles. I could have never guessed there could be such different varieties of people that look so strange.
"Gross," Eren murmurs next to me and I have to subdue a smile.
Right from the train station we are escorted by the Military Police to the Capitols center, the Palace. The Military Police regard us with distaste, especially Levi. They shove him extra hard through the gates and Levi tries to pull forcefully away from their grasp that they have on him only to be hit with a club in the stomach. Levi bends over in pain but glares up at the Military Police with murder in his eyes. If he had a weapon, I believe Levi would have killed them all in a second.
"You may be a Victor, boy. But you still are a criminal to the Capitol. Don't you ever forget your place," one of the older Military Police spits at Levi as he yanks on his hair to pull his head back.
Victors are supposed to be treated with respect, almost like war heroes. But I assume Levi was a special case because of his criminal record with the Capitol. Especially since everyone in the Capitol believed that he would die in the Games. Now that he's a Victor because of their rules for the Games, they can't do anything to Levi unless he does something illegal, so instead they try to make his life a living hell. I begin to feel sorry for my crude Mentor. A Victor's life is supposed to be bliss after the Games, now Levi is still living in misery.
"Are you alright, Levi?" Hanji asks but Levi immediately scowls and allows the Military Police to lead him ahead of us to the Palace.
"What do you think we do now?" Eren whispers to me.
I shrug. "I suppose we are to be taken to our Stylist before we are to present ourselves to the Capitol and the King," I say remembering what happens from past showings of the Games.
"Are you nervous?" he questions.
I shake my head. "I'm never nervous."
They lead us through the Palace and it is by far even grander than anything that we have back at our District. It is big enough to have all twelve Players and their escorts and Mentors stay here. This is where we will be staying until they send us off to the Games. First, they make us all nice and showy to be paraded out and presented to the Capitol and the King and whoever is watching back in the Districts, which everyone is required to. After the parade all the Players are to have a giant feast together. For the rest of the week we are to train and are rated on how well we'll do in the Games and finally we are individually interviewed in front of a live audience and cameras.
We reach our styling rooms and while Levi and Hanji are asked to stay in the waiting area, they separate Eren and me to different bathing rooms. There, I am stripped and bathed by a group of women who won't stop making remarks at how filthy I am. I remind them that for my District it's not necessarily essential that we bathe daily. They laugh at me like I had just told them the funniest joke they had ever heard. I am then waxed and polished like a brand new toy. Some of them take my measurements and double inspect me just in case they had missed a dirty spot. They give me a white robe to wear and I'm asked to wait in the styling room with my other District member until our Stylist comes. I feel exposed and vulnerable and it's not a feeling that I'm used to.
I cannot believe how the people from the Capitol act. I haven't seen one underfed or ill person since I got here. And it's like they don't even know what goes on outside of Wall Sina. How ignorant of them to laugh about a District not being able to bathe as much as them while there are people that are dying from starvation and sickness because we cannot afford food or medicine because we live in poverty.
Eren finally comes out of his bathing room and sits next to me on the small couch. He looks different. I'm sure I have never seen him this clean in my life, not even for his mother's funeral. His hair is combed down and there is no dirt under his fingernails or in the cracks of his hands. His face is pinched into a scowl and I know that he hates this even more than I do.
"Can you believe these people?" he questions.
"I was just thinking the same thing," I tell him.
"It's like they don't even realize that there are handfuls of people dying in the outer Walls. It's like they don't even care and they don't even want to help us. And then they clean us up and make us seem like we're one of them so when they show us off it doesn't seem like we are barely surviving back in our Districts. People from the Capitol are morons."
"You shouldn't say stuff like that in the Palace. What if someone should hear you?" I warn him.
Eren laughs, "What more can they do to me? I'm already in their stupid Games. They can't threaten me with my family because I'm an orphan and you're here with me for the Games. What's the worse they could do?"
I then realize that Eren is right. There is nothing more that the Capital could do to us. But then I think of Levi and if Eren wins and becomes a Victor I do not want him to be on the Capitols bad side. And with the way he is talking now he will be bound to end up there.
Moments later our Stylist walks in. She looks to be about Hanji's age, which is a couple years older than Levi, with ebony skin and short, gold, shimmering hair. In fact, everything else about her is gold. Her clothes, her makeup, her jewelry, it even seems like she had gold beads attached to her skin to create different patterns and designs. She walks in with grace and seems to float as she makes her way through the room. She smiles kindly and kneels down in front of us.
"Greetings, Players. My name is Ida and I am your Stylist. Now let's see what we have to work with." She looks between the two of us. "The orphans of District Six," her gaze then stays on me and her hand comes up to rest on my cheek, "the volunteer."
She stands and starts pacing the room. "District Six is known for their lumber, correct?" she asks.
Eren and I nod.
"Bah, too boring. I want to do something more exciting!" she exclaims, "but what?"
She continues to pace the room until she looks up with a look of amazement on her face. And her smile widens. "What if I gave you wings?!" she remarks excitedly.
"Wings? Like a birds wings?" Eren responds. "What does that have to do with our District?"
"No, no, no dear boy!" Ida cries, "It's not just about your District but about whom your Wall is named after! There is a legend that many years before the Walls were built there was a brave leader whose name was Maria. They say that she grew wings to lead her people out of enslavement. At least that is what the legend says."
Before the death of my parents, I vaguely remember my mother telling me this story. She said that Maria was part of our ancestry. And that even though she and her people were prisoners of war, she was the bravest and strongest soldier that the gods had ever seen. That is why they granted her wings so she could fly and lead her people out of enslavement and into battle victoriously. They called her the Wings of Freedom. The idea of having wings was starting to grow on me. And besides, I always wondered what it was like to fly.