A/N: Apologies for the long gap, I had to go away for a while. I still need Capitol tribute suggestions which would be EMENSELY appreciated. Thanks for reading.
Elizabeth's POV
In front of us stood the training room where people like Katniss, Rue, Glimmer and Finick trained. I would feel slightly in aw of the room if I wasn't facing the same fate as those who were here before me.
The walls were lined with a huge array of weapons, spears, knives. I was immediately drawn to the bow and arrow, admiring how Katniss had used it with such skill. At the far end of the room was a vertical bar about 3 meters high and other stations were scattered around. The camouflage table caught my eye to the right reminding me of when Katniss saved Peeta in their first games.
The rebels allowed us to split of to the stations of our choice but they stayed nearby never taking their eyes off us. Above us at the centre of the far wall, on the balcony, Paylor stood surrounded by other rebels and council members.
I went first to the berries and food station, I knew that knowing what was edible was crucial as Foxface had discovered the hard way. After a few minutes I found that this wasn't really my strong point, I guess it comes from being served everything on a silver platter. Still, I worked hard at it for as long as I could take, trying to drill as many different edible plants into my head as possible. I knew that although skills for keeping myself alive were helpful; I would, at some point, have to kill someone.
Feeling slightly uneasy, I walked over to the weapons area - rebel in tow - and scanned their vast array of them. I took the bow and arrows, taken by surprise at the heavy weight, and lugged them over to the shooting range. I looped the arrow sheath around my back and slowly raised the arrow. I felt a nervous bead of sweat trickle down the back of my neck as it became apparent to me how many people could be watching me. I raised the bow up to eye level and tried to pull the string back as far as possible. When I couldn't pull it back any further, I let it slip from my clammy fingers - grazing my cheek on the way past - and the arrow flew towards the target. I let my arms drop as I watched it fly, hitting the very edge of the target before clattering noisily to the floor. I felt embarrassment blossom on my cheeks as I drew another arrow, not wanting to give up straight away. I decided to practise till the arrows were gone, and I slowly got better, closer to the target, as my arms began to adjust themselves to the weight of the bow.
When the rebels signalled for us to leave, I found Marilyn by the exit and walked side by side with her.
'Hey,' I whispered in an apttempt to comfort her with the normality of conversation, 'how did you go?'
Marilyn turned her head and gave me a weak smile, 'Okay, I guess.'
I wanted to continue talking to her but there was nothing to say. No way to comfort her with 'It's gonna be alright' or 'Everything's gonna be fine' because that would be lying, and there's no way to change what happened or what is going to. The best we can do is prepare ourselves, as best we can, for what's to come.
Katniss's POV
Paylor had asked me to attend the first training session, as I had nothing to do I couldn't really refuse. So I found myself standing there watching the Capitol children desperately grasping for knowledge and skill in the little preparation time they had. Everywhere I looked reminded me of my games and made me feel uncomfortable. I watched Elizabeth mainly. She seemed so focused like threw some great strength the had managed to keep her head on straight, to make the best of the situation. I her choices made sense, like she was thinking about everything she would need to survive, not giving up on things that weren't her strengths. I found that I sort of admired her, she was only 14.
I left the room as soon as the tributes did, feeling no desire to stick around. Paylor blocked my exit as I tried to leave, gently grabbing my right arm.
'I would like you to host the interviews Katniss. I know this game isn't running in the exact same way but I want all the stages to be done so that the Capitol can feel our pain.'
'O-Okay.' I said numbly just wanting to leave. I wanted to go back to district 12. See my children. Stay away from the games.
A/N: Thanks for reading, sorry it's a little short (I thought it had been too long since I last posted). Review please :)
