A/N: Okay, so I know this chapter is long overdue! I've just got my laptop back after 5 months! Ugh so glad :) Hope you like the chapter!

Chapter 7 – Allies or Adversaries?

I wake with a start when a Avox girl places her hands of my shoulders and shakes me lightly, I peer up at her with blurry eyes and nod at her to signal that she can leave. I clamber out of the bed and squint out of the window, the sun is already up and I can see down into the City Circle, where large crowds of Capitol residence walk. I wash and dress quickly and make my way into the dining room where only Cathal sits. He does not glance up at me as I enter but begins to talk.

"It would benefit you greatly, if you were to show up to the session on time." He says quietly. I pull the chair from under the table and slump down onto it looking at Cathal expectantly. I clear my throat to get his attention and he slowly lifts his head and narrows his eyes at me. "If you show up late again our mentoring sessions will cease. Do you understand?" He says his voice calm yet stern. I nod and a small smile appears on his face.

"Good, now Azria has kindly volunteered to teach you a few public necessities that could benefit you, and help getting sponsors." Cathal continues and I frown at him. "You'll learn how to walk right, learn how to talk right and learn not to sound like a naïve teenager." He says coolly.

"But I-" I begin, but he interrupts me.

"Your persona before the games is critical! Nobody is going to sponsor a girl, who lacks communication skills, and looks idiotic on stage because she can't walk in heels!" He says fiercely. I stare at him for a moment my mouth half open.

"Fine..." I say defiantly, "So when does the real life saving advice begin?" I continue sarcastically. He smiles and shakes his head at me and a ghost of a smile appears on my face and I can't prevent it.

"Rule number one, of my life saving advice is getting some allies." Cathal says more seriously, the smile from his face vanishes and his expression grows solemn.

"How will I know who to ally with?" I ask although, generally it's been the same the past few years. Cathal frowns at me.

"When you go down to training, meet all the tributes and assess their capabilities. Weigh your odds against theirs." He says and I nod. "As said in history…If you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles, without a loss." I raise my eyebrow at him and he sighs. "If you only know yourself and not your opponent you may have a chance of winning, but you may lose." Cathal pauses for a second and then continues "And if you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself." I look at him for a moment considering his quotes.

"So you're saying if I know my ability and my opponents I will inevitably win?" I ask still not exactly sure what he is trying to say.

"Essentially yes, but it may not be the case. You can adapt your abilities to overcome your opponents." Cathal replies quietly. Cosmo enters the dining room looking shaken and muttering something under his breath.

"Ah, Emery you will be going down to training alone." Cosmo says a little more brightly.

"Really, why?" I asked puzzled, "I thought Chason and I were teaming up?" I continue, looking to Cathal, but his expression looks annoyed.

"That's what I thought." Cosmo replies in flustered manner. "But when I went to collect Chason to take you and him down to training Taisiya, told me to leave as she didn't need my incompetent self around her tribute to distract him." He continued his face becoming dejectemmd.

"I'll see you later, Emery. Remember look for allies." Cathal says before heading out of the dining room an angered expression on his face.

As I enter the training area, I peer around and see that not many of the tributes have arrived yet. I head over to the knife throwing section where the girl and boy from District One are preparing. I stand back and watch them throw, and I have ago myself. I smile to myself, feeling right at home as I hit most of the targets accurately. It feels as if I am back at training in the Academy in District 2 and it has the familiar feeling of home since arriving in the Capitol. The air is not as fresh and clear here in the Capitol as at home and I miss the mountain breeze. I am drawn away from my inner thoughts when someone speaks.

"Nice aim you have there." The boy from one says grinning at me.

"You're both not so bad yourselves." I say glancing from the girl to the boy.

"I'm Rylance." The girl says smiling.

"And I'm Saxon." The boy says seizing my hand and gripping it, I tense and feel the urge to pull my hand away quickly, but I don't. I think Saxon realises and releases his grip and a small smirk appears on his face.

"So are knives your thing?" I ask casually, taking aim at another target.

"Nah, we're both strongest with swords." Saxon replies, they turn and leave heading towards another station and I watch them from the corner of my eye as they talk amongst themselves.

While I had been busy throwing knives most of the tributes had arrived, including Chason who was at the wrestling station. I watch him pin the trainer with ease and I think how I wouldn't stand a chance without a weapon of some kind if it came down to just Chason and I in the Arena. Another girl joins me at the knife throwing section, her dark red hair is tied back to keep it out of the way and I notice how pale she, her eyes flit away from me when I catch her looking at me and I smile, as she raises her right-arm to through the knife, I notice a large scar across her forearm. She releases the knife and it hits the dummy, not in the place where the heart would be, but it would cause serious injury.

"How did you get that scar on your arm?" I ask folding my arms across my chest. She turns to me and looks down at her arm.

"I was electrocuted." She replies in a quiet voice. I nod and turn back to throwing some more knives, which I have become particularly good at.

I finish throwing my knives and head towards the bow and arrows where two girls are shooting. I pick up a bow and an arrow aiming, I'm about to shoot when one of the girls turns to me. "Your elbow is too wide." She says smiling maliciously. I shoot the arrow and it misses the target, I lower the bow and turn to her glaring, I recognise her, the girl from District 4 called Sagittaria, she had looked please to have been picked. "Emery, right? I saw you throwing knives…" she says casually aiming for the target, she lets the arrow fly and she hits the target dead centre. "Maybe you should stick to knife throwing." She adds obnoxiously. I force a smile and she leaves. I shoot some arrows with the girl from District 9, her name is Callista, her aim is all right but I judge that she would probably not pose as much of a threat to me as Sagittaria. As I make my way to the wrestling station Chason appears in front of me smiling.

"Found us any allies yet?" He asks casually leaning against the wall. I frown at him, was this some sort of trick? Was he trying to make me think we were a team and then turn on me in the Arena? I'm not going to fall for it, but I'll play along anyway.

"Sure, Saxon and Rylance from District One seemed pretty eager to team up." I say, I turn and point at Saxon who is sword fighting, and then at Rylance who is at the fire making station. Chason nods. "I am also considering the girl from District 4, Sagittaria." I say, she sits in a corner preparing for a lesson on tying knots.

"Sure, and the boy from Four, Cy, he's all right too." Chason says nodding at a light brown haired boy who had picked up a sword and began to cut off the dummies limbs. "Anyone else look interesting to you?" I ask nonchalantly but Chason shrugs.

I join a boy at the wrestling section, he is tall and lean with shaggy brown hair and light brown eyes he, smiles at me as the trainer shows him the best moves to take down an opponent.

"Looking for allies or something?" He asks panting, the trainer pins him on the mat and he struggles free keeping his eyes fixed on me. "So…" he says casually. I shrug not really interested.

"I haven't seen you do anything amazing that will make me want to team up with you." I reply simply, he gives me another smile and I figure he actually isn't interested in allying with me either.

I notice a boy sits in a corner peering around the training centre and just watching, he must be analyzing his competition I think as I approach the area for hand-to-hand combat. The two tributes from District Eleven are practicing with bow staffs. I look at the male tribute who I estimate to be over six-foot tall and extremely muscled and then to the female with long hair and pale blue eyes. I frown as they seem particularly close, I shrug it off thinking that maybe they were friends back in their District or something. The boy narrows his eyes of me as I join them at the station.

I excel well on the station and show off my skills until we are called for lunch. I join a table were Chason sits with Rylance, Saxon, Sagittaria and Cy, the tributes from District 1 and 4. During our lunch we all agree to be allies when we are in the Arena and I begin to get to know them. After lunch I join Rylance and Sagittaria at the sword station, I watch as Sagittaria cuts off the dummies limbs with speed and accuracy and gulp.

"I wouldn't want to be at the end of that." I say, as Sagittaria turns to Rylance and me panting. Rylance turns to me with wide eyes and I know she is thinking the same thing.

"So," Sagittaria says collapsing on the floor beside me. I turn and look straight into her sea-green eyes and shrug.

"You're all right." I reply casually, I know deep down that Sagittaria is more than 'all right'. I make a mental note to keep my eye on her in the Arena, she above all of the other tributes cannot be trusted. Sagittaria sits up frowning at me.

"I'm all right?" She questions looking vexed. I know I'm getting under her skin just as I did with Ava, and it makes me feel more confident.

After training I head back to my room, shower and go to dinner. Taisiya and Cathal sit silently whilst Cosmo talks loudly to Azria and Kendrick about the in-thing of fashion in the Capitol this year, and how he purposes we should wear green for our interview outfits as it is the in-colour right now. Cathal sits forward as I sit down looking at me expectantly.

"So, how was training?" He asks, I shrug picking at so bread.

"It was good." I reply finally, "Chason and I made an agreement with both tributes from District 1 and 4." I reply casually.

"That's good." Cathal say's with a smile. He leans across the table obviously interested to hear more.

"So, can you tell me what you found out about your opponents?" He urges.

"Yeah, most tributes are pretty good at throwing knives and stuff." Cathal raises his eyebrow at me.

"Is that all that you've found out?" Taisiya sneers and a smirk appears on her face. I narrow my eyes at her.

"No!" I respond angrily. "I just don't want to talk about it at the table." I continue, eyeing Taisiya suspiciously. "You never know, Chason might not have figured out half the stuff I have about them and if I say it, you'll go off and tell him." I point out and she nod looking pleased.

"Tell me what?" Chason asks entering the dining room.

"We were just talking about training." Cathal says. Chason repeats what I said about the alliances. Dinner is for the most part pretty silent and I can tell Cosmo feels uncomfortable with it.

After dinner I make my way to my room but as I reach the door Cathal takes hold of my shoulder. I turn to him and wonder what he wants this time.

"Can we talk?" He asks in a low whisper and I assume that he doesn't want to be heard. He glances around checking that the coast is clear.

"Sure." I say looking at him expectantly.

"In private." He urges and I notice his eyes glance at the door handle. I say nothing applying a little more pressure on the handle and the door swings open. "Thank you." He says courteously as he makes his way in and I close the door behind me.

"What?" I ask curiously.

"Look Emery, I need you to act like more of an ally to Chason, Taisiya will play to his strengths. His head may be full of air but Taisiya's is not! Do you understand?" I nod and don't quite understand why he feels the need to point this out. "She has a strategy and believe me you're not part of it! Advice number two, your partner is not you friend –"

"Gee, I don't know how many times I've heard that one." I smirk rolling my eyes. But Cathal's expression remains serious.

"This isn't a joke." He growls in a stern voice, he wears a look of frustration on his face. "Fine, you know that one. But you keep him close to you, he needs you just as much as you need him"

"I don't need him." I scoff irritably. I can't believe that he thinks that I can't win this by myself.