Chapter 8
For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst and provide for it.
-Patrick Henry
There was that look in Peeta's eyes again.
"You are planning something," she said with a raised eyebrow.
As they sped ever nearer the Capitol she felt that she ought to have been getting more scared, but the actual effect was the opposite. Their time on this wretched Tour was drawing to a close, and by this point her nerves were so frayed that she seemed no longer able to maintain the same level of tension that she had at the start.
The mountains had grown ever larger in the windows of the train, and Peeta been sitting in silence for some time, a far off look on his face. The silence was neither tense nor unpleasant. Effie sat at one end of the car reviewing papers in her usual prim composed demeanor. Haymitch was sprawled out on one of the couches that lined the small space snoring loudly. He and Peeta had been sitting together in heated conversation and Haymitch had evidently found the task draining as he had retired to a sodden stupor shortly after Peeta had gotten up to join her. Cinna had excused himself a while ago. He would not be accompanying them on their trip back to District 12 and had to make sure that all of his belongings were packed. In the meantime Peeta had begun teaching Katniss chess. They had been midway through their second game when his expression had become distant.
She tried again, "Peeta?"
"Hum?"
He shook his head and focused on her again.
"You went away, what were you thinking?"
"I was thinking about buying time."
"Good thing to think about. Did you come up with anything?"
"I think I may have something Haymitch and I talked about sparked an idea."
"Do I get to know what your plan is?"
"No."
Katniss paused and frowned.
"Not to rub salt in a still sensitive wound but the last time I was not clued in the outcome was less than ideal."
Peeta leaned forward, his elbows resting on the chess board, his clear blue eyes bore into her.
"True, but love, if I may say, you are not an actress."
Katniss smiled.
"I am very aware of this."
"So my reason for not telling you is that I need you surprised by what is going to happen. What I can say is that I need you to do your speech first."
"Alright, I am with you so far."
"I am going to ask you a silly question, and I need you to answer truthfully."
"I can do that."
Peeta sat back and nodded Katniss marveled at a smirk as it formed on Peeta's face.
"You are staring," he said.
"I'm waiting."
"For what?"
"You to get your horse out of danger."
Peeta looked down at the board. Katniss had placed a pawn in attack position near his knight, as he looked at his options he wondered whether it was accidental or intentional that his wife had forced him into a defensive position with that move. She learned quickly, but that was an unusually astute move for a beginner as he had baited a trap with his queen, which she had ignored. He looked up from the board and took a moment to admire her face.
Her eyes were moving across the board in a focused intentional pattern, she bit her bottom lip as she concentrated. A few strands of hair fell loose of the braid Cinna had done. He felt his breath catch for a moment; he leaned forward and pushed the loose strands behind her ear, then moved his knight into a more protected position.
Katniss pushed her new advantage, advancing her bishop aggressively.
"I think you were right."
"I am pretty sure that moving the bishop was a good choice."
"I meant about," his voice dropped to the slightest whisper, "leaving the District."
This took Katniss by surprise.
"That makes me happy."
"I was just wondering if you had considered the difficulties."
"No, I figured that was a bridge we could burn when we were on it."
Peeta looked around making sure that Effie was as engaged in paperwork as she seemed before beginning to rearrange the figures on the chessboard.
"Hey I think I was winning that time."
"You were. Here look at this."
He cleared the board and began picking up pieces and naming them. One was Prim, three others were Rory, Vick, and Posy. Then there was Hazel, Gale, his own brothers Rye and Bannock, his father Damper, Katniss noticed that he had not included his mother though she mentally added the woman to the ever growing list which included her mother, Madge, and Haymitch.
"We have to be able to get them all out at once without being spotted, and I am afraid that the hole in the fence will not be enough. On top of smuggling the people out unnoticed we will also need supplies, and shelter for everyone before we leave the District or we don't really stand a chance."
"It's a big job."
"Very."
"We can do it."
He had to admire her certainty, he certainly didn't share it, but if his plan worked they ought to have at least a few extra months before the Capitol descended on them. For her he'd try.
"Alright kids, its show time," said Cinna as the train began to slow.
Katniss moved to the door, the world outside should have been dark, but a warm flickering glow lined the platform. As the train slowed to a stop Katniss could see that the platform outside the train was ablaze, yet when the door slid open to the roar of the crowd Katniss felt no heat rushing at her. In the confusion of flame and screaming it took her a moment to realize what was happening. The scene beyond was not a tragedy of burning death but a celebration in honor of The Girl on Fire. Cinna had clearly made a fortune with his heatless fire as everyone gathered blazed merrily as they called her name. When Peeta stepped out beside her the screams were renewed and his name joined hers in the chants.
A squad of Peacekeepers surrounded them as they stepped down onto the platform and kept the crowd at bay as they made their way out of the station. Katniss noticed that Peeta smiled broadly at everyone and reached out his hands to touch the hands of those that reached through the barrier made by the Peacekeepers. Katniss heard people scream and once saw a girl swoon at contact with his hands. She smiled to herself, she could relate. Katniss left public relations to Peeta and focused on getting to the car that awaited them.
A Peacekeeper pulled open a rear door, Katniss, Peeta and their entourage piled in. The back of the vehicle contained two sets of seats which faced each other. Katniss sat with her back to the driver watching as the train station faded into the distance. As the crowd surged into the street to watch them go Katniss had a moment where to her eyes the city beyond the gathered mass was catching fire.
"I see it," whispered Peeta as he took her hand in his.
Katniss did not speak but squeezed his hand in response.
The car wound its way through the broad boulevards of the Capitol. The glow in the distance faded and the conversation in the car became back ground noise to Katniss's thoughts. For the first time she was able to take in the sights of the Capitol, the scale, the beauty, the grandeur. It was astonishing; she thought back on the child that she had been when she had arrived the year before. She had not felt like a child, she was master of her environment in the District, yet here she had been a child, scared, powerless and alone. Now as the marble buildings passed she was acutely aware of the changes in her. Scared? Yes, but not powerless, she looked at Peeta, then to Cinna, and even to Haymitch, and certainly not alone. The car pulled to a halt outside the President's palace. They were escorted through the palace by a contingent of Peacekeepers and silent household servants.
With a sudden shock of awareness that seemed to heighten all of her senses Katniss realized that she was being lead through the home of President Snow. To be sure the palace was huge and it was likely that they were nowhere near Snow's living apartments, but still it was something. Katniss did her best to memorize every twist and turn they took, she counted the flights of stairs. If Snow could spy on her then by Unity she would glean as much information from this trip as she could.
There was a shattering sound as an Avox who was walking backwards to tend to the pinning of medals on the uniform of an important Peacekeeper stumbled and knocked a vase that had been sitting on a thin pedestal to the ground. Instantly the Avox fell to his knees and began picking up the pieces. Katniss could see the man's hands shaking as his whole body trembled in fear.
"Clumsy tongueless savage," shouted the important Peacekeeper. His hand flew to his belt and drew the club at his waist and raised it to strike the prostrate Avox.
"Hold Peacekeeper," Cinna's voice, more commanding than she had thought possible from that usually gently spoken person, rang out and halted the Peacekeeper mid swing.
The Peacekeeper looked stunned at first, and then rage began to darken his features.
"Why do you stop me Citizen?"
"We have no time for this, correct the Avox later."
"Citizen?"
"Peacekeeper," the two men stared unblinkingly at each other. Cinna shifted toward the Peacekeeper, whose hand was still raised. Katniss prepared to spring in the event that the Peacekeeper decided to bring the club down on Cinna.
He would be mad, she thought, to beat a Citizen without direct orders from Snow.
"Peacekeeper lead on," Cinna ordered.
At last the other man's eyes dropped, Cinna had won and Katniss relaxed. The Peacekeeper sheathed his club.
"I shall speak to you after Avox," he promised loudly and aimed a sharp kick at the still crouched body as he passed. Peeta and the Preps followed quickly, clucking loudly and nonstop in his wake. Katniss stayed back with Cinna. He walked over to the still quaking from of the Avox and dropped to his knee.
"Clean this up and make yourself scarce, he won't try very hard to find you," Cinna said as gently as he had been harsh with the Peacekeeper.
Katniss came up behind him as the Avox looked up in gratitude. In his wide eyes she saw reflected the image of a mockingjay on fire. Cinna rose and together they followed the others.
"That was risky," said Katniss.
"You have been a slave. Can you really be indifferent to the suffering of others who have been condemned to slavery for their whole lives?"
Katniss did not answer him. She had not thought of herself as a slave when she had been taken from her home. Kidnapped was the word for it, she had been kidnapped and forced into the arena. This thought stirred in her a shadow of that rage that had sustained her the day she and Peeta had again been kidnapped and forced on this ridiculous tour. These were thoughts that needed considering, but just now she as she drew close to their destination she had to focus on the task at hand.
The crowd that gathered to hear their speeches dwarfed the one that met them at the train as the sun outshines a campfire. The comparison was apt, for many of the gathered citizens were happily burning in Cinna's Fire. The roar as Katniss and Peeta stepped onto the balcony was deafening. Katniss felt a heat in her face that had nothing to do with the many fires flickering below. For a moment she considered asking Peeta to go first after all, but she had thwarted his plans once too often already this trip so she marshaled herself and stepped to the microphone. As the crowd saw that she was going to speak silence fell. The attentive quiet was as unnerving as had been hearing her named chanted by ten thousand voices in unison.
"Thank you for your support, both here and while Peeta and I were in the arena, it is an honor to be here in the Capitol and to receive such a warm welcome."
A few people laughed at the unintended joke. She heard footsteps as someone new stepped onto the balcony just behind her. Katniss turned slightly to see who the newcomer might be. She needn't have bothered as the confined space filled with the sickeningly pungent mixed odors of roses and blood. Her eyes hardened as she saw the puffy lips and pallid skin of President Snow. Katniss turned back to the gathered masses, a wickedly defiant impulse rising up in her as she continued her speech.
"I suppose that Peeta and I standing here and addressing you now means that sometimes is doesn't matter if the odds are in you favor."
She bowed slightly and stepped back, the crowd roared to life again, and it took Peeta several minutes to quiet them. Katniss turned to glare at Snow while Peeta spoke. As she glared Snow looked ahead, Katniss studied his face, and the motion of his eyes. She had seen that look before, on Peeta's face while they played chess. His eyes darted around stopping only long enough to identify the importance of a piece in its position then moved on again planning his next move. On Snow's face the look was predatory.
A sharp pain in her foot caused by Cinna stepping on it brought her attention back to Peeta's speech.
"Thanks to your support, the woman standing beside me, my world, my heart, is alive, and so it is only appropriate that you be witnesses. President Snow, could you please come to the microphone."
Surprise painted Snow's face, but it was quickly replaced by shrewd indifference as he complied with Peeta's request. Katniss brought her hand up to cover her nose as the stink that wafted off Snow threatened to bring up her lunch.
"President Snow," Peeta began, "as Katniss has no father and you stand as father to Panem, I ask your permission to ask Katniss to marry me."
The crowd was deafening in their response, someone in the crowd started a chant of say yes, which was quickly picked up by those nearest him and spread rapidly. Katniss noted how Snow's eyes darted to the place in the crowd where the chant began; he made a subtle hand signal to the important Peacekeeper who left quickly. That accomplished Snow raised his hands calling for silence. It fell, though slowly.
"If Miss Everdeen consents, let it never be said that I stood between such a pure and true love."
Whoops and cheers assaulted their ears.
Peeta turned to Katniss, he took both of her hands in his, yet when he spoke his focus was on the crowd rather than on her.
"Katniss, partner in victory and beat of my heart, will you marry me?"
The crowd erupted. Katniss looked at Snow, his puffy lips twisted in an unmistakable look of annoyance. They had to wait until the people below quieted enough for her answer to be heard.
"Yes."
She had barely gotten the word out when his mouth was on hers and the crowd roared again.
Most marriages in District 12 happened when a couple's first child reached the age when they could begin to collect Tesserae. Each child could claim Tesserae once for each member of the household, legal marriage was a prerequisite for a father to be considered part of a household. It was a risky thing, marriage. Legally it could never be dissolved, so it was usually put off until the last possible moment. It was a rare wedding which did not include the children of the couple, occasionally a couple would marry for less pragmatic reasons. Katniss, Peeta, and Gale were such a marriage. Panem did not recognize a marriage of three, so they had skipped the obligatory consultation with the magistrate, in this case Madge's father, and gone straight to the Toasting.
Peeta released her and they stood hand in hand facing the ecstatic crowd below. Snow shook Peeta's hand and leaned in so that only Katniss and Peeta could hear his words.
"Shrewd maneuvering Mr. Mellark, Miss Everdeen very shrewd."
Snow inclined his head to Peeta. He took Katniss's free hand and smiled as he bent to kiss it. Katniss suppressed a shudder. Snow released her hand and excusing himself turned to leave the balcony.
Again they were lead through a series of marble passages, this time without incident. They were each shown to the separate quarters they would inhabit while they stayed in the Capitol. The space was opulent even by Capitol standards. The walls were marble and at least fifty feet high. Cut into one wall was a fireplace large enough to house a Seam family. Or roast them, she thought cynically.
The bed was made of some dark wood she had never seen before, its four posters were ornately carved, and the heavy red fabric that hung down from them was soft and luxurious. On every surface that would hold one, a vase stuffed with roses had been placed. The flowers were large and exquisite but overly pungent and the heavy smell in the room made it impossible not to think of Snow.
There was a loud knock at the heavy wooden door.
"Yes?"
The door opened, Cinna and the Preps entered pulling three racks hung with gowns. The one that Cinna finally selected was of a style not currently popular in the Capitol, but as always when the Preps finished with her Katniss was radiant.
Cinna was in the attached bathroom cleaning up the mess made in making her up when Katniss turned to Antonia.
"Where is Peeta?"
"He has quarters in a different wing," Cinna smiled, "after what he pulled they will be doing you no favors," Antonia warbled.
"What he pulled?"
"Victor's, ah," Flavius cut in, his tone conspiratorial, "company is very highly valued in the Capitol. I'd wager the city lost a mint tonight."
Katniss was completely lost, and said so.
"Oh dear," said Antonia, "Haymitch should have told you."
"Told me what?"
Flavius and Antonia looked nervously at each other. Venia came out of the bathroom and they flocked over to her. The sounds that erupted from them might have made sense to chickens, but Katniss could catch next to none of the meaning. They had been at it for several minutes when Cinna came out of the bathroom.
"Cinna, please make sense," Katniss begged.
Antonia whispered to Cinna, then astonishingly blushed and turned away from Katniss. Cinna told his team to see to the clothes for tomorrow, The Preps scurried gratefully away from them.
"What was that all about? What did Peeta pull? What is a mint and who lost one?"
"They were embarrassed. One of the duties of Victors includes raising funds for the Capitol."
"I thought I was doing that by selling my bows."
"There are other things you can do that are more valued and a hell of a lot pricier than the bows."
Cinna slid his eyes from her face, down her body deliberately then met her eyes again. Realization dawned on Katniss. No girl from District 12 grew up ignorant of prostitution, if Katniss herself had been a few years older when her father died it might have been a path for her. Peacekeepers in 12 had spending money and lots of time doing nothing to get bored. Many girls from poor families and even some townies rented their time, and if occasionally a Seam girl had a baby that did not resemble her District lover then they would usually just get married and collect Tesserae on the cuckoo in their nest. What Cinna spoke of though was not the same, the girls in the Seam, the townie girls, they all had a choice. Sometimes it was a choice between working or starving, but it was still a choice. It was a choice Katniss had made when those couple of years had passed. That path had its merits, so much easier than the constant hunting, much more secure with regular income to care for Prim. She had chosen to continue hunting and that choice had helped her survive in the Games.
"So I am still a slave. I survived the arena and they still think they own me."
"There was never a time when they didn't."
"What did Peeta do?"
"Engagement in the Capitol is a big deal; becoming publicly engaged puts you safely out of reach until you have your first child."
Katniss's face had grown dark, her lips pursed, her eyes burned.
"Never, I will kill anyone who pays Snow to use me."
"You would not be the first, but I caution you the cost of such action is high."
The look on Cinna's face said more than his words could convey. Katniss thought of Finnick Odair and his "affairs" she shook her head. It wouldn't matter; she and her family would be long gone from the District before it became an issue.
"They sold Finnick Odair didn't they?"
"Yes, every year during the Games."
"Is Peeta going to be sold after I have a child too?"
Cinna looked away from her again.
"Cinna."
"Engagement gets you beyond their reach, not him."
"Why?"
"The Capitol has many families that have worked for generations to achieve political prominence and wealth. When the head of the family dies he likes to know that his oldest child at least was put in his wife by him. People tend to think that the culture in to which they are born is somehow the natural law of cultures. Even though District 12 has different traditions Citizens of the Capitol, for the most part, don't know it. They will respect their traditions, for all the good it will do Peeta."
"Will it happen tonight?"
"No, tonight is the Victory Ball. Tomorrow you and Peeta will go back to the District, and then when you come back for the Quarter Quell he will be made available."
Katniss felt her chest expand as she breathed deeply. She hadn't even realized that she had been holding her breath. It would be alright. She nodded to Cinna.
"Alright, one last night. Let's get this over with."
With that Katniss and Cinna exited the room headed for the Victor's Ball.
