Chapter 9: Swimming Lessons and Fertility

I stand at the edge of the lake, watching my husband splash around like a fish. "Are you sure about this, honey?"

"Of course I'm sure, Lill!" he laughs, "Come out to me!"

I manage what Estes terms a passable doggy paddle and reach him in the middle of the body of water. Though beyond the fence of District 12, Estes has come here often enough. There is even a ramshackle cabin where he has spent nights sometime, on the edge of the water.

In a place where my feet can't touch the bottom, Estes holds me gently, allowing me to float in safety. Pretty soon, we are kissing. And being practically naked as we are, my husband is soon making love to me on the rocks at the edge of the lake. I thrash against him, eyes wide and moaning. "Oh, Estes..."

I cum. My husband soon ejaculates into me. No protection, but maybe... just maybe...

I fail to get pregnant. Again. We've been trying in the year or so since we got married, but have had no luck. Finally, in desperation, I sneak over to the place I once called home, the group of people I once called my family, and steal some herbs from them. Herbs that could help Estes and I conceive.


Not long after, Estes and I are invited to Steffan Mellark's wedding. He is marrying a Merchant woman, though her family is not as elite as his is. Or mine was. Her name is Paula. Paula something.

As I hug Steffan to offer him congratulations at the reception, I can tell that his new bride does not like me giving even this platonic gesture at all. She seems cool, almost, when I meet her. Almost paranoid, somehow. I can't explain it fully, but there is a darkness about her...

But we don't have to be friends. We don't even have to interact. Little do I know then how our destinies will still be intertwined.