Chapter 9.

Nott had always possessed a tangible, yet irksome ability to know things he simply shouldn't.

Upon returning from their first day of training he had taken Eamon aside.

"Eamon, what the hell?" he said crossly. "You left Madeline to fend for herself while you went off to chat up some girl?"

Eamon snorted, "Hardly. I just went around seeing what everyone else was up to. I went back to her soon after, anyway."

"Even then, you showed your skills! I've specifically told you over and over not to do that!"

"You mean the glaive? I can't exactly use that bloody hoe in here, now can I? In any case, the girl you're talking about is the Career from District 2."

"Wait… what?"

"Don't you see? I saw her get into a fight with the other Careers and I took the opportunity to capitalise, just like you always said. If I can get her as an ally, it weakens them and strengthens us."

Nott's anger was replaced by shock and then consternation. He'd clearly underestimated Eamon's psychological trickery.

"Are you sure you can get her as an ally?"

"I reckon so."

"Careful Eamon. You know as well as I do not to trust a Career. You're playing a dangerous game."

"Aren't we all?"

"Still, I would like you to spend as much time with Madeline as you can. She needs the help."

"Don't worry, I will. But she's not as helpless as you might think, she's… actually a surprisingly quick study."

Eamon hadn't been kidding. By the beginning of the last day of training, Madeline was able to make snares and makeshift knife traps just as easily and quickly as Eamon. She'd taken to keeping a notepad, writing down all the names and descriptions of various plants that were and weren't edible, and made a point to recite them constantly under her breath. Eamon had her run drills through many of the climbing and agility courses, and whilst he doubted her fitness would improve in the short period of time they had, it reassured him that she was far from a sitting duck.

He hadn't had much chance to talk to Blair since their previous encounter as Nott had told him to stick with Madeline. He wondered if Blair's mentor had told her something similar as she was generally seen in the company of the other Careers, despite mounting evidence of the relationship souring quickly. She had however, managed to sneak away from them for a few minutes to join Madeline and Eamon, who were practicing tying various types of knots.

"Umm… hi," she said hesitantly.

She was holding a pair of weapons that Eamon recognised as sai. They were short and three-pronged, with the middle prong extending out further while the other two curved off slightly. He wondered if perhaps those were her weapon of choice.

"Hey there," said a smiling Eamon. "Oh Blair, this is Madeline; she's my District partner. Madeline, this is Blair, she's from District 2. Don't worry, she's cool," he added in response to Madeline's fearful expression.

"Nice to meet you," said Madeline.

"And you," said Blair. "Was just wondering if I could have a word, Eamon?"

"Sure thing. Keep practicing, you've almost got it," he added to Madeline.

Moving a few paces away, Blair muttered "I just thought I'd stop by and say hi. I'm not even supposed to be talking to you actually. My mentor told me to stick with those other assholes."

"Yeah, mine said something similar," laughed Eamon. "Told me to help Madeline, which to be fair, I was already doing anyway, so yeah. I take it things aren't going very well?"

"I wish my partner was half as cooperative as yours seems to be. He's trying to turn them all against me."

"Ouch. How come?"

"He doesn't think I'm good enough, but really, he just doesn't want someone else from District 2 stealing his thunder."

"You know that doesn't surprise me in the slightest?"

"I suppose this is where you tell me to ditch them and partner up with you and your friend?"

"Well I was gonna ask if you were interested, but I wasn't intending to go quite that far. I'm not that much of a jerk."

She laughed slightly, "I don't know. My mentor wants me to stick with them, but I know they'll just turn on me without a second thought. I don't want to go it alone, because that's not what I've been trained for. You seem alright, but a little girl along with us? She'll probably just hold us back."

"Madeline's actually pretty good. Her survival skills are about as good as mine, with significantly less training."

"Haven't seen her use a weapon yet."

This was true. Madeline had still adamantly avoided the weapon stations by that point.

"It's early days, give it a chance."

"Can't afford to go around giving chances."

"Fair enough, it's your life to gamble with."

"I'll think about it."

"Speaking of weapons, I assume those are yours?" he asked, pointing to her sai.

"Yeah, they are," she said somewhat defensively, as though he were mocking her choice of weapon. "Good for offense, defense and throwing. Unlike that big ugly stick of yours."

Eamon chuckled and nodded, "Alright, you may wanna get back before they notice you're missing. Good seeing you again though."

"You too."

Confused and mildly irritated, he watched her walk away.

Why must girls be so damn confusing? he thought. On the one hand it was nice that she was still considering an alliance, all with minimal effort on Eamon's part. On the other hand, he felt like it was a pretty easy choice to make, even if she did feel Madeline wasn't super-prepared. Perhaps she was just playing hardball.

"Problem?" asked Madeline as he walked back over.

"Ehh… sort of," he said uneasily, "I tried getting her as an ally the other day, and she's still making up her mind."

"What's she like?"

"Not quite what I expected in a Career, honestly. Get the feeling that our Games depend on whether or not she joins us."

"Not what I meant. I mean, what is she like? She seems nice enough."

"I'm not following what you mean."

Madeline headbutted her palm with a resounding smack.

"For someone who's been training for eight years, you're awfully dim in a lot of ways Eamon."

"Thank you. On another note, you're far from the finished product yourself."

Impressed as he had been by Madeline's progress there were two areas of her training that stood out to him. The first was her proficiency for healing injuries. She'd learned quickly how to create makeshift bandages out of leaves and vegetation, as well as washing out and disinfecting open wounds. Eamon suggested this as the skill to show off to the Gamemakers for her scoring.

Ironically, the second area that Eamon was concerned with was the opposite of healing. As Blair had reminded him, Madeline had no experience with weapons or understanding of killing. He'd tried to ease her into it, but by that stage, even most of the younger tributes had tried their hand with a sword.

"Madeline look," he said in a soft undertone, "You need to learn how to use a weapon. Even if it's just a knife to defend yourself. We've still got half the day left, surely we can-"

"No. I don't want to."

"I don't want to either, but this the situation we're in. The whole point of the Games is… well… to kill each other."

"Have you even watched Nott's Games?" she asked, knowing the answer full well.

"Of course, I have."

"Then you'll know that he didn't fight or kill anyone."

"Not directly at least. What's the difference between slicing someone in half and making them fall in a freezing lake?" he pointed out.

"Changes how I feel about it," she muttered.

"You can bet Nott knew how to defend himself in any case. Besides, he wouldn't have been able to set any of those traps without an axe."

"What even is there to learn anyway? All you do is take a sword and put it in someone. It's that simple." She sounded very bitter.

"Madeline please, I'm trying to help," Eamon was almost pleading at this point. "I'd say you stand a pretty good chance of winning if you just learn a weapon or two."

"No. I just won't. I won't do that. That's not what I do."

She walked off in a huff to go get a drink, leaving Eamon with only his subdued, despondent thoughts for company.

Apologies for this being a slightly shorter chapter, but I hope it was enjoyable nonetheless. Good to see Madeline's training coming along, showing where she's excelling and where she isn't – will she be able to kill if it comes down to it? Clearly things aren't quite going as Eamon expected, how he adapts will be important for his Games. Blair is as enigmatic as ever, and who knows how she will decide to act?