A/N: Some relationship development for you in this chapter as well as a few other little things. At the moment we're still constructing Enobaria and Clove and their relationship and soon we'll be getting into the main events. Thanks for all the views and reviews, dears. -Lu

PS. For those curious about the relationship and secrets surrounding Enobaria's parents, all will be revealed eventually and what isn't has been deliberately left up to your imagination.


"Clove, you lazy lump, get out of bed now!" I demanded, storming into my bedroom and glaring at her. All I could see was the top of her dark head poking out from under the covers of my bed. At fifteen, and after almost three years of training, I no longer found it difficult to get up early. In fact, I found it impossible to stay asleep after the sun was up. And the run I took through the woods every morning and evening felt as natural to me as breathing. Clove didn't share my energy yet though.

Today she had to get out of bed though. It was her first day of junior training, the six years old initiation class, and I was damned if she was going to be late. She had my reputation to live up to by now. So I marched forward and dragged the covers from the bed, Clove and all, and deposited her with a thump and a disgruntled yelp onto the floor at the base of the bed. With a few curse words I'm sure we had Cato to thank for she battled her way out of the tangle of blankets and sat there, hair like a bird's nest and glaring daggers at me.

"Don't look at me like that," I spat, storming passed her and rummaging in the tiny chest where we kept our clothes. As soon as she had outgrown her child's crib Clove had simply moved into my room and my bed. My room was the size of a closet but there wasn't anywhere else for Clove to sleep, unless she wanted to set up camp in the lounge room. The fact that my father would frequently storm home at all hours, and that my bedroom had a lock on the door, meant we both knew which option she would choose. Pulling out a black long sleeved shirt I threw it at her, ignoring her huff as it hit her in the face. "Get dressed, get down stairs, we are leaving in fifteen minutes." In the doorway I rounded on her. "And don't even think about going back to bed."

As I pattered down the stairs I rolled my eyes at the string of words I heard thrown at my departing back. Six years old and she was already using swear words I didn't even know.


We walked in silence through the streets of town. They were still quiet. It was only people opening their shops and students going to the Centre up at this hour. We didn't even see a single Peacekeeper which was unusual. Normally too, any journey would have been broken by Clove's questions and statements. She'd never exactly been a chatty child, in fact around others she barely spoke at all, but she seemed to have an endless list of questions for me. This morning all that I could hear was the clip of her shoes on the asphalt and the gentle rhythmic thump of her bag against her side.

"You okay, Clo?" I asked eventually, as we rounded a corner and the junior centre appeared in the distance. I kept my eyes front but I saw out of the corner of my eye that Clove glanced at me then quickly glanced away.

"Uh huh." Clove suffered from the same sin I did; pride. She would rather die than admit that she was scared but I knew from her silence and the way she kept tugging the zip of her jacket up and down that she was nervous. God knows what terrifying stories Cato and his brothers had told her about junior training. A few blocks from the centre I stopped walking and pulled her to a halt too. She looked up at me biting her lip and I knew she was worried I thought her weak.

"How many people do you know who have gone to junior training, Clove?" I asked, tilting my head to the side questioningly.

Clove's dark eyes danced around as she thought of a list. "Cato, Aron, Pax, Taras..." she listed off Amica's boys, the only other children she had ever really encountered.

I nodded then gave her a questioning look. "And?"

Her eyes settled on me and she stopped fidgeting. "You?" she said so soft I could barely hear her.

"Exactly." I nodded. "And nothing terrible has happened to any of us in there has it? I'm still here to drag you out of bed every morning." I was rewarded with the smallest of smiles. Clove was about as prone to smiles as I was. "You'll be fine, midget," I said teasingly and she scowled at me. That gave me much more encouragement than the smile. "You'll be fine in there and in six years if you want you can go onto Senior Training just like I did."

She nodded determinedly. "I will. I'm going to volunteer just like you will Ena." I rested my eyes on her for a moment, not so quick to share her enthusiasm. It was one thing me going into the Arena but Clove was another. I wasn't sure I wanted to watch her on the screens with my heart pounding in my chest like I had watched Tass. I didn't affirm or deny her statement, just gave her ponytail a gentle tug and started walking again.


I arrived at the Centre late that day but I wasn't the only one. No one seemed to mind either. As I walked through the doors and headed towards the rooms that Domitius used to train us, Junia fell into step beside me.

"Saw you at the Junior Centre this morning," she said without looking at me. Junia wasn't the kind of girl to bother with hellos. She tended to get right to the point. I didn't look at her either. I had noticed her with her mother, dropping off her six year old brother who shared Junia's silky auburn hair and pearly skin. But when I had said goodbye to Clove I had been determined to avoid as many people as I could. Every other child there was dropped off by at least one parents, most two. I didn't want to be the one everyone stared at and pitied because a fifteen year old was the only person willing to see the six year old off on her first day of school. Clove seemed to understand this and at the gates had turned around and given me a quick hug around the waist before darting away. She had disappeared before I had been able to wrap my arms around her and I was left standing with an armful of air where I wished my sister still was. "Was that your sister?" Junia continued as we shoved passed a group of Aemilia's students.

I ignored the jostles they gave me and the insults hurled at our backs as we pushed through the doors to the smaller training rooms. "Yeah, my sister," I said curtly.

We walked in silence into the training room, shaking off our jackets and preparing to warm up. We could see that Manius was already warmed up and busy running an obstacle course with a few of the other students swinging rubber bats at him. He was the youngest of three sisters and two brothers so he'd had no one to wave off this morning. As he reached the end of his course he turned around and spotted Junia and I. He gave a too casual wave and with surprise I noticed that Junia blushed. I looked at her, my mouth hanging open.

"Are you two...?" I trailed off, not even sure what I was asking. Romance was the last thing on my mind in the training centre. I couldn't even seem to manage friendship. I couldn't even contemplate anything more. But then Junia and Manius had been together in Domitius' small training group since before I arrived. Junia shook her head, glaring down the room at the boy who was turning to run the course again.

"Who knows what we are," she said, completely not answering my question. As if to distract me from further interrogations she flopped down on the ground and stretched out a leg to begin stretching. As she did she looked at me, flicking her perfect hair out of her eyes.

"If your sister turns out as fierce as you then Panem help us all," she said with a teasing grin, but I knew her words weren't joking. I gave a half hearted laugh and turned away but I couldn't shake the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I imagined Clove living the life I led.


Knowing that Clove would probably walk home from training with Cato and possibly the other boys I stayed later that normal at the Centre that night. I liked it when the small training rooms were silent except for the sound of my own heavy breathing and the satisfying thock of each of my knives as they hit the target. When it became difficult for me to clearly see the target at the far end of the room I glanced up at the skylight to see that night had crept up on me. My limbs were dancing with the joy of movement. Once I stopped, and began to pack up my knives and other equipment, the thin layer of sweat on my body cooled and made me shiver. I shrugged into my jacket, pulling it over the simple tunic and leggings of the fitted black training outfit we wore but leaving it unzipped.

The rooms around me were in darkness as I padded silently through the Centre, heading for the main room. It was nice when it was so quiet, I should train late more often. The stillness around me went back to my mentality as a child that if the house was silent it meant I was alone and therefore safe. That had changed dramatically when Clove had come along, because the house had never been quiet once it had a baby in it. In fact, now, if she was quiet when I walked in it was probably a sure sign my parents were home.

I was tangled up in my own thoughts of our family as I walked into the main training room and so I didn't even notice the group of boys lounging by the door until I heard a shout. My head flicked up and instantly I knew that I was in trouble. A group of seven or so boys from Aemilia's class were hanging around the door, some of them now walking towards me with interest. My heart sinking I picked Ronan from the front of the group, his grey eyes gleaming bright at the sight of me. I was hopelessly outnumbered and they were all strong fighters. My body still remembered the punishment it had received from Ronan on my very first day of training, and it had no desire to feel it repeated. I ducked my head and tried to walk purposefully towards the door. I pretended as if I hadn't noticed them but every nerve in my body was tuned to their slightest movement, and ready to react if they came at me. There was no way they were simply going to let me slip away.

"Well if it isn't the little midget," I heard Ronan call and there was a series of laughs from the others. Knowing I wasn't going to slip away unnoticed I lifted my head and saw with horror that they had fanned out around me, trapping me in a half circle. I stopped moving and watched them warily, rising lightly on my feet so I was ready to run. Ronan grinned and lunged at me. I darted around him, not wasting time on delivering him a blow, and tried to head for the door. There was a hand on the back of my collar and suddenly I was yanked sharply backwards, kicking and screaming at them. They only laughed as I tried to twist around and strike out at whoever had me. They were all much bigger than I was and my struggles barely even seemed to make a difference. The person dragged me backwards and I felt someone grasp my wrist in a grip so tight I was worried he'd break the bones. He twisted my arms around behind me so that I couldn't move. It hurt like hell but I refused to give any of them the satisfaction of knowing. I bit down on my lip to keep from crying out and tasted the salty, metallic taste of blood in my mouth. Next second Ronan appeared before me, grinning like a stupid Cheshire cat, and studying me critically. "Think you're so special, don't you? Getting special training from the monster?" He stepped in towards me and with a sickening drop of my stomach I felt his hand gripping at my waist. "Well, I bet I can guess what type of training he gives you," he said, flashing a grin around at the other boys who all laughed.

I twisted myself uselessly against the arms that trapped me, feeling the body behind me like a solid wall of rock. Rage made my skin rush hot and before I could think about the consequences I had spat in Ronan's face. He bellowed and swiped at his face, lifting his arm at the same time. There was a stunning blow to the side of my head followed by a sharp pain and I gasped, looking down at the ground as I tried to clear the spots from my vision. He was screaming something at me but my head was ringing with the hit and all I could see was his mouth moving, his face turning red with rage. Despite the pain in my skull and arms I gave him a smile, which to my delight only made him angrier. Then his words began to seep back into my mind and my blood ran cold. He leant up to me, pressing me against the boy who held me, and the next second I felt cold fingers groping at the bare skin of my stomach. I screamed and tried to kick out at him but I was wedged between the two stronger boys. His hand crept up my body under my tunic and I felt like I was going to be sick. The sensation of his hands touching me, stroking, groping, made my head spin.

Then almost as suddenly he had pulled away and my head flicked around at the sound which had made him stop. Through the crowded boys, who were hurriedly stepping back, I made out the towering figure of Domitius storming towards us. He gave an angry shout and I felt the hands around my arms loosen slightly. It was all I needed and I twisted, kicking out at the same time, so that I drove my knee into the body that had trapped me. I dropped to the ground and stumbled into a run, heading for the doors. A hand grabbed at me as I went but I dodged it, focusing my eyes on the door ahead and letting my legs, which had moments ago been frozen with terror, pump away as fast as they could. There was more shouting behind me but I didn't stop. Humiliation and anger were equally burning in my cheeks as I threw myself out the front doors of the Centre and sprinted into the woods nearby. I didn't slow till I could no longer make out the shaped of buildings through the trees, and then I threw myself to the ground, retching against the base of an old tree. When my body had decided to give up on me I rolled over and sat clutching my knees to me on the forest floor. I was trembling hard and every noise around me had me jumping, frantically scanning the forest in case they had followed me. I tried to block the feeling of Ronan's hands on me from my mind but it kept coming back, making me shudder each time. Never again was someone going to touch me like that. I would rather die.

Darkness had completely set in around me by the time I managed to get my thoughts functioning enough to stand. My legs shook but I told myself firmly to get a grip and found that I could walk. The thought of walking out of the trees again, so exposed, terrified me, so I skirted the edge of town, keeping well within the darkness of the forest. I'd rather encounter a wild animal that have them find me again on the deserted streets of town. I didn't know what had happened behind me as I left but either way I had a feeling it was only going to create me enemies. I couldn't contemplate seeing Domitius tomorrow, having him look at me knowing. I blocked the thought completely from my mind as I saw our house ahead of me.

By the time I walked up to the front door of our house I was muddied and scratched and bleeding from the bushes and trees. The side of my head where Ronan had struck me was tender but it was nothing I couldn't handle. I slipped silently through the front door and moved straight up to my room, hoping my parents wouldn't decide this was a day they wanted to interrogate me.

When I turned and slid the lock of my bedroom door I was met with Clove's surprised face, standing by the dresser in our room. Her eyes flicked up and down me and a frown appeared on her forehead. "What did you do?" she asked, clearly shocked. I looked down at myself and saw the scratches on my arm where a reaching branch had torn through my jacket and the dirt from a fall covering my knees. I gave her a forced casual shrug and walked over to the bowl of water on the dressed. I splashed my face before answering her, feeling the cold water clear my head a little. With a sigh I folded to the side of the bed. She was still standing staring at me, the top she had been folding frozen in her hands. I pointed to it.

"Don't put that away, you'll need it tomorrow." She raised her eyebrows demandingly and I sighed again. "I just got in a fight at training, that's all," I said, trying to sound reassuring. I hoped the memory of feeling powerlessly pinned by the boys didn't show on my face as I stared her down. If it did she decided to leave it because she chucked the top on top of the dresser and came towards me.

"You were right, you know?" she said, taking a seat next to me. I looked down at her, confused. "About training?" she clarified. She gave a small, cold smile that was a tiny bit disturbing. "It was fun."