It was nearly eleven, and the district six tributes had not yet arrived. Today, as with yesterday, there were a good number of absentee victors, but Peeta was rather surprised that Amy and Rory now numbered among them. From Katniss' account, it seemed that at least Rory planned to be attendance. Certainly there was no lack of gamemakers today-both Peeta and Katniss had noticed that it seemed that the gamemakers now outnumbered the tributes. Oddly, the head gamemaker—Plutarch something or another—seemed to be nervous. Or, at least, Peeta supposed this to be so because he kept twisting his watch while throwing the occasional surreptitious look at the new arrivals.
"Do you think that it's because of my shooting yesterday?" Katniss asked as she worried over a length of rope. To Peeta's surprise, Katniss had elected to pair with him this morning while waiting for Rory even though she had already done the knot-tying station yesterday.
Peeta considered her question. "It seems unlikely. It's not like they didn't already know about your private session last year. Plus, they would have seen all your Games footage from last year. So, even accounting for the strong possibility that they're idiots, I'd be really surprised if they hadn't been aware that you were a fantastic shot." He lowered his voice. "But, along those lines, maybe it is related to why Amy and Rory aren't here."
"That too," Katniss replied softly as she looked up to study the gamemakers.
Whatever she saw seemed to hold her interest. Curious, Peeta followed her lead and took a much closer look at the gamemakers. On first glance, no one had really stood out to him, but he now realized that a certain number of them had very distinctive-looking eyes. Grey, but nothing like Katniss' eyes. These looked to be almost metallic, like silver or mercury. Peeta frowned. He certainly had seen far more exotic modifications by Capitol citizens during his time in this city: why was eye color, of all things, troubling him? He nudged Katniss to get her attention. She shook her head and looked questioningly at him. He opened his mouth but inexplicably found that he had lost his train of thought.
Katniss smirked at him. "Cat got your tongue?" she teased.
Peeta blushed, closed his mouth, and shook his head. "I forgot what I was going to say," he admitted sheepishly.
"Peeta Mellark, at a loss for words. Never thought I'd see the day." Katniss smiled impishly at him. Peeta couldn't help but return the smile, but he really wished he could remember what he was going to say. He thought that it might be important, but, if it were important, surely he'd remember. He scanned the room, hoping to jog his memory, but to no avail. He did, however, manage to catch the door opening, and Amy and Rory slipping into the training center.
"It's noon," remarked Katniss. "I hope they're okay."
"Noon?" questioned Peeta, but the time was confirmed by a brief glance at the clock. "Well, it looks like they're headed over here, so I guess we'll find out." And, indeed, Amy and Rory made a beeline for Katniss and Peeta. The District Six victors, however, looked far from okay. They both looked exhausted, and their red, puffy eyes made them look even worse.
"Hey," greeted Rory as he and Amy arrived at the station. Amy waved her fingers in greeting but said nothing.
"Oh. Hey. Is everything okay?" answered Katniss and Peeta in perfect unison. This time, Katniss joined Peeta in blushing, and they both cast down their eyes at the same time. As Peeta looked up, he thought that Rory and Amy looked almost stricken, but he decided he must be imagining things.
"We're so sorry for being late-it's been a rough morning," Rory apologized. "Katniss, do you mind if we reschedule to after lunch? Amy and I aren't quite a hundred percent yet, but we think that we'll be fine after something to eat."
"Of course. No problem," answered Katniss. "Is everything okay?"
"Oh, yeah, everything's fine," replied Rory, who was now rubbing his palm.
Peeta cocked his head at the obvious lie. He looked over at Amy who, for some reason, was now staring openly at the Gamemakers. Her left hand twitched, which seemed to break her concentration. She seemed captivated by her hand for a few moments and then turned to the rest of the group.
"I'm sorry. That was rude of me. I just got…distracted." Amy took Rory's hand. "Rory, would you mind coming to the plants station again? I want to see if you're right about my not getting the leaves of the tacitera quire right. Let's go do that now." After Rory nodded his assent, Amy turned back to Katniss and Peeta. "See you guys later," she called as she dragged Rory off to the station, leaving Katniss and Peeta in a slightly perplexed state.
"Do you think that they had a relapse?" Peeta asked Katniss.
"Possibly," Katniss replied slowly. "Their eyes looked bloodshot, and I remember the Capitol announcers saying that hand tremors were typical of morphling addicts. And they both seemed slightly jumpy and distracted. But they seemed to be doing so well."
"I know. Maybe yesterday was bad for them, what with being back in training and all." Peeta stretched out his legs before standing up. "Speaking of which, I think that I'm going to head over to the climbing station for a bit. See you at lunch?"
"I'll join you." Katniss jumped elegantly to her feet.
Peeta supposed that his surprise must have been more obvious than he had thought because Katniss rolled her eyes at him. "Well, I'm glad that you don't seem to be regretting our alliance this morning."
"Never." And, to Peeta's further surprise, she reached out and squeezed his hand. "Never," she repeated.
…
"Tacitera? Really? That's the best you came up with?"
"Not all of us had centuries in which to practice our Latin. I was panicking. Anyway, what do you think?"
"It's definitely something. I wonder why the change, though."
"Apparently eyepatches are too clichéd and obvious even for the Capitol."
"Of course they are."
"Hey, what do you think is up with the guy and the watch?"
"No idea. Hopefully we'll remember to ask the Doctor about that. It seems like the kind of thing that he'd notice."
…
Peeta was almost sorry when lunch was called: he and Katniss seemed finally to have set aside the post-parade awkwardness and could be at ease with one another. At least, he harbored high hopes that he might get through lunch without Katniss angrily splashing food on his uniform. Indeed, he and Katniss even talked pleasantly while selecting food items from the trolleys.
"Do you mind if we just go ahead and join Amy and Rory for lunch?" Katniss asked. "I kind of want to see how they're doing."
"That sounds like a great idea," Peeta replied, and they both walked over to where the District Six victors were sitting side by side. While they seemed to have been in conversation, they both looked up as Peeta and Katniss arrived. To his relief, they looked markedly improved in the brief time since their arrival.
"Hey there," greeted Amy.
"Mind if we joined you?" Katniss asked.
"Not at all," Amy smiled and gestured to the seats opposite her and Rory. "Thanks again for being understanding about this morning. Rory and I just had some…stuff that we needed to process. But we should be actually useful now."
"Glad to hear that you're feeling better," Peeta replied as he eased himself into the chair. There was no need to inquire about the "stuff" that weighed on their mind-he was all too familiar with the darkness and nightmares that were impossible to escape as a victor. The subsequent lunch conversation was quite enjoyable: unexpectedly, Amy informed Peeta that her stylist happened to have some pictures of the ancient artist that they had discussed yesterday and asked whether he and Katniss might be interested in stopping by the sixth floor before dinner to see them. Peeta and Katniss had just accepted the invitation when a shadow loomed over their part of the table.
"I'm surprised that you two haven't partaken of the dessert." Peeta looked up to find Finnick looming over them holding out a pewter goblet to Katniss. Anger blazed across her features before Finnick motioned to offer it to Peeta. And, when he saw the contents, he understood why.
"Of course, it's not really nightlock," explained Finnick. "But these candies have apparently been all the rage in the Capitol thanks to the star-crossed lovers of District Twelve. How could the gamemakers deny this treat to their inspiration?" He selected one of the chews and popped it into his mouth. Almost as a bored afterthought, he offered the goblet to Amy and Rory. Without comment, Amy selected a handful of the candies, gave some to Rory, and both ate the chews at the same time, with more than a touch of defiance. Had Peeta not spent the time with Amy and Rory that he had, he would have been angry at the near-perfect mimicry. Instinctively, however, he knew that Amy and Rory meant not malice but solidarity, and, looking at Katniss, he recognized that she felt the same. Finnick, curiously, looked somewhat impressed and nodded at the District Six victors before sauntering off in Johanna Mason's direction.
"Is there nothing the Capitol won't trivialize?" muttered Amy as she clenched and unclenched her fists.
Rory now reached out for her hand and began stroking it. "I think that we all know the answer to that question," he replied. Peeta saw that Amy seemed to calm immediately at her district partner's touch and she clasped her other hand over Rory's.
"I guess," Amy conceded. She closed her eyes, breathed, and looked at Katniss and Peeta. "And look at me raising a fuss when it's you two who have every right to be upset."
Katniss shrugged. "It's probably one of the less traumatizing things that've been done to us."
While Peeta knew that Katniss had sought to dismiss any upset that Amy felt at the nightlock candies, a brief glance at Amy and Rory's stricken looks showed that they had not understood her intention. Peeta tried to mitigate the awkwardness. "I mean, if there's a way to be awful, you can trust that the Capitol will be all over that."
A look of resolve crossed Amy and Rory's faces. "You're right," Rory conceded. He turned to Katniss, and his expression softened. "I'm done here. Katniss, do you want to do the medicinal plants now? Or do you want to met up later?"
"Now's good," she replied. "Amy? Peeta? Do you want to come or were you going to do something else?"
"I'd like to come, actually, if that's okay," replied Amy. "I want to know this stuff in case I need to help Rory. Peeta, are you in?"
"As Katniss is more than capable of taking care of herself, I'd like to go see exactly what I should avoid eating if Katniss offers something to me." He smiled shyly at Katniss, hoping that she would take this joke well. She not only didn't scowl, but she actually smiled back.
"Drug a person one measly time and they never let you forget it."
…
Amy thought that the hour spent at the medicinal plants station was quite successful, with Rory and Katniss having quite animated discussions with the trainer about the different properties of the plants and how different combinations of plants might lead to different effects. Meanwhile, she and Peeta were assiduously taking notes and making sketches for reference. After completing the station exam with great success, Rory and Katniss finally seemed to remember that their district partners were also at the station and greeted them with sheepish smiles as they sat down next to them.
"Finally remembered us, huh?" Amy leaned over to bump shoulders with Rory. "What do you think of these drawings?"
"Brilliant," replied Rory. "Although I just noticed that there's also a healing station. Might be interesting to check out if there are any new developments or stuff. Could be useful." He seemed to look very hopefully at her for her permission.
Amy assented, and the four moved on to the next station. "I really think that we need to do some defensive stuff this afternoon," she commented to Rory. "There's the climbing wall, which really strikes me as something that we should work on. You've never really recovered from that fall when we were ten."
"Oh," exclaimed Katniss. "Did you know each other before the Games? I didn't realize."
Amy grimaced slightly at Katniss' keen observation. She looked to Rory for help, and he closed his eyes in deep thought. "We did," answered Rory slowly. "We were neighbors growing up. It's nothing that Amy really wanted to publicize after her Games-she didn't want the Capitol to know who her friends had been out of fear they would just end up being targets. But then I got reaped anyway, and, even though I managed to get back to District Six, well, you know what happened afterwards." Rory trailed off, wringing his hands quite convincingly.
"We weren't like you two, we were just friends growing up," Amy added almost dreamily. "But...after...I wish that we had fought harder to be there for each other, to have been at the other's side. Maybe we wouldn't have lost so much time. Or even so much of ourselves." Her eyes lost their dreaminess and sharply focused on Katniss and Peeta, who were now regarding her quizzically.
Rory also seemed to be surprised at Amy's remarks, and he frowned, probably from his guess at Amy's motives. "Well, none of that can be changed, so there's no point dwelling on the what-could-have-beens, is there, Amy?" he remarked pointedly.
Amy, as she not infrequently did, elected to ignore the obvious warning in Rory's tone. "No, but we know better now, and I'm not letting the next few days slip away to join all the other lost days." She began folding and unfolding the bandage in her hand, unwilling to meet Rory's accusing glare but also not sorry for what she had said. Admittedly, she might have taken things a step too far with that last bit, but she could never have forgiven herself if she hadn't at least tried. At Rory's audible sigh of exasperation, she looked up and at him.
"Let's talk about that later, okay?" Rory's voice was calm, but Amy could tell that he was displeased with the turn of events. While she glared at her husband, she could just make out Katniss and Peeta on the periphery, looking even more baffled at this turn of events.
"Trust me, I'm reconsidering my original plan right now. Time apart sounds like a really, really good idea," Amy hissed. She turned to Katniss. "Katniss, we are going to go do splints right now." Amy's tone of voice brooked no opposition and, insofar as Katniss Everdeen had ever done anything meekly, she silently got up and followed Amy to the far side of the training station. Had Amy not been so frustrated with Rory, either Peeta's look of complete shock at Katniss trailing Amy like a lost puppy or Katniss' own look of utter disbelief at the same would have caused her to roar with laughter. As it was, the corners of her mouth barely twitched as she plopped herself at the feet of the bemused trainer and demanded to learn how to deal with injuries.
For the next few minutes, Amy and Katniss worked quietly side by side, and it ended up being Katniss who broke the silence. "Is there anything that you want to talk about?" she asked awkwardly.
This time, Amy indulged in a slight smile at Katniss' expense. And, frankly, her own because the conflicting tones in the young girl's voice were all too familiar. Amy could tell that Katniss was sincerely concerned for Amy but, at the same time, Katniss wasn't going to be entirely comfortable with a hashed out discussion of feelings and emotions. And, to be honest, neither was Amy. Despite their present disagreement, Amy and Rory had known each other for so long and so well that they rarely needed to articulate their thoughts and feelings with one another-they could express so much with the briefest of looks and smallest of gestures. Really, the only other person with whom Amy felt comfortable discussing sensitive matters was the Doctor. It was perhaps telling that it necessitated an 1100-year-old Time Lord for Amy to open up about her feelings.
"Nah, Rory and I will have an argument, but we'll resolve things soon enough. We don't really like our disagreements to linger."
"Do you argue a lot?"
Amy paused. "I don't think so. I mean, it's not like we agree about everything, and it probably seems like Rory lets me have my way more often than not. But if he feels really strongly about something, he's going to stand up for what he thinks, even if I might get upset. It's one of the things that I really like about him: he picks and chooses his battles, but he's always honest with me. And I do appreciate that, even if it makes me angry sometimes. It's a rare quality, and I'm glad to have had someone like that in my life." She looked at Katniss. "Look at me blathering on as if any of this could possibly be of any relevance to you."
And as she busied herself with attending to the injured dummy, Amy couldn't help but be pleased at Katniss' silence.
…
In the meantime, both Rory and Peeta had tracked Amy's progress to the other side and winced in unison as they both observed the glee with which she was breaking and fracturing parts of the test dummy for splinting. Rory still believed that he was right to caution her, but clearly Amy was more upset about things than she had let on even during the morning discussions. As there was nothing to be done until he and Amy had a chance to properly talk, he decided to distract himself with training and trying to see if anything unusual happened with the new gamemakers. A thought, however, occurred to him, and he turned to Peeta.
"I can't believe that I forgot to ask, but are you okay? Did you have any injuries or bruising from our run-in the remake center? Are you okay for the arena?"
Peeta tore his eyes from Amy snapping the wrist of dummy as he answered Rory's question. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. If anything had happened, Portia would have gotten it fixed right away. The healers here are pretty good: last year, they were able to fix all those cuts that I got from Katniss the night before the Games."
"Wait. What?"
Peeta flushed. "Let's just say that Katniss' reaction to my first interview with Caesar was not all that I had hoped for. I'm not actually sure what I had been hoping for, but I'm pretty certain that it didn't involve getting shoved into pottery and needing both hands bandaged up the night before the Games. In fact, I'm absolutely certain that bleeding all over dinner was not even close to what I had been hoping for."
Rory whistled softly. "Huh. That's quite an origin story. Both hands, eh?"
"Yeah."
"At least things could only get better from there? I mean, apart from being thrown into the arena to kill each other and everything?"
"I guess."
"Actually, it kind of sounds like something that Amy would have done back in the day."
"Really?"
"Really. Anger's the probably the only emotion that Amy's never felt the need to bottle up." A sharp crack from the other side of the station punctuated this statement. Rory was gratified to see Peeta break into an understanding smile.
"I think I could see that."
Rory considered whether to continue the conversation. He would be treading dangerously close to the line that he thought that Amy had crossed but, now, when it was just him and this young boy bravely facing not only his own death for a second time, but that of the girl whom he loved so honestly and entirely, he understood why Amy had acted the way she did.
"Okay, so this is kind of stupid, what with all the circumstances and everything, but I think that it's impressive that you managed to get from Katniss attacking you with ceramics to having such a close friendship." He looked at Peeta, who bristled slightly but nonetheless quirked an eyebrow questioningly at Rory. "I mean, even setting aside the engagement and everything, just watching you and Katniss looking at each other while Amy and I were having our…conversation…just now, well, not just any two people could communicate so much without saying anything, you know? "
Another glance at Peeta showed Rory that the boy was starting to look away in embarrassment at having been caught at watching Amy and Rory. Rory sighed and tried to explain further. "Don't look so awkward-I don't care that you and Katniss were probably thinking that Amy and I were being ridiculous because we were. Like I said, it's nice to have someone that you just know and they know you, and you can just be yourselves together. Now, I think it's your turn to splint my arm."
As Peeta attended to his arm, Rory looked up and caught Amy's eye.
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, are you?"
"Yeah, I am. If you were her, and I were him, I'd fight like hell for even one more day together."
"So you do see."
"I do. You were right, and I was wrong."
"I knew I liked you for a reason."
They grinned and broke eye contact suddenly, almost as if they were afraid of anyone seeing them. Amy returned to working on her dummy, and Rory saw that Peeta was concentrating deeply on setting Rory's arm correctly.
They didn't know it, but someone had witnessed the entire wordless exchange. And so Peeta Mellark had rather a lot to think about while he dressed Rory's arm.
