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With a Little Help from My Friends

The sun was warming the earth, the water and the air. It also warmed my face, which was turned up as I lay on the grass by the lake. I had my eyes closed, but my ears registered every sound around me. The chirping of the birds as well as the lapping of water on the stony shore. They also registered the footsteps coming closer.
Involuntarily, I tensed, analyzing these footsteps. Whoever it was wasn't trying to be quiet, so they did not want to take me by surprise. I cracked one eye open as a shadow fell atop me.

"Felix," I said. "You're blocking my sun."

"Good," he said. "You're too delicate to get a sunburn."

"Sod off," I said.

Nonetheless, he sat down next to me and I raised up on my elbows. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"The Games," he said.

I groaned and fell back down on the grass. "We still have two months, could you please just leave it alone."

"No," he said. "Last year, we were taken by surprise."

I nodded solemnly, thinking back to the way that Johanna had killed our tributes. It had been unfortunate, granted, but no one could have foreseen it. Besides, things like that did not happen more than once.

"I'm tired of it," Felix added. "I want to be sure we win."

"We can never be sure of that," I said, frowning up at him.

He looked at me thoughtfully, then over the lake, and then back at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Look, you may not want to hear it, but-"

"Okay, okay, stop right there." I sat up fully, glaring at him. I had understood already where this was going. He was going to suggest that I sleep with even more sponsors to help our tributes. The anger boiled inside me. What did he think I was? Some kind of mattress he could rent out for his benefit?

"Listen, Nissa," he said, attempting to calm me down. "I know you're in a bit of an unfortunate situation-"

"So why not make it worse?" I snapped. "You're right, that sounds logical."

"Would you please let me finish?" he said forcefully, glaring right back at me.

I rolled my eyes at him, but gestured for him to continue, though I was sure that he had nothing useful to say.

"I know you're in close relations to Crane," he said. "And Crane is going to become Head Gamemaker, isn't that right?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How do you know?"

Felix smirked at me, obviously pleased with himself. "You're not the only one with friends at the Capitol."

I groaned and shook my head at him. I did not have friends at the Capitol. The only thing I had at the Capitol were clients. The difference was immense. Immense enough for even Felix to understand.

"I understand that you don't like this," he continued and he sounded surprisingly honest. "Quite frankly, I don't like it, either."

"What do you care?" I asked, studying him.

He sighed heavily and then shrugged.

"I don't need your pity," I said.

"I don't pity you," he said. "Pity is for the weak. But I acknowledge your pain."

We sat silently together, staring at the glittering surface of the water. The sun was beginning to set, slowly but steadily and I shivered a little as the air got cooler around me. Maybe what Felix suggested did make sense. Why not improve my relations to Seneca Crane a little - I had already considered it, had I not? Why not at least profit from the situation I had been put in? Surely, Seneca would be willing to help me. Or rather my tributes. As Head Gamemaker, he was master of the odds. No one could blame me for trying.

"I guess I can try," I told Felix. "I'd love for my tribute to win."

"Yeah," Felix said as he met my eyes. "I'd love that, too."

I watched as he carefully reached out his hand as if to touch me. My eyes flickered briefly from his fingers to his face, searching his expression for an explanation. He was so close, the idea of his touch made my skin tingle. I imagined the feeling of his rough fingertips on me, how they would stroke over my cheek...

Felix suddenly pulled his hand back as if he had been burnt and jumped to his feet. "Good," he said. "I'll see you."

Luckily, I did not have much time to worry about Felix and his behaviour. Due to the upcoming games, I spent all my time with my family, trying to suck up as many happy memories as I could. I even brought out the violin again. Back in the day, I had thought that I would never be able to master the instrument, but practice obviously helped. Ligeia made her first attempts at it, too. She was definitely more talented then I was.
Basil spent most of the time pouting, though. I refused to give him the lessons on throwing knives he had begged me for. No matter how much he insisted, I would never let him be in the Games.

And so I warned my uncle before I left for the Reaping. "I don't want to come home and find Ligeia in the academy," I said. "Don't even think-"

"I promise you that I won't send her there," Uncle Tycho said.

I hoped that I could trust him on this.
I was fully prepared to do what Felix had asked of me and charm Seneca Crane a bit for our benefit, and considering our tributes, we might just have a chance. The girl was not very tall, but by her own account quick and good with a bow and arrow. She had shaken Felix' hand with a confident smirk.

"Spes Garcia," she introduced. "I'll be mentoring with you next year."

The boy, Balbus White, placed a big hand on her shoulder. "We'll see about that," he joked, but not even his light tone could keep the illusion of friendship up.

Felix growled and grumbled just as much as any year, the same way he had back when I was a tribute. Only now I understood his poor mood and his refusal to grow attached to the tributes. Even if we succeeded, we would never be able to save more than one. If we even did so much.
As per usual, our rivals did not rest. Finnick's tributes looked good, all though they possessed the rather rural force that was so typical for his distract. They gained their strength from working on their fisher boats and not from skilled training. District One's tributes portrayed their usual arrogance and strength. The self-satisfied smirk Gloss wore did nothing to ease my worry. People had bet on One last year already. They were more than due for a win.

"What do you think?" I asked Felix.

"Just make sure Seven doesn't give us any trouble," he said.

"Seven?" I said. "Hardly."

Johanna was very capable, no doubt - she had proven so impressively last year. But she knew nothing about mentoring. Seven rarely won, anyway, and she had not gained friends in the Capitol. Seven would not be any real rival to us.

Still, I followed Felix' advice, if only to do Johanna a favour. I found her after the chariot rides, where she was talking to her tributes. Both were very young, thirteen and fourteen, and they looked even smaller when I compared them to the Careers.

"Johanna," I greeted.

"Berenice," she answered and shifted in front of her tributes. "What can I do for you?"

"We're discussing alliances tonight. At The Quay - nice little bar by the river. Lots of sponsors present, too. It would be good if you could come," I said.

As I spoke, her eyebrows rose higher ad higher. "You want me to join the Careers in discussing alliances?"

"I want you to join me. All of us need people to trust and I trust you. Am I wrong for doing it?" I asked.

She eyed me up and down and finally jerked her head sharply in agreement. "See you tonight."

After dinner with Marcia and my tributes, Felix and I set off for our meeting with the other victors. He did not seem all too pleased that I had actually invited Johanna, but after my reminder that he had set me this task, Felix did not protest further.

Cashmere and Gloss were already there, waiting for us, as was a victor with astonishing green eyes.

"Finnick!" I called and rushed to hug him.

He laughed and held me back to look at me. "Beautiful as ever," he complimented.

I smirked. "Same goes for you." I sat down next to him and asked, "Who's mentoring with you this year?"

"Mags," Finnick said. "Annie couldn't... she couldn't cope. We don't want to stress her."

He cast his eyes downward and they fixed on the shimmering liquid in his glass. I sighed in pity. We all suffered, all had our cross to bear, but Annie was even worse off. And no one knew how to help her. I imagined how I would feel if Felix was in the same position as Annie... my eyes wandered over to where he sat next to Gloss, his arms crossed and glaring as per usual. No, Felix would never be in the same position. He was a fighter, a man of the weapon. And if he still had nightmares, well, he would deal with them on his own. Felix was strong.

"What's she doing here?" Cashmere's disgusted voice pulled me from my thoughts.

Johanna had arrived. She had spotted us, but moved through the crowd with deliberate slowness.

"I invited her," I said. "One can never have too many allies. Ones you can trust. Don't you think, Cashmere?"

She sneered at me, but wiped the ugly expression of her face when Johanna sat down on the other side of Finnick.

"Hey," I greeted. "You found it."

"Yes," she said. "Thanks for inviting me."

"Our pleasure," Cashmere assured her. "We're all in this together, aren't we?"

Johanna grinned at her, but even her smile held something rude. "Don't give me that 'bygones-are-bygones'-crap. Odair already tried that."

My eyes flickered to Finnick who shrugged with a slight smile. Felix and Gloss began to discuss the other tributes, analyzing who could be a threat and who could be eliminated easily. Meanwhile, I wondered if we could ditch One all together this year. Two-Four-Seven, maybe, eliminate One, then Seven and I was sure one of my tributes could take Finnick's down...

Johanna listened to the discussion with a stoic expression. I noticed though, that her hand clenched around the arm of her chair so tightly that her knuckles turned white. In all her brazenness, she probably never realized how mentors really operated.

"I don't think I'm right here," she whispered to me.

"You can always go," I offered. "But-"

In that moment, a well polished hand landed on Johanna's shoulder. All our eyes shot up and I recognized Antoninus Stark, who had told me about District Thirteen. He leant down and whispered into Johanna's ear, who seemed ready to slap him when he finished. Stark did not seem to notice the look on her face and regarded her with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Anton," I said. "She's not available."

His eyes flickered from her to me. "Oh? Who're you going to tonight?"

Johanna opened her mouth, but I interrupted her quickly. "Now, now, you know we need to be discreet."

He considered this and finally nodded. "What about you, then?"

His words were like a hit in the stomach and they stole my breath for a moment. Bad enough to be sold out to whoever could afford it - could I not at least be their first choice? I forced myself to smile at him.

"Of course. Give me a minute."

"I'm sitting over there," he said, pointing to a booth on the far end of the bar where he was sitting with a few of his colleagues. "Join me whenever you're ready."

He stalked off and I turned back to my fellow victors. None of them dared to look directly at me. I thought them ridiculous. Most of them knew exactly how this worked, Finnick and Cashmere especially.

"Thank you," Johanna said in a small voice.

I shrugged. "Just remember who you can trust." I got up and smoothed down my dress. "If you'd all excuse me. I have an appointment."

I did not look back when I walked over to join Antoninus Stark for the night.

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