That's Pain
Rory winced. "These do take some getting used to," Dr. Morgan admitted. "Even as you do, it may well take some extra effort to move. It is always harder when we have to take a leg above the knee or an arm above the elbow. Now, the computer chips and motors in this thing do their best to imitate the joint. The oddest thing is that sometimes you have pain in the limb you don't have any more."
His artificial leg did its best to look like a real one, being covered with fake skin instead of exposing the mechanical parts. Yet Rory thought that part of him looked as pale as a Townie. "We don't have many rich darker-skinned people," a doctor pointed out, "so while that might not make sense, given that, no wonder they make only a light version of this."
"Hey, can I still kick my little brother's ass with this?" Rory wondered.
"I wouldn't," a nurse said.
"Yes, Mom," Rory answered. They had taken his leg, not his sense of humor.
Haymitch walked in and jokingly shooed out Prim. "I think these hospital beds have maximum capacity one." Her love was clear enough, but also her fascination with the medical technology, a point she had already belabored with any and all employees.
"Yes, but I almost love him even more now. I didn't fall in love with a leg, I fell in love with the kind of boy who would do such things for me. I thought we were already so close, but it feels like you can't be even closer than sharing an arena," Prim said.
"I'll drink to that!" Haymitch said.
Once Everdeen left, Abernathy continued. "Mr. Hawthorne, and now for some messages from your sponsors," Haymitch told Rory. "I think this one has to do with the future Mrs. Hawthorne," Abernathy explained, introducing a Capitol businessman.
"Love is my business, and business is good. Kendrick Macmillan, Macmillan Jewelers," the man introduced himself. "I knew darn well you and Miss Everdeen would be getting married if you made it out together," he observed.
Rory kept his mouth shut about the toasting, thinking he'd save that story for Caesar. He answered Kendrick with "You got that right".
"I am of the opinion that beautiful people should have beautiful things, especially when I did well betting on them," Kendrick said has he handed Rory two boxes. I don't want to know how much these cost, and I've had more trouble haggling over squirrel, Rory thought. But the man was right – the rings were beautiful. One was a band of black stone with swirls in it. The other one was five hearts of a pale golden color around a green crystal. Rory realized that Prim was to wear a model of the flower she was named after, and he found this quite clever.
He leaned in to whisper "Damn shame Mr. Goldman and Mr. Sawyer couldn't join you," showing similarly customized rings for their beloveds Sapphire and Johanna. Taken literally, he was a craftsman showing off his products – a silvery ring etched with a swordlike pattern and stuck with a blue stone, another with an axe drawn into it and a brown crystal on it. However, Rory read between the lines to see that a Capitolite was saying Fuck the Games. I cared about the tributes – some of them, at least.
"That went well?" Haymitch asked, and Rory conveyed a lot with a simple nod.
Rory was recovering from a severe physical injury, but he and Prim still had the big victor interview with Caesar in a few days. As one of the doctors was wheeling him around, he had a suggestion. "I'd like to see you enter the auditorium under your own power, even with a walking stick," she said, presenting a polished staff made of a light shade of wood.
That's Love
"The victors of the 77th Annual Hunger Games, Primrose Everdeen and Rory Hawthorne!" Claudius boomed as screens continued to replay key moments of the recent Games, events the survivors would rather not repeat any more than their minds already were doing.
Rory was able to creep forward with the stick in his left hand, to shift as much weight as possible to his natural leg. "I feel like old man Frayer with this thing," Rory muttered, but the mics picked it up. "Runs a general store back home. One of the mundane aspects of the district I thought I'd never see again."
"Well, as far as that home is concerned, we're already married. The ritual where we make a fire and toast together, the words we mouthed, is what District Twelve cares about," Prim explained.
"There did seem to be more than a meal to that," Caesar said appreciatively.
"He reiterated that he'd love me 'till the end, apparently that's a few decades further off than we thought at the time, more than we could have dared hope for."
"And here are some of our early wedding gifts," Rory said as he got out the jeweler's boxes. "A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady named after it," he added as he slipped that on and then his own. "Most weddings wouldn't be so concerned with how the groom walks down the aisle," he added.
"You were entirely willing to die to save her and your child…" Caesar began.
"Absolutely," Rory said simply, his eyes burning with the intensity of a coal fire.
"I think I can speak for most of this audience when I say I'm relieved we didn't have to see you do that," Caesar continued. The hordes of Capitolites who loudly took to their feet confirmed his intuition was correct. Undoubtedly many watching on screens felt the same.
"I wish we could all have a love like that," Caesar said as the cheers began to quiet down.
"My older brother does. Her older sister. We Hawthornes and Everdeens were already quite a family," Rory said happily.
"Hear that, Claude? Doesn't that make you feel bad about being on your fourth trophy wife?" Caesar jokingly insulted while looking at the broadcast booth.
"Ah, can it, Flickerman," Templesmith shot back with equal humor.
"She's such a nurturing, caring person. Amongst other things, that predicts a wonderful mother. It's beautiful to see her with our niece and nephew; I can't imagine how amazing it will be to see her with our own child," Rory said, and none swooned harder than Prim herself.
I Was Wrong
District Twelve had long since erupted into celebrations that were wild by their standards, but something but a damper on Ingrid's mood. Mrs. Everdeen knew the woman approaching her all too well. "Sarah Kolster. Funny my so-called mother should show up now after more than twenty-two years when we could have really used your help," she spat.
"I admit I picked a good time to tire of that. I know you missed far more from me than I did from you. I could have had wonderful granddaughters if I could have accepted how happy my daughter had been," Sarah said, and Ingrid felt like listening.
"They say girls often marry men like their fathers, and if this is the kind of boy Rory is already…Jacob must have also been more than I thought," Sarah continued.
"He sure had been!" Ingrid reminded her mother. "I don't forget easily, and Katniss doesn't either. Yet it seems darling Primrose is so good at the family business that she's begun to mend your heart."