This chapter has the first mention of Gamma Churchill, a character I'm borrowing (with permission) from SFCBruce's deuterology "Absolution"/"Epiphany."

Chapter 21
Welcome Home, Part 3

In the District Twelve Peacekeeper Barracks

Peacekeeper Captain Baxter paced around, as he spoke to the men (and one woman) who were now under his command—

"District Twelve is a powder keg now, Peacekeepers. President Snow believes that Twelve believes that Primrose Everdeen was punitively Reaped, just as Eight was convinced that Spool Paylor was punitively Reaped. Spool Paylor died the first day of the Games, and Eight rioted. If Primrose Everdeen had died, you might well be fighting off a riot here. Instead, Primrose Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are Victors, Twelve seems peaceful, and some of you are eating free donuts—more on that in a minute. Any comments?"

Peacekeeper Lieutenant—formerly Captain—Cray said, "I did not rig the girl's Reaping. How many times do I have to say this?"

Baxter shrugged. "You are a confessed corrupt Peacekeeper officer who can't prove you didn't rig Primrose Everdeen's Reaping, which is why Snow demoted you. But President Snow can't prove that you did rig Primrose Everdeen's Reaping, and Twelve hasn't rioted yet, which is why you still have your tongue in your mouth and your brains in your skull. Romulus Thread, former Head Peacekeeper in District Eight, rigged Eight's Reaping and left an evidence trail, so he's now a corpse. You got off lightly, Lieutenant Cray."

Baxter looked around. He saw every Peacekeeper's face show shock.

In the Square
With the District Holiday in full swing

Katniss was in shock. Everywhere she looked, she saw stalls giving away food—ice cream, strawberries and apples and other fruits, cakes and pies and cookies, and meats of every kind. Peeta urged Katniss to bite into a square of a dark-brown food that she had never seen before. Katniss reluctantly took a bite—then she was in heaven.

"Mmm," Katniss said. She quickly ate the rest of the square.

"It's called chocolate," Peeta said.

Prim said, "On the tribute train, they served it as a hot drink. Delicious, huh?"

In the District Twelve Peacekeeper Barracks

Linus Baxter, now the Head Peacekeeper for District Twelve, looked around at the assembled Peacekeepers. "Let me tell you a funny story that makes a point. The tribute train was about an hour out of Twelve when the 'rear door open' alarm went off. I thought, 'Oh no, one of the tributes has jumped off the train at 400 kph!' Needless to say, I raced back to the dining car."

Baxter then described how he arrived at the dining car's dining room to discover that both tributes were alive and healthy—but every bottle of liquor in the dining room had been thrown off the rear platform or had been dropped out the window. "...Haymitch Abernathy looked like his dog had died!"

Scornful laughter followed.

"I looked at those two kids and I thought, 'Give them each a sword, and One, Two, and Four won't know what hit them.' I knew that one of them would be Victor. But everyone else thought they were cannonbait. Did you know that before the Gong, the odds of Primrose Everdeen winning were set at one in ninety-nine, but no money was paid out for those odds because nobody bet on her? Zero bets."

A Peacekeeper murmured, "Shit, I'd be rich now."

Another Peacekeeper replied, "Except that you loaned your spare PDs to that nurse bitch."

Baxter continued, "And why did I not bet on Primrose Everdeen, and not bet on Peeta Mellark, when I was sure one of them would win? Because Peacekeepers on the tribute trains are forbidden to bet on tributes. The rule figures that we tribute-train Peacekeepers have inside information. Anyway, the no-bets rule was clear, so I followed the rule, knowing I would miss out on a ton of PD winnings."

A stocky Peacekeeper smirked. "There are ways around that rule, sir."

Baxter glared at the man. "Oh, I'm sure there are. There is a rule against buying things from district people but not paying for what you buy, and there is a rule against whoring with the district women, but I know there are ways around those two rules as well."

Baxter looked directly at Cray as he said this last part.

Baxter raised his voice: "But as of now, Peacekeepers, all the rules about Peacekeeper Conduct that you've ignored? Now you will follow those rules, or you will wish you had!"

The Peacekeepers looked unhappy as Baxter laid down the law: whoring district women would stop now, buying poached food would stop, any Peacekeeper who owed money to a district person would pay the debt by midnight of the next payday (all eyes turned to Cray), and worst of all—

"...Right now, a District Holiday is going on out there in the Square. Lots of food is being given away. All that food is for district people. None of you will demand food, you will not ask for food, you will not drop hints, and if anyone puts food in your hands, you will give it back. If you pop a grape into your mouth and I catch you, your ass is grass."

Now his Peacekeepers looked annoyed.

"Why am I doing this? Because while district people fear us, we also need for them to respect us. But if district people disrespect us, and scorn us, we give the Rebels in this district a sympathetic audience. Corrupt Peacekeepers help the Rebellion, people."

In the Square

Katniss was amazed (and secretly pleased) as seemingly every person in District Twelve asked Prim for a hug—and Prim always happily agreed.

Peeta was also getting/giving many hugs—but when the hugger-wannabee was a teen girl, the girl looked at Katniss as she was asking Peeta for the hug. Katniss did not object, but she always felt jealous—even when the hugger was Gamma Churchill, a plain-faced Community Home teen.

"You ain't bad for a fucking Townie," Gamma said to Peeta, as soon as she finished hugging him. "You looked out for the Seam girl."

Katniss was shocked how many times she herself was asked for a hug. When Katniss remarked about this, Prim shrugged. "Everyone knows what you've done for Mother and me since Dad died."

Peeta added, "And they admire you for it."

Just then, Katniss noticed that the new Head Peacekeeper and the previous Head Peacekeeper were talking with Saira Irving, the latest in a long list of Cray's desperate Seam whores. Saira was holding a corn dog, which Cray was looking at longingly, so he missed the vicious grin that Saira wore. Then suddenly Cray looked at Saira as Baxter said something. Saira shot Cray a withering look as she suddenly bit the top off the corn dog; Cray gulped noticeably.

Right after this, the new Head Peacekeeper (with unhappy Cray following) headed toward Katniss, Prim, and Peeta.

Prim and Peeta happily introduced Baxter and Katniss. Katniss picked up that both Co-Victors liked the man and that he liked them.

Then Baxter said to Katniss, "District Twelve will see changes soon. For instance, Lieutenant Cray will start buying frozen turkey from the butcher shop whenever he gets a turkey-hankering. Right, Lieutenant?"

"That's correct, sir," Cray said stiffly.

Katniss smiled a little, seeing Cray's obvious misery. Aloud, Katniss said, "Rooba is honest. She'll sell Cray good meat at a fair price."

"Also," Baxter said, "The 'electric' fence surrounding Twelve has been left unelectrified for years. This puts Twelve in danger of attacks from wild animals. To fix this—"

Katniss dreaded to hear what Baxter would say next.

"—I am electrifying the fence every night, from sundown to sunup."

Katniss blinked.

Then she said, "I will sleep better, sir, knowing that I don't need to worry about attacks at night from boars and bears."

Baxter smiled. "I thought you might. Well, it's been a pleasure, meeting the famous Katniss Everdeen. See you around, folks."

With this, Baxter and Cray left.

Peeta asked quietly, "How bad is this for you?"

Katniss said in surprise, "Not even slightly bad. I never hunt at night—too dangerous. And I'll bet Baxter knows I don't hunt at night. He's just given me permission to keep doing what I've been doing—while at the same time, beating Cray over the head with a stick."

Prim grinned. "We told you Baxter was nice."

Elsewhere in the Square

Cray said to Baxter, "What the fuck, 'sir'? You tell Twelve's Peacekeepers we have to all be angels now, you publicly humiliate me in front of Saira Irving, then you turn around and tell Everdeen she can keep on poaching?"

Baxter, in response, grabbed Cray by the collar of his Peacekeeper uniform, then Cray was dragged out of the Square and up the steps of the Justice Building. Where they stopped, Cray realized, nobody inside the Justice Building could hear their conversation; likewise, no district person was close enough to overhear the two Peacekeeper officers' argument.

Baxter said, "Suppose I could completely stop them from poaching, Katniss Everdeen and Whatzisname, her big friend—?"

"Gale Hawthorne."

"Suppose I stopped Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne from poaching. Would the Capitol eat more turkeys?"

Cray thought, Where are you going with this? Aloud, he said, "No, what would happen is that lots of wild turkeys beyond the fence would eventually die of old age."

Baxter nodded. "So what she's doing isn't really stealing from the Capitol, is it? Not like somebody in Ten killing a farm-bred turkey."

"But the poaching law is on the books, and our job in Twelve is to enforce the laws. All the laws."

Baxter shot Cray a look that said Those words are especially ironic, coming from you, Cray. What Baxter said aloud was, "If poaching were legal, if we took down the fence and everyone in Twelve could hunt wild game, nobody would take out tesserae. But we need for district people to take out tesserae, because, quote—"

Cray supplied the quote: " 'Tesserae makes district people fight each other, so they are in no shape to fight the Capitol.' But it doesn't matter why the poaching law is the law in Twelve, Snow expects you to enforce the law."

Baxter shook his head. "I'm to enforce the law, but more than this, Snow expects me to calm down this district that he thinks is about to riot. This is why Snow pulled me off tribute-train duty and put me in charge in Twelve. Demoting you, this calms Twelve down. Making the Peacekeepers here act like angels, calms Twelve down too. And easing the starvation here, even if only a little, calms down Twelve."

"It's your ass, sir," Cray said.

"I am well aware of this," Baxter said drily. "Now tell me, what does Katniss Everdeen use for a weapon? Rifle? Air gun? Knife? Slingshot?"

"A bow and arrow. She's very good."

"A bow and arrow, seriously? Well, one district girl with a bow and arrow up against one Peacekeeper with a semiautomatic pistol, you know what the outcome would be, right? So I see no harm in allowing Katniss Everdeen to keep doing what she's doing."

Meanwhile, in the Square

Once Katniss could look past all the food, she noticed a big temporary building in a corner of the Square. It had an air-conditioner on the building's roof, and three portable generators supplying power to the building. The building had two doors: a door where people only went in, and a door where people only came out.

"What's in there?" Katniss asked.

"Let's find out," Peeta said.

The trio walked over to the entrance door.

Inside the buildings were tables; and on the tables set eight old-fashioned two-dimensional televisions. One screen was showing a silent travelogue; currently it was showing a District Three woman who was wearing a puffy paper cap that covered much of her hair, and who was doing something with tweezers. Another screen was showing a pre-Catastrophes comedy in shades of gray, of three stupid men trying to glue printed paper to a wall (and making a mess); the three men spoke to each other, but the sound was muted. A screen silently showed how to cook foods found in a Parcel Day parcel. Another muted screen taught children their letters.

The only non-muted screen was hung high up on a wall, and was visible from everywhere inside the building. That screen showed a propaganda film titled, "Keep Calm and Carry on in Panem." What the propaganda basically said was that you should keep doing your district job, whatever it was, and you should trust the smart people in the Capitol to do what was right for all of Panem; a second Dark Days would be stupid.

Katniss did not say Bullshit! aloud, not when people might overhear, but she thought, I'll bet the Capitol woman who narrates that propaganda gets to eat chocolate whenever she wants.

A few minutes later
Back outside the Television House

The Co-Victors and Katniss heard a man's amplified voice coming from the stage. The man spoke with a Capitol accent.

"I just flew here from the Capitol—and boy, are my arms tired! Seriously, I came here on the same tribute train that brought your two new Co-Victors home." A pause for cheering and applause. "The train traveled here at 400 kph—that's fast! The train could have traveled even faster, the train engineer told me, except that Haymitch Abernathy's empty booze bottles weighed the train down."

It turned out that the speaker was a barely-famous stand-up comedian in the Capitol. He told jokes about how the people in District One all were idiots, how all the people in District Two were stupid, on through the stupidities of District Eleven. He said nothing at all about people of the Capitol.

Peeta leaned close to Katniss and Prim and murmured, "Next year he'll be telling some other district how stupid all Twelves are."

This made Katniss and Prim both laugh. From the stage, the comedian turned toward them and smiled. This made Katniss and Prim laugh harder.

Later

The only Capitol entertainer whom Katniss completely liked was the stage magician. He did not mix-in any kind of "the Capitol is so wonderful" message, he just made stuff appear and disappear.

Still later

A young man, with an accent that Katniss did not recognize, stood behind a table; on his table were big stacks of t-shirts, in every color.

"Where are you from?" Peeta asked the man.

"From District Eight."

Peeta laughed. "Eight, huh? Great! I thought it was only Capitols and we Twelves at this thing."

"Mostly, but some of the people handing out food are from Four, Nine, Ten, and Eleven. A Three man and a Five man assembled the Television House." He frowned. "But no district person will be going on your stage, except for locals. District people aren't good enough entertainers, it seems."

Clearly to lighten the mood, Prim gestured toward the piles of t-shirts and asked, "What have you got?"

The young man said proudly, "As soon as the trumpets sounded, my family started to print these t-shirts in our house." The man lowered his voice: "The factory where we used to work, burned up during the riots last week."

Katniss's eyebrows shot up. Panem District News had not mentioned anything about riots in District Eight.

Some of the t-shirts being given away had Peeta's name and face only, some had Prim only, but most t-shirts said "CO-VICTORS!" followed by both faces and both names.

Prim grinned and asked, "Do you have a Co-Victors t-shirt in yellow, size Small? Yellow is my favorite color."

Peeta said, "Give me a Co-Victors t-shirt in orange, size Extra Large, please."

The District Eight man handed over the t-shirts. Then he looked at Katniss with a raised eyebrow.

Katniss asked, "Can I get two t-shirts instead of just one? A Co-Victors t-shirt and a Primrose t-shirt, size Small in green."

The man smiled. "Well, I won't do this for anyone else, but considering you're Katniss whom these Co-Victors are fans of, I'll say yes." The man pulled a green t-shirt from each of two stacks, and laid the two t-shirts on the table.

Prim's eyes glowed with mischief. "If you're giving my sister two t-shirts, can she have three?" Prim looked at Katniss and said, "I'm sure the nice man has a size-Small green t-shirt with Peeta on it."

"Indeed I do," the man said. "Shall I hand it over?"

Prim, Peeta, and the District Eight man all looked at Katniss.

"I don't promise to wear the shirt," Katniss said.

"But you'll take it?" Prim asked.

"Yes, Prim, I'll take the t-shirt with Peeta's picture on it."

"Both of us Co-Victors thank you," Prim said.

Seconds later

As soon as Peeta, Katniss, and Prim had moved far enough away from the t-shirt table, Katniss said quietly, "Panem District News has not said anything about riots in District Eight."

Prim replied, "I wonder what else they don't report?"

Later
By the performing stage in the Square

The singer on stage was a young Capitol man barely out of his teens. He had a bad-boy look to him—he looked like Cato, but blue-haired. Katniss did not know who he was, but he had a trained voice.

By the stage stood Gale and Madge. In the few seconds that Katniss watched those two, they kissed, in front of all of District Twelve.

Katniss looked away from her friends kissing. The Square had plenty of other sights to catch Katniss's interest.

Katniss wondered whether she would enjoy kissing Peeta.

One second later

Prim said, "There's Gale! And Madge. I need to talk to them. C'mon!"

Katniss said, "You need to talk to them?"

But by then, Katniss was talking to Prim's back. Katniss murmured to Peeta, "I guess we follow her."

"Gale! Madge! I need to talk to you!" Prim yelled—right when those two were about to kiss again. Katniss wondered whether Prim's yell was deliberate.

When Prim (and Katniss and Peeta) were standing close to Gale and Madge, Prim threw her arms around Gale and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! For the best advice ever!"

"Um...," said Gale. He shot a panicked look toward Madge.

Madge asked, "What was the advice?"

Prim looked around at the four other people. "In the Justice Building, Gale told me, 'Think!' Then he said to me, 'You're a sweet girl, a kind girl, but if you go into the Games being only sweet and kind, Prim, you will die. So think, Prim.' Gale, I started thinking before I even got on the train. And I kept thinking, right up till the trumpets played. And here we are, Peeta and I, because of you, Gale!"

Madge said, "This is so sweet. I'm going to cry."

"Don't cry yet, Madge," Prim said. "You'll get the pin wet."

Prim reached into a pocket and pulled out the mockingjay pin. Prim said to Madge, "You loaned me this pin before the Games, and now I'm returning it."

A polite argument followed, in which Madge and Prim each insisted that the other should have the pin.

The argument was settled when Madge said, "Primrose! Both my Grandmother Sugar and my Aunt Maysilee would want you to keep the pin. You've done right by it."

Two hours later

Scattered around the Square were three rectangular tent roofs, with tables and chairs underneath them, where Twelves could find shade from the summer sun. Katniss, Prim, and Peeta were sitting and eating ice cream (which Katniss decided she liked), when Effie and Haymitch spotted the trio and hurried up to them.

When the tribute train had arrived at the train station, now many hours ago, the mentor and the escort had left the train together; this had not surprised Katniss. But in the hours since, Haymitch and Effie had stayed together; whenever Katniss had spotted one of them somewhere in the Square, the other had never been more than a meter and a half away. This constant companionship surprised Katniss; she found the overexcited escort to be tolerable only in very small doses, and Katniss assumed that Haymitch would feel the same.

Now Effie (with Haymitch following) click-clack'd up to the trio's table in her high heels. Effie said cheerfully, "Good afternoon, Peeta and Primrose. I hope you are enjoying the ice cream?"

Peeta said, "Oh yeah, Effie, ice cream in early July is great!"

Prim said, "When I ate ice cream the night before the Gong, I couldn't enjoy it, you know? But eating ice cream in District Twelve is much better."

Katniss shot Prim a look of surprise, but then Effie was looking at her, Katniss: "We haven't been properly introduced. Primrose, would you please introduce your sister to us?"

Prim said, "Effie, this is Katniss, my sister, whom you've heard so much about. Katniss, Effie Trinket. Haymitch, my sister Katniss. Katniss, Haymitch Abernathy."

This was how Katniss wound up shaking hands with Effie and with Haymitch; Haymitch had to shift his beer bottle to his left hand in order to shake Katniss's right hand.

While Katniss was shaking Haymitch's hand, Effie was sighing theatrically. "Primrose, young lady, your introductions do need work."

Peeta asked, "Haymitch and Effie, what's up?"

With a grin, Haymitch asked, "So, boy, you asked Sweetheart out yet?"

Katniss gasped. She could feel her face burn with embarrassment.

Peeta answered, "I haven't figured out where I'll take Katniss for our first date, so I haven't asked yet. Twelve isn't exactly the romance capital of Panem."

Effie said, "Peeta dear, it belittles a young lady when you presume that when you ask her out for a first date, she will say yes."

Katniss said, "But I will say yes." Still blushing, Katniss explained, "I haven't decided about any of the other stuff that Delly Cartwright will ask about, but I've already decided I'll say yes to a first date when Peeta asks me."

Prim reached over and squeezed Katniss's hand.

Meanwhile, Peeta was grinning as he said, "In that case, Katniss, our first date will be a twelve-course candlelight dinner, including chocolate for dessert, all served on a red-linen tablecloth with actual silver flatware—or as close to this as Twelve can manage."

One second later

Effie said, "I came over here to inform you about this evening's schedule and your part in it, Katniss."

Prim grinned. "Pay attention, big sister. Effie is fanatic about schedules."

At six o'clock—forty-three minutes from now—the Capitol entertainers would stop for a meal break. Local musicians Robbirt Donner and Stivvin Porter would take the stage, after Mayor Undersee introduced them; the two local musicians would play five instrumental duets. Then Effie would introduce Katniss, and the District Twelve trio would perform three songs more. Effie would come back on stage, as Robbirt and Stivvin left, and Effie would host the a capella "sing-off" between Katniss Everdeen and Hermione Riddle. Win or lose, Katniss would then leave the stage, Hermione Riddle's back-up musicians would take the stage, and the regular evening schedule of Capitol entertainment would resume.

Haymitch said to Katniss, "I grinned like a fool, sweetheart, when you challenged a Capitol singer to a singing contest. You're ballsy like your sister."

With those words, Haymitch pulled his beer bottle away from Prim, as if he were afraid Prim would snatch the bottle out of his hand. Prim and Peeta laughed, and Effie smiled. Katniss suspected she was missing a joke.

6:20 that evening
On the performing stage
The Square, District Twelve

Robert and Stivvin had just performed five songs in a pre-Catastrophes style they called "bluegrass." The word confused Katniss—all the grass in Twelve was green.

Effie Trinket took the stage and, in her usual over-cheerful manner, said, "Let's have a big, big round of applause for our District Twelve musicians, Robbirt Donner and Stivvin Porter!"

There was only a smattering of applause—and ironically, that little bit of clapping all came from the Capitols who stood at the edges of the Square. From Twelve people: no applause.

But the three Victors were standing right by the stage. Prim yelled, "C'MON, PEOPLE, THOSE ARE TWELVES UP THERE, DOING A GREAT JOB! CLAP FOR THEM!" Prim, matching gestures to words, put her hands above her head and clapped loudly.

District Twelve quickly joined in. Twelves would not clap when Effie told them to, but they clapped loud and long when Prim told them to.

Effie, it seemed to Katniss, was unbothered by the slight. The escort, still wearing a cheerful smile, waited for the applause for Robbirt and Stivvin to die down. Then Effie said, "Now joining Mister Donner and Mister Porter on stage is a young lady well known to the people of District Twelve. In these last Hunger Games, she was spoken of often by both District Twelve tributes. I give you Katniss Everdeen!"

Katniss took the stage as the crowd roared.

The first song of the Robbirt-Stivvin-Katniss trio was "I'm Ridin' The Train to Lonesomeville." The Twelve crowd liked this pre-Catastrophes song.

Sometime during this first song, Katniss looked down from the stage. Prim and Peeta, Haymitch and Effie, Gale and Madge, Hazelle Hawthorne and her other children, Delly, Greasy Sae, Aloe Everdeen, and the Tyndales all were standing near the stage and were smiling up at Katniss. Across the Square, Darius the Peacekeeper gave Katniss a thumb-up.

The next song the Twelve trio performed was "Deep in the Meadow," which Katniss had often sung to Prim as a lullaby during the last five years.

Now Katniss looked down from the stage and saw that twelve-year-old Prim was teary and her lip was trembling.

The Twelve audience liked this song too.

After the trio had performed two songs, Robbirt and Stivvin began a fast, energetic arrangement of "The Miner and the Mine-Girl," with Katniss singing the words. The crowd went nuts—especially after Prim ran up and stood on a corner of the stage, faced the three musicians, and clapped in time to the music. The rhythmic claps of the audience were so loud, it was a wonder that the Justice Building did not collapse.

Then the last song ended. Robbirt Donner (the banjo player) stepped forward and said, "Stivvin and me, our time is done. I hope you enjoyed our show." He had to wait a while for the cheers and applause to die down. "Before we go, we want to again congratulate our Co-Victors, Primrose Everdeen—"

Stivvin played two bars of "Deep in the Meadow" with his fiddle.

Then Stivvin took over the speech: "—and Peeta Mellark."

Robbirt played two bars of "Capitol Party Party" on the banjo. The crowd laughed.

Seconds later

Robbirt and Stivvin left the stage, to applause. The District Three man moved three microphones, that had been used by back-up singers, from the stage to the Square in front of the stage. The microphones were set in front of Capitol Liaison Domiducus Jones, District Twelve Head Peacekeeper Linus Baxter, and Dr. Josephus Picardo.

Katniss saw the District Three man nod to Effie, who then joined Katniss on the otherwise-empty stage.

Effie asked, "Is Hermione Riddle here?"

"I'm here, and I'm ready to sing," a woman's voice called out. Katniss looked over at the source of the voice; Hermione Riddle this evening was dressed to make Hermione Riddle at the train station look like a frump. The rainbow now was dressed in rainbow colors.

Effie said, "Now we will hold a singing contest. District Twelve's Katniss Everdeen has challenged nationally popular recording artist Hermione Riddle to prove she is the better singer."

The yells of people in the crowd—both Capitol and District Twelve—were bloodthirsty.

Effie explained the rules and introduced the judges—no one of whom was a District Twelve native.

Effie asked Katniss, "Are you ready?"

Katniss replied, "Let me say to Miss Riddle, May the odds be ever in your favor." Katniss said the words in an exaggerated District Twelve accent. The Twelve crowd cheered.

Katniss nodded to Effie, who played Middle C on a pitch pipe. Katniss stepped up to the microphone and sang the first verse of "Anthem of Panem"—

Let us tell the story
Of dear Panem's glory,
Our heaven beneath the sky,
That protects us, keeps us dry,
All fed by the brown, rich soil,
Hand in hand do we all toil.

Katniss sang the verse with no tricks or flourishes; Katniss sang the song simply, but sang it well.

When Katniss finished singing (to cheers from everyone in Twelve), Katniss walked to the back corner of the stage. When Hermione Riddle took the stage, the singers exchanged haughty looks.

Effie again played Middle C on her pitch pipe, then Hermione sang.

While Hermione sang, Katniss stood in place and wore an unworried smile.

Every vocal trick that Hermione knew, she put into singing her version of the verse. Katniss had heard opera sung more plainly.

When Hermione finished singing, the Capitols applauded wildly; Twelves applauded not at all.

Effie came back on stage, and gestured for Katniss to come forward. Now Katniss and Hermione stood on either side of Effie, facing the audience; Katniss wondered whether Effie was about to ask Katniss and Hermione to shake hands.

Apparently not; instead, Effie asked the three judges to score the two singers.

The Capitol Liaison, Domiducus Jones, said, "I found Miss Everdeen's singing to be very plain, almost boring. Hermione Riddle is the better singer."

Hearing this, the Capitols in the crowd cheered.

Head Peacekeeper Baxter was next: "I was born in District Two, so I have no horse in this race. But I think Miss Everdeen did the better job. I don't know how to describe it, I'm not musically trained, but when you take out Miss Riddle's bells and whistles, she did not quite hit the target, whereas Miss Everdeen hit the bullseye dead center."

Twelve cheered the Head Peacekeeper's verdict.

Effie said, "Dr. Picardo, it's up to you."

Dr. Picardo said, "Besides being a doctor, I'm an amateur opera singer, and I am musically trained. Miss Everdeen wins."

The Twelve crowd roared, and stomped, and clapped.

When Dr. Picardo could be heard again, he explained his decision: "I noticed that Miss Everdeen sang every note on key, with clear tones; whereas Miss Riddle, I am sorry to report, sang flat."

Effie gasped. "Hermione Riddle was not pitch perfect?"