District Twelve
No sooner than Rory and Prim got home, they had to leave again. Yet they were prepared, their relatives having spent much of the past two weeks packing up their possessions, still relatively meager even after six months of living as victors.
The Undersees and their in-laws showed that Townies weren't truly wealthy either. "Ingrid, it's been far too long," an old woman said.
"So it is, Mrs. Donner," Mrs. Everdeen agreed. "Sadly, I've lately had Jacob to grieve instead of Maysilee," she admitted.
"My twin songbird is still with me," Melody Donner Undersee said, croaking the words out but still defiant. "Even though Snow took her away. About time someone made him pay!"
"I wish I could have done more for you, Melody," Ingrid said to her old friend's sister.
"I know even you couldn't, not having Capitol medical technology to fix what Capitol power broke. They don't care about any district people, apparently not even a mayor's wife. I never dreamed we'd have a chance to actually do anything about it, so I jumped at this opportunity when Haymitch brought it up. He's always been there for Maysilee too," Mrs. U finished.
"Enough of working within their rotten system," her husband added. "And it took Lazare this long to even realize it was rotten?"
"Better late than never," Madge chimed in.
"I suppose so, dear," he agreed.
"And same for fancy doctors having a look at Momma," Madge added, "another thing Thirteen might do that the Capitol doesn't."
A District Thirteen hovercraft became visible right outside the fence as it dropped its shields. Gale was first through, eagerness to be sure. Eagerness to actually do something about what he had said out in those woods, eagerness to fulfill his other dream now that he had a happy family with Katniss. However, the action also showed the Townies how to fit through the fence with time being of the essence.
The craft took to the air while the ramp was still being raised and the last passenger still being seated. Anna Flowers Undersee was tossed around a bit, but she understood. "Gotta move this thing before the Capitol scrambles its own after it."
It would be a short flight, Districts Twelve and Thirteen being close in geography as well as identifying number. However, it still left time to talk. "I do still need medics, but there is something that has made me feel better lately," the mayor's wife began.
"What?" several other passengers said almost simultaneously.
"Her name is Heather. Her and seeing how happy her mothers are together," she said with a smile, and one could tell that facial expression was rare on Mrs. Undersee.
"Holding Jacob 2 is the first time I haven't felt out of my mind since losing Jacob 1," Ingrid agreed. As if on cue, Katniss brought the toddler over. Adults had enough trouble moving about on a hovercraft in flight, let alone babies.
"You like Sage too," Gale teased.
"Of course I do, but she's calm with her other grandma right now, and, well, it sounded funnier this way," Ingrid pointed out.
"Sorry to interrupt the family gathering, but we're about to land in District Thirteen," the hovercraft pilot spat out sarcastically.
District Two
Upon Haymitch Abernathy's signal to Patrick Lazare II, Patrick Lazare I got on a hovercraft with his children and staff, along with their district's other victors and their families, those other victors lucky enough to have any living relatives. Ostensibly, he was taking them on a tour of their district, and that's what he told Air Traffic Control in the Western Fortress. However, he was really taking them on a tour of another district.
They got in the air and got their shields up. There wasn't much anybody could do about the flight at that point since the crew was certainly disciplined enough to maintain radio silence.
Lyme knew of a rebel hovercraft hidden somewhere in the mountains of District Two, but that rebel vessel could now be put to other uses or held in reserve. Well, I'm a military commander again and I've been thinking like one, the mayor mused to himself. The official Capitol craft he commandeered could carry more people with less risk of trouble from the tower minders inside the fortress.
Already it was clear that District Two was making this rebellion go much more smoothly. Most people of significance were well aware of that or would be soon. Sure, he had been pushed towards this by what the arena had done to his children. The shock they went through seemed comparable to the experiences of some Peacekeepers who had seen heavy action or many civilians who had been exposed to grisly crimes. He once thought the Games served a similar purpose in maintaining order, but now he doubted that, not to mention the purpose for which the Corps was trying to maintain order. Building on those thoughts, his district had been first amongst supposed equals and may as well maintain that status if there was to be a rebellion.
Lyme had been a rebel for far longer than the Lazares. She had grown up in the less affluent part of Two, after all, and had found the Games to be a way out. If that was enough to tempt her to treason, the other districts must be even angrier.
Lyme lightened the mood with some dark chocolate. Sometimes it seemed she couldn't get enough of the stuff. Being calorie-dense, it made for superb rations, and even the less-sweet stuff was still a marked improvement over Peacekeeper field rations. Several from District Two's detachment of the Brown and Blacks had been persuaded to defect along with the group of prominent civilians. A Corporal King led the group in scattering foil wrappers on the hovercraft floor. "They still feed you boys FR six six sixes?" Mayor Lazare asked.
"Yessir," he replied.
"I know these are a big improvement," the mayor said, taking a bite out of his own, "but still, police your foil," leading by example by putting his own wrapper in a spare pocket.
Some might complain that they were abandoning their district, but they were really just serving it from a different location, and truly serving it instead of the Capitol. The rebel war plan called for clearing out the other districts before going after the loyalists back home and in the Capitol itself.
This made sense to the old general. It ought allow time to build up rebel forces and wear down those of the Capitol. Morale was always critical, and people ought be persuaded to turn away from the Capitol and towards the rebels over time. The districts' resources would be given to one of their own instead of taken by the Capitol. The war may come down to a siege which could be expedited by preventing the enemy from further building up their resource stockpile, a kind of battle as old as the hills. Thirteen's plans were also the classic strategy of concentrating forces on an enemy weak point, that being defined as each district in turn and then the city that would no longer be controlling them. It was the attacker's advantage against fortified defensive positions.
The elder Patrick spoke up again as soon as he felt the hovercraft touch down inside a District Thirteen hangar. "Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to play the wedding march."
District Thirteen
Mary Lazare would promptly be marrying that Peacekeeper, Alexander Hawkins. Well, it seemed that him and the few men he could trust from his unit were now very much ex-Peacekeepers. One of his soldiers, a Nero Antonius, stood ready as his ringbearer. Maria carried Mary's band, having been a friend from the Career academy and their victor from two years before Mary and Patrick.
Thirteen had evacuated some key rebels from some districts besides Twelve, in addition to Two's self-evacuation.
Madge, with Anna, was the only already-married child of a mayor. "No one in their right mind would marry Harvest Blade's asshole son," Madge said. "Junior over in District Eleven is one of those males that makes me feel better about being attracted to females instead." The Lazares knew exactly what she meant and so did the District Eleven civilians.
"Ah, so I'm not the only famous homosexual in this country," Ruby London assessed.
"But one of the more obvious ones," Anna replied, and his husband Carolus laughed.
"Well, Panem sure has its problems, but how it treats people like us isn't really one of them," Ruby went on after the chuckles had died down. Treats us just as bad as everyone else, some thought. "It's more gender roles that get me sometimes. Well, as an Academy student, then a tribute, then a victor and mentor, I got more of the respect I deserved."
Then the conversation switched from his perspective as a Career to Madge's view as a mayor's relative. "I've noticed the Marriage Act simply uses gender-neutral wording."
"I will become a husband today; I may well become an uncle as well," the groom said of his nine months pregnant sister.
Clove wouldn't have missed her big brother's wedding even if it was a simple ceremony at the District Two Justice Building, let alone this extravaganza in the District Thirteen Collective. Well, an extravaganza by the standards of Districts Two or Thirteen.
Ingrid found this very unusual as a midwife but quite understandable. Well, there was certainly a big strong man ready to carry the woman who was in the process of becoming the mother of his child.
Cato hoped Alexander would become like a brother he'd never had, much like Flavia and Hannibal as a sister and father.
Mary had been at his wedding and now he was at hers. Obviously Patrick II would be there for his co-victor sister. It wasn't surprising that the other District Two victors joined them, Lyme the only one with the District Thirteen military uniform broken in.
Yet what really made a difference was the presence of victors from other districts – it showed that they were united against the Capitol, rather than divided by it. So much had changed when Clove saw through Capitol propaganda to Prim's humanity, and now they literally stood together.
"Naming your daughter after your mother is a brilliant idea," Clove said with an air of self-satisfaction.
"Let me guess – that's what you were going to do." Prim realized.
"Cato's mother, actually. The arena took his father before his parents could marry, and now there will be a Teresa Adams. Teresa Ivy Adams, actually, I could leave my own momma out of it," Clove explained.
"Isn't that the sweetest thing?" Mrs. Everdeen said, amazed.
She saw even more substantial appeal in another aspect of this scene. The bride had arms locked with her father for now. "That's what a man should think about his daughter's choice of husband!" she announced.
"Your father did not walk you into your Justice Building?" he wondered perceptively.
"To put it very mildly," Ingrid agreed, and this bride's father recognized that it was a very sore topic.
Miles Undersee was alone in mayor's vestments; both Patrick Lazares were amongst many in military uniforms. The father of the groom was another soldier. "Best get familiar with him and stay on his good side," Lyme cautioned. "He was a recruit trainer back in his Peacekeeper days, and he'll fill the same role for us.
"Back in Lyme," Patrick Lazare I ordered. This seemed to be what passed for levity amongst these serious folks, and a few chuckles spread out.
"Yes, General," she said crisply before promptly doing so.
"Wedding march," the general continued, and the District Two people besides Cato and Clove moved forward in lockstep. The evacuees of age from other districts were also enlisted, including Rory himself, but only the District Two folks followed this drill. "Halt so they can begin their life together." How romantic, Rory thought sarcastically, but then again he knew a few people outside of District Twelve thought the toasting was silly.
"Will you be the solid rocks upon which each other can build their lives?" Ruby asked.
There was a party and feast afterwards, quite impressive given the circumstances. Lyme also liked her chocolate in cake form, apparently.
Rory saw a redheaded King with a sense of humor. "You know a Darius?" the Hawthorne victor called out.
"My brother!" this one responded happily. Even the average Peacekeeper didn't get much news about other districts – mainly to maintain operational security, but it also broke down such family bonds to focus on the bonds of soldiers. Yet as an old saying pointed out, blood was thicker than water. The Capitol should soon learn that lesson the hard way after decades of attacking the institution as an alternative for the peoples' attention.
"He's with the infantry in Twelve. He also knows what the deal is about the Capitol," Rory explained. "He's one of the regulars at our black market. Peacekeepers who don't care for their rations are known to look the other way on poaching," he understated. Cyrus passed along the story of the chocolate on the hovercraft and added another old saying, 'an army marches on its stomach'.
Rory read 'Clayton' off one of the many fresh name patches and said "You must be Rue's father".
"Exactly, and I'm here because the Capitol hurt my little girl. When you have a daughter, you'll understand," he answered. "Even after all the Capitol already does to us."
"Yeah, my brother is especially glad to be doing something while my niece and nephew are still young," Rory agreed.
The mess hall was soon graced by people from yet another district, the victors of Four. "Hello," a man introduced himself, and most of the women and some of the men already present turned for more than a glance. Finnick Odair had the sort of look that made even the Hawthorne boys seem plain, with an even deeper skin tone, and even more charm. "Sorry we're late. We had to wait until Peacekeepers didn't have an eye on us."
Looking at the pretty yet bedraggled woman clinging to him, fellow victor Anemone 'Annie' Cresta, it was clear there was another couple the Capitol wasn't happy with, maybe because Snow would rather have Finnick amuse Capitol VIP's. A traditional District Four wedding would take more time to set up than that of Two, especially with this change of plans. Nevertheless, It seemed like the family of victors was about to become even closer, and closer to helping free Panem of the Capitol.