AUTHOR'S NOTES: The victory tour kicks off, starting with Districts 1 and 3 (since '2 is saved for last). Amy pays homage to 4 of her 5 career companions in the games, meets a couple of other victors, and begins a journey to discover the secret of this "Red Gold", from District 1, and how it involves District 6. In fine, welcome to the victory tour.

CHAPTER 34: Honoring the Fallen

Amy's first stop was in District 1, and from there would skip her own district and move on to '3, all the way down to '12. She felt that the first couple of stops would be important to give homage and respect to her allies from the games. Charm and Luster, ditzy as they might have been, had been loyal friends until their untimely deaths. Similarly, so had Shaft and Asher been, although their stop would be tomorrow, and so Amy's focus would be on District 1's tributes for today.

That morning as they neared the stop, Amy was dressed by her silent stylists into a shimmering sapphire-colored gown, most likely representing that very jewel. District 1 *was* the luxury district after all, and was responsible for many of the finely crafted items that its citizens and the Capitol wore, among other things. They had a very amiable relationship with District 2 (unlike the vague but oddly positive relationship fostered between '2 and '12 last year by Ava), and so Amy was not worried about her reception here being anything short of positive.

Her outfit was topped with a pair of heels (reminding Amy just how tiny she was), and Clove had a few remarks to make about the blue makeup on her face, as well as other touches.

"There's a saying in District 1," she quipped, looking the younger victor over once, "they say that everything is better with glitter."

"That explains the glitter then," Amy laughed, "they'll swoon over me."

The people of District 1 didn't exactly swoon, but they were clearly very fond of Panem's 92nd victor, given her close and amiable ties with the volunteers from their district that year. The applause that Amy, Clove, and the team got as they approached the Justice Building stage was a sign of their reception. Amy found herself rather approving of this.

Despite her emotional emptiness, Amy was able to give a fairly good speech, glancing one last time at the holographic profiles of Charm and Luster that stood behind their grieving families. She mentioned their loyalty, their positive attitudes, and their dedication to their cause. They had been valuable allies (even if they had not killed any other tributes, although Amy didn't mention that part. If they wanted to remind themselves of that, all they had to so was rewatch the games footage), and Amy and Marcus had both been genuinely saddened to see them go. On the other hand, Amy respected the cunning of District 8's tributes this year, since they had been responsible for the deaths in question.

District 2 had a peculiar mentality like that. Many of them respected both friends and enemies, if they were cunning, clever, or strong. The former two reasons were also why many of them respected District 5. In many years, Panem's most mysterious district produced elusive and cunning tributes.

Whatever the case, Amy's speech went remarkably well and the applause was genuine. Soon she and the others shuffled in for the evening's events, where the partying would go down.

Now, Amy, like all of District 2, was aware that their district partied hard and that there was simply no parties that quite matched it except for the Capitol which made anything from the districts look inferior (so it didn't count). However, that didn't mean that they didn't enjoy themselves in District 1, which did provide a nice party either way.

During this time, Clove found Amy and sat beside her with two reddish bottles in her hand.

"You're going to offer drinks to a 14-year-old?" Amy raised an eyebrow, noting Clove's smirk.

"No, I'm going to pressure you into it," she retorted, "it's good though. Red Gold is one of District 1's greatest specialties. I'll save you a bottle for District 6 as well."
"Why District 6?" the 14-year-old tilted her head curiously.

"You'll see," Clove smirked. "I promise you it will be worth it though."

"How do you know this?" Amy couldn't help but ask again.

"A victor named Miriam Luxio taught it to me." the mentor explained, "and she got it from a woman named Zerviah Hawke from District 6."

"Does that explain the connection between Red Gold and District 6?"
"I knew you were smart, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to ruin the surprise. Just trust your old mentor on this one. Why would I steer you wrong?"

"Maybe because you think I'm an enemy tribute and you're back in the 'games?"

Clove sneered at Amy for this remark, and Amy cracked a smirk.

"You're not the only one who can be an insensitive ass." The tiny girl winked. "Think of it as a compliment—I called Marcus an ass all the time and he was my best friend."

For a brief moment, she imagined Marcus being here with them, laughing and partying it up. Briefly, she also thought of Chel Colorado from the year before, and how she and Marcus together would have had the crowds splitting their sides from comedy.

Despite sampling some of this alcoholic "Red Gold", Amy knew her limits (they were surprisingly high for someone so young and so tiny), and so perhaps much to Delun's relief, he did not have to drag her back to the train at the end of the night. Clove on the other hand, was completely trashed, and she was the one who ended up being dragged back to the train.

The next morning, however, neither victor suffered a hangover—at least, not by the time they were eating breakfast on their way to District 3. Normally they went in numerical order through the districts, but skipped the victor's home district and saved it for last.

Amy's outfit for this stop was a black, flowy dress lined with golden sashes over her shoulders, and a blue shimmering LED-esque effect on the fringes of her skirts. As usual, she gave a nodding approval (despite that there was also glitter on this outfit) to Misaha and Zakuya, who simply gave their sweet, appreciative smiles in return. Amy's determination to get a word out of them had dissipated. If they weren't mute, they were just too damn good at staying silent for Amy to weasel a word out of them.

Either way, soon they were pulling into District 3, which had a peculiar atmosphere, particularly to Amy. Rumors from the Peacekeepers back home said that District 3 was a rather rebellious district along with the likes of Districts 8 and 11. Amy initially thought that the notion was rather odd given that they so often aligned themselves with the two most loyal districts of Panem when they joined the career pack, but after a little bit of watching some old Hunger Games footage where District 3 tributes were careers, it made sense. They lined themselves up with the strong tributes, and then waited for the opportune moment to turn around and do them in. None had demonstrated this better than Ikki Ortolani, victor of the 77th Hunger Games. At 12 years old, she was the youngest member of the career pack that year, and they managed to sweep the field together. However, when it came down to the 8 careers (Districts 1, 2, 3, and 4), they decided to pick off Ikki first. She got the best of them by electrocuting all 7 of them at once, replicating a tactic a man named Beetee had done nearly half a century earlier.

Amy gave a proper eulogy for both Shaft and Asher, noting that their grieving families looked angrier than Luster or Charm's had. That rebellious aura was definitely in the air, although luckily for Amy, it did not seem to be directed at her. Shortly after her eulogy for Asher had ended (for she had given Shaft one first), the crowds roared in rather passionate applause. Perhaps Amy gave them hope that not all tributes and citizens from District 2 were suckups to the Capitol. Amy's stance was actually much more neutral than anything else.

Either way, soon they were at the victory celebration enjoying the feast and the night. The large banners with the words "VICTORY TOUR" were adorning the hall, as were banners bearing the number 92.

Amy actually met two victors here: Ikki herself (who was now nearly 30), and her successor, a young man named Ian, who had won the 88th Hunger Games.

"Nice performance," Ikki complimented her, "I can't say I'm not upset that District 3 didn't bring home a victor, but I know a swift-thinker when I see one. I especially liked that electricity trick with the walls that you did… reminded me of my won games."
"I just did what I had to," Amy shrugged, "she killed my best friend, so I got rid of her."

"You do what you have to," Ikki agreed. "No one truly ever 'wins' the Hunger Games."
Amy paused, reflecting on that statement before nodding slowly.

The rest of the night consisted of her musing and pondering Ikki's words. Was she right? Had she truly won anything, or was she currently experiencing emotional loss so deep and cutting that she was still not able to experience strong emotions, positive or negative?

Not to say that it bugged her, but it was weighing down on her mind all the way back to the train, and all the way through the trip to District 4…