Disclaimer: I do not own or claim ownership to any content related to or included in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I write this story purely for my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of others, with no intent for making money.

Life Through Sea Green Eyes

Chapter Seven

The three training days pass quickly. My mind is so occupied with Katniss Everdeen that I almost forget about Jarvis. When I take him down to the training level on the first day and ask him what he's good at, he shrugs and says, "Stuff."

"Stuff," I sigh. "Anything specific?"

It turns out that – big surprise – Jarvis is mediocre at just about everything. He can throw a spear reasonably accurately, and cover a decent distance. His knife skills are fine, he has a basic knowledge of knots and snares, he has some idea of what plants are edible. On the second day, I just tell him to try and make friends, and do whatever stations he wants. Jarvis shrugs and wanders off.

I sit with Haymitch in the mentor's observation box and try to figure out what his strategy is. He has Katniss and Peeta teamed up like they were at the Opening Ceremonies, going around to each station together, helping each other, eating together. They tie knots and practice camouflage – which the boy turns out to be surprisingly good at. And the little girl starts to follow them around, although I don't know if Katniss or Peeta notice.

"Her name is Rue," Haymitch says, and he sounds annoyed.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Katniss is a hard-hearted girl," Haymitch sighs, "but her weakness is her sister – the one she volunteered to be tribute for. And I'd bet you a year's supply of liquor that she's going to see her sister in that District 11 girl."

I contemplate this for a moment. "Think it will affect her behavior in the arena?"

Haymitch grunts noncommittally. "Hopefully the kid will die off in the initial bloodbath. Then we won't have to find out."

"You're all heart," I laugh, clapping Haymitch on the back. He scowls at me and tells me to pay better attention to my tribute.

The Gamemaker evaluation comes on day three, and when Jarvis mentions that he doesn't know what to do, I suggest that he just kind of sidle into the room, and see how far across the hall he can make it before the Gamemakers notice he's there. This actually provokes a laugh – I had no idea the kid was capable of amusement – and when he returns from the evaluation that evening and I ask him what he did, he says, "I almost made it."

I laugh and ruffle his hair. "Way to go, kid."

Training scores flash across the television that evening, and Jarvis gets a 4. "I wonder what would have happened if they didn't notice you at all?" I muse aloud. "Think they would have had to give you a 0?"

"Probably a 1," Coral opines. "The scoring starts at 1."

"Yeah, but a tribute's never failed to show up before. If they thought Jarvis never arrived, wouldn't they have to fail him? And wouldn't failure mean a 0?"

"Ssh," Coral's tribute hushes us. "The scores aren't over yet."

Chastened, Coral and I turn our attention back to the screen. There's a lot of 5s and 6s, a couple of 7s and 8s, and one or two 9 and 10s. Then Katniss' scowling face appears, and an 11 pops up beside her.

Coral and I exchange an impressed look. This girl is getting better and better. "Wonder what she did?" Coral says.

"I'm sure we'll find out," I say, because if it was as impressive as her score indicates, I'm sure that Haymitch will brag about it to me sooner or later.

"Katniss Everdeen," Coral muses. "The girl on fire. Good handle."

"Only if she lives up to it."

"I think she will."

I smile. "I think she will too."

Interview day dawns, and Jarvis and I sit together in the common room for our scheduled planning time. "Just be yourself," I advise. What else can I tell this kid? I don't think he's capable of being anything but himself. Jarvis shrugs, and wanders off again. I have no idea where he goes. Maybe up to the roof? I don't really care, so I push him out of my mind when an avox arrives with my affair of the day. It's actually someone I know quite well – Hortensia, the woman who told me about Snow's poisonous habits – and we spend a surprisingly enjoyable afternoon feeding ducks by one of Capitols' artificial lakes.

As evening falls, and I sit in the interview hall beside Haymitch, I find myself getting more and more excited. It's all because of Katniss – she's proven that she's a dangerous competitor, and now I'll get to see the other side of her. Her personality. I wonder if she's as stand-offish in person as she appears on the television.

When it's finally her turn, Katniss walks up to Caesar Flickerman and shakes his hand. "So, Katniss, the Capitol must be quite a change from District 12. What's impressed you most since you arrived here?" Caesar asks.

"The lamb stew," Katniss says. I laugh loudly at the absurd response, and my laugh prompts some of my fellow audience members to join in. Haymitch has a cautiously pleased look on his face.

Caesar rambles about stew for a minute, and then questions her about her opening ceremonies outfit. The one that has gotten many of us to start calling her the girl on fire. At one point Katniss starts twirling, and her interview dress flares out, giving the impression that she's erupted into multi-coloured flames. The audience oohs and ahhs.

Everyone laughs about this for a bit, and then Caesar asks about her training scores. "Details! Details!" he urges.

Katniss glances at the Gamemakers' balcony. "I'm not supposed to talk about it, right?"

"She's not!" Heavensbee calls out. I make a mental note to get the full story from Heavensbee the next time I talk to him.

They chat a bit more, mostly about Katniss' sister, and then she's ushered off the stage for the last tribute – Peeta – to have his interview. Katniss came off as interesting but a bit silly, in my opinion, right until the end. When Caesar asks her what she said when her sister asked her to win, Katniss says in an unmistakably deadly voice, "I swore I would."

"She's the one," I tell Haymitch.

Haymitch crosses his arms. "Maybe. We'll see."

Peeta lumbers over to Flickerman – the kid is seriously muscled – and they immediately fall into friendly bantering. He's got a real way with words – kind of reminds me of a younger version of myself – and the crowd eats it up. Then Flickerman asks him if there are any girls he left behind back home, and Peeta mentions that there is. Flickerman tells him that he should win, and then the girl won't be able to resist him, and then Peeta drops a bombshell.

"I don't think that it's going to work out. Winning... won't help in my case."

"Why ever not?"

"Because... because... she came here with me."

Katniss looks floored. Peeta is blushing. The audience is cheering madly. Haymitch silently pumps his fist in the air. "Nailed it," he whispers.

"This was your strategy?" I demand, very impressed. "Star-crossed lovers? Capitol is going to eat it up. I can't believe no one's ever thought of that before. That Peeta kid is one hell of an actor."

"The boy actually is in love with Katniss," Haymitch confides.

I glance up at Peeta, and the way his eyes never seem to leave Katniss. I can believe it. But Katniss, even though she's pretending to be flustered by all the attention, clearly couldn't care less about Peeta. Oh, she's a good actress, but I'm better at reading emotions than she is at faking them. "Is Katniss going to play along?"

"She'll play," Haymitch says. "But she's suspicious. It's going to take a lot of work for Peeta to convince her that he's not just making this all up."

"Ah, young love," I sigh, and Haymitch chuckles.

We part ways, Haymitch going to congratulate Peeta on his excellent performance, and me back to the fourth floor to see how Jarvis is doing. I find him sitting in his room, staring out the window. "What are you thinking about?" I ask.

"Stuff," he shrugs.

I roll my eyes. "Night, kid."

I make my way up to the Sponsorship Room the next morning, just in time to see the Games kick off. After glancing at my workstation – Jarvis has no sponsors – I drag my chair over to Haymitch's workstation. This is where all the excitement will be happening, guaranteed. Sure enough, Jarvis dies off in the initial bloodbath. Sucks for him, but we both knew that he wouldn't get very far.

Things start out well for Katniss, though. She grabs a pack and sprints for the woods. Peeta joins up with the Careers – not sure how that happened – and starts what is possibly the best display of acting that the Hunger Games has ever seen. Every action he makes, every word he says, is all clearly done to help Katniss. Warning her to get away from the Cornucopia, because he knows that the Careers are gunning for her. Persuading his team to head in the opposite direction from Katniss, to put more distance between them. And as far as Haymitch and I can tell, the Careers don't suspect a thing. Not that Careers are usually chosen for their intelligence, in all fairness.

Then Katniss climbs a tree for the night, and an idiot girl makes camp beneath the exact same tree and lights up a fire. "Fool," Haymitch snarls. "Get away from there, girl." But Katniss apparently decides to take her chances in the tree – she is fairly well camouflaged – and it looks like her strategy might work out. At least, until the Careers show up a few hours later and slit fire-girl's throat.

They congratulate themselves and leave the area, but after a few minutes they realize that they haven't heard the cannon yet that signals the girl's death. To the relief of Haymitch and I, Peeta volunteers to go make sure that the girl is dead. Does he know that Katniss is in the tree? The girl expires before he has to do anything drastic like stab her again, and the Careers head out. Crisis averted.

The next day, Katniss encounters a serious problem. She has no water, and the thirst is starting to get to her. "Why don't you send her some water?" I ask Haymitch. "It's still early, and she has tons of sponsors."

Haymitch shakes his head. "I'm taking a page out of your book, pretty-boy."

"What page?"

He grins. "Communication through giving – or withholding – gifts. Look." He points to the map of the arena. "She's right by this pond. She'll stumble across it eventually. Why waste donations when she can find what she needs on her own?"

"And by not sending her water, she'll know that?" I ask, not sure his reasoning is sound.

"She's clever, she'll figure it out," Haymitch says.

And she does figure it out. It takes her a long time, and she nearly collapses. Haymitch almost gives in at one point and sends her the water, but he stops himself. "She has to understand that I'm trying to communicate with her," he says. "If I give in now, she won't get it."

Peeta is still with the Careers, and they're doing well enough. They've roped a kid from District 3 into helping them, and he's wired up their campsite with bombs. The bombs are actually the exploding discs that tributes have to stand on at the start of the Games. It's a brilliant idea, and Haymitch and I are duly impressed.

The Gamemakers must be bored with how things are progressing, however, because a few hours later they send a wall of fire racing across the arena. Katniss fares well enough, but her ankle gets severely burned in the process. She splashes some water on it a pool, and then falls asleep. Peeta and the Careers come across her a few hours later. Katniss – who, as I've learned from Haymitch, is an experienced hunter – jerks awake instantly and has clambered up a tree by the time the Careers get to her.

They shout catcalls at her and try to climb the tree, but none of them have much luck. Eventually, they set up watch and sleep at the base of the tree while Katniss perches perilously overhead. "Not good," Haymitch sighs.

"Wait," I blink, peering closer at the screen. "Is that a tracker jacker nest?"

Haymitch curses. "Wonderful."

Then Katniss spots it, and she gets this crafty look on her face. She glances down at the knife at her belt, and Haymitch and I figure out what she's planning instantly. It's a victor thing – we understand the way the tributes think, which is why we're their mentors. As soon as the anthem starts, Katniss starts sawing at the branch holding up the tracker jacker nest.

"Smart girl," Haymitch grins. "Using the noise to cover the sawing."

I'm more focused on her ankle, though, which is not looking good. "You going to do something about that?"

He smirks. "I was waiting for her to get her act together."

"Withholding medicine?" I say, shaking my head. "For shame."

"Yeah, yeah," he laughs. She only gets three quarters of the way through the branch when the anthem ends, so Katniss sits back and waits. "I think you deserve a reward," Haymitch says, and with a touch of his finger, a parachute of ointment floats down into Katniss' waiting hands.

"Oh, Haymitch," she whispers. "Thank you."

"So help me, that girl is going to survive this," Haymitch mutters.

I can't help but laugh. "Whether she likes it or not."

A few hours later, Katniss drops the tracker jacker nest on the Careers' heads. One of them falls, the rest flee, and Katniss goes back for the dead girl's bow and arrows. Peeta and the Careers dunk themselves in the water to get the tracker jackers off their scent, and then go back for their fallen comrade. When Peeta sees that Katniss is there, he shouts for her to run, and takes a knife in the leg from one of the Careers to give her time to escape. He stumbles off upriver, Katniss flees, and the Careers head back to their campsite.

"He really does love her," I say.

"Told you so," Haymitch replies.

"That wound looks bad."

"He'll live."

So Haymitch has his hopes pinned on Katniss. It doesn't surprise me, especially considering that Peeta seems to be going out of his way to get himself killed, as long as it gives Katniss more of a fighting chance.

Katniss teams up with Rue, the little girl from District 11, who helps her recover from the tracker jacker stings. Sure enough, she quickly befriends the girl, which sends Haymitch into a storm of cursing. "Relax," I advise him. "Katniss knows what she's doing."

"You've never met her," Haymitch groans. "You have no idea how stupid she can be."

Katniss and Rue hatch a plan to eliminate the Careers' food stash. Katniss sneaks up to the edge of the lake, where the Careers have placed their booby-trapped food, and waits until the Careers leave. She figures out the trap with the indirect help of the sly girl from District 5, and manages to set off one of the bombs and trigger a chain reaction that blows the food stash sky high. It also blows her sky high, and we think that she's lost her hearing in at least one ear.

She hurries back to meet Rue, but she discovers that the District 1 boy has killed her. Katniss lets fly an arrow that pierces deep into the kid's neck, and he falls to the ground with a choking gasp. "Damn," I blink, staring at the screen. "So she's an archer."

Haymitch grins. "That's how she got the 11 in training. She shot an arrow at Heavensbee. He fell into a bowl of punch." We share a short laugh over that, but cut it short, because Katniss is now singing a bittersweet song to Rue as she lies dying.

"She's amazing," I whisper. "How can you listen to that and not hate the Capitol?"

Katniss proceeds to drape Rue's body in flowers, another gesture of defiance that once again has me hoping that this girl on fire might just be the figurehead we've been waiting for. Rue's mentor comes over, a stern-faced man about Haymitch's age. He hands Haymitch a data chip. "Here is Rue's sponsorship money," he says gruffly. "I think that Rue would have wanted me to give it to Katniss."

Haymitch nods, accepts the chip, and slips it into the computer terminal. There's just enough money to buy something small. Haymitch thinks it over for a long while, and then sends Katniss a loaf of crescent-shaped bread, the official bread of District 11. When Katniss opens the package, her face goes blank for a minute, and I'm worried she's going to botch it, until she steps out into the sunshine and says, "My thanks to the people of District Eleven."

"And, scene," Haymitch says, shaking his head in admiration.