YTTRIA NOXUS- Jezzebell Fern

What a stupid, unfair waste. Yttria was smarter than anyone in the Capitol and worth more than all of them put together. What a stupid waste that she was murdered by a stupid girl who snuck up like a coward. I wasn't the least bit sorry I killed her. I was only sorry I broke my finger punching her.

Gidget Ford- District Three mentor

It got harder every year. For most mentors it got easier, but not for me. It got harder every year they grew closer in age to my children.

District Three

Mrs. and Mr. Noxus doubled down on Beryllium, their remaining hope for a scientist progeny. He doubled down on his studies trying to please them. The Keyes, ironically, handled things in a much more logical fashion. They buried their son, mourned him, and eventually had the strength to give many of his things to children who otherwise wouldn't have had them.

VISENYA LLOYD- Paloma Bennett

There but for the grace of god go I.
It wasn't something people said in public anymore, but the meaning still rang true. Visenya did something very similar to what I did: she decided she had the power to decide who lived and who died. It wasn't really the same, of course. She deliberately killed Yttria while I stood by as Othella died so Yttria could live. It all came out in the end though, didn't it? I let Othella die to save Yttriaand Yttria was dead now, too.

Nassor Doyle- District Nine mentor

Visenya could have done it. If she had, I wouldn't have held what she did against her. I did the same against my own District partner. We were the final two, but that excuse never held water with me. Nine didn't blame me for it, but I held that burden to myself. And Porter couldn't run from what he couldn't see.

District Nine

The children played hide-and-seek. They knew Visenya wasn't with them. They didn't know the meaning it had gained for her. A lot of girls missed Porter for a long time. Not out of sentimental romance. Quite the opposite- they missed someone who treated them like people.

Grande St. Leger- District One male

There was meaning in everything Elissa did. I always used to ask her about her beliefs and get her to talk about them. I pretended I was just curious and my scientific mind wanted to know more. I did want to know more, but not because I had scholarly curiosity about religion in a forcibly secular nation. I wanted to know because I wanted to believe.

Elissa drew a circle on the ground and added two curving lines that mirrored each other coming out of it. Inside the circle she put a tin cup, a sword, an instruction sheet from a ready-meal pack, and some wire she bent into a softly pointed oval. Around the drawn design we placed the five kerosene lanterns we had, leaving one in its glass casing and taking the others out. By her side she placed a tin plate and a hammer.

"What's all of it mean?" I asked. I knew we were doing a ritual meant to show care for Asuir and supplicate one or more of his ahuras for a request, but not what the items entailed.

"The circle and lines is the shape of a traditional altar. I didn't have a real one, so I drew it. It's not important, all the details. Asuir cares more about trying than how exact you are," Elissa said.

She pointed to one item after another. "The lanterns are candles. There's supposed to be all black candles except one white one, so that's the white one," she said of the one still cased in glass. "It's for destruction. The sword is because we're specifically supplicating Huyk. It can be anything that seems like her, but mostly people use knives and stuff since she likes fighting. The cup is for drinking ceremonial water, though for us it's just normal water. The paper is for writing our requests."

"What's the wire for?" I asked.

Even in the dark I could tell Elissa was shy. "It's... for fertility. There's one in every ritual. I don't know why." I looked at its shape and it came to me.

Elissa picked up the plate and hit it nine times with the hammer to make gonging noises. She picked up the cup, sipped out of it, and passed it to me. It was the first time I'd really participated meaningfully in one of her rituals. What's the harm? I told myself. It's just a ritual. Either it means something and I was right or it's nothing and no harm done.

It wasn't as simple as that. Watching Elissa go through the steps with such reverential care, from touching the tip of the sword and then her forehead to waving her hand in a circle over the altar, made me long for something more. Let there be meaning. Let us be more than just cells and tissue. Human minds were so complex. We could think, and think about thinking, and think about things outside ourselves. We connected and built things that lived past ourselves. How could it be that we were just accidents with no meaning? Let there be meaning.

Elissa wrote something on the backside of the paper with the charcoal sticks we'd burned earlier out of some extra arrows. She handed me the paper.

"We throw it in the fire after we write the requests. You can do that right after you write yours," she said, giving me an out in case my request was private. The way she told it, Asuir didn't usually directly involve himself in human life. He worked subtly and sometimes in a roundabout fashion. He did respect his creations, though, and he took their opinions into account. Supplication wasn't a free ride to anything we asked for, but it did make a difference.

I looked at the paper. Good day, Huyk! We're going to fight Jezzebell and Paloma pretty soon. If you don't have other ideas, please make it so we win and don't get hurt. Also make it so Jezzebell and Paloma don't die painfully. Your devoted friend, Elissa.

I followed her lead as I added my own request. A chill went through me as I imagined if it could really be that my words were going up to some higher thing outside what we thought we knew about reality.

Good day, Asuir. I don't know if you're real. I think I might think you are. If you are, please if me and Elissa die, we incarnate, right? Please incarnate us close to each other. I want to know her still. Your acquaintance, Grande.

I threw the paper into the fire. The words went somewhere.

Just one POV this time. It's extra long because it kind of encompasses Grande AND Elissa. I still only credited him, though, so she'll get her own POV soon.