This Mahi was a last minute addition so I wanted to give him a POV to differentiate the Mahis. Then I added two more POVs to flesh out the chapter and used them to spotlight some characters people often request more of.

Mahi Katao- District Four male

Training with Careen was not going as expected. I'd asked to spar with her instead of Shane for this challenge because Shane had a more similar fighting style to me than Careen did and I specifically wanted to learn how to fight people who had a competing style to me. Careen was much smaller than most of my opponents and I was finding that she was frustratingly hard to pancake. She kept zooming out of the way like a gnat.

"Arrrgh Mahi angry," I clowned, stomping. I tried to pancake Careen when she burst out laughing but she was still too quick for me.

"Why did you even volunteer?" she asked. "You should have been a wrestler on TV."

"That is an amazing idea and I should have done that," I said. "I guess I never thought about actually fighting and dying."

"Isn't that just the way it is for us?" Careen mused. "They tell us about the victory and they never tell us most of us will die."

"There are so many other things I could have done. I always dreamed about having a big thick girlfriend. The biggest girl here is Des but she's not thick and I don't… I don't think I'm her type," I said.

"You know, I don't think you're really getting much out of training. Someone like you, I think they should just go enjoy these few days. Maybe there's some thick Capitolite girls out there," Careen said.

"I think you're right," I said. I got up from where I'd been sitting splay-legged on the floor leaned back on my hands. "I only have a few days left. I have to cram a whole lifetime into them."

Ravi Waterford- District One mentor

Andromeda stood stock-still in the difficult position we were learning. She had the discipline to attain mastery of the style she chose. We just didn't have the time.

"We really don't have much time," I said, signaling her to relax.

"Can I learn just one thing? How long does it take to learn to walk silently? That doesn't sound as bad as some of the things you do," she asked.

"It took me four years," I said.

Andromeda wilted and I felt bad even though it was just the truth. "Let's try this," I said. I scattered some rice on the floor between two pedestals. "Take off your shoes," As Andromeda took off her shoes I hopped down and up between the pedestals. I showed her my clean soles. She tried after me and came away with ricy feet. "In three days, you won't be able to do that. But you might be closer. Let's see what you got."

Rhoda Hamilton- District One mentor

"It is a far, far b-better thing I do, than I h-h-have ever done. It is a far, far b-better rest I go to…"

Even in the best of times, ironically, it would have been hard to understand what Alana was saying, since she had a bunch of marbles in her mouth. I wasn't a speech therapist and we didn't have the months it would take to make lasting improvement with her stutter. But I knew plenty of starlets and spokespeople who choked when they had to read a cue card. I'd seen what their retinues did to help and I was banking on that and a heaping helping of the placebo effect.

"It's a marathon, not a race. It's okay to go as slow as you need in the hard parts. The goal is saying it well, not saying it fast," I said.

Alana spat the marbles into her hand. She moved her tongue around in her mouth like a dog with peanut butter. "I feel like it's helping," she said. "S-sometimes when I talk I cheat and just use words that don't h-h-have those letters."

"That's fine too," I said. "We gotta do what we gotta do. Some people only photograph from one side and some people talk different." I shrugged.

I was impressed Alana came to me. Not all Careers admitted that they needed Capitolite assistance to win. Alana wanted sponsors and was doing what it took to get them, even if it was a less glamorous skill like talking instead of shooting things. I knew firsthand that both were important and I enjoyed the chance to assist someone the way I could better than any other mentor.