Chapter 33: The victory tour

[Fall/Winter after 74th Hunger Games]

Winter was coming, not only in an old book about something with fire and ice I had read some time ago, but also in our very own district, for real. In this year this not only implied that we'd prepare for the Christmas holidays, but first our two victors were to embark on their traditional victory tour. This was going to be a very big event, as no victory tour had started from our own district for almost a quarter of a century. A couple of weeks before the tour was due to start, there was an incident, though.

On one sunny and chilly morning, when I walked from the bakery to the Justice Building to start my work day there, a big commotion was visible and audible on the main square, with quite a few spectators being around, and I saw a male person tied to a post for whipping, which had apparently already been started, as his back was already bloody.

A turkey, being nailed to the post above his head, indicated that this was punishment for poaching, and when I looked closer I recognized the person bound to the whipping post as Gale. I was surprised about that, both because Gale was always very careful when carrying contraband from outside the fence, and because the peacekeepers were some of his best customers. The person being in charge was in the Head Peacekeeper's uniform, but somehow he did not look and talk like Cray at all.

While I was still trying to understand what was happening, Darius, one of the nicest peacekeepers we had, stepped forward and blocked his superior's hand, telling him in harsh terms that this was enough. Obviously, this did not go down well, as Darius got hit so hard that he collapsed on the ground. A couple of more lashes were applied, and Katniss suddenly showed up. Before anybody suspected anything, she blocked the next hit of the whip with her body. Not surprisingly, the whip hit her on the left side of her face and on her left arm, making the girl scream.

"Stop it! You are going to kill him!" she shouted.

The Head Peacekeeper who did not look like Cray at all raised the whip again and seemed to be prepared to use it on the girl who dared to interrupt his actions. Just before he was about to release the next strike, a commanding male voice cut in:

"Hold it!"

To my relieve I saw Haymitch approaching, and he would sure know what to do. The peacekeeper may not have recognized Katniss, but Haymitch was known by literally everybody, so that the guy stopped for a moment.

Haymitch made a big show about examining the girl's face and said:

"Great – this will look fantastic on the cameras a week or two from now."

The peacekeeper objected:

"What do I care about cameras and how she looks on them? She interrupted the punishment of a criminal!"

Who was that guy? I had never seen him in the district before, and if we had a new Head Peacekeeper, surely the mayor would have mentioned that?

"So you think that's not your problem how she looks on cameras? Well, I may have to get on the phone to President Snow when I get home, telling him that an ignorant peacekeeper decided to mess up the face of the female victor who will start her victory tour quite soon. How do you think that will come over?"

The big peacekeeper was now clearly thinking; it was likely that he had indeed not recognized Katniss. However, he said:

"That may be correct, but we still have to complete the punishment of that criminal over there!"

Purnia, a female peacekeeper I happened to know, stepped forward and stated respectfully, but boldly:

"Sir, for a first offense I believe that the usual number of lashes have already been applied!"

The new Head Peacekeeper seemed unsure, but once other peacekeepers around nodded and agreed, he admitted:

"Very well then. Get him off here, and make sure to remind him that punishment for the second offense is going to be death."

Peeta had now arrived as well, and Haymitch, Katniss and him got Gale off the post and carried him towards the Everdeen residence, to treat him there, as I assumed, and I noticed that my assistance was not needed. In the Justice Building the mayor waited for me already, and he guided me into his study quickly; he looked confused. Once he had made sure that the door was closed and locked, he asked me:

"Have you seen what happened outside?"

I just nodded, and he told me:

"Let me fill you in on the background. Yesterday evening an unannounced train came in, with a group of new peacekeepers. One of them, a guy called Romulus Thread, showed me some paperwork declaring that he was the new Head Peacekeeper, effective immediately. Cray and a few others were ordered to return back to the Capitol with the same train, and they already left. This morning Gale came over and apparently wanted to trade in a turkey, knowing that Cray dearly loves to eat turkey. However, rather then Cray, Thread came up and arrested Gale right on the spot for poaching."

"Wow, that's bad" I replied.

"Yes it is. Apparently some people in the Capitol believe that we do not pursue the law to the extent we should, and they are trying to change that. Thread is not a good guy, and we should carefully remind everybody to behave."

"I understand, sir."

"Also, we are urged to keep the electricity in the fence on all of the time. The unreliable power supply we have may not actually allow for that, but we need to do our best, even it it implies cutting off power to other areas."

Mayor Undersee knew quite well about the poaching activities which had been going on for years. His daughter Madge had been getting berries, in particular tasty woodland strawberries, from Katniss from time to time, and the peacekeepers buying poached meat from Gale was not a secret at all. It was obvious that the man was not happy about recent developments, but there was nothing he could do. Nominally Mayor Undersee was in charge of the district, but in reality he was not much more than a puppet moving to the directions provide by the Capitol. The longer I worked for him the more I understood his position and his efforts to mitigate some of the directives as much as he could for the benefit of the citizens.

A little less than two weeks after the incident Peeta and Katniss left the district to start their victory tour. On the day of their departure there was some commotion, and I heard later from the mayor that President Snow had visited the district briefly. He had been at Katniss' victor home for an hour or so, and he had had a private chat with the mayor as well. I was not privy to learn what this was about.

For the rest of the morning Katniss and Peeta had to endure the attention of their respective prep teams, and once they were declared more or less presentable, they all left with the train in early afternoon, starting the victory tour.

For those of us who wanted to watch that, quick summaries of the victory tour were broadcast each day. Normally, we did not care much, but this year of course we did, and each evening Prim and I watched what had happened.

District Eleven was the first stop they visited, and a voice announced that most citizens were still busy with the last harvest and thus could not attend the event on the town square. I looked at Prim and said:

"This is odd. Harvest in late November? Really?"

Peeta and Katniss took turns to read from a probably prepared speech, and the camera moved around to show the people from the district watching and listening. Two platforms had been raised for the families of the district's tributes. One of those platforms had only an older woman and a tall, muscular girl, and the narrator introduced them as Thresh's mother and sister; they looked a little bit sad, but seemed to be in control of their emotions. The other platform had two older adults and five kids; this must be Rue's parents and her five younger siblings. One of the girls stuck out, she must be about nine years old, and she looked almost exactly like a younger version of Rue. She and some of her siblings had obviously been crying recently, and seeing Rue's younger sister like that almost got my shedding tears as well.

When Prim saw that, she started to sob and trembled on my lap: "O my God, she so much looks like Rue. I cannot imagine who she must feel to see Katniss, who sung to her sister when she died. I wonder if they are allowed to meet?"

Peeta and Katniss were obviously touched as well. Katniss added a few very personal words, giving thanks to Thresh for not joining the tributes, to Rue for being so nice and kind, and finally for the bread the district had sent her. The reaction was like nobody had expected. Somebody whistled the mockingjay tune that Rue and Katniss had used to communicate with each other in the arena, and a vast majority of the audience suddenly pushed their three middle finger against their lips and then extended them towards her. That was the gesture common in our own district, the one Katniss had also used to say Good Bye to Rue in the arena.

"This is so touching" Prim claimed and she continued to sob a little.

However, right as the two victors were back in the building, Peacekeepers grabbed the old man who had started whistling and quickly executed him right on the square.

We were all in shock, and we did not know what that was for. The narrator did not explain either, and the broadcast for the day ended like that.

When I brought Prim home later on, she trembled, and she was still feeling very uneasy about the broadcast from the other district. To be honest, I was worried as well, and I wish that I understood what had actually happened. What had the old man done except for whistling and signing with his hands, really?

The next days were less exciting. In the district, we learned that Gale had recovered, after spending many days in the care of Mabel Everdeen; he was fit wot work in the mines again. From what we saw during the viewings of the victory tour, each of the speeches Katniss and Peeta did in the other districts seemed to be more 'normal', and it appeared to us that they were strictly reading from a prepared script rather than improvising a few personal sentences like Katniss had obviously done in District Eleven. Anyway, no special events or problems were broadcast at least. Of course, they did not have such close ties to anybody in the other districts, either. Only District Eight seemed to be a little bit off, and some people there looked away when seeing a camera.

One day after the two victors had arrived in the Capitol, there was a general announcement that everybody was 'strongly encouraged' to watch the screens for a special show in the next evening, with special news to be told. Of course we knew that there was going to a special celebration dinner and party, but why would we have to watch all of that? On the next morning I asked Mayor Undersee if he knew what this was about, but he did not, or at least he did or could not tell. He only said:

"I have no clue what they are going to say, but it has been suggested to send the peacekeepers around to strongly encourage everybody to watch. Officially it is not mandatory, but close to it, if you get my meaning."

Indeed, peacekeeper patrols went around during the day and reminded everyone to keep their schedule clear for the evening, and once again, I had Prim on my lap when the broadcast started. Her mother had come to the bakery as well, sitting next to my Dad, when the screen started to show the luxurious hall where the party was taking place. There was some entertainment, a few courses were served, and suddenly President Snow asked for silence. He stepped onto a small stage and started to talk:

"Dear guests, everybody watching from the Capitol and the districts, I am delighted to host this party and banquet today for our two recent victors!"

There was some applause, and then he continued:

"As we all know, Katniss and Peeta have been lovers, at least since the Games, and potentially before. It has turned out that their love even helped them to conquer the Games together. While I am not happy at all about the violation of the rules this triggered, I have heard from many Capitol citizens that they liked the idea of the star-crossed lovers. It is my honor and my pleasure today to announce the star-crossed lovers being engaged, and this is one of the reasons we are celebrating today."

He had to stop now for another round of shouting and applause, and he concluded:

"I will have the pleasure to organize their wedding in the not so distant future here in the Capitol. That's it, and enjoy your food!"

Prim had turned her head around to me and he moth was wide open. She was at a loss about what to say, and Wheat cut in:

"Engaged? Really? Mrs. Everdeen, did you know about that?"

Mabel Everdeen shook her head and replied: "No, not at all – she did not say a word. Somehow I had the feeling that her relation to Peeta was, let's say, not quite there yet. I am as surprised as you are. As a matter of fact, as Katniss is still a minor, she should have consulted me first, I think. I really like Peeta, but I don't like what's going on, and I have a feeling that I am missing something important."

"Maybe the President urged them to speed up their plans?" my father suggested.

We saw more scenes from the big banquet, and when the viewing was over, we got to bed.

A few days later the two victors were scheduled to return home again. The usual 'Harvest Festival', always timed to the Victory Tour, was going to be celebrated on a larger scale this year, with the victors and closest relatives at the Mayor's home and the rest of the district being served in the Justice Building.

We actually had a pretty good time there, and Mayor Undersee was at his best. He assured us that the other citizens out there would also have plenty to eat and drink, and everybody would be happy. Katniss and Madge left once or twice together for a few minutes, but that was entirely normal, although once they were gone for almost twenty minutes. Though Prim was not like that at all, maybe due to her age, I had heard stories about girls going to restrooms together not only for the obvious purpose, but also to chat without male listeners.

Later on during the week, when we had a chance to talk more to Katniss and Peeta, they were somewhat uptight about their engagement. One should have expected them to be excited, happy, thrilled, joyful, whatever, but they were none of that. Also, they did not spend much more time together than they had before, and I really did not understand this.

In December, a blizzard hit the district, which kept most of the citizens at home. We Mellarks needed to keep the bakery running, of course, and at least the ovens kept the house nice and warm. Mabel Everdeen moved in with Katniss for those days, and Prim moved in with me; while she liked the comfort of the victor house, it was just too far away from me.

For a couple of days I did not even have a chance to get to work. We managed to clear the path to the shed and to the pigs, but that's it. Every attempt to get to other houses seemed to be impossible for those days, but that was all right. We played some games, talked, had good food, and waited for the blizzard to subside. On the third day it did, and we went outside again to see what could be done. On the fourth day I managed to get to work again, not without difficulties, and I noticed that the town square was partially cleared already. The Capitol had sent a couple of heavy duty snowploughs, and they were at work now.

Also, I could not avoid seeing some changes. The gallows, which had been temporarily mounted a year ago, were reinstalled, and I noticed a few machine guns on the rooftops, positioned to cover most of the central square. From the direction of the Hob, I had seen fire and dark smoke, and inside my first way was to the mayor.

Mayor Undersee explained:

"There have been some new orders from the Capitol. They seem to be more afraid of rebellion than in earlier times, and the peacekeeper force has been instructed to enforce the law harder than ever. I am afraid that even smaller transgressions will be punished hard now. This is not exactly how I'd like to run the district, but the orders are clear, and I cannot control the peacekeeper force – Thread reports directly to the Capitol. For some reason they even think people might rebel openly in the town square, and thus the machine guns covering that."

"And what about the Hob?"

"Head Peacekeeper Thread was certain that this was a center of subversive talking and rebellion planing, and thus it had to be destroyed. I know that it used to be an important trade hub specifically for Seam residents, but obviously even my pointing out that it provided an important contribution to the well being of the coal miners failed to impress the President and the Capitol; the order to destroy the place came directly from there."

"But is the chance for rebellion actually higher nowadays?"

"It is hard to tell," the mayor replied, "as we do not get many news here from the other districts. However, I have been getting some news about shortages in the Capitol on various items. Recently there were lots of complaints about fancy clothes arriving late or not at all, so that some problems in District Eight are likely. Also, the trains seem to get less and less maintenance and need to stop for repairs more often, so that District Six maybe also has something going on."

Once again, it appeared, the mood for the upcoming Christmas holidays was severely impacted by measures taken by the government, and I wondered if the timing was intentional. During Prim՚s and my next visit to Katniss I made sure that she got the message about the harsher conditions and warned her not to go hunting any longer, and also let Gale know, although he should already have been warned after he had been caught and punished earlier.

For the time being, at least, Prim was not involved much in those rumors and managed to stay mostly happy and unconcerned. I intended to keep it that way; a twelve year old should not have to worry yet about political issues and looming dangers.

With the days getting short and weather turning foul, not much could be done outside, and I had plenty of time to spend with my lovely girlfriend, sometimes eat with her at school, and picking her up when school ended several times. On a few rare sunny days we spent a couple of hours on our meadow, and otherwise we mostly kept at the bakery.

We still kept the habit that she slept with me in my bed from Friday to Saturday and most of the time from Saturday to Sunday, too, and were both always looking forward to those nights. I noticed that my father was sometimes getting a little uneasy about that, and I was well aware that a girl of Prim՚s age was not normally allowed to stay with her boyfriend for the night. However, our situation was different. Not only had we been together for such a long time already, but we also had a marriage contract and I had shared custody of her, too. Dad asked me a few times to be careful, but I assured him that the example of the pregnant girl in the games a few years ago was enough to make both of us respect the limits, even with developing feelings and body reactions. Prim and I were strictly following the rules to keep our hands above the waist; well, feet and lower legs excluded, to be honest – sometimes I gave her a long feet rub – and there was no way I'd risk knocking up my wonderful girlfriend.

Both Prim and Lizzy also continued to work with Mrs. Everdeen to assist her in her work, and the efforts spent in the greenhouse started to pay off, as the supply of medical herbs, which usually started to get tight at this time of the year, could be at least partially replenished from the greenhouse.

Wheat and his girlfriend Leevy did a lot of crafting in Leevy՚s shed, and sometimes they even got special orders from some Merchant to help craft a specific piece of furniture. With the shorter days, though, and the unreliable electricity supply in the district – they needed good light for crafting – they also walked around a lot, mostly in the Seam, and they helped people with repairs on their houses, sometimes together with me.

Thinking about Wheat, I was really surprised. Until about two years ago he had switched 'girlfriends' like some people switch underwear, and I knew that he'd had a number of one night stands at the slag heap. Since he had introduced Leevy to us almost two years ago, the rumors about that had completely stopped, and I actually believed that he had been faithful to her. Even more, I was not even sure if the two of them had had sex together yet. I had had a chance to talk to Leevy՚s parents a few times, when doing house repairs and such, and her parents seemed to strongly believe in keeping sex to marriage, like I did, too. I could not be sure, of course, and they sure had plenty of opportunities if they wanted to, but Wheat did not appears to be pushing her. I had never once seen him touching his girlfriend in an inappropriate way, and the most I had seen so far were tender touches to the outlines of her boobs. He sure had changed, in a positive way, and I was real proud of him, too.

[Author's Notes: Did you catch the reference to 'A Song of Ice and Fire' at the beginning of the chapter? For those who do not know: The amazing set of books, written by George R. R. Martin, was used as basis to produce the 'Game of Thrones' TV series. From my personal point of view, though, both books and series are somewhat too violent.

I enjoyed all of the nice reviews and comments I have received on my last few chapters. Many of them are from guest accounts, so that I cannot reply directly, but reading the comments is quite encouraging. For those of you who 'cannot wait for me to finish the story': This will take quite some time – I have already started to work on chapter 40, and the total chapter count is likely to be more than 50; I am not yet sure where I am going to stop eventually, but I hope that I can continue to publish new chapters on a biweekly basis.

Merry Christmas to all of my readers everywhere in the world! I hope that you are safe and healthy, and I am looking forward to another year of fan fiction.]