Chapter 7: New year dawning

[Winter/Spring in the year after the 75th Hunger Games]

After the start of the new year, we had another discussion in the mayor's office. We now had two intact hovercraft available: The one which had been forced to land during the attack on Christmas Eve, and the one which had been damaged during the earlier attack; that one had been repaired by experts from Six by now. With District Six fully under our control, the two hovercraft were not needed for the war effort, and two junior pilots from Six had come in to fly them for us.

"We need to make plans how to best make use of the two hovercraft" Mayor Undersee stated. "What can we do with them, and how can they help us?"

"Does it make sense to get supplies from and to other districts with them?" Marc Pherson asked. "They have some cargo capacity, right?"

Purnia, who had recovered from her injuries since some time ago, shook her head: "No, not really. Using maglevs for that is much more efficient."

"Can we use them for hunting?" I suggested.

"Well, I guess that we might be able to do that, like for getting hunting parties further out" Purnia admitted. "However, I suspect that the noise might drive game away."

"So, what's the progress on the maglev track southeast?" Haymitch asked. "Can they help with that?"

"The teams have almost completed tunneling through the mountain range" Mayor Undersee told us while opening a map and showing some details. "From there, it is about one hundred kilometers to the site we selected, making the total distance from here about 150km. It will take a few more months to lay the tracks, even with the efficient machine we have available now, and I expect regular maglev connection to be operational at some time in summer."

"So, if we used our two hovercraft to get some teams out, they could already start a settlement out there early, let's say when winter is gone, right?"

That was an interesting point, and I nodded when Haymitch suggested that.

The mayor seemed to like that as well: "Indeed, that should work, and they could also start working on the port."

We all decided to proceed like that and discussed a few minor issues. We did not have to bother with the war itself, and the main fighting areas were far from us anyway, mostly on the western side of the continent.

While winter passed and spring started, we received occasional updates from the war further west. Our allies made some progress, and in mid spring President Snow seemed to control the Capitol and Districts One and Five only; Three was fighting zone, and part of it was under Capitol control, while another part was with us. However, they still had plenty of defense forces and enough power; even with the coal supply gone, they had water power and, as somebody mentioned, nuclear power and weapons.

The crew from Europe who had created the long maglev tunnel between our town and the new settlement were now busy north of us, drilling another tunnel to start working on a direct line between us and Thirteen. So far, most of the train lines were only to and from the Capitol, and few lines connected the districts between themselves. This was something we wanted to change, of course, to make transport between the districts easier and quicker.

In early March we celebrated Leevy՚s 18th birthday. The girl was now practically part of the family, like Prim was, and we were all together. She did not have relatives any longer since her parents had died in the attack, and we tried to compensate for that. Dad and I had been able to secure a nice house for them. It was actually at the border of what used to be the Seam, and it had survived the bombing mostly intact. The house was, of course, of poorer quality than the Town houses, but it had a big shed on the ground plus enough space for a nice garden. We promised to help with repairs and improvements, and within a few weeks my brother and his bride should be able to move in.

That fit perfectly into their plans, as they wanted to get wed as soon as possible, too. The wedding took place end of March, with not so pleasant weather, but we did not care too much. Wheat and Leevy were eager to move into their new home, and we all helped to get it ready right on time. Well, the entire house was not fully ready and perfect, but at least the rooms they needed for a start were, and that was good enough. More work was to follow, of course.

Due to the wartime, the wedding ceremony itself was not very long and extensive; rather, they had just the traditional toasting, with a special Mellark cake of course, and the official paperwork at the Justice Building. We had a nice couple of hours celebrating and talking and admiring bride and groom ion their best clothes, and many people visited at least for a few minutes to shake hands and present their wishes and gratulations. A very happy couple left to their new home in the evening, and we had made sure that their larder was stocked so that they could stay inside for a few days if they wanted to.

Of course Prim used the opportunity to ask me a few questions after the ceremony:

"Rye, do you think that we can have a larger party when we get married?"

"So, you are planing ahead already?"

"Well, I do hope that the war is over when it is our turn, and it would be nice to have a peacetime wedding and all."

"And more guests, too?"

"Yes, I just imagine that Katniss and Peeta could have some of their friends come over as well, and … I don't know, but I just keep dreaming."

"I guess we will have to wait and see."

"A larger party is not so important for you, or is it?"

"No, not really. All I need is you, my love!"

Prim smiled and giggled when she heard that, and it was obvious that she liked my priorities.

On one day in April I sat at a desk in the Justice Building, looking at some of the plans for the new site and trying to get an idea on what exactly needed to be planned. I had just decided that I needed a few more people to look at the plans, too, when I heard some commotion outside. The windows were open to let lots of the nice and warm spring air into the room, but suddenly I could hear shots sounding in the distance, and a few seconds later the siren went off. The mayor came out of his room and looked confused, and obviously he did not know what was going on.

Next door I could see a line of peacekeepers grabbing rifles from the armory in the peacekeeper building, and soon troops moved out, towards the fence. My eyes moved over there, and through the gate, which had been kept wide open since the start of the new year, a horde of animals charged into town, and they looked wild and aggressive. The peacekeepers got down to their knees and fired, but there were way too many animals, and I was afraid that the peacekeepers might get overrun. Just when the first animals were just a dozen meters or so from the line of defenders, a wide spread light beam shot out from the roof of the peacekeeper building, and hundreds of beasts were killed or at least maimed at the same time. The light beam went out a few more times, and the peacekeepers could now handle the remaining animals.

Apparently our allies had one of their air defense installations on that roof, and it seemed that the light beam weapon, which they had called a 'laser', had been as efficient defending against targets on the ground as it had been when the hovercraft had attacked from the air.

As a precautionary measure, the gate was closed for now, and the peacekeepers searched all of our streets and corners to make sure none of the beasts had been missed. The major and I got closer to one of the dead beasts, and Darius joined us. He looked at the animal and just said one word:

"Mutts."

In the evening we started to relax. No more attacks had been seen, and we made plans to rig something like a watchtower or two to see potential future attacks earlier. The mayor had called a few other districts to warn them, and we had heard back from Eleven that the warning had just been in time to prepare defend against an attack on them. However, the attack was not over yet. On the next day, a few citizens complained about headaches, and around noon we had hundreds of sick people. Mabel was quite irritated and did not have a clue, but Darius and Klein got it:

"Poison gas, applied in a different way this time. They must have sprayed the mutts with it, hoping that they'd carry it into town. We stopped most of them early, but it is still dangerous."

We had already made sure to bring the dead mutts out of town on the day before, but the gas was still deadly enough to kill a few dozen people. The peacekeeper bunker fortunately had an antidote, and after two days no more citizens died.

A couple of days later we, that is Mayor Undersee, Madge, Haymitch, Darius, Purnia, Gale, and myself sat together to discuss the situation.

"How did they manage to get the mutts close to us?" was the first question.

Nobody has an answer to that, but Darius had a guess at least:

"When Cray was still here, he sometimes mentioned a few details and shared with a few of us. One of those details was related to the underground storage we have seen, and I think that he also talked about hidden outposts the Capitol maintains close to some districts. Decades ago some of those outposts were staffed by loyal troops who could intervene if there were signs of rebellion in a district. Snow decided later on that troops were too valuable to waste for hiding all of the time, and he may have decided to have trained mutts with only a minimum of staff there instead. Like with the mutts in the arena, there is a way to condition them towards a specific behavior, like attacking specific people or specific areas."

We were silent for some time, and I asked:

"Do you know if there are more nasty surprises hiding around our district?"

"No, I do not" Darius had to admit. "I am sure that Cray did not share everything with me, and at some time we probably should send some more patrols out. However, if there are indeed more outposts or something like that, they could be hidden well, and I am not privy to the potential locations."

He had a point. There was a decision nonetheless to send more patrols out, but only two or three at a time; we simply did not have enough manpower to do more than that. In addition, we also voted for sending one of the captured hovercraft out for an aerial patrol as well, while the other would be kept to supply the preliminary camp close to our new site and the new port.

When we talked about housing and food, we found the former to be nicely done so far. Every family had a proper house assigned, and although some had to share, there were not many complaints. Most of the Townies had been able to keep their homes, and the Seam citizens now had better homes than before. With only a few exceptions, though, we had done out best not to mix Town and Seam citizens in one building.

Food was more challenging, now in spring. While the new seeding and planting had started some time ago, both inside the fence in some old and new garden plots and outside in some fields designated for that purpose, new crops of the year were not yet ready for harvesting, and only the underground supplies and a few supply trains kept us from starving. Starting this summer, we'd do much better, though.

Same as every year, Prim՚s birthday approached, and she was to become fourteen years old. Getting a proper present for her this year was easy. I had been with one of the parties at the new settlement site, to scout around and identify best locations for special buildings, like the maglev station, the town hall, and such. Part of our job also included to get a better idea on flora and fauna, and I had made a special effort to collect a lot of plant specimen in pots. The collection was transported back in the hovercraft, and for now all of the pots were stored in a large basement room in the school building. Plant experts from other districts were soon going to arrive to have a look, and I had asked that Prim and her mother be allowed to be part of the team. The two of them had a great knowledge on herbs and plants which could be used for healing, and that knowledge would be a helpful contribution.

On my girlfriend's birthday I picked her up from school, and rather than going home right away, I guided her down to the basement. I unlocked the door and pushed her in, explaining:

"This is a collection of plants from the new settlement site and the areas around it. I know how much you like to work with plants, and your mother and you will be part of the team examining and categorizing the plants, as soon as the other experts have arrived."

Her big does eyes looked at me, and I could see happiness radiating out from her. For a few minutes she just silently walked around, looking her and looking there, and then she hugged me, thanking me without words.

Later on in the afternoon, we found time to spend an hour or two on our meadow, and we talked about the plants again. Prim asked about the trees I had seen out there, and I tried to explain as much as I could. I also mentioned that there were a few medium sized lakes in the area, which should help with fresh water supply.

We had something to eat with us and indulged for ten minutes or so, and then I noticed that Prim looked a little bit concerned. She seemed to think about something specific, and I prompted her to speak:

"What's up, my love? Does something bother you?"

Prim looked at herself for a few moments, and I noticed, not for the first time today, that she wore a tight fitting tank top and a skirt today. The day was unseasonably warm, and it offered itself to get out the summer clothes. I did not see what was wrong; her clothes outlined her figure very nicely. As a matter of fact, her top looked like it was tighter than it had to be, and it clearly helped to outline and emphasize the small and gentle curves on her chest until not so long ago; I could have looked at her for hours. I had already loved to look at my former flat chested Prim, but with a few gentle curves added, the view was even more enticing. My girlfriend sighed and told me:

"Look at me and my chest. Why can't my boobs grow larger?"

She was concerned about her boob size? Really? I did not understand why and asked her:

"What's wrong with your chest? Honestly, the tight top you wear today looks very nice on you."

"Yes, maybe, but so many other girls in my class already have C cup or even D cup breasts, and mine are stuck at A cup size!"

Indeed that was true. A few of her classmates already had chests like a grown woman, but what was wrong with hers?

"Still, I do not get it. I mean, different people have different features; some are tall, some are small, some are thin, some are not so thin, some have light and pale skin, some have darker skin, but we are all people, and people are different."

"Yes, I know, but wouldn't you like to have a girlfriend with larger boobs?"

Oh, that was the issue. Would I like a girlfriend with larger boobs? I really did not know, but I knew that this did not really matter. How to explain? I tried my best:

"Prim, my love, is this really something you are worried about? Come here."

I pulled her on my lap, and I tried my best to explain my thoughts about the topic:

"I have never had a chance to find out if I like small or big boobs better, because I have never had a girlfriend before you. I love you as you are, and I'd love you even if you had donkey ears and a tail. Hey, even if you were a goat, like you dressed up for me a few years ago, I'd love you and cuddle up to you in the hay."

She chuckled, and I continued:

"Seriously, whatever breast size you have is fine for me. See, different sizes have different advantages. Look at body sizes, for instance. When you are tall like me, you have a better overview and you can reach higher, right?"

She nodded, and I continued:

"But when you are small, like you, you can hide better, and you can fit in small spaces better. When you sit in an easy chair, you always have a headrest, whereas I frequently do not find support for my head in many chairs."

"Hm" she mumbled. "Okay, I see your point. But what about boob sizes? Wouldn't you enjoy to have larger boobs filling your hands?"

I just loved her, for being concerned about that. She always enjoyed it when I carefully wrapped my large hands around her boobs carefully and caressed the tender skin around, and it was indeed true that my hands could have easily covered much larger and more pronounced boobs. However, I explained:

"Okay, I understand that there are probably some boys who like large boobs. But why exactly? One reason certainly is the view being offered. You have noticed how much large boobs jiggle when girls who have them walk around, right?"

Prim giggled and nodded, and she said with a smirk:

"And you have of course noticed those, too, right?"

"Indeed I have; got to admit that. But, do you think that this is comfortable for those girls?"

"No, I do not think so. I have talked to a few of my classmates, and one or two of them even deliberately decide to not wear a bra so that this movement is less contained. They like the way the boys look at them, but they admit that it makes them feel uncomfortable and even sometimes hurts."

I nodded and continued: "So, would you like to have a lot of boys look at you like that, drooling and ogling?"

"Not, not really."

"Okay, and I also would not want other boys to look at you like that; I might even get jealous!"

Prim giggled again.

"And what about sports? You like sports and gardening and outdoor activities, don't you?"

My girlfriend nodded, and I talked on:

"So, with large boobs, do you think that doing sports is fun?"

"No, it is not. Some of the girls have mentioned that, even with special bras, doing sports is not really that great."

"So, if you had large boobs, you would probably at least be uncomfortable when doing sports and gardening and all that, right?"

"Yes, probably I would."

"So, you see, if you were uncomfortable, I would be uncomfortable as well. I believe that your small A cup boobs are not really a bad thing, and at least for your hobbies, they make life easier for you. For me, this is so much more important than anything else."

She got it, and as a reply she hid her head next to my neck. Many minutes later she looked up again and said:

"Oh Rye, you are too good for me. I could not want a better and nicer fiancée, and I am so glad that you are as happy with me as you are, accepting me just as I am."

She rewarded me with a hot kiss, and although we still did not use tongues, it was wonderful and lasted for quite a few minutes.

The following few months were very busy. As house repairs were less of an issue now with the Seam houses mostly gone and almost everybody living in sturdy buildings, Marc and I helped with seeding, planting, plowing and other agricultural tasks. At least we had some experts from other districts showing us how to do all of that properly, and they had also sent a few machines to assist us, but there was still a lot of work involved. At least this was mostly outdoors work, and thus I enjoyed doing that. On most evenings my back and muscles hurt a little, but this also helped the strengthen my muscles and stamina further, and when the school year ended, I clearly noticed that my strength had increased; the muscles on my upper body and on my arms were bigger now, and this could be easily seen.

Primrose liked that as well, and sometimes we had a lot of fun doing exercises together, like me doing push-ups with her sitting on my back or me trying pull-ups with her clinging to me. Prim was still quite petite and light weight, so that this was not too hard. I also encouraged her to do some regular exercises, and whatever we could we did together. Besides working out, there was also the fun part, and I could still throw Prim into the air and catch her again, like I had done in many years when she had been younger.

A specific strength building exercise was the manual plowing. A few strong young men, including myself, got ourselves attached to the ropes, and we had a few others, like Primrose and Lizzy, sitting on the plow as weight. That was real hard work, and we could not maintain that for longer periods of time, but we sometimes made that into a competition, with several teams plowing in parallel. For the next year, our allies had promised to get some heavy duty farming equipment over to us, but that was too heavy for the zeppelins, so that we needed to have the port ready for the ships first.

[Author's Notes: I imagine the new site to be located in real life's North Carolina, maybe in the area close to Greensboro and Winston-Salem, more than 250m higher than current sea level and thus 50+ meters above Panem sea level, estimating a sea level 150-200m higher than real life.]