Dear Avery,

Well, it's been a few days since I last wrote. And honestly? I'm surprised I'm writing you so soon after my last letter. I wasn't going to write until next week but… I wanted to. I like having this space to just talk and get my thoughts out. You were the only person I trusted for half of my life – well, except Sebastian – and writing to you reminded me that I can tell you things if I need to or want to. It's kind of like keeping a diary – that was something Marcella always suggested to help me deal with things but I never really wanted to do it, but I like the idea of journaling better if it means I can talk to you.

It's probably also helpful that there are more people here in the Training Center. Today was the ninth day of competition so we're up to eighteen of us now who have been eliminated from the Events. I'm not all that interested in talking to the others, honestly, but it's nice to be in the company of more than just two or three other teams. Especially because then they can talk to each other and leave me to my thoughts.

I have to admit, as much as I'm sad that we got eliminated so early, I'm very glad today that I'm not still in the Events, because I didn't have to compete in today's challenge. I don't think it was a bad challenge per se; in fact it definitely showcased today's theme, which was Strength. As you might guess, that's the value for District Two. I'd guess that, to work in the mines, you have to be really strong there – or at least that's the reasoning Violet gave in the tape we watched. Really, we all know that the reason Two's value is strength is because they train tributes, and the way they got away with it is before training academies opened in all the districts is that they funneled the trainees who didn't volunteer to die into the Peacekeeper Corps.

At least that's what I think. I might be wrong.

Anyway, the morning challenge did not seem fun in the slightest. The competitors were tasked with running this really physically intense obstacle course that they called a tough mudder. There were these really tall walls that the competitors had to climb over, beams they had to army crawl under, and holes in the walls that they had to squeeze through. And to make matters wore the entire course was built in this mud-filled trench that they had to slog through. I feel like the challenge wouldn't have been easy if they just had to run it as an obstacle course but adding the mud to the mix must have made things ten times harder.

I think with most of the challenges things have felt pretty fair, like any team realistically could have won. But this one really felt stacked in favor of the older, taller, trained teams, which is to say the team from Two. Of course, the Gamemakers couldn't have known that the team from Two would still be in, but this challenge really felt stacked in the favor of the older, stronger teams.

~.~.~

"Mina!" Cam called. "Help me out!"

"What's wrong?"

"I'm stuck!"

Mina peeked over her shoulder to look in the direction of her voice. "Oh! Oh dear," she exclaimed, catching sight of the smaller girl, who was waist-deep in the trough of mud. "Let me help you."

Slowly, Mina began to trudge back through the mud in Cam's direction. The mud was thick, but not impossible for her to navigate through, though Mina could understand why the smaller, frailer girl was struggling to take even a few steps forward. When Mina got to Cam, she took a moment to size up the situation. "I'm thinking our best bet might honestly be to just have you sit on my shoulders," Mina suggested. "You're not all that big and we won't get anywhere if you keep getting stuck."

"I don't mind," Cam giggled. "It'll be fun."

Resigned to the fact that she was going to need a long, long shower after this, Mina bent down to allow Cam to climb on her back. As she stood up, she caught sound of two other little voices a bit further back. "Is that Nova and Berk back there?"

"I think so," Cam replied, getting comfortable on Mina's shoulders.

Mina turned around and looked back at Cam. "Are you ok if we go back and help them out?"

"We're not gonna win," Cam astutely pointed out. "We might as well help out our friends so they can actually finish."

Mina nodded, a proud smile spreading across her face. "You're a girl after my own heart. Cover your ears real quick?

"Berk! Nova! Hang on for a moment, we're on our way to help!"

~.~.~

Anyway, yes, the Two team won, and for the first time it seemed like they couldn't decide who to send into the challenge. Not because they didn't have options but because Noel couldn't decide which team was a bigger target. They ended up picking Mina and Cam to go in probably because of the whole "Noel only knows how to hold a grudge" thing and probably because the small children from Nine aren't a huge physical threat. I still don't understand why Two is not going for Sigmund and Ella, because I think a lot of the last few days will have some more intelligence-based challenges because the values for Six and Eight are still left. But that's just me - I'm not in the Events. And Noel got their wish anyway because somehow the Nine team ended up in the challenge because of popularity. Well, technically the Eleven team were supposed to be in the elimination challenge, but they had a Medallion of Power that they got this morning, so they played it to keep themselves safe, and the Nine team was the second choice.

I guess being small and cute only gets you so far.

The afternoon challenge was not what I would have expected at all. I was thinking maybe some sort of weightlifting challenge or something but instead it was a puzzle with really big pieces that the competitors had to build on some sort of stand – so it was like a vertical puzzle rather than a horizontal one. They seemed pretty heavy, not as heavy as weights but hard to manage nonetheless. I thought it was a shoo in for the Twelve pair to win but was actually a pretty close challenge because the teams took different strategies. The pair from Twelve decided to work vertically, trying to find one piece at a time to place it on the stand. But the Nines chose to work on the ground first, assembling the whole puzzle together before placing each piece on the stand. So they didn't see to be making as much progress initially, but once they started placing pieces on the puzzle stand, they went tremendously fast, stealing the win out from the Twelve's nose. (Though I'm not convinced that Mina didn't slow down near the end to let the Nines win. I guess that's paying it forward since I'm pretty sure Marilyn - er, March, they want us to call them March now - did the same for her.)

There's only like five days left of the Events now. I think it might actually be four because if there were fourteen days, how would the competitors compete against each other on the last day? Only one team would be left after all. It feels like it has all gone by so fast, and yet it feels like an eternity. Being here has been neat because I got to almost get closer to you, in a way. But all I really want is to be back home.

Oh, by the way. The other day we went out for a day trip in the Capitol, which was fun and all, but when I got back, my room had been transformed into a gorgeous wintery forest scene. I know that the walls can transform with whatever technology the Capitol has here, so that could have been a programming glitch, but I don't think it was, because somehow someone strung fairy lights all across the room. It was genuinely one of the prettiest things that I have ever seen. I can't help but remember that one time near the Winter Holiday that ~~Dad~~ Abraham was really in a rage, and when he had gotten himself all tired out, you took me and Sebastian and Marcella out into the forest and you'd set up all of these pretty lights on the trees. How you set all that up when you were so young I don't know, honestly, and it might be that you'd seen the lights in the trees that someone else had put up and just claimed them as your own. Either way, that was the last Winter Holiday we'd ever spent together.

Looking back on it, I can't believe how much you took onto your shoulders at such a young age to keep the rest of us safe. I never even got to thank you – I guess I never realized how much I needed to thank you.

…

So… thank you.

I love you, Avery.

Love, Oksana

Full Placement List:

1st: Two

2nd: Capitol

3rd: Nine

4th: Twelve

5th: Six

6th: Eleven

Theodosia Cambria:

Cam! What a sweet girl. The little ones always have a special place in my heart and Cam was no exception. She was so fitting for the heart district, so pure and lovely and loving. I definitely considered her and Mina as Victor options, but eventually decided to go another route. Thanks so much to ANTonio-banderas for Cam!

Mina Valadian:

Mina was one of those kids that just came so naturally to me. From the beginning, I felt I had a good handle on her personality, and I loved getting to explore how she interacted not just with Cam but with March. In another draft of this story, I think she would have gotten more screentime, but because she was so intertwined with March, as I got less and less comfortable with writing March's storyline, Mina unfortunately suffered. Thank you so much to TheEngineeringGames for Mina!

~.~.~

Wow, that placement list just keeps getting shorter and shorter, doesn't it? I can't believe we've only got like, seven chapters of the fic left! Where has the time gone?

Not much to say here other than I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I have three stockpiled as of now and am hoping to bang out a fourth soon, so it looks like the stockpile is holding steady. I might have mentioned this in an A/N already but I'm toying with opening subs for IDIDE3 a week before the last chapter of this fic goes up, so 6/6 instead of 6/13. As it gets closer I'll make a more solid decision on that front.

Anyway, I'll see you all here next week (hopefully not so early in the morning lol) with the next chapter!

-goldie031