Author's Note: Onto the next chapter! There are issues aplenty for the new council to contend with and its members won't make things simple. For those who are unfamiliar with my geography of Panem, Six and Seven cross the current border into Canada, which now exists as a smaller country. Similarly, District Ten crosses into Mexico which also still exists separately, just with different borders.

With the glitches on here the past week, I have no idea who has read this, but thank you to anyone who has!

….

Common Ground

"We all agree that our immediate priorities are shelter and safety, power, food and water? Latier, can that be added to the minutes?" Silver started.

"There is an immediate problem on this very doorstep," Plutarch Heavensbee started. "The blocks in the immediate path of our route through to the mansion have been almost entirely demolished and the surrounding areas are uninhabitable. Beetee has confirmed that all pods have been deactivated so we should start getting people together to at least patch up what can be salvaged in the coming weeks. I know there are bigger issues further afield, but we do not want to risk alienating Capitol citizens at this early stage. Reassurance is needed, and some signs of support would go a long way. It would also relieve pressure on the outer suburbs."

"I agree. It would not do to create bad feeling between us and the Capitol population. People have lost their children, they are frightened and restoring what we can, would be a good start. I also think that the past couple of days has been eye-opening for many of us too," Halley replied.

The council representatives had been made aware of the living conditions in the outer suburbs and the very outskirts of the city, not what was shown on television. But the part of the Capitol which was conveniently ignored with high-rise flats occupied by multiple generations of the same family, or more recently, multiple families. People in unstable and low paid jobs, in food and fuel poverty and lacking many of the amenities associated with living in a rich city. The representatives had realised that all was not as they had been led to believe about the Capitol.

Of course, Heavensbee had long been aware of the issue and was keen to work in the interests of those families. Kersey Paylor and Lily Aswathi had realised this on their journey through the Capitol, but it was only Beetee from the districts who had actually visited prior to the uprising. Halley and Poppy had second-hand knowledge, but it was Three's older victor, along with Mags who had made contact with the poorest in the Capitol.

General Montgomery muttered his disapproval and Gale Hawthorne looked uncomfortable but neither voiced their objections, realising they would be outvoted. They would find groups of people willing to do what they can with what could be salvaged in the Capitol.

One's representative confirmed that they too had some overcrowding, but their main issue was the decimation of their industry. The Capitol had bombed their tourism centre, shops and goods had been destroyed, taking with them the livelihoods of entire communities. They had people willing to work, they just needed the building materials to restore what was lost.

With Enobaria still in conversation with Two's leaders at home, Halley had to relay what her fellow victor had informed her about the situation in Two. Homes and entire streets had been flattened but with the quarries still able to partially operate and with reserve stocks, they had building materials and the people to work. The Institute was currently being used to accommodate some of the displaced and the former peacekeepers' barracks had been repurposed as temporary housing. Two's main issue would be their internal conflict.

The most urban districts, Three, Six and Eight were already overcrowded with slum housing over capacity before the war. Now the problem was even worse, and they did not have the building materials to begin restoring what was lost, let alone building the number of homes they actually required. Unsafe blocks of flats would likely need to be pulled down and new ones built in their place, but where they would accommodate the hundreds of families living there in the meantime was a headache.

With their lumber not being sent to the Capitol, Seven was already rebuilding and repairing damaged homes. Their representative shared their hopes to completely reshape their centre but admitted that could wait so their people could be sent to work in other districts to help the rebuilding there.

Four was lucky. The fighting had been quick. The Victors' Village had been destroyed and most of the fighting took place at sea. They had managed to apprehend the incoming peacekeepers and Capitol Guard deployed on the outskirts of the district and so managed to save most homes.

Five's rebellion efforts had been aimed at disruption and the repercussions had meant bombings. But most of the fighting had been in the streets. Most homes were damaged in some way, but most were also standing. Their population had been smaller before the rebellion and the wartime losses had prevented overcrowding.

In Nine they lived in villages, and whilst their centre had been almost entirely destroyed, the villagers pulled together. They had patched together what they could and shared their space with their neighbours. Conditions needed to improve, but they considered themselves able to stay the course for a while. The main town would need to be almost entirely rebuilt, however, as its main population was spread around hastily set up camps, poorly prepared for the winter after bombing destroyed their homes.

Community spirit had taken over in Ten, with people from different communities pulling together to help each other, sharing their homes and resources. The farmers united against the Capitol and whilst there were attacks on the Capitol-supporting, rich, landowning families, Ten's majority united against their ultimate oppressor. They knew that they would outnumber their landowners who would have no choice but to surrender. But they decided against harsh treatment for the sake of it. There would be trials where criminal behaviour had taken place, but otherwise, it was in everyone's interests to pull together. The Victors' Village had, for whatever reason, been left standing and it was now fully occupied, with many of those whose homes had been destroyed in Ten's main town, cramming into the twelve now unoccupied houses. They knew that Maria, Charo and Adan would not have minded and would have opened their doors had they survived.

Eleven was so huge, its leaders were having difficulty in assessing the magnitude of the problem, but Lily had confirmed that it was bad. Homelessness and displacement were rife. Everyone who had a home standing had opened their doors, but it would not be enough. They needed assistance and urgently so.

….

"Safe working conditions! You're from District One. You can tell me how unsafe you all were once you've seen Twelve. If you had been down those mines, going further and further down each year to get even less and not meet quotas. You tell me how unsafe your working conditions were!" Gale Hawthorne demanded. Conversations had been ongoing and Twelve's representative, keen to voice what had happened to his people, was beginning to irritate some of the other representatives.

"I'm a miner. You're a miner. We have more in common than you think, One and Twelve. My family were miners, like yours', and were for generations I imagine. Except nobody really knew or remembered that One had miners. We weren't all living in the city centre creating luxuries and spending our money on them too. We were digging and extracting underground, picking nearer the surface, doing everything demanded of us and getting less in return every year. Like you were. I know about unsafe working conditions, I can tell you how many accidents and dangers there were like you could tell me the same about Twelve."

"Let's not start arguing over who had it the worst," Poppy started. "Gale, we are all truly sorry about Twelve and we all acknowledge the hardship you all faced. But this is something we can all agree on. There were countless accidents and catastrophic injuries in factories in Six, we can all agree that whatever work needs doing, it needs to be done safely. With production capacity reduced, we need to think about what work actually needs doing right now, what can be done safely, how many people we need and how they are going to be paid."

"We have agreed at home that we won't be going underground for more materials. We have a surplus stored safely which somehow was not destroyed and we can't imagine there will be a huge demand for luxury jewellery at the moment. That also means we have spare workers and there will be people willing to pitch in and go wherever is needed."

"We also have people willing to move wherever help is wanted. It's not like many of our crews will be fishing any time soon," Four's representative offered.

"That's appreciated. I think with clothing it is going to be a matter of mending and making do for the foreseeable future but we will need a hand with rebuilding and housing, people just can't live safely at the moment," Paylor said.

Isabella from Ten agreed, "Anything requiring leather or wool, forget it. People will have to mend what they can wherever they can. We need to focus on meat and dairy, but we have a shortage of livestock. Peacekeepers decided to throw us all in it, whoever came out on top, some animals they let out and they ran free, others they killed."

"It's very similar in Nine. Can we also put in a bid for some extra workers? Obviously, autumn's harvest was pretty much a failure, and we will need help with all the planting that will be needed so we can actually grow something this year. It will all have to be manual work of course, for both planting and harvesting. The machinery was so outdated anyway it has barely been any use the last few years and it's too dangerous. We can't afford serious injuries right now, if we ever could."

Lily also joined in, "If we're talking about food, I guess it's time for me to add that it's not great in Eleven either. Obviously, almost everything harvested most recently has been destroyed, orchards were burnt down, some of the stores too. Plenty of sugar though, but on its own, I'm not sure how useful that is going to be."

"Silver, Montgomery, what are Thirteen's supplies like? Paylor asked.

"We can comfortably supply our own and the refugees from Twelve, but that will not extend to supplying most of the rest of the nation. We can provide some supplies though, but not at the expense of our own population," Montgomery said.

"We would not expect you to harm your own, Montgomery. We don't need to extend the food problem to Thirteen as well. But whatever you could spare will be required."

"I expect this will be controlled? Rations and the like?"

"I don't think there is an alternative, there will not be enough food if it is a free for all."

"I know there are stocks of non-perishables in the Capitol. If they have not all been located, we can get someone to do so, under supervision I would expect, and we can organise distribution. The tinned and canned goods, well whatever might last have been taken from the homes of those arrested, some has been left for remaining family members and children, they are not to suffer after all. Where we know that all the occupants killed themselves in the surrender, all the food was taken from their houses and sent to the shelters."

"The Capitol still hoarding food for itself, Heavensbee," Montgomery snapped.

"Given that the Capitol is the most populated area of Panem and we have had an influx of people from the districts, there are lots of people to feed. But I assure you the days of the Capitol hoarding food for ourselves alone are gone."

"Well, we will be the judge of that."

"Regardless," Paylor cut in, "Food is in short supply. We are going to need help. I think this might be a question of asking our international neighbours. I know they are out there, but I don't know much about them or what their attitudes to Panem are."

Silver was quick to reply, "We have contacts with Canada in Thirteen. We can see what we can do with them. Their current administration is no fan of the Capitol, well the Capitol of old, so we may have to stress aid to the districts as being the main purpose."

"I know some people too," Poppy said, and noting the confusion on the other representatives' faces, she continued. "Leah from Seven met people on her travels. In the northernmost borderlands between Six and Seven, there are a group of people living together, not a part of Panem but unbothered by the Capitol and peacekeepers. She passed these contacts to Linden who told me in case we needed anything in Six. I think they may supply the Canadian government and the population with information, perhaps they could bring in some public support?"

"It's worth trying. See if you can make contact," Paylor replied.

"For our neighbours to the south, in Mexico, we have had no official contact. The Mexican government refused to talk to anyone from the Snow administration, nor the landowners and the managers in Ten itself," Isabella said. "But the fighting reached their border so I am sure they are aware of the change in control and they might be more responsive now. I can try getting someone from home to make contact or will try myself if it's better coming from a council representative."

"Try to make contact Isabella, work with people back home and perhaps Plutarch to see what contacts you have and make an approach. The more options we have the better."

Four's representative cut in before the subject could change, "We have maintained a small farming sector to the north of the district, oranges, grapes, strawberries, almonds, and the like. Things that grow well in warm weather. With some direction, we could expand and diversify. Hopefully, when it comes to harvest it could be a small help? It would give people at home who can't fish and want to stay in Four a chance to work and we could take people in from elsewhere."

Lily quickly agreed, "That could work, it would add some capacity and we can send people over from Eleven to help."

"And as for the water supply, Silver, are you in Thirteen happy to continue diverting a fraction of your water to Nine, Eight and Six after the damage to the pipelines?"

"We will be able to do that, Commander Paylor. Although I think some of our leaders back at home would like to see some assistance from the Capitol as a form of compensation, given it was the Capitol who caused the damage."

"Silver, I understand the sentiment, but as Thirteen is closer to the pipelines affected, the supply coming from your reserves does make more sense. I will, however, talk to some associates to see if anything can be done," Plutarch replied, although General Silver did not seem especially reassured by his commitment.

"Are there any emergencies or developing situations in terms of power?" Silver asked.

"The northernmost region of Six is still completely out and candles and donated blankets will only go so far, especially in the cold weather," Poppy said.

Seven's representative also replied, noting that the situation was similar in the north of their district and Paylor confirmed that areas across Eight's main city, as well as the more rural and smaller areas, were also struggling. The situation in Eleven was dire and there were problems in the south of Ten.

It was decided that District Five's expertise would be utilised urgently. Teams would be sent out to other districts to attend to the most pressing issues whilst people from other districts who wanted a different job would be trained in Five, following which they would either return home with their new skills or help elsewhere. The hydroelectric dam had been destroyed but fixing that was not going to happen anytime soon, leaving parts of Panem without a significant power source. The Capitol had backup options but the affected areas of One and Two did not.

It was Three and Four which, as with most of the country's pressing needs, were in the most positive position. People across Three were able to fix some of the issues they had and there were minimal problems in Four. People had power and were beginning to get on with their lives. They would help the other districts try to catch up.

There was common ground across the council. They would argue over details and who to prioritise for specific aid, but the early signs were that they might be able to work together. They only had to do so for a month after all.