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I do not own the Hunger Games book series. It is the property of Suzanne Collins and the publisher Scholastic Press. The movies are owned by Lionsgate and other associated producers and creators. I am simply a humble fan, writing this for the enjoyment of other fans. Please support the official release.
It feels a little strange to be walking around the district again. After I had come back from the Capitol the first time, I had mostly stayed in Victor's Village, only leaving when my father made me go hunt with him. We didn't need the food anymore, but now that I'm rich, my father no longer works in the mine, and he said he needed something to keep his time occupied. Leevy, Thom and Bristel, my best friends, had come to visit me, but I hadn't gone out of my way to see them. District 12 had become more oppressive than ever, and the only time I felt alive was out in the woods.
But after half a year and the Victory Tour, I knew I couldn't keep hiding. My friends are still in school, and my father is out in the woods, so I decided to make the trek to the Justice Building. Unlike the Capitol, Twelve uses physical coins, and I figured I might as well get some denarii. The Bank of Panem is the only bank in the districts. In the Capitol the choices are numerous, but Twelve, we have only one.
The blond hair of a merchant greet me, the woman's hair curling down the sides of her face. I've been told by Haymitch that the merchants tend to own bank account, and actually have meager savings. Those of us from the Seam do not. My father's wages were spent after he earned them, to keep his family from starving, and even then he still needed to hunt. Right now my family could easily open accounts, and start putting some of my earnings into accounts for themselves.
Haymitch had explained to me how Victor's salary system worked. On the first day of the new year, one hundred thousand denarii are deposited into each living Victor's account. Way more money than I know what to do with. Haymitch had said unless you were from District 1, easily the most expensive district in the country, most of your earnings will be spent in the Capitol.
"Hello, Mr. Hawthorn," the woman behind the counter says, smiling at me. "We haven't seen you come in yet. It's usually your father or mother."
I have no good answer to this, so instead, I say: "I want to withdraw some money from my account."
"Of course, Mr. Hawthorne. I'll just need your signature here," she says, sliding out a piece of paper. I quickly sign my name, finding out that school is good for something. "Everything seems to be in order. How much are you looking to withdraw?"
In District 12, there are our kinds of coins in circulation. One, five, ten, twenty, and fifty denarii coins. Before the Hunger Games, my father let me hold a ten coin, and it had been the most money I ever held in my hand.
"Two hundred," I say after a moment of hesitation. I hand her my small sack and watch as she puts four, fifty denarii coins in it, before handing it back to me. Muttering a small thanks, I loop the bag onto my waist and walk back down the long, shadowy hallway. Instead of using the elevator, I climb the steps back up to the next floor, waving to the secretary behind the desk as I leave.
Now, what am I going to do? My friends will still be in school for a while yet, and the last thing I want to do is go to school. In a little more than six months, I'll be mentoring some poor kid for the first time. I don't even want to think about it until I have to, so I put the thought out of my mind.
The warm scent of the bakery stops me as I walk through the town square. My father had taken me here plenty of times to trade, the baker had a taste for squirrel if I remember right. I've stayed in the front window at all the bread and pastries that were much too expensive for us to buy.
I don't know what makes me go inside, but it smells even better in the building. The baker's wife is behind the counter, and one look at my grey eyes and dark hair is enough to bring a sneer to her lips. Then she sees me, really sees me, and the sneer is gone, replaced by a smile. I'm not just some random Seam trash, I'm Gale Hawthorne. Victor of the Hunger Games. The richest person in all of District 12, except for my mentor Haymitch.
"I'm looking for something sweet," I say before she can speak. "Not a cake."
I don't say it, but I've had my fair share of cake in the Capitol, and something else sounds nice. I'm sure I'll buy a cake here one day, but it's not what I'm looking for.
"We're just finishing up a dozen apple strudels. Or if you can't wait, we have four strawberry eclairs cooling off in the back," she offers.
"I'll take them all," I decide. What's the point of having money if I don't spend it? Indulge a little, now that I can afford it.
The baker's wife is open-jawed at my declaration. If I wasn't a Victor, she would probably be laughing in my face right now. Maybe some of the richer merchants or government officials could afford it, but it wouldn't be worth the cost to buy so many.
"That'll be fifty-six denarii," she says slowly. Over a quarter of the coins, I brought with me. The baked goods here really were expensive. In the Capitol, I could probably buy all of this for less, and better quality. But I wasn't in the Capitol, and despite the fact she was a merchant, we were both District 12. And that had to mean something.
I take out two of the fifty denarii coins, placing them on the table. She looks at them with wide eyes, putting them behind the counter, handing me back the difference. Slipping them into my pouch, I'm left to wait while the rest of my order is finished.
Staring out of the bakery window, golden-haired men and women move about the streets. No one from the Seam in sight, only the golden-haired merchants.
The wife handed me a large brown box and a white bag. As soon as I'm outside, I go to the next shop, buying a large, handmade teddy bear for Posy. I pick out a real leather jacket for Rory and Vick, the kind they've always wanted. My house is full of clothes from the Capitol, enough that every member of my family will be dressed better than all of the merchant families, but my brothers were still obsessed with those jackets.
I head back home, dropping off the clothes, eclairs, and half the strudel, shoving the other half in a bag. My mom picks her head out of the kitchen, but I'm already halfway through the door at that point.
I decide that I'm going to go to the Hob while I wait for school to end. I had been inside the black market a few times with my father, and the idea of going in there alone used to scare me. But after the Hunger Games, it's not very frightening anymore.
I've just finished one of the strudels when the door opens. The white uniform of a peacekeeper meets my eyes. Purnia is descent as far as the Capitol enforcers go. She always paid my father a little more than what the meat was worth when buying from my father. In her hands in a bowl of steaming soup, what I recognize right away as one of Greasy Sae's soup. The kind she sells to those who can afford it. I would bet my earnings that it's not wild dog meat she was eating.
"How is old Cray doing?" I ask, finishing off the pastry. I had heard he was feeling a little under the weather, and some of the more responsible Peacekeepers were doing his work.
Purnia eyes me for a moment. "As well as can be expected. He's having trouble leaving his house, but medicine just arrived from the corps, so we're hoping he'll be up to go soon," Purnia says.
I can only imagine what it would be like to have medicine being brought to you on command. Then again, now as a Victor, I suppose I could probably get medicine from the Capitol if I need it.
"I hope he gets better" I say The last thing I want is for Cray to be replaced with someone like Cornelia Blackthrone. There would have been a time I wouldn't have cared if old Cray was feeling bad or not. Not I know we could have a much worse head.
I bid Purnia a goodbye, before entering the hub. The familiar sight brought a smile to my face. People cheered as they noticed me, many of them thanking me, though at first, I don't understand why. They tell me that as a Victor, parcels have been brought to District 12 regularly, ease the burden of many of them.
Greasy Sae's simple granddaughter meets me as I enter. She's a sweet girl, and I've always had a soft spot for her, in the non-romantic sense. She's happy to see me and hugged me. I slip a ten denarii coin and one the apple strudels in her hands.
When people see me, they stop and say hello. Tell me how brave I was in the Hunger Games, how much the parcels the district has received from my winning has helped them, and do I want to buy this family heirloom? Only five hundred denarii, quite a good deal. I laugh, and decline, but buy something else they're selling, at a price that they wouldn't use for anyone else. Not that it matters; I had the money, and I came to spend it.
I stop when I see Edric Everdeen. Like my father, he is one of the districts hunters, though I've never seen him when I went out into the woods. Like my father before my Victor, most of his time he's in the mine, slaving away underground. He's bartering with a group of people over the fate of three turkeys with Greasy Sae, Robar Burnett the mine foreman, and the old Goat Man.
The Goat Man threw his arms up in the arm, mumbled something in anger, and stalked away.
Robar looked at Edric and offered to buy two of the turkeys. He might be one of the few people in the Seam that could afford to casually buy two of them. As the foreman of the mine, he was easily the richest man who lived in the Seam and might have had more money than some of the merchants.
"I'll take one," I pipe up, drawing their attention toward me. Their eyes spark with recognition. Everyone in the country knew who I was.
"Do you mind, Robar?" Mr. Everdeen asked.
The foreman shook his head. "Not at. I'll just take one," he said, handing the hunter a fist full of coins.
Robar left with his price, patting me on the shoulder as he did. "Nice job in the games."
"Seven denarii," Mr. Everdeen said. I take out one of the ten denarii coins, handing it over.
"Thanks. My dad loves turkey," I say.
"How is Henry?" Mr. Everdeen asks. "I haven't seen him since you won."
"He's not working anymore. But he's good," I say.
"Give him my best, will you?" He asks. I nod.
Mr. Everdeen sells Greasy Sae his last turkey and bids us goodbye. It's only after he's gone I realize the mind shift isn't off. What were he and the foreman doing here?
I order a bowl of one of Sae's meat stews, the expensive ones the peacekeepers normally eat. The one with meat bought from the butcher, but I decided that halfway it, I prefer a fresh game.
On the way out, I buy a little of everything, trying to spread the money out as best I can. Stepping out into the cool winter air, I head to the one place in the district I don't want to go.
Kids are already streaming out of the school by the time I arrive. Two of them will be unlucky enough to be drawn out of the reaping bowl, and I'll have to mentor one of them. District 12 is already at the bottom in the games, and our odds will be even worse this year. Unless they were careers, tributes from the last year's winning district tended to be targeted. Even if then, the careers alliance tended to take out the tributes of last year's winner when the alliance split.
I'm able to pick Leevy out of a crowd of dark-haired kids, despite how well she blends in with them. Thom and Bristel aren't far behind her and In wave them over. I can see the grin spread across Leevy's face and she alerts the others.
"Hey, Gale!" Bristel calls, a smile spreading across her face. She's the fastest of the three, but Thom and Leevy aren't far behind her. "I didn't expect to see you here. Are you coming back to school?"
I couldn't even if I wanted to. As a Victor, I wasn't allowed to hold a job, work or go to school. It went against the illusion of luxury that surrounded all Victor's. It was carefully crafted by the state, and with Cornelia Blackthorn as the new head, I didn't want to try and test her. The school was also incredibly boring, and if nothing else, I enjoyed not having to attend.
"No. I'll leave learning about coal to you," I say, giving her a grin. Grabbing the bag off my belt, I hold it out towards them. "You hungry?"
We leave the school behind, and head south, to the fence at the end of the district. None of them have ever been beyond the fence, and I doubt I would be able to convince them to out with me now, so our old stomping grounds is the closest I can get them. It's one of the few areas of the district that isn't covered in coal dust or houses. Trees and grass litter the area, and it's the closest place you can get to the woods beyond in District 12.
It was nice being with my friends again. It almost made me feel normal, and only being out in the woods could make me feel better. Leevy was dating Robar Burnett's son, though she didn't think it would be going anywhere. He was a nice kisser, though. I don't know why this makes me feel a stab of anger at him, Leevy isn't my girlfriend, but it's there.
Thom bragged that he could take Rye Mellark in a wrestling match any day before Bristel laughed. ("You might have beat him in a fight, but that's because you didn't fight fair. He's the Captain of the Wrestling Team for a reason, Thom. That boy his huge. His younger brother might only be the vice-captain, but he's probably the only guy in the school who could take him?")
Bristel talked my ear off about a guy she liked, but she wouldn't tell us who. She said he was a merchant, and his parents would never allow him to marry a girl from the Seam. It was sad but true. I wasn't even born the last time a merchant married someone from the Seam. My father said that he always thought Mrs. Everdeen regretted moving to the Seam.
We continue talking until it starts getting dark before Thom said he needed to get home. He was going to help his father on the coal train, moving it out of the district. He offered to walk Leevy and Bristel home since they were all going the same way. As I watched them walk towards the Seam, I stayed still until they were out of sight, before going oppositely, back towards Victor's Village.
My house (it still felt strange admitting it) is warm as I walked in. My mom calls me for dinner, and I sit down to join my family at the dinner table. A stew made from waterfowl, with wild onions and greens, and a side of cheese buns. My stomach is full when I head upstairs from dinner.
I dream I'm back in the Capitol, only I'm not with Haymitch. Gleam and Fortune are chasing me through Victory Tower, saying they deserve to be there, not me. They fought how a tribute was supposed to fight and didn't hide behind bigger and stronger allies. I'm leading them up a long flight of stairs, towards my room. I know my room is trapped, and if I can just draw them inside, I can survive.
A sharp pain surges through my leg, and I fall face forward. Looking back, I can see one of Fortune's arrows that buried its way through my leg. Gleam and Fortune are on top of me before I can move. A knife is in her beautiful hands, and as she leans down, Fortune asks me if I want to lose my lips or ears first?
I wake up screaming, sure that the cruel girl from One was going to kill me. Looking around the darkroom, it takes me a moment to remember I'm not in the games anymore. I'm in my house in Victor's Village.
I lay my head back down on the pillow and closed my eyes, wondering if I'll be able to get back to sleep.
Author's Note:
Hello! I hope you have enjoyed the third chapter of Mentor! A little look into Gale's life in District 12 as a Victor.
For Peeta's brother, I followed his naming convention and gave the boy a bread name.