The Sunday after Reyna leaves, I met Gale in the clearing outside of District 12 to begin our usual weekly hunting. We sit in silence for a while.
"So, how was Reyna?" I ask.
He doesn't say anything for a while, opening and closing his mouth, before settling on, "she's different."
"How so?"
"She's just not what I expected a Capitolite to be like."
"Oh, yeah?"
"I mean, it's like she could be my next-door neighbor, she's witty, she swears, she doesn't hold her tongue, she seems to be hardworking…"
"People are alike everywhere," I say truthfully. Yes, some Captiolites may be stuck up and conceited, but so are some of the girls from town. Sure, Snow may be a tyrannical dictator, but is Cray really any different? No, people are fundamentally the same.
"Hell, she even gave me a mobile, told me that she would be in touch," Gale says.
Huh. I'll have to ask Peeta about that; was this him wanting a contact on the ground, or does Reyna have an ulterior motive?
Gale and I finish up hunting, and I suddenly remember that I'll be in the Capitol in less than two weeks, I remind Gale, and he doesn't look exactly happy about it.
I wonder if he'll have that same look when he sees me with Peeta.
I don't have time to dwell on that as we head inside my house and settle in for the Mandatory Broadcast of Peeta's interview with Caesar Flickerman that he recorded while in Twelve.
Except that isn't what plays.
What plays is a live feed of a Capitol courtroom. "Oyez. Oyez. Oyez," cries the Judge with his distinct Capitol accent, "The High Court of Panem will come to order. The Defendant, Reyna Ravinstill, stands charged with third-degree crimes against the State. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty."
I turn to look at Gale; his face is pale. This is unreal. What could she have done? She has powerful friends, Peeta, her father. What could she have done that not even they could save her?
Another man comes to the podium before the judge; the text at the bottom of the screen lists him as the Prosecutor. "Miss Ravinstill stands accused of having in her possession seditious documents and of making a subversive gesture in the presence of a State Official."
"Is what you have said the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" Asks the Judge.
"Yes, your Honor."
"Then you, Reyna Ravinstill, are hereby sentenced to ten lashings and ninety days exile from the Capitol too," he pauses and shuffles papers before saying, "District Twelve. Your sentence is to be carried out immediately." He finishes, hitting his desk with a gavel.
"Will she even be alive after ten lashings?" I ask aloud quietly.
Equally as silently, Gale replies, "I don't know."
I wonder how many strings Peeta had to pull to get her exiled here.
Caesar Flickerman appears next in his studio. "We have just received a statement from the President regarding Miss Ravinstill's sentencing."
He clears his throat and begins, "Miss Ravinstill's sentencing should be a reminder that no one who abides in our land is above the law and the authority of the Government of Panem as exercised by my Office no matter how influential or powerful they may be. Miss Ravinstill's lenient sentence reflects her and her family's long history of service to our Country and of her continuing service to the President-Elect, which she is authorized to resume following the carrying out of her sentence."