"Yes, yes. Thank you for your call. I will address it. Take care… Yes, hello, this is Delphine Pix-Lits. How can I help you?"

Ever since Garnet's announcement the month before, Delphine's phones had been ringing off the hook, as concerned citizens of Two tried to voice their opinions on the changes Panem, and Two in particular, was undergoing. Yes, Delphine Pix-Lits was not Two's mayor, which meant that she technically held no political power to act on any of those concerns. But in many ways, as the oldest living Victor of Two, she had more power within the district than the mayor did. After all, it was Delphine who oversaw all Games related matters in Two; she even had final say on the two volunteers for the Games. Not only that, but Delphine determined the career paths of many of the eighteen-year-olds in the district. After their Games eligibility expired, she hand-selected from a pool of interested young adults those who were loyal enough to enter the Peacekeeper corps and those who were sharp enough to become trainers; those who were neither loyal enough nor sharp enough were left to either work in Two's quarries or find jobs in their parents' companies. There was nobody in the district who was more capable of making or breaking a person's life path than Delphine Pix-Lits, and somehow that degree of power translated in the people's mind to Delphine having power to do anything. And that put Delphine in a particularly challenging position.

To say that the political climate of Two was polarized was an understatement at best, the citizens divided between three camps. The first group were the traditionalists, who believed in the institution of the Games and what they stood for and, seeing the writing on the wall, had been against Ruby's plans for getting rid of the Games from the moment that she announced the Events. The second group were the loyalists, who understood why Ruby was getting rid of the Games but were frustrated that Garnet acquiesced to the demands of the rebels. And then there was a surprisingly substantial group of progressives who appreciated the changes made to Panem and supported the move to a more equitable society. For the past year and a half or so, the groups had been able to live more or less in harmony, with just whispers of dissonance permeating Delphine's walls. But now, with Garnet's abrupt decision to end the Games, the citizens of Two had turned against each other, fighting against friends and neighbors for the values they held dear.

Delphine had expected to get a lot of complaining phone calls from the traditionalists and loyalists after Garnet's announcement. After all, the Games had been integral to the culture of District Two for over a century; eliminating that element of Two's way of life all at once was bound to cause conflict. What Delphine hadn't expected was to get a substantial number of phone calls from the progressives, trying to convince Delphine not to acquiesce to whatever demands the traditionalists or the loyalists might have. Delphine thought she'd done a decent enough job of maintaining a neutral status on Garnet's decisions to remain in everyone's good graces, but evidently, she'd come across as more anti-Events than she originally thought.

In retrospect, perhaps declining to host the Second Events was a poor decision. Sure, it threatened Two's systems of life back then, but deep down, Delphine had known that that way of life was going to become obsolete sooner rather than later anyway. Delphine had been too focused on the present, but her decision was only coming back to bite her in the ass.

"Thank you. Yes, I'll be sure to take it into account. Thank you very much. Bye." Delphine put the phone down, then leaned back and sighed. She was never the most introverted person, but fielding so many phone calls was really taking a toll on her ability to socialize. All she really wanted was a break; was that too much to ask?

Evidently, it was, as one of her phones began to ring yet again. Delphine took a deep breath, put on her best face, then picked up the phone and said, "Hello, Delphine Pix-Lits."

"Ms. Pix-Lits?"

"Yes, that is me."

"Hi, this is Garnet Emerald."

"Oh, hello, President Emerald," Delphine said, a concerned look crossing her face. This was the first time Garnet had called her since his announcement; the two had had a short conversation before his announcement about the ending of the Games so that Delphine could be prepared for her district's reaction. Delphine was curious what Garnet had to talk to her about today, as well as how he would say it; his mother had, for better or for worse, been a strong leader, and she wondered how Garnet would be able to carry on her legacy. "How can I help you?"

"I wanted to talk regarding the upcoming Events," Garnet replied. "I understand that the citizens of Two are… less than thrilled about the announcement?"

"Many of them. Some," acknowledged Delphine, "are satisfied if not happy, but most are rather unhappy. I've been receiving complaints constantly for days."

"I understand that, and I am sorry that you've had to deal with this. I hope you understand that I could not have revealed that information to your citizens early, because the announcement would have spread too far."

"No, you made the right decision. It has just made my life rather difficult. Now, is there something in particular you'd like to discuss?"

"Yes, in fact. I wanted to offer District Two the opportunity to host the Events this year."

"Were we not offered the same opportunity last year, which we refused?"

"You did, and that is what happened."

"So why are we not offering the opportunity to host to Six? They won the Second Events."

"Well, publicly, we'll say that Six needed more time to plan the Events and so they deferred their hosting by a year. Between you and me, I want to give Two the opportunity to give the Events a second chance – both the citizens and the government."

"And what happens if we say no?"

"Nothing," replied Garnet, his genuine intentions clear in his words. "I have no interest in punishing District Two for any of its actions. I do have an interest in District Two not causing you problems, and in them not causing problems for the rest of the country. Being against the Events in other Games-crazy districts is a much less mainstream viewpoint now than it was a few weeks ago, but it wouldn't surprise me if many of Two's citizens are hesitant to adopt it. I want you to have the opportunity to help Two get there naturally, before your citizens get left in the dust by the rest of the country."

"And what if we come out of the Events no better than how we started?"

"Then your citizens will be at odds with the government for the first time."

"Do you think this will actually help?"

"I don't know," admitted Garnet. "I'm new to this whole leadership thing. But I want to give it a try."

Delphine took a moment to think. Admittedly, she probably aligned more with the traditionalists or the loyalists than the progressives. But her job as a leader was to think about what was best for the district, not to make decisions based on what she wanted to happen. And what was best for Two was to not situate themselves more staunchly against the Capitol.

This choice would likely not be popular. But it was also probably Delphine's best option.

"We'll do it."

Hi everybody! I know it's been a bit since I updated this story, but I have been rather busy working at camp, so my focus has been on moving OTWT forward. But I'm going to be home in just a few days, so I can hopefully kick both of my fics into gear!

You might notice we have some new covers for this fic and for NGDGU! A huge thanks to Platrium for the 3-D modeling of the gemstones and to timesphobic for helping me make the covers look good on Canva.

A few sub updates. I've gotten about six subs in so far, which is honestly kind of about what I expected, but certainly not enough to write a fic with. So I'll for sure be pushing the sub deadline back! Right now I'm thinking October 9, but that is subject to change, so keep an eye on my profile and in all the appropriate Discord channels for more information. Also, if you are eyeing a district, please do let me know so that I can have you in my records! I still don't anticipate needing to move people, except potentially from the Capitol, but as I begin to pair Victors with competitors, I want to make sure I know where I can lock stuff down and where I need to be more flexible. As always, feel free to DM or PM me with any questions or concerns.

Thank you all for your interest and support! I'm so excited to get this fic underway!

xoxo, xxxi