Chapter 27- Terra Coppersmith
"How much money do we have?"
"Enough to send supper to both of them, but I recommend we save most of it; the next few days will be rough, as you know, Terra," Woof says, staring intently at the screen. Shuttle's under the desk having a nap; her sweater bundled up under her head as a pillow. Woven's leaning back in her chair with her eyes closed.
The lights haven't changed here in the Viewing Hall, so even though it's after dark outside, it still looks like it could be 10 in the morning. Mags is leaning on her desk, head in her hands, but she's not sleeping. Garnet Dusksand, the boy from 1's mentor, threw his phone across the room and stormed out when Cloak got ripped apart by the shark. I couldn't watch that, so I just kept my eyes on Iry the whole time it was happening.
I almost threw up when she had to hide from the Careers, but she's done so well and made it through the first day. Both she and Azlon made it through the first day alive, and now they're miles apart. Iry's on the coast, and Azlon's gone straight up the middle, and is now in the heart of the rainforest.
"She's cold, can't we send her something for that?" I ask, watching my sister shiver underneath her crude shelter in the trees.
"And what about the boy?" Woof asks.
"I don't care about Azlon; I want Iry to win, you know that." It sounds harsh, but it's true. Only one tribute is coming out of the arena, and I don't intend it to be Azlon. So why pretend?
"What's in the bank, Woof?" Woven asks, eyes still shut.
"We're running at 30,000 pecuniae," Woof says, checking the chart.
"That much? Well, Azlon got himself a pack in the bloodbath, so he's got some supplies. Plus he found that water earlier," Woven says, sitting up and blinking at the screen showing Azlon under a tree in a sleeping bag. "He's in a good spot. Send him some bread so he knows we haven't forgotten about him. It doesn't cost much."
"I'm just going to clarify now that we've chosen Iry," Woof says, finally tearing his eyes away from the screen for the first time in hours.
"Of course we've chosen her!" I say, a little too loudly. One of the mentors from 9, Arla, looks over at me, frowning. I don't care; I don't like her anyway.
"Right, just clarifying. I chose her myself several days ago, I wanted to make sure we're all on the same page," Woof says. "Bread for Azlon, is that right?"
"How much is that?" I ask, leaning forward to see the gift screen better.
"90 pecuniae," Woven says. "Today's the cheapest you'll get anything. When we sent you the bread and gloves on Day 5 of your Games, altogether that was over 20,000 pecuniae."
"How'd you afford that?"
"You and Fletcher pulled good sponsors," Woven says. "Iry's going to have a hard time dragging a sleeping bag along with her if we send one to her. I say we give her an extra jacket."
"That's going to roast her in the daytime," Woof says, flipping through the options on the screen. "A blanket could be more useful; like this one, which has plastic on the outside. She could catch water with that, or make a better shelter."
"What's going to make her more comfortable?" I ask.
"Comfort isn't the goal here; it's keeping her alive," Woof says, looking at me. "The blanket's 2000 pecuniae, so it's well within our budget."
"Fine, send the blanket," I say.
"She needs food and water too," Woven points out. "She didn't go to the Cornucopia so she's completely without supplies. How much are those?"
Woof checks, matching prices with the items on the screen. "If we send her a thermos of beef stew, a roll, and a metal bottle of water that can be refilled, that only comes to 3000 pecuniae."
"Let's send that," I say. Woof looks to Woven, and she nods.
"5000 for Iry and 90 for Azlon; that's fair to me."
"Someone's going to have to go out and work the sponsors for more money," Woof says, turning his attention back to the big screen. Nothing's happening that I really care about. The Careers have made camp a good distance from Iry, and Nell and her ally were being attacked by a large cat a few minutes ago. I could hear Seeder groaning several stations away.
"I'll go," Shuttle says from under the table. "I have to go out tomorrow anyway."
"Send off Azlon's first," Woven says. Woof presses the icon for the bread and identifies which tribute he wants to send it to. Just like that, the money is deducted, and on Azlon's screen we watch the silvery parachute descend towards him. He catches it easily and pulls the bread out. It's too dark to see his face, but he seems pleased by his gift.
"Now Iry's," I say. Woof chooses the blanket and the food; the blanket descends first. I can see Iry better than I could see Azlon, and she scrambles to her feet to grab the blanket. Even in the dark I can see her smile. That smile only grows when the second parachute comes down by her. She seems to know I'm watching her, because she gives a little wave to the sky, then pulls her gifts underneath her shelter and I can't see her anymore.
"Feel better, Terra?" Woof asks, leaning back in his chair.
"Yes." Knowing that Iry's okay right now makes me feel so much better. She's alive, and she will come home to me. There's no other choice here.
"Then I'm going to go up to the apartment and get some sleep. I'll come back down in a few hours. Either of you want to join me?"
"I'm fine," Shuttle says, muffled under the table. Woven shakes her head too, as do I.
"We'll stay here," Woven says.
"Suit yourselves. See you in a few hours."
After Woof leaves the room, Woven puts her head down on her arms, leaning against the table. "Are you okay?" I ask.
"Tired."
"Why didn't you go sleep then?"
"You need support, and I'm worried about Iry myself. Better that I stay down here and keep an eye on her and you at the same time."
"I'm not fragile," I say.
"You're a lot more fragile than Shuttle or me," Woven says, turning her head so she can see me. "And this is your first year mentoring, so I should stay here with you anyway."
"Elm's gone up, so I can come over and see how you guys are doing," Corinna says, startling me. "Sorry, did I scare you?"
"A little, but it's fine. How're your tributes?" I ask.
"Both still alive, if you can believe it. They had the sense to get away from the Cornucopia, and now Elowyn's in a good alliance and Kiril's off on his own."
"Both of ours are still alive too," Woven says.
"Good. Where's Shuttle?" Corinna asks.
"Down here." Shuttle sits up and peers out from under the desk.
"Didn't see you down there! Are you okay?"
"Just taking a nap. I think I'm awake now," Shuttle says, climbing out and standing up next to Corinna.
Corinna leans in to see our screens better. "I'm surprised the Careers didn't stick around at the Cornucopia longer, honestly."
"Shore wanted them to get water," I say. I can see some movement from where Iry is; I think she's fluffing out her blanket to get comfortable. I wonder how cold it is there. Oh, I want to reach in and pull her out, to take her home where nobody can hurt her again.
"That turned out well," Corinna says sarcastically. I have a feeling that the shark attack will be one of the highlights of these Games. Stay away from the water, Iry.
"I'm impressed that they left the boy there and just swam for it," Woven says. "That takes guts to do."
"Eight down and sixteen to go," Shuttle says.
"I should get back; I'm the only one on duty right now. Talk to you later!" Corinna says, then she goes back to her station.
"Terra, you should take a nap," Woven says, looking at me. "You look dead tired."
"I'm not sleeping while Iry's in the arena," I say.
"You'll be dead of sleep exhaustion by the time she gets out. Listen, it's the first night. Eight tributes died this morning, and they can keep rehashing the shark incident until tomorrow. They're not going to unleash anything at least until tomorrow morning, and the cat with the 11 and 6 is keeping the boredom at bay while it's dark. Nothing's going to happen to Iry."
"But-"
"Just take my place under the desk," Shuttle says. "I'll keep watch with Woven for you, and we'll wake you if anything happens."
"You can't be much use to Iry if you're asleep on your feet," Woven says.
"Fine. I'll sleep for a few minutes, but you have to wake me up if anything happens," I say.
"We will. Go get some sleep."
"Okay." I get down from my chair and slide under the desk. The floor is cool, and more comfortable than I thought it would be. Despite my best efforts to stay awake, I slip away into sleep almost immediately.