5. All the things they said

What is there to say about Sappho Humes? It really depends on who you ask.

Her parents said that she is their "family's pride", that she always was her father and mother's favorite over, quotation, "her stupid brother who didn't even survive the bloodbath", referring to District 1's male tribute in the eight Hunger Games, Rubius.

Her boyfriend said that she was the love of his life, that he thought he would have loved her forevermore and have kids with her, before he watched her eighteen-year-old girlfriend viciously slit his cousin's throat during her own Games, live on CapitolTV. The two didn't really talk anymore after Sappho's return to District 1 (not that she ever seemed that bothered by it, according to what the cameras had shown whenever they were around her).

Her girlfriend probably said something, but we unfortunately don't know what. In fact, it was not even known that she also had a girlfriend until some years after her victory in the Games. Her name was Luna. The apparently hidden relationship with Luna, experienced simultaneously by Saphho with that between her and her boyfriend at the time, immediately raised some gossip and doubts regarding the sexuality of the victor of the fifth Hunger Games when it became public knowledge, and Sappho only decades later did he decide to make public his penchant for "polyamory". However, it is no secret what the girl decided to make known about her during the Games, mentioning her boyfriend over and over again, probably due to the presence of the latter's cousin in Capitol City. Thus Luna ended up behind the scenes of the popularity theater that Sappho was creating. It was she herself who revealed her love for Sappho when she volunteered as a female tribute for the eighth Hunger Games.

Her friends in school always feared her, because of both her incredible wit and the malice intended in her smile, which she showed a lot on every occasion she could. Her malice, along with her wit, was considered as a threat by her peers, especially since Leo Vollard had started training young ladies and lads for the Hunger Games. One afternoon, as Sappho was coming home from school, two boys from her class cornered at an impass. She had to defend herself. One boy was found dead in the morning, the other disappeared ever since.

Her mentor, Leo Vollard, saw her as a sort of "stepdaughter". He loved her as if she were her own blood, of course, and this could be seen from the support he was allowed to give her in the interviews requested of him by CapitolTV reporters. But the training he had given her (albeit illegally) before she volunteered had destroyed Sappho's soul, and replaced it with the personality of a ruthless victor willing to do anything for glory, a personality that shines through in the public relations entertained by the two victors over the years. We don't know how this training really took place, but it is possible that it was close to that of the Academy of Grace and Valor of District 1, established about five years later, from which reliable sources told us about the illegal training Sappho had received.

Her stepfather, Grandesse Clarke, hated her. Over and over again during the years following the girl's victory, Grandesse did not fail to mention his hatred for Sappho. The moments in which he tried to denounce the selfishness shown by the woman were not rare. In which he tried to discredit and belittle her over the Sappho Scandal thing. In which he portrayed her responsible for Dimanda's suicide, the only one responsible. In which she called her "bitch", "slut", "whore" and made fun of Sappho's polyamory when she was in the Capitol mentoring her tributes. The man tried to forgive her, he really tried, but he probably never did, and he died on a summer night, when a girl from District 11 was snapping the neck of her district partner in an abandoned amusement park using only her legs.

Her mentee, Rockress, probably felt indifference instead. Let's make one thing clear: it's not that there was no respect between the two, quite the opposite; in the years they mentored tributes together or just when living together in Victors Village in 1, they were always amiable to each other, and always showed willingness to cooperate. In addition, Rockress was aware of what she owed to Leo Vollard and, above all, to Sappho Humes: her mentor had accompanied her through her journey, helped her focus and conquer the crown with confidence and elegance . However, Rockress' victory was the event that ended the contract between the two women, and incredibly, for the following years the two mainly ignored each other, or rather, engaged in activities that, just coincidentally, did not include both of them. Therefore, it seems strange to us that when Sappho died at the age of seventy-nine, Rockress volunteered to arrange her funeral and make the speech at the wake.

President Ravinstill adored her. Finally, after the fourth edition of the Games, which produced a highly unpopular victor and not an example to other tributes, Sappho arrived. It was with her that District 1 established itself as the best among the others, in the first place, and secondly as the most faithful to the rule of the Capitol, thanks to the perfect and loyal tributes that the district offered to Capitol City every year. Probably the reason why Leo Vollard's Games training for the youth of his district, though illegal under the principles of the Treaty of Treason, was permitted and never contested by the Capitol. Sappho participated, as we know, both at the time of her Games and as a trainer, helping to lay the foundations for the creation of the Academy of Grace and Valor. President Ravinstill mentioned Sappho Humes during his first Quarter Quell speech, along with ten other victors of previous games. He expressed only nice words for her, which she listened to very well and commented with a red letter sent to him, containing only the phrase "Thank you", written on the paper on which Luna, years and years before, had composed a poem dedicated to Sappho. That letter is now kept in the Historical Museum of Panem and is not accessible for consultation.

The citizens of the Capitol flattered her, idolized her.

"Sappho, I love you!"

"Look at me Sappho, please!"

"Sappho, you are my heroine!"

"Come to bed with me, Sappho!"

"Kill me, Sappho, humble me, my goddess!"

"Please, Sappho!"

Sappho never listened to them, not once.

Sappho never listened to anyone but her boyfriend, Luna, Leo Vollard, or Rubius.

When Leo Vollard died, Sappho Humes also stopped speaking, almost entirely.

Of course, she hadn't listened to anyone for years.

Rubius said of her that she was his big sister. He repeatedly told her that he loved her, that he couldn't wait to live together in Victors Village. And he also told her that while he knew that he had always been a mistake from his own birth, he felt lucky to have Sappho as his sister. Sappho reciprocated this brotherly love, and there are many who are Sappho's age in District 1 who remember the childhood games they created and played together, the friendly banter who followed them wherever they went through the streets of 1, and the eternal pain that Sappho felt deep within when Rubius did not win the Games. Not so much because he hadn't kept his promise, but because everyone at home saw him as a "loser", a "good-for-nothing", a nonentity, first of all his own parents. And so, everyone decided to forget about Rubius, an integral part of Sappho's very soul. She did not forget him, but always suffered. And she took this pain to her grave.

It would be interesting to know what Sappho thought and said about herself. Unfortunately, she did not leave a diary when she died as other victors did, most notably Dedalus, and her thoughts are lost forever. Her only insight into her inner life is contained in letters that have been buried in the earth, in the coffin containing Rubius' body. Due to the publication of a decree wanted by the other victors of District 1, the coffin was never dug up.