After watching Katniss and Peeta being taken away so they could prepare for the parade, Heather said goodbye to Haymitch and left to get ready for her interview. Every year, 6 mentors are picked for an interview to comment their opinions on the year's Hunger Games before the parade. So far, Heather has been picked every year.

No surprise there. Heather hoped that as the years passed by, her popularity would dwell but so far, there wasn't a chance of that happening.

She went to her assigned room, the same one she had for the past years. Inside, Sorrel and Azalea, who were part of her former prep team, greeted her with bear hugs. They had opened a small salon of their own called Petals of Heather using the money they got when Heather won the 69th Hunger Games. Apparently, the district's team gets rewarded as well if their tribute became the victor.

Since their salon became too popular, they quit working for the games as they were too busy with their own clients. But they still came to prepare Heather whenever she had to make an important public appearance, not wanting anyone to claim their place in Heather's life. As for Cerise, the third person in her prep team, she was working for District 6's male. Heather would meet her every now and then but not all the time.

"Oooh, nice tattoo," Heather commented on Azalea's new dragon tattoo.

"Thank you," she said. "Now get into that chair so that we can make you even more gorgeous."

"Zedoary gave us over 5 outfits to choose," Sorrel told Heather. "Azalea and I already discard three of them and we can't decide between the remaining two."

Both women held out two dresses. One was a simple long sky blue dress and the other one was a sleeveless pink gown. Zedoary usually made glamorous designs but for Heather, he tried to do simple clothes which was obviously hard for him. The only reason he did that was to make Heather happy. To ensure the happiness (most importantly satisfaction) of a client was one of Zedoary's personal rules when it came to his work.

Heather liked to show her appreciation by wearing one of his most captivating gowns that would draw lots of attention to big events. She chose the blue dress.

Later, Heather looked at herself in the mirror, admiring the work of Sorrel and Azalea. Her hair was done in a side chignon and a beige hat was tipped on the other side. Two adorning flower earrings decorated her ears and there was a bracelet as well in her left wrist. Finally, the look was completed by a pair of beige high heels.

"Wow," Heather exclaimed at her appearance. "Thank you guys."

"Anything for you, Heather," Sorrel said.

"It's our job to make you more beautiful," Azalea added.

A knock sounded from the door. A second later, Zedoary opened the door. "Heather!" he called out. "Oh my dear, I missed you so much, come here."

Before Heather had a chance to reply, Zedoary reached her in three long strides and pulled her to give her her third bear hug for the day. Over time, breathing became a hard ability.

"Zed," Heather gasped out. "Can't breath."

"Oh," he withdrew. "Sorry, it's been a hard day for me today."

Tell me about it, Heather almost said. But if she did that, she would then be grilled by them to reveal her problems and she didn't want to confide in them. As much as she cared for them, Sorrel, Azalea, and Zedoary lacked the capacity to understand her current situation.

"Well, I hope things work out for you," Heather said. "And I would appreciate it if you let my lungs do their job."

Zedoary laughed from his belly. "Of course, of course. Anyways, I don't want to hold you down. It's about time for you to head to your interview. I just wanted to check on you."

"It was nice seeing you," they exchanged a kiss on the cheek then Heather waved at Sorrel and Azalea then left the room.

The interview was held down in one of the nearby buildings and it took Heather 10 minutes to arrive by foot. Normally, if she was walking out in public, people would her to get a picture or talk animatedly to her. But because today was the parade day, the streets she strolled were off-limiteds for civilians. Heather was just glade that she was left alone in peace.

When she reached her destination, Heather headed for the studio where the interview was held and slipped into the backstage. There, she ran across one of her best friends, Cashmere.

"Cash!" Heather started to wave in her direction.

Cashmere beamed and ran to Heather. It was crazy that she was able to run in her high heels but that was one of Cashmere's remarkable features. Since Cashmere was naturally tall, along with the fact that she was also wearing heels, Heather was only able to reach her chest.

"Glad to see that I've been missed," Heather teased the woman who was holding her too strongly.

"Yes," Cashmere said. "I have a lot to tell you."

"Can't wait to hear it," Heather said.

Cashmere and Heather's friendship was a bizarre one. Heather had killed both of District 1's tributes. As a result, she didn't have the best relationship with that particular district. Still, Heather and Cashmere were too alike to not be friends and eventually, their friendship blossomed into something beautiful.

"How are your tributes?" Heather asked as they walked to the couch where Cashmere sat a few moments ago, arm in arm.

"They're okay," Cashmere said. "To be honest though, the girl is too much like me. It's crazy."

"Really?" Heather exclaimed. "You'll have to tell me more about that. Who are you with again?"

"Rendwick," Cashmere answered. She was the one to win the 53rd Hunger Games. "By the way, can you tell me what was up with you in the reaping. Did you know that little girl?"

Heather sighed, fearing that question. "That little girl was Prim."

"Oh," Cashmere gave her a sad look and wrapped her arm around Heather's shoulder. "I feel like an idiot for recognizing that name."

"It's alright," Heather reassured. "You were too concerned on your own tributes."

"Still," Cashmere insisted, "I should've figured it out from your reaction."

"Please, Cash," Heather began. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Of course," Cashmere said.

It was an unspoken rule for the victors to not talk about their tributes to other victors who were not from the same district. They sat together on the couch and Heather listened to Cashmere talk about her latest family dinner.

Suddenly, two hands covered Heather's eyes and a husky voice spoke. "Guess who?"

"Finn," Heather took the hands off her face and turned to Finnick Odair, another one of her best friends. "What are you doing here? I thought Ron was supposed to be mentoring this year."

"He was, but plans got changed," Finnick said.

"You don't trust him to look after Mags, do you?" Heather asked impassively.

"Okay, that's it," Finnick narrowed his eyes at her, acting mockingly suspicous. "Admit it, you're a mind reader."

"I'm not," Heather rolled her eyes. "I just know you."

"Must be unfortunate."

Heather turned around to Johanna. "Johanna," Heather jumped on her feet and embraced her. "I missed you."

"You always do," Johanna said but returned the act of affection nonetheless.

"Oh, so you hug Heather and not me?" Finnick complained.

"Well, for one, I actually like Heather," Johanna told him.

"Is this supposed to be offending?" Finnick asked. "Because you're really hurting my feelings."

Before they could react to Finnick's statement, the lights suddenly dimmed on the backstage and music started to play. Shortly afterwards, Caesar Flickerman's voice rang through the auditorium. He softened up the crowd, buttering them up with jokes and hearty remakers regarding the victors he was about to interview.

"Now, let's welcome our first mentor, Cashmere Nicholo!"

Heather watched as each one of her friends, and Brutus, being interviewed by Caesar. While none of the victors wanted to be chosen for the interview, it was a great opportunity to talk up their tributes for the sponsors.

As always, Heather was the last to go. She walked slowly to the sitting area, taking her time to wave and smile to the audience. She hugged Caesar. "Caesar, it's so good to see you. And, on my, we're matching," Heather said when she noted how he was dressed in blue this year and looked at the crowd before her. "Did anyone see this coming?"

"Oh, you have no idea how much I missed you," Caesar said. "It's so hard finding someone who's funny and sophisticated at the same time."

"Stop it," Heather told him. "You're always buttering me up, it's like you're trying to sweet-talk me into something."

"It's not like I can help. Besides, the things that I say are true," Caesar said then turned his attention. "Am I right or am right?"

The crowd roared in agreement. Heather rolled her eyes playfully as she maintained the smile on her face. Caesar held her hand as they sat down as he always does during their interviews.

"So, Heather, my dear," Caesar said in a gentle voice. "Now, I don't want to push you but we've all seen your reaction during the reaping. By any chance, do you have a personal relationship with your tributes?"

"Well, to be honest, I don't want to talk about it," Heather told them, looking down. "But since you guys are eager to hear, I'll tell you. You promise not to make a big deal out of this?"

"We can't fully promise you but we'll try our best," Caesar answered.

Heather paused intentionally, wanting the crowd to be eager on the edge of their seats. It was a technique that she learned from Cashmere. "You're right, I know Katniss and Peeta. Katniss isn't just a close friend, she's family to me. Truthfully, I wasn't surprised when she volunteered. She would do anything for Prim."

"And Peeta?"

"I'm not close with Peeta. I'm only friends with his older brother. But Peeta is a sweet child and he does mean something to me," the audience awwed at her last line.

"It must be very difficult for you to deal with this," Caesar sympathized.

Heather sighed, "You have no idea."

After her interview was done and talking a little bit to her friends, Heather went to search for Haymitch so they could head to the parade together. She didn't bother changing since it was unnecessary and her clothes from earlier would be taken to her room in the Training Centre.

She found him in the Remake Centre with Chaff.

Chaff was the first to see her and got up to greet her. They exchanged a hug and he pecked her in the cheek. However, before they could talk any farther, he had to leave to be with his tributes.

Heather went to stand beside Haymitch as they waited for Katniss and Peeta to come down. She took her hat and brushed through hair before putting it back on her head.

Haymitch wanted to wrap his arm around her waist, just out of pure desire. But getting caught just wasn't worth it. Obviously, their intimate relationship was just a secret. Not only from the public, but also from their closest friends. It was an unspoken agreement between them.

"How was your interview?" he asked.

"It was okay," Heather replied deadpan. Her eyes were maintained on the elevators, waiting for either Peeta or Katniss to come down.

They later appeared, accompanied by their stylists and prep teams. Katniss and Peeta were in a simple black unitard that covered them from ankle to neck. They also wore shiny leather knee-length boots but the most attracting piece they had on was the fluttering cape made of streams of orange, yellow, and red and the matching headpiece that defined their costume. Katniss's face seemed to be cleared of makeup while her hair was braided down her back in the usual style she'd have it in.

Heather blinked to confirm what she was seeing was real. Being responsible for coal-mining, District 12's stylists couldn't do anything else but design a coal miner's outfit for the parade. Even Zedoary, as creative ashe was, dressed her in a coal miner's outfit.

The stylists and their teams looked to be giddy with excitement, making Heather wonder what's going to happen. All except Katniss' stylist, Cinna, who Heather was sure was the one responsible for this. She regretted not asking Zedoary about him. Unlike the other stylists, he was normal-looking with his hair appearing to be its natural shade of brown and his simple black shirt and pants.

When Heather noticed Peeta looking at her, she waved at him and blew him a kiss. He waved, prompting Katniss to do the same when she saw her.

Then, Cinna and Portia directed Katniss and Peeta into the chariot and began to arrange their body positions and the drape of their capes.

The opening music started to play, blasting around the Capitol. Massive doors slid open revealing the crowd-lined streets. The tributes from District 1 ride out in a chariot pulled by snow-white horses. They look so beautiful, spray-painted silver, in tasteful tunics glittering with jewels.

Later, just as the tributes from District 11 are just rolling out, Cinna went to Katniss and Peeta with a lighted torch, peeking Heather's curiosity even more. She watched horrified as he set their capes on fire. Haymitch held her back as she was about to run towards them. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Wait, just watch."

She did as he told her and observed how neither Katniss nor Peeta were affected by the fire, fake fire. As soon as she realized that, she swirled around and glared at Haymitch. "You knew about this and didn't tell me?"

He shrugged, appearing non-apologetic. Heather narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. They were going to talk about this later.

Cinna ignited their headdresses then he tucked a hand under Katniss' chin as he talked to her.

Just as the chariot pulled off, Cinna shouted one last thing that Heather couldn't make out. Peeta then grabbed Katniss' hand in his, and they looked to Cinna for confirmation. He nodded at them and gave out thumbs-up.

The crowd seemed to be in shock at their appearance but then they quickly started to cheer and shouts of "District Twelve!" were heard. Everyone turned to them, pulling the focus away from the three chariots ahead.

Heather and Haymitch watched their tributes on the large television screen on the wall nearby them. They looked so breathtaking. In the deepening twilight, the firelight illuminated their faces. The minimal makeup allowed them to appear more attractive but utterly recognizable.

Both Katniss and Peeta lifted their chins a bit higher, put on huge smiles, and waved with their free hands. Heather beamed as she watched Katniss having fun as she blew a few kisses to the crowd. The Capitol citizens were going nuts, showering them with flowers and shouting their first names.

Heather leaned against Haymitch, feeling as if things were finally going to be okay.