The black car wove through the Capitol streets. Jupiter stared out of the window as they passed through an area that had been reduced almost to rubble and tried to remember everything he could about the games. Normally the tributes came from the Districts and were introduced to the Capitol, but this time everyone was already from the Capitol. A wild hope rose and the eleven year old couldn't stop himself from asking "We're not going to be visiting District Seven, are we?"
"No dear, I'm afraid that wouldn't be appropriate. We've redecorated one of the former tribute buildings with typical decor from each district on each floor so you can experience a little of what life is like there, though."
"Oh." Jupiter fell silent and looked out of the window as the car wove through the Capitol streets. For a brief, shining moment he had wondered if they would somehow reverse the experiences of regular tributes and send each of the chosen tribute representatives out into the districts. He might have got to see his Mum that way, though District Seven was probably pretty big. He didn't even know where she was living... and now he was never going to see her again. Before he could stop it, his face crumpled and he let out a sudden sob, hating himself for looking weak. Now everyone was going to see, and he was going to...
A warm arm came around his shoulders and Jupiter found himself pulled into a hug. "Don't be sad" said a sweet voice, and he realised the girl - Aspen, wasn't it? - was actually comforting him. The unexpected kindness only made him cry harder even as he tried to stop, spluttering apologies and trying to wriggle free when it was quite impossible. The girl was stronger than she looked. Finally, he got a grip on himself and wiped his nose on the back of his hand.
"Sorry, its just...my Mum's in District Seven. She got sent there after the rebellion. I thought - just for a minute - that maybe I'd get to see her again"
"My Mum used to live in District Seven, but she lives in the Capitol now." Aspen seemed completely unconcerned by his emotional outburst, weaving her hands in a series of graceful movements as she spoke. Her tone of voice suggested they were having completely normal conversation, then evidently something occurred to her. "Where are we going, Miss...Miss..." she seemed confused, looking at the woman in the front seat with eyes that were just a little too wide.
"Call me Mrs Oakley" the woman said "I come from District Seven too. My husband used to be the Mayor there."
"Why isn't he the Mayor any more?"
"He died, dear. And then I was asked to be Capitol liaison for District Seven. I expect that was because people liked him. Anyway, here I am, and look - here we are!" the car slowed to a halt and she gestured to a multi-storey tower block, one of the highest in the area.
It wasn't until they were inside that Jupiter realised that it was a real tribute building, probably the same one that the tributes from the 74th and 75th games had used. As Aspen continued to ask questions about what was happening he tried to remember more things about the games, but all he kept remembering that he was younger than anyone else who had ever taken part in the games, and the scared, panicky feelings made it too difficult to think about anything else.
Eller Bright had been expecting sullen teenagers, tearful teenagers, even angry teenagers. All of those he felt he could have coped with. But instead he had a pair of young siblings, one of whom was barely old enough to be able to read and write, let alone be facing the games. It was just the eventuality that President Paylor had mentioned and he felt sure that the little boy would get plenty of supporters simply due to his age. But as for his chances...
Right there and then the quasi-escort decided simply to give these two kids the best few days possible. True, there wasn't going to be the excesses that were the trademark of previous games, but they could at least have fun and think as little as possible about what to come. When the little boy jumped onto the sofa without taking his shoes off, Eller resisted the temptation to say anything.
"What do we call you?" the girl, Saoirse, asked him.
He had been supposed to say Mr Bright, but that seemed cruelly formal now. "Eller Bright is my name. I got voted District Five's Capitol liaison so I guess that's why I'm here now"
"Did you know Aunt Cyra?" the little boy asked excitedly, jumping off the sofa and running up to him with wide eyes.
"He means Cyra Luned. She won the 53rd games. She was our Mums'... um, I mean, she used to visit our Mum every year..."
Eller looked briefly away and blinked hard. "I knew her" he said after a pause "After she won the games, she came to see me, to apologise. See, my son Leno was the male tribute that year." He cleared his throat. "Guess that's another good reason for me to be here."
Saoirse nodded and fell silent. After a respectful pause of two or three seconds her brother piped up cheerfully "So what do we do now, Uncle Eller?"
Eller had been instructed to sit his tributes down to watch the reapings, which thankfully this year wasn't the pageant it had been in the past. The recap programme would last a mere forty five minutes, but keeping a six year old sitting down for that length of time..? Thankfully the tribute quarters had been well-stocked with food and drink. The escort prepared two large chocolate milkshakes and filled a bowl with sweets and candies, placing them on the table in front of the sofa (which was now unattractively decorated with small shoe prints). Sure enough, by the time the opening credits began both children were sitting and watching.
"Mrs Oakley, may I have a pencil and paper please?"
Jupiter was sitting with Aspen on the most comfortable sofa he'd seen for almost a year; in front of a massive television set. The rest of the apartment was decorated oddly, or so it seemed to Jupiter. Almost all the furniture was either carved from wood or fashioned from hewn logs, and there was an outdoorsy smell he was unfamiliar with. It was nice, though. Instead of a window over the city there was a screen showing a vast forest. Their escort had told them that they had to watch the reaping recaps.
"That's okay" Jupiter said. It had been so long since anyone had spoken nicely to him and sounded like they meant it that he wouldn't even have minded if this kind woman had sent him to clean out the toilet.
"What are you going to write?" Aspen scooted over to sit closer, looking over his shoulder at the blank pad of paper he'd been given.
"I'm going to write down the names of the other tributes so we can see who we're up against."
Aspen looked slightly vague for a moment and then, after a pause that was just long enough Jupiter thought she wasn't going to say anything else, asked "So we can see who we want to be friends with?" Again she moved her fingers in that strange, intricate way.
"Well, so we can decide who we might ask to be our allies" Jupiter felt uneasy, though he wasn't sure why.
"What's an ally?"
"It's...well, someone you meet up with in the games, and you help each other..."
"Allies means friends." The girl said it as if the matter was settled, and fixed her attention to the screen.
As was traditional, the reapings were shown in district order, though on this occasion several district representatives had been selected simultaneously, and the whole affair had been over with in a little under two hours. District One was represented by Hector Mansfield, a 16 year old boy who had to be escorted to the stage and Ellis Lorazinine, a 14 year old girl with silver hair down to her hips. Both of them cried.
"They're sad" said Aspen, sounding sorry for them.
"Do you think they'll want to be allies?"
"We could ask them?"
District Two reaped a thirteen year old boy who, despite holding his head up high barely topped four feet tall, going by the unlikely name of Brutus Legona.
"I'll bet he gets teased at school" Jupiter said, feeling sorry for the boy
"I'm going to ask him if he wants to be allies" said Aspen firmly. The female tribute was eighteen, the daughter of one of Snow's government, and she too stared at the restless crowd as if they were beneath her. Magnificent Glory meant that District Two's tributes both bore the names of former victors. Caesar Flickerman mused that it could be a good omen, but his usually cheerful demeanour seemed somehow forced this evening.
District Three reaped 14 year old Lorcan Heavensbee and 17 year old Sparkle Rizla. Both were crying, and Sparkle called out for her mother. Neither Jupiter nor Aspen spoke.
District Four reaped a sobbing ten year old girl called Viola Dupont and a 17 year old boy called Lavender Meadows who also appeared to be on the verge of tears. Jupiter bit his lip, thinking that he didn't have the worst odds after all.
Mrs Oakley gasped when she saw District Five's representatives.
"He volunteered..." she whispered, horror stricken.
Jupiter looked at Aspen. Neither of them spoke. Then he wrote ALLIES beside District Five on his notepad.
Riscan Crane, the 16 year old male representative for District Six, screamed abuse as he was dragged onto the stage. The voiceover said he was the younger cousin of Seneca Crane, a former head gamemaker. Another sixteen year old, Everlove Honeybell, completed the district pair though she seemed to actively be trying to get as far away from Riscan as possible.
Jupiter mentally blocked out the familiar shouts of "Traitor Boy" when his own reaping was televised, just as he had a few hours earlier (was that all it had been?). Caesar was telling the audience that Jupiter's mother had been one of Snow's advisors, and that Aspen's father was a gamemaker. Given that they hadn't cried and were apparently already allies Jupiter thought his odds were slightly higher, especially when Caesar said in the same, tired voice that they were an interesting pairing.
District Eight reaped 17 year old Cecil Sawtry and 16 year old Cordelia Hax. Several people shouted "traitor" when Cordelia was reaped, making Jupiter's heart wrench, though he'd never met the girl. Neither of them looked like they wanted to be friends with anybody.
"Another victor namesake!" Caeser announced when 17 year old Abundance Verity was reaped for District 9. She stood shivering on the stage with her arms wrapped around herself. A fourteen year old was reaped as her partner, but here there was another volunteer and an 18 year old introduced himself as Richmond Halifax. He smiled at Abundance when they shook hands. Jupiter thought wistfully that Richmond was exactly the sort of person he would like to ally with, and most likely exactly the sort of person who would laugh in his face.
At District Ten the commentary paused briefly after Wilbraham Bailey, 14, was reaped so the name of the girl tribute wasn't immediately clear. When it resumed, Caesar introduced 18 year old Cleopatra Flickerman in a voice that was only half as strong as before.
16 year old Raven Brooks took the stage for District 11 and blew a raspberry into the microphone when asked to repeat his name. The District representative let out a burst of laughter that she quickly quashed before reaping Ki'yana Rankine, who despite being only thirteen already carried herself like a warrior. Jupiter wondered if one of her favourite make-believe games had been 'what would I do when I was reaped?'
Goldstein Trinket, nephew of the previous District 12 escort, was the 15 year old male tribute for what used to be the final district. He stood alone onstage as unsurprisingly 12 year old Eloise Snow was reaped. The grandaughter of the former President of Panem was sobbing as she approached the sage and the blonde escort who looked to still be in her teens put an arm around her as she asked if there any volunteers. A full minute passed before a voice tentatively called out "I volunteer as tribute" and a pretty fifteen year old took the stage. She gave her name as Chenille Whitemark and her eyes didn't stop darting around the crowd. Jupiter didn't think she looked like she'd volunteered willingly.
"I think I'd like to be friends with her" Aspen said slowly. Jupiter wrote the girl's name in his book.
District 13 was represented for their first ever games by 18 year old Arctic Corbin and 15 year old Laurana Pinkerton. The young man appeared more miffed than upset at being reaped. Jupiter wrote his name down and sat staring at the book.
"What do we do now?" Aspen asked
"I guess...well, in other games, they have the tribute parade, then there's the training, and then everyone gets interviewed..." Jupiter's voice faded. He didn't want to think about what came after that.
"There's no parade this year" Mrs Oakley said "President Paylor said it wouldn't be appropriate. "You'll be training tomorrow though, so after dinner you should both try and get a good night's sleep."
"Dinner!" exclaimed Aspen as she headed towards her bedroom, calling over her shoulder "We always wash our hands before dinner. Mom told me."
Jupiter frowned thoughtfully as she left. "Mrs Oakley, is Aspen...okay?"
"How do you mean, dear?"
"I mean, she's so..." Jupiter trailed off, uncertain what to say. That she seemed a bit slow and she moved her hands too much when she talked? Mrs Rowan nodded understandingly.
"Aspen is absolutely fine. Her mother is an Avox, so she grew up signing her words as she speaks them. She's also had some health problems in the past, due to a condition that was a lot more common during the Dark Days. They used to call it Downs syndrome, but I don't think it has a name now."
Jupiter's eyes widened in amazement. The name of Aspen's condition completely passed him by, but now he realised what she was doing with her hands. "You mean...she speaks two languages, all the time? And she learned to talk that way? Do you think she'll teach me?" The young boy began to feel a little better about his chances. Aspen was strong, he'd already learned that firsthand. And she was his ally.
A/N Aspen, who is very loosely based on a RL friend, is unashamedly one of my favourite tributes. She's going to be one of my leading characters, along with Saoirse and Jupiter so I hope you enjoy her story! Hope you're staying safe, wherever you are.