Name: Paisley Harper

Age at Victory: 16

District: 8

Hunger Games: 03


"District 2 has a very mixed opinion on Paisley," Romulon stated.

"For the first female victor you'd think she'd be a little more loved," Levi mused. "In our District she was a better victor because she really made kills when necessary. That and being the first for our District."

"Wait," Rhinestone asked. "I thought Nina Chestford was the first female victor. My dad…" she trailed off.

Chase held her hand tightly as she mustered the courage to speak. "In District 1 and a fair amount of settlements in District 2 they consider Nina to be the first true female victor."

"But history doesn't lie, Paisley Harper was the first female victor. And she was from District 8," Terrence said definitively.


"The Beignets are done!" Lettie calls upstairs. There's no response from Paisley but we hear our younger daughters run down the stairs clamoring for the new honey from Paisley's kitchen. Lettie wraps the apron around her waist as she picks up the frying pan full of the breakfast dessert. Lettie and I share a glance as she sets the food down.

"Marissa don't eat with your hands, we have silverware now." She looks at me and nods before she uses some tongs to grab waffles. "Paisley your sisters are eating your waffles!"

No response.

"Momma," Jenevive speaks up. "For school we have to ask what our parents do for work. WHat do you do for work?"

"Right now," I speak in between bites of my omelette. "I'm taking care of your sister. AFter that I go back to the laundromat."

"But isn't Paisley an adult? Why can't you go back sooner?" Jenevive looks up from her plate.

"Sometimes adults need help too," Lettie says, a little more forcefully than she intended. "Sorry Genie but asking why someone needs help is kind of rude."

"Okay," Jenevive goes back to her breakfast.

It's a quiet breakfast since neither Harriet nor Cleo have decided to join us today. "Calico, Genie, Marissa," Lettie calls out. "I'm taking the three of you to school today. We're going to walk because we are not going to inconvenience the..nice peacekeepers again today, does that work?"

"Yes mummy," the three of them say. "Will Paisley pick us up?"

"Maybe later today," Lettie tells them. "Now go get dressed." The three of them scamper off. "Ari let's go out today."

"The doctor did say that Paisley needed at least one day out in the week," I muse. "Or were you just talking about just a day with us?"

"Our daughter needs to see what fun is going on in District 8 ever since she came out of the arena," Lettie says adamantly. "I was thinking just a quick romp through the main town. Take her to the new cafe. Buy her a stuffed animal."

"She's turning seventeen in a month. She doesn't like stuffed animals."

"Maybe she'll like the nice cashier at the stand. Gregoria, Franci's mom, says he's single and just about ready to settle down. With a girl." I raise my eyebrow as I take a sip of my coffee. "Ari the girl needs socialization with people her own age. WE're getting old and she's the oldest child in our house."

"Technically she owns this house."

"Do you want to have a mommies and daughter day or not?"

"Of course! I don't think we should rush things with Paisley. She'll get better on her own."

"I think she just needs a little push you know?"

"I know." I kiss her on the cheek just as the kids walk down the stairs with backpacks in tow. "I'll see you in an hour then. Oh, pick up some cheese from the market? Don't forget your ID."

"See you later Ari." Letti herds the kids out the door, ready for the school day to begin. I pick up the dishes the others leave behind with my mind not really thinking about anything. Once the dishwasher begins I hear Paisley finally coming down the stairs. She smiles sadly and sits at the table, prodding at the beignets with little energy.

"Did you have a nice night Paisley?" I ask gently.

"No," she says, still focused on her food. "Dylan was in my dreams again."

"Sorry to hear. Do you want something to drink? Some orange juice or pomegranate?" Paisley doesn't respond. I put a cup of hot water on her placemat. "Mom and I are going out for a day on the town today. Do you want to join us?"

There's no response. "I'm not hearing a no."

"I guess," Paisley says. She grabs the remaining five beignets and sits in front of the television. It's something new that we have to get accustomed to, and it's a big risk.

She sits in front of the television, watching a replay of her Hunger Games. She manages to get through the bloodbath before she changes the channel to a livestream of the school. She's not allowed to attend school due to her being a victor, supposedly to live a life of luxury, but as it's been so far, Paisley really isn't living. "There is a new restaurant opening up where we used to live. Do you want to see that?"

I see her nod from the living room. She hasn't been as talkative as she used to. "I'm going to get ready then," she says rather tiredly.

Again she walks back up to her room, dragging her feet with her head hung low, the hammer bulging out of her pockets. I know my daughter and I know that she is never anywhere without a hammer. Letti and I once joked about her starting up a carpentry business. Only once. I'm grateful my daughter is back above all else but it's clear that she's half the woman she used to be.

By the time the dishwasher is over Letti has arrived. She's already dressed for a day on the town but grabs her purse to complete the ensemble. "How long has the water been running? Paisley's been showering for a while hasn't she?'

"I guess, but she's going out today for the first time in a while, a victory is a victory, especially for our little winner." A twinge of pride still appears in my voice despite the fact that I know Paisley doesn't like referring to her victory. She waits at the base of the stairs while I go up and change into a slim fitting ensemble for the night on the town. Paisley finishes up in her bathroom so I join Letti down at the stairs.

Paisley steps down in jeans, modest blouse, and green purse. She's always been a modest person, not like Letti and I, a fact made all too apparent when Paisley blushes as she sees Letti and I dressed up. "Could you be any more revealing?" she asks, a hint of her exasperated old personality resurging.

"WE could but we thought this would be embarrassing enough," LEtti fires back, earning an exasperated 'MOM' in retaliation. Paisley opens the door to a rather grey day in District 8. We walk down the colorful but empty cul de sac of houses that make up District 8's victor village to the main car park, where an armed guard opens a door for us and assigns us to a car.

"Where are we going?" Paisley asks all of a sudden.

"We're going downtown to see the new restaurants," Letti explains, gingerly as she could. "Your mom said that there's been a bit of economic boom lately. Because of you."

"Because of me?" Paisley looks out the window, just as the temperature in our car drops a couple of degrees.

I hit Letti in the elbow. She takes the hint to spend the rest of the car ride in silence. "What momma wanted to say was that PArcel day gave the district more energy to spend on pursuing their own goals rather than worry about tesserae. We can visit that toy store we always stopped by with Harriet and Cleo."

She shrugs.

The driver stops us at the newly developed restaurant row. A line of five restaurants has been arranged. Before Paisley came home they called this place Street Food Slum. There are still lines of beggars on the streets but they seem better bundled up from the past two years. Paisley turns her head at the bakery, an old favorite, but it definitely smells a lot cleaner. Letti and I follow her to see that she already has her hand on her purse.

"Is there something you like?" Letti asks gingerly.

"They have beignets here?"

"It's something new ever since the victor mentioned it in the capitol," the clerk behind the counter sneers. "Ten dollars for four."

"I'll take six." Paisley slams her purse on the counter and pulls out a wad of bills. While the baker counts out six she counts out fifteen dollars. We're about to leave with the beignets in hand when three women turn their noses at us, snorting.

"Come on Paisley, there's more restaurants here to look out for," I try to encourage. I turn around to see Paisley storming up to the women, hammer in hand. "Oh no."

Letti and I walk up to the women, seeing Paisley with an almost murderous glare. "You were the owners who kicked us out!"

"Peacekeeper!" one of the women calls before standing up. Paisley slams her hammer on the table and the woman screams. There's three peacekeepers immediately at our side and an all too familiar face among them. "Peacekeeper this lunatic here-"

"Paisley Harper," the familiar face mentions. "I thought I kicked out your parents when they couldn't make rent."

"Then you admit you haven't been paying attention," Paisley angrily says. "We have a new home now. Do the peacekeeper captains know that you've been bribing these old biddies to make up fake eviction notices? Do you?"

Two of the peacekeeepers turn to each other, escorting the ladies out of the bakery while the third talks to the familiar face. "Her parents, those two women right behind her, made my school life a living hell and they're teaching their daughter the exact same thing!"

"Bug off Paulson," I snort, crossing my arms. "We've given you wedgies before and we can do it again."

"She's threatening me now! Arrest her and send her to the stocks!"

"Ma'am, this man accused my parents of hanging my sisters out to dry after bath. He accused my parents of stealing money from the laundry machines when we don't even use those stupid machines! He's ruining my day!"

The peacekeeper looks at me, looks at Letti, looks at Paulson, and looks at Paisley. She looks again at Paisley. She's twirling her hammer in her hands. The peacekeeper pulls out a radio. "Let's start an investigation. Paulson Greene's property, commonly known as Runoff Apartments. Paulson Greene is under arrest and custody for harassing victor Paisley Harper and her family."

Paulson's face drops in disbelief.. Paisley too drops her hammer over Paulson's foot. "At least arrest her for assaulting me!"

"That was ann accident," I say. "Paisley just dropped it."

The peacekeeper drags Paulson out of the bakery kicking and screaming. Paisley walks to the counter and drops off a wad of ten dollar bills to pay for the table. We walk out, beignets in hand. "We still have a couple of hours before your sisters come home from school. Where do you want to go?" I rub Paisley's shoulders to relieve them of their stiffness and PAisley looks around. "I miss days like this. You should come out with me and your mother more often Paisley."

Paisley sees some footage of her on the television and winces. She looks at us and her face seems to relax. "Can we go to that drink shop? Do they still serve the coffee that I like? I want to find out."

"Of course Paisley," Letti smiles. The intensity Paisley had in that altercation is gone, I hope it's gone for now.


"Did you mention her legacy?" Ryan asked. "The only thing that story about Paisley told us was that in the first 6 months she was kind of unstable."

The other victors looked at each other with rather placid looks. Chase looked at his phone when he got a message from another victor. He beckoned to Rhinestone and the two left the building, exchanging platitudes and departure messages.

"Her legacy ties into victors later. And to District 2 if I'm not mistaken," Terrence looked at Romulus, Apex, and Nyx, who nodded. "And once we get definitive answers regarding the blood lineage-" He looked to Cody, who was still on his micro computer, "We'll know if it ties into the lower Districts."

"She seemed rather mellow," Kama, another victor from District 3 mentioned meekly before retreating back into her hoodie.

"By all means she seemed to be. Patience of a saint with a hammer and sickle." Kelly snarked. The others looked around. "WEll, time for a break I guess. I can't stay for long because I have another pitch to go to. They're airing this on-"

"Got it hot shot," Briar interrupted. "Next victor, right?"