Chapter Four, The Tributes

With an irritated grunt, Artemis got out of his room. He could not stand being in the suite anymore, watching the scenery flash by the window between failed attempts at getting back home and the dizziness that came with them. Besides, it was almost time for dinner.

"Oh, hello, Artemis!" Said Effie as Artemis stepped in the train's kitchen wagon. The woman's electric blue lips were exceptionally distracting in contrast to her pale skin. "Are you enjoying the train?"

"Well, it does travel rapidly…" Replied Artemis.

"And we don't even feel any movements, I think it's just wonderful!" She turned around at the sound of the wagon door opening. "Hi, Silyah! You arrive just in time for dinner." She smiled brightly.

Artemis looked at Silyah, she didn't seem as sickly pale anymore. Artemis could nevertheless understand her reaction to the Reaping.

The two of them settled at the table where Beetee was already seated. "Hello, Artemis, Silyah," the man nodded at them. Artemis gave Beetee a short sign of the head while Silyah whispered a shy hello to the man.

"We are lucky this year, the stylists won't have too much to do on these two. They look stunning, don't they?" asked Effie to the District 3 winner to fill up the silence.

Artemis wasn't sure if that was meant to be a compliment, so he decided not to say anything. Silyah furrowed her brows, but smiled, as if incredulous.

"Is there anything that we should know about the Games before our arrival to the Capitol?" she asked, deciding to go to a more important subject right away.

"I take it that both of you are more of the clever type rather than being physically skilled; that's our district's weakness." said Beetee, picking up his fork. "And that is exactly the reason why one of you could possibly win the Games," he continued as he took a piece of bread from a tray.

"I must say, you are very optimistic," Artemis pointed out.

"Why of course," replied Beetee. "That is how I won my Games. Brain over brawl."

Artemis nodded slowly.

"Smart choices can certainly save you from the death traps that could be set in the arena," said Effie cheerfully.

Artemis was taken aback; it was almost sinister to see how jolly Effie seemed to be, considering that she was referring to a game in which only one person out of twenty-four would come out alive. He wondered if there might be something wrong with the brain cells of those in support of these atrocities.

Silyah looked down at her food, thinking that Effie's comment sounded too… Disconnected from reality. "Even if we can outsmart the others, we will surely be attacked one day. How will we be able to reply?" She asked. Her younger brother could bring her down if he wanted to, so she did not even dare to think of the damage trained tributes could make.

"We are currently heading for the training center, there, you will have to concentrate on physical and fighting skills. Just a little bit of logic can suffice as far as the survival techniques go, so I don't think you will need to spend much time in those stations," explained Beetee. "But you should not neglect them," he added, just to make sure.

Artemis frowned. Fighting and survival were not really abilities he possessed. Well, he did survive many tricky situations, but his own time seemed so easy compared to Panem. Not to mention that back in Ireland, Artemis had precious allies; he even considered them as friends.

"You should not worry yet, I didn't know a thing about survival before the Games, and I came out alive, granted I was slightly older than you two, but age should not matter. Just think about Finnick Odair. When he won, he was fourteen, your age, Artemis, and one year younger than you, Silyah," said Beetee, midway through a bite of freshly baked bread.

Artemis nodded. After all, he was not that weak. He had survived the People, the Russian mafia, a goblin rebellion, time traveling through Hybras and a maniac pixie. Those were not small merits.

"I think I'll retire now," Artemis said after a while, getting up from the luxurious table.

Silyah looked up towards him as he was about to leave, but her gaze quickly went back down on her plate of food. She would not follow him; she was too hungry and there was so much good food on the table! What could she tell the boy anyway?

"Why do you leave us? You have not even seen the dessert yet. We have an assortment of truffles coming straight from the Capitol!" Effie looked at Artemis with strange, huge eyes.

Truffles… Artemis winced slightly. Those sweets made him think of Opal, and she was not a person he really wanted to think about at the moment. "No thanks," he said, giving the woman a polite smile. "I am not so fond of truffles."

Effie shrugged. "If you want to, I brought the recordings of the other district's Reapings. They are in the television room in the left wagon." Effie pointed to a door on which was written Television Room, pretty self-explanatory.

"Yes, I think I'll do that," agreed Artemis, leaving the cart.

Silyah watched Artemis leave and quickly finished the food in her plate. She went to the dessert tray and tried to find something. She took two cups of hot chocolate from the platter. "I will go watch the Reapings with him," she said quietly.

"Do you want us to join you? It would be a joy for me to see some familiar faces from District 12," declared Effie, nearly clapping.

"If you want to… Or we can call you when we will be at District 12," answered Silyah, slightly horrified by Effie's bright attitude.

Artemis sat down in the sofa after figuring out how to work the "television" system. He began the video. A stage similar to the one set up in District 3 showed up on the screen.

Then, a shadow appeared in the corner of the room. Silyah walked towards Artemis and sat on the other end of the couch. She handed him a cup of hot chocolate. "You may not like truffles, but that's not a valid reason to turn down free food," she laughed.

Artemis actually gave her a smile, which wasn't something he gave many people. "Thank you, Silyah."

She smiled back. "No problem." She looked towards the screen. "Let's see our opponents…" She said without much enthusiasm.

"Yes…" Artemis nodded, once again turning his attention to the District 1 Reaping.

They watched as the District 1 escort drew out the girl's name from the glass bowl. A short brunette stepped on stage and immediately, someone volunteered for her.

The new District 1 female was called Geneva Crass. She was not that tall, not that petite and something about her seemed feline. Maybe her flamboyant red hair…

The lady then picked the boy's name and a triumphant-looking young man appeared on screen. He walked to the podium as if he had just won the best prize ever. When the escort asked if anyone wanted to volunteer, he shot the crowd a deadly glare. No one would steal his spotlight, his place in the Games.

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "How can they actually want this?" He asked to no one in particular, just for the sake of stating it.

"They are the Career Tributes. They are trained, ready and willing to fight. It is so sick to think that to be picked during the Reaping is such a big honor in Districts 1, 2 and 4," answered Silyah.

Artemis shook his head in disbelief, "They volunteer for death…"

"In their heads, they volunteer to show that they are confident and powerful," Silyah rolled her eyes. She pointed to the screen, to the two tributes from District 2. They radiated the very spirit of survivorship and victory. "Crelin Spooks and Elon Jokter, the District 2 Tributes…" Whispered Silyah as their names appeared on the television.

"Some names…" murmured Artemis. Well, he wasn't really the one to talk, was he? Artemis was not a very common name either.

"We're next." Silyah sighed.

The raven-haired teen suddenly looked even paler than he already did. "Oh, joy…" he didn't sound very eager.

"I made a really clever outfit choice! I looked fabulous, quite… Fashionistic!" Artemis and Silyah almost spilled their hot chocolate at the sound of Effie's voice. The woman sat between the two tributes. "I see that I arrived just in time."

Silyah suppressed a laugh, nearly biting a hole in her cheek; she was still not used to hearing Capitol accents. Fortunately, or unfortunately for her, the young girl's face appeared on screen. "Oh my… I looked like a fool. Just look at me, shaking my way up on stage."

"You can hardly be blamed…" said Artemis, attempting to give her a comforting look behind Effie's back. It was amazing that he was able to see the girl at all, with Effie and her outfit between them. Her sleeves were nearly as huge as the couch for crying out loud.

Now, it was Artemis's turn in the spotlight.

"You looked very calm and composed!" smiled Effie. "You made a really good impression."

Silyah nodded, but she was observant enough to see the hidden terror in Artemis's eyes. She could not help but to turn towards the boy to look into his actual eyes. "Heterochromia?"

At first, Artemis looked a bit puzzled, then remembered that he had Holly's left, hazel eyeball. "Oh. Yes…"

District 4 came into view on the giant television. The "lucky" tributes, Aquilna and Harbor Pearl were cousins. The odd thing was that Harbor had volunteered for the Games.

"They don't look like they are from the same family…" Pondered Effie. "Just look at this girl, she has a rather good fashion sense, but the boy…"

Artemis couldn't help but to shake his head. He had never met such a phenomenon as Ms. Trinket. "Fashion and blood lines are completely unrelated. Not to mention that not all cousins look alike," he remarked.

Effie shrugged.

"The District 5 tributes don't look so strong…" Whispered Silyah. Novia Imous was a petite dark-haired girl and Lynik Reah looked so shy and undersized under his thick glasses.

Up to date, the only tributes that were truly worrying Artemis were those from District 1.

"So far, the Reapings have been pretty similar to the other year's," contemplated Effie, matter-of-factly.

The Capitol woman was about to get bored when the District 6 escort picked the girl's name from the glass ball. "Lotus Bree," the escort proclaimed. The small and skinny girl climbed on the stage. Despite her young age, she did not look devastated, nor overly confident. She just stood there, strong.

The escort had not even yet asked for volunteers when a dark-haired girl with curls made her was through the crowd. "I volunteer," she said, voice firm and eyes empty of any fear. She went to the stage and Lotus hugged her.

"Thank you," the young girl told the new one.

"No need," said the girl. "Go back to your mother now." On that note, the older girl went to stand next to the escort, looking at the crowd, seemingly eyeing every one of them.

"And may we know your name?" Asked the woman.

"Silver Canemon," she replied, eyes like stones. She was not covering up any fear; she just looked relaxed, as if she didn't mind taking someone else's place. It was not a way to get attention; it was a juvenile sacrifice.

"Well, that was quite a twist of event," murmured Effie nonchalantly.

"Look at the way she stands," Silyah began analyzing the situation. "She looks strong, but you can clearly see that there is something wrong. If you look through the surface, she could almost seem… beaten, for lack of better words."

Artemis nodded, approving Silyah's observation. He had noticed some faint red lines sticking out from under the collar of Silver's dress. Old scars.

The camera swept through the crowd and stopped when it reached a couple, the District 6 girl's parents, most likely. The man looked angry; he was arguing with the woman. "You will really let her leave like that?" Artemis read his lips. One could think that he was worried about his daughter, but truly, he was only mad because Silver would leave for the arena wearing around her neck one of the only priced belonging the family owned. One silver diamond studded cross.

Silver shot the man a look of disgust mixed with mockery, then the escort picked the male tribute, Jehl Amnel.

The rest of the Reapings were, as Effie would describe them, pretty ordinary, though the woman's face did lit up when she saw District 12 on screen. "Oh, look at this! It has been such a long time since I last saw Peeta! He was elected mentor this year," Effie looked sincerely happy to see the boy with blond hair standing next to the femalee tribute.

The two kids that were Reaped were Scpenser Ross and Quartz Dahlai. They looked hopefully towards Peeta as they got their pictures taken. The boy seemed really strong and by seeing the little blond girl's eyes, we could see that she could be able to survive at least for a little while in the arena.

Artemis leaned back, sighing before finishing his hot chocolate.

"I don't want to sound pessimist, but that was not as entertaining as I hoped," Effie frowned and got up. "Anyone wants truffles? There are still some left in the kitchen wagon."

Artemis shook his head. "I need some time alone."

"Do you want us to go get you before supper?" Effie asked him.

"Yes, please do," he said before leaving the room.

Silyah followed the boy. She managed to reach him before he arrived in his room. "Are you alright?" She wondered genuinely.

Artemis stopped, turning back to face the girl. "Yes. Why?"

"You look distracted…" She stared at the boy with a good-humoured smile. "You have a hot chocolate mustache, and I am sure that it is not a new look that you are aiming for," she let out a laugh.

"What?" It surprisingly took a few seconds for Artemis's brain to realize what Silyah had just said. "Oh… I guess I…" He wasn't too sure of what to say, which was new to him. He could not help but to think that Holly would be laughing so hard, she would be rolling on the floor had she seen him like that.

Silyah took a napkin from a food tray passing by and offered it to him.

"Thanks," he took the napkin from her, wiping away the liquid that was over his lip. The girl smiled. This was the first moment she felt somewhat happy and amused since the Reaping.

Artemis gave her a rather awkward smile. "I will see you at supper."

The girl nodded and turned around. Behind her, she heard a door opening, then closing itself. She looked back towards the door behind which Artemis had just disappeared, hoping that he would not hear her exploding in laughter as she walked to the living room wagon.

Artemis sank down on his bed, finally letting the blush attack his cheeks. What an embarrassement. He took his head between his slim fingers.

He could save the world from pixies and humans alike, but talk to a girl… No. Holly would have found this widely amusing, he was sure of it… And so would have Mulch, and probably Foaly too… But his friends were not there and if the odds were not in his favor, he would never see them again…

Beetee scribbled a few notes on a block of paper. He had to think about strategies. "Effie?" he called.

The woman went to sit beside him. "Yes?"

"Tell me everything you might know about our two tributes."

Effie thought about it for a few seconds. "They are both quite good looking. This could bring many sponsors."

Beetee wrote that down, though he was not too sure about the utility of this information. "Anything else?"

"I believe that they are comfortable with each other. And I noticed that they were both very observant."

"You actually noticed something about them?" Mumbled Beetee, rising an eyebrow, a smile on his lips.

Effie sighed. "Why yes, I did." Beetee was just joking, but the woman seemed offended. "I'm actually very observant myself, mister!" She spat as she crossed her arms and pouted.

"Calm down Effie."

"I will calm down when I will desire to!" She got up and headed for the living room.

She is so strange… Thought Beetee. "Capitol people," he murmured, laughing.

When Effie reached the living room wagon, she found Silyah who was looking at the ever-changing scenery through the large window. She sat in front of the girl.

She was so quiet!

"So… What do you think about Artemis?" Effie asked the fifteen year-old District 3 girl.

She turned slowly towards Effie. "He's special," Silyah smiled.

"Special?" Wondered Effie.

"He is extremely clever and he looks mentally strong, but it's obvious that the Reaping shook him up."

"Why is that?"

"Haven't you noticed? When he left the room?"

Effie thought about it. He sure had looked tired and out of place, but that was the norm for future tributes.

"I can't believe you missed that," said Silyah pointing to her upper lip.

"Seen what?" Effie loved gossip. Silyah had triggered her interest.

"He had a hot chocolate mustache," Silyah shook her head, amused.

Effie laughed along with her. "I had not noticed!"

Their laughter filled the silence for several seconds until it eventually died down.

"This year's Hunger Games are going to be special, as you would say," commented Effie. "You might want to go see Beetee, by the way. He is planning some strategies for you guys."

"I will," the girl got up and asked Effie where was her mentor.

"He had not moved since we boarded the train," Effie rolled her eyes; she had almost forgotten how mad Beetee had made her when he told her that she was not observant.