The next morning after breakfast, I took my brother and Purnia to the main offices - the government building - so they could get all of the information that they needed. After talking to the receptionist at the front, a representative came out to greet us.
"Hello, my name is Xenia." She said, I had met Xenia last year when I first came here. "Hey Venus." She greeted me after introducing herself to Purnia and my brother. "Are you tagging along today?" She asked.
"Yeah." I nodded. "I'm off today, and nothing better to do, so." I shrugged.
"Okay." Xenia nodded. "Not a problem." She looked to Vitus and Purnia. "You guys can follow me." She said, I knew what the first step was and she led us to a theater room. "Libertas was founded during the Dark Ages by a group of people that managed to flee Panem and was officially established during the first Hunger Games." Xenia explained as she walked.
"My grandfather was among those who found this island, and it's become a refugee of sorts, for those who come from Panem. In fact, 80% of the inhabitants of Libertas are originally from Panem, the others either come from other countries, or they were born here, like me."
"Is Snow even aware of this place?" Vitus asked. "Like he is of District 13?"
Xenia shook her head. "No, I don't believe so. I don't think he pays much attention to the rest of the world." She said. "I believe he's just more worried about his people overthrowing him than another country. The family probably always believed that because of the establishment of the Hunger Games, other countries wouldn't try anything in fear of something similar happening to them, or, it could be because Panem has refused any contact with other countries because they told the people that they were their only hope, the only country, in effort to keep their power."
That had made a lot of sense. The Snow family wouldn't want the districts to know there was other countries, because they could potentially figure out how to reach out to them and try to overthrow them again, and the Capitol would lose their control over them. I don't even think that the citizens of the Capitol actually knew about these countries, or at least knew that they survived.
"You said that people from other countries also reside here?" Vitus seemed very interested in all of this.
"Yes." Xenia nodded. "Mostly from Europe, the UK and Ireland in particular." She said. "We also have trading established with them and other countries and because of these tradings, we were able to establish a relationship with them, and it's what made it possible for Libertas to get up and running and be our own independent country."
She opened the door to the theatre room and had us to take a seat. "I am just going to play this video for you about the founding of Libertas, and then I will be happy to answer any other questions that you may have."
Once we sat down, the lights in the room dimmed, and the movie started. I had seen the movie before, and I did have to admit, it was interesting, even more interesting than the one that the Capitol had made and forced all of us in school to watch. Being that, the Capitol controlled what its citizens knew, and Libertas, was the opposite, they wanted their citizens to know everything, as we were not a dictator, authoritarian state. The video explained how Libertas came to be, how the founders got to this place (they had made a boat of some kind, though resembled more or less of a raft), and step by step on how they came to be their own nation, adopting some parts of the original constitution of the once United States of America.
It also explained what our resources were, which included natural minerals/metals such as gold, aluminum and granite and oddly enough, maple trees, each of which were great for trade and were able to pay back countries that were able to help Libertas to grow as a nation. Our primarily industries were maple and fishing. This country also wasn't from a former existing country. The theory was that it was formed within the last few hundred years or so. It was also a lot closer to Europe than it was to the former North America. No one was sure of the exact location, but it was in the Atlantic Ocean.
Half an hour later, the movie ended and the lights turned back on as Xenia came back into the room. "Did that answer a lot of questions you may of had?"
Vitus nodded. "Yeah, I believe so."
"Purnia?"
Purnia nodded. "Yes, it did. It was an eye opener for sure. Though this may be off topic, but I have to wonder, where did they find the history of the United States? Like the constitution and all? I thought that the Snow family would have made sure all that stuff was destroyed."
"Hmm." Xenia murmured. "Very good question, and one that I do not know the answer too. I'm not sure who brought that in, or how a copy managed to survive, but it was thought that one of the refugees brought it with them when they came. I do know that we did a lot of the history about the American Revolution from the U.K and the French." She shook her head. "That's just one of those things that no one knows for sure."
She looked us over. "Are there any other questions?" She asked. When my brother and Purnia shook their heads, she continued on. "I can give you a brief tour over the city, and some of the outskirts." She said. "We have the mountains to the east, and a marina to the west, in which all the fishing takes place. The north end of the island is mostly forest." She explained, leading us outside and over to a tram like vehicle. 'Now, we aren't as big as Panem is, it's probably I would say about half the size." She said. "The mountains would be a bit too far to take a tour to, being it would be a two hour drive or so." She got behind the wheel as we all got in. "The fisheries are a little closer, so I will take you there."
She gave the tour of the area from the fisheries to the main city, and then after we left her, I took them to the office where they could get their housing assigned. They had both elected to stay within the main city, so Purnia was given a condo, and my brother a quaint little apartment.