Katniss sat alone in a waiting room, observing all the things she had never seen in the Seam. Velvet. Lights that would be on all day. A bowl of fruit. A table.

Prim and her mother came in and ran to her, and they all hugged and cried and said 'I love you'. Prim hugged her as tightly as she could, pressing her face up against her shoulder.

"Promise me you'll win?" she asked.

Katniss shook her head. "No. Some people train for this thing, Prim. Come on."

Prim and her mother were escorted out, and a large yet warm looking man entered. He sat down in the chair across from her.

"I'm Peeta's father," he said.

She snorted back a laugh. "Why did you name your son that?"

He leaned forward in his chair. "Because bread's the only life I've ever known. Here are some cookies." He tossed her a white paper bag.

She opened it, and the smell of delicious baked goods snuck into her nose. She closed it again.

"What? Is this supposed to guilt me out of killing your son in the arena or something?"

The baker stood up and walked away.

"What is the meaning of this?" she shouted at his back. Gale passed him on his way into the room. Katniss stood up, and they embraced each other.

"Katniss, I know you can win," he said as they slowly pulled apart.

"Why?"

"Why? What do you mean why? Think of how perfect your entire life has been in terms of preparing you for this. You know how to survive in the wilderness by yourself, you can feed yourself from the environment, you can kill with a bow, you can climb trees, you're used to being hungry, the death of your father has to some degree dulled you emotionally to death, you're-"

"I get it, I get it," said Katniss, "I'm not a Mary Sue. Thanks."

Gale was replaced by some Capitol security, who took her onto a train. The rooms in the train were better than any real room Katniss had ever been in, and the one she was assigned contained a bed that called to her.

"Hey Katniss, you can sleep here tonight," it said.

Katniss lept back. "What the heck?"

"There's no need to be upset, there are many talking objects in the Capitol," said the bed consolingly.

Too tired to talk to a bed, Katniss collapsed onto the perfectly comfortable mattress and was almost instantly lulled to sleep by the whirring of the train.

In the morning she woke to the same gentle, constant sound. Katniss saw clothes for her across the room on a dresser. A simple shirt and pants, like something she would choose to wear. She heard Effie's voice through her door.

"It's going to be a big, big day!"

Katniss pulled the covers back over her head. "Would you say that to a sheep in a slaughterhouse?"

"Sheep can't speak English, dear. They couldn't understand you," she replied in a motherly tone.

Katniss rolled over. "Effie..." she groaned.

Katniss dressed, and stepped out of her compartment into a room where Peeta, Effie, and a clearly wasted Haymitch were sitting around a table eating breakfast. A TV on the wall was playing highlights from the other Reaping Day cermonies.

She looked down at the table in amazement. "What are all of these things?"

"I don't know," said Peeta, shoveling eggs into his mouth, "But they're delicious."

Katniss shook her head. "Man, don't pretend like you're hood like me, you grew up in a bakery. A bakery."

"Hey! We only got to eat the stale bread!" he returned in an attempt to defend himself.

Katniss put a hand to her chest. "Oh, pardon me, that must've been so hard."

"It was," he said indignantly.

Katniss slammed her open palms onto the table. "I had to kill everything I ever ate!"

Peeta rose to his feet, and so did she. They glared at each other across the table. Haymitch laughed, looking between the two of them.

"Did I get a couple of fighters this year?" he asked, pouring a dark something out of a flask into his glass.

"You got one," said Katniss, "I don't know about Sourdough over here."

Peeta squinted at her. "That's pretty solid, but I'd appreciate you not making jokes about my name anymore."

"Whatever you say Captain Crunch," she said.

He pulled back from the table. "Captain Crunch? What?"

"It's a wheat product, I'll give her that one," put in Haymitch.