Disclaimer: The Hunger Games Trilogy is property of Suzanne Collins. This is a parody fanwork by fans for fans. No money was made off of the creation of this fanwork.

Note: This is Gale's side story which takes place in the same universe and runs concurrently to my story "Spectator." You will likely want to read that fic first since I will be making reference to the events that take place in it. This chapter takes place during some of the events of Chapter 36.

Forgotten
By Fanfic Allergy

oOo

Chapter Nine

oOo

Tomorrow comes and with it a whole flurry of activity. The train carrying both the new Head Peacekeeper and the district rations arrives at noon and there's a lot to do before then.

Carrick had the idea of holding a little ceremony at the train station to welcome the new Head, as well as saying goodbye to Cray, might go over well with the Capitol. Ronnie's daughter, Merdie, and my sister, Posy, are both conscripted to play a role in the ceremony. They're to present flowers to both Cray and the new Head and just be overall adorable.

It's a little strange seeing Posy in a faded blue hand me down dress from the Everdeens next to Merdie in her pretty pink dress that looks brand new. But the girls don't seem to notice the difference and are instead crouched down together with Madge discussing the merits of which flowers make the best chains and crowns. Rory and Vick have a whole basketful of flowers from the Meadow and the three girls are making them into bouquets trimmed with ribbons.

As though she feels me watching, Madge looks up and meets my eyes. She tilts her head to one side as if to ask me what's wrong.

I shake my head. Nothing.

She smiles and turns to answer one of Merdie's questions.

I tear myself away from watching the three to focus on what needs to be completed. Ronnie is overseeing the erection of a stage just outside the train station while Carrick and the Mayor are finishing up some last minute paperwork in the Justice Building, something about making sure all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed. The camera crew from the Capitol that the Mayor requested is setting up and I wander over to introduce myself to them. They arrived yesterday on the train sent to collect the monthly coal quota while I was out in the woods with Madge.

There's only four of them. A dark skinned man with several facial tattoos is manning one of the cameras, he gives me a terse nod but doesn't say anything. Next to him is the sound tech, a thin woman with feather eyelashes and heavy makeup. She introduces herself as Calla Watson and the cameraman as Virgil Rangi. He's an avox, she explains, they cut out his tongue when he was a teen when his family was arrested for treason twenty years ago. He's now a free citizen of the Capitol, having proved his loyalty, but because of his punishment and history there aren't a lot of places he can work. But the propaganda and broadcasting ministries prefer to employ avoxes as cameramen, technicians, and stagehands because they can't talk.

I try to keep the horror off of my face as Calla tells me this very matter-of-factly.

The reporter introduces herself next as Vittoria Hanks. She's young, maybe a year or two older than me, with long curly hair that is somehow dyed every color of the rainbow. When Posy first saw her, I had to stop her from running up to the woman and demanding to play with her hair. Up close, it's even more impressive, but other than her hair, the woman herself is unremarkable.

The final member of the group is the director, Jessalla Mercy. I'm a little surprised when I meet her because she's the least Capitol-like Capitolite I've ever met. Unlike most people I've seen from the Capitol, Jessalla's stocky with no odd enhancements or strangely dyed hair. Her short, no nonsense hair is iron grey. The only indication that she's from the Capitol are several tattoos peeking out from the edges of her clothing and a small silver chain running from her left nostril up to her left ear.

Jessalla tells me that the Ministry of Propaganda likes our idea of welcoming the new Peacekeepers and that if this goes well, our district will be held up as an example of a model district.

I try to keep my distaste for this off of my face. I don't want to placate the Capitol. I hate them. I would rather rebel, but common sense tells me now isn't the time.

I'm saved from having to interact with the group too much when Carrick comes over to join us. He tells me that Orville needs to see me, so I say goodbye to everyone and make my escape.

I find Orville in his office in the Justice Building.

"Whatcha need, boss?"

He raises an eyebrow at my casual tone, but doesn't comment on it. Instead, he hands me a stack of bright pink papers. "I need you to take these permits and hand them out to the merchants in the Hob."

"Why?"

"Remember what we talked about earlier? About making the vendors in the Hob temporary merchants?"

I do. I mentioned it to Sae and she liked the idea. But I didn't think we'd be using them so soon. "Why now?"

Orville just shoots me a look that is so reminiscent of Madge's exasperated expression that I chuckle. Now I know where she gets it from. Still, it reminds me that July's going to be a tough month with both the new Head and the fact that we didn't make quota last month because of the Games. We're going to need all the vendors in Twelve to be on board with keeping the prices down. This coming month will hopefully not be as dire since we're getting district rations today, but I still don't know how that's going to be handled.

So I ask.

"I'm hoping that the new Head'll have an idea, but I suspect that we're going to have to handle it like tesserae."

I make a face. "Not everyone's going to be able to haul away that much food. What about having the supplies delivered?"

"How? And who?" he shoots back.

I think about all of the empty mine carts up at the train station from where they left yesterday and I get an idea. "How about we let people rent a mine cart? There's hundreds of 'em and if people don't need them they don't need to rent them."

"How much should we charge?" he asks.

I look at the stack of papers in my hands. "How much do these permits cost?"

"Ten coin a month."

I've got about twenty permits in my hands. Two hundred coin.

"How about a chit?" I suggest. It's not too expensive, only one tenth of a coin, and only the most desperate will turn it down. "We could even waive the fee for those people who are willing to help load up the carts and make sure that the carts end up back at the mines."

"It's an idea. I'll talk it over with the new Head. I'm sure they might have an idea of how they want to handle things and I don't want to step on toes if I can avoid it."

I shake the permits in my hands. "I should get these to the Hob. I'll meet back up with you later."

"By eleven," he says. It's an order.

I nod.

oOo

My errand to the Hob is taken care of quickly. Apparently Sae has been in communication with the Mayor and knew that the permits were on their way. She's even forced many of her fellow vendors to pay part of the permit cost. She understands the importance of legitimacy until we know this new Head Peacekeeper better. The last thing she and the other Hob merchants want is to be shut down or, worse, arrested.

They won't pay the full amount, but most of them manage to come up with five coin to help offset the personal cost to the Mayor. It also makes them feel like they're not taking charity. We can also use this to show the regular merchants that we're not giving the Hob vendors something for free.

I know Orville wants to show the people at the Hob that being legitimate is going to be safer and more profitable in the long run, but it's going to take time. And, I suspect, fear.

There aren't enough permits for all of the vendors, so many of them push their tables and booths together and form temporary alliances in order to stay open. It's surprising to see this teamwork.

I head back to town, stopping briefly at the bakery to pick up something for lunch for Madge, Posy, and myself. They don't have any of the stuffed crescent rolls, so I settle for several cheese buns and a cookie for Posy. It'll have to do.

When I get back, Posy, Merdie, and Madge have finished making the bouquets and have also constructed flower crowns that the two girls are now wearing. I give the girls the food I bought, feeling bad that I didn't get anything for Merdie.

Madge notices and gives the little girl one of her cheese buns while Posy breaks her cookie in half to share with Merdie. I'm wondering if I'm watching the start of another Merchant/Town friendship and part of me hopes so.

The Mayor and Carrick join us ten minutes later, followed by Cray and the rest of the Peacekeeper force. The train is almost here.

The rest of Twelve wanders into the square and I can see Jessalla motioning for Virgil to pan across the crowd. Beside her, Vittoria is speaking excitedly into a microphone but I can't hear what she's saying. I take my place behind the Mayor with the rest of his assistants while Madge moves to stand next to her father. Her mother, Maribelle, is at home with one of her infamous migraines. In front of Madge and the Mayor, Posy and Merdie fidget nervously.

There's nothing to do now but wait.

The train pulls into the station and screeches to a stop.

Several minutes pass before the door slides open.

Beside me, Ronnie motions for the crowd to start clapping and cheering. They do, although I suspect it's because of the long line of boxcars which hold the district rations rather than the new Head Peacekeeper.

A few seconds later a short, slender woman dressed in Peacekeeper White steps out. She's holding her helmet in her hands, and I can see she's about the same age as my mother. For some reason she looks familiar, but I can't for the life of me figure out why. Other than her height, which is shorter than most Peacekeepers I've seen, there's very little remarkable about her. She's got brown hair carefully pulled back into a no-nonsense bun and dark brown eyes. Her skin is tanned from the sun and there's a smattering of freckles across her nose.

Madge nudges Posy and Merdie forward. This is their moment to shine in this farce of a welcoming ceremony.

"Madame Peacekeeper," Posy lisps, holding up her bouquet. "We brung you these flowers to welcome you to District Twelve."

Merdie holds her bouquet up and finishes, "We hope you feel at home and your time here is as sweet as the buckets we offer you."

A slight flicker of confusion crosses the woman's face at Merdie's malapropism, but then a small smile ghosts across her lips and she reaches down to take the two bouquets. "Thank you, dears. I don't think I've ever had such a warm welcome." She stands back up, her eyes assessing.

Orville steps forward. "I'm glad we could do our part to make your coming here a little more pleasant. I'm the Mayor of District Twelve, Orville Undersee." He motions to Madge. "And this is my daughter, Madge."

"I'm Captain Moira Miner, recently from District Nine. I hope to have a successful professional relationship with you and your district."

"I hope for the same, Captain Miner."

The rest of the ceremony goes smoothly. A few people come out and sing patriotic songs, Captain Miner is introduced to several of the community leaders: Greasy Sae, Rooba, Mine Foreman Micah Rowe, and Matz Mellark. The last gets a reaction that has me a bit confused. Mr. Mellark is one of the nicest people in the district, he's done nothing to raise Moira Miner's antipathy.

After the ceremony, the Mayor approaches the woman. "I hope that you enjoyed your welcome."

The woman inclines her head. "I did," she says brusquely. "Now, I'm certain we have business to attend to and I will need to spend the next month familiarizing myself with this district before Commander Cray retires."

I notice that Cray doesn't have the same rank as the new Head, I wonder what the difference is and if Cray has a higher or lower rank. I suspect lower.

"I completely understand, Captain Miner." Orville pauses for effect. "I was wondering, assuming you aren't too busy, if you and Commander Cray would be good enough to join me for dinner tonight with my family and three assistants?"

The woman considers this for a few moments, studying the Mayor and Madge before saying, "That sounds lovely."

"Excellent!" The Mayor sounds enthusiastic even though I know he's not. "Now, please allow my assistant, Carrick, to escort your things to your new house while we discuss a few more pressing matters."

She waves a hand indicating this is acceptable and Carrick scurries off. She watches him go before turning back to the Mayor. "More pressing matters?" she asks, her voice stern.

"I wanted to solicit your and Commander Cray's opinions regarding the distribution of the district rations," Orville broaches the subject many of us have on our minds. "We have had a hard year and I know there are some people who have been looking forward to these supplies and I know the Capitol only wants the best for its citizens."

Captain Miner inclines her head. "Go on."

"I was wondering if you would be amenable to setting up a temporary distribution center here, at the train station, manned by a combined team of my assistant Ronnie and a few of the more long term Peacekeepers. That way they can assure that no one tries to take more than their share."

"They'd better not," the woman says, her eyes narrowing.

"I don't believe any of my people would make the attempt. Still, it's better to be prepared, don't you think?" Orville asks conversationally.

She nods. "If Commander Cray can suggest the names of a few of his men, I believe this could be arranged."

"Splendid!" he exclaims before continuing. "Additionally, my assistant, Gale, raised the concern that some people might not have the means to transport the goods to their houses. Some people might be too old or infirm or have other hardships that could give them difficulty. He suggested that we attack the problem in a very interesting way. We could allow those households without a means of transporting their provisions to pay for the use of one of the mining carts over there," he motions toward the end of the rail yard where several coal covered carts are scattered about. "When they've transported the goods, they can return the carts to the mine."

"How much would the rental cost?"

"One chit."

"That seems a little low," she observes.

I step forward. "We priced it low for a reason, sir. That way more people will use the service and the miners won't have to go retrieve the carts on the Capitol's dime."

The woman purses her lips as she considers the idea. "So what you're saying is that you're trying to save the Capitol money."

"And effort, sir," I add. "The Mayor tells me that the last time we received district rations, Peacekeepers delivered them personally to each household. That seems to be a poor use of valuable Peacekeeper time."

"So considerate Mister..." she trails off, clearly asking for me to fill in the blank.

"Hawthorne, sir. Gale Hawthorne."

She acknowledges my response with a curt jerk of her head. "We can give this idea a try, Mr. Hawthorne. If it works, it will be continued for the rest of the year. However, if it is a failure..." she trails off, implying that I'll be the one to pay for the lack of success.

"I understand," I tell her. And I do. I suspect the repercussions will not be pleasant, but I think my idea is a good one and I'm willing to stand by it.

"Cray," she barks. "I will leave this in your hands while I get settled." She turns back to the Mayor. "I look forward to hearing how this experiment worked tonight at dinner."

"Of course, Captain Miner. It would be my pleasure."

oOo

Dinner goes well that night, even though I spend most of the night following Madge's lead regarding etiquette. There's more utensils than I'm used to and I'm not comfortable with the formality. Everyone's in their best clothes which considering the tomato based soup and gravy soaked roast has me concerned that I'm going to be going home with stained clothing. I suppose it's a good thing that my mother's a laundress.

I'd been worried that my idea regarding the mine carts wouldn't work out. But it was a clear success. Most people in the Seam, anxious to get their district rations, took advantage of the service and even some merchants used the carts because their own handcarts weren't big enough to hold everything.

The money went back into the district coffers and will be used to pay for a small team of men to deliver the remaining goods to the households who couldn't or wouldn't collect their rations themselves. At Captain Miner's suggestion, a small fee, one of the tins of meat, will be assessed out of their rations to encourage people to get their own supplies. The loss is major enough that those people who were too cheap or lazy to get their own supplies will feel the loss. The cans themselves will go to the community home to supplement the orphanage's rations.

Other than discussing the success of my idea, most of the conversation over dinner is inconsequential. Captain Miner was stationed in Nine prior to coming to Twelve and Cray has reached the end of his tour of duty so is going home to get married and start a family. This surprises me a bit, since we marry young in Twelve and Cray has to be old enough to be my father.

We finish up and Madge offers to walk home with me, claiming she wants to check on the Everdeens' house and take care of Lady. Something that I know is a lie.

When we get out of earshot of her house, I ask, "What's up?"

In true Madge fashion she answers my question with one of her own. "Did you notice how Captain Miner didn't talk about her family tonight?"

I had, it struck me as odd but I hadn't wanted to bring it up. "Yeah. So? What's that got to do with anything?"

She still doesn't give me an answer. "Doesn't she look at all familiar?"

"Yeah, she does," I admit. "I'm not sure from where though. Stop giving me the run around and spit it out."

"I think she's Clove's mother," Madge says.

The girl from Two. The one Peeta killed. All of a sudden little things I'd noticed, like her hatred of Mr. Mellark all make sense. "This can't be a coincidence," I say.

"Of course it isn't," Madge answers. "She's probably here to make our lives hell."

I think back to our dinner conversation as well as my first impression of the woman at the train station. "I'm not so sure. That may be what the Capitol intended, but I'm not sure if it's what she's going to be like. She seemed fairly willing to consider new ideas."

"Maybe," Madge concedes. "But I wouldn't get used to it."

"Maybe." I'm not as certain as Madge is that the woman is going to have it out for District Twelve. I wouldn't force her to interact with the Mellarks or Everdeens to be safe. But she doesn't strike me as the kind of woman who's out for revenge.

My hunch is further strengthened the next day when I accompany her and the Mayor on a tour of Twelve.

"Your district seems rather poor," Captain Miner notes.

"It is rather poor," Orville agrees. "Unlike most of the other districts, Twelve doesn't have a secondary industry to fall back on, so when the mines don't perform, the whole district suffers."

"Then the miners should put more effort into performing," the woman observes.

"I think the miners would if there weren't some issues constraining them," he counters.

Captain Miner raises an eyebrow at the Mayor's remark. "Such as?"

"The morning curfew for one. The mine entrance is located about a mile outside of town. In the winter or in bad weather it's impossible for workers to get to the mine entrance by their required time unless they break curfew. The elevator to the underground shaft takes thirty minutes to descend to the bottom of the mine and thirty minutes to return to the surface. If a miner is late, they miss their ride and have to wait an hour for the next elevator." The Mayor holds out his hands. "So the miner is faced with a dilemma: break curfew and get to work on time, or follow curfew and miss an hour of work."

"And how often does this happen?" the Peacekeeper asks.

"In the winter, at least every other day if not more frequently. In the spring and fall about two times a week and in the summer at least once a week," Orville answers.

I hold back a smirk since I know that he's fudging the truth but that the months with missed quotas will support his statement. It's pretty clever.

Captain Miner pauses and looks around the town. "That is a problem. And Cray is aware of it?"

"He is."

"And what did he do about it?" the woman wants to know.

Orville shrugged. "He didn't really see a good solution so he just let each individual miner decide if they wanted to be late or if they wanted to break the law. I'm sure you know which choice most miners picked."

Captain Miner makes a face. "I do. I also am not immune to the problems facing those who work in the mines. I think we can come up with a solution that will work for all involved."

"Like?" the Mayor presses.

"We could issue papers to those miners whose shift starts at six thirty, allowing them special dispensation to be out up to an hour before curfew ends. That would allow them an hour and a half to get to the mine entrance, which should be more than enough time even if the weather does not cooperate."

Orville pretends to consider it. "I think that would work."

"Then I'll contact the Capitol to see about making it so."

We continue on our tour, showing her the Meadow and the inoperative fence with its holes in the chain link.

The Peacekeeper isn't pleased. "Why hasn't this been maintained?" she asks, her voice angry. "These holes are large enough that someone could get through!"

She's not wrong, but per Orville's plan I need to deflect her. "We've had problems with animals getting through in the past, sir. Cray's allowed us to set up traps to catch them because kids like to play in the Meadow." I drop Cray's name deliberately. For the price of a few turkeys and our silence on his many purchases of black market goods, he'd agreed to back up our statements about allowing trapping in the Meadow. It's a convenient fiction that allows all of us to maintain plausible deniability.

"Why would he allow that? Why not just fix the fence?"

"I think he tried, sir. But he kept running into problems with not enough supplies or something like that. I don't really know the full details."

"Hmmm," she murmurs. "And what did you do with the animals you caught?"

"Well, with Peacekeeper Cray's permission, we'd eat them or sell them. We didn't want to break the law so we always checked with Peacekeeper Cray first."

"And what kinds of animals did you catch?" Her question is pointed and it's obvious it's a trap.

I try to answer in such a way that I don't fall into it. "Well, sir, I haven't set any traps in the Meadow myself." Which is true, I set them out in the woods which is worse, but I'm not about to admit that. "But from what I understand people tend to catch a lot of wild dogs, rabbits, birds, and squirrels. The dogs are really dangerous and have been known to take a child or two and the others destroy our gardens so they're pretty big pests." Then I spring a trap of my own. "It'd be a big relief if we could get the fence fixed and power running through it once more."

She sighs. "That's not going to happen."

"Then what would you like us to do about the problem?" the Mayor asks.

"I don't have the force necessary to station along the perimeter of the district," she admits. "I only brought thirty additional troops with me and that isn't enough."

That's information we didn't know. Twelve had about fifty Peacekeepers before Captain Miner arrived. Now, we have eighty. It's enough that it's a warning.

The Mayor doesn't acknowledge her slip. "It seems we need to think creatively, then."

"Do the snares work?" she wants to know.

I shrug. "I don't really know. I know that there's no way we're going to be able to get everything that gets through, but it makes people feel more secure."

"Then I suppose we can allow it. I'm not sure how I feel about what is technically poaching, though. I'd rather just let the animals rot as a deterrent."

Again I step in. "Dogs are scavengers, sir. And there's been reports of bears and cougars as well and they're carnivores. Leaving the captured animals out to rot would be just like ringing a dinner bell for more carnivores to slip through the fence."

"You make a good point, Hawthorne," she says. "I suppose I can allow people to keep what they kill, but I'd rather have it above board. Mayor Undersee," she says, turning to Orville. "I seem to recall a statute that allows the Head Peacekeeper to issue dispensations for illegal activities so long as said activities are in the direct interest of the Capitol and its citizens, is that correct?"

"I'd have to check my law books back in my office to be sure, but I think you're right."

"Good. Then I propose we issue licenses to these people who are doing the Capitol a service and attach an appropriate fee for the privilege. Anyone who has a license can trap game inside of the fence without facing the usual repercussions for poaching. Those who don't have a license will be subject to the Capitol's justice."

"That seems fair," the Mayor says. "What kind of a fee were you thinking of?"

She turns to me. "Hawthorne, you seem to have a good grasp of what people are willing to pay."

I consider her question seriously. I hunt to stave off starvation and having to pay a fee, no matter how small, is that much food out of my family's stomach. "You can probably charge five coin a month," I say after a moment. "Some people won't be able to afford it, but if you're willing to take items or services in trade they might go for it."

"Services?" she asks.

"Like laundry or cleaning or gardening. Things like that. We tend to work on a barter system in Twelve."

She nods. "We can consider it on a case by case basis." She lifts her wrist and checks the time. "I need to head back to town. I have a conference call in an hour and I do not want to be late."

"We understand," the Mayor says. "We'll finish our tour some other time?"

"Some other time," she agrees before turning on her heel and walking briskly back to town.

I watch her go and make sure she's out of earshot before saying, "That went well."

"It did," Orville agrees. "I wonder how long it will last."

I shake my head. I have no idea.

oOo

AN:
Written: 11/16/14
Revised: 3/2/15
Beta read by RoseFyre

Sorry for the delay... ennui and inspiration for another fic hit and this took a backseat.

Yes, Twelve is totally playing the placating game, but in this Universe they realize just how useless they are to the Capitol and how tenuous their existence is. Twelve is for that very reason a terrible place to start a rebellion and Gale now realizes that. Twelve is also likely one of the few districts that really only has one industry. The others probably all have secondary industries and in my headcanon Twelve used to too. Theirs was drugs... Appalachia is known for ginseng and for marijuana farming. With synthetics like morphling developed elsewhere, the need wasn't as necessary and after the Dark Days considering the district's proximity to Thirteen likely never reestablished.

Yep, that's Clove's mother there as the new Head! Thread is being sent elsewhere since Twelve isn't as much of a problem child. But do you really think Snow would let Twelve off all that lightly? Especially in light of Peeta's little rebellion?

Anyway, one more chapter to go, no clue when that will happen. RoseFyre and I are working on another fic and real life is starting to gear up.

Thanks for reading!