Thank you for the kind reveiws. I appreciate them very much. Just a reminder - this was writen before Catching Fire was released, so anything that conficts with what was in the book is pure accident. I hope you enjoy this chapter, although not much happens in it. Constructive critisism welcome, although you won't see an improvement for several chapters.
My quarters are even fancier than the ones on the train, if that is possible. They are probably the size of my house. Maybe even a bit bigger. They're far fancier than those that were on the train too. And there are hundreds of different knobs to turn and buttons to press. I foresee a very busy few days trying to figure out how these things work.
Not to mention training and trying not to think about my upcoming death / pity party. Oh joy.
Luckily, Dinner is directly after I finish washing all of the grey paint off, so I don't have too much time to dwell on what's going to happen. Good.
The greatest torture the Capitol inflicts on us is psychological, I realise as I'm tucking into the first course. For most of us what we find in the arena is far better than what we imagine beforehand. Not to mention what happens to the victors. I remember what Ando told me this morning. Morgan has lost nearly all of her power to feel. Ando hides behind a veil of constant cheerfulness – I'm not even sure if he cares whether the Capitol kills him because of something he's said. I remember the District Twelve mentor and his drunken dive off the stage at the reaping. For the first time, I think that it might not be so great to win.
My thoughts are interrupted by Janus asking me to pass him the gravy. I do. When I arrived here, I discovered that the stylists would be dining with us for the rest of the build up to the games. This is a mixed blessing. With three Capitol people here instead of one, Ando is less likely to say something that could get him killed. I need all the help I can get, thank you very much. I'd rather my mentor stays alive until the games. On the other hand: Three Capitol people. Need I say more?
The food is as good as last night's. The adults talk among themselves – in other words, Theodora, Janus and Vesta discuss the latest in Capitol fashions while Ando makes quips under his breath to whoever bothers to listen. In other words, Morgan and I, since we ended up sitting on either side of him. Kyra, sitting on my other side, just attacks her food like it's about to run off the plate. I eat slightly slower than she does but, like her, most of my focus is on the food.
We are nearing the end of the meal when Theodora stands up and addresses the mentors.
"I'm sure you have mentoring duties to get on with. We'd better leave you to it."
The three Capitol people leave the room, still chattering excitedly. The rest of us – me, Kyra, Morgan and Ando sit awkwardly for a while before Morgan decides to get down to business.
"Look. Do the two of you want to be coached separately or together?"
Why is she bothering to ask? Of course we want to be coached separately.
Of course, I can't be the one to tell her that. It's all down to Kyra. Knowing her she'll say together, just to spite me. Fortunately, lady luck seems to be on my side for once.
"Separately, of course," says Kyra, fixing Morgan with a 'did you even need to ask' look.
"Do you agree, Lucas?" Ando asks.
I nod.
"Very well," says Morgan. "In that case, I can coach Kyra and Ando can coach Lucas."
Why do I get the feeling that this has already been planned in advance? Oh well, it's not like I mind. I'd rather have Ando the incessantly cheerful as a mentor than Morgan the emotionless.
"I suggest we each take an hour to discuss strategy before bed. I'll be briefing the two of you before you begin training, but the exact specifics will need to be decided on by your specific mentor. Come along Kyra." And just like that, Ando and I are left alone.
"Have you seen the view?" Ando asks me. "It's spectacular, especially from the roof."
I don't see what this has to do with training and the Games but I decide to go along with him. Inexperienced he may be but Ando seems to know what he's doing.
"No," I say.
"Well you should. Come with me and I'll show you."
I limp behind Ando to the lift. Once I'm in he presses a button just above number twelve that I hadn't noticed before. The lift begins to rise and almost before I'm aware of it we're there.
Ando is right, the view is amazing. In the dark, all off the houses are lit up and they look just like stars sitting in underneath me. But I get the feeling that the view isn't the only reason Ando brought me here. Then the wind begins to blow and I realise exactly why. There's no way anyone would be able to hear us over that noise.
I lean against the railing and Ando leans next to me. Something has been nagging me ever since I saw the rooftop and I think it's time I get some answers.
"Ando," I say, "why do they even let us on the roof? I mean, it would be easy for someone to jump off and kill themselves. I don't think the Capitol wants us dead before the games, do they?"
"Look, Lucas." Ando says, "You're a smart boy, so know this: appearances can be deceiving. You of all people should know that. Take nothing at face value."
He holds his hand out.
"Can I borrow your crutch?"
It's the one I was given when I arrived at the Capitol.
"Sure," I tell him and hand it over, mystified at what this perfectly able-bodied young man wants a crutch for.
Suddenly, without warning, Ando hurls the crutch off the side of the building. I cry out in shock and alarm but Ando holds his hand out in a wait gesture. There is a flash of white light and the crutch is thrown back towards us. Ando catches it easily and hands it back to me.
"Wow," I breathe. "A safety net! I should have thought of that."
"Yes, you should have," says Ando. "But don't beat yourself up about it. It's better that you make these mistakes now than in the Arena."
He has a point. But this isn't what we're here to talk about, and he knows it. Ando's a great guy and all – I haven't known him that long but he seems to be one of the better mentors to be stuck with. At least he isn't drunk at every Reaping like District Twelve's. But I do wish he would get to the point. I'd like to get some sleep tonight.
Ando points over to the other side of the roof. "Have you seen the garden? It's amazing."
He leads me over to where there are plants growing out of pots. A garden indeed. We duck behind some trees on the edge of the garden and stand facing the entrance of the elevator that brought us here.
"This place, where we're standing at the moment, is probably the most secure place in the entire building." Ando says. "No, scratch that. It's the best place you will get to talk until you either die or have been back in District Ten for a few months. There are cameras out here" – I catch a glimpse of a flash of light off a metallic plate – "but the wind shorts out the audio. The trees hide the movement of our mouths from anyone listening and we can see if anyone else comes out here and stop talking, as well as having time to hide and eavesdrop. Knowledge is power, my boy. Never forget that."
"I won't," I reply. "I know I don't have the physical advantages any of the others have, but I'm not as bad off as they think. They will underestimate me, and that will be their undoing."
"Strong word Lucas. Strong words. But don't underestimate them either," Ando warns. "Two can play at that game."
"I won't," I tell him.
"Good boy. Now let's move onto the next item on my invisible agenda." He pretends to unroll a scroll and glances along it. "Training. I suppose you already have some ideas."
I nod. "I'm keeping up the act I've been putting on since the Reaping. I'm a cripple, not very strong. I walk with a very bad limp. People generally don't look past the foot."
"That sounds just about right," Ando says. "But don't seem too smart either. Tomorrow is your first day. Stay away from the weapons! At least on the first day. It's suicide for you to go near the cornucopia, so learn about edible plants and snares and how to find water. Try climbing. I read somewhere that a climber can use a bad leg like a tail to swing from hold to hold and build momentum. See if that works. Hiding in trees is always an asset. For you, knowledge is the difference between surviving and not."
Well that's cheerful.
"What do I do on the next day?" I ask.
"In an ideal world it would be weapons, but I know that may not be possible. Try to learn basic knife skills. There are usually knives of some sort in the arena, and they're one of the easiest weapons to improvise. Do you have any skills with any weapon whatsoever?"
"Not really." I think for a bit. "Although I am alright at hitting people with a stick. Would that help me?"
"Maybe. There's always wood. See if you can learn some club moves. Maybe some spear throwing. There might be a station on staff fighting but I doubt it." Ando's face lights up like he's just remembered something. "Hand to hand combat. Unarmed fighting. See if you can learn pressure points to cripple an opponent and put you on even footing, if you'll excuse my pun. But not on the first day. And if you feel like you're about to reveal your secret, then for goodness sakes don't do it. I trust your judgement about what you feel you need. But try not to overload your brain too much or else you'll forget it all."
It takes me a few seconds to take it all in but then I nod.
Ando continues: "If it comes to a choice between survival skills and weapons skills, choose survival skills. In a fight you will have a disadvantage once they get over their initial shock of finding out you aren't as crippled as you pretend to be. Okay. Now, during training try to pay attention to the other tributes. Analyse them. Learn each of their strengths and weaknesses. Use your own judgement about who will make it past the first day and pay extra attention to those tributes."
Wow. I thought Ando was inexperienced but it turns out he has more or less the same strategy opinions I have. This is good, of course. I'd hate to have a mentor whose ideal strategy conflicted with mine. Imagine what a pain that would be.
"Is that all you have to say?" I ask him. "Or is there anything else."
"Nope, that's it," says Ando, back to his usual cheerful self. "Nothing else you need to know." He pauses. "Only… Don't walk without a limp unless you're in your quarters. I'm pretty sure there are cameras anywhere else."
He's probably right. Lucky the Capitol respects our privacy – or do they? Probably there aren't cameras only because no one wants to spend hours watching someone sleep. The cameras aren't for people to watch us preparing, as our strategies are private, but just so that they can see that we're not up to anything.
Really, I don't see why they bother with the cameras. I mean, it's not like they don't have three people of their own in there anyway. I guess they don't trust them. They're scared they'll turn traitor. Though I don't see why anyone would. Living in the Capitol is the ultimate lifestyle. Really good food to eat, no work, all of those super awesome gadgets, twelve separate districts to do your bidding… If you add that to the fact that clearly most of them have no conscience, I really don't know why one of them would turn traitor.
Actually, Capitol life must not be the same for everyone. Or else why would we have those servants? Obviously they need the money. I'd say they were from one of the Districts, but they look Capitol. And I've already established that there's no way anyone would want to turn traitor, so there must be richer people and poorer people.
Still, even for the servants' life must be better than ours is. They look like they have enough to eat and the work isn't gruelling. Cleaning is far easier than working in the quarries or mines or orchards.
Typical Capitol. Where we were born affects our whole life. Be born in District Twelve, then grow shabby from coal dust. Be born in Eight, work with the animals. Be born in Four, become either a fisherman in safety or a brutal Career. Be born in One, be pampered but constantly reminded that the Capitol's better than you. Be born in the Capitol, have a life of ease and comfort but sacrifice your humanity. The worst thing is, none of the Capitol know what they're missing. They've been brought up on a diet of Hunger Games and selfishness and watching other people suffer.
But despite this, I still don't like any of the Capitol. Sure, they may have been taught to think like this since birth, but they could still think otherwise. Why didn't the citizens rebel, the middle class of the Capitol? The must have known that what they were doing was wrong.
I ask Ando this.
"I wouldn't know," he says. "History isn't my forte. You'd have to ask Morgan. She knows far more than I do. But I'd guess human nature. It's in the nature of people to be selfish and to care more about their own well being than the suffering of the others who suffer for it."
I think of Eoin and realise that he's right. Eoin was willing to sacrifice his brother, just so that he could be better off. But not everyone's like that though, I think, remembering Nan and how she protested against Mum and Eoin using me, despite the fact that she benefited from my extra teserae too.
Again, I point this out to Ando.
"Of course some people rebel," he says, his voice losing its characteristic cheerfulness. "Where do you think the Avoxes come from?"
"Avoxes? What are they?" I ask. But I have the sinking feeling that I already know the answer.
"The white clothed people who serve us," my mentor replies. "They were traitors to the Capitol. So they had their tongues ripped out and now act as slaves."
He looks like he wants to hit something. I agree. Just when I thought the Capitol couldn't get any worse. What's even worse is how I thought of them. I thought they were rude because they didn't speak. Now I realise how stupid I was and I feel ashamed. I remember Ando's earlier comment about appearances being deceiving and resolve not to forget it.
"That's really horrible," I tell Ando, like he didn't already know it.
"They're Capitol. Like they need a reason". He has a disgusted expression on his face. "Sorry. I hate thinking about what they've done. Come on, we'd better get inside. You're going to need a good nights sleep."