*Heyyy look, another author's note! So um, sorry this hasn't been updated in a while, I wanted it to be up a little faster but yeah. That didn't happen SO. Here it finally is, and I'm thinking about going back and editing the crap out of both of these. But for now, it's up thanks to Bill (.com) because he read over it and gave me some constructive criticism.

…That I didn't take. He told me to add more to a certain part of the story. But when I looked over it, I realized I wanted to do something with that later on in the story. Kinda like a heart to heart moment to get the characters closer, ya feel me?

Anywho, here it is, although it's subject to change. Enjoy!*

Chapter Two: The Train Ride

Once Katara's eyes adjusted, she was able to see the interior of the train. Well, the small room they had been shoved into. Her mouth opened slightly in wonderment. The interior of the small room was nicer than anything she'd ever seen. This was clearly a capitol train. The room was a mud room of sorts, and had a giant ornate rug covering the floor. A door on the left and a door on the right lead to who knew what. A small table near the rear of the room held a bowl of delicious looking fruit, fruit that was rare to district twelve and highly expensive therefore. Above the table was a huge window, where lush green trees passed by at high speeds.

One of the doors opened, and in stepped Chong, wearing his usual goofy grin, and dressed in the most outrageous clothes Katara had ever seen. He waved at the two before practically dancing into the center of the room, sticking out his hand.

"Hey there young tributes! I'm your mentor this year!" Neither Aang nor Katara reached out to take his hand, so he took theirs instead, one in each of his hands, and shook them roughly. "You ready to kick some butt this year?" He made a wild slicing motion with his arm. "Sure you are. You just don't know it yet."

"You'll have more time to talk later. I need to get these two to their rooms, Chong, so they can change." Lin pushed the two towards the door opposite the one Chong came in. "Lunch is in a half hour. You guys will be able to talk then."

"Alrighty then. I'll just be in my room." He turned on his heel and began whistling, walking through the door.

"Come on now!" The next compartment was even nicer than the first. How that was possible, Katara didn't know. But she barely had time to take in the carpeted floor and dark mahogany walls lined with doors before they were in the next compartment. Only two doors were in here, and already the golden nameplates had their names etched into them.

"Go on in, change into the clothes set out for you on the bed, and relax for a bit. You'll get a call when dinner is ready." Lin flashed them one of her trademark smiles before passing into yet another compartment. Aang looked at his door, eyeing the nameplate. His silver eyes then passed over the door, and landed on Katara.

"It's funny, isn't it?"

"What?"

"After years of living in near poverty, we get all this?" Katara cracked a smile.

"You've gotta treat your tributes like royalty. After all, most of them will be dead by the end of the summer." Aang's smile faltered for a second, but then it was back. God, he had white teeth.

"I guess that's true." His hand found the doorknob and he opened his door. She saw his eyes widen before he turned to her, waved, and disappeared inside. Katara opened her own door, and her eyes widened as well. She stepped in, closed the door behind her, and looked around. Two large windows showed the speeding landscape. She barely got a look at a lake before it was gone. A large, king sized bed stood in the middle, adorned with a white down comforter and about ten pillows. An outfit was laid out in the middle- a blue top that looked too short, and white pants. A door stood ajar, and she saw her own private bathroom, complete with a tub and a shower with about 500 different buttons. She decided a shower would do her good, stripped down, and stood inside.

The buttons all had different functions. Some were for water pressure, some were for music, lighting. Some had different scented shampoos and body washes, and some made the water smell a certain way. She chose a medium water pressure with a lilac scent, low lighting to calm her down and help her think, and strawberry scented shampoo and body wash.

She allowed herself to soak up the luxuries, thinking and coming to terms with what was actually happening. She had to have a strategy. Hopefully Chong would be smart enough to help her come up with one. She had been too young to remember the games he was in, or not born yet. He probably won by walking around avoiding everyone and letting them kill each other. Even that was kinda brilliant anyway…

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, finished washing her hair, and stepped out of the shower. She pulled her hair back into a low ponytail and dressed quickly. As soon as she finished, there was a knock on her door.

"Lunch is ready dear!" Lin's cheerful voice echoed through the door. She heard her knock on Aang's door. Katara slid out of her room, finding Lin standing there, smiling as usual.

"Look how clean you are! Took advantage of that shower, I see!" Aang stepped out as well, wearing almost the exact same outfit as she was, only his shirt covered his midsection. His dark hair looked slightly wet too. "You both took advantage of it! Well, that's what it's there for! Now, come eat. The food was just put on the table, and If we wait too long, it'll become cold!" She waved her hand, signaling them to follow, and lead them through the door she had passed through earlier.

"This is the entertainment room. Unfortunately, you two won't have much time to enjoy it. You have much to do before we reach the capitol!" Katara could only stare at the larger than life television. A plush couch surrounded the television, and on another ornate table stood another bowl of fresh fruit. Katara wanted to pick one up and take a huge bite out of it, but she restrained herself.

"Here." Aang saw her eyeing the bowl, and with a flick of his wrist, two apples came soaring across the room and into his hands. Katara gasped, grabbing the apple from him.

"You're an airbender!" Aang grinned, taking a bite of the apple and wiping his mouth.

"Yep. And you're a waterbender, right?" Katara stared at Aang in shock. How had he known? In the districts, bending was forbidden unless you held a position that needed it. Or, you were going to the arena.

"Y…yeah." She took a small bite of her apple and followed Lin and Aang into the dinner compartment.

There, Chong sat at the table, already spooning soup into his mouth and picking up a bread roll.

"Hey, hey, tributes! This food is delicious, you should enjoy it with me!" Aang and Katara sat down on opposite sides, facing each other. Lin sat down at the head of the table.

"Go ahead and eat! All this food was made specially for you!"

"Yeah, young ones, it's fantastic stuff. Try the soup."