*Lystra's POV*

The girl that I didn't know anymore blinked at me and slowly nodded. "Yes, it's true. I am Nich."

"W-w-w-what are you doing here?" I sputtered, an image of Nich last night, cleverly disguised as Mazie, speaking to the tributes on the roof "You – you can't be Nich!"

"I assure you, I am," she told me.

"But why . . . why do you want to start a rebellion?"

She looked at me for a moment. "I am guessing that, because you are here, Lystra, that you too wish to start a rebellion."

I nodded slightly, a sharp incline of my head.

"Why?" Mazie – Nich asked.

I began to shrug, but I stopped. "Because I hate the Capitol. I hate what they do."

Nich's eyes – identical to those of the Mazie I saw on the television, bored into me. "When did you first realize this."

I opened my mouth to say 'when you spoke,' but I stopped myself again, and I touched the golden apple necklace around my neck. A picture of Estella, small and ragged, and starving to death, appeared in my mind. I took a deep breath and whispered, "I made a friend."

Nich nodded, apparently happy with my answer. "'I made a friend,' " she repeated. She stared at me a moment. "I'm guessing that friend was young Estella Mason – the girl you volunteered for?"

I nodded breathlessly, flushed and sad, thinking of her and her brother and the apple I had given her and our song. And how that act had brought me here . . . and how that act would get her here next year, and her brother too, eventually.

"I, too, made a friend," Nich said "her name was – is, I mean, Mazie Skiprose. My friend, Mazie, is much like yours, Estella. Both are . . . less capable than we. Both of us took their place. You and, Lystra, are very much alike."

"But you're Snow's daughter!" I hissed, jerking myself out of the spell that Nich's words had put me in. "How can you be so treacherous? How . . . how can you hate your father?" My eyes spilled slightly with tears. There had once been a time when I had thought that I hated my father. But then I had not cried either. I was different now.

Nich stared at me a moment, and her own eyes filled. "That's the thing, Lystra. I don't love him. He is no father to me. He doesn't even care about me – he cares little about my brother too, and only the smidge he does is because my brother will be President. My father is no President – he is a tyrant, and he intends to pass his crown to my brother, and still be in control while old and in his bed.

"You see what he does to his people – he doesn't care about the Capitol people, either. He only needs their support. Little support too – all they care about is their makeup. He kills the people in the Districts for amusement and sport and terror – all for a reminder of the past. He is evil and cruel, and I have no love for him.

"But he is still my father, and I cannot make myself hate him either."

I nodded at Nich slowly "But you would allow him to be assassinated?"

Nich was silent for a long while. "I believe my father was once a good man. I don't know what made him as he is now, but once he must have been good. Now he is evil, nasty, and cruel. He only causes pain and suffering in Panem." She paused for a long moment. "He must die eventually – we all do. For some, sooner is better than later . . . perhaps this is one of those times." Nich blinked back tears and continued, "I must only trust that in whatever lies beyond, he is a better person – the person he was before."

I felt so bad for Nich in that moment that I placed my hand on her shoulder comfortingly. She nodded to me and didn't shrug it off.

"I believe you," I whispered. She nodded again, and turned to Echo and Totsie, who had been completely silent, watching up carefully.

"I understand Lystra's motives, for they are my own. But what I do not understand are yours."

Totsie blinked at us, and then dully told us a story of attempted, escape, death, and loss – the story of her separation with her sister. When it was over, my heart had a heavy feel in it, and I felt it could fall out of me and onto the floor of the room.

"I'm sorry," I said finally.

"We are together now," Echo said softly "and our parents with us forever. There is nothing for you to be sorry about."

"Well," Nich said after a long moment. "All four of us have our motives, strong and solid. Now, tell me your idea, Totsie."

Totsie's eyes sparkled with mischief momentarily. "Why, we have the real Mazie Skiprose assassinate the president, under disguise as you."

I glanced at Nich, scared she would begin to cry, but she only swallowed a lump in her throat and said, "I shall contact her immedietly."

With that, Totsie and Echo left, leaving me alone with Nich. I looked at her. We had a common understanding now, but I still felt as if I didn't know the girl before me. "Nich?" I asked after a long moment.

"Yes?" she asked

"I drew with camouflage for the Gamemakers today."

"Was it beautiful?"

"Oh, yes, very beautiful. Filled with joy, sadness, and hope."

"Did they enjoy it?"

"Oh, I very much hope so. It was so extremely beautiful."

"What did you draw, Lystra?" Nich asked.

I paused, glancing at her. "The end of Panem and the beginning of a new country."

"How so?"

I took a deep breath. "The assassination of a president."

Mazie looked at me sharply. "My father?"

I took another deep breath and forced myself to meet her eyes. "No. Your brother."