laptop again! Isn't Tawny a piece of work? I noticed that a lot of authors did April Fools chapters yesterday, but don't worry, I'm not going to! haha, not a bad idea for next year, though! Ninz and I have quite a bit planned now, and we add more things daily. The arena is amazing - absolutely so. Message either of us, and we'll give you a quick sneak peak! Anyway, enjoy the second day of training, coming from Estella!

*Estella's POV*

I stood in front of the fire station again. I kept coming back, because I was having a hard time starting fires without matches. Naomi, beside me, was a whiz at it. I smiled as she lit a flame with wet and collapsing wood. Of course, District 12 and coal. I wondered how much experience she has had with fires. As the instructor praised her, she blushes and fingered with that odd necklace of hers - the mirror polished and clean. Seeing it reminded me of yesterday when Tawny, the girl from 2, had begun to beat up on Naomi. That had made me very angry, and I had left Lia and Viveca at the roots station to confront her. Naomi was just a kid, really, and quite sweet. I was glad to have her in the alliance now.

The instructor's attention turned to me. "You aren't doing too bad, really. I've seen much worse. Just..." his eyes twinkled with laughter, "try to get some matches if you can." I lowered my eyes, embarrassed at this mediocre skill of mine. Viveca gets up and cracks her knuckles. She was still fairly quiet around me, joining me and Lia without comment at first, but she had warmed up those past training days to me. "Where to next?" she asked.

Lia's big eyes scanned the room. "What about knots?" We all muttered agreements and walked towards the station. I quickly see why Lia wanted to come over to this station. Two girls that Lia mentioned to be potential allies, Harper Wesley, and Ivy Willows are there. We sit down around them. The girls glance at us briefly, though they didn't appear too intimidated. Viveca, Lia, and I did well at this station. Naomi's weren't too bad, but didn't hold well. Eventually, she grew tired of the station, and curled up on the chair, moving her mirror necklace about to catch the light. I noticed that Ivy's are pretty good, somewhere between Viveca's and Naomi's. Harper's were amazing, and the instructor didn't even both instructing her. He moved over to me from where he was discussing with Viveca and pronounced me a master. I tell him about how we tie knots all the time in the fields, especially the orchards. He smiles and says that knots can be useful in the arena. Then he moves to instruct Ivy.

I watch Ivy and Harper closely. They didn't appear to be in an alliance, barely looking at each other. Would they get along well if I asked them both into the alliance? For some reason, this made me think of Tawny's comment yesterday: "building up an alliance to die for you."... Tawny was wrong, though. I would defend them with my life and ask nothing more of them for me. Right?

When we were done with the knots, Ivy hurried away from the station over to the spears. I followed her with me eyes, and Viveca gave me a pointed look. I glanced at Harper to see that she had moved opposite to us and was standing with her arms crossed. "Listen, 11," she said, and I realized with a shock that she thought I was heading the alliance. "I know why you're following me. And I'll join your alliance, so long as you don't let scum like that," she nodded in the direction Ivy disappeared, "in."

I was shocked. "First of all," I said. "I'm not the leader here. We're all equal." Harper's face looked disbelieving for a moment, but quickly covered up into indifference again. "And also, we're not going to be picky about who we let in. Anyone can if they want, and we're not going to force anyone to either." I glanced at Viveca for backup. She tossed her long red hair over her shoulder. "Estella's right." It wasn't exactly the support I was hoping for, but then again, Viveca was a woman of few words.

Lia stepped forward, her big eyes fixed on Harper. "Why do you care so much about Ivy Willows anyway?"

Harper made a little noise in the back of her throat, and took a threatening stance. "Listen, kid," I wondered if she put 'listen' before insults often. "you don't know the first thing about all those horrors from 5. I've trained for years to be able to assure that they die."

Lia's mouth was open to reply, but I was before her in an instant. "You're not the only one that's trained here," I said in a low voice. Viveca stepped forward as well, but looked a bit confused as to what to do. Lia pushed me out of the way, saying, "Wait, Estella." and she glanced at Harper for a moment, with something like pity on her 12-year-old features. "Didn't a tribute from 6 kill your twin sister in the Games?"

Harper's eyes bugged out for a moment before she glanced away with a quiet "yes." I couldn't help but stare a moment. So Harper was another one of those tributes that were still paying for some wrong done to them before hand. Did Harper know of this wrong, I wondered, should I ask? But I kept my mouth shut, thinking of how I would respond if she or Viveca were to ask me that.

"Ivy isn't that tribute, you know," Viveca's voice was quiet and slow, calculating. "She probably never even knew them."

Harper's gaze remains tightly on the floor, and her voice is weak. "I have to get my revenge somehow. It's what I've been training for." Feeling a bit of pity in my stomach for her, I leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Get it on the Capitol, then. They're the reason we're here." Harper withdrew as though bitten, and stared at me a moment. Then she nodded slowly.

"So," Lia stuck her hand out to Harper. "since Estella's not our leader, I think I'll be. Can we welcome you into the alliance?" Harper actually cracked a smile as she shook Lia's hand. She turned away quickly, and inquired as to where we were going next.

"Axes?" suggests Viveca, and since no one objects, we all head to the station. There's no one else there but the girl from District 7, the one I remember whose grandmother is a voodoo priestess. Thinking that this could be interesting, I walked up to her and stuck out my hand. "Hi. I'm Estella Mason." The girl looked up at me - I say 'up' because she was hunched over with her long black hair over her face. She looked old and run down, but I could still see a trace of beauty on her face. "Lucia Laveau." her voice was rather pretty, too. She let out a sort of laugh as she took my hand, meeting my eyes. I tried not to shiver as she said, "Ah, you'll be a fun one."

My face creased. "What do you mean?"

She drew me closer, and I tried not to gag at the scent - what was it? Death? "The spirits are hungry," she whispered to me. "they are looking for a meal. And I will give it to them!" she laughed again, still gripping my hand. "They like the smell of your blood."

"Th-they do?" I was trying to struggle away, but she had quite the grip. I sensed the Peacekeepers watching us carefully, their tranquilizer guns gripped tightly in their hands.

"Yes," Lucia laughed as if hearing some unsaid joke, "they want to drink you're life's blood so badly right now, but they cannot until we reach the arena. And when we do, I will be so kind as to deliver, and they shall be ever-so thankful to me!" She leaned forward and actually kissed my cheek, her teeth grazing over the skin. "Mmmmmm," she whispered before drawing away and leaving the station without a backward glance.

Harper was giving me a weird look. "What was that about?"

"That was Lucia Laceau," Lia said quickly. "her grandmother's a voodoo priestess back in District 7, and Lucia's learning to follow in her footsteps..." she trailed off, looking at me. "What'd she say?"

"She said that..." my voice was shaky, but I quickly steadied it. "that the spirits wanted to taste my blood, and she wanted to deliver it." This was met by momentary silence, broken by Naomi's quiet shriek as she ran to grip my leg tightly (yes, she was that small). Harper's voice was dark. "She's insane." and Viveca laughed - actually laughed. "No kidding!" she cried.

"I say we avoid ... Lucia, isn't it?" Harper announced, and I agreed fervently. Then we turned by unspoken agreement to the instructor, who began to pass out axes.

Naomi was miserable in this as well, and soon retreated yet again to her mirror, turning it to catch the light. I caught myself gazing at her for long periods of time, wondering what it was about the mirror that was so special before I remembered. "Lia!" she turned from where she just threw an axe (it landed feet from the target). "Didn't they mention Naomi's necklace in the recap of the Reapings?"

Lia considers, then nods. Did this girl forget anything? "Yes. They said that she was in possession of the Mirror Necklace, which can change the beholder's appearance, but once and only once...but somehow it wears off, I think. Maybe twice - once to, once back?"

I shrugged. It didn't really matter. I turned my gaze back to Naomi. She was gazing at the mirror with a kind of reverence I hadn't seen on her face in any other occasion. "Do you think she really believes it works?"

"Who's to say it doesn't?" Lia asked. I was about to protest when she added, "If voodoo-girl can control spirits that want to drink your blood, I don't see why Naomi can't have a necklace that can change her appearance." I was about to reply when the instructor came down on us like the crows do sometimes in the fields, and handed us new axes.

We found that none of us could really wield the axes, but I could manage if they were smaller, like knives, but then they were more like hatchets, and the instructor said that those weren't often in the Games. We moved on to the water station. The instructor gave us a little instrument and several jars of water apiece, and told us to find the pure water. Once we figured out how to use the instrument, we did fairly well, though it took time to determine. Naomi seemed particularly adept at this station compared to the others, though I don't know how she'd know this - there aren't a lot of streams in District 12. She also already knows the purification techniques.

I asked Harper about her district partner. "Who, Patric?" she asked. "no, he's useless. He'll die at the Bloodbath for sure." her eyes didn't show emotion as she said even this sentence.

"What about you, Viveca? You're partner's Asa, right? He's mute, isn't he?" I asked.

Viveca turned to me, and I was struck again at the wild contast between her hair and her skin. "Right, Asa. I don't think he wants to team up, though. I mean, it's kind of hard to understand him. He motions and stuff, but I don't always get it. He teamed up with the boy from 3, and they can communicate by using their hands or something," she shrugged. "whenever I approach them when they're together, the boy from 3 (Torka, I think it is), gets really hostile."

I thought that this was the most Viveca had ever said to me. "Right. Okay," but secretly I was disappointed. Asa would've been a fun tribute to get to know, even if he had to die for me to live. So I turned to Lia. "Who else were you thinking?"

Lia turned scarlet. "All the boys this year are too stuck up to make alliances - I've picked up on that. Well, I guess Asa and Torka are different, but they don't want to team up with us, do they? There were a few other girls, though... Olivia Knox, Zola Ravon, or..." she glances quickly at Harper. "Ivy Willows."

"Where's Zola?" Harper asked, ignoring Ivy's name completely. Lia pointed to an attractive girl with curly brown hair. She was hanging on another boy and acting absolutely ridiculous, flirting head over heels with him. As we headed over to speak with them, I glanced around and realized that I hadn't seen Cletus in awhile. I gulped, suddenly nervous.

Zola and the boy turned as we approached. The boy, whom I can now identify as being from District 5, smirks at us, while Zola hangs on him and does the same. When I stuck my hand out, I knew it was already a lost cause. "Hi, I'm Estella Mason." The boy laughed and smacked my hand out of the way. "and I'm Demetri Wiren, not that it's any of your business."

Zola laughed loudly, giving Demetri a peck on the cheek. His eyes got a little wider, and he waggled his eyebrows at her, which made her giggle more. I was thoroughly disgusted. Didn't Demetri see that Zola was using him? Or was he really that blind? I tried again. "We were wondering if you wanted to join our alliance."

Demetri and Zola looked at each other a burst out laughing. "Why would we want you?" Zola shrieked in laughter. Demetri gazed at her in wonder, as if admiring her beauty. "Please. Just go away, pathetics." I glanced at the others, who looked like they wanted out of there just as much as I did. We withdrew silently, and Lia motioned us to berries station, where a girl almost as short as Naomi with short orange-ish hair sat. I remembered her to be the one that went crazy on the stage and Peacekeepers had to escort out. I also noticed that the Peacekeepers were keeping a careful eye on her. She turned as we approached, like she knew we were going to, and said, "Hey."

"Hi," Lia said, and our greetings were echoes of hers. "Olivia, right?"

Olivia nodded, glancing at us up and down. "Yeah, but I'm afraid I don't know your names." I noticed that she had freckles, which was unusual for District 3, since they spent most of their time inside. I took this to mean that she has been outside a fair amount. Her expression reminds me of the angry face on the stage, and on the chariots, though she does appear friendlier now.

"I'm Lia Scott, and this is Estella Mason, Viveca Celeste, Harper Wesley, and Naomi Slater," Lia said, rapid speed. Olivia took a moment to comprehend that, looking us over, before smiling. "It's nice to meet you." We all went forward to shake her hand. Naomi even took her attention from the mirror necklace for a moment to do so.

"So," Olivia said. "I'm guessing you came over here for the berries and the pleasure of my company?" I chuckled. This girl had spunk, and humor. I liked that.

"Actually," I said. "we were wondering if you wanted to join our alliance."

Olivia's eyes seemed interested. "I see." she glanced us over again, up and down, sizing us up. Finally, she said, "Sure. But there's one thing. My district partner, Torka Reed, has teamed up with Asa Jocephas, the mute boy, from your," she indicated Viveca, "district. I don't want either of them in any alliance of mine."

"What'd they do?" Lia, always curious, asked.

Olivia's eyes looked like fire. "Torka called me a rich kid. And that," her threatening look was back upon us. "is something I will absolutely never tolerate." Not really sure how to respond, we all nodded and assured her that they weren't interested in joining. Olivia smiled at that, her pleasant demeanor back. "Great. Then, I suppose, it's a deal." We all shook on it and turned to the berries.

I noticed that Olivia did okay with this, and seemed to learn quickly. Naomi and Harper did well, too, but this is my area of expertise, besides the knives, which Lystra told me to wait to use. "You don't grow poisonous berries in 11, do you?" Harper checked. I laughed. "No, but we do have to sort out any that try and grow - these things are like weeds." The instructor seems particularly impressed by this comment, and soon we are chatting away about weeds and some that are poisonous, and others that are edible.

"Do you ever eat weeds?" she wants to know. I nod, "but only when things get bad."

When we were done with the berries, it was time for lunch. We all grabbed trays and piled food onto our plates. I was vaguely reminded of lunch at school, which we were given if we worked enough hours at the fields. Only, here, we can have as much as we want, and the food is simply much more delicious. I piled up my plate - why not? Might as well enjoy what you can while you can.

We find our own table, which isn't at all difficult, because there is enough tables for each tribute to have their own. For a time, we eat in silence, listening to the jostling noise coming from the Career tribute, and the silence from everywhere else. I glance up at the Career table to and meet Tawny's eyes. She gestures to the alliance around me, purposefully reminding me of her comments from yesterday. This makes my face burn with rage. I can hear her laugh as she returns to her food and the pack.

I look around a bit more and spot Cletus getting food. He motions to me and my neck. You're dead. I don't comment upon this, only watch as he goes to join the Careers. They greet him with loud calls and laughs, and he sits amongst them. Tawny and Cletus both glance at me and snicker, and then she whispers something to him that makes him laugh.

"So..." Olivia has followed my gaze. "Cletus has joined the Career pack, eh?"

I shrug, trying my best to look indifferent. "I guess."

Harper eyed me carefully. "Look, Estella, we all saw the recap of the Reapings. We know what's going on between you." I sighed, because I didn't want to talk about it, but I had no choice, really. "So... he wants to kill you, right?" The best I can do is nod.

"So he joined the Career pack," Lia sucked in a breath. "This is not good." Naomi let out a little squeal and sat a bit closer to me.

"Tawny already wanted me dead," I pointed out, "since I saved Naomi. This is just... an addition."

"Yeah," Olivia agreed. She was starting to look a bit angry again. "But now they'll work together. Estella, this is not good. At all. By making yourself a target, you've made us all -" she broke off, looking over my shoulder. "Watch out. Tribute approaching." We all turned to see Ivy Willows, her long dark hair in a ponytail now, and her chocolate brown eyes curious. I saw Harper tense automatically, but I turned and gave her a look. She reluctantly returned to her food.

"Uh, hi. I'm Ivy Willows," she stuck her hand out to us in general, and Olivia, who was closet, took it and introduced us all. Ivy smiled nervously. I studied her. I guessed that she had a bit of social anxiety, but was otherwise pretty independent. "So..." she said. "I heard that you were making an alliance, and I was wondering if...I could join."

I quickly glanced around. The others were looking at Ivy very openly, acceptingly, with the exception of Naomi and Harper. Naomi was still playing with the mirror necklace, watching the way it reflected the light and staring at her reflection. Harper was studiously ignoring the world and was concentrated on the meal as if it were her last.

"Sure," Lia agreed immediately, shaking Ivy's hand and leading her to the empty seat behind her. "Welcome to the alliance." I smiled and welcomed her like the others did, and we began an immediate conversation detailing our strengths, but not so much our weaknesses. I learned that Olivia could kind of use a knife, but not for throwing, like me. She stabbed. Ivy couldn't really use any weapons, but knew a lot about being outdoors, and confessed to loving nature. Harper and Lia could throw knives and hatchets, like me, but not with the same accuracy. Viveca could also use a knife, but her real weapon was her cleverness. Naomi didn't offer anything. As far as we knew, her only talents were staring a fire and purifying water - useful things, but not life-saving under most circumstances. I noticed that Harper carefully avoided Ivy and any conversation about her.

After lunch, I couldn't stand staying away from the knives anymore; especially now that I knew my allies were skilled with them too. We'd have to get a boatload of them in the arena... I tried to teach Naomi to stab the dummies, but she was so terrified, I gave up. Olivia was good at stabbing the still dummies, but the moving ones tended to pick her off with their longer range weapons before she could stab them. The instructor told her that she should be careful of attacking if her enemy knew she was there. "Sleeping might be the best way to pick them off," he informed her, and I turned away, sickened.

Viveca did worse - she would waste most of her knives by missing the target. Lia and Harper managed pretty well - they could hit the target 4 out of 10 times. These still weren't preferable odds, but they were better. Ivy hit the target only once, on the edge, the whole time we were at the station, and looked just as surprised as the rest of us.

I really stole the show from them. The instructor dismissed the still targets immediately and got out the moving ones that had minds of their own and moved about randomly. I hit 9 of 10. The last missed by only an inch, and 6 of them were death blows. The instructor applauded my efforts, and I noticed that the Gamemakers were looking on with interest. I also caught Tawny, Cletus, and the boy from 1 looking at me in apparent surprise. Cletus looked more grim than anything else. I can them a smirk that Tawny would've been proud of and turned to smile at the Viveca, who I was trying to instruct. "Now, let's try that again."