Chapter 3: 75th Reaping

It is the night before the Reaping. Peeta and I are just returning from our last day of prep: training in the morning, watching one of the last Hunger Games tapes in the evening. In this episode, a Career named Brutus Gunn became Victor, a few years before Haymitch.

"Do you think if there hadn't been the Rule Change, I would be here talking to you?" Peeta suddenly asks.

I can tell by the way he raises it that he expects me to be honest with him. I know he's been thinking about what Cassiope said, about how his living has made up for Maysilee's death. And also Haymitch's theories of what would have happened if the alliance hadn't broken off.

And so, though it is the hardest question I've ever had to answer, I tell him, "No." Even just saying the word brings me great pain. He'd be dead and I'd be a pretty little Victor all by myself.

"But I'd be broken!" I admit to him. "Like one of them!" And I gesture to Cassiope and Haymitch's mansions behind us.

Peeta considers this before finally going into his house. I follow. "Do you know what you're gonna do tomorrow?" I ask.

"All I know is that my fate will be the same as yours," he answers sincerely, and he takes my hand in his. "Where you go, there I'll be."

My eyes prick with tears, and I kiss him. It escalates very quickly, until I am pushing Peeta onto his bed and scandalously mounting him.

Peeta flips us and, finding and not remembering how we undressed each other or why, he pushes into me, and my eyes fill with tears as something deep within my core breaks.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Peeta gasps.

I stare down at our unified bodies. "Don't be... the first time always hurts for a girl."

He stares at me, impressed by knowledge that I really shouldn't know, if I was being true to myself. And also... "I thought you cut Family Planning class!"

"I did," I admit. "But Mother gave me the lectures anyway."

Peeta grinds into me, and biting my lip, I roll my hips up to match his. He thrusts faster and faster, until my thighs are wrapped around his torso and I urge him on. His bed creaks and sways.

"Harder... faster..." I gasp breathlessly. At last, Peeta groans and ejaculates deep within me. I kiss him to show my approval, and we fall asleep in each other's arms.

The next morning, I rise lithely from the bed we shared to find Peacekeepers knocking at Peeta's door. I quickly wake my sexual partner and dress him. "Quick! Out the back!"

Peeta uses my rear door and runs around to the entrance to the Village. He spins a yarn to Thread about how he was making a delivery to the bakery, and isn't it a shame they must have just missed each other? Thread is not pleased, but he buys the bullshit as is. Cassiope and Haymitch look relieved. I am brought out, not revealing anything.

"All right! Get moving!" The Peacekeepers roughly force Cassiope and then Haymitch into a line. When they get to Peeta and me, there is some confusion.

"Which one of you came first?" Thread asks, as if he doesn't know. But what amazes me is that he truly doesn't know. Even Peeta looks unsure. Seniority? That's how we're doing this?

Peeta finally suggests I go first, since I'm a lady. Plus, it makes for a nice pattern: girl, boy. The Peacekeepers then guide us into a military march, all the way to the Justice Building.

With the unusual nature of the Quell, the Victors are simply brought to the stage and roped into gendered pens. If Effie calls our name, we just have to move a little to the side to take our place.

But first, Mayor Undersee has to give the Dark Days speech, and read our names:

"The Victor of the 16th Hunger Games: Cassiope Fletch!" Polite applause.

"The Victor of the 50th Hunger Games, or Second Quarter Quell: Haymitch Abernathy!" Applause and a few cheers.

"Such a long title. How appropriate," I tease across the expanse. Haymitch only smirks.

"No longer than yours," he banters back, which the Mayor now reads:

"The Co-Victors of the 74th Hunger Games: Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark!" Wild, deafening roars. The reaction worries me.

I wonder if this whole Reaping is rigged. Rigged Reapings have happened before, but no one pretends to notice because there is the whole district to choose from. If Snow really wanted to rig Twelve's Reaping to ensure Peeta's and my participation, he would have to pull quite a bit of monkey business and hope no one noticed.

Effie now takes the stage, lacking her usual verve. Before her lie two Reaping Balls, completely empty except for two little slips of paper at the bottom of each.

"Welcome, welcome to the 75th anniversary, or Third Quarter Quell, of the Hunger Games! As always: ladies first!" And she's diving into the bowl before I have time to collect myself. "The female tribute from District 12: Katniss Everdeen."

"I volunteer as tribute!" Cassiope totters past me. I am so shocked that I forget to open my mouth. I keep waiting for someone like the Mayor to raise some bullshit about how for District 12, volunteers aren't allowed or something, but no one says a word as Cassiope takes her place.

I look to Peeta across the expanse. His brow is furrowed, and I can see the gears turning in his head. If Cassiope could volunteer for me, who's to say Haymitch wouldn't do the same for him? If that happened, Peeta's only option would be to enter a Volunteer's War.

A Volunteer's War has never happened in Twelve. Ever. It's more common in the Career districts, where fighting in the Hunger Games is seen as an honor. A volunteer or even multiple volunteers can ask to take the Reaped tribute's place. What happens next is like a campaign event, an auction, and a bidding war for a house all rolled into one. The potential volunteers give a speech about how he or she should go in, usually justifying it with some variation of the phrase, "I can win!" Then the tribute who was Reaped in the first place can defend the initial choice. Last year, Primrose could have defended herself against me, her sister, and entered a Volunteer's War, if that's what she'd wanted. But it would have been seen as foolish, given her age.

And this time, it is less a Volunteer's War and more like a Volunteer's Duel. Because there is only one person who could volunteer for Peeta if...

"The male tribute from District 12: Peeta Mellark!"

"I volunteer as tribute!" But Haymitch has to cross Peeta to get to his place.

"I can't let you do that!"

"You can't stop me, boy," Haymitch drawls.

"Yes, I can! Haymitch -"

"Stand aside if you know what's good for you!" Haymitch barks. Peeta is shocked into complacency, and Haymitch takes his position. Effie announces the tributes as Cassiope Fletch and Haymitch Abernathy. Then, we move into the Justice Building. Only, not as tributes.

As mentors.

They had to have planned this beforehand. There is no other explanation. Peeta even alluded about it the night the Quell was announced: they're planning to save us...

We wait outside the holding rooms that house Haymitch and Cassiope with Peeta, Mother, Prim and the Mellarks. Peeta's brother's girlfriend, Julie Fairchild, is also present. The halls are eerily quiet, and the lines to visit the tributes... well, there aren't any.

"This is embarrassing!" Peeta growls. "Where is everybody? Usually, the lines to visit the tributes are out the door!" What Peeta doesn't say is that this is usually because tributes from our district are seen as good as dead, and the visits are more like goodbyes.

The Baker lays a hand on his youngest son's shoulder. "It's different this time, son. Being a Quell. With most of Cassiope and Haymitch's friends either dead or aging, very few people can manage a visit."

Peeta sees right through that. "Not being able to visit Cassiope, I can understand. But Haymitch? The man's 41 years old! Your age, Dad! And Mrs. Everdeen's! Why don't you guys visit him?"

The Baker bites his lip, feeling awkward. Mother looks down at her feet. It is actually Julie who breaks the silence. "Well, I'll go in. I just realized there are a few things I want to say to... that man."

I quickly realize that they aren't very pleasant things, for I soon hear shouting coming from the other end of the oak doors. It is largely muffled, but I do catch one word. A name: Rosemary...

Cassiope and Haymitch are finally brought out, having received only one visitor between the two of them, and we are all escorted with Effie to the train.

Dinner that night is a silent affair. I realize that I know very little about mentoring. And this is a Quell we are getting into. A Quell of Victors. Maybe Peeta and I should have fought harder on our initial Reaping. Being tributes, we can do. But this? Cassiope and Haymitch quickly take over, mentoring the mentors. Mentoring, even though it's technically no longer their job.

"You kids have to know a couple rules about mentoring," Cassiope begins. "The first is the Victor's Code. There are two rules. 1: Absolutely no attachments outside of your blood family."

"Well, we've already broken that!" Peeta jokes, kissing my cheek. I smile wanly.

"And 2:" Cassiope continues, very serious. "Stay alive!"

"Why does the Code forbid attachments?" I want to know.

"To protect yourself as a Victor, but also to protect the ones you love. It's kind of what is sometimes called pre-emptive warfare, think of it as that. It was invented to protect ourselves from the Capitol however we could," she explains.

"But there are Victors who have married, right?" Peeta asks.

"Some - but it's very rare," Cassiope concedes. "Cecelia Sanchez, a Victor from 8, is a perfect example. And her two mentors, Woof Casino and Savera Inchcape, have been married in secret for years. That's even rarer, for two Victors to marry each other; they're the only known case."

Haymitch smiles dryly. "District 8 has never been known to just follow the Code," he explains. "Even Indigo, my counterpart for the Quell, was a little rebellious, though he never wed."

"So were you," Cassiope reminds him. "You were all ready to break the Code for that girl -"

"Haymitch had a girlfriend?" Peeta gawks. Then he bursts out laughing. I shoot him a look and Haymitch looks genuinely hurt.

"Why, Peeta, I'm surprised at you! Yes, I did have a girlfriend, but it was a long time ago. Most Victors who learn about the Code follow it. And they follow it religiously. Like a vow of chastity. But not me. Not for this girl..."

"What was her name?" I press, guessing that I already know the answer.

"Her name was Rosemary," Haymitch smiles. "Rosemary Fairchild."

Now, Peeta nearly topples out of his chair. "You courted a Fairchild? The biggest Merchant family in Twelve? You sly dog! You're ambitious! My brother's girlfriend is a Fairchild!"

"I'm well aware," Haymitch says cordially. "She's the only person who visited me. Cute little thing," although with some of the things I heard, I am sure this is in jest. "She's a younger cousin of Rosemary's. Or would have been."

Uh oh. I don't like where this is going. "What happened?"

"Rosemary and I largely saw each other in secret. Her family didn't know. They couldn't. You and Peeta are an unusual case, given that there is usually animosity between Merchant and Seam, but in my day, it was worse. Much worse. When Cassiope was a little girl, Merchant and Seam would stage their own little Hunger Games, if you will, right outside the Justice Building. Thrill killings - just because of who people were! Of course, those were aftershocks from the Dark Days and Trump rallies - that's a whole other story; you would have learned about it in your History Class in school."

I know for a fact I never did, as this is the first time I'm hearing this.

"Anyway," Haymitch continues. "When I was Reaped, everyone in the Merchant sector - with Rosemary being the exception - was rooting for Maysilee. I suppose they could have supported Fern, but she was too young; she never would have made it. She died in the mountain volcano fiasco, you remember?" Peeta and I nod. "Then, when Maysilee died and I came back alive, all the Merchants blamed me. Especially the Fairchilds, who happened to be close friends with the Donners. It got harder for Rosemary and I to see each other. So we came up with a plan. We would steal away one night into the woods, have a toasting there, then come back the next morning."

"But don't you also need to sign papers to be married? Assigned a house? At the Justice Building?" I ask.

"You do, but we had a plan for that, too. Cassiope was going to break into the Justice Building and steal the documents for us to sign later. And if she couldn't get back out, we gave her permission to forge our signatures and then file it with the Chief Clerk's materials. He was an old man in those days, about to retire. We were betting he wouldn't know the damn difference who wrote what or when he might or might not have married us."

"But why did you feel the need to get married, even if Merchant and Seam hated each other?" Peeta asks. "You were so young!"

"You're one to talk," Haymitch snorts. "You're going to have a beautiful Capitol wedding to Sweetheart in a few months. But, no, the reason we did it was because Rosemary was pregnant."

"What?!" Peeta and I shriek. "When?!"

"Two possibilities: either right before I was Reaped, or the night I came home," Haymitch tells us. "Which would have meant Rosemary was either two weeks along, or almost five weeks along. I think I was in the arena for about 19 days. But then..."

Cassiope now picks up the story. "Two weeks after we came home, a posse of Peacekeepers showed up at Haymitch's mansion, which by that time had moved in the entire Abernathy family, and partially Rosemary."

Haymitch nods bitterly. "My mother. My younger brother. My girl. They were all killed."

Peeta stares. "Because of the stunt you pulled with the forcefield!"

"Bingo."

"Anyway," Cassiope continues. "Rosemary had just found out she was pregnant. But the Peacekeepers didn't know that. It would be months yet before she would have started to show, and Haymitch and Rosemary were already planning to keep the baby a secret. Well, word gets back to President Snow that she was pregnant. So what does he do? He executes all of them. All the Peacekeepers who were at the Abernathy place that night. For being total fuck-ups. That stereotype about how Peacekeepers are loping and stupid and don't think things through? There's a reason that stereotype exists; it isn't nice, but something is always done to make people fit stereotypes that way, and usually, the people being stereotyped do it to themselves. Anyhow, there were sham trials with rigged guilty verdicts, a pomp-and-circumnstance firing squad outside of the Justice Building. Everyone was there. I was there! Haymitch made damn sure he was in the front row!"

"But that's not fair!" Peeta protests. "The Peacekeepers couldn't have known Rosemary was pregnant! She barely did herself!"

"Peeta, that shit doesn't matter to the President! With Rosemary's death, an opportunity - well, two opportunities - to control a very problematic and still very controversial Victor were gone. Because if Rosemary had lived, and the kid had been born and grown up... the moment it turned twelve, it would have been Reaped for the arena," Haymitch explains.

He's certainly right about that; children of Victors are very popular for the arena, and have rigged many a Reaping. But no child of a Victor has ever become a Victor in its' own right.

Haymitch nods, as if knowing what I'm thinking.

"What did you want to have?" I ask quietly.

"I didn't know. Neither of us knew the sex of the baby at that point. But if I had my druthers, I would have wanted a daughter." He looks to me. "I just never expected I'd get one, 24 years later."

I blink, as if struck between the eyes. "That is literally... the nicest thing you've... ever said to me."

"And I certainly didn't expect you, boy," Haymitch snarls affectionately at Peeta. He smirks and then gets up and starts to amble from the room. But then, he turns back and clicks open a locket with a picture inside.

It must be Rosemary. Her face is rounder than Julie's, but not fat, in a pretty way. Doe brown eyes. A button nose. And flowing brown hair. She was very pretty.

"But I would have thought most Merchants had blond hair and blue eyes."

Haymitch shrugs. "I know. That's one of the things that made her special. She didn't look like a Fairchild. Although there is a tiny resemblance between her and your bro's sweetheart, Peeta - at least in the face. They are cousins."

The drunk leaves us at last, leaving us all to ponder what he has just revealed.

"One more thing you need to know:" Cassiope tells us. "The Seniority Rule. It was mostly invented for mentoring so new Victors could be groomed, but since Haymitch and I won't be there, you'll have to learn on the job. Often, the Victor who won earliest is given deference, if you want to create an alliance or pool for a sponsor gift. Yet you two present a problem, because which one of you won first? We don't know, and neither will the other mentors."

"Katniss should be deferred to," Peeta offers up immediately.

"OK, but Peeta, you talk better. That's not a criticism of you, Katniss, it's just true." And however politically incorrect or even uncivilized it might sound, Cassiope does speak the truth. I don't do talking well, as I'm not a particularly warm and fuzzy person.