Thank you for clicking and giving this story a go. Just to start, I want to say that I plan to cover from before my OC's Games all the way through to the end of Mockingjay. I've finished the first "book" and I'm still writing what comes next, so I've got twenty or so chapters before I catch up with myself and I plan to release them weekly.

The two girls fell apart, panting, their bodies shaking. A blonde and a brunette, both pretty girls, though not at all alike in their looks. The blonde, of a noble family, looked across the small cot at her lover and couldn't help but grin. She just couldn't hide it. Especially as, not even a second later, the brunette's face was mirroring hers as she rolled between the legs of the blonde and gently lay her body atop the one beneath her. "Sky." She breathed down into the blonde's face, framing her head with her forearms.

"River." The blonde purred up, throwing her arms around the neck above her while snaking her legs around River's hips, trapping her somewhat.

Silver eyes met blue and, for that moment, the world was perfect.

Alas, the world was not perfect, nor had it even been. So, less than a minute later, the two girls were washing quickly in the still warm water from the tub that they'd all but fallen out of in their haste to touch one another. Once washed and dressed, they went their seperate ways. Skylar, like every other time, took the passage beneath River's old, falling apart house, knowing the route to her own, while River took her axe from beside the front door and set out on her trail to work.

Most folks in Twelve either worked in the town or in the mines. To be fair to them, there was little more than that to choose from. Sure, every so often someone would think they'd started the next best business model, and hey, it might go well for them for a month or two, but the only stores that survied in Twelve were the necessary ones; it was just fact that people didn't have expendable income to play around with, so unless you could figure out how to produce something for less that a current business, then that was the end of the line. There were places like the Hob, but a regular income was more important in the poorer districts and the Hob could never guarantee that for anyone. River was sure that people had less need for jobs in the rich districts. She imagined that food was in such an abundance that they had little need for regular work and that, when sick, they could simply take a day to recover.

River's work, however, took her everywhere. She went all over the district because what she sold was needed by all.

River dealt in wood. It may have seemed like a foolish trade considering they lived in a district surrounded by woodland, but River was the only one with enough time on her hands to actually chop a tree down. All of the other workers in Twelve went to work all day long and had time for little other than sleep when they got home. They didn't have time to, for example, fell a tree, much less to chop logs for their fires. With that firmly in mind, they all needed fires. Being one of the poorer districts meant that electricity was expensive on top of already being hard to come by. No one could afford to heat their home with electricity, nor could most light their room with more that candles, but River's prices were more than fair and so people trusted her to be around to provide wood for their fires. Her reasonable prices meant that families could work longer hours in the mines without having to worry about what they would use to keep their families warm when they got home.

Away from the blonde, River already missed Skylar's touch, but she tried not to think about it. She had work to do. Wood to sell. Just as those around her would always need wood, she in turn would always need to be providing it.

Like most in Twelve, River rarely dealt with money. She found that people were more willing to part with goods than cash and she was much happier for it. She had little need for money since so many would accept wood as a trade item. Of course, she had a small but relatively full purse for any such occasion that may require coins, but that day was yet to come.

Wrapped up in her coat, her hat and her scarf, she breathed hot air into her chilly palms as she walked, feeling the handle of her axe tapping against her boot as it swung in the leather belt that was long due a repair. She could barter with a leather worker later.

There was a small creak at the most northern part of Twelve. It flooded the nearby land in torrential rainstorms, making an ideal swimming hole for some, but River had always wondered as a child what lay the other side of the creek. She had always been able to see that it was rocks. A damn lot of them, too, but surely there was something beyond the rocks? Well, she had been right.

For almost a year upon discovering a small patch of entirely untouched woodland, River had begged her father to come and look at it. She had even enquired about it when speaking with one of the kinder Peacekeepers. At the time, he had jokingly asked if she was looking to buy it, but she wasn't joking at all. Another year later, to her father's dismay, she stole her own dowry and spent it on the land.

That was the only time that Ibrahim Nivalis ever laid a hand on his daughter. For almost an hour afterward, he had cried, hugging his daughter to his chest as her mother and brother watched. No one understood why she would do such a thing, but years down the line, they had been proven wrong. Granted, at the time, it truly was a stupid move, but it paid off.

Out past the stone that lay past the flooded creak, River squeezed between the rocks and pushed herself through the tight passage until she finally broke free into the other side and found herself immediately in the thick growth of the forest. Trees enveloped her in a warm, earthy embrace as her feet disappeared into the mossy floor. This was home.

For the rest of the day, River chopped and prepared orders of wood. Some folks asked for a sack a month, while others asked for a single log as and when they needed them, so it was important for her to always have a healthy supply stocked up. Given how densly packed the trees were in the land she owned, her supply would never be a problem. She chopped no more than five to ten trees a year and doubted that she ever would. They were enormous trees and each one supplied her with almost a hundred sacks of roughly chopped logs, ready and perfectly sized for fires.

So, at the day's end, she threw her haul into a cart that lay through the tight stone passage, then fitting herself through and setting about dragging it back home. In work, her thoughts of Skylar had long since filled her mind, but as soon as she felt the bumps of the cobblestone streets beneath her feet and the old wheels of her cart, all she could think of was the beautiful town girl who owned her heart.

Not even completely thinking, she found herself outside the front door of that very blonde, her knuckles making quite some noise against the wood before she, wide eyed, realised what she'd done. "Oh, fuck." She muttered, considering turning and running only to have the door swing open and reveal Atticus Monroe.

Skylar's father was a large, round man who had always sported a huge mustache that made him look something like a walrus. Not that River had ever seen a walrus, of course, but she'd read a description of one in a book once. "What?" He grumbled, brow raised.

"I- uh..." River's mind boggled.

"River?" Came Skylar's shocked voice as she appeared behind her father. "Daddy, why don't you go back to mother? I can deal with the wood."

The walrus looked once, twice, three times between the shocked Seam kid and his daughter before scoffing and waddling off. "Holy fuck." River breathed, almost collapsing into the front door.

"What are you doing here?" Skylar hissed, terror lining her voice as she stepped quickly into River, drawing the door carefully shut behind her. "Look, I... I'm going to tell them. Tomorrow. Okay?"

River's mind was still spinning. What had she done? Christ, she may as well have turned up naked with "I fucked your daughter" written across her body. "Shit, Sky, I'm sorry! I didn't even meant to be here, I was just walking home and I-"

"Shhh, it's okay." At seeing River's slight panic, Skylar's fear and hint of annoyance seemed to wane a little. She almost smiled at her secret lover. Almost. "I guess I should buy some logs now? In case my dad asks."

Shaking her head, River chuckled nervously. "No. No, don't worry. I mean, these are all damp, I've gotta dry 'em out first, else they won't burn."

Gently, Skylar crossed her arms over her chest and nodded, her eyes flitting every which way. She looked at multiple points behidn River, sparking curiosity in the brunette. Alas, before she could turn, Skylar had leaned forwards and laid the most gentle kiss upon her chapped lips. For but a single second, as soft met rough, the world seemed a little lighter. Then, she was gone just as quickly. "I'll tell him you were checking up on the monthly order." She whispered softly, smiling as River's cheeks deepened in colour. "Then, tomorrow, I'll tell him. Everything."

"You don't have to."

"I know, but I want to. I don't want to hide us anymore."

"Me neither."

So it was agreed. That next day, after the Reaping, Skylar would come out to her parents. Come rain or shine, she would spend the night with River one way or another, she was hopeful that they could stay at hers for the first time together. She wanted to let River sleep in a bed that wasn't older than her parents combined. She wanted to let River taste the finest of foods; her family, too. The Nivalis family had always been so lovely to Skylar even though they didn't know her as anything more than her father's daughter. She wanted to show them kindness and hospitality despite their differences. "River?"

"Yeah?"

"I want to stay with you tonight."

Of course, River agreed. "Sneak out and knock on the hatch? I'll let you in. We've just gotta be ready in the morning."

"Then we're finally free."

Not willing to risk another kiss, the young lovers of eighteen years old left it at that. River made it the rest of the way home, making a few stops along the way, including giving Rooba the butcher some wood for smoking her meat in exchange for one whole chicken. She and her family would be glad for it tomorrow. Hell, maybe they could take it to Skylar's house if all went well.

I know it's a bit of a "nothing" first chapter but I didn't want to just immediately into it all. That being said, the next chapter is the Reaping, so it's al a-go from there!

Please feel free to share any thought or feelings if you have them, they're definitely appreciated. Further than that, have a great day and thank you for reading!