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TRAINING, DAY 2
It isn't that she's getting tired of foraging lessons, or tying knots, or helping her little partner learn to light a campfire. Rapunzel always enjoyed growing and gathering herbs at home - for spices or medicine or pigments - and it's fascinating to learn about plants from beyond the borders of District Nine. But she is supposed to have a useful skill to show the Gamemakers, and Maia will be happier if her score isn't completely dismal.
Rapunzel has already disappointed her so many times.
So, on her second day in the training hall, she wanders in the direction of the combat and physical-training stations and has a curious look around. The Careers are dominating the weapons stations, and Rapunzel knows she won't impress anyone with a sword in her hand.
Instead, she finds herself among the gymnastics mats, surrounded by high bars and balance beams. Some of the tributes here are having trouble, struggling to swing from one ring to the next or wobbling wildly on the high bar with their arms thrown out to each side. She can see the Gamemakers in their elevated stands, but none of them are paying attention to the little girl from the Grain district.
If nothing else, this should be fun. And best of all, most of the tributes practicing here are barefoot. Rapunzel kicks off her shoes with considerable relief, and sits down on a mat to stretch.
There's a climbing wall at the back of the gymnastics area - a real climbing wall, the sort that Capitol athletes use - and Rapunzel makes a beeline for it once she's warmed up. She's always loved climbing, but aside from a few trees and the grain silos at home, there was never much to climb on.
The resin handholds and toeholds are rough to the touch, but pleasantly secure. Rapunzel digs in her bare toes and climbs with relish, hand over hand, enjoying the way her muscles strain as she pulls herself steadily higher. It's a little disappointing when she finally reaches the top; she sighs, and hauls herself up and over the edge, onto the top of the wall.
To her surprise, she's not alone up here. There's another girl, about her own age, sitting with her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped around them. She has the most amazing tumble of gingery curls that Rapunzel has ever seen, and her blue eyes are wide; she seems just as surprised as Rapunzel to have company.
"Oh!" Rapunzel exclaims. "Sorry! I didn't realize anyone else was up here." She tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and gives the girl a friendly smile. "You must like to climb, too. What district are you from?"
The girl looks perplexed, but after a pause, she replies, "Seven."
"Well, that explains it," Rapunzel says. "You must have miles of trees, right?" She mirrors the girl's posture, knees drawn close; it's a comfortable position from which to survey the hall around them. They're almost on a level with the Gamemakers, up here. She can see the brilliant red cherry in one woman's cocktail glass.
"Aye," the girl agrees. They sit in silence for a few minutes, watching the activity below, and then she ventures, "And where do ye call home?" She's got an interesting accent, sort of musical.
"I'm from District Nine," Rapunzel says.
"Ah." The girl hesitates, then smiles wryly at her. "I expect ye've got miles o' wheat?"
It surprises a laugh out of Rapunzel; a few of the Gamemakers glance over with suspicious looks on their faces. Maia would tell her not to act like a silly girl in front of the people who will be evaluating her tomorrow, but Rapunzel is too pleased to care. "Oh, definitely," she agrees, cheerfully. "Miles and miles of it. Plus barley, and rice, and every kind of grain you could imagine. If you climb to the top of the silos, the fields look like a quilt spreading right out to the horizon."
"It sounds fair lovely," the girl says, with a little sigh. The Gamemakers are certainly paying attention to them now. One of them is talking urgently into a device on his wrist. The girl glances up at the ceiling, and Rapunzel follows her gaze up to a slatted air vent in the roof. It's hardly six feet above them.
"Think they'd catch us if we climbed right out o' here?" the girl says. There's a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.
Rapunzel wrinkles her nose. "In about ten seconds," she says, and they both laugh. It's not really funny, but the laughter is a blessed release for some of the tension of the last few days, and Rapunzel is grateful for it.
"You two!" A trainer on the ground is waving up at them. "Get down from there!"
"Ach, bet ye they'll move it now," the girl mutters, with an exasperated laugh. She stands and peers over the edge at him, then looks back up at the grating in the ceiling. Then, quite deliberately, she reaches up and slaps it. The metallic clang echoes around the training hall.
"Hey! Stop that!" The trainer is waving both arms, now, looking as distressed as if they were trying to set the entire Training Center on fire. The girls catch each other's eyes, and burst out laughing.
They'll probably pay for this on their evaluation scores, Rapunzel thinks, as they climb back down under the Gamemakers' disapproving eyes. But there's something profoundly satisfying about tweaking the Capitol's nose, even just a little.
Especially when she's not alone.