II
Finnick and Shad were always very popular in the village. When they let me tag along with them on some errand, I remember I felt a little bit like a queen because all the boys would look at me and all the girls would, for once, be jealous of that "odd little Annie girl".
But I guess I had one thing in common with the other little girls because I can't remember a time when I didn't love Finnick Odair. He wasn't my brother, he didn't have to be kind to me, but he was. All of Shad's other friends, and even boys my own age, ignored me, as did most of the village children. I used to make elaborate crowns out of seaweed and shells that I was proud to wear for everyone to admire, although hardly anyone except Shad ever did.
And Finnick.
I think I was six when Finnick came home with Shad for the first time. During my daily sojourn to the beach that morning I had made a lovely seaweed crown, one that I remember being particularly proud of though I have trouble picturing it now. But I had been wearing it all day and I was wearing it then, limp and beginning to make my hair stink with its decay, as I set the table; my mother had long given up trying to get me to throw it out.
Finnick was a polite boy. Even at ten, he could charm the morals out of a person. He certainly made a good impression on Mother, who actually blushed to be praised so for the quality of her cooking. Then, he turned to me and said I had a fine gift for crafts and could I show him how it was done? I was quite dubious about the request, my talents weren't very broad and I didn't think he meant it. In fact, I quite withered within myself from bashfulness. But he did mean it and after dinner, the three of us went down to the beach and I showed them how I made my seaweed crowns.
Do you remember when I taught you, my darling?