It was late morning, and Thread stood in Peeta's study, as composed as if he was still in a Peacekeeper's uniform instead of a Confessor's sackcloth and placard. After more than two years, the penitent garb was largerly a self-imposed punishment: Most Confessors had long since been allowed to trade the penitent garb for the jumpsuits of the Restorers. The official rationale was that they could better perform their generally menial duties in a functional uniform. Less officially, it was admitted that leaving them on display was upsetting to members of the public tired of reminders of the war. Those who continued to wear the sackcloth and card were increasingly regarded as at best masochists and at worst unreprentant offenders still willing to flaunt the suffering they had inflicted.
"You all know who I am," Thread said. "But you do not know me. I was a ten-year veteran of the Peacekeeper Corps and served for almost 30 years in civil administration. In both capacities, I had earned distinction- and no shortage of enemies- for loyalty, adherence to regulations, opposition to all forms of waste and corruption, and humanitarianism."
"And then you got a whip in your hand," Gale said.
"I enforced the letter of the law," Thread said. "I say that for myself, so you will listen to me. Now, let me begin by telling you a story, a story you have already heard, of the founding of the Ancients, the Cataclysm and the founding of Panem. The Ancients were the greatest of all humanity, if indeed they were truly and fully human. They were wise and beautiful, and they ruled with kindness, showering gifts on those who served them and even on those who vainly defied them, so that those who questioned their goodness were shamed into praising and serving them even more devoutly. So great were the Ancients that they could remake the surface of the Earth to their whims, and even conquer death itself. But their power was not as great as they thought, or else they themselves miscalculated and threw the forces they controlled out of balance, and the Cataclysm was unleashed, and the Ancients were seen no more. For decades and centuries, the land and the people were thrown into chaos, and it seemed that all would be lost, until the Founders opened the Storehouses of the Ancients, restoring the great city that is the Capitol and building Panem from the ashes.
"The story is not untrue. As President Snow used to say, that was what made it useful. Yet, at the same time, it is far from the whole truth. The simple fact is that the Founders of the Capitol were no wiser than the peoples of the Districts, then or since. They knew no more of the ways of the Ancients than anyone else. They simply had the opportunity, and perhaps a modicum of extra cunning and initiative, to try to unlock the Storehouses. Ultimately, they became, to draw on a jest I heard from the young lady, the racoons who found a can opener.
"Now, just think what the analogy entails. It is hard enough for the racoon to open the can. How much harder will it be, then, for the racoon to understand its surroundings, even if it can recognize the questions? Is the house a mansion in a great city, or a watchman's shack in a junkyard? Are the owners dead for years, moved away, gone on a journey, or only out for the night?"
"You're talking about living Ancients," Johanna said. "It's a pipe dream."
"Probably," Thread said. "Yet, how can we really rule it out? We know so little of the Ancients, and even less of what exists beyond Panem's borders. And then, the survival of the Ancients is only an extreme scenario. It would seem very safe to suppose that there are other Storehouses in existence, and eminently plausible that some could hold secrets even greater than those of the Capitol. It is also entirely plausible that there are other human populations outside Panem, who may have found some of these other Storehouses, and perhaps made greater progress in using them. It was debate over these very questions that contributed to the first Rebellion, one hundred years ago."
He held up a map showing two intersecting mountain ranges, forming the shape of a "y". On the east side was District 13. On the west was District Twelve, except the map showed a considerably wider area, which incorporated land that in living memory had been claimed by the Capitol. To the north, directly between the a valley shaded blue. "Even before the Rebellion, 12 was the smallest of the districts by population. But it had the benefit of representation on the Capitol's Advisory Council, a body of elected representatives from the Districts, and very close relations with District 13. District 12's counselors consistently voted with those of 13. One of the last votes taken before the Council was abolished was on whether to send an exploratory expedition into this region, which was known as..."
Gale spoke first: "Hobs Vale. There were places in the woods where we could see into it. Some people said that they saw things. Lights. People in strange dress."
"Yes, there were many stories, even then," Thread said. "The Capitol noted an additional datum." He held up an aerial picture of the joining of the two mountains, where the Town had been built in the midst of worked-out mines. To the north of Town, sprawling all the way past the fence, was a very dense forest with a single clearing, filled by the canopy of a tree with golden leaves.
"The Hanging Tree!" Peeta exclaimed. The others looked to him, and he said, "You remember Katniss's song. Well, she didn't even know until I told her, but there was a place we called the Hanging Tree. My father said it was because it grew up on the site of an old gallows. He said when he was young the kids would go do these rituals, until the Capitol moved the fence back. I went with some friends once to see if we could find a way past the fence, but the forest was too overgrown."
"What is it?" Victoria asked.
"I have absolutely no idea," Johanna said. "I'm guessing nobody else does, either."
"An analysis of the Capitol established that it is one of the so-called `muttations', a genetically engineered organism," Thread said. "It was theorized that it was bred for medicinal purposes, as it was found to produce fruit with opioid properties. The tree may well be the only one of its kind, as its seeds were found to be sterile. Its presence was considered direct evidence of a site of the Ancients, and the Capitol was absolutely against further investigation."
Haymitch laughed. "Of course they were," he said. "It wouldn't do for the other racoons to find a better can opener."
"Neither would it do for a racoon to look for pineapple and find a hand grenade," Thread said. "It was noted at the time that many of the reports of strange phenomena in the valley came from people who subsequently returned to the wilderness and never returned."
"What happened?" Gale said.
"The Capitol's refusal to launch an expedition marked an escalation in tensions between the Capitol and Districts, though it was by then a matter of a slight push on a slippery slope," Thread answered. "When the Council continued to press for an investigation, the Capitol retaliated by abolishing the Council, which was the last straw that brought the Districts to open revolt, beginning with simultaneous insurrections in Twelve and Thirteen. Twelve continued to make important contributions to the Rebellion over the 25 years it took for the Capitol to restore control, and suffered accordingly. At the cessation of hostilities, the District's population had been reduced to 15,000, and 80% of the District's territory was annexed by the Capitol. The survivors were rounded up for menial labor in coal mines whose automated equipment had been damaged or destroyed. The ensuing decades of neglect, mismanagement and outright malice by the Capitol's administrators ensured that the District continued to decline. Many factors contributed, but throughout that time, there was a steady stream of individuals, particularly the young and moderately rebellious, who ventured into the forests and simply vanished.
"It happened in cycles, usually one or two evey other year, but sometimes in larger numbers, with spikes every twenty-five years. It first came to the Administration's attention when a dozen disappeared at the first Quarter Quell. Recruitment by Thirteen was suspected, and this strengthened support for the Administration's consolidation of power. By the time a score disappeared at the second Quell, we were already convinced that something else was afoot. When fifty went missing in the Seventy-Fourth Reaping, the Capitol became truly alarmed. I was sent with express orders to learn as much as possible about the causes of the disappearances, and take all possible steps to prevent it."
"...And then you burned the District down," Gale said.
"Yes," said Thread. "At Snow's personal instruction, I gave the order to liquidate the District and destroy its urban centers... after three hundred Citizens disappeared."