Disclaimer: Sombody call an ambulance. I think I think I just realized I don't own the Hunger Games.
We leave the next day at 3 o'clock in the morning, because I insisted on getting there by sunset. Finnick was not happy when I woke him up at two thirty by pouring a cup of freezing water in him, but he'll be okay.
I walk though the platform and head straight to the training center, which is across the square from the train station, behind the Justice Building. I glance at the watch Marlin gave me for my birthday before my games. The trainees have half an hour left of calls. Perfect.
I walk in on the seventeen year old girls' class. They're training with knives. I wave to Triton, who I guess is the instructor. One girl stands out. As she twirls around with the knife in her hand, her hair shines like new copper coins. Her light, sormygrey eyes gleam. I can see it now. She's a victor. It's in the way she handles the knife, the way she holds herself. I walk over to her.
"You're good with knives. What's your name?" Her eyes go wide when she realizes who I am.
"Grey Oldenburg, ma'am." An apt name for the grey-eyed girl.
"You've got enogh skills to win it big, just like my sister had. Do you want to win?" She nods.
"For my family. we're really poor. Like, an 'if I didn't go to the training center, I wouldn't eat every day' poor."
"I got a tip from... a certain gamemaker who favors a District 4 victory this year. I'd like to train you using that advantage. So would some of the other victors. But you can't tell anyone what you're doing. Come to Victor's Village tomorrow after training. My house is the light green one. We'll have dinner and make a schedule." She nods.
So she comes. I invite Ray and Sandy to eat with us, since they trained Azula on the use of household weapons last year. Sandy has long, sandy-blonde hair, even though she's in her sixties. She won the year before the First Quarter Quell.
Ray is around thirty-five, with a stocky build. He excels in household weapons, because he used them in his arena. He won his games by stabbing a girl with the sharpened leg of a broken chair. His hobby is furniture-making, so he always extra furniture to break.
"Tell us what you're good at, Grey," Marlin asks.
"My friends say I'm smart, and in the past two years, I haven't missed a target with throwing knives."
"Not arrogant about you skills," Ray observes. "That's good." Sandy's mouth twitches. I know her arrogance almost got her killed in her games. She has a scar from her mistakes running from her ear to her mouth, almost like mine, but much more pronounced, thanks to her tan skin. The white line of the scar stands out like a lightning bolt at dusk, while my skin is pale enough that you almost can't see it.
"Sponsors won't be a problem," I say.
While Marlin, Ray, Sandy, and Grey work out a schedule, I put the kids to bed. River and Kai go easily to their dakr-blue room. They fall asleep almost immediately. I brush Rivi's hair before tucking her in.
"Mommy, when is Aunt Azula coming home?"
"She-" My voice fades away as I collapse onto the foot of her bed and burst into tears. The door opens and Marlin steps in. He sees me, walks over, scoops me up in his arms, and carries me to our room, where he lays me down on our bed. Then he goes back into Rivi's room to tell her that Azula's not going to be coming home ever again.
When he comes back in, I notice that his eyes are red. We throws himself down on the bad next to me. I nestle my head into the crook of his shoulder, and he turns his head and presses his warmlips to my forehead. I drift off slowly.