To Iacopo : I modified the structure of the scene with Snow shortly after your review. They were in Snow's office and there were guards. You were absolutely right, the original setting was lazy.
*Cough* Long chapter alert. It's broken into scenes as usual, so you shouldn't get lost.
Thanks for all the reviews, I hope you'll stick with me until the end of this story^^.
Year 65, August. Five days after Finnick's return to Four.
Mags heard the door open. She stood up, thinking Lorelei or Cereus had forgotten something.
She stopped when she saw it was Tyna and Angelo, dark bags under their eyes.
"Mags, this can't go on," Angelo said. He looked terrible. Mags had wondered what it would be, a victor with living parents. It wasn't fun at all.
Mags invited them to her living room, feeling hollow. Already it killed her, this exile, not leaving Victor's Village anymore. With Esperanza alive and Finnick happy, it would have been barely bearable, but now…
She swallowed and forced herself to be grateful for what she still had. Cereus, Finnick, and she was certain Four would rise, and that Glynn and Plutarch had a plan.
"We're not equipped to deal with the boy," Angelo continued.
Finnick and his parents had moved in the newly opened mansion across from Gilly's. Finnick spent his days gardening, planting bushes and arranging hedges. Mags suspected he'd dig a pool or paint the roof when he'd be finished with the rest. He had too much energy to stay still, too much pain to dare to think. Chelsea and Eirene had been depressed after their victory, Finnick was hyperactive.
Mags spent as much time as she could by him, but there were no magic words.
"Finn is hearing voices," Tyna said, her lips trembling.
Mags winced in sympathy. "Whose? What do they say?"
Tyna bared her teeth. She took a sharp breath, sharing a look with her husband.
"Mags, Finnick is too young to live alone," Angelo said. "You've kept Sol's room as it was, haven't you?"
Surprise made Mags stare. They wanted Finnick to live with her?
"I see it his eyes sometimes, I need you, Mommy," Tyna said. "But it fades so quickly, because it's not me he needs. I can't do this, Mags. I say he hears voices, and for you it's normal, you're so calm. For you, it's… life. He scares me. I'm afraid that if I say the wrong word, he'll hit me and it'd break him."
Mags looked away, unable to meet the eyes of a heartbroken mother. Mags believed Finnick would be better living with her too. Their house was familiar and Finnick needed familiarity, and he needed to talk without fear. But for his parents to ask…
Angelo grasped his wife's hand tightly. "He became yours the day he went to FLASH. In retrospect, it saved his life. But he's yours." The man's face burned with anger.
The accusation hurt, but subconsciously she had known. The moment she had included Finnick in their rebel plans, she'd erected an insurmountable wall between him and his parents. Her nephew and niece. But Finnick had volunteered. It had been the only way to save him.
Already, it had come at so high a price. Mags' eyes misted over as she thought of Esperanza.
"He was born too beautiful," Tyna whispered, her eyes haunted. "Those given too much always have a debt to pay… My Finn, my innocent little, Finn. You had to make a man out of him, Mags, to give him knowledge," she spat. "He's gone, I can't reach to him anymore."
"He doesn't trust us. He won't talk," Angelo said, his anguished eyes piercing into Mags'. "It's useless to pretend. We'll go back to live in our house. Victor's Village is for victors and there's a reason it's not part of town. Take good care of him. We'll visit."
Mags wished she could hold him back, but she couldn't find words.
Tyna chuckled hoarsely. "Was Esperanza the first of many? Should we visit at all?" She turned around, not waiting for an answer.
Angelo stayed, his usually calm face disfigured by a hateful snarl. "How did Nana Angelites do it? How did Mama cope, being the little sister of a new victor? Are we so much weaker than them that we don't know what to do? My son hears voices," he said, his voice rising. "Finn killed a little girl, two little girls. I know they make it all sound so much worse," he snarled, "but my boy is a cold-blooded murderer and now he's hearing voices and he lies, and he had to make an effort not to strike his own mother. I don't know what to do!"
His chest heaved, ragged breaths exiting his lips, as Mags remained silent.
Esperanza, Mama, yes, they had been stronger. So much stronger than her loving nephew. Hate, hate directed at Snow, at Achlys and her Hunger Games, surged in her chest.
Mags' heart broke as he slammed the door shut. Taking deep, regular breaths, she waited for Angelo to vanish from sight and headed to Finnick's.
She dreaded the state he would be in. At least she knew he wouldn't harm himself.
She found him on the ground, crouched against the wall, his hands over his head. Sadness washed over her. A little boy. He was still a little boy.
"Finn, you're moving in with me," she said softly.
"I promised," Finnick whispered. "I promised I wouldn't break."
Mags snorted, she couldn't help it. "You're hardly broken. Your parents have always been sheltered, they are panicking but there is no cause."
"They both were at FLASH," Finnick said, defensive now.
"Yes, Tyna was neglected and instead of reproducing the scheme, she showered you with love and attention and she's a better woman for it," Mags acknowledged. "But your father joined FLASH at fifteen, exclusively to become a whaler. Your mother only befriended those who were accepted through the test, not those from backgrounds she felt were dangerous."
Mags crouched next to him, her joints reminding her that the floor was much too low. "Finn, people tend to be scared of what they don't understand. They amplify things they find odd. Hearing voices is quite common among people who grieve, even more among people who are terribly confused by traumatizing events. The mind, like the body, gets wounded, but it heals. Your parents are decent people, normal people, but they're not doctors, and they feel lost."
Finnick flinched. "It doesn't feel like it's healing."
"Of course it doesn't. You don't feel up for a swim when you have a nasty cold, do you?" Mags said, gently brushing his hair away from his face.
Finnick finally turned to stare at her. "I hear Delfina, sometimes Lito Adrian, but they're not so bad, they're not… accusing me." Finnick stopped and Mags held her breath, her hand grasping his. "I hear… I hear him. Snow. He wants me to… to answer questions. He's not leaving, he tells me I can't hide. I woke up thinking he was here, in the house. I was out of my mind. Then I... Mama was only trying to help." Finnick's eyes began to shimmer. "I made her cry."
Mags soaked up the information, her heart hammering. A small smile then lit her lips. His guilt had chosen Snow. Snow was the fear of failure, the fear it had been for nothing. Snow proved that as long as they succeeded, Finnick didn't regret it. Snow they could silence.
"Finnick, come home, and we'll shut up the President of Panem."
Finnick let out a strangled laugh. He finally stood up.
Year 65, August. Eight days after Finnick's return to Four.
The hail fell in hard pellets on her umbrella.
Mags missed FLASH. She missed it viscerally. Days after Esperanza's funeral they had stationed Homeguard around Victor's Village, and only those who lived there –with the exception of Angelo and Tyna - could come in. Her and Finnick were not allowed out at all. Lorelei and Cereus were her salvation, her link to FLASH, to the rest of her family, but they were searched every time they left and entered, they could bring no letters, nothing.
She dedicated herself to Finnick, knowing she would already have spent most her time by him anyway. Finnick who hadn't seen his friends since he'd come back. It was just a matter of time, Mags knew, before Marina and Shale decided to climb the cliffs at night, dragging the others with them.
Mags begged them to be careful, and patient.
She was hurrying towards the very men, her arms shaking under the hail's assault. Her umbrella would tear at any moment.
"Gentlemen," she called. "It won't stop for a while. Call your colleagues. Come inside, you'll get hurt."
And they would, their uniforms protected them well from the sun, not bruising chunks of ice.
They had been huddling below a tree, protecting their heads they could. Soon they were running towards Mags' house.
Mags found herself having tea with eight Homeguard, all men in their late twenties. She had learned their names and now she begin to make them see her, and every district dweller, as human.
"Where do you come from in the Capitol? Sergeant Anytos?" She added when no one spoke first.
"Northside," the burly Sergeant, Anytos, replied.
Mags looked impressed. "You've climbed up in the social ladder, must have been born poorer than all the brave men you're leading."
The others rolled their eyes at their officer's smug expression as Mags suspected they would. They made a tight-knit squad. It would be easier to win them over, none would betray their colleagues as long as no serious line was crossed.
"So you know of Northside's reputation for homing the honest poor of home," Anytos said appraisingly.
Next to Mags, the soft-looking Hermes shrugged. "Socialites talk a lot. She probably knows more gossip than us."
Mags cracked a smile. Quite true. "I served Evadne Achlys for over thirty-five years. We discussed a lot of issues. I was to keep the peace and get the District working again after the Dark Days. I was no politician, she helped me get a better view of things."
Mags inwardly laughed at describing her discussions with Achlys as a mentor-student relationship, but the exaggeration would only do good. These soldiers saw her as a victor first and as a potentially dangerous district woman second. It made familiarity possible.
"What was it like, right after the Dark Days?" Anytos wondered.
Mags gave a rueful smile. "They called Four Little Eleven back then. Poor, and infested with rebels."
The hail struck hard against the roof as the guards listened eagerly, and Mags counted the days until those Capitol men would loosen the bonds of the propaganda they'd been fed since birth.
Year 65, September. Two weeks after Finnick's return to Four.
The sea's pulse washed into Finnick, filling his empty mind. He could feel the wind, soothing the sun's bite on his tanned skin. He was one with his sensations, a shield against any lingering thought. His lungs rhythmically filled with the tangy summer air.
A pained faraway scream interrupted his meditation.
Finnick bolted to his feet. His soles digging into the sandy grass, he rushed for the cliff.
He froze when he saw the still figures halfway up the hundred yard slope.
An incredulous smile birthed on his lips. Sheller, Marina, Krill. Finnick flinched. Shale. His brief happiness was swiftly replaced by a crushing weight on his chest. They'd seen –What would they think – Finnick's eyes widened in horror.
There was a sixth. Sprawled on the bottom.
"Rhain!" Finnick bellowed, jumping down on the nearest rock and beginning his descent without a care, his fingers and knees scraping against rock.
"Hold!"
Finnick's bleeding fingers dug painfully into the unstable surface. The ground was so far away. He couldn't see what path to take. He clung to the cliff, his heartbeat quickening.
What was he doing there? What was he thinking?
His lips were trembling as they Homeguard pulled him and the others back up. Half the patrol ran with Rhain. He wasn't dead, or they'd be no trip to the doctor for him.
"What the hell, kids?" Sergent Anytos demanded.
Shale was the one who replied, standing before the pale fourteen year olds. "We're his friends. He went in the Games, he has to stay in the Capitol make interviews and fashion shows, his grandmother was murdered and we're not allowed to see him! How does that make sense? We're not dangerous. We just want to see our friend."
"He's a victor now," Anytos said gruffly. "Orders are he and Mags stay here and only his parents may visit."
"Visit often, do they?" Shale snapped.
Finnick winced. They'd come once since that night. He could see it, they'd find excuses, to make it longer between visits. He'd always known how to talk to people, but every time he saw his parents now, the silences grew.
Liars are lonely people.
Finnick grit his teeth. "Shut up, Snow."
His Ma was afraid of him, they both were. The thought was a choking weight around his neck. He tried not to think of it.
"Murdered?" It was Hermes, the one who sounded rich.
"Well duh. You haven't figured out you're the first Homeguard guarding here, ever?" Shale said sardonically. "Esperanza was murdered, to get at Mags, and now she's in prison here, and you're the guards. What did she do? She's always been on the Capitol's side, keeping people from rebelling, doing what the Capitol wanted."
"She saved my life," the words blurted from Finnick's lips. He was staring at Shale, eyes overflowing with gratefulness. Shale knew. He knew. And he'd been trained. Shale knew about angle, he'd explain it to them. They'd not think it was him, being so callous in the arena, finding it fun.
"She kill a Capitolite for you?" Shale said, his voice hitching. "Don't think so. What did she do? She worked for the Capitol so many years, doesn't she at least deserve a bit of justice?"
Finnick stepped back, panic freezing his thoughts. He knew that Shale. The angry one. The Career.
"Why is Mags being punished?" Shale shouted. "Why is Finn being punished! He was what you wanted!"
One of the Homeguard restrained him, grabbing his shoulders. Finnick's eyes widened in fear.
Shale twisted and brought his leg up. The guard groaned and buckled. Shale started, he seemed to wake up.
"Sir, that's Career training, reflexes, I swear," Shale said, his face rapidly losing color. "I apologize, Sir. I don't want to cause trouble," he said, his eyes wide and fearful, "it's just Finn, I -"
Sergeant Anypos had him by the back of his shirt, his large hand white on the twisted fabric. "Kids, you're not meant to be here," he said dangerously.
Finnick was so glad they weren't bad men. Shale really needed to learn control.
"What do the orders mean?" Krill whispered. "Why Angelo and Tyna and not us? We just want to see our friend."
"Are you accustomed to discussing orders with peacekeepers?" Anytos snapped.
They all shut up. Anytos' accent wasn't strong, but it was enough to remind them these were the Capitol's people.
"If we're meant to never see Finn again, you could tell us," Marina whispered sullenly.
"If the orders change, you'll be the first to know," Anytos said sharply.
"Why'd he murder Esperanza though?" Krill said, his eyes piercing into the man. He looked so tiny next to Anytos. Too tiny to challenge an increasingly angry Homeguard. "What could Mags have done?"
Anytos shoved Shale forward. "You'll come with us, nicely now. We'll lead you out of the village."
Finnick needed a brilliant idea. Mags would talk them out of the rule. He sucked in a breath. If he shouted for her, she'd hear him, she'd come. Petrified, he didn't utter a sound. He didn't know what to say. What if they executed one of them? What about Rhain? Would Rhain be okay?
"We're his friends," Marina repeated, spluttering with helpless rage.
"We heard you the first time," Anytos snapped. "That's why you're not cuffed on the ground, girl."
"We're his friends. He's just a fourteen year old thrust in the Games," Shale protested, yanking away from the guard's hold. "We're his friends, can't you see that? Can't you leave us to talk? What are you afraid of?"
"Calm yourself this instant, young man," Hermes said, pressing his weapon on Shale's back.
Shale froze completely.
"Doesn't it bother you," Krill said, his voice shaking but low. "Not to know why? And why did they kill Esperanza Odair?"
Finnick's breath hitched. He knew why. And it threatened to overwhelm him every time. The Homeguard looked ill at ease, but they grabbed his friends, leading them forcefully outside.
Finnick shuddered, panic shooting up his limbs. They couldn't hurt them. Not because of him. Not for something so stupid. He remembered the cannons, tearing through the air.
Marina shook Hermes' arm off. Finnick'd never have messed with her, before, but now, she didn't seem tough. Now, Finnick knew she'd die quickly, and he'd not be able to do anything about it.
She opened her mouth to speak.
"Don't risk it!" Finnick cried. "You can see Uncle Cereus, ask him, really, I'll do my best to answer through him." "
They will be found," the voice said. "They will meet the same fate as Esperanza.
Shut up, Snow!
But it wasn't Snow, it had never been Snow. It was him, the part that was always afraid.
"Don't get executed, not for me," Finnick begged, his eyes painfully locked with Marina's.
He'd promised they'd still be friends when he returned. They'd stood there, in the Justice Building, barely able to grasp that he'd refused to step down, and they'd all promised.
The guards, all eight of them now, were dragging them away. Finnick desperately begged that this wouldn't be goodbye. How long would Snow keep him caged ?
"Why didn't they just kill you, if it's just to lock you up!" Marina shouted as Hermes restrained Finnick by the fence marking the Village's edge.
Finnicks nails dug into his palms. Would Rhain be okay?
"If they weren't my friends, they'd be safe," Finnick told Mags. She'd been too late.
It was almost like losing Nana Esperanza all over again.
Year 65, September. A month after Finnick's return to Four.
Mags hungrily latched to Cereus' every word. She was starved from the outside world. Only Gilly, and sometimes Nori, also stayed during the day. She wouldn't let the others remain just to keep her company. It wasn't company Mags needed. She needed Chelsea and Eirene to be her eyes and ears. She loved them dearly of course, and Finnick even more, but she feared she would lose her mind.
"How long is Boggs staying? Is anyone suspicious of Morgan's late return?"
"His false identity is foolproof," Cereus reassured her. "He's easily mistaken for a sailor, he's a good worker. Morgan had no trouble, the peacekeepers understand nothing of tides."
Mags craved to see Boggs. The soldier who had staged her kidnapping in Twelve a decade before. A small smile danced on her lips. She didn't doubt Cereus had already given him a piece of his mind about that incident.
"How long is he staying?"
"A while," Cereus said. "He has to learn about the Capitol, peacekeepers and just how district trades evolved. With luck, you'll see him before he leaves."
Mags didn't dare hope too strongly. The Homeguard had orders and no matter how sorry or ill at ease they were, they didn't dare give her more freedom.
"A third of our peacekeepers remember Galene, and many more did at least their first year of training there. They've heard. Everyone has heard. They're angry, and they're scared. They wonder who'll protect them now, and if they're really safe. The peacekeepers fear unrest."
But had there been unrest? It had been a month since her little sister had sailed away. An unending, miserable month.
Mags' throat was dry. "Any repression?"
"No, the officers told their men to keep calm and only intervene if there's violence. Nothing major happened, a couple of floggings," Cereus said softly. "They've rounded suspects for civil service, tags have been appearing on walls, from Creneis to Lycorias. Esperanza's name is in half of them."
"He'll rotate the peacekeepers if they're too soft."
"That's what we're looking for," Cereus replied with a smile. "We got word from Glynn."
Mags' heartbeat accelerated.
Cereus smiled. "If the peacekeepers rotate, and the new ones mistreat the population, the peacekeepers born in Four will desert and return home. We're getting it organized, the trains, making sure they arrive together before all lines are blocked."
"It's a show of strength," Mags said with increasing enthusiasm. "We may even not have bloodshed. Any word on the Capitol?"
"There are no rebels in Four, just patriots, people who live to serve their country and who love their homes," Cerus said. Mags blinked when she realized he was reciting. "A man's place is at his home in times of need. Defending it against strangers. We can never know when strangers come, but they'll wait for our homes to be undefended."
Patriots, servants, words for peacekeepers, peacekeepers from Four, who would come back to defend, against strangers, the rotated peacekepeers, those the population didn't know. A population left undefended, because the former peacekeepers would be gone.
"There has been a computer error over here," Cereus continued. "It seems the banks lied for years. The market crashed, as if they'd been an earthquake who'd sucked a quarter of the production of every good into the ground. Syrianus had made investments in the Districts. We're thinking of suing the banks ourselves…"
"The Capitol will finally know that production has steadily been decreasing since Snow came to power," Mags said triumphantly. "I wonder if the banks are really blamed, or if they suspect Snow is behind it." She then stopped to drink in her husband's features, deep affection feeling her with wonder as she encircled Cereus' neck with her arms. "You learned the whole letter by heart?" She exclaimed, a smile dancing on her lips.
"I know it kills you to watch and give counsel through me, love. I'll learn them all by heart," Cereus said softly, kissing her lips.
Year 65, early October, Victor's Village.
Mags managed a smile as she saw Finnick paused to exchange a few words with the guards. He looked relaxed, interacting almost normally.
If he hadn't been there, she didn't know how she could have coped. She couldn't even find solace in the sea. The ocean was outside the village's borders, so tantalizing close. Sol and Larimar had finally been allowed to visit, but Mags remained shut in.
If Finnick hadn't been there, there would have been no disguised rebellion, just a funeral boat with a fourteen year old boy out to sea.
Mags smiled as she greeted him in the garden.
"I want to meet the other victors," Finnick said, cheerfully determined. "Now or never."
Mags nodded. He was ready. He didn't lose himself in thought anymore, or felt the need to exhaust himself running evening after evening. She had begun to teach him Spanish, loving the memories that language sparked, and the glitter in Finnick's eyes as he immersed himself in the lessons.
"Gilly's spend the last month waiting just for this moment," Mags said with a grin.
Gilly answered their knocking, a huge grin lighting her face. "Our first baby boy! Want to see my house?"
Finnick nodded, nervously hiding before Mags, unsure where to stand.
"Don't feel off balance," Gilly said, looking quite girly for her thirty years. "You're a victor now. You can get to know the true me. The one that, you know, talks."
Finnick snorted, a smile making his way on his lips. "I'm honored."
His eyes grew wider and wider as he realized what an utter mess Gilly's house was. Only the kitchen and bath were spotless, but the rest was covered in papers, discarded clothes, books half read and things bought and barely used. Gilly had tried mechanics and painting, music and gymnastics, partition notes were messily stacked below uneven bars.
On one of the piles, lounged a large black cat, Nori. Mags almost tripped on her cat-namesake. A fluffly white thing which zoomed about without ever tiring. Gilly chose her cats very carefully.
"I'm good at piano," Gilly said, her bunches bobbing up and down. That woman didn't walk, she hopped around. "Really am, can replay catchy themes from ear. Unfortunately, the tunes that stick are tribute themes from the recaps or other, and then I get angry and decide I'd rather learn archery."
Gilly sighed at the burn marks on the piano tail and Finnick swallowed, visibly wondering just how such anger could involve fire.
Mags was glad to see the indirect reference to the arena had not sparked a deep reaction. He was ready.
"You have an archery range?" He weakly said.
Mags grinned at his disbelief. It was a miracle Gilly hadn't skewered one of her cats with the arrows.
Gilly nodded. "There's a target at the end of the corridor on the second floor. It's long enough. I barred the windows nearby because I was a lousy shot and thought adding a fan to mimic wind was fun," her expression betrayed that she still thought it fun. "But it got quite gloomy, so I added light. I destroyed one of the lamps, last time, so watch it if you walk barefoot."
"You know who you should bring here," Finnick finally said. "Annie Cresta. She'd be delighted to search through everything even if that meant cleaning it all."
Gilly stiffened, her eyes dulling in warning. "If she wins the games, then gladly."
Finnick paled, his jaw tightening in anger. Mags squeezed his arm. Rhain had been shaken but fine, walking within days, it had been just a shock, but Mags knew Finnick mourned his friends. He hadn't asked, to include them in their plans, instead he grieved, holding to the thought that at least they understood.
Eirene had told Mags she worried about Shale most of all. He had too much anger now, to keep it all bottled in.
"Want to see the work I do?" Gilly asked, breaking the painful silence. "Mags hinted she'd hatched a rebel."
Mags rolled her eyes at the wording.
Papers piled up so high on Gilly's desk, a desk the size of a dinner table, that someone could have been working behind it and no one would know.
"This." Gilly said with a grin. "I don't need a social life. Pick one, they're arranged by date and subject."
They're arranged? Mags smiled. If she squinted, she could indeed see rough organized piles.
Finnick took the first letter.
Mrs. Mags,
There's this man, peacekeeper, tall, red-haired, I think he's from One. He keeps popping at the Blue Finn for "searches". Smells fishy to me. Figured someone should know. Heard you did stuff about it.
From Alouette.
"What?" Finnick said.
"Alouette is a village out of Orithyia, the peacekeeper was just romantically seeing the woman. If it had been a city. We'd have needed much more information to find the people involved."
"So all the letters are like –" Finnick waved his free arm in a circle, a puzzled frown creasing is brow.
"That's most of them, but a minority are much more interesting," Gilly said, straightening with a mysterious air.
Mags bit back a laugh as Finnick curiously unfolded the letter he was handed. If Gilly hadn't been so shy, she would have been a comedian.
Victor Mags,
Kenn Lennor is a rebel. I told peacekeepers, three of them, they wouldn't listen, my proof isn't good enough to them, one almost threatened me. Kenn's cunning and a liar. He won't be caught unless someone goes really looking.
Finnick's eyes widened as the letter underlined every action and word of Kenn's that could be construed as proof. "People tell you that stuff?"
"We try to answer as many as possible. Or at least show people we've read them, give a word of comfort, some follow up."
"You should see my penmanship," Gilly boasted. "Finn, to start off, you need to understand Four. Read what people say, get a feeling of the District. Many ask for money or favors, or complain about neighbours, peacekeepers, supplies –"
Mags' chest constricted, because none of the letters were new. The postman went to FLASH now, and word was spreading to every city and village. Mags wasn't allowed to help them anymore.
"It's gossip," Finnick cut in, staring at the towering piles of letters in awe.
Gilly laughed. "Yes, it's gossip. Years and years of gossip that help us identify problems, trends... We sift through it to find the nuggets. We've recruited people like that, avoided trouble. Trust me, you learn to find it fascinating, even when there's nothing to it."
"Finn," Mags said, taking out the green folder for FLASH recruits and flicking through it.
To the attention of Victors Mags,Nori and Gilly.
I'm a teacher in Orithyia. Krill Cody is my best student this year and soon to turn eleven. His memory is incredible, I have never encountered anything like it.
Finnick's eyes widened as he recognized his friend's name.
He frequents the sailor and fisherman boys but it is clear that it is because his parents demand it than through any wish of his own. His family situation is not alarming but it clearly is a bad environment. He won't go to your recruiter, and I don't want to expose myself. Below, his full address.
"So all the postmen are rebels?" Finnick slowly asked, his green eyes sweeping once more over the sheer mass of letters in the room.
Mags shook her head. "Just discreet. Most of the personal mail is for us. Generally letters deliver taxes or new laws, and there is a fair amount of inter-district communication by peacekeepers, but it's read by other peacekeepers before reaching the final destination."
"And those people you have infiltrated," Finnick said, his expression grave.
"He catches on," Gilly pointed out.
Mags grinned. "Yes. The sailors and their families send letters across cities and so do shop owners, to manage stocks, especially now that the Capitol is cutting supplies and we can't afford any waste. The letters arrive at FLASH these days."
"That's in the red boxes," Gilly said. "Stocks and sales, evolution of prices, head-ache inducing stuff that gets fascinating once you get the big picture."
"Snow froze the prices in the Capitol. They won't rise unless there's a massive shortage," Mags explained. Until Glynn somehow forced a dose of honesty in finance. Mags' smile grew. "But here, prices still follow offer and demand, so problems in other Districts reflect in them. It's subtle, prices won't double, stocks won't halve, but on paper, it's quite visible."
"But you can't tell what caused the rise, can you?"
"That's why we need peacekeeper reports for. They won't risk mentioning serious unrest, but they'll mention weather to their relatives, so we know when it's bad crops, or accidents. It's a global effort." Mags sighed. "And they do get away with being descriptive about rebel captures, executions… The Capitol wants us to live in fear. Rumors and tales enforce the peace as much as the peacekeepers themselves. People don't need to have witnessed first-hand horrors to be terrified."
"What happens if Snow finds this room?"
"Finn, you need to read them, so we can burn them. We always destroyed the most interesting ones, but it's time to clean the place up." Gilly turned to Mags. "Chelsea will teach him to sign? Have you started with Spanish?"
"Claro que si, chica bonita," Finnick said with a wink.
Gilly giggled. "Hey, I learned to tame cats during my first months, there's no pressure, Finn. By the way, I have a present."
Finnick perked up. "A present?"
"Yes, it's for me."
Finnick frowned slightly, but Mags just grinned. She'd already glimpsed a pair of unfamiliar green eyes a couple of times in the last month.
Gilly pulled a large box from under the table and triumphantly raised the kitten above her head.
It was a gorgeous little thing, with soft fur of the lightest brown and green eyes that made Mags shake her head in rueful humor.
"Look at this beauty!" Glynn gushed. "How many strays have you seen that are so pretty?"
"Before or after you started feeding them?" Mags teased.
Finnick chuckled. "You're naming him Finnick?"
"Of course. My first male cat! The ladies will love him."
Year 65, October, Victor's Village.
Finnick tried to mimic Chelsea's fluid gestures. If every avox, every deaf child and adult who'd ruptured their eardrums, could do it, then he would too. But he struggled, the 'words' mixed up in his mind and it was even worse when he started combining them. At least his parents had taught him a little Spanish as a child, speaking in signs was all new.
But learning this was just as exhilarating than mastering the tongue of his ancestors.
"Finnick, you are still using your left hand as you would when speaking," Chelsea said gently.
Finnick huffed, shooting his hands a rueful glare.
Chelsea was soft spoken, a tall and thin lady who'd celebrated her fiftieth year. She was always very elegant and poised, her short white hair and overlarge glasses giving her a slight owlish look.
Gilly was fun, Chelsea made Finnick want to protect her, even if she didn't look in distress.
"You can ask, Finn. It's been years for me," Chelsea said, her voice calm and sweet.
"You've always been the most normal," Finnick said. "You do feel normal, Chelsea."
Chelsea gave a wan smile. "I forgot most of it."
Finnick frowned.
"I forgot. I didn't need drugs, I just forgot. Not everything but… I didn't know who I was anymore, I didn't fit. I didn't want the memories back but without the memories I couldn't make sense of my life. Mags brought me to the orphanage and with the children I can be someone, someone I like to be. I am useful and happy," Chelsea smiled.
"But you mentored, almost as much as Nori."
A veil seemed to fall on Chelsea's face, her lips began to tremble. "Yes. I know I did, I remember some. I remember the children, the train rides..." She shot a look out of the widow, where they could glimpse Mags' house, a wry smile quirking her lips. "I'm told I don't cause trouble." She sighed. "I wish my sister could come back and live here. I think they'll allow it if she sells her house. But, Finn, I am content. Teaching children, bright and stupid, hale, deaf, disabled, happy orphans and sad ones, I do love it."
"That's what matters," Finnick agreed.
"Yes," Chelsea said seriously. "Our lives are not ordinary. I don't want the memories back. In the Capitol hospitals, they call it Dissociative Disorder. I learned to live with it rather than want to heal at every cost. What I do at the orphanage is very real, Finn. That's what matters."
Year 65, October, Victor's Village.
Mags watched the town from her balcony. "How are the new peacekeepers, Lorelei?"
"Normal but they were told to expect blood, to see evil everywhere. The people are being extra polite, we drilled that into their heads hard enough, but there are hotheads on both sides."
"Prices are rising," Mags said, tasting the horrible tension in the air.
"Yes, taxes are going up everywhere. They're not happy, Mags. You kept them calm, you built, found solutions. Now… Now they're angry, they don't have solutions, and they trace it back to Esperanza."
Mags smiled grimly at her daughter. Esperanza's legacy was chaotic and unpredictable. District Four was boiling and hopefully her people could canalize that anger into something productive.
Year 65, late October, Victor's Village.
Mags watched the peacekeepers circle them. There were forty men and women, unarmed, faces tight, marching up to Victor's Village. People had come to talk to her increasingly often. The Homeguards' firm but non-violent refusal encouraged others to try, or at least to stubbornly make themselves known. There had never been a crowd so large.
"What's going on?" Tidel Hitch demanded. The large bearded man sold ropes nowadays. He was a head taller than most of the crowd.
Mags could see Shale right behind him. Her heart raced as she feared the outcome such a show.
"You disappear," Hitch called, staring straight at Mags, "everything changes, prices rise. We don't understand?"
"You're not to understand," a peacekeeper barked. "You're to work and keep your head down."
Mags winced. Creneis town hadn't had his kind for a long time.
"Is it the same everywhere?" Another voice called.
"Disperse, or we'll use force," a Sergeant called.
Mags wondered which ones Cereus had had talked her about, which ones were sympathetic to Four. She wondered where Sergeant Aleyn was now.
"Why can't we speak to her? She's been making decisions for fifty years."
The first peacekeeper whistled, "Fifty," he exclaimed sarcastically, "and you still want to make her work? Why doesn't the younger generation step in?"
"Orders are orders," Mags said firmly from behind the fence. "Please go home."
She could see the fear in the crowd as they huddled together, desperate to know why everything familiar was going away.
Contact between cities had been forbidden. With no coordination between shops anymore, stocks would start to lack and with taxes rising... Winter was slowly coming. The black markets, always dormant, never dead, were alive once more.
Year 65, early November, Creneis Town.
"Do you have a saw, cousin?"
"Third drawer to the left," Alyx Rivers replied, a smirk dancing on her lips.
"You look diabolical, woman," the young man in peacekeeper uniform said as he finished adjusting the planks.
"Sweetie, you have no idea," Alyx said. "Galene, Orithyia, Lycorias and here, eleven hundred peacekeepers, all back. You were late, Triton. I almost thought you wouldn't come."
"They're rounding up those still serving in the Districts." Triton's brown eyes shone with unease. "I'm too young to have known Galene, Alyx. The older men, they left without hesitating when they heard things were getting dangerous at home. Me, I… But then they started rounding us up… It's a terrible strategy."
"Do tell, Sweetie," Alyx said with a smirk. Her eyes remained serious and hard as she double checked the supplies they were concealing below the boards. They'd not starve, even if the Capitol commandeered all the fish, there should be enough to last well into the spring.
"All those peacekeepers have to be replaced, right? Half of us would never have gone back to Four, that's a thousand people. To arrest us, detain us in conditions good enough they can trust us to remain peacekeepers later, and replace deserters and arrested alike in the Districts, they need at least two-thousand peacekeepers or Homeguard."
"And here a hundred and fifty Homeguard have been brought as reinforcements, to watch over deserters, to keep security at the station and the docks tight," Alyx whispered with a growing grin. She patted her bushy blond curls in place, winking at the mirror. Who'd have thought her life would be that exciting at forty-five?
Snow was revealing his insanity for the world to see.
"You're seriously scaring me, Cousin Alyx."
"Do the maths. Creneis has a tenth of the Four's total population. Half the total Homeguard forces have been dispatched all across Panem to deal with this." Alyx opened her arms, her rich laughter filling the house. "And what is this? A few tags, broken radars, but no fights, no property destruction. Just people calmly asking for Mags to be allowed to work once more."
Alyx's eyes were trained on the line of tents surrounding the town. Instead of the horror she had thought she would feel, the fear of all those weapons trained upon her city, she was made light-headed by exhilaration. It was too much. How could Snow not see what he was doing? Was it pride?
"Winter's coming fast. Those pretty boys won't enjoy camping much longer," Alyx said, her smile replaced by a calculating gaze.
"They'll push people out of the houses, claim them as headquarders." Triton shuddered. "They're bored, Alyx. Nothing's happening. Two hundred bored peacekeepers and Homeguard."
"Everything's happening," Alyx countered. "With every shot not fired, with each Capitolites who sees that the only thing we're asking, calmly, civilly, is for the victor who has been administrating this District, with the Capitol's support, for the last six decades. Come, Triton."
The gray tents glowed menacingly in the evening light. Alyx marched for the headquarters, a chill coursing through her veins. She thought of her youngest charges, Rhain, Annie, Barnacle, cohabitating with peacekeepers.
But this was FLASH's purpose. They had had the time to prepare, to warn the students and staff and remove any clue of seditious teachings.
"Where are we going?"
"Sweetie, imagine I'm your Lieutenant for a while, and just observe," Alyx said impatiently.
She knocked at a couple of doors as she passed. Stormborns answered her signal, men with fifteen years of peacekeeping behind them. Alyx hadn't trained them, but her status at FLASH had them obey without question. Alyx could feel herself getting used to the authority. She loved it.
Flanked by five men, Alyx grew tenser with every step. There were so many weapons, so much tension on both sides. If Snow killed Mags now, Four would plunge into war.
"I am Senior Instructor Rivers," she told the men guarding the path to the tents. "I work at FLASH. I have an offer for the Major, regarding your housing conditions."
It was a loud testament of the frosty truce they held, that Alyx was allowed to walk with her guard of peacekeeper deserters deep into the Capitol's army's settlement.
Such a glorious sight, so many Capitolites sleeping on the ground, cooking in the mud and sand. Alyx entered the Major's tent, erasing all trace of amusement or contempt off her face.
"It's unacceptable for Capitol citizen to live in such conditions," she told the officer, her voice firm but her eyes downcast. One man, it would take one ill-tempered man to push them into war. "We have cleared space at FLASH, there is space for all your people. It's not large but there's a mess hall, facilities and heating. You can inspect the building before moving in if it pleases you, Sir."
She so enjoyed buttering them up. They expected it from peacekeepers, from the mayor, but not from regular district citizen. They had this image in their heads, of an inferior species, coarse, lazy, impulsive, and Four's passive resistance was shattering their convictions.
The Major looked stunned. He took a moment to reply. "Where will the students live?" He finally asked.
"The orphanage and volunteer families will provide lodging until this crisis is resolved, Major," Alyx said. "Peacefully, I hope."
The Major nodded. He was a handsome man, perfect skin, perfect teeth, elegant clean hands. Alyx could get used to those Capitol types. "I will lead an inspection tomorrow of the early morning, Instructor," he said. "I expect you to be there."
"We are all happy to serve," Alyx said, bowing her head. She was so proud of her straight face.
A triumphant smirk lit her full lips once they were back in town. "He's not a bad sort, the Major."
Hopefully Galene, Lycorias and Orithyia would not muck this up.
Year 65, November, the Capitol.
November was the month the peacekeepers from District Four deserted and returned home. November was the month every inland trade route to and in Four was blocked.
But they couldn't block the sea. Vessels remained beyond the horizon line, coming in at night, smuggling a little in every fishing ship, a shirt and a can of fruit to every man, things easy to hide and bring home. Little by little, the people of Four stored for the winter and the spring to come.
November was the day something small began furiously passing from hand to hand in the Capitol. Evading notice.
Nevaeh clutched the records to her chest. She giggled, adrenaline making her heart rush. She couldn't believe she'd spend so much money without checking first, but if it was true… Ignatius wouldn't dare swindle her, would he? She'd find him easily anyway, and she'd still tell Mom the truth then. Nevaeh would be grounded for a month, but Ignatius would wish he'd never been born once Mom was through with him.
Her stomach was full of butterflies as she thought of Finnick Odair. He wasn't like the boys in her class, so immature and ignorant, he was handsome, strong and loyal and he didn't waste time on things which didn't matter.
And he'd been so modest, such a good listener. His gorgeous eyes looking at her so gently.
She couldn't wait for the Victory Tour.
She settled on her bed, inserting the record in the screen above. Her lips hurt from grinning as the video lit up. The excitement was killing her. Ignatius had been so mysterious.
"Plutarch, did you send that trident?"
Nevaeh squealed. She slapped her hand over her mouth to avoid alerting her mother. Stupid!
It was the Gamemakers room!
"Of course, it's paid for," Plutarch Heavensbee said. That man was so funny. Neveah loved the reruns of his show, all those families that went to him to solve their problems. He'd already been fat then, a big teddy bear.
"Why? Is it too early?" Plutarch said, looking up from the console.
"Four had only half the credits. The mentors seem to all have geared their money to District Four."
"What?" Seneca Crane said, furrowing his brow.
Nevaeh checked the door was solidly locked, her heart racing. She'd thought it'd be an uncut interview about Finnick or something. Ignatius hadn't been very forthcoming… But wow, this was so much more exciting!
She grinned when the camera switched to what had to be the mentors' room. Worth. Every. Penny.
"The prices are low this year." It was Mags, she didn't look so good but Nevaeh could hear her awe.
Finnick! They were staring a screen with Finnick. It was after the bloodbath, Nevaeh remembered perfectly now. She clapped her hands together. All the victors, they were all in there!
"It's not how the Games are played," Brutus said. "But you may die of old age before we have another occasion to repay the debts."
Nevaeh gasped. Lyme was smiling, really smiling, Nevaeh wracked her brain but she couldn't remember seeing Lyme smile like that. She was still terribly plain and broad and awesome, but she looked different in that room.
"You… the money came from you?" Mags said hoarsely.
"From all of us," Seeder said. Nevaeh blinked as the woman smiled. They never saw Seeder, she sure wasn't Nevaeh's favorite victor. But she looked so nice now.
"I think the middle tip is my money's worth."
Nevaeh's eyes widened when Haymitch flipped the camera off but her brain was working furiously.
The trident was a favor to Mags?
Nevaeh watched hungrily as Mags kissed Brutus' cheek and then all the victors.
Nevaeh shifted to be more comfortable on the bed. They were back in the Gamemaker's room and Seneca Crane was such a handsome man.
"Midas, set Four's credits to nil. Freeze it so incoming sponsor money won't add to the total."
Nevaeh sucked a sharp breath. What?
"Should we tell people to stop sponsoring District Four?" Plutarch said after a pause.
Nevaeh furiously checked the date on the corner of the screen. That had been the morning of the last day, before she'd sponsored! Thieves!
Seneca chuckled. "Why? The arena for the 66th will be grandiose."
"Are we to send in a mutt?" Gamemaker Midas asked. "He could win still."
A mutt, on her Finnick? Nevaeh bared her teeth.
"No, Midas, no. I love Finnick, he's so marketable," Seneca said with a wide smile. Creepy. "The President does not want him to lose. But he didn't appreciate the stunt with the trident. Mags should have known better."
Nevaeh shivered. Snow wasn't happy?
Her eyes flew wide as the scene changed.
A peacekeeper in a cell, on the floor. It was impossible to tell where. He was beaten up, not too badly, but enough for Nevaeh to tense in fear. Blood trickled down his jaw and all over his uniform. There was another man, a masked man in a black suit. A Capitol suit.
"I gave Esperanza Odair a vial of poison," the peacekeeper grunted out. "It was orders! I do my job, I'm loyal."
"I know. And what did Esperanza Odair do to deserve such an ignoble death?"
Esperanza? Should Nevaeh know? What was this doing in the video? He'd said it'd be about Finnick!
"She's Mags' sister. Why don't you ask her?" The peacekeeper spat blood. "I know what I was told. He said Mags had to learn her place."
Nevaeh didn't have the time to recover from shock. The image switched to the Capitol. To someone long dead.
Evadne Achlys. Nevaeh's breath hitched in awe. There was Mags there too, she was young, thirty or forty. They weren't in the President's office though. It looked more like an apartment, maybe the victor's tower.
"Four's peacekeepers are up to standard. Well done, that center in Galene will serve us well." Achlys smiled slightly. "Although do we need them now that there are no rebels left in Four?"
Mags chuckled. "I'm thrilled to have managed to bring stability to the District. People all have houses and jobs, they're producing much more and they're content, a content population doesn't feel the need to rebel."
"As I try to tell those short-sighed idiots who want me to solve everything with crippling taxes and mass executions," Achlys said.
Mags frowned. "But who would they execute?"
"Rebels." Achlys said brightly. "Those same people blame everything on rebels instead of taking just blame for their shortcoming. They imagine rebels grow inside quaint little district dwellings and that rounding people up is how the peace is kept."
What was this about? Nevaeh's nose was inches from the screen. It was Achlys again, but she had white hair now. And she looked furious.
"I don't appreciate forged documents undermining my decision."
"Victors Vicuña and Mags are a danger to Panem."
It was President Snow! Obviously not President, but Nevaeh couldn't help the sweat pearled on Nevaeh's brow. Why had Ignatius sold her this?
"So dangerous you have to forge evidence to get some support, Mr. Snow. I'll humor you. Imagine Mags' power be removed. What happens to Four then?"
Snow squared his jaw. "If we need more peacekeepers to control the population, we can recruit -."
"A population that is too fearful and beaten down produces less. Peacekeepers need to be recruited from the workforce and paid. How do you propose we pay them or meet with the dearth of seafood, glass and pearls?"
"Raises taxes."
Achlys laughed. "Mr. Snow, you want me to dispose of Mags and Vicuña because you can't stand the idea of district women in charge of anything, even if they serve us, and serve us remarkably well. You don't care about the Capitol, Mr. Snow. You simply care about hurting the Districts."
Snow's face was stony and furious, but Nevaeh realized he really didn't dare to say anything more. President Snow, being given orders to. It was so crazy.
"Mr. Snow, if you spread such lies again, you will be executed. I am sparing you because you are young, and because some maturity may turn you into a huge asset for this country."
Nevaeh could barely breathe. She blinked, realizing President Snow -the President Snow she knew- was talking to a man she didn't know.
"I want every man and woman Achlys recruited from the Districts sent home," Snow ordered. "The eleven exceptions are on this sheet. There should be eight-three of them. Everyone will be gone within the week. Their spouses, if they are Capitol born, can either follow them or stay here. Minor children will be placed with relatives in the city if both parents elect to leave."
"Yes, Sir. Were I asked to give a reason, what should I say, Sir?"
"The Capitol is grateful for their service, but they're not needed anymore. Capitol citizen will take over their posts." He turned to one of the peacekeepers at the door. "Lieutenant, go find Victor Mags, I want to make sure she knows her place."
Nevaeh paused the video. Her fingers were trembling. But she couldn't not continue, she had to know. Steeling herself, she pressed play again.
Snow was talking to Seneca Crane, in the Gamemaker's control room.
"You will make sure no victor will be able to hand their sponsor money to someone else."
"Yes, Sir. Sir, there have been individuals wanting to acquire Finnick but he seems to have exclusive contracts which prevent him from being sold for company until his sixteenth birthday."
"Excuse me?" Snow said, his voice dropping to hiss. "Who drafted those contracts?"
"Victor Mags assuredly. He's her nephew and she has the connections."
Snow's eyes lit with fury. "We've seen enough of that woman."
Nevaeh shivered violently.
The scene shifted back to the peacekeeper and his masked executioner.
"Who the fuck are you anyway?" the peacekeeper demanded, wiping blood away with his sleeve. "You sound Capitol."
"Bingo. I'm a Homeguard. A Homeguard with a family whose wealth depends on District Four going well. I want to know why everyone I give a damn about will soon be ruined. And it all leads to you."
Nevaeh's hands balled into fists. Ruined?
"She was an old woman. What's all this circus about?"
"Mags has been keeping Four together," the Homeguard patiently explained. "Four's rebels have been few, for decades it all went swimmingly, and now… Now she is not permitted to leave Victor's Village and people are talking. Rumor has it her sister Esperanza was murdered, she was so healthy and she just dies at home, no autopsy, nothing. The Homeguard arrive, the prices and taxes rise, all the peacekeepers rotate and there's no one to turn to. See why people aren't happy?"
The man on the floor nodded, wiping a trickle of blood from his chin. He spat on the floor.
"For fifty years Mags has been telling her district: rebels are fools and criminals, you work hard, the Capitol will reward the citizen that work for Panem's greatness. And we got wealthy. For decades, she served Achlys, some say she was one of the few people Achlys just said good about."
"I don't know Snow's mind," the peacekeeper grunted. "Just let me leave. I told you what I knew."
"Everyone who's been living off Four's taxes will lose everything. Everyone's who's speculated on Four's goods is being dry-fucked in the ass."
Nevaeh winced.
"And all that because Snow got irritated by an old lady who just didn't want her nephew to die in the Hunger Games or become a slut before he got legal. But worse, people in Four think that even if they behave, Snow will just kill them, because he feels like it. They've been asking for Mags, they know she keeps things working well. Instead of allowing Mags back, Snow's sending an army."
"I just followed orders!" The peacekeeper said. "I didn't want them to punish my family if I didn't do it. Someone else would have killed Esperanza either way," He pushed himself up and pressed himself against the wall when the other raised his gun.
"No recruits from FLASH because contact between cities is cut. Is this also the end of the Careers from Four? Why? Why am I losing my money? Four was good enough for Achlys, why isn't good enough now? Most of all, why is it being made worse?"
"You going to kill me?" The peacekeeper said hoarsely.
"No, you're just a man doing his job. Snow will probably get you killed though for talking to me, by another man doing his job. Enjoy your last days of freedom."
Nevaeh realized she was crying from stress and fear. It wasn't possible. How could all this happen and they not know?
The screen showed District Four. There was the sea at the back, so definitely Four. She'd heard her mother had gone, when that had been possible. Nevaeh wondered what it had been like, those short years Zephyr had been President.
She recognized the weather radar from her classes. It was broken, violently dismantled. Ugly black letters covered the huge disk.
Mags and Achlys gave us radar when we stopped rebelling. Give us Mags, back.
There was an RIP Esperanza, smaller, more carefully written, underneath.
The screen went black.
Nevaeh couldn't believe her eyes. This was- She licked her dry lips. This was -. This wasn't -.
This wasn't fun. But it was about Finnick, Ignatius hadn't lied, but no wonder he'd been twitchy. This was serious, more serious than anything Nevaeh had ever been confronted to. Was there going to be a rebellion? Why wasn't Snow telling them anything? Why didn't he just free Mags?
She made a copy, two for good measure, and hid them. Then she brought the disk to her Mom.
"Mom, how much money do we lose if District Four stops producing?"
Her mother raised her eyebrows, but she liked when Nevaeh wondered about money.
"District Four is one of the solidest districts," she said confidently. "There's a constant renewal of factories, homes, ships and the radars avoid loss of shipment due to the elements, Nevaeh."
"Mom, you should see this."
Her mother's mouth was frozen in shock as the video played out. "Neveah, who did you get this from?" She whispered.
"A guy at school," Nevaeh said, wondering if she was about to get grounded until the rest of her life. "He got it from someone else. He just told me it was about Finnick."
Her mother nodded. "Give it to as many people as you can," she finally said, her voice trembling.
"Why?"
"Because, you fool girl, unless there's hundreds and hundreds of views, all of those who have seen it will be made to keep silent."
Nevaeh bit her lips, tears welled up in her eyes. "You want to forget this?" They could buy the pills.
Her mother shut her eyes. Nevaeh shivered. She didn't like seeing the woman so angry.
"No, we can't afford to," her mother said. "District Four is crumbling. We need to take action before the market collapses any further. When enough people will know..."
"It's nothing we really need to survive. Just fish," Nevaeh mumbled. She wondered if they'd catch that Homeguard and say who he was.
Her mother scowled. "Don't be stupid. The moment you invest and buy actions, it's never just fish. Give it to me. We'll make copies."
Year 65, Late November, the Capitol.
Avox 6329 poured steaming coffee into the porcelain cups and faded in the shadows. Invisible, his kind was invisible.
"The montage is unfortunately excellent, General. The parallel between Achlys and Snow … The futile reasons for his imprisonment of Victor Mags... This video is a political sniper bullet."
"I wish it was just political, Caesar. In Four, the Homeguard are finding the locals sympathetic. If the President orders them to shoot, we may even have mutiny."
Avox 6329 remained impassive, but behind those dull eyes, Leshy crowed with triumph. The dreams were solidifying into beliefs now. The tall trees of home, the chirps and songs and wilderness. He'd see them again.
"The locals are very united and organized, in every city," Caesar said, irritation and grudging admiration warring on his face. "The Homeguard had come expecting violence, barbarism and scorn. They expected to swoop in and defend Panem. They're can't reconcile that with what they're seeing."
"That's your job, Flickerman, to make people believe what they're supposed to believe."
Caesar shot him a withering look. "I'm not a novelist. These are Capitolites on the terrain, they will speak when they return home. It's the first rule, do not mix the Districts and the Capitol, not if you want me to invent the truth."
The General's face was so tight with fury that Leshy waited for it to snap with barely restrained glee. There had been a time when he'd almost forgotten the life behind these wall, dragging his feet day after day, a shadow of the man he'd once been. Leshy felt alive.
"Four-born peacekeepers learned there was unrest," the General ground out. "They shouldn't have ever known! There are things I must investigate and that I cannot. For a decade, Snow trusted me to know my job. He doesn't anymore. What happened? Why can't that woman have a squad of trusted men around her day and night reporting back and just go about her business in Four like she always had?"
Leshy had never met Mags. He'd never thought much of victors either. But he really, really liked her.
"Any leads on the video?" Caesar said after a pause. It was such a treat, to see him at a loss. "The President cannot afford another one like it."
"We've been seeking voice matches, but a virus paralyzed the computers," the General said leaning back into his chair, looking defeated. "People get irrational when their money is threatened." He chuckled dryly. "You know Mags better than me. What do you think of this, Caesar? Do you believe the hack into the finance systems is unrelated to the situation in Four? The timing couldn't be worse."
"Mags is very sane, very clever and very influent. She was quite upset when her nephew was reaped and I think she was too bold in the way she protected him."
A hard, incredulous smile broke the General's lips. "We're having all this because of a fourteen year old? There has to be someone that can make the President hear reason."
"Plutarch Heavensbee has asked me to organize a meeting," Caesar said thoughtfully. "But it is no secret that he and Mags have a history."
"Heavensbee? He's a psychiatrist. The President believes in science, Caesar, have Plutarch give him the science. I don't want to deal with a rebellion because he doesn't like one old lady. She'll be dead in ten years. He's giving them anger and a symbol. He's destroying his credibility. And if people lose any more money, we won't have to look beyond the city's walls for a rebellion."
No one paid attention to Avox 6329 when he signed the conversation to Avox 1474. Avoxes were invisible, they were beneath notice.
Please review^^.
If something is confusing, do tell. I always find it difficult to figure out how much detail to put in rebellion chapters.