Chapter 56: Response
Peeta has taken his leave of Katniss and the children to travel back to the Capitol with Gale and Haymitch. It was an emotional moment for all of them. Katniss had held Peeta for a long time when Gale arrived to collect him and she couldn't seem to let him go. The fact that they were parting only for a short while was reassuring, but it was Peeta who had to reluctantly break her hold by gently kissing her and promising Katniss he would be back in a couple of days.
The first meeting in the Capitol has been arranged for the morning after their arrival. As Peeta and Haymitch had arrived late they would not see the other Victors until then. Gale wakes Peeta with breakfast the next morning, which the Victors will be taking in their rooms. Paylor wants as little interaction as possible between them until she can explain the situation, and the ground rules, to them herself. Peeta and Haymitch have been given a preliminary hearing thanks to Gale's visit, but that was necessary to ensure Katniss would be on board with the planning as well. If there was anyone who could cause a problem with the planning, it was Katniss.
Gale arrives to collect Peeta and ushers him into the same room where they'd had that first meeting with Coin over two years ago. They are back to ground zero in relation to Snow and the aftermath of the Rebellion. It seems the whole of Panem is stuck in some kind of time warp, even though people's lives have moved on. Coriolanus Snow is keeping them here and Peeta wonders how different their lives could have been if he had just died when he was supposed to.
All the Victors are present and accounted for, even Annie. Peeta nods in her direction and takes his seat. The group is silent and waits for Paylor to explain the reason for gathering them all again today.
"I have called you all here today for a very important reason. Some of you may already know that we received shocking news recently that Coriolanus Snow did not die in the aftermath of Coin's assassination".
The room is silent. Peeta, Haymitch and Annie all know about Snow. Beetee's suspicions had been aroused when Gale originally asked him to interfere with the communications systems a few months ago, but Johanna and Enobaria had no idea. No one would want to set Johanna off unnecessarily and Enobaria was never counted as one of them anyway.
Johanna is incredulous.
"What do you mean, Snow isn't dead?!" she says.
"We thought he was dead, but his body was never recovered" says Paylor.
Johanna reacts with fury.
"You never recovered his body? And then led us to believe he was dead?! Are you serious?! That means he's had all this time to continue plotting with the Capitol Rebels how he can regain power!" Johanna huhs at Paylor. "You know what I think? I think the whole Rebellion was a farce and so is your Government!" Johanna shouts.
"The Government couldn't afford to let the word get out about Snow. He may have been dead. We just didn't know for sure. If the Government had admitted that, there would have been anarchy" Paylor tells her.
"Anarchy is what you deserve" Johanna replies sarcastically.
Haymitch steps in.
"I think we all need to calm down" he says. "The fact is Snow's survival shocked everyone and it's only recently any of us knew that he wasn't dead. Katniss and Peeta are the ones who have paid the highest price so far for the Government's failure to admit this, and that includes their failure to attempt to find Snow. Gale is the person who discovered and confirmed Snow is still alive".
Gale enters the discussion.
"Only some of you know that Snow surreptitiously captured Katniss nearly a year ago. Just prior to that we had become aware of a new threat against her and were working to find out the source of that threat. None of us, in our wildest dreams, assumed Snow might still be alive. There came a point where we decided a plan needed to be devised to get the Capitol Rebels, especially the prisoners, talking so we could discover who was behind the threat. Incredibly, the intelligence we gained led us back to Snow. We had him within our grasp but Katniss was ill when we rescued her and needed immediate medical attention. We had to leave without capturing Snow and ever since we have been conducting undercover operations to try to locate him. Unfortunately, we have come up with nothing. That means is the original plan we devised now needs to be resurrected".
Paylor continues.
"The original plan that Gale is talking about involved informing the Capitol prisoners that the Games suggested by Coin were going to be held and that the Tributes would be selected from among their own children. Gale carried out a "mock" reaping and that generated a response from one of the prisoners which led us to Snow. Since we were unable to capture him at the time, and he continues to elude us now, we intend to institute that plan again…only this time it will be for real".
The group around the table has remained silent until now. Beetee finally speaks up.
"So it is your intention to hold Capitol Games with the Tributes already selected".
"Yes" says Paylor. "We will go with the current Tributes, except for one who was excused due to the information her father provided. The one who was excused will be replaced with President Snow's granddaughter".
Johanna barks out a laugh which indicates her approval of this ironic twist to the Games.
"Good" she says.
Paylor continues.
"The reason you are all here is because the rule book states that Tributes must have Mentors and the surviving Victors are to be those Mentors".
"You want us to mentor the Capitol's children?" asks Johanna incredulously.
"Yes" states Paylor. "Katniss has been excused due to the recent birth of the Mellark's new son, but the rest of you will be required to play a part. There will be four Tributes to every Victor and we will choose them today".
"I'm not sure what you expect us to do" Annie finally contributes. She has a great deal of sympathy for Katniss and Peeta, especially after hearing the news from Katniss' mother about Pik's diagnosis. Annie also feels, in some way, the Capitol must pay for its crimes…she had lost her wonderful husband in the fight against Snow and now has a son who will never know his father. She is much stronger since Finn's birth and wants a better future for them all.
"We need you to answer any questions they may have, be honest with them about their chances of survival and help them to focus on their strengths in the arena. I need to remind you all, this is about recapturing Snow and not killing Capitol children. If we get information in the meantime to do with Snow's whereabouts then the Games will be called off" Paylor tells them all.
"Will they still get training?" Peeta asks. He can't imagine going into the Arena without any kind of training. At least there won't be any Careers to threaten them, unlike the Games he and Katniss had been forced into.
"Yes" says Paylor. "There will be two weeks of training before the Games and you will begin your mentoring then as well. You will choose your Tributes now. They will each be given a number and when your mentoring begins you will be told their first names only. We will be televising the Games as usual, though it won't be required viewing, so giving the Tributes numbers will ensure there can be no backlash against their families by the general population. The first names are important for you Mentors to know as a name provides the humanity for each Tribute and we don't want to lose sight of who we are or what we fought for in the beginning".
Gale brings forward the bowl with the Tribute numbers. The selection begins.
The Mentors take it in turn, one by one, to choose a name each from the glass bowl. Peeta goes first and, after four selections, each of the Mentors has the numbers of their Tributes. For Peeta they are 16, 9, 3 and 13, for Haymitch – 21, 2, 5 and 10, for Annie – 17, 15, 6 and 23, for Johanna – 18,7, 14 and 8, for Beetee – 1, 22, 19 and 11, finally for Enobaria – 12, 4, 24 and 20.
Paylor asks if there are any questions and when no one replies, she dismisses them telling them the Capitol will arrange for their return once the Arena has been built, giving a two to three month timeline. She just hopes Plutarch can work his magic in that time or that, alternatively, someone reveals the whereabouts of Snow.