Chapter 62: Terrain
The next morning, Peeta and the other Mentors are to meet with Plutarch again. Katniss prepares to come face to face with him for a second time and, after her conversation with Peeta, has agreed stay by his side and squeeze his hand tightly if she feels herself becoming overwhelmed. That way he can help Katniss make a hasty exit if she needs to.
Gale is there when they arrive and soon the other Mentors make their way into the meeting room. There is no sign of Haymitch and Peeta realizes he has forgotten to check on him again this morning. He has been so caught up with his concerns over Katniss that he left without thinking about his own Mentor. Peeta doesn't want to leave Katniss on her own, so the two of them excuse themselves to go and see where Haymitch is.
When they arrive at his apartment all the blinds are still drawn. The door is unlocked so they push it open to find Haymitch still snoring on his bed. Katniss doesn't have time for this and wants to pour water over him again, but Peeta tells her it's better to wake him up gently. The alcohol could make him unpredictable. Peeta goes over to the bed and nudges Haymitch telling him to get up. He doesn't move. He tries again. Still no movement. Peeta is getting impatient now and tells Katniss to get him a jug of water. Katniss obliges.
"What the…!" shouts Haymitch as the freezing water brings him out of his stupor.
"Haymitch, you need to get up! We have a meeting with Plutarch" says Peeta.
"Plutarch, smchutarch" says Haymitch.
"C'mon Haymitch" says Katniss. "Plutarch will be here any minute".
"Screw Plutarch" Haymitch says angrily. "What do I care if he has to wait? Am I going to miss something? Like you laying into him again?" Haymitch laughs drunkenly.
"That's uncalled for" says Peeta. "Katniss had every reason to do what she did, but you have no excuses. Get up". As Peeta says this, he pulls Haymitch by the arm to lift him off the bed. Haymitch suddenly takes a swing at Peeta and hits him square in the jaw. As Peeta falls back, Katniss rushes to his side.
"Peeta, are you OK?" she asks with concern.
Peeta is rubbing his jaw and preparing to get up and confront Haymitch again. There is blood on his lip and it is starting to swell. Katniss intervenes.
"Haymitch! Get dressed! We don't have time for this. You can apologize to Peeta later. What is wrong with you?!" Katniss demands.
Haymitch drags himself to the bathroom as Katniss tends to Peeta. She gets some ice from the freezer and places it in a cloth to put on Peeta's jaw. He winces and Katniss tells him to stay still while she checks on Haymitch. She has no qualms about invading Haymitch's space and throws some clothes at him telling him to hurry up. Finally, Haymitch makes his way out of the bathroom and looks sheepishly at Peeta. He apologizes as Katniss helps Peeta up. Haymitch is in danger of losing some of his closest friends if he doesn't get it together, but that doesn't stop him looking round for another drink before they leave.
"I got rid of it" Peeta tells him.
Haymitch looks angrily at Peeta, as though he might take another swing at him, but thinks the better of it and they head to the meeting together.
Plutarch is there when they arrive and he looks nervously at Katniss as she enters the room. Katniss doesn't look at him, but holds Peeta's hand tightly and they take the seats furthest from Plutarch at the table. Plutarch begins.
"Today you will be selecting the arenas for your Tributes. There are six of them and you will select them from this bowl".
There is a bowl sitting in front of Plutarch and they each select a folded piece of paper which contains the terrain of their arena. The Mentors take it in turns to reveal which arena they have chosen. They move around the table and the first is Johanna.
"Swamp" she says. She doesn't know the first thing about swampland. She doesn't plan on finding out about it either.
"Sea" says Annie, breathing a sigh of relief. She should really be able to help her Tributes with this selection. Suddenly memories of Finnick come flooding back and Annie hopes he will be with her in some way as she does what she can to help these Tributes survive.
"Tropics" Haymitch says. The last Games had a tropical theme so Haymitch's drunken stupor hopefully won't affect his Tributes too much..that is if they took anything in from the Quarter Quell.
"Desert" say Enobaria. She doesn't care about the terrain. Her tributes will be in shape to face any terrain.
"Arctic" Beetee shares. Beetee's skills can be used almost anywhere with the right resources. That will be up to Plutarch.
"Forest" says Peeta as he looks at Katniss. That is her terrain and Peeta knows he will be relying on her to help him with the Tributes in his arena. Maybe one of them will have a fighting chance to escape to the central arena.
"Good" says Plutarch. "For now, you will be ascertaining the skills, experience and strength of your Tributes. I will be planning what resources will be available to them and it will be up to them to decide how they make use of them. These are Games and the mentors do not normally know the construct of the arena, or the dangers that lie within it. All you can do is prepare them as best you can. There will be no sponsors, so the Tributes will be need to be self-reliant. That is all" says Plutarch signalling the end of the meeting.
Katniss and Peeta leave immediately to return to the apartment. Katniss needs to feed Pik and she wants to see Prim, too. The memories of their Games have all come flooding back and she needs to remind herself how far she and Peeta have come since then. Peeta feels buoyed at the thought that he can at least train his Tributes well, with Katniss' help, and is keen to get to their first training session this afternoon. For now, he will spend some time with Katniss and the children. He needs to remember the reason for these Games. It is for them, and Peeta wants to be strong.