Chapter Fifteen: Specialized Training

It wasn't as hard as she had thought to convince Seeder to chaperone her and Cana (after convincing the exhausted boy that more training couldn't hurt them in the long run). During the elevator ride after lunch, she had asked Goldie about nutrient-rich shakes that Maize and Cana could drink, in order to gain weight and get their bodies healthy before the Hunger Games began. The woman had looked at her as if she was insane, apparently, Capitolites preferred to look like sticks with no figures and rarely purposefully tried to gain weight, but she had acquired the shakes for them. They were surprisingly good and came in different flavors. She had downed two vanilla shakes before dragging Seeder and Cana (he was enamored with the chocolate shakes) downstairs for more training.

Like Maize had predicted the training room was empty and ready for their own personal use. It was perfect. Seeder immediately led them to the knife-throwing station and started instructing them. Making Maize and Cana throw the knives again and again, drenched in sweat and muscles burning until they were hitting the center with a satisfying 'thunk.' After Seeder was pleased with their ability to hit stationary targets, she made them move on to the moving targets. It took Maize a few tries to get it right and start hitting the humanoid targets, but it wasn't as difficult as Maize had thought it would be. In fact, the most difficult part was just how disturbingly easy it was for her to do it. She blamed it on the lizards who would find themselves hiding in the family garden, Maize would never throw stones at them again.

They practiced with knife throwing for three hours until Seeder decided that it was time for them to go upstairs to eat dinner and wind down. After all, they would be having their regular scheduled training in the morning. It was in the elevator ride that Maize saw Finnick Odair in person once more. The older teenaged Victor looked exhausted as he entered the elevator car but had plastered a wide fake smile onto his face when he saw that it wasn't empty.

"Evening Seeder." he greeted.

Seeder eyed the other Victor for a moment, not quite able to mask her concern, "Finnick."

Cana had gripped onto her arm the moment that Finnick Odair had stepped into the elevator, but she couldn't find it in herself to comfort her District partner right at that moment. An internal promise she'd made when Maize was only twelve-years-old, after her first reaping, was now at the forefront of her mind. This could be the only chance she ever had to warn the dirty blonde teen (because despite all of his exploits in the Capitol and his manly physique, Finnick Odair was still only a teenager) of his fate. But she couldn't do it here in the elevator of the Training Center, she didn't want to give the damn Capitol any more ammunition against Odair, or even Cana and herself.

The Victor's stormy blue-green eyes met her own hazel brown ones for a brief moment as he surveyed Maize and Cana, "These your tributes this year Seeder?"

"Hmm," The woman turns to look at them with a warm smile, "Yes. My tributes are strong this year, I have faith in them." Warmth floods behind her chest, and Maize knows that her cheeks pink enough to be visible. Cana ducks his head in embarrassment, a small pleased smile on his face as he grips onto her hand. Odair raises his brows in surprise, Maize suspects that this is a rare occurrence where Seeder is confident in her tributes ability to come back home.

(Her heart aches for all of the fallen tributes Seeder had mentored in the past, and for Seeder herself who had to see these children sent to their deaths time after time).

"Mags has been asking for you Seeder, she's missed you." Odair changes the subject as the elevator comes to a stop on the Fourth floor.

"I'll be seeing her soon." Seeder promises as Odair steps off and the elevator continues to make its way up to their floor. Maize rubbed Cana's knuckles softly as he untensed. Seeder turned to look at them, "That was Finnick Odair, he's one of the mentors for District 4. You may not have a chance to see him again but he won the Games when he was your age Cana. He's a good man."

That, unfortunately, was not the end of that conversation. As soon as Goldie and the stylist heard that they had met the Finnick Odair, the rest of the evening was filled with gossip about the youngest Victor to ever be produced by the Hunger Games. It was disgusting to hear about how explicitly they fantasized about someone even when Odair had first come out of the Games (at fourteen...). Maize was happy when she'd finished eating dinner (and downing another shake) and was able to make her escape to shower and sleep. Even if her heart clenched, she didn't get to warn him.

The next morning fell into a similar routine as the previous day. She had woken up early, much like she always did at home (after all the workday in the fields started early) and stretched out all of her sore muscles before going into the dining area and drinking two heavy strawberry and banana-flavored shakes in lieu of eating the eggs and bacon being served that morning. After a groggy Cana sat himself down beside her, Chaff instructed them to continue visiting the survival stations in the training room and keeping to themselves before the man poured a generous amount of alcohol into his morning coffee. Seeder was talking up potential Sponsors that morning, but she had promised to chaperone them once more in the evening. As soon as she and Cana were dressed, Maize opted to go down early. The Training Center was open from eight in the morning for the tributes, but most showed up around ten like on the first day.

As soon as the elevator doors opened Cana dragged her to the snare/trap making station. They spent the majority of their morning there before Maize decided that they needed to work on their cardio and ushered the younger teen to the treadmills. They ran and ran until Cana's legs were trembling and he was short of breath, Maize felt a hitch in her side but couldn't find herself to stop running even when her partner took a much-needed breather and drank water. They were both drenched in sweat, and much to her surprise, it was Cana who led them to the pool area for another swimming lesson so that they could cool down. Soon after it was time for lunch, this time Maize ate light foods like fruits along with one chocolate shake (so that she wouldn't throw it all up during the training later). Cana followed her lead. Once they were released to go train once more, they immediately made their way to the obstacle course and did it over and over again (ignoring the jeers from the Careers when they failed or wiped out) until they were able to go through the whole thing without stumbling under seven minutes.

That evening when Seeder brought them down for more specialized training, she had them throw knives while running through the course as the Victor threw blunt objects at them. The rest of the week flew by in a similar manner.

Words: Around 1,235

Edited: November 3, 2019