Disclaimer: The Hunger Games does not belong to me.

"District doctors have to come from somewhere."

"I hadn't thought of that before."

"Most people don't. Most people in the District don't need to – they never deal with the District doctor."

"There must be a school or something?"

"You would think that, wouldn't you? But there really isn't that sort of schooling available for the Districts. I'm sure there is a college in the Capitol, but doctor, teacher, the geology and engineering techs for the mine – those all became more of a mentoring program when the Districts became completely closed off after the rebellion."

"What do you mean completely closed off? All of the Districts ship things between them."

"They ship things; they don't move people. Freedom of movement wasn't great back before the rebellion either, but people were allowed to apply to move between Districts back then. People who wanted to train for specific jobs were allowed to take a test to qualify for further education. It wasn't as extensive an amount of training as you would get if you were serving the Capitol, but it was still formal training. We run on apprenticeships now and that probably works better for some of the jobs – imagine doing all the schooling to be a teacher and then discovering that you don't actually like working with children after you are already locked into it."

"That might explain some of the attitude in that building actually."

"Be kind. They are doing the best they can with what they have to work with – it's not their fault they get hobbled at every turn."

"Hobbled how?"

"We so do not have time to go into that right now. Could you just maybe give us enough credit to believe me when I tell you that every imagined slight that you have stored in your memory from some person who grew up in town – there was probably a logical explanation for it or it had nothing to do with you at all. It's just that you have an over active imagination and always think that everyone is out to get you whether they are or not."

"Erring on the side of are has done a pretty good job of keeping my family alive so far, so I think I am going to go ahead and stick with that."

"We were so close to making a breakthrough – I should have known that it was too good to be true. Anyway, back to the doctor question. The simple answer is that he has no family, so there is no chance of passing on the family business as it were. No one has ever asked either."

"What?"

"No one has ever asked the man if he would take them on as an apprentice."

"That's all there is to it?"

"He would have to agree of course. The proper Capitol authorities would have to be notified. But, yes, that is all there is to it – someone who wants to learn and is willing to put in the time and effort to learn from both him, by doing, and what books he has at his disposal. They would probably require some basic tests from a Capitol official as well, because the doctor does treat patients from there when they are in the District. Then there is the big caveat – whoever did it would have to forgo the chance of a job with a salary for the duration of their training years. There are not very many people in the District who are in a position to do that. In fact, Prim might be the only person in the entire District who is both interested and has the means to do so. You get room and board with the doctor during your training – and you only get that because of the Capitol connection. It would have made everything so much simpler if Mrs. Everdeen would have married the man after she was widowed."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't look at me like that. You think I don't know what Katniss and Prim went through after their father died? And don't make some smart remark about how you know it better than I do. You had your mother – and she would have done everything in her power to keep your family afloat. She did do everything in her power to keep your family afloat even with a newborn baby in her arms. Katniss's mom just left everything to the girls. The Doctor would have taken them on – she would have been useful to him with her knowledge from growing up in the apothecary shop."

"The man is seventy if he is a day!"

"All the more reason for him to have taken on a ready made family with a child who would have had an inclination for taking over his duties one day. We aren't the Seam, Gale. We don't make matches based on whatever whim may happen to strike our fancy. We plan for our families – for their futures. We understand that we aren't marrying just to arrange an agreeable companion over dinner (although that comes into play as well). We are working out our family's best chances for survival. That is what marriage has been for the majority of human history – a means of aiding in your family's survival. Tell me you would marry someone utterly useless to your family just because you happened to find her attractive?"

"Of course not."

"It's ultimately the same thing. We pay attention to compatibility as well; we just know that that is not all there is to it."

"So do you have one?"

"One what?"

"Some match that you and your family are plotting."

"There is no advantage to any family in Town to be gained by marrying me – not yet anyway."

"You belong to the most wealthy family in the District."

"Which is entirely dependent on my father being the Mayor – that position is not hereditary. I don't take over for him nor does my husband. Someone who has gone through the clerk route at the Justice building will take over when my father can no longer continue to keep his obligations. If it is a man who has not married and is interested, then it might be suggested that I continue on as someone who is already prepared to be hostess in the house. It's an option – not a given. If I take over my mother's family business though . . .."

"Your mother doesn't run a business."

"Thank you. I am well aware of that fact."

"Then what are you talking about?"

"The shop closed down when my grandmother died, but my mother still holds the license to reopen it. No one else was interested enough to take it over and she argued that I would need something of my own for just in case someday. If I take it over, then I might become an appropriate marriage partner for a younger son from one of the other families (or an older one that does not care for their particular family business). If I take out everyone that is already officially or unofficially spoken for, then that leaves me with the possibility of one of the Mellark boys or Delly Cartwright's currently ten year old brother. The Mellarks are rather at loose ends because of their parents. Mrs. Mellark has never been good at bargaining with the other families and their father didn't want to lock them into anything before they were old enough to actually act on it. He always said too many things could change their minds if there was too much time available (and gee I wonder where he would have gotten that idea). On the other hand, I suppose with a business of my own I might be a very good catch indeed to some man in the Seam that was willing to put his pride aside long enough to take the chance of getting one of his children out of the mines."

"We don't do that."

"I am aware. The comments have been pointed. And excessive. And really not necessary."

"What are you talking about?"

"The fact that you have been spending time in my presence has been duly noted by certain residents of the Seam. Who may or may not be plotting marriage arrangements of their own. And have decided to be vocal enough in my presence about how interlopers are not welcome."

"They said what to you now?"

"They didn't say anything to me. They made comments in my presence to make certain that I overheard them."

"That is just . . .."

"Teenage girls being teenage girls. We can be quite nasty to each other you know – no Capitol influence needed."