Greetings, everyone! Oh boy…a lead has been found! Will our present heroes finally be able to seek out Sonia's parents? It's time to find out…
Paul-y-Esther
The moment her group finally came across someone who knew where the Woolweaves lived—a woman about ten years older than Twill who said that her niece had been in Sonia's class at school and had, with herself accompanying her to prevent trouble with any Peacekeepers, gone to her house a few times just before summer break had begun due to the two girls having been paired up for a history project—Nessa's spirits soared. She almost broke character by asking the woman to take them to the Woolweaves' house in an excited tone, but Thresh saw her shift her position, instantly predicted what she was about to do, grabbed her arm, and pulled her back a bit. Once he did this, she remembered she wasn't supposed to act happy as long as she was in disguise, and started to apologize for her near mistake. But before she could say anything, Patch asked—or rather told…okay, ordered—the woman to lead them to the Woolweaves' residence.
As the woman fearfully obeyed and led the "Peacekeepers" (and the hijacked hovercraft) down the street, Nessa wasn't sure how to feel. She was glad they were finally about to find Sonia's parents, but…why did they have to act so mean in order to do it? They could have at least said please; that was what she usually did when she had no choice but to tell others what to do. It was her way of telling everyone she was talking to that she didn't want to be tough on them—she just didn't have a choice. Then again, she hadn't had to pretend to be a Peacekeeper from Panem all those other times, and she'd been told after the fight between Twill, Patch, Thresh, and the two real Peacekeepers by her companions that she'd be in deep trouble if she let anyone, even District 8's civilians, know that she wasn't a real Peacekeeper like she had right before the fight ended…so maybe she would have to try to push aside her thoughts on this one. Just so they could find Sonia's mom and dad and leave their district before anything else bad happened.
Still, it was hard seeing how scared the woman was as she brought them to the Woolweaves' house. Even worse, the whole scenario was reminding her all too well of Lili, and a few situations in the past where the girl had needed to be bossy in order to get her way, and Nessa herself had needed to tag along in her own way: sounding tough but still saying please as she delivered her request. One of those situations had even resulted in her having to reluctantly get in the face of a sorrowful Golias and tell him to move along (because he and the rest of the boys, caught up in their excitement, were unknowingly blocking Lili's view of the gigantic fish tank they'd visited the other day), which had startled him and caused him to trip over his own feet as he quickly stepped back. And that reminded her of the conversations she'd had with Foxface about the "Lili didn't actually do what best friends do" thing, which was the last thing she wanted to think about.
Nessa shook her head, trying to clear her mind. Lili did care about her, and besides! The Peacekeepers had taken her! She was supposed to be worried about her, not giving her doubts (which she was going to resist of course) a chance to overtake her! She had to think of something else, and quick. Something that wouldn't make her sad, sorrowful, or conflicted, or make her accidentally do something a real Peacekeeper would never do.
By the time the group got to the Woolweaves' house, Nessa had come up with a routine for herself to follow: think of Wish-Trish and Objectiva, and nothing else. How beautiful they really looked, since she could only go off of how Yuri, Golias, and Effie had described them due to never having seen them herself, what Starpoint might have looked like (she guessed she probably looked a lot like Wish-Trish; maybe exactly like her! Identical twin fairies would be so much fun to see…), who else they might have made switch bodies…and if her thoughts happened to wander toward her friends from home, she would push her thoughts back to the fairies, and wonder what kinds of people or species they might have made switch bodies before she and Effie became next in line. Maybe they'd switched bodies with each other once!
She did her best to distract herself as, while the woman ran away so the Woolweaves wouldn't find out she was the one who'd led the "Peacekeepers" here, Patch and Thresh worked together to break down the family's front door. The two of them then ran into the house, and returned only four seconds later with two adults, each of whom were being escorted out by one of the "Peacekeepers," as though they were criminals under arrest.
The man, clearly Sonia's father, had short straight hair and a thick goatee, both of which were the same strawberry blonde shade as his daughter's hair, along with the exact same ever-so-slightly-pinkish skin tone as her. In fact, the only facial features he didn't share with Sonia were his eye colour (which, unlike her dark brown irises, were a rather nifty shade of hazel) and his nose (which was shorter than hers). Sonia's mother, on the other hand, bore less resemblance to her daughter. She had the same eye colour and nose as Sonia, but pretty much everything else about her was different. Her just-over-shoulder-length hair, which did possess the same curls as her daughter's, was even blacker than Geolo's, and tied into a ponytail that was slung over her left shoulder, and her skin tone was lighter.
Another thing the "Peacekeepers" couldn't help noticing was the couple's outfits. The morning was long gone, and yet they were both wearing matching loose but comfortable-looking crimson pyjamas, with the mother's feet being bare and the father's tucked into a pair of pale blue slippers. Once Nessa became aware that the couple had emerged into view, she was tempted to ask them why they hadn't gotten dressed yet, but one look at both adults' faces made her remain silent. The man looked frustrated, sad, and a little tired all at the same time, and the woman looked…well, very tired and really really sad. She knew why too; if Yuri had been taken away by the Peacekeepers like Sonia had been, Golias would have felt the exact same way.
"What did we do wrong this time, sirs?" Sonia's father asked wearily, as though this was far from the first time he and his wife had had a bad encounter with Peacekeepers.
"Just come with us," ordered Patch, neither he nor Thresh ready to reveal their true identities and intentions just yet. "The less time we waste, the better."
Sonia's father sighed. "Let me guess. First my brother and several of our friends helped Juniper Berryharvest escape Panem, and then our daughter participated in the arena breakout, so it's only a matter of time before we follow in their footsteps."
"Quiet!" snapped Thresh. "Now!"
The man eyed him in annoyance, but obeyed his command and stopped talking. His wife, on the other hand, didn't make any attempt to aggravate their "captors" and remained silent the whole time, her sadness visibly increasing. Patch then told the Woolweaves to lead them to the textile factory in which they worked, which they did.
They arrived at what the fake Peacekeepers could only hope was the right place within 35 minutes, and then managed to gain access to the unsupervised area behind the enormous building without the real Peacekeepers that were already there suspecting anything. The hijacked hovercraft followed them from above in camouflage mode, with Foxface driving, though it was Geolo who made the vehicle visible again and directed its ladder downward once it was in a position that prevented anyone from being able to see it from the other side of the factory.
Once the hovercraft emerged into view, Twill gave Nessa permission to take off her helmet, and the moment she did so, Sonia's parents recognized her in the blink of an eye. Though before either of them could say anything, they were released from Patch and Thresh's hold. Then the latter two along with Twill and Clove took their helmets off, and Twill immediately told them, "Come with us. We'll explain everything once we're in our hovercraft."
Although he and his wife were clearly still trying to process the sudden revelation that had just occurred, Sonia's father nodded after a second and climbed onto and up the ladder. His wife silently followed, with Nessa, Patch, Clove, Thresh, and Twill right behind her—stolen Peacekeeper blasters and all. Once they were all in the vehicle, Geolo quickly retracted its ladder and reactivated its cloaking device. Then, after Nessa introduced herself and her teammates with his own name being the last one she said, he awkwardly turned toward Sonia's parents and said, "Hi. I…um…I guess you're probably wondering why we're picking you up…especially since Sonia's not here…"
Sonia's mother swallowed hard, but it didn't stop herself from getting teary-eyed. And then, at last, she spoke. Her voice shaking in sadness and a bit of anger, she asked, "How did the Capitol capture our daughter so easily?"
Geolo tensed up. He should have seen a moment like this coming. Talking to the calming and understanding Cecelia, who had only known Sonia for a week and, despite clearly being disappointed and worried that the girl had been captured, was used to the possibility of her tributes not making it back to her, had been one thing. But talking to Sonia's parents, who'd known her for her whole life, didn't have the ability to prepare for the worst as easily as non-Career mentors did, and had already lost another relative of theirs to the Capitol due to his failure to escape Panem alongside Juniper Berryharvest, would be another thing—he just knew it, now that the time had come. Every year on a Victory Tour starring a Hunger Games victor that wasn't from District 3, grieving families would have to listen to the current victor give speeches, bits of which would be about their children who were among the latest fallen tributes. He had a feeling the victors always took it as a miracle when those families didn't feel any anger, resentment, or bitterness toward them, which they usually did even when the victor had been allied with their deceased loved one and just hadn't been able to save them from the fatal wrath of another tribute or the Game Makers—and he'd never imagined that was a position he'd find himself in one day!
All at once, the guilt Geolo had within him about the loss of Sonia started to envelop him…but then his gaze wandered toward Rue, and he remembered their conversation earlier. And what it had taught him. So, trying not to think about his guilt or how bad he felt about having to push it back, the tribute from 3 took a deep breath and explained, "Well…after Nessa accidentally told the cameras about us wanting to leave Panem, Sonia decided we should pick up our families and friends before we left the country, but she whispered it so the cameras wouldn't catch her idea. Then we busted out of the arena, but because we needed to save Fox from uh…her leg…we stopped by the Capitol's hospital. Thresh went in through the window and had a rope tied to himself and the ladder so he wouldn't get separated from us. He was gone for a while, and then Sonia climbed onto the ladder to see if she feel his weight on the rope."
Sonia's father nodded, wistfully but noticeably finding some positivity in the moment. "Yes, that does sound like Sonia. She's always been open to new styles, and she has a talent for deducing the strength of fabrics and cloths once the Capitolite clothing we create is finished being constructed. It's benefited the factory we work in many times."
Nessa gasped in excitement. "Sonia works in one of the clothes factories?"
"She does," Rue commented, though unlike Nessa, who was more caught up in her innocent oblivion that child labour was a bad thing rather than just a rare thing, she responded with more empathy. "Or at least did. You looked too busy comforting Foxface when she said it, but she said that because District 8's textile quotas are so high, almost everyone here has to do factory shifts. Even kids."
Twill nodded. "I've never had a single student who doesn't work in one of our district's factories..."
Children working in textile factories? Rue's siblings, who were only just learning this information now because the Hunger Games broadcasters had shifted the TVs' focus to Marvel and Glimmer every time one of the other tributes talked about their home life, were shocked. Even Fern, who was initially excited to learn that the Woolweaves apparently worked in a Capitolite clothing factory (meaning they'd get to smuggle some of its products after all; that was the deal she and Nessa had made with Twill), forgot about her thoughts regarding that factor in less than a second.
They'd always thought that their own district, along with Districts 3 and 6 (why else would a fourteen-year-old like Geolo have been able to learn how to drive a hovercraft so quickly and efficiently, without even having any hands-on experience?) were the only districts with quotas so high that they required children to work at their workplaces, since agriculture, despite only truly feeding Capitolites, was a very important source to have in a nation and the authorities always seemed so determined to be perfectionists when it came to preventing uprisings. But hearing this information, it was now becoming clear that there were more districts out there having to make minors work shifts as well. They'd known the Capitolites prided themselves on their clothing since they'd been born of course, but they'd never imagined that it was to that extent! Poor Sonia! And poor Sonia's District Partner too…wherever he was now…
Sonia's mother noticed the empathetic energy within all four District 11 siblings along with Geolo, Twill, and Patch (and Thresh, though he tried to hide it). She also noticed Nessa becoming aware of it as well and guiltily letting her smile disappear, now knowing that if Foxface and Clove were thinking what everyone else in the hovercraft was thinking (it at least looked like Clove did, and knowing Foxface, she was probably just trying to look neutral because she still didn't want to trust anyone besides her), then nobody here thought that kids getting to work in clothes factories was a good thing. The parent then seemed to soften ever so slightly, but still sounded a little bitter when she asked, "So was she seized while she was on the ladder?"
"Sort of," admitted Rue. "We didn't know it until then, but Nessa's friends from America came to Panem with Effie to look for her. Three of them weren't supposed to go because they're either my youngest sister's age or younger, but they went anyway and got my siblings to go with them. They've got these magical powers, and they used them to turn an old house from home into a rocket ship. Then they went to the Capitol, and their ship rammed into the ladder while Sonia was on it. The half she and the rope were on got torn off, and we had to chase after them so we could get her back."
"Yeah," Geolo said quietly, doing all he could to maintain his composure. "I saw the rocket coming and tried to get her to come back in here before it got to her, but she didn't realize what was happening in time. I steered after her, and then Katniss tried getting on what was left of the ladder so she could help her back up, but the Peacekeepers got her with a dart before we could reach her. Then she fell off the ship, and they got her. The boy from 9 told me that Peacekeepers can put homing devices in their darts' serum, which he found out after he saw someone get caught after robbing a roadside shop in his district, so…we wanted to, but we couldn't get her back. We just…we had to go on without her. I'm…I'm so sorry…" And then, unable to fight it back any longer, he teared up and looked away.
"Katniss sacrificed herself a bit later so she could save my other two sisters and Nessa's captured friends," concluded Rue. "I think we all knew picking you two up anyway was what Sonia would have wanted, so…that's why we're here."
Nessa nodded. "We ended up getting Twill and Patch too because they want to stop the Capitol from being mean to Panem too. And they helped us get these disguises and save Thresh and Clove from the Peacekeepers!"
Sonia's father glanced at Twill and Patch, seeming to still be sad about what'd happened to his daughter but nevertheless pleased that someone in District 8 besides two of his relatives were willing to go this far to stand up to the Capitol. Sonia's mother, on the other hand, didn't bask in this for quite as long as her husband did and looked straight at Clove, suspiciously asking, "And are you sure she had nothing to do with her capture?"
The Career froze as she watched Sonia's father look her way too, not as bitter or distrustful but still kind of suspicious himself. She technically hadn't had anything to do with it, but if anyone accused her of being the reason why Thresh had taken so long in the hospital, which had been what'd caused the hovercraft to stay in front of the building long enough for the kids' rocket to hit the ladder, then nobody could deny that it was kind of her fault that Sonia had gotten captured. And if anyone said that—even if an explanation was given for her being with the group—then Mrs. Woolweave would be sure to want her off the team, like the evacuees and Rue's siblings all already did. Except now that Twill and Patch had proven themselves to be okay (not exactly the best, but still kind of useful as long as they had help) at beating up Peacekeepers, maybe the odds wouldn't be in her favor this time…
Quickly she glanced at each of the evacuees, feeling her nervousness starting to appear on her face. She unintentionally locked eyes with District 3's male tribute in the process, and once she did, he immediately panicked and started to say something (probably in her defence out of fear of her; oh how she needed this just as much as she wanted this), but then the last thing she expected from Geolo Keyship happened: just as he opened his mouth, he seemed to notice something else; something that made him close his mouth and take a few breaths to calm himself.
Now that was strange. What could have prompted someone as cowardly as him to—
"Well I'm sure," answered Nessa, after waiting for the rest of her teammates to answer Sonia's mother's question only for them to feel too conflicted about whether or not to make an effort to boot Clove off the team (likely out of concern that while Twill and Patch were good fighters, they weren't strong enough to succeed without the help of stronger people) to say anything. "She wasn't even there when Sonia got taken! She was with Thresh in the hospital, where she was working ever since I replaced her in the arena by mistake. It was also where he first found out she wanted to help us. She was helping him get the medicine Foxface needed for her big booboo, and the medicine everyone who had their trackers taken out needed. She didn't even know Sonia was in trouble until it was too late to save her."
"But she could have been the reason why he took long enough for the rocket to hit the ladder and take Sonia away," muttered Fern. Although everyone in the hovercraft heard exactly what she said, including Sonia's parents.
Yet before Sonia's mother (or her father) could say anything in response, Nessa said, "Listen, I know you don't trust Clove, but she says she's not like the mean tributes anymore. She's a good person now! And so far it looks like the bad guys wanna take her away just as much as they wanna take us away. 'Cause when we were in the factory where we got these Peacekeeper disguises, the real Peacekeepers that were there told us to take her to the Capitol too. That's gotta mean they're mad at her too. So that means she was right about herself!"
Clove stared at Nessa, but kept her surprise and amazement inside of her. Her replacement wasn't just saying this because of the "lack of real fighters" thing—it was obvious in her voice and facial expression. She actually meant it. She genuinely believed her ruse now. And the only fake evidence she'd witnessed was a single Peacekeeper order! This was great. It meant the soul who'd started all this trouble—it made sense that she was the first one to do this too, considering how naive she was—fully trusted her. Meaning that she stood a greater chance at staying on the team, and that the rest of the group might be forced to trust her along with her. After all, if someone who absolutely HAD to stay in the group (if they weren't reunited with Fire Girl's Escort's team by the time they had everyone, not that they'd be at that point by the time the authorities caught up to them, how else were they going to find America?) believed that she'd genuinely turned to their side and therefore felt that she deserved to stay with them, wouldn't her friends have no choice but to not boot her off?
"And Twill, Patch…" Astilbo added, though unlike Nessa, he was clearly reluctant to say this, "no offence, but if Thresh hadn't helped you, I don't think you would've had such an easy time dealing with those Peacekeepers. I mean unless Clove had helped you…but it's not like we should really criticize her. Because until you two can get better at fighting, we kind of need a Career here. Even though at this point," he glanced at Nessa in a what are you doing? kind of way as he said this part, "only one of us has actually warmed up to her."
"No," snapped Sonia's mother, angrily stepping forward. "Her district partner and his cohorts tried to k—"
"Hang tight, Esther," her husband cut in, gently but firmly taking her arm and pulling her away from the other passengers of the hovercraft.
"What are you doing?!" Mrs. Woolweave screamed. "You know how District 2 is! If they really wanted to protect our daughter—"
"They did," assured Sonia's father. "They—"
"She WANTS the girl from 2 on her team! She's working with her! This was all just a scheme to get Sonia fatally punished by the Capitol without anyone suspecting it was a setup. JUST ADMIT IT!"
Sonia's father gave the others a distracted apologetic glance. "I'm sorry. Would you give us a few minutes, please?" Although even as he said these words, he was already, with immense difficulty, pulling his struggling wife into the cargo bay.
"Sure," Twill reluctantly answered. Then, as soon as the Woolweaves were gone, the area was plunged into silence for what seemed like the millionth time. Of course no one believed Sonia's mother's accusation, having seen too much to do so, but that didn't mean they blamed her for not trusting Clove any more than they did. It was such a tense moment. Would Sonia's mother's anguish and distrust result in her and her husband not taking part in the nation evacuation after all? What would become of the unexpected scene that had just occurred?
The couple was gone for a long time, and because of that, Geolo (who had by now managed to get past his sadness but was now faced with the awkwardness of the current situation) and Foxface just kept the hovercraft idling there, in case Sonia's parents would request permission to leave the vehicle and go back home once they returned. Most of everyone else, meanwhile, just stayed silent, waiting to see what would happen once the two adults returned. Not really thinking about anything else except the fact that while this was taking up more of the time they needed to be using to locate the rest of the people they intended to pick up, they were better off just letting the Woolweaves' moment alone pass by at its own pace. Clove, on the other hand, was actually hoping that the Woolweaves took as long as possible, because the more time they spent in District 8, the easier it would be for the Capitol's Peacekeepers to catch up to them.
Two people, however, were thinking some extra thoughts. Fern was mentally debating whether or not she should remind Twill of the deal they'd made regarding the whole Capitolite clothing thing, and Nessa…well, her conflicting emotions had come back, but for a different reason. She hadn't meant to make Sonia's mom more upset than she already had been, but at the same time, now that she knew Clove apparently really had turned good, she wanted to reassure everyone who didn't want to trust her that having her working with them was a good thing in more ways than one. It was never a good thing when someone so nice and determined to help had to keep having her feelings hurt because nobody she was trying to help wanted to trust them, after all…but at the same time, she understood why nobody wanted to trust the Career, and she especially knew now that insisting that they give her a chance wasn't going to make things any better. They would just have to slowly let themselves like her as the time went by.
Gradually, Clove became aware that Nessa was sadly staring her way, and realizing she was feeling bad about her getting yelled at, a thought crossed the sadistic girl's mind. Even though the cuts she'd gotten on her face from her journey through the window glass back at the Peacekeeper suit factory weren't hurting that bad, she grimaced powerfully and moaned a little, pretending that they were. Which Nessa saw right away, and as a result, the former giraffe forgot about her sadness and started worriedly glancing around the hovercraft, searching for something. When she couldn't find what she was looking for, she asked, "Um, Thresh? Where's the medicine you used to make the booboos on everyone's arms go away?"
Thresh quickly realized who she was hoping to heal and rolled his eyes, sighing in frustration. But regardless, he replied, "Cargo bay. Floor. But you're getting it. Not me."
"Oh," Nessa said, a bit surprised to hear that last part. But immediately she shrugged it off, smiled, and added, "Thank you!"
While she skipped into the cargo bay and politely interrupted the Woolweaves' conversation for a few seconds so she could get the medicine, Fern was unable to resist any longer and asked Twill if they could get the Capitolite clothes now. She agreed after awkwardly glancing around for a moment, deciding there was probably just enough time to honor her word before the Woolweaves came back. So, now feeling even more awkward, Geolo deactivated the hovercraft's invisibility setting and extended the ladder, which Twill, Patch, and Thresh used to once again leave the vehicle after retrieving both stolen blasters and putting their helmets back on. Clove went with them and had her helmet put back on as well, but only because Thresh forced her just as Nessa returned with the medicine. She then found out what was going on, and reluctantly agreed to wait until their return to give Clove the medicine. She decided not to go with them undercover this time though, because Peacekeepers were the one thing she didn't like coming off as: mean.
The Woolweaves noticed when the foursome left, but neither of them said anything about it due to Sonia's mother (at this point no longer necessarily angry) now being too caught up in her sadness to really do anything other than sob, and Sonia's father being more focused on comforting her. It was probably a good thing that they hadn't steered the hovercraft away from the factory where the couple worked; otherwise they would have had to ask Sonia's parents for directions and result in their moment together being interrupted for the second time in a row.
Luckily, this time they managed to avoid any trouble with the real Peacekeepers at the nearest factory that produced Capitol resident clothing, partly by claiming that the reason why they only had two blasters was because they had been told by their boss to apprehend the "machine saboteurs" from the Peacekeeper suit factory, and while they'd succeeded in killing them, the saboteurs—seconds before their demise—had managed to steal two of their blasters, toss them aside, and trick one of the "Peacekeepers" who still had a gun into shooting at the two confiscated weapons, destroying them. The real Peacekeepers berated them for letting such a foolish thing happen of course, and even called them rookies and reminded them to be extra careful with their weapons, but nonetheless let them into the factory after Patch told them that a "fellow resident of District 8" reported seeing someone sneak a can of itching powder (which "they could only assume" had first gotten into District 8 through one of the delivery trains after someone from the Capitol was playing around with it) into this factory through one of its back windows, and they were here to get it out before it contaminated the nearest textile products.
The fake Peacekeepers then spent the next while pretending that various garments around the factory had gotten infected by the itching powder just so they could take them out of the rooms they found them in to "throw them out." But what they really did with the garments was take them into the nearest bathroom stalls and put them on underneath their Peacekeeper outfits, until they had snuck away eight Capitolite outfits altogether and were unable to fit any more underneath their disguises. Next, they left the building and found a safe space outside, where Geolo was able to get them back inside the hovercraft.
Once the hovercraft's cloaking device was once again reactivated and the ladder was retracted, Capitolite outfits were spread around, and even if all the clothes were technically adult-sized, an overjoyed Fern wasted no time in trying on the first one that came her way. Toolip tried one out as well, and within seconds, Rue and Astilbo's respective curiosities got the best of them and they joined in the fun. Nessa took part in the fun too, but first (after noticing the girl's grimacing) she took the cap off the container with the medicine inside and carefully rubbed as much of the contents as she thought necessary onto Clove's wounds. Although, since this was her first time actually applying the healing stuff rather than simply kissing the booboo better (not that Lili got booboos very often; in fact, it had only happened once or twice…and every time Matt and Yuri got hurt, Bongo and Golias were always the ones who kissed it better), she actually wasn't really sure what amount of medicine was enough, and she ended up putting a LOT of it on her patient's face and any other areas that had been cut, until the Career finally said, "Okay, okay, that's it! You can stop now!"
Startled and a little flustered, Nessa stepped back and said, "Ooh, uh, okay!" She then put the cap back on the now-almost-empty container, took off her Peacekeeper outfit (although she kept the boots on, having forgotten the ones she'd borrowed from Effie at the Peacekeeper suit factory) to reveal the mismatched outfit she'd worn in the arena, and skipped over to Rue and her siblings, cheerfully calling, "Here I come!"
Clove could only stand there and watch the spectacle, afraid to really do anything with her face, arms, and legs (she was relieved Nessa hadn't thought of the possibility that she'd sustained more injuries, and those ones were just hidden under her clothes) because (with the exception of her eyes, nose, and mouth) they had so much medicine on them that you could barely see the cuts, even though they were nowhere near healed. One of her eyes twitched, and she angrily thought, How long do I have to put up with that woman until the Capitol's Peacekeepers find us?!
A minute later, Sonia's father left the cargo bay, without his wife. "You can start the journey to the next district," he told Geolo and Foxface. "My wife and I are coming with you."
Geolo sighed with relief and directed the hovercraft higher upward, until it was a great distance above even the tallest buildings in District 8. He then began steering the vehicle out of town (which took a while, since despite not being a wealthy place, District 8 was a very big district), his heart pounding as he realized that in at least two hours—depending on how long it took to get to their next destination—his own district would be visited next.
A few minutes passed, with the only sounds in the vehicle being Nessa and the younger 11s playing their dressup game. "Look," said Astilbo, deepening his voice and speaking with a Capitolite accent once he slipped on a sapphire blue leather shirt with long sleeves studded with tiny emeralds, "I'm Splennencio Sparker! May the odds be ever in your favor, for real this time! And I know I've never said this out loud because I don't want to get in trouble with President Snob, but may the odds of myself gaining the right to volunteer for the children whose names I'm about to draw also be ever in your favor!"
Toolip and Fern burst out laughing, but their oldest sister didn't even giggle. In fact, her smile disappeared as soon as her brother said those words. Nessa didn't think it was funny either, but she made it more obvious right away by gasping in shock and exclaiming, "You can't say someone's a snob! Snob is a mean word! Bongo said Matt's sister said that word once, and she got sent to her room for a timeout."
Rue nodded in agreement. "And I don't know if it's a good idea to pretend to be my escort or make fun of him and President Snow before we get out of Panem…"
Astilbo stared at her like she was insane. "You what?! I'm letting the Splennencio thing go because there's a chance he'll change into a good person like the District 12 escort did, but…why would you stand up for President Snow? He's the one who let your name get put in a reaping basket!"
"Well, just because he was mean to us doesn't mean we should be mean back," Nessa gently advised the boy. "Even if he's not here…and he's even meaner."
"More like way meaner," declared Fern, scooting over so she could sit right next to her brother and further emphasize that she was taking his side in this debate.
"Yeah!" Toolip agreed. "He did things way badder than just making fun of people! Everybody in Panem knows it!"
"Those are good points," a different voice suddenly piped up.
Nessa and the younger 11s looked in the direction of that voice, surprised to hear its owner, of all the other passengers, jumping into their conversation. It was Mr. Woolweave, and he was gently walking toward them, still looking a bit wistful but remarkably calm. Was he simply better at handling his emotions and/or forgiving his daughters' allies for their failure to protect her than his wife? Why were his reactions to the current circumstances so…gentle, compared to hers?
"However, Rue and Nessa are right," the man continued, arriving in front of them and bending over to sit in front of them. "Two wrongs do not make a right, no matter how horrible the first wrong might have been. Sure, some may say that hurting or being mean to those who hurt us is a way of avenging ourselves and others, but in the end…it doesn't make us into better people, does it?"
Fern started to say something in objection, but noticed Astilbo and Toolip both seemed to realize his point and stare at the floor in sadness. "Yeah, I guess you're right," the boy admitted. "I just…it's always sad when another kid in our district has to deal with becoming a tribute, but…when Rue's name was drawn, and no one was brave enough to volunteer in her place…I wanted to scream in President Snow's face. I mean, she did nothing wrong! None of us did! She didn't deserve to have her name pulled out!"
"I know," reassured Sonia's father. "My wife and I felt similar emotions when Sonia was reaped. But I've always believed that if you want to get revenge on someone, then the best way to do so is by doing something spontaneous. Something everyone will notice, but that doesn't involve hurting anyone. Like trying to run away from not just your district, but also your entire country."
"Like Sonia's uncle tried to help Lili's m…I mean, Juniper Berryharvest do?" Nessa asked. She still felt excited and amazed that one of Sonia's family's friends and the proof that leaving Panem really was possible was actually the mother of her best friend.
Sonia's father sighed, a wave of sad but sweet nostalgia coming over him. "My brother…yes. Exactly like that."
Toolip eyed him in confusion. "Why didn't you go with him when he tried to get out of Panem?"
"Well," the man hesitated, "it's…it's complicated. I wanted to go of course. I felt that Juniper was right to leave and seek a better lifestyle, and that my brother, Thimble, was right to go with her in an effort to teach the Capitol a lesson. But Sonia had only just turned one year old, the reaping was in a month, and my wife, Esther, just…she was scared. She didn't want to risk something happening to our only child so soon, even if staying out of the evacuation attempt meant risking the possibility that Sonia would eventually become a tribute of the Hunger Games. And well…I couldn't leave her alone with a baby to raise. I just couldn't."
Overhearing what Mr. Woolweave was saying, Geolo's heart skipped a beat. Juniper Berryharvest had left Panem twelve years ago, and if Sonia had been one year old by then…that meant she was thirteen now! The same age as Tally…how similar were those two?
Rue compassionately stared at the floor, remembering Mrs. Woolweave's—Esther Woolweave's—bitterness upon entering the hovercraft. "I'm sorry, sir. It must have been hard for you when…when Sonia was reaped. And then captured by the Capitol."
"You can call me Paul," replied Sonia's father. He then looked away too. "Yes, it was hard. Some people including her district partner's grownup brother even think the District 8 females' reaping basket was rigged just because one of Juniper's allies happened to be a Woolweave. And frankly…if it was, that wouldn't surprise me. I mean…the District 8 Peacekeepers are rough as it is, but once or twice a week they break down our front door and destroy our furniture, and say it's just because we used too much electricity or didn't make our textile products exquisite enough. Yet Esther, Sonia, and I asked, and no one else in our district gets treated like that so often, or for those reasons. And, 'coincidentally,' they first started doing this a day after Thimble and the rest of Juniper's allies were apprehended by the Peacekeepers."
"Whoa," Nessa murmured. More big words, yet it was still clear that Sonia and her family had been living a pretty sad life before the former had first met her. It was a good thing the girl tribute from District 8 had decided they should pick up their families and friends before they left Panem—her own parents deserved to have a better life just as much as everyone else here did! Rue, her siblings, and even the rest of the hovercraft's passengers (excluding Clove, who wouldn't have cared even if she hadn't been too preoccupied with making sure the medicine on her cuts didn't get in her eyes to really hear the conversation), meanwhile, weren't sure what to say. They could only imagine how hard Sonia must have had it before her name had been drawn by her escort; but surprisingly, as much as she wouldn't admit it, the person who was most thoughtful about this subject was the last one anyone would have imagined it'd be: the very non-Career tribute Sonia had been at odds with for most of her time in the arena.
Having to spend your whole life putting up with direct adversity until you were reaped was something that could alter your entire personality, and as she listened to Paul Woolweave's words, Foxface couldn't help recalling that fact and then remembering how particularly sensitive Sonia had been. A little too obviously easily frightened when a threat came her way, a little quick to get offended and call her second ally superficial, more angry and outgoing than most people would be in such a situation when they'd lost Peeta. She'd thought it was just part of the District 8 tribute's personality ever since first meeting her, but now that she was here, learning how painful Sonia's life had been simply because she was related to an ally of the District 11 Runaway's, she found herself relating to her—and in the process realizing that Sonia might not have turned out so sensitive if it hadn't been for her past. Exactly like Foxface probably wouldn't have turned out so antisocial if it hadn't been for her own past…
The tribute from District 5 could only sit there, now feeling more awkward than ever about her last moment with Sonia. Why hadn't she even once considered the possibility that, especially since she was among "the ones that stayed behind" in one of the families Juniper Berryharvest had turned to for help in leaving Panem, her own teammate might have had a past just as bad as hers? That would have undoubtedly eased the tension that had been between them. Not that it would have mattered that much. Sonia still could have betrayed them…or would she have? You could never be too careful…
Foxface managed to hide it from her facial expression, but in her head, she groaned in exasperation. Why was it getting harder and harder for her to stay away from trusting others?
After a while, Astilbo finally spoke. "No wonder Esther thought we were just trying to get Sonia captured by the Capitol. I-I mean, not that we were!"
"No, I trust that you never meant for her to be captured," assured Paul. "If you or anyone else was deliberately trying to do that to her, it would have been in a more discreet manner that wouldn't have interfered with the Hunger Games. And I also believe your story regarding how District 2's female tribute came to be on your team. But Esther…she may need some more time to see that you mean well. Just give her a bit."
Nessa smiled comfortingly. "Don't worry, Paul. My friends Yuri and Golias and Effie and the mentors they met are gonna save Sonia and everyone else the Peacekeepers took as soon as they get back with our friends Bongo and Objectiva. Once they get everyone out of the Capitol and find us again, Esther will see we wanna help."
Paul smiled too and started to reply when Fern snickered suddenly, causing him, her siblings, and Nessa to look at her strangely. "Sorry," she said, "it's just…Paul and Esther…I just realized it kind of sounds like—"
"Polyester?" Paul guessed knowingly. She nodded, and his smile grew slightly. "Yes, I know. We were both technically named after that word, a genuine coincidence, and ever since we got married a lot of people in District 8 have been calling us Polyester every time they saw us together."
Nessa couldn't resist giggling. "Polyester," she gasped. "That's such a fun word!"
"Indeed it is," agreed Paul. Then he got serious again, and turning to everyone in the vehicle, he gently but solemnly added, "But…until we hear from your friends, let's try to take it easy around Esther. Just until we see your friends again or until she feels ready to open up. Okay?"
Everyone acknowledged his wish and promised to obey it. After that, slowly but surely, everyone that wasn't in the cargo bay found something to do to pass the time until they arrived in District 3. Nessa, Rue, Astilbo, Fern, and Toolip resumed their dressup game (though this time they avoided pretending to be Capitol residents they knew or knew of and, at Nessa's suggestion, simply stuck with pretending to be princes and princesses; something she usually did with Lili). Simultaneously, Clove stood as still as she could and tried not to interact with anyone so the medicine—which she was afraid of wiping off with her arms in case it stained on her Peacekeeper uniform, which she was almost certain she'd need to wear in public again; she didn't want to freak out any real Peacekeepers they might encounter—wouldn't get in her eyes and mouth. As for Thresh, he stoically kept to the side and supervised the passengers in front of him, ready to intervene in case their reluctant Career ally tried anything cruel. And while all that was happening, Twill, Patch, and Paul wandered to another side of the hovercraft and began to chat about their respective lives in District 8.
Geolo and Foxface, however, were the only ones who were afraid to find something to do. Or rather, do that something: finishing the driving lessons. After the awkward moment their first lesson attempt had turned into, and Geolo's emotional moment in which he'd technically honoured his word and "gotten anything else that might be on his chest off his chest," they both knew what was coming next: either another imperfect driving lesson, or Foxface coming clean so she wouldn't risk zoning out again. Neither of which the latter wanted to happen.
And that's it, for now! Next stop, District 3! Hopefully things'll be easier there, since the tribute they're going there for the loved ones of is with them…but will that really be the case? Or will problems find a way to arise in even what seems to be the easiest part of the evacuees and company's mission? We'll have to see if we can find out in the next chapter. See you soon!