The server dropped the ladle of stew on Eliza's plate, and the smell filled her nostrils. It wasn't as comforting as freshly hunted rabbit, but it had its merit. Especially because it was a decently served portion.
"Looks hideous doesn't it?" Mindy asked, when they sat at the table. "But it's better than it seems. Or at least you should convince yourself of that, because you'll be having a lot of it."
"You won't hear me complain about bad food," Eliza retorted. "It's still better than almost everything I've ever had."
"About that...I don't know if it is weird to ask, but I'm curious," Mindy started. "How were things there? Do you miss it a lot?"
Eliza gathered immediately that Mindy was curious about District 12. She swallowed what food she had left in her mouth, and prepared to answer, "It was...very different from here, no doubt," she shrugged. "Home is home, even if it is a bad one, right? But I don't miss it that much. The last few years, with Katniss winning, it was a rollercoaster, for everyone. Things got so much better from one moment to the other, but then...Well, did you hear about the Peacemakers? What they'd do?"
"Hum, basically that they sent a whole bunch of them there to keep the Mockingjay in check."
"Yeah, well, not just her. Or maybe, to keep her in check, they'd be on to everybody. It was horrifying. You felt like you could not breathe in their presence. And then that happened to Gale..." Her voice cracked.
"To Gale? That handsome guy they kept interrogating? What about him?" For a second Eliza was surprised she knew who he was, but it made sense, the more she thought about it.
"I thought you would've seen it, I think there were images on TV. They wanted to make an example out of him, because they knew he and Katniss were close and...Well, basically, they caught him trying to sell smuggled meat, and tortured him in the middle of the street."
Mindy's mouth fell open, and Eliza flinched at the memory, still able to hear the cutting sound of the whip.
"Tortured him...how?"
"They were set to whip him at least 100 times. It only stopped because Katniss got involved." Eliza moved a hand across her face in discomfort, "I thought you guys knew about this."
Mindy shook her head, seeming the least upbeat Eliza had ever imagined her.
"I don't know why I am so shocked, it's just..." But she never finished her thought, waving the matter away with her hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring this up, you probably don't like to talk about it."
"I just really thought you would have heard about that here. After that, everything changed. And I think it was because Katniss meddled in. They tried to push it back as hard as possible. The prices on everything rose and the Peacemakers kept harassing people about anything and everything and..." She swallowed dry, at the memory glimpse she could not shake away from her mind.
"They don't share as much info as it may seem. Even within the military." Mindy justified.
"So it's not that different from everywhere else, I guess."
Mindy shrugged, finishing her stew, and Eliza quickly followed. The canteen was getting crowded and the conversation was not exactly helping her mood. They left the room, and her new friend showed her a smaller one with a lot of people from the 13th gathered around, talking.
"This is the lounge from this floor," she explained as they walked in, "Sabrina showed you one, right?"
Eliza shook her head, "I didn't think you had this kind of stuff."
"Sometimes we come here to have a chat after a long day. But don't do it too often. They'll adapt your schedule because they'll presume you have too much free time."
Eliza rolled her eyes, unsurprised.
Mindy sat on one of the benches in the less crowded area, pointing at the seat next to her.
"I wanna know more about you guys from 12," she stated. "But this time maybe stick with the happy stuff."
Eliza laughed with a tinge of irony, sitting beside her, "There isn't much to say, honestly."
"That can't be true. You survived for three days before we got to you. There has to be some badass story within that as well."
"You can thank Gale for that."
