Leo Fabrizio- District Six male (18)

"Congratulations!" Isabella said as she hung the necklace on Alara's neck. "Who are you picking to share your prize with you?"

Alara put a curled hand to her mouth. "I probably should have thought of that while I was playing," she said. "I'll take… Persi-"

"What?" Persi's interruption was from surprise and not protest, judging from her grin. She looked around self-consciously, having surprised herself as much as everyone else. "I really like whales," she added sheepishly.

"Oh, perfect," Alara said. "And also, how about Leo?"

"Me?" I pointed at my own chest. It hadn't crossed my mind Alara would pick me. It was just that we'd barely met. I could see the logic, though- one person from her old tribe and one of the other tribe. "Awesome! I also like whales."

"Yeah, they're pretty cool," Dorian said from next to me. "I see them now and then in Four. That's probably why she didn't pick me." Kallik nodded in having-also-seen-whales agreement.

"Would you believe I've never been on open water before this?" I asked as our whaling boat shoved off into the depths. I'd driven across rivers, but none so big I couldn't swim across them, if I'd been good at swimming.

"Hah. Landlubber," Alara said as I carefully held the railing and slid into a seat. The boat was perhaps twice the size of a truck and had an open deck with chairs lining the sides. There was a table set into one corner with some sliced fruits, crackers, and various other things to snack on. We were all delighted to see it, but it was nice to note we weren't as hungry as we'd been for most of the show.

"Do they usually show up?" Persi asked the captain.

She looked at the cameras set up behind her. "Don't tell everyone, but I think they'll show up."

"Has one ever landed on a boat and squished everyone flat?" I asked. It struck me after I said it how morbid a question it was, but I'd just been curious.

"Very much so, but don't worry, we have repellants these days," the captain said. "But it's strong enough to scare them away. It just keeps them a few feet from the boat if they come close."

Some time passed with no whales. It was boring so it was not worth writing about.

"Ooh, is that a whale?" I pointed at the grayish blob I could see under the water near the boat.

"That's a dolphin," Alara said. Not a second later, it jumped out of the water as Persi and I cheered.

"It had a white nose," I commented. It had also been darker and more snub-nosed than the dolphins I saw on necklaces or wall art or whatever.

"It's a white-beaked dolphin," the captain said.

"We don't have those in Four," Alara marveled. A few more swam by but didn't jump. I wondered where they were going. We were in an unimaginably large ocean and they could go wherever they wanted. What a free, lovely life. No wonder everyone always thought dolphins were happy. I knew I shouldn't, but I wished it would come close so I could touch it. I imagined it would feel like a smooth rock that was a little soft and velvety. Even just seeing it was something to remember forever.

We should probably have been talking about strategy. I wasn't much for strategy, honestly. I'd been enjoying what time I had, resigned to the fact that it probably wouldn't make much difference if I tried to scheme. I already knew from all this that Alara seemed like a normal person. I expected Havfrue would get along pretty much the same as when Ellekoner and Huldra had had twelve people.

"Oh my gosh!"

I turned at the noise and saw Persi looking at a gout of air and water rushing up like a volcano.

"Ooh, one's coming," the captain said excitedly.

The water roiled. A sheet of it bowed upward, like someone coming up from mud. All at once, there was a whale there. Water streamed off it, revealing its form. It was blue-gray on top with just a tiny line of white belly visible above the water. It had a tiny fin near the back (at least compared to the rest of it) and flat tail. Its mouth was closed but I knew I would see baleen if it was open.

"It's so big." I knew how dumb it was to say, but I couldn't stop myself. It was a live animal the size of a school bus. The biggest animal I'd seen in my life before that was a cow on a shipping truck once. This thing was at least four cows long.

"It's a minke whale," the host said. "They get to be as long as 35 feet. "A blue whale can be a hundred feet long."

Double this. It was one of those things you know are true but still don't believe. An animal couldn't be a hundred feet long. It was too big. Even thirty-five feet was pushing it. I tried to think where ten feet back was on the whale and imagined a shark that size. I didn't like it.

"That's the coolest," Persi said with awe. Then we all fell silent as the whale turned on its side. A little patch of skin opened up and there was a while whale eye, looking right at us. It was absurdly small compared to the whale. It wasn't much bigger than a plum. It was light enough gray I could see the oval-shaped black pupil. I wondered what it thought of us. Were we the first humans it had seen?

"Hello, whale!" Alara called, waving at it. Whales were smart, I knew. I half-expected it to wave back.

Yarrow Venus- District Three female (17)

We really should have gotten it done before the merge. But we kept putting off voting for Octavia, so now she and Val were back together. That kind of guaranteed alliance was probably going to sweep the Games, unless one of them was first out. I was pretty sure Octavia had allies. I had no idea what Val might have ip his sleeve. On the bright side, it took heat off me.

"Welcome to your first tribal council, Havfrue," Isabella said. "What's it been like integrating?"

"I'd say the Huldras are pretty much the same as us," Dorian said.

"It's really nice having one camp and pooling resources," I said. Mostly Ellekoner's resources, but we gave what we could.

"Any trouble?" Isabella asked.

"Since you asked, it's hard going back to having twelve people in the camp," Cactus said.

"I said I wouldn't sit in your spot again," Val said, but it was too late. I'd been there when he had sat in Cactus' spot. Val had made a generational enemy that day.

"How is this going to affect voting from here on?" Isabella asked.

"I think those of us not in big alliances don't know and those of us who are won't tell," Lana pointed out.

"I suspect voting will tend to follow old tribe lines at first, but then it will even out," Persi guessed.

"So the old Huldras are in trouble?" Isabella asked.

"If I turn out to be right," Persi said.

"Just letting you know, I'm not going to vote for Val just because he sat in my spot," Cactus broke in "I'm not even voting for him at all today."

"Time for our first vote," Isabella said. I already knew who I was voting for, but it had taken a long time to decide. Band up with the Huldras and try to snipe Ellekoners? We didn't have the numbers. Cast a random vote and see how the trends were going? I'd decided my best bet was to try to make a friend in Ellekoner who might put in a good word. I was already kind of close to Val. Maybe I could convince Octavia I was all right. Three wasn't bad.

"If anyone has a hidden immunity idol they want to play, now would be a good time," Isabella said, to no response. "Once the votes are read, the decision is final."

"Persi." Persi looked up at her name. She kept watching Isabella as she went on.

"Persi."

"Persi."

Persi made a face but didn't panic. There were a lot of votes left.

"Persi."

"Persi."

"Persi."

Persi went still. The next vote was the last one that could tie. This was where the Gamemakers would put the other votes that would drum up suspense.

"First member of the jury: Persi."

Somehow I wasn't surprised. I didn't know anything yet about the alliances of Ellekoner, but something about some of them in the last few hours had given me the idea they'd chosen her. Maybe it was the way they talked to her or… I wasn't sure. Just one of those things you don't know why you know. In any case, Persi rose and took her torch with little more than a scrunched lip.

"Persi, the tribe has spoken." Smoke curled eerily off her staff. She waved and left.

Persi's interview: I can't complain. I got to meet cool people. I got to see a whale. What I'm most excited about is all the money I'm bringing home. I don't think Capitolites know how much this means to people like us. I can buy us all our own beds. We can eat three times a day. We're gonna have a whole new life

Thirteenth eliminated: Persi Caraway

Since you're probably all wondering, Alara didn't choose Persi because she knew was targeted. Since it's only a negative rather than a conclusive spoiler, I'll go ahead and reveal Alara didn't get a vote in before I started writing this. I chose for Alara to choose Persi so she'd have a fun moment before she left. Alara chose her because she was as nice as anyone else so why not.

Persi was one of our more prickly contestants, but only by the really high standards of this group being especially chill overall. She made friends all the same and will be missed. This definitely is not a loss for her, though, since the money she'll take home is probably like three years pay for her. Beds and real food for everyone!