━━･❪ 🌸 ❫ ･━━

Iskra called for supper in about an hour. Daphne couldn't bring herself to care about her puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks as she threw on a clean dark blouse and some pants. She tucked her pendant beneath her shirt before showing up. Azalea and Theron were already seated, as were Iskra and Theia Gumede.

Theia gave Daphne a welcoming smile, those dark brown eyes rimmed with sympathy. She knew first hand what it was like to be in Daphne's position. Iskra, on the other hand, scowled at Daphne's flushed face as Daphne took the seat farthest away from Azalea, finding herself next to Theia. The escort's highlighted eyelashes, long and spider-like, framed her pale blue eyes glimmering with disdain.

"What?" Daphne snapped at Iskra. "Never seen a tribute show emotions off camera before? What are we, just toys for Panem's amusement? Not even deserving of human feelings?"

Usually, Daphne wouldn't have dared talk to one of her superiors that way. Today, however, she couldn't stop herself.

"Why don't you wipe that ugly frown off your face, Iskra?" She spat, her hand inching towards the knife utensil in front of her. "What the hell do you have to be so miserable about? It's not like your life is on the line. Do you even know how much it hurts, being ripped from everything you've ever loved and knowing that you'll never get it back again?"

Caelum walked into the room, having combed his hair and put on fresh clothes. Daphne couldn't care less as she turned to Azalea, rising to her feet. Azalea flinched away from her burning glare.

"And you." Daphne's voice cracked. "To hell with you!"

Theia was on her feet then, her hand on Daphne's shoulder in a gentle but firm grip as she eased the knife out of reach. She didn't say a word, but her eyes told Daphne everything. Theia understood her anger, understood better than anyone, but Daphne wasn't helping the situation by blowing up.

Daphne gritted her teeth, snarling at Azalea one last time and sitting back down, glowering at the empty plate in front of her. Caelum hesitated for a moment before taking the last available seat; the one across from her.

Daphne shot him a grim smirk, since she was on an audacious streak anyways. "What? Afraid you'll catch cooties or something?"

All he did was roll his eyes in exasperation and sat down heavily. Daphne didn't wipe the smirk off her face. If she were to keep talking, she might as well shoot to kill.

"Isn't that why you've ignored me like hell for the past year, pretty boy?"

Caelum's narrow jaw twitched, but he remained silent. Daphne knew it was taking all of his willpower not to fire back, to give her that brutal satisfaction of ticking him off. Iskra thumped her fist on the table, her blue eyes blazing as they pinned Daphne down. "That is quite enough, Miss Feng."

"Please, Miss Feng is my mother." Daphne crooned. "Call me Daphne. Or rather, piece-of-crap, since that seems to be all I am to you."

Theia cleared her throat sharply. "May I have a moment with you, Daphne."

It wasn't a question. She stood with a threatening sense of calm and strode out of the dining room. Daphne was tempted to stay put just to spite her, but she felt that she'd caused enough damage for the night. With a reluctant grunt, she followed.

Theia turned to her once they were well inside a corridor, out of earshot from the others. The artificial light gleamed against Theia's dark skin, illuminating the crease between her knitted eyebrows.

"Daphne, I understand that you're angry." She said, her voice calm and gentle. "Trust me, I do. I remember feeling the same when I was a tribute. But you can't keep acting like this."

"Watch me." Daphne muttered darkly. "Watch me burn the Capitol to the ground."

"You have to control your anger." Theia's brown eyes gleamed. "You already made a name for yourself by punching Azalea on national television."

"Good."

"It's not good."

"Why? Now people know not to piss me off in the arena."

"You're not getting the point." Theia was known to keep her cool, but Daphne could sense that she was really pushing her. "The goal is to not make yourself known, especially because you come from District Ten. Now you have a target on your back."

"So be it!" Daphne hissed. "Why does it matter if I have a target on my back or not? I'm going to die anyways, might as well get it over with."

Theia frowned, then sighed in resignation. The silence between them was thick enough to slice with a knife. Daphne shifted her gaze away, then asked quietly, "why do you care so much? It won't matter to you whether or not I survive."

Theia suddenly looked as though she'd aged a couple years within the past few seconds. Daphne thought her mentor was just going to turn around and walk back to the dining room, having decided Daphne was beyond help.

But instead, it was with a tired voice that Theia told her, "He didn't talk to me much, since we didn't know each other. But he did make one request, in case I was the one who walked out of the arena alive. He told me to look out for you, his little sister, if you ever had to face the Games."

Daphne swallowed, her fists uncurling and falling limp at her sides. She certainly hadn't expected that answer. Suddenly, she felt a pang of guilt for snapping at Theia.

"All I'm doing is honoring Aedon's last wish, Daphne, and you're not making it very easy. So yes, it does matter to me whether or not you survive." Theia said. "I failed to help him in the end, the least I can do is help his little sister who meant the world to him."

Damn it, Daphne was in danger of crying again. She hastily wiped her eyes as Theia turned and left her in the corridor by herself. Daphne took a minute to compose herself, pushing all thoughts of Aedon and the life she left behind into the far corners of her mind. It would do her no good to dwell on that right now.

She had to swallow a good amount of pride as she reentered the dining room. The first course had arrived; a creamy potato soup that had her drooling. Azalea, wisely, refused to meet Daphne's gaze as she spooned a mouthful. Caelum suddenly found his own bowl of soup extremely interesting. Theron flashed Daphne a quick smile. It took all Daphne's willpower not to pounce as she felt Iskra's withering glare from across the table.

Daphne reclaimed her seat and immediately inhaled the soup. It was just the right amount of thickness, infused with soft potato chunks and bits of bacon. She thought she picked up a hint of cheddar in there as well. She'd never tasted bacon or cheddar before, only heard about it.

The main meal arrived just as Daphne began slurping up her third helping, ignoring Iskra's remarks. The table was soon covered with platters of rotisserie meat drizzled with a sweet sauce, mashed potatoes and noodles with gravy, the plumpest fruits she'd ever seen, and a cream pie that outdid anything Mr. Pash had at his bakery.

Daphne completely forgot about table manners as she piled food onto her plate, stuffing herself shamelessly and taking seconds, thirds. She was vaguely reassured by the fact that Azalea, Theron and Caelum were all doing the same. The rich flavors, the freshness, the sheer quantity of this meal was nothing like the plain pickings they'd grown up on back home.

That's when Theia cleared her throat, and Daphne glanced up at her over the stack of buttery mashed potatoes that she was in the process of devouring.

"So," Theia said, keeping her tone light, "let's talk about strengths. Do any of you have any sort of skill with weapons, or anything that may help in the Games?"

At first, the four of them remained silent, glancing back and forth at each other as if deciding who should go first. Then Theron quipped, "Word on the street, Daphne's good with knives."

Daphne's face began to heat and she hastily wiped off her mouth as everyone's attention was directed onto her. Theia's eyebrows were raised, though Daphne suspected that she already knew. After all, Aedon had been good with knives as well.

"Oh?" Theia said, then nodded towards the utensil on Daphne's napkin. "Show us. Hit that seam in the wall."

"Are you sure I won't be arrested for destruction of property?" Daphne asked, half joking as she lifted the knife anyways. It was a bit more handle-heavy than the ones she practiced with at home, but it shouldn't be a problem. She locked her wrist, then quick as an asp, hurled it at the wall.

It hit the seam exactly where Theia had indicated. A web of small cracks blossomed from the impact.

There were a couple heartbeats of stunned silence. Theia nodded in amazement. Iskra's crimson eyebrows were raised, distorting the golden tattoos on her forehead. Daphne thought there was something like impressment upon Caelum's face.

Nobody seemed to know what to say. An Avox girl hurried into the room to retrieve the knife from the wall, but it was lodged so deeply that it wouldn't budge. She supplied Daphne with another instead, then quickly vanished into the corridors.

It was when Daphne noticed Theron examining her with a strategist's eye that she realized she probably shouldn't go around flaunting her skills in everyone's faces. She decided that she should change the subject before Theron could get any ideas.

"Caelum's a pretty good shot with a bow," she said, then almost physically felt the attention of the room lift off her shoulders and onto his.

His forest green eyes immediately dropped to his plate, and a faint blush tinted his face. "I'm not that good."

"Shut up, you're just being modest," Theron snorted. "I've seen you shoot sparrows mid-flight."

"Okay, well, you're good at working the crowd." Caelum countered, then turned to Theia. "This guy's gonna steal all our sponsors so fast, it's not even funny."

Theron crossed his arms with a laugh. "Hey, I can just as easily pretend to be flat as board if you'd like a chance."

"Says the guy who couldn't even properly act as a bush in our third grade play."

"Bushes are dumb. I was playing dumb."

Caelum smirked. "Was it hard?"

Theia chuckled, and suddenly Daphne felt a wave of anger. How could she laugh, while the four of them were lambs to the slaughter? When she would watch them die horrible deaths on national television in a week or so?

As Daphne was marinating in her bitter thoughts, Theia had asked Azalea what her strengths were, but Azalea just shrugged. Now that Daphne thought about it, she wasn't sure what Azalea was good at besides sudden betrayal without warning. Caelum and Theron didn't chime in with their own thoughts, which led her to believe they had no idea either.

Well, hopefully that meant Azalea wouldn't last long. Maybe someone would get to her before Daphne had to.

Theia discussed a couple strategies on surviving the longest you could. Iskra chimed in a couple times, but the four of them stayed silent. Act indifferent during the Reaping, but try to appear outgoing during the pre-Game ceremonies. Forge relationships, be favorable, make it hard for people to want you dead. Only take what you need from the cornucopia, get out as soon as possible. Daphne tucked away the strategies in her mind to ponder on later, because now, the food was too distracting.

Daphne was halfway into her second slice of cream pie when her stomach decided that it had had enough. She found herself dashing for the bathroom, vomiting her intestines out. It was a shame, all that pure ecstasy in the form of food being flushed just minutes after being ingested. She wobbled back into the dining room and plopped down on her chair, picking her fork right back up and finishing what was on her plate.

She thought she glimpsed a flash of amusement flicker across Caelum's face from the corner of her eye, but it was probably just wishful thinking.

After they had all sufficiently stuffed themselves, Daphne was about ready to collapse and slip into a food coma. Iskra, however, had other ideas. Daphne found herself sitting on a fine leather couch next to Theron, since he was the only one in the room that didn't seem to have anything against her.

As he tried to chat up conversation with Theia, Daphne took a moment to examine his soft features, from his dark curls to the light curve of his tawny-colored jawline. He was a charismatic fellow, which she would probably have to watch out for in the near future. He was a good guy, though. She almost felt sorry for him.

It was here that they watched the recap of the Reapings. There were a couple volunteers in the Career districts, but Daphne noticed that the overall rate was significantly lower than previous years. Nobody wants to compete in a Quarter Quell if they can help it. Daphne tried making a mental note of the tributes that they'll soon have to battle to the death.

The reaped female from District Eight, mousy with brown hair, had selected a scrawny fifteen-year-old girl as her tribute of choice. The girl wouldn't last long in the arena. Daphne supposed it was just one less opponent she'd have to worry about.

In District Six, an older boy frantically volunteered for a sobbing twelve-year-old. The two shared enough facial features that it was obvious they were brothers. Daphne's fist clenched. The volunteer reminded her of Aedon. Not only did they look alike, she knew without a doubt that Aedon would've thrown himself into the Games for her if she were ever reaped.

She could somewhat deduce the relationship between most reaped tributes and the people they chose to participate with them. The ones who exchanged dirty glares were obviously not on great terms. Some whooped and cheered as if they'd been nominated for an award, high fiving each other up on the stage. Those were quite common in the Career Districts. The ones who wore masks of indifference were harder to tell.

And then District Ten was aired. It was strange, watching the ceremony through the cameras that she had seen stationed in every nook and cranny. She saw Azalea and Caelum reaped, Iskra with her permanent scowl. Iskra angled the microphone towards Azalea, and she stated Daphne's name.

From the playback, Daphne now realized that Azalea's voice had been quiet and wobbly, almost guilty. When the camera panned to Daphne, standing there in her dusty overalls, she grimaced at the utter shock and rage that was clearly strewn across her features. Her expression neutralized a moment later as she made her way up to the stage.

She watched herself hit Azalea, and it wasn't until now did she realize how much force she'd packed. A spray of saliva was knocked out of Azalea's mouth, and the crack was sickeningly loud. Daphne's eyes trailed away from the screen, not needing to watch herself get wrangled by Peacekeepers, and lingered upon her split knuckle. It stayed there until the image of Azalea, Caelum, Theron and her joining hands and raising their arms vanished from the screen and transitioned to District Eleven's reaping.

After District Twelve, the final district to be aired, they were all sufficiently relieved that it was over. The train would arrive at the Capitol in a couple hours, so they might as well try and rest up. Daphne made a beeline for her room, and even though all she wanted to do was collapse in the bed and pass out, she forced herself to shower first.

Back home, the Fengs had been fortunate enough to have stable running water, meaning Daphne was no stranger to showers unlike a good portion of the district. Somehow, the Capitol had even managed to make the shower high-tech, with different buttons controlling the temperature and pressure of the water and soap dispensers that allowed you to choose from a variety of scents. Daphne walked out of the bathroom smelling of coconut and lavender.

As she crawled beneath the damningly comfortable sheets, part of her wished that this was all just one big nightmare. She'd fall asleep, then wake up in her small cot in the attic. She'd look out the window and see her sheep, and the hill with the plum tree. She'd go downstairs and find Barley waiting for her, ready to take the sheep out to graze.

Barley. Her sweet, innocent Barley. She hoped he wouldn't think she abandoned him. He could always sense when she was feeling down, and he'd curl up in bed beside her and stay with her until she fell asleep holding him.

Tonight, Daphne held nothing but her plum blossom pendant as she allowed sleep to finally, finally whisk her out of the folds of reality.

━━･❪ 🌸 ❫ ･━━