Chapter Text
Long ago the four nations lived separately, until the capital united them, united us. There was no more fire nation, no more water tribes, no more earth kingdom, and no more air nomads. Just the 12 districts. According to the old stories at least, only some people believe them.
Most don't.
Most just say that there are too many versions of the old stories, they're unreliable, they're made up, that the people of Panem were never separated (more so than we are now of course). But I believe them, I've grown up with my Ma telling me the stories of when water benders used to live in places called the "poles" and Lenore Dove is always telling me that the covey used to travel not because they're covey- but because they're air benders. Plus, even though the gene pool is all mixed now, you can still see little differences in eye colours. Water benders all have blue eyes, earth benders have green, air benders have grey, and fire benders have honey gold; ‘course sometimes it's only a hint of the colours mixed in with brown but it's there.
Everyone in my family has brown eyes with a hint of blue, i do, my Ma does, Sid does, though my Pa had green eyes. But he wasn't a bender like Ma and I are, ‘course it's too early to tell if Sid is a bender or not. Most don't start being able to bend till they're 12 and he's still just 10… I hope that the old stories are true and that Sid's blue eyes will protect him from being an earth bender. Being an earth bender in district twelve is a promise of the mines, and Sid was born on the sunny side, he wouldn't be able to survive a day in the mines.
I probably will have to though.
But before I can worry about joining the mines when I'm old enough- I need to worry about surviving today's reaping… and my birthday. What kind of idiot gets born on reaping day? With that sort of luck I'm surprised I've not been reaped yet. There is one good side to being born on reaping day. You get to sleep in. But in the end, you still have to wake up, and today my brother is shaking me awake.
"Happy Birthday! You wanted me to be a rooster!"
I'm glad he wakes me when I ask him to, I need to finish off some work before the reaping so I can spend the rest of my birthday wasting time in the woods with Lenore Dove.
"I'm up, I'm up" I mutter as I splash a little water in Sid's face, barely a spray, but it gets him off me as he scampers away giggling.
Soon I'm rolling out of bed and getting dressed in my reaping clothes and then not long after that I'm grabbing some corn bread and leaving the house. I pass my Ma as I do so, she's using her bending to clean some miner's uniform in heated water. I can see it strains her, the stress of my Pa's death weighed on her heavily, leaving her to raise me and Sid alone. Part of me hates that that was the last thing my Pa ever did, I hate him for leaving my Ma, I hate him for dying… but I hate that he is probably hating himself in the hereafter. Despite her being only 35, Ma looks older. To me, it shows all she's been through, all that she survived and lived beyond.
"Need you to fill the cistern today." she orders without looking up.
I have to fight the urge to groan at that, filling the cistern has always been my chore but ever since i started being able to water bend I've always been expected to do it more. I hate doing it. It's mentally and physically exhausting if I use my bending to hurry the water along the pipe, but it takes hours without the help. Either way I take Sid along with me to save time but even then the quickest it will take is two hours.
"can't it wait till tomorrow?"
"I need it now, I've got a mountain of washing to do today, I'm going to run out."
"This afternoon?"
My Ma thinks before humming in conformation, letting me know that that is fine. A part of me wants to cheer, but the wiser half of me knows not to risk jinxing any luck I have, not today. Not any reaping day but definitely not today. Not this year. Not on a Quarter Quell, not when this year is two games in one. My stomach churns and sinks at the thought. Four tributes from each district, 2 boys, 2 girls. Double tributes from everyone. This year we will see 47 kids die on screen. I try not to panic, try not to think about how many times my name will be in the reaping bowl.
Don't panic, I remind myself, it's what the Capitol wants. They want entertainment, don't give them that. They've taken enough.
By now I've made my way to the edge of the seam, the edge looking out to the woods, I glance round to make sure no one is watching and duck under the gate. It should be electrified but it hasn't been on for as long as i can remember, actually i think it's been off since before i was born. Not all of it of course, just this section actually, and it's not common knowledge, I only know because the covey told me.
Now in the woods I make my way to where Hattie has left me sacks of corn to carry, this is my main job (aside from the odd jobs my Ma gets me) helping Hattie brew white liquor. Technically it's illegal but most peacekeepers don't care, they just like being able to get drunk cheaply and quickly. When I meet up with Hattie she quickly puts me to work but in the end she sends me away early. I think everyone is probably going to be on edge today, more so than a normal reaping day. As she sends me away she gives me a large bottle of the alcohol, saying something about how "if i can make it, i can drink it", i take it but have no plans to drink it. I've never been a drinker but I consider giving it to Lenore Dove's guardians, they've been warming up to me recently and i can't help but wonder if they'd want it. If not then ill just go sell it at the hob.
I leave before she can change her mind and make my way to the meadow in the hopes of being able to chat with Lenore Dove earlier than I had originally expected.
The two of us still like to reminisce on our first meeting, she had just gotten her bending and was playing with a breeze and accidentally knocked an apple off the stem and it hit me on the head. We got along like all-fire after that and tried our hand at dating but soon decided that our love wasn't romantic. Lenore Dove holds a special place in my heart. I love her (even if it's not romantic it means a lot to me) and she loves me the same. It's hard to explain but I feel like she completes me in a way my other friends don't. Most people don't understand the complexity of our feelings and just assume our break up was just taking a break and that we've gotten back together. We've long given up on correcting people, not that either of us mind hiding in our "relationship". The two of us love.. differently, our type of love can get you in serious trouble with the peacekeepers, the sort of trouble not even a trouble maker like Lenore Dove would dare risk. I hide her and she hides me, and we mock each other for the crushes we develop. It's comforting to know you aren't alone.
I was right in the end. I found her sitting under a tree in the meadow, singing to herself and her geese who hissed at me, announcing my arrival. She turns quick and a grin spreads across her face.
"Happy Birthday. Didn't think I'd see you till after"
"Hattie let me leave early, with a gift of course," I say pulling the bottle out my bag
She looks at it and we both know what she's thinking, it'll be easy to trade. Four families this year, surely one of them will want a drink.
"We'll be fine. They'll be fine." I'm not sure if I'm trying to comfort her or me.
"You don't know that."
"I know that nothing we do will stop it. The reaping will always happen and the sun will always rise."
She frowns at that and I know that a debate is incoming. I never win these.
"You don't know that- you can't predict the future based on the past. You can't know what will happen tomorrow because of what happened yesterday. Change is always possible… Do you.. do you think we'll ever see a sunrise without a reaping"
"i think there will away be a reaping on my birthday"
Lenore Dove goes quiet at that, I can see her mind going a thousand miles an hour but whatever she's thinking must not be important enough to say because she just reaches into her pocket and hands over a bag of gumdrops.
"Happy Birthday Haymitch Abernathy."
I take the sweets, they're rainbow with an array of flavours, the bag says they're from the Donner's sweetshop. The Donner's are a family in the merchant part of 12, everyone of them is a fire bender, they use it to heat the sweets and shape them. Despite owning the sweetshop most of the Donners are actually quite mean.
"Thank you Lenore Dove…" I thought for a moment, "Keep them though. Give them to me later and we can eat them together after the reaping. I think we'll need to cheer up."
She smiles at me as she takes them and we go our separate ways to get ready for the reaping. I make my way back to my house to take a quick bath. When I get out Sid comes running up to me holding a rock in his hands, He holds it out to me.
"Happy birthday Haymitch! Burdock said you'd like this. It's flint…. why would you like flint?"
I chuckle at his question.
"i dont know Sid, I haven't had a chance to see Burdie yet. But we can ask him soon."
He grins, satisfied at that and continues getting ready.
In the end I go to trade the liquor at the apothecary. It's run by the Marches, a family of water benders. Some of the only people in 12 to have the permits to learn more than the typical amount of bending. While I can barely convince water to keep falling from a spout, they have been taught how to heal, a sub-bending of water bending. They're kept under strict watch, and they have their permits checked every 6 months. Part of me is jealous of them. The Marches get to learn more about something so integral to so many people in 12 while most water benders get taught how not to accidentally move water and that's it. If anyone is caught trying to do more than what they were allowed, they would be dragged to the post in the centre of town and whipped.
But despite my annoyance and jealousy I can't help but smile when I see Asterid at the counter. I can tell why Burdock likes her, she's sweet, and pretty. She's pale and blond, she's a merchant. And she's proven herself to the seam. She helps those who can't pay without charging them .
Asterid pays me for the liquor and gives me a little flower for luck and I wish her the same luck.
I make my way to the reaping area, passing the Donner sweetshop as I go, glancing in and I see Maysilee Donner. She's blond and pale, golden eyes and braided hair. Her neck is decorated with necklaces galore. How Lenore Dove could find something about her to love, I'll never know. Not all the looks in the world could make up for her meanness.
When I arrive I begin to look for my friends Burdock and Blair. Blair is a fire bender but he's also seam so unlike the Donners he wont ever work in the market, He'll be sent to the mines and used to keep the lights bright enough for everyone to see without the capitol having to send us more candles. Of course this is alongside mining. Burdock is my oldest and closest friend but what only Lenore Dove knows is for the past 4 years Burdock has also been the subject of an annoyingly stubborn crush. Of course I would manage to have a crush on my best friend, and of course he just so happens to be head over heels in love with Asterid. But beyond Burdock causing complications in my love life, he's an earthbender. That's the worst thing to be in district 12. Burdock will spend his life in the mines, he will work long shifts, rarely leave, and eventually die in the mines. He will be expected to use his bending to increase the coal yield as much as he can, with the minimal training they give earth benders, the same minimal training that ends up causing most mining accidents. Who would've guessed that sending in 18 year old earthbenders with barely any training could lead to people losing control of their bending.
Of course that's not the only thing of note about Burdock. He's a hunter, a great one at that, and the cousin of Lenore Dove. Vaguely covey. His side of the family name themselves after plants rather than colours, he is named after a sticky weed. Well it does other things, but i mainly think of it as a plant that just clings to you. It doesn't help that he loves to tell the people he loves: "i'll stick to you".
The two of them end up sneaking up on me, Blair shoves a bag of peanuts into my chest.
"Happy Birthday idiot,-" he goes to say more but shuts up when he spots someone out the corner of his eyes, "hey, i'll be back i just need to go talk to Hazel"
Me and Burdock make eye contact and try to hold back laughs at Blair's crush. When he's gone Burdock holds out his own birthday offering.
I take it, thinking of Sid and his flint stone. Opening it I find a crescent of metal, painted in an ombre from purple to the golden brass of the metal. One side of the crescent is a fanged snake and the other side is a songbird, a jabberjay. The bird the capitol failed to control. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
"Oh Burdie… it's wonderful."
"Happy Birthday Hay. It's a flint stricker, hopefully Sid found a flint stone like I told him to."
I smile at that.
"Don't worry he did."
"Good to know only one of the Abernathy sons is an idiot."
"Hey!"
"I mean seriously Hay, what kind of idiot gets born on reaping day."
"Oh i’m sorry Burdie, all complaints to do with my birth should be taken to my Ma"
He went to respond but Blair had arrived just in time for the Panem national anthem to begin to play. We all muttered and mouthed along and watched in a painful silence as the Mayor got on stage to introduce our foul escort. Drusilla Sickle. Everyone hates her. She has a pinned back face, sickeningly vibrant yellow dress clearly inspired by a military uniform. She was wheeled in, a slap in the face to 12, not even bothering to walk. Clearly though her mind wasn't focused on us. As with all capitolites you can't tell if they can bend, let alone what original faction they came from. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this year, it was more important to look good and fit to capitol standards. More people must care about a Quarter Quell.
Soon the deranged daffodil of a woman stepped up the reaping bowls. As always she stepped towards the girls bowl first. Drusilla reaches a sickly hand into the bowl, her long black nails (that looked more like talons than nails) circled the bowl like vultures before settling on their prey.
She lifted it to her eyes and leaned forwards to the mic.
"Louella McCoy."
I feel my heart stop for a moment. I know Louella. She lives on my street. I remember when she was born. Me and some of the other seam boys on our street waited at her mother's window to see the baby. She was skinny from birth, and that never really changed. Louella doesn't deserve to die, no one does, but certainly not her. Even though she's freshly 12 she’s already mastering what little airbending she was permitted to learn. Not that anything she knows will save her in the arena.
Despite the situation she walks with power and pride, holding her head high.
Drusilla reaches again and reads out the next name. The second name that on any other year would be a boys name and signal the end of the reaping. But not this year.
"Maysilee Donner."
My first feeling is relief, Lenore Dove is safe for another year, then all i cant think is how i want to hug her. While Lenore Dove teases me for my crush on Burdock, I tease her for her crush on Maysilee Donner. The meanest girl in town, someone with a personality to match her scolding fire. I turn my head a little to watch as Maysille hugs her sister and best friend. Seeing this I feel even worse. How could I forget?
Maysillee and Merilee Donner are best friends with Asterid. She smooths her lavender dress and holds her head higher than normal as she walks to the stage.
At least, I think to myself, the district 12 girls won't be going down in shame this year. They will be keeping their pride.
By now Drusilla has made her way to the boys bowl. She repeats her tradition of twirling her hand in the bowl before reaching in and pulling out names.
"Wyatt Callow."
I don't know Wyatt all that well so I can only think of what little I know about him. Earth bender, 18, strong, working in the mines already. And worst of all, nearly 19. I feel like I'm forgetting something but I don't have time to dwell. The next name is already being called, and I can only hope that my hope continues.
"Woodbine Chance."
I can't help but breathe a sigh of relief that it's not me. But then, like with Maysilee, I feel bad. Woodbine is a non-bender, they never make it far in the games. And I'm fairly sure he and Lenore Dove are related, on her dads side. But no matter what I stand there as I watch him begin to follow the path Wyatt has just walked.
Then he turns.
And runs.
Then a shot rings out.
And Woodbine Chances' head explodes.