Kindling the Spark

Alliances

11: Alliances

Gale POV

It feels much different to be a mentor than to be a tribute. This morning I will be watching the training from a room above the training room through a sheet of one-way glass. It's good to know that I will be able to see Katniss, even if she can't see me. I throw on some plain, black clothes and hurry up the stairs to the secret mentor room. I'm one of the first here. The District 2 mentors are here already, but no one else.

I take a moment to observe them. One of them is a young man that bears a striking resemblance to Cato. I try to shrug it off as coincidence, that there are many people from District 2 that look like that, but I can't. It makes my skin crawl, the look of him. I feel like I'm back in the arena with him for a moment, remembering the feeling of stepping-on-eggshells. Not sure when he would erupt. Later when he chased me through the career camp after I tried to poison him. Perhaps this man is a relative.

I sit down at the seat marked for the District 12 mentor. On the desk in front of me is a set of six screens. Five are blank, but one is on. I read the screen. Sponsor gift magazine. At the top, the names Katniss Everdeen and Haymitch Abernathy are written. So far, the totals are on £0.00. I guess the sponsoring can only start once the Games have begun. The program is quite simply and clearly done. The start screen gives me sections of gifts I can send.

Weapons. Food. Medicine. Survival gear. Custom backpack. I click on each section to see the gifts and what they cost. Weapons are the most expensive, unsurprisingly. One knife costs £100. A set costs £500. I flick through the different types of weapon until I get to bow and arrows. It is near the bottom, which means one of the most expensive gifts. £1000. Crap, that's a lot. I wonder how much the typical tribute will get. Capitolites are rich and Katniss is popular. Maybe there will be enough, but I bet there's a reason that weapons are rarely sent.

I didn't know that there were so many types of weapons before. It makes me wonder how much of an advantage career tributes actually get. They (to my knowledge) attend a career academy from ages twelve to eighteen. They will probably end up using weapons before that because their parents will give them lessons. They volunteer from ages sixteen to eighteen. So the average career will have had five years of formal training before attending the Games. They probably have the time to become a master in one or two weapons and become at least proficient some others.

I browse over some of the more unusual weapons. I have around fifteen minutes before the tributes are brought into the training room for the morning, so I have time. There are about ten different types of swords. Broadswords, longswords, rapiers, katanas, samurai. I wonder if Cato could use all of them. He never seemed to use any other weapon, so I assume he must have mastered swords. There are quite a few types of spears too and tridents.

After a bit of time browsing the survival gear section, I hear the doors of the training room open and the tributes enter. I see Katniss first, a determined expression on her face. Her dark hair is braided down her back and I feel a rush of nostalgia to the time training with her last year. She is the youngest of the tributes, but she looks like one of the strongest. Age isn't an advantage in something that relies heavily on physical fitness, though her size may be a disadvantage.

There seems to be quite a sharp split between two groups of tributes. The careers, except Mags, and a few others like Johanna Mason and Electra are all young-ish. They are well-muscled and have excited or determined expressions on their faces. Most of the outer District tributes are old, and looking hopeless. They know they have no chance. I see the morphlings from District 6. They seem aged beyond their years, their eyes sunken and their skin sallow.

Drug use isn't that common in District 12. Most of us are short of money to spend on food, let alone on substances to make us feel happy. Morphling in particular is very expensive. Even alcohol is too expensive for most of the people. I wouldn't want to use drugs as I hate feeling unguarded or losing my inhibitions, though I can see the appeal. Feeling relaxed, more confident, being able to forget about troubles. I can definitely see the appeal. But my stress and doubts are there for a reason. It won't help me to drink or smoke them away.