Shades of Gold and Blue | Finnick Odair

Six

"How have you liked the trip so far then darling, is it everything you thought it would be?" Father asks as we eat breakfast on the train. We're about an hour away from District Four, the last stop on our tour and the source of my excitement for weeks.

"I think we both know that I didn't come with you to see One and Two, what's to see there? They're just replicas of the Capitol."

"And what's wrong with that?" He frowns, "You like home, don't you?" An Avox brings him in some paperwork in one of the red stamped files, they're the important documents that only come from Grandfather or General Wycombe.

"Of course I like home – it's just . . . it's just so boring!"

He almost chokes on his orange juice, "Boring?" He opens the file while he listens to me.

"It's so cramped back at home, it's all just tall buildings that block out the sky and you can never see anything. And it's so repetitive - university, brunch at The Marigold, Rubie's every weekend. The thought that people are happy to stay there their entire lives and never see anywhere else is just so strange to me, I'll never understand it. What about adventure and freedom?"

I wait for some kind of amused response from him but when I don't get one, I glance over and see him staring darkly at the contents of the red file, "What is it, Daddy?"

He sighs and rubs his temples, "Nothing important darling, your Grandfather just wants me to make a trip to District Eleven before we get to Four. There's been some disruption there." I hold his hand and he gives me a taut smile, "You go to Four and I'll come to get you once the General and I have settled things there."

"By myself? What if they don't like me?"

He stares at me with a mock serious face, "Then we'll get the firing squad out." I roll my eyes and he laughs, "Of course they'll like you darling, how could they not?"

"Because I'm not one of them."

"It's not them and us Cassia, people are the same no matter where they're from. That's why there's disruption in Eleven right now. Just like we enjoy our freedom, they enjoy it too."

"Then why don't we give them it?"

"Because those people showed us that they couldn't be trusted with freedom when they used it to rebel against the Capitol."

"But the men who rebelled probably aren't even alive anymore Daddy, or they'll at least be old and decrepit and they won't be much use to a rebellion in that state. Wouldn't it be fair to say that they've done their time?"

"You've always been too generous for your own good darling, the situation is more complex than being able to just give their freedom back. One you've given something like that, you can't take it back. The last thing we want is to lose control of the situation - it seems harsh, I know, but there are many more of them than there are of us and if we give them their freedom, the first they'll do is come for us and our way of life." Before I can argue he stands up, places his napkin down on his plate and walks off tapping away at his communicuff.

I huff and sulk while the Avoxes clear everything away. I just don't understand how I'm expected to look the district people in the eye knowing that in a couple of months they'll be sending two of their children off to die and that I'll be going to watch-parties and watching my friends make bets on who's going to die first. It's not like there's a choice. It's such a big part of our culture at home that it would be impossible for me to avoid games related events unless I became a social recluse.

I leave the dining cart and head off to the back of the train, it's a quiet room and it's only me that ever comes down here. I sit on the sofa that faces the wall of windows and watch the country go by in flurries of colour. I get to sit in peace for about twenty minutes before my prep team come and find me and start sticking pins in my hair and brushing rouge on my cheeks.