lover/fighter - Finnick Odair

Chapter 14 - Swimming in the frozen sky

It all starts with a phone call. In principle, that's nothing unusual; Rhea spends a lot of time on the phone every day. There would be nothing special about that, if the turn of the year wasn't just around the corner.

Rhea is not someone who needs to celebrate something at all times, but the end of an old year and the beginning of a new one always feels special to her. You leave past failures behind and look to the future with hope, while dreaming of what surprises the next 365 days might hold. There is a whiff of change in the air and even if little changes on the whole, it is nice to be able to savor this feeling, at least for a little while.

It's no surprise that the turn of the year is celebrated in grand style at the Capitol. However, many Capitol residents celebrate for other reasons, as a new year also means a new season of The Hunger Games, which are eagerly awaited by everyone from the first day of the year, even though the event is still many months away. But the Capitolites never miss an opportunity to celebrate anyway.

In the past weeks, the annual Winter Festival had filled the streets and houses of the Capitol with life. Winter in the Capitol quickly turns the days dark, gray and dreary. When the little greenery in the city loses its color, the sun disappears behind the sea of clouds that surrounds the mountain peaks and only the cold concrete and asphalt remain, even the pompous capital of Panem loses some of its luster.

Perhaps to counteract this, the Winter Festival is always held in mid-December, over a period of two weeks, to avoid the first appearance of winter depression, before the anticipation of a new year of the Hunger Games gets people going again.

That means the entire Capitol becomes one big party zone for 14 days. Rhea learned from Linus that it used to be different. The streets were beautifully decorated, there was music and dancing everywhere, and you could enjoy seasonal specialties in all the stores, but without being overwhelmed by it all. Over the years, however, the whole thing seems to have gotten out of hand. Decorations, music and food are still there today, but to an extent that goes beyond anything you could imagine. In the rich neighborhoods and the city center there is a huge crowd from morning to night, and every square, street and intersection merge into one big fairground. The Capitol people are thrilled to take the opportunity to add a few winter costumes to their wardrobes and are especially happy to have free access to the festivities 24 hours a day, since all they have to do is walk out their front door.

Rhea hates this time of year for several reasons. First, both her home and her workplace are located in the middle of the danger zone, which makes her commute very difficult, her nights sleepless, and her working hours ten times more exhausting. Secondly, such a mass of uninhibitedly partying people means at the same time a never-ending rush of work and thus a whole lot of additional stress. Last but not least, it's still winter and Rhea hates the cold.

Since the opening of Rhea's own practice was a little more than a year ago, this is the second time she has been through this madness. Last time, she was completely inexperienced and had underestimated what would come her way. At least this time she was prepared and there is another difference to last year. Now that she has a firm grip on her business, she can afford to close her practice for the change of Year after the stress of the Winter Festival.

She has decided to allow herself and her staff some rest, so she's officially on vacation from work for a week starting today. Well, officially she is, but she's still standing in the office with Elaine. It's strange to find this silence again after two weeks of continuous exposure to loud music and the roaring of the drunks from street below, especially since the office is completely deserted except for the two friends.

"I can't believe you drag me here even during our vacation. Your work ethic is really abnormal. We could still do this after the new year," Elaine complains. Rhea got her to help her work through the last remaining piles of files this morning with an hour of her finest persuasion as well as two absolutely divine chocolate croissants.