The Golden Sparrow

Eight

The train travelled so quickly the world outside passed in a blur of colours, Bee had opened a thick brown book and started to read while sitting next to a window, Seed had sat down with a small plate of sweats and treats and was quietly munching on the food, Tanner had drank multiple glasses of bourbon, Harris was sat playing with his finger after having a couple of glasses of whiskey and Lizela sat unmoving in the same chair she had originally placed herself in staring at the world around her. She was currently doing two things she had never done before, she had never been out of her district and she had never been on a train and all she wanted to do was turn around and go home. The brunette was pulled out of her thoughts by movement in the corner of her eye, Seed had stood and created another plate of food, Lizela presumed it was for himself but when the boy walked towards her and held out the place and smiled gently, "you should try some things," he suggested, "we've never had most of this stuff in five." Lizela looked at the boy blankly before smiling sadly and taking the plate. 

Seed took the seat next to her instead of the seat next to Bee and watched as she placed the plate gently on the table in front of her and picked up a pastry, Lizela took a small bite from the square food and smiled, it was delicious, the girl glanced at the boy and nodded, "thank you." 

Unknown to the pair, Bee, Tanner and Harris were all watching the exchange with eagle eyes, Harris gulped sadly and looked towards his fellow mentor and friend who sighed heavily and stood, "we'll be arriving at the capitol soon," his gruff voice caught the attention of the tributes who both turned to look at him, "I suppose we better get on with telling you what to expect," as he spoke he moved over to grab a pie from the buffet and held it in his hand, "when we first arrive you'll both be taken off to get you ready to meet your stylist, district 5 had one for the both of you." the man took a large bite of the pie as crumbs fell into his beard and down his clothing as he chewed.

Harris leaned forward into his knees and nodded at the words from the other man's mouth, "Once you both meet her, she'll get you both ready and then we'll meet you before you go out to be presented to the crowd at the tribute parade." Lizela listened to the words coming from the man's mouth but couldn't fully comprehend what they meant, "have you watched the parades from other years?" Harris asked looking between the pair.

Seed nodded firmly and answered, "Yeah, I've watched them every year for as long as I can remember, mostly in class," some parts of the games you were ordered to watch by law and the tribute parade was one of those moments so the question had been an empty one but Tanner nodded firmly at the boy's words and he then looked towards the girl. Lizela felt eyes on her as she messed with the edge of her dress slightly and nodded, "I watched last year's at school," she answered, "but I never really paid attention before that but we would go to the square to watch." Lizela remembered the moment very vividly, the way the dark chariots were pulled by pitch black horses and each district's tributes were dressed to match their colours and industry. Each boy was made to look handsome and strong and each girl was made to look beautiful and elegant. Lizela remembered the camera panning to the crowd who screamed, cheered and threw flowers and offerings. 

"Good," Harris spoke, "the parade is important because there'll be a lot of sponsors there so wave, cheer and smile, get them to notice you."

"Sponsors?" Lizela questioned glancing from one mentor to the next, the year prior was Lizela's first reel experience watching and interacting with the Hunger Games, the years before she had spent time in front of the screens supposed to be watching by law but her brothers would always distract her in some way so she wouldn't pay attention to the death so she didn't know much about what she was entering into. 

Tanner huffed and sat back down with a second pie in his hand, "sponsors are people who will send you things you need while in the arena and they'll promote you to the outside world to get other people to help you, they're probably the most important part of the games." The man glanced at the other victor and turned back to the young tributes, "because no matter how good you can fight or how clever you are, if there's no food you'll starve and if there's no water you'll dehydrate and sponsors are the people who can send you food and water." 

Harris nodded along and quickly added, "They can send you anything that is needed."

Seed and Lizela were listening intently and nodded when the men finished, Seed was leaning forward with his elbows on the table and his eyes were wide as the information was given to him, "How do we get sponsors then?" he asked, his voice was strong and unwavering and Lizela could tell it would not be his last question, after all that was what the mentors were for.

Tanner looked towards Harris who looked back at him before they both turned back to this year's tributes who they would help and train, "you get people to like you." Tanner answered before he shovelled the remaining pie into his mouth.

Bee looked out of the window and happily clapped as she saw that the train was entering the capitol platform where hundreds of people were waiting so they could catch a glimpse at this year's tributes, "oh wonderful," they clapped standing up and looking out of the window, "we've arrived." Lizela looked next to her and saw the people with multi-coloured dyed hair and bright wigs, the weird and outlandish fashion stood out to the girl and it was even crazier than what the escort wore. The people clapped, screamed and cheered with cameras flashing in the young girl's eyes as she felt Seed lean next to her to also look out the window, the pair glanced at each other silently agreeing that with the brief information they had been given by their mentors, they should wave. 

So they did. 

The pair waved and forced fake smiles onto their faces to make themselves look happy to be there and they were so engrossed in the people waving back at them that neither of them noticed the proud looks that spread across the district 5's mentors' faces.