❝𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐎𝐒❞ | k. everdeen

chapter 5: making friends, i see.

—People know that alliances end— Nola commented, as if to say "there's no point in making allies if, sooner or later, we might have to kill them".

—The situation is different. The Games are different— Enobaria remarked—. Everyone is going to want to keep close the best, or those people they trust enough to think they won't get their throats slit in their sleep. We know that alliances end, but precisely because you know each other better than the tributes in other years, you know that you will want to protect some more than others, and you know what the protective instinct does.

"It drives us crazy," Nola thought as she chewed, her mind elsewhere. However, she had no one to lose her sanity over down there. Yes, she admittedly didn't want many of her opponents to lose their lives in the arena, but she didn't consider any of them friends enough to put everything aside and sacrifice themselves. No. Nola was convinced that there would be no feelings involved that would diminish her only mission: to get out of there alive.

She and Brutus were the first to go down to training, Nola realized as she rolled her eyes as she had Enobaria's phrase engraved in her mind when she went down to breakfast. Atala, the woman who organized the training, seemed to sigh in relief: it was well past the time of admission, and there was still no one there. She briefly explained to the two tributes the areas and tools available, and as they both knew the center well enough, neither seemed to pay too much attention.

The two tributes took advantage of this time alone to take a look at the weapons they would want to use in the arena. Brutus remarked in passing that he might try his hand at spears, since he was muscular and had good aim, something that might serve him well in lieu of hand-to-hand combat —where Nola was sure he could defeat even the strongest of opponents despite his age and poor agility. Nola nodded wordlessly until Brutus disappeared from her sight, and it was then that she focused hers on the area of the swords.

She hadn't known how to wield a sword until she was selected in the Hunger Games, and if she was an expert now, she definitely had Enobaria to thank for it. She saw her tall, lithe build, if somewhat lanky, and frowning, Enobaria made a point of making something of the quiet girl. Nola had taken thrusts, knockdowns, cuts, and had even suffered the cold of the sword near her neck, but that had made her skin thick, and Enobaria had to admit that the girl promised more than what could be seen: she killed three people with a thick wooden stick that she had managed to transform into something resembling a sword, and when the most brilliant gift arrived, it was the icing on the cake.

Nola remembered all that as she wielded that sword. It wasn't like hers, far from it, but it could do the trick. Besides, she knew that sponsors were generous if the show was good, so she was convinced that one of them would provide her with a better sword. However, that didn't stop her from unleashing lunge after lunge, turning quickly to defeat the holograms that were popping up in the room with ease, driving metal into the digital chest, severing limbs with ease, and even rolling fake heads. When the alarm sounded, indicating that the simulation was over and that he had scored as many points as possible, she found that it was already ten o'clock, and that several new tributes had been staring at her performance with little disguise, among whom she found Katniss.

She gave her a nod, her intention far from threatening her, but rather to warn her, to let her know what she was capable of, and the 16-year-old did not answer to her gesture, she just left the way she had come. Nola stared at her, her chest rising and falling rhythmically as she caught her breath, until she crouched down at the knots area.

She tried to keep her out of her head, but she couldn't help but wonder what people saw in her as to see her a leader of a revolution. She was just a girl, Nola really didn't see anything beyond the fact that she had pulled out a handful of berries in front of all of Panem. It might have been too brave and risky an act, yes, but perhaps her only intention had been so that both Peeta and she could survive, not an act of rebellion against the Capitol. Nola thought about how much a few berries had caused, and how someone like Katniss couldn't lead a revolution if she couldn't even hold her gaze for more than three seconds.