❝ ALONE WE ARE STRONG,
TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER, ❞
in which talia riverthorn,
a citizen of district 4,
finds her heart torn
when she is forced into the
71st hunger games.
and the handsome,
mysterious finnick odair
is her mentor.
and as well...
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BEAUTY IS PAIN
The second day of training when more smoothly than the first had- Talia woke earlier and put her energy into weapons training. She focused mainly on knives, but delved into swords, spears and archery too. She found bows and arrows a complicated thing, but spears were better and swords simple enough.
On the evening of that day she found herself sitting on the balcony, overlooking the city beyond and wondering how the Capitol ever became so in love with these ruthless games, and as her mind ticks like a clock she doesn't notice Finnick sliding open the door and sitting down on the seat beside her.
"Talia?" He asks and she jumps, eyes snapping to meet his.
"Sorry...I was lost in my head," She breathes, relaxing.
"How was today?" He asks, and Talia nods.
"Good, fine," She says and he nods, he'd never found it so difficult to talk to someone before, she was so quiet and enclosed and he didn't blame her for it, but he only wished to offer his help.
"I just wanted to see what you worked on," He tells her.
"Spears, swords, archery, knives- and we did the rope course, which I did quite slowly, but I didn't fall like some of the others," Talia says and Finnick nods.
"Good, thats good, what're you thinking of doing tomorrow, remember its your last day," Finnick reminds her and she nods, glancing out over the Capitol once again.
"I'm thinking of trying out the tridents," Talia says, Finnick had warned her not to display her best skills before the others and to save it for her private session but she needed to practice with a real trident before she could show it off as a skill.
"I thought that would be your private session skill?" He asks and Talia shrugs.
"I have to practice first, I haven't picked up a proper trident in about 3 years, Finnick," She says and he sighs.
"Is there anything else you might show them?" He asks.
"I'm okay with knives I guess, but the trident was going to be my skill because I wanted them to see that and put a trident in the arena- if I don't use it for killing, I can catch fish," She says and Finnick nods, his gaze following Talia's towards the city.
"You do what you think is right, if you're good, you might threaten the District 6 tributes, and the careers- I wish I had things to tell you about Ethan's plans, but Coral won't share his thoughts with me anymore, and I haven't shared anything with her about you, this is our secret," He says, turning to look at her.
She meets his gaze, and for a moment, she can feel the serenity of this place, the cool breeze that snaked through the skyscrapers, the hum of the hovercars and the laughter of the obnoxious people that lived here.
"I get why you spend so much time here," Talia breathes out, pulling her eyes away from his.
"Its not always my choice," Finnick admits, he stands up and his tan fingers run along the railing of the balcony, "Sometimes I'm here because other people desire my company,"
"Can't the magnificent Finnick Odair turn them down?" Talia asks, looking up at him from her curled up position on the sofa type seat.
"Unfortunately not," Finnick mutters, but Talia hears it and she frowns, unsure of why not.
"Are you trapped?" She asks, standing up and joining him at the railing, she glances over and sees netting protecting the whole thing, the Capitol didn't wish for their tributes to kill themselves before the games began.
"I am, but I can't talk to you about it, or anyone for that matter- but being considered attractive by the Capitol is not something you should ever desire," Finnick says.
"Lucky I'm not then," Talia laughs, a genuine laugh, something Finnick hadn't heard before.
"You are beautiful, Talia," Finnick says and Talia turns her face away, to the wind, she could feel her cheeks burning.
"You're just being kind," She whispers and Finnick places his hand on top of hers.
"I'm telling the truth, Talia, you are beautiful," He says and she looks round at him, she looks into his eyes and she watches them dilute, and they remain staring into hers.
"Dinner is here,"
The voice makes them move away, Finnick's hand slips off of hers and he nods towards Thelan who was glancing between the two of them, his blue, thinly plucked eyebrows raised.
"Great," Talia says, heading inside and following Thelan to the dining table, where pastas, salads and breads sit on the table just waiting to be eaten.
Talia sits in her usual seat opposite Ethan, who was shovelling food into his mouth already- clearly bulking up for the arena. Talia helps herself to the food, but she doesn't overeat- she knows that she will never eat like this again, especially not in the arena, and so she doesn't wish for her body to grow too used to massive meals like these. Finnick joins them a few minutes later and he barely eats, but Talia wonders if it had anything to do with their conversation of beauty on the balcony.
According to Finnick, beauty is pain in the Capitol, and she had no idea what that truly meant, but she was certain she never wanted to find out.
____________
so if you're a reader from Little Bird you'll remember how fast paced Talia & Finnick's relationship was- its not going to like that this time & the romance won't really start until the 2nd part of this book, but the initial bonding is beginning now
