MAR ABIERTO // finnick odair

001

1.

"Stay there and look pretty." Caoba, her escort, ordered.

Kyra did not argue. She was not in the mood to do that today so she did what she was told to do, she held her posture, chin up high and an awkward smile on her face.

After at least thirty minutes of standing by herself, an avox appeared with a tray full of drinks, offering one that looked different from the others and smelled grossly like alcohol. She didn't decline the offer, even though she clearly wanted to. Kyra wouldn't dare do that, especially not on Snow's Palace.

Her hand was shaking a little bit, almost enough to make the glass tip over. She quickly apologized, looking around to see if somebody had witnessed that, and thanked them, despite knowing the avox would not reply back.

She brought the glass to her lips while holding her breath, barely letting the liquid touch her closed mouth before putting it down, gulping only her own saliva.

Nikolai, her mentor, had told her enough to know better than to drink any type of beverages that were offered at the Presidential Palace.

Tiredly, she started shifting her weight from one foot to another. Already feeling the sting from wearing those awful shoes Caoba insisted that matched perfectly the dress that felt like it was going to crush her ribs if she inhaled the wrong way.

From her place, she noticed how the crowd started to gather with excitement. It was probably capitol people trying to snatch someone's attention, maybe a photograph or one last interview.

Kyra's interviews had been very brief this time. It was a surprise that given the circumstances she was invited to the party, let alone allowed to do interviews.

The stutter and the vague questions from the interviewers suggested that they had been warned by President Snow to not bring up Seneca at all. He had paid a visit to Kyra as well, to strongly recommend her to watch her words.

Her whole body shivered just from remembering that encounter. Let's just say she could understand why they basically ran away from her, afraid of any misstep that could lead to a fatal destiny.

Who knew, that after being surrounded by murderers, a simple "suicide" was all that was needed to keep them away.

"Quite boring, isn't it?"

She turned around to the person that was speaking to her and she suddenly understood what all the fuss was about.

"Finnick." She acknowledged sharply.

He smiled widely with his mouth closed, squinting his eyes a little bit. Kyra tried not look too suspicious but she was not going to deny the fact that she did not expect Finnick Odair to make conversation with her, of all people.

It was not a surprise that he was at the party, most of the victors were obliged to attend while some, on the other hand, went by pure pleasure. Kyra thought that her and Finnick belonged to completely different groups on that matter.

Even though they were both victors they hadn't actually interacted which set an alarm to her. Of course they had seen each other before, while being mentors at the games and at parties like this one. She even remembers seeing Finnick at the tribute parade from her games. Taking all of that into consideration, it was hard to believe that this was the very first time they ever spoke to each other. Kyra didn't even thought that he would know who she was.

The girl, however, could not be more wrong.

Finnick had become very aware of Kyra since her performance at the games. If he hadn't known he would've probably mistaken her for a career, so eager to win it all, no matter how. He became interested to say the least.