I walked back to where Katniss, Peeta and Talon were waiting for me, one hand on my stomach, my mind racing.
"Well?" Talon asked, getting out of his seat. Even he had a look of concern on his face.
"I'm pregnant." I replied.
Katniss made a little choking noise in the back of her throat and put her hand to her mouth. Talon just looked at me, looking like he wanted to say something, but he didn't. Peeta sat down in his chair.
"That changes things." He said.
"This is a three year long Hunger Games. If I last that long, I could have my child in the arena." I replied. "If I do, what will the Capitol do?"
"There's no saying." Katniss said. "They could kill the baby. They wouldn't do it upfront, of course. They would make it some tragic accident. Or they wouldn't do anything."
"What would you do if you two are the last ones in the arena? There can only be one victor." Talon asked.
"Talon," Peeta said. "We need to make some decisions here. Are we going to tell Panem that you're pregnant?"
"Wouldn't the other tributes view me as weak?" I asked.
"Yes, the other tributes are there to kill you. But they're not there to kill a child." Katniss said. "Telling could be really beneficial. Sponsors will be all over you. Nobody wants to see the girl with the baby die. I've been the girl with the baby."
What Talon doesn't realize is that the baby never existed, but I shouldn't really bring that up.
"I want us to ally." Talon said to me, speaking up for the first time.
An awkward silence fell over the room. Nobody was expecting him to say anything. The bluntness of what he said seems to have all of us stunned.
"It's a three year Hunger Games. I know that alliances are strange sometimes because you're going to have to turn on one another at some point. But three years! If you're going to have a baby, I want to be around to protect you. Your life is vital." Talon said.
I walked over to Talon and sat next to him. "Do you really want to put your life in danger to save my baby?"
"I've had fifteen years of life. I want your child to get the chance to live at least three." He replied.
The mood in the room seemed to grow heavier. Between the news of my pregnancy and Talon saying that he will die for my child, everything seems a lot more doom and gloom than it already is.
A lot of time was spent in silence until Effie walked in, happily announcing that dinner was served. I had never seen so much food in my entire life. Different soups, breads, casseroles, desserts. It seemed like a dream.
I'm already noticing little pregnancy things. Like I have a sensitive sense of smell. Everything smells five times more extreme than it did just a few days ago. Some of the smells make me nauseous. Some of them make me want to eat nothing but that for the rest of my life. It really just depends.
Also, I think that I probably got up to go to the bathroom four times within the hour that we were sitting there. I have to go to the bathroom all the time.
"So, what can you do, Talon?" Peeta asked, putting down his fork and sitting back in his chair.
Talon seemed to be frightened by the question. "Nothing."
"I'm sure there's something that you can do. What do your parents do? What's the business? How do you guys feed yourselves?" Katniss asked.
Talon looked down and stirred his food around with his fork, looking shy and uncomfortable. I stopped what I was doing to look at him. Why is he acting this way? We're just asking for his parents' profession. It's really not something to be ashamed about. Not in District 12.
"I don't really like to tell people about it." Talon explained.
"What is there to be ashamed about?" I asked him. "You live in District 12. We're the most non-judging people you will ever meet."
"My parents don't do anything. We're rich. We don't need to work for our food." Talon said, seeming unhappy about having to say it.
I'm still not really understanding what the big deal is. Why was he so hesitant to say that he's rich? Isn't that something to be proud of? Nobody in 12 except for the victors are rich. All of us barely scrape by. Even those people that don't live in the Hob.
"I'm rich because I wasn't born in District 12. I'm from 4." Talon explained.
Well, that makes more sense. All of us were shocked. Effie froze mid-bite to look at him. Katniss gasped and Peeta seemed to be loss for words. He kept trying to open his mouth to say something, but he just closed it right again because he wasn't sure what to say. You don't ever hear of people moving to a different district. Especially not someone under 18. You're only allowed to travel from district to district if it's for official business. Why would I kid be moving to District 12? What official business could anybody from 4 have with us? Finally, I gained the composure to speak.
"Legal or illegal?" I asked.
"Legal. It's not like we hiked here from District 4. My dad..." Talon paused, the wheels in his head clearly turning. "We live in District 4. But the Capitol asked him to move here. He's to watch the business and report back if he sees anything suspicious."
"So your dad is a spy." I snapped, understanding now why Talon didn't want to tell us. His dad is doing the Capitol's dirty work. Something that you don't want to tell people from 12. We never really say it out loud, otherwise we would be hung or worse, but there's a mutual hate for the Capitol.
"He's not exactly a spy. More like an informat." Talon replied. "I don't think that the Capitol is looking for anything specific. They just want to know what's going on in general. They probably have some for every District. It's really not a big deal."
"Not a big deal that the Capitol has 'infomats' watching our every move?" I yelled. "Now I don't even feel comfortable in my home, now that I know that your dad is watching out for 'suspicious' behavior!"
"Well it's a good thing that you're not going to be there for a while, huh?" Talon snapped.
I started to get out of my chair so I can get to my room and away from him, but Peeta put his hand on my shoulder.
"Stop. We have things to talk about. It's not Talon's fault that his dad is an informat. Nor is it his dad's. If President Snow asked you to go spy on a District, I don't think that you would say no."
I sighed. Peeta did have a pint. I guess I was just more mad at the Capitol and all of their schemes than Talon, but it's still an uncomfortable feeling, knowing that eyes have constantly been on you.
"So you're a good fisher." Katniss said to Talon. I sat back down.
"Yeah. I am. I can make a fish hook out of anything. That's only valuable if there's a lot of water around." Talon replied.
"There's always fish somewhere in the arena." Peeta replied. "That's very valuable. Any weapon training?"
I looked over at Talon, expecting him to shake his head, when I got hit with a memory so hard, it was as if I had been hit by somebody running at full speed. I didn't recognize Talon before, but now that I'm looking at him from the side, the memory comes back to me.
I ran through the woods with silent feet, glad that Luke didn't come with me on this hunting trip. Usually, when he does, he makes so much noise that I don't catch anything. If Luke had been here, he would've been so loud that I never would've heard the approaching footsteps.
I looked behind me, not knowing what to expect to see. I didn't hear footsteps running after me, but it was a little hard to tell if somebody was. I didn't see anyone behind me, but I did notice a tree off to my left that quivered a little bit. The movement was too large to be created by an animal.
I slowed to a stop and pulled out three throwing knives, ready to throw if the person in the tree is any threat. They step out of the tree, the side of their face facing me. I don't recognize him. He appears to be really young. Probably 11. My eyes land on his belt, searching for a weapon. Sure enough, there's a sickle there. There's also a little pack. I can see something sticking out of it a little, but I can't tell what it is. I hold up my knife, bracing myself. He turns and looks at me.
"Whoa, whoa! No need for knives." The boy said.
"What are you doing here?" I hissed at him, examining his physique. Not much to look at. A little bit of muscle. Not too tall. The only advantage he may have over me is he appears to be well fed, but I'm too used to hunger for that to effect me.
"I could say the same for you, Knives." The boy replied.
"Watch it."
The boy put up his hands in defence. "I'm not going to attack you, Knives. No need to be pointing that thing at me."
I started to walk towards him. To my surprise, he didn't even flinch. He kept perfectly still, hands in the air. I approached with caution. I snatched the sickle out of his belt and tossed it to the side, out of easy reach. I backed up and put my throwing knife back into my "belt quiver" as Katniss calls it.
"Better." I said, keeping one hand on my knives. "You shouldn't be here. You're too young to be wondering these woods."
"You're not too much older than I am." The boy replied.
"Yes, but I've been going in here almost everyday for years. You look like you haven't spent a day of your life in these woods, none the less a district 12. You look like a 1, or a 2. Maybe a 4."
"You're a little judgemental, aren't you, Knives?" The boy snapped at me, having quite the little attitude. Maybe I was wrong. He might be a Capitol boy.
"Stop calling me Knives, Sickle." I said, gesturing to the weapon out of his reach.
The boy gave me a sly smile. "Fine. I'll leave." He grabbed for his sickle. I yanked out the knife and threw. He ducked and put the sickle in his belt.
"You missed, Knives. I'm more sly than you think." With that, the boy walked away.
That day was four years ago. I can't believe I didn't recognize him. I spent many days and nights pondering who Sickle was. I never saw him around 12, something that doesn't happen often since it's a small district. I assumed that he was some sort of runaway. I was wrong.
"Sickle." I said, without really thinking about it. Talon's head snapped in my direction. His eyes grew wide. He hadn't recognized me either. For a few seconds, we simply stared, before his mouth slipped into that same sly smile that I saw four years ago.
"Knives." He said.
Effie, Peeta and Katniss all looked confused by our small exchange, but nobody questioned it. Peeta simply said, "You can use a sickle?"
Talon nodded. "Whips, too."
So that's what that little thing was. The thing I never saw. I feel stupid now for not ripping it out of the belt. I didn't really think that it was a weapon.
Soon, we were sent off to bed. I stared up at the ceiling, thinking of Talon, the boy with the sickle. I'm still wondering what he was doing in the woods.
***
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