Shades of Gold and Blue | Finnick Odair

Fifteen

When we reach the orphanage there's a considerable crowd there, but they part as Finnick guides Annie and I through to the front where the orphanage matrons are standing.

Isla smiles and moves over to me, "Cassia, this really is amazing." I look at her eyes and see that they're filled with tears, "Thank you."

"It was all my Grandfather's doing."

She squeezes my hand, "Well like I said, thank you."

I look up at the orphanage along with everyone else in the crowd and I see some men walking tentatively on top of the roof, trying to place their feet in different places but stepping back when they hear creaks beneath them.

The helping hand that most people would be providing, it seemed, was helping to keep control of the orphanage boys. With it being a Tuesday, I suspected many of them should have been at school but the citizens of District Four seemed to have taken this as a regional holiday and the square was full.

It was a wonderful atmosphere, there were stalls set up with food and a small group of men had begun to play sea shanties from a gazebo on the far end of the square. I could see some peacekeepers patrolling around the town but most looked merry themselves and gratefully took food and drink when offered.

I feel a gentle tug on my overalls and look down to see Caspian's face smiling up at me, "You lied!"

I feel a huge grin spread across my face and I can't help but laugh a little as I crouch down, "And why's that's sweetheart?"

"You said you weren't an angel but you are! I heard someone say so."

I glance with narrowed eyes up at Finnick who's stood to my left.

He plasters a look of shock on his face, "I'm on my best behaviour!"

"Has he been naughty?" Caspian says disdainfully, looking from me to Finnick.

"Very," I say at the same time that Finnick says, "Not at all."

We look at each other and laugh but we're both stopped as we hear a collective gasp and see one of the two men on the roof dangling off. A group of men come together below him and help to lower him down, encouraging his partner to follow him down too.

"What's happening?" I say looking around in confusion.

Isla looks disappointed, "I think we'll have to wait for someone to professionally fix it, maybe put in a request that someone from the Capitol comes to lay the wood. The problem is that the waterproof sheet needs to stretch right across from one end of the building to the other, but the front of the building is considerably less supportive so the men are having trouble moving across."

One of the men who came down from the roof, walks over to her and plants a kiss on her cheek, "I hope you're not calling me fat."

She rolls her eyes, "This is my Jonah, Cassia." She looks back to him and rubs a smudge of dirt from his face making me hold back a smile, "Jonah, this is Miss Snow."

I smile at him, "Cassia."

"Don't you be listening to anything she says about me Cassia," he says with a mischievous look.

"I doubt anything Isla said would be too far from the truth now Jo," I hear Finnick say.

The older man lets out a loud laugh that can only be described as a bark and pounces at Finnick, knocking him over as they wrestle around. "Careful there pretty boy, wouldn't want to damage a hair on your perfect head, now would we?"

"I've certainly no chance of ruining yours baldy locks!" They laugh and continue to roll around as we stand looking at them.

It surprises me how close everyone here seems; I'd wager that the population was roughly the same as it was back home but there it was so fractioned. People moved through the classes all the way from the office workers up to government officials and socialites. Here, everything seemed so simple – everyone was equal, everyone was friends and everyone was kind to their neighbours.