The Spark

The Interview

I woke up to the sound of Trilly clicking around the dining area.

Today is the day of the interview. Great!

My door slammed open. I opened my eyes quickly and grabbed my blanket, pulling it over myself fearfully as I stared at whoever had entered.

Azul raised his arms. "Rise and shine, bluebird!"

I stared at him.

He grinned and skipped over to me, grabbing my wrist with a gentle grip. "Today's the day you get to show off your skills in front of the Gamemakers, and the interview with the whole of Panem!"

I shifted nervously and pulled my wrist back.

"Up up up!" he said, scooping me out of bed and setting me down. "There's no time to waste!"

Azul fled the room, then came back with the outfit I'd be wearing to the interview. "Quickly, put it on," he said.

"Isn't the interview later today?" I asked, barely awake.

"Yes, but I want to make sure that I don't need to make any adjustments." He huffed.

"Fine, fine."

I put on the outfit. It was a cream colored jumpsuit with some ebony accents.

Azul produced a pen and looked me up and down. He fixed some fabric and produced some scissors.

I took a step away from him.

"Hush now," he said. He took the scissors and snipped off a strand of twine I didn't even know existed. He leaned back and continued to fix my outfit until it was perfect.

Azul took my hand and dragged me out into the living room. Terrek was already waiting for me, wearing a similar outfit, except inverted. He was wearing a suit and looked nice in it.

Azul looked between the two of us and smiled.

"Where's Terrek's stylist?" I asked.

"Oh, she's dead," Azul said.

I stared at him.

He shrugged. "It was unfortunate that I survived and she didn't."

Terrek looked out the window.

"How the heck do you say that so calmly?" I snapped.

"I'm a stylist in the Capitol. I'm used to people around me dying."

"You know what? I'm just going to ignore that you just said that. Do we need to worry about sparks flying out of these outfits too?"

Azul ignored my last remark. "She was my friend, though," he said, a tinge of sadness in his voice. "Lots of my friends have died."

We're all silent for a few seconds.

"Yes, you should worry about your clothing bursting into flam—having sparks fly out of them." Azul walked over to a canvas bag and pulled out a day lily made of glass. He put it in Terrek's breast pocket and waited. A few moments later, it sputtered and started to produce little embers. It glowed slightly.

He went over to his bag again and produced a cape made of translucent fabric. He pulled it around my shoulders and clasped it in front, then smiled when sparks flew off of it.

"You two look magnificent," he said. I thought I saw a bit of sadness in his eyes.

He then took off the cape and grabbed the glass flower again.

"Now get out of those before training begins." He commanded.

We both rushed off to our rooms changing out of the interview outfits and into our training clothes.