[Flowers] • The Hunger Games

Thirteen

She thought she might throw up before she would even get the words out.

"Excuse me- so sorry to bother you, I can't quite remember my way around here again. Do any of you happen to know where the wine is? I'm feeling a bit too sober for a party so...extravagant." Asteria poked her head into the conversation. Several of them kept right on chatting, but a few heads did turn to look at her.

"My, my- miss Adler, isn't it?" One of the older men smiled at her. She gave back the sweetest, most innocent one she could muster in response. "We've got some right here if you would care to join us." He offered.

Just as simple as that, she was in.

They moved aside to let her on to one of the couches they occupied. She kept her posture pristine as she delicately folded one leg over the other, crossing her hands in her lap and patiently waiting while the man poured her a glass.

"Salvador Creed, councilman- I doubt you folk who live in the outer regions really know who make up Panem's government. I work directly with the President on all matters concerning this great nation of ours." The man introduced himself.

"It's an absolute pleasure to meet you, Mr. Creed. I truly don't mean to bother you." Asteria shook her head. "I had no idea I was in the presence of a councilman." She enunciated the title, as a subconscious form of flattery. As well as a personal flare of mockery that only she herself would comprehend.

"You're no bother at all, miss Adler." He said.

"Please, call me Asteria."

He smiled at that. She knew he would.

"Around me are fellow council members. Deedee Moss, Altine Heereing, Harlee DuPont, Shereld Breen- I think I speak for all of us when I say you are quite a fascinating thing, aren't you?" Salvador Creed asked her. She gave a small smile as a response while he handed her a glass of wine. "Though, you've kept yourself out of the limelight in the years following your games, why is that?"

Asteria had nearly forgotten that she was a real person. Who had a life, back in district twelve. She had acquaintances, a house in victor's village, a neighborhood cat that she'd been stupid enough to feed once and now returned day after day to beg for scraps.

"If I'm being honest with you...I experienced a personal loss that effected me poorly for quite a while. But I've gotten through it all the same." She put on a bit of a smile.

"I am...sorry to hear about that." He told her. She took a very, very small sip of wine while he talked. "If you don't mind me asking, who was it?"

She felt like she was going to throw up all over again.

"My mother passed from liver complications." She found herself lying with a shocking amount of ease. "And my brother was killed in a mine collapse a few months later. I spent a few years really struggling with feeling alright again." She added for extra effect.

"You're strong. That's something special about you, sweetheart." One of the women Creed had introduced smiled at her.

"Thank you." Asteria nodded.

"Well, we've certainly missed you, Asteria." Creed told her.

His smile was unmistakably sinister, causing a pit to form in her stomach. She pushed every bad thought she had about him away and kept a calm, warm smile plastered on her face. He would be one of the men Snow had talked about all those years ago. The ones who found her...foxy, who looked at her games and saw someone they wanted for themselves.

She'd just been a girl. A kid back then. She could hardly grasp the concept. To this day, it was still foreign to her. But the hatred that grew within her made up for what she couldn't consciously comprehend. Evil men much older than her seeking her for companionship. She herself could only imagine the horrors that would entail.