The 53rd Hunger Games- Two Words

10. Trust

There is an air of tension during breakfast. Instead of the usual chatter,  there is silence. Velia keeps trying to start up small talk, but it dies down quickly. Tule and Gladius both look like they haven't sleep a wink. I pick at my food, not at all hungry.

Nine o'clock couldn't come soon enough. I am relieved of Tule's angry presence. Judging from the sigh Gladius gives, he's relieved too.

When the elevator stops, we are once again given a clear view of our training complex. Celdane is waiting in the space in front of the Gamemakers. Around half of the tributes are already waiting for training to begin. I step forward, out of the elevator, and Gladius speaks to me for the first time in a day.

"Eunia?"

He says only my name, but I can tell from that one word that he wants to ask me a question. It's something important, I'm willing to bet. Small talk is hardly appropriate prior to a fight to the death.

"You haven't talked to me in well over twenty-four hours," I tell him. "I'm guessing this is significant?"

He smiles. I've said it in a half-sarcastic tone, which has amused him.

"Of course," he says. "I'm no fool. I wanted to ask you - are you really allied with Hadrian?"

I consider asking him what kind of stupid question he's just asked, but leave it alone. Tule said not to give tributes a reason to kill me. Although it may be too late for the Careers, I'm not going to set Gladius against myself. "I said I wasn't. Is reassuring the  whole group instead of you individually not good enough?"

"I thought you might have said it just to please Tule," Gladius says.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Even if it wasn't true I would have said it, but it is true."

Gladius shoots me another smile, then turns to join the other tributes. He seemed a lot more...approachable today. While he's in a good mood, I want to ask him a couple of questions that might help me in the arena.

"Wait," I say. "You asked me a question. I answered truthfully. Can I ask you one?"

Gladius leans against the wall. "Promise you won't divulge any of my deep, dark secrets?"

This is laughable. We both know I'm not the kind of person who gossips.

"Promise," I say. "I know last night you said you didn't have any allies. But I saw you looking friendly with the District Five tributes. Are you allied with them?"

Gladius shakes his head. "You've caught me out. I'm with both the tributes from Five. And the boy from Seven."

He goes to the circle of tributes, not wanting to tell me anything else. I've got a vague idea of two of the alliances. The other tributes all look to be on their own. Many alliances are made in the arena, after the bloodbath at the Cornucopia. The few that are made before the tributes enter the arena are rarely successful. At least a half-dozen tributes are killed each year.

Celdane offers few words, just reminding of us the rules he has set. We disperse, and I head to the station where you are taught to make fishing hooks. I've never been fond of seafood despite the several different types of fish that were sold in the square. Despite our sometimes extreme hunger, I could never bring myself to eat it. It could be a different story in the arena/, where I'm not able to pick and choose like I am in the Capitol. The objective is to survive, which I can't do without food.

There must be a reasonably large source of water somewhere in the arena. Some years there aren't any instructors at the hooks station, which reveals that there isn't a lake.