lover/fighter - Finnick Odair

Chapter 21 - Two gentle souls

Waking up to the sound of the sea and the screeching of seagulls makes Rhea feel as if she were still dreaming. Maybe it's that cozy atmosphere, or maybe it's the result of her exhaustion, but she slept deeper and longer than she has in a long time.

To her relief, it turns out that Isla also provides her with breakfast, for the previous evening she fell into bed without even wasting a thought on dinner. Despite her preference for sweets, she quickly takes a liking to the slightly salty-tasting bread from District 4. The mildly greenish and fish-shaped loaves are admittedly kind of cute, and if she weren't so hungry she'd find them almost too precious to eat.

On the other hand, she should probably stop thinking like that, after all, she herself remembers the times when every single slice of bread was very valuable. The last thing she wants is to fall into bad habits like the other Capitolites who don't realize how well they are doing by always having enough food on the table.

Isla keeps her company at breakfast and it seems she is as interested in learning more about Rhea's life as she is about Isla's and District 4 in general. There are a few other people scattered around the tables, but although they give her the occasional scrutinizing glance, they all tend to keep to themselves. She wonders to what extent they can tell where she's from in her current getup, and whether she should worry about that. After all, she can't begin to guess how people here feel about Capitol folks.

Rhea is glad that with Isla she at least isn't completely alone, because slowly she realizes how far away from home she really is and this time entirely among strangers. It's harder for her than she thought, after all.

"The green color comes from the seaweed, it's the traditional way to bake bread in 4. I've heard it's made differently in each district," Isla tells and Rhea listens to her carefully.

"Anyway, it's distinctive where this comes from," Rhea replies with a smile. "I only know the bread we have in the Capitol, and unlike this, it's pretty boring. It doesn't really taste like anything, but most people there also don't think much of ordinary bread in general. At least the important ones don't. Not fancy enough, I guess, so why bother."

Isla laughs heartily and pushes a plate of scrambled eggs towards her. "Try this, goes very well with the bread."

Rhea, who never really takes the time to eat an extensive breakfast herself, is almost overwhelmed by what Isla presents to her. It reminds her somewhat of her days in the mountains, except that here she can actually define what's on the table in front of her. There is everything her simple mind could crave, from cheese to honey to various fruits. She doesn't miss the strange specialties thrown at her in the Capitol one bit.

In response to Rhea's question, Isla tells her that one can get many goods here at the main trading post that aren't found as often in the outlying areas of the district. Both within a district and between them, people's standards of living seem to differ drastically. Not to mention the vast difference from the lifestyles of the Capitol elite.

She spends some more time telling Isla about her work, in which she seems exceedingly interested. It turns out that after Mako's words yesterday, the older woman was under the impression that she was a new escort, or something like that. She seems all the more fascinated when Rhea enlightens her about the truth.

It is not surprising that Rhea's profession arouses such interest in her; after all, there are no trained doctors in the districts. From what Isla tells her, even in a wealthier district like 4, there are only healers who take their knowledge mainly from their predecessor and practice natural medicine to a large extent. Access to modern medicine as known in the Capitol does not exist here and Rhea realizes once again how completely distorted this world is. She would have to approach this problem once again, but before that, she has a few things to work out with Finnick.