There's a welcoming committee at the Phoenix when they arrive. Mary barely gets to kick out the ramp while Lily, Amos, Emmeline, and Alice carry out Marlene before there's a flurry of people rushing forward to meet them, a stretcher waiting.
Everyone is talking all at once, and the transition to get Marlene on the stretcher is quick. Poppy climbs on the side and immediately starts working over her as people roll them away. Lily starts to go with them, as do a lot of people, but they're all halted and blocked.
Lily's stopped by Kingsley, his hand against her shoulder. Their eyes meet, and she still feels sick, a sensation that only grows worse when she sees how he's looking at her.
"Kingsley," Lily rasps, "you have to let me go. I need to—"
"What you need to do is stop," Kingsley declares sharply, his voice loud enough that everything sort of just—does stop. Well, central to here. Off to the side, a very injured Asher is being carted off towards the infirmary, and there are a few other people lingering that bustle around to check on the remaining tributes. But, right here, close to them, everything falls silent. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"Look, I know you're upset—"
"I'm not just upset, Evans! You—"
"This wasn't me!" Lily bursts out, shaking his hand off her shoulder as she glares at him. "Dorcas was the one who—"
"Oh, don't feed me that bullshit," Kingsley snaps. "You may not have come up with the idea to break into the arena, but you threw this mission together. You rounded everyone up and gave them something to do. You decided to carry out a mission not cleared or approved. You led them through it."
"Kingsley—"
"We gathered everyone involved, and do you know what they all had in common? Hm? You. It was you. So, don't stand there and tell it wasn't when it was. You broke every rule and put multiple people in danger, including Sybill!"
"I'm—I'm fine. Kingsley, I'm fine, see?" Sybill stutters out as she stumbles forward, but he doesn't even look at her.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Kingsley hisses, never taking his gaze off of Lily. "You think your mission was a success? You just helped bring upon war, and you didn't just put yourself in the middle of it. No, you dragged them into it, too. Sybill could have died."
"But I didn't. I'm fine. Kingsley, I'm—I'm really fine, and I did good. I'm actually really proud. You should have seen—"
"Stop talking, Sybill."
"Really, King," Sybill insists, "I'm an amazing pilot. I was—"
"Stop talking, Sybill!" Kingsley bellows, and Sybill snaps her mouth shut, her eyes instantly getting bright. Kingsley focuses on Lily again. "Don't you get it? She's in this now, because of you. They'll use her now that they know what she can do. That's how it works here. She'll be in the sky when war comes, do you realize that? A war pilot. You made her into a fucking war pilot, and if she dies, if she gets hurt, that's on you."
"That's enough," Mary bursts out, moving forward abruptly and getting right in Kingsley's face with no warning whatsoever and not an ounce of fear. "You don't know what the fuck you're talking about. You weren't there."
"No, I wasn't," Kingsley agrees coldly, not reacting to Mary at all, his gaze still locked on Lily.
"Kingsley," Lily whispers, a lump in her throat, "I'm sorry. I needed a pilot, and—and I could trust Sybill. I—"
