snow fall | finnick odair

chapter ten

Cassia awoke to seeing fields upon fields upon fields. Endless fields, she looked at the time. Seven. There were already swarms of people at work, ploughing the fields. Cutting crops. Her eyes widened slightly, some turned to stare at her, others paid no attention.

"Good Morning Miss Snow!" Priscilla boomed once more, walking into the room, she turned to look at the familiar face. "Today we have two stops! The morning will be spent in eleven. You will have an hour looking at industry then another two hours with the children before we carry on to district ten, you will spend an hour on a tour there as well as two hours with children before it will be time to serve dinner in the train and we'll be on our way!" Priscilla looked like her smile was being faked, she clearly wasn't enjoying this assignment.

"Alright..." Priscilla then turned and left, probably to ensure she received the best of the breakfast. It was better the earlier you got there. Cassia slid out of bed and changed into another uninteresting outfit, her makeup was also extremely basic.

The breakfast was the same as the previous day. Cassia mostly zoned out until they were leaving the train. The mayor greeted them before leading them through the district, he showed them the classrooms of children who didn't seem as underfed as the children of twelve, but they were still lacking the normal muscle mass of the children she'd become accustomed to seeing in the Capitol. The majority of them had dark hair and dark skin, with all sorts of eye colours. Some brown. Some blue. Some green. The lesson seemed boring, it was about the different ways to grow and collect food. Cassia guessed the children were taught the ways of the district from a young age.

After a few minutes of watching, she was taken to meet the children at the home. They looked to be in much worse condition than those in the school, and the stories they told her horrified her.

Kenna. An eight year old girl with big green eyes told her about once when she'd been working in harvest, she'd seen a man be executed for taking food to feed his family.

Joshua. A fifteen year old boy told her about the tesserae system. And about how all the children were encouraged to take it to feed each other once they came of reaping age.

Everton. A twelve year old boy told her about the long school days combined with hours of work. He described the exhaustion he frequently felt upon his return to the home, and even then rest wasn't given.

Rielle. A fourteen year old girl told her about how she didn't understand so many basic things because their education revolved around training to work in the district.

Cassia hated it. The children's stories hurt her, each and every one of them. Each one she heard made her even more determined to act, even more determined to improve their lives.

The lunch on the train was sandwiches and a buffet, Cassia thought it was better than what she'd been served for breakfast. But each bite reminded her of the starving children she'd just met, and she couldn't finish what she was eating. Priscilla, once again, had no problem cleaning her plate.

District ten appeared before her eyes a short while later. Fields full of animals surrounded the train. Cows, pigs and chickens. Livestock. Her blue eyes scanned the surroundings, as always, people turned and glared at her. She knew they hated her.

As always, she was greeted by the mayor. The first female mayor. She had tanned skin and dark green eyes. She was tall and large. The district tours were becoming repetitive, Cassia saw a school. Some child glared, they left. She got shown the district's industry, until someone spotted her and then they left. Each child in the home told her horror stories about their life, stories that made her want to burst out crying then and there, and then was ushered on to the next place. It was much the same in ten, Cassia has growing weary. The stories upset her too much.