ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴇʟᴏᴅʏ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛʜᴇᴀʀᴛꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱɴᴏᴡꜰᴀʟʟ

𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛

Coriolanus watched from the edge of the train door, Tigris and Grandma'am waving one of their handkerchiefs in the air as a symbol of farewells. Clemensia stood by them, Sejanus a little behind her, though he held his hand up in a wave.

His blue tie came up to smack him in the face, but he managed to pull himself back into the car.

The cabin was less ideal than he had hoped; it was lined with wooden benches, the bottom coated with moss and the others creaking as he made his way past an elder lady who seemed deeply involved with her novel.

He chose a seat by the window, clutching his luggage closely, as you never truly knew what psychos were out there, and stared out the window, the fields of Panem coming into view.

His mind was filled with the questions he had, for both himself and Arachne. She had always been somewhat a part of his life, implied, but never truly there. As a Snow, to uphold his family's dignity, he had been there to all the large events her family had ever held, and in turn, she had been there, dressed in black lace to attend his mother and father's funerals.

But for Arachne to lash out enough to cause him to be exiled from the Capitol was enough to make his blood boil.

He rubbed his fingers over the leather strap that held his briefcase together, stitched together by Tigris, who, as usual, wanted him to go out in style.

"It'll be an eternity before I see you again, Coryo," she had whispered, pulling him into a hug, "it's the least I can do."

He returned the favor, spending the last of the money he had saved up during his time in the Capitol and sending her favorite red dress to the cleaners, which had a terrible stain since she had graduated from the Academy herself.

The old woman suddenly stirred from her book, and Coriolanus had realized; she had been asleep the entire time, and the train came to a screeching halt, sending the book flying and hitting the wall in a loud smack.

Coryo got up from his seat, fetching the book and returning it back to her.

"The World Before Panem," he observed, a soft smile crossing his face. He had not read the book of his own accord, but rather, read it beside the rest of his classmates, "it's a good book."

"You think so? I haven't gotten to the ending quite yet," the woman grinned, showing a toothy smile with a sparkling gold canine.

"Are you headed to District 12 as well?" he asked, reaching over one of the seats to grasp his bag.

The woman smiled softly.

"I am. My great-grandchildren are expecting me home." she shrugged one of the sleeves of her coat over her shoulder, displaying a small photograph concealed in her left arm, crippled and badly burned from fire.

He tried to not let his eyes stay rudely on the left arm of the woman, but she instead cracked another bittersweet grin.

"Unfortunate, isn't it? Being burned so young?" she reached to pull the shawl back over her back in vain, and Coryo attempted to help her, settling the corner of the fabric back in the woman's working right hand.

"What business did you have in the Capitol?" he asked.

"I was in charge of overseeing the delivery of the coal from District 12," she let out a small laugh, "and boy, was it a sight to see the Capitol. All those hoity-toity men and women, lounging in the scraps of their own meals that they don't bother to hand to the Districts."

"And you?" she asked, turning to him, "what business did you have in the Capitol?"

Coriolanus bit his tongue.