Figure It Out - Effie and Haymitch

50. Love of Stars and Sea

Love of Stars and Sea

The hall in which the wedding celebrations take place is large enough to accommodate at least twice as many people as actually come. Not everyone in District 13 received an invitation; actually only very few. For President Coin, the marriage of Finnick and Annie is nothing more than an additional propaganda spot, propo, with which she can rub the unity of the Districts under Snow's nose. If she had her way, there would have been no celebration at all. Luckily, Plutarch has some influence over her. I don't like her anyway, but if she'd ruined Finnick's day with her obsession for rationing and discipline, I probably would have loathed her entirely.

A smile creeps onto my face as I enter the hall. Haymitch and Plutarch actually didn't do a bad job of implementing Johanna and my plans. Two blocks of chair-rows take up the rear part of the elongated hall. An aisle runs down between the chairs, leading up to an archway of ferns and flowers that Katniss and Gale brought back from their last hunting trip. There are decorations on the walls that 13's children made at school. Behind the chairs, most of the space is free, except for a rectangular table with plates and cutlery that has been pushed against the right wall. Beetee created the right atmosphere and bathed the hall in a dim, yellowish light. It's not much, but it's all we could do in 13.

Many guests have already arrived and the rows are filling up. I spot the President, with Plutarch at her side, sitting in one of the front rows. Some familiar faces from District 12 are floating around. Little Posy, old Sae. Haymitch is probably still hiding in some anteroom because he will enter the hall with Finnick and Annie at the beginning of the ceremony. Johanna and Katniss are sitting two rows behind Coin and I'm heading towards them.

I walk down the central aisle and look at the archway. It turned out beautifully. I'm almost to their row when my eyes notice the camera crew milling around, scouting out the best angles for the ceremony. The sight of them makes me think. I know what Plutarch and Coin are trying to achieve with their propo, but I wonder if they maybe got on the wrong track. 13 could put every effort into this wedding and it would still never rise to the level of a celebration in the Capitol. No one celebrates as eccentrically as the Capitol. I'm afraid that people will laugh at the propo instead of taking it seriously. The capital has not yet been seized, and its residents still think themselves safe. I don't think they will understand the real message of the propos. They will pounce on the superficialities, just as they always have.

"There you are, Trinket," Johanna calls out at that moment and raises her hand in a gesture that is not really a wave but still a greeting. She grins over at me and I smile slightly as I walk through the row of chairs and sit next to her. Her gaze moves from my face down to my chest and her eyes widen. At the same moment she throws her head back and starts laughing. "Damn it, Haymitch really has you on the hook."

Katniss's dark eyes follow Johanna's, and she almost instinctively reaches for her own neck, but only catches air. I'm sure she wears Peeta's amulet under her uniform. Hidden above her heart.

I'm about to say something in response to Johanna's teasing when a general silence falls across the hall. Music begins to play next to the altar. We turn our heads synchronously to the front, where a small group has positioned itself to the right of the arch. In their midst stands a dark-skinned man with a violin in his hands, whose bow flies in feather-light movements over the strings of the wooden instrument. His skin is marked by age and a long burn on his neck suggests that he must be a refugee from another District. A group of children have positioned themselves around him and my heart automatically feels heavy when I think about how few of them there are here in 13.

Neither Johanna nor I organized the music, but someone must have thought of it. It's the first time I've seen a real instrument in at least a year. The melody is simple, but judging by the looks of the guests around me, some of them seem to recognize it. They rhythmically tilt their heads back and forth and smiles spread across their lips as they listen.