A Tale of a Boy and His Flower

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I laugh. Quickly. Before anyone has time to register what lies beneath the words he has just uttered. Before eyebrows are raised, objections are uttered, two and two are put together, and the solution is that I should be kept as far away from the Capitol as possible.

Because an angry, independently thinking victor with a thick layer of psychological scar tissue too thick to penetrate is maybe the last person you want on your squad.

"I don't even know why you bothered to put Finnick and me through training, Plutarch," I say.

"Yeah, we're already the two best-equipped soldiers you have," Finnick adds cockily. He looks over his shoulder. "As well as Zach and Katniss."

"Do not think that fact escapes me," he says with an impatient wave. "Now back in line, Soldier Odair's. I have a presentation to finish."

We retreat to our places, ignoring the questioning looks thrown our way. I adopt an attitude of extreme concentration as Plutarch continues, nodding my head here and there, shifting my position to get a better view,all the while telling myself to hang on until I can get alone with Finnick in the compartment and scream. Or curse. Or cry. Or maybe all three at once. 

If this was a test, Finnick and I both pass it.

At the end we are told we get to skip the buzzed haircuts. I'm thrilled. They want us to look recognizable for the camera's.

Finnick and I gravitate toward each other in the hallway. He grips my hand. Kisses my forehead. 

"Three arenas." I say barely above a whisper. So quiet I didn't even think he heard me. "We must have terrible luck." 

Finnick looks me in the eye. "I think we have great luck. After all we did get married and managed to get on the same squad." 

I nod and tightly embrace him. "It won't be like last time." I say pressing my face into him. "I'm not leaving you ever again." 

He holds me tightly and kisses the top of my forehead before pulling apart. 

"What should we tell Annie?" he asks.

"Nothing," I answer. Bad enough that we know we're heading back into a fully equipped arena. No use dropping it on our loved ones. Especially Annie. She went through it once with the quarter quell. I didn't want her to go through it more. Besides she seemed happier after seeing our wedding.

"If she sees our holographs-" he begins.

"She won't. It's classified information. It must be," I say. "Anyway, it's not like an actual Games. Any number of people will survive. We're just overreacting because...well, you know why. You still want to go, don't you?"

"Of course. I want to destroy Snow as much as you do," he says.

"It won't be like the others," I say firmly, trying to convince myself as well. Then the real beauty of the situation dawns on me. "This time Snow will be a player, too."

Before we can continue, Zach appears. He was at the meeting, but he isn't thinking of arenas but something else. "Johanna's back in the hospital."

I assumed Johanna was fine, had passed her exam, but simply wasn't assigned to a sharpshooters' unit.She's wicked throwing an ax but about average with a gun.

"Is she hurt? What happened?"

"It was while she was on the Block. They try to ferret out a soldier's potential weaknesses. So they flooded the street," says Zach. At first I didn't understand. Johanna can swim. At least, I seem to remember her swimming around some in the Quarter Quell. Not like Finnick, of course, but none of us are like Finnick. But then it dawns on me.