The Miner's Wife

Chapter 26: Epilogue

The 92nd Annual Hunger Games were different.

Peeta saw the female tribute from 11 for the first time in the Training Center during the first day of training. He knew right away that there was something different about her. He thought it was simply because she looked eerily familiar.

"She looks just like Rue," he said under his breath to Chaff.

Peeta had never been able to forget the little girl, whose bloody fingers he had closed a single flower around before the hovercraft picked up her body. She still featured heavily in his nightmares.

"She's Rue's cousin," Chaff told him, his voice low. He, too, had never been able to forget little Rue. "She's different, though.," Chaff chuckled lowly to himself. "She pinned me to the wall with a knife on the train," he explained as he tugged on the shoulder pad of his jacket.

"Really?" Peeta could hardly believe his own ears. "Why did she do that?"

"To get my attention," Chaff chuckled. "Ruined the mahogany accent. Madeline was furious."

"Effie would've been furious, too."

As they watched the girl shoot, taking down one Capitol simulation after another with her arrows, Peeta realized that he was witnessing something - or rather, someone - quite extraordinary. She had an elusive quality that Peeta couldn't really put his finger on; something that went far beyond her obvious prowess with the bow. She had a quiet strength, an air of defiance.

"Interesting," he said.

Peeta's eyes met with Chaff's. "Very interesting," Chaff agreed.

As Snow's health deteriorated, the President gradually lost control, and his prospective successors were fighting amongst themselves. Their battle was stealthy as they fought with words, policy-making, and poison - but never with weapons. Not yet. And while the Capitolites fought one another, drawing on the Capitol for resources, the resistance grew stronger, waiting in the shadows.

It only took a few days from Chaff alerting the rebellion of the girl's potential to receive confirmation that the time had come. Peeta didn't know if the decision was made because the girl was considered extraordinarily promising, or if the President's health had deteriorated to the point where they felt they had no other choice but to move ahead.

Secret plans laid long ago were set into motion.

Alliances were made. Gamemakers were being paid to look the opposite direction at critical moments. Anonymous donations were made, enabling Seeder and Chaff to provide their girl tribute with weapons, food, and medicine.

Cinna was reassigned to 11. The other designers pitied him, but Cinna claimed he had requested the transfer himself. Making the handpicked and well-trained tributes from 1 look beautiful was easy. Cinna said he wanted to make poor, overlooked 11 shine in order to prove his talent.

And shine they did. Cinna took inspiration from the vast fields of grain in 11. He designed parade clothes for the tributes that appeared to shimmer like a wheat field on a late summer day. When the girl twirled during her interview with an aging Caesar Flickerman, it looked as though the dress was illuminated by the sun.

She became known as the golden girl.

Soon after, possibilities presented themselves that weren't part of the rebellion's original plans. Although initially less interesting, it turned out the girl's district partner was not one to overlook. The boy had a way with words, and he was intelligent as well. He devised a plan to reveal his secret love for his district partner on live TV, and Panem immediately fell in love with them both.