neysa sachdeva {d11}

Neysa. It means the one who is pure according to my mother, but I'm not entirely sure where she learned it from. I can't really find it in any dictionary that we have around the house. One term in there stood out to me from a very young age, though: midwife. Someone who helped a mother through childbirth. Ever since I was little, my mother taught me about how childbirth was an amazing thing, and so if I could help someone along in the process, I would be helping an amazing thing happen. That is what inspired me to start training to become a midwife at an early age. I think I was eleven when I first started, around two years ago. I can say I've seen quite a lot since then, and I'm proud to say that I was able to help with many childbirths.

My job doesn't accumulate that much of an income, but I enjoy doing it and my mother told me that whatever I enjoy doing I should continue doing. I guess there are a few exceptions to that though. If I ever want to become a serial killer later on in life, I'm not sure my mom would be too happy about that. Ever since I was a little girl, that's what my mom told me. To do what made me happy and what made me proud of myself. Helping others go through a painful procedure, and seeing the look of happiness on their face makes me proud of myself.

My direct family owns a small house near the district square which my mother makes sure we always keep neat and tidy. So close, I wouldn't even really need to leave the house to hear the names of those reaped each year. This is a stark contrast to my other relatives who all live around three miles down the road on an apricot orchard where they tend the sweet tasting fruits. When I was smaller and my family were over there for a bit, I would sometimes sneak out into the orchard and take small bites of the delicious fruit. I stopped doing that a while ago, when my childish mind matured a bit into understanding the importance of the fruit to their survival as they are their source of income.

After my work is over, even in the cold Winter, I travel to my cousin's apricot orchard and sit in the trees. I think I adopted that habit from Navya, my older cousin. Once, when my family was over for a post-reaping dinner that was traditional among many families in our district (if no one you knew was reaped, then you would have cause to celebrate), I was walking among the sweet-smelling trees by myself until I heard a noise and looked up. There she was, my older cousin sitting among the orange fruit. I climbed up next to her, and enjoyed the fruity smell of apricots engulfing me, and so I never stopped coming back to the orchard whenever I could so that I could clear my mind, my golden hair falling against the branches and my green eyes reflecting the apricot tree leaves.

Navya's probably my favorite relative for introducing me to the apricot tree experience shhh don't tell.

Navya is also the reason why I am now in a rebellion. If it wasn't for her, Kirito Miristioma probably wouldn't have approached me the day after Ansgar Todd delivered a final blow to Hyacinth Mortuus, telling me that he wanted to get me out of the district to keep me safe. He told me that there was a rebellion stirring within district eleven, and to make sure that all of us children were safe from the approaching Quarter Quell, we were being smuggled across the district border and into the woods. I hated that I was being counted as a child despite being so close to becoming an adult. It was only four years until my name wouldn't be in the reaping bowl. I would be fine until then. "Let me help instead." I tell him, "I don't want to leave when there is still more I can do." He refuses, telling me I'm too young. There it goes with the young card again. Wasn't he just a year older than me when he won the last Quarter Quell? He tells me again, how they are going to smuggle me across the border and I won't need to worry anymore. "I don't worry already!" I refute, a pout forming on my stubborn face. Eventually he relents, so that I won't need to leave while there are still others who need my help.

That is how I began to put my skills of mid-wifery to more use, becoming a medic for the rebellion. They were never going to let me fight, I was too small, to easy to be injured by the capitol, and so this was the best way I could help. Granted, I haven't been able to do much as there hasn't been much fighting or rebelling happening just yet, but I will do everything in my power to help fight the people who have taken so many lives away from district eleven and who has inflicted so much pain upon Panem.