The World Was on Fire // [Killian&Katelyn]

It was late, but not so late as to be unseemly. After dark, but just, the last snatches of twilight hiding between trees. It had taken him the entire day to travel from the orphanage's to the district center. He'd meant to be there when the train ferrying Carmen Stirling and Faux Rhodes had returned yesterday, but then the electricity had failed - again - and he'd needed to find someone to fix it. So he was late, but he did not come empty-handed.

After conferring with a few of his contacts, he decided it would be best to greet the returning tributes another time. Best to let them square things with their very complicated families first. It was an easy decision to make, when the vast majority of him felt pulled elsewhere. He didn't doubt his sources; they wouldn't be worth the stolen funds he paid them if he did. But it still seemed impossible.

Katelyn Persimmon had returned.

He stood a long while outside of her mansion, marveling at the lights. A very small voice in the back of his head wondered if it was an elaborate rouse by Courtney. She was far more clever than most people gave her credit for, which made her something of a liability for the rebellion. But she had never once expressed a desire to impersonate Katelyn. So, not Courtney. But could the person inside this home really be the person who had left the District, all those years ago?

One way to find out.

He knocked. Knocked again. Shifted the burlap sac on his shoulder.

When she answered the door, he felt a kind of peace envelope him. "Well, turns out the gossip mill in the district works just fine. Hello, old friend." He smiled, and trying not to analyze her appearance (did she have fewer wrinkles? was that makeup covering up something more sinister?) looked beyond her.

He chuckled. "The kids at the orphanage put together a sort of care package for you. Lots of cans of chili - we're very into chili at the moment - some beans, canned corn. I believe there's a tin of cocoa powder if you dig far enough down. But maybe you don't need it?" He let his gaze linger on the festooned welcoming baskets lining her home. He took in a deep breath and then met her gaze head-on for the first time. "Maybe you need something else?"