I will carry you always . charade

District four. Well, that was unexpected.

Katelyn made a mental note to deliver a congratulatory basket to Annie. Lord knew that girl needed some friends. With the games having drawn to a close, it’d be time to head home soon. At least until it all started again. Of course, there was a quell next year, which meant some sort of extra nonsense, but she’d cross that bridge when she came to it.

She had always looked forward to the end of the games, every fiber of her being screaming to go home, to get away from the cold sterility of the Capitol and get back to familiarity. To the warmth and sunshine of district eleven. To hear the wind rustling through the wheat and corn fields instead of the bustle of Style street. And yet, this year, she wasn’t looking forward to it as much. Not when going home meant being so far away from—

There was a knock at the door, and Katelyn nearly had a heart attack. She checked the chocolate chip cookies in the oven; the timer had another minute on it. But she still had to finish frosting the lemon buttercream cake. The kitchen was in disarray. The counter was covered in the aftermath of her early morning, here an open bag of chocolate chips, there a mixing bowl with leftover raw cookie dough.

Eggshells in the sink that hadn't quite gone down the disposal and a half a dozen baking implements. Tracers of flour were everywhere,including her apron and her hands as she quickly wiped them off. Her compact mirror told her that her lipstick was okay, but did her hair look alright? After making certain that her bandana was fastened securely, she opened the door, feeling a rising giddiness. When was the last time she’d actually looked forward to something?

“Opal,” she breathed, daring to plant a quick kiss on her cheek. “Good morning! Come in, I’m just getting ready for the train.”

The timer beeped, and then the next one. Cue internal screaming.

“Uh, Opal, would you mind taking that tray of cookies out of the oven?” She asked frantically as she snatched up the tube of frosting and went back to decorating the cake. She was running out of time here, and there was so much more to get done over the course of the day. “There should be mitts in the drawer to the right of it. “The cake was only half-covered. How had she let the time get away from her? Normally she was on top of things. Then again, she reminded herself, she’d fallen behind on paperwork on account of their excursion the other day.

“How’s Ky?” she asked as she formed tiny flowers on the cake. “And how are you? Ready to be back in One?” It was blissful, the way someone’s presence could make her feel like she was on top of the world.

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It made her happy to see Opal in her kitchen; it wasn’t something she could really describe. Love didn’t fix every problem, didn’t erase the weight of the past, but goddamn if it didn’t make her feel better to know someone was there for her. The sound of Opal’s tinkling laughter made her heart sing. The cookies would take several minutes to cool, but once they did, she had a basket lined up for them, though she wondered if she should send a few with Opal. There were always leftovers anyway.

And still so much to do! She hoped her herb garden was doing alright in her absence. When she got back to eleven, it’d be the first thing she checked on, then the bakery. But after that she’d need to check on Vasco and his clan. It was too much for one family to have to go through. She listened as she decorated. So Ky was a sneaky one? Enjoying the sights of the Capitol? Getting up to mischief? Stealing kisses perhaps? Ah, to be a teenager again.

Ky resembled his father Potato a lot. She remembered his father well, he’d been one of eleven’s tributes only two years before she’d won, and as eleven had had no living mentors before her, he’d been one of the tributes whose journey she’d frantically studied, hoping that anything she could learn anything would help keep her alive. She liked to think that it had helped. And thinking of family...

Katelyn glanced at Opal and then back to the cake wondering what her family was like. On the one hand, she assumed that most of the parents in One were into career training, but to have produced someone like Opal, the Shores couldn’t be all bad. From what she gathered, the Shores were among the upper crust. She’d have to ask about them at some point.

“Tricky question—” she heard her say, and she turned back just in time for Opal to smear lemon buttercream on her lips. She squawked in undignified surprise, taking a step backwards. “— I don’t know how I’ll be able to do this when I’m back in One.”

Katelyn collected herself and smiled devilishly, slowly licking the frosting off her lips. “I see,” she began, before lunging forward and clenching the piping bag in front of Opal’s face, decorating her nose with a dollop. “Guess I won’t be able to do that either, which is a shame, because you look cute in yellow.” she beamed. 

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There was something very endearing about the schoolyard way that Opal was flirting. Winking and cheekily asking for her phone number like they were awkward teenagers. Maybe at heart they still were. How many of their peers could say that they’d grown past the kid they were when they’d been forced to kill to go home. Murder left a stain on all their souls. It changed a person, watching the light leave someone’s eyes and knowing that it was your hand that had extinguished it.

It changed a person, to send children to follow in your footsteps and watch them come home in coffins, year after year. All of them had been broken in one way or another, and only a few of them had found a salve to heal those wounds. She had hoped, but had still been shocked when her mentoring style had actually helped guide Kirito home. Harbinger too. She’d fought tooth and nail at the time, despite Arbor’s insistent warnings to do otherwise.

More than a few times, she’d wondered if all those cold nights in the arena had killed a few of her brain cells, or if there was something else wrong with her head. Was it natural to be as oblivious as she had been? Love, romance, attraction, none of those things had ever come to her easily. Several times over the course of her life, she’d misread kindness for interest, labelled attraction as someone just being friendly. She’d been frequently wrong about people’s intentions, wrapped up in a ball of anxiety and paranoia.

Men or women, it was always confusing. Hell, back when she was seventeen she’d thought Marc was sending her signals in the training center before realizing he was just being nice. Friends. Best friends? Should Opal have been waving a giant flag with the words I love you written in large block letters? Katelyn felt pretty stupid about it, though eternally grateful that she’d gotten a second chance.

For Katelyn, Love, if that was what it was, was like lightning and thunder in a storm. Blazing, loud in short bursts, followed by soothing intermittent showers for as long as it took the clouds to find their rhythm again. Katelyn turned the question over in her head. Were they? Could they be considered an item after a single night of emotional healing? Opal had loved her from afar for so long and she was just now discovering those feelings for herself.

Girlfriends?

“I’ll be yours if you be mine,” she said timidly, blushing as she gathered up the cookies to dole them out into small baskets. She stepped closer to Opal and looked down at her apologetically. “Just— do you forgive me for making you wait so long?”

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Katelyn had an inkling that there was something Opal wasn’t saying, but she dared not pry. Too much of this was new to her and she didn’t want to say the wrong thing. It was enough to know that nothing was being held against her. In any case, she found herself loving every time she saw Opal smile. Katelyn grinned impishly in return. “Why Miss Earnest, are you just using me to get to my pastries?” She held a hand to her chest in mock surprise before taking one of the small baskets and pushing it carefully into her hands.

“There, half a dozen. And— “she said, pulling open a drawer and taking out a little notepad and pen. She scribbled her digits down, and fastened the paper to the basket with a pin. “I’ve got a much longer train ride ahead of me than you do, remember that if you decide to call soon.” Speaking of which, Katelyn turned around to check the clock over the oven. Only an hour and a half until the train left. Katelyn bit her lip in contemplation. She was still meaning to congratulate Annie on a successful mentorship, and maybe pop in on a few other people too.

But despite the schedule she was trying to keep to, she was distracted by Opal’s very being. They were standing too close together. Katelyn gently ran her hand up Opal’s arm and gave in to the desire to kiss her. She couldn’t resist those lips for too long. “Opal,” she said breathily, just an inch away from her face. “I—” She pressed her lips to hers and held her against the counter, not fiercely, just with a want, a need. She let her gaze drift over Opal’s neck and then up to meet her eyes. “I’m going to miss you.”

There were some things she could picture, showing Opal around her bakery, or around the garden. Introducing her to Vasco. Picking cherries and peaches, walking the paths around the fields. The image of Potato’s headstone came into her head and worried her for a moment. She didn’t know what Opal and Potato had had between them and she didn’t want to cast a shadow on that. However, she could tell just by Opal’s demeanor that she wasn’t playing second fiddle to a ghost. Or at least she hoped so.

“I don’t want to wait a whole year to see you again, but that’s life right?”

It was life. Life was strange sometimes.

She never thought she’d have a reason to look forward to coming to the Capitol.

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