All My Heroes | {Yani/Katelyn}

A week ago, Yani had rolled her eyes when her father had mentioned they would have another visitor in their house.

Her father – the mayor of district eleven – had the biggest heart of anyone she knew. He’d become more of a legend than half the victors to the district through sacrifice and a life that could’ve made a saint blush. But, as good as he was and as kind as he could be, Yani tended to wonder if he thought so much of everyone else that he might not have thought enough about her.

And she shoved those selfish thoughts down right between her toes because who could ever think that about her father? She was spoiled at fifteen to have a full belly and access to what her brother and sisters never had. What could she complain about when Vasco Izar seemed the only man willing to take any sort of stand against the capitol?

She had been pleasantly surprised by their houseguest. Birdie was nothing like Yani’s father, and for a good while she’d wondered how the two had ever become friends. Birdie was magnetic from the moment she’d spoken, decisive and intentional no matter the damage. A direct opposite of her father’s meandering, warm parlance.

Yani wished Birdie would never leave. She seemed the exact sort of person that could change the hum drum of eleven.

Now, as she had stripped the spare bed’s sheets and fluffed up the pillows, made her gaze shift to the window and out to the garden. In winter’s cold the colorful rose petals and violets had disappeared, replaced with thorns and the shrubs that stubbornly kept alive. She thought about needing to take a carton of milk to her grandmother which was more an excuse to make sure Marisol was all right than anything else. She was closer to one hundred than ninety now, and Yani had asked how much longer she might live on her own.

She crossed off the chores as the sun melted toward the horizon point. She’d still needed to go through her packing list one more time. Oh! And she’d have to leave a few notes for her friends on how they could reach her.

It’d been her suggestion – the earnest and curious questions she’d had for Birdie and her father about how a girl could afford a better education through travel and experience rather than staying rooted in one spot.

'Think of it as a way for me to understand all I have, and what I’ll miss.’ She’d told her father who she half suspected would die of a broken heart at the suggestion she left eleven for even a second. His face across the dinner table had hid most of the pain, though the flatness of his expression as he dragged a fork across his plate was enough of a tell for her. ‘And I would get to know more of the world. Especially from someone like… well, Miss Birdie.’

But he’d said yes.

Not that she’d expected him to refuse. He’d half mentioned the Rose Flu (they did not so much call it a plague then) but she’d waived it all away. She’d wear a mask! She’d be exceedingly careful! After all, wasn’t that something that would stay in six? She’d be in eight. Safe and sound.

It was only too bad she’d have to take some time away from the bakery –

Shit.

She hadn’t told Miss Katelyn about her plans to head to Eight, had she?

Yani tossed a leather jacket over her overalls and grabbed her bicycle from the side of the house. She pedaled as fast as her legs would allow, chest burning as she determined not to have to leave a letter to Miss Katelyn explaining why she would be gone for three to six months in district eight rather than being able to tell her face to face. She may have wanted out of eleven for a little while, but it didn’t mean she was going to be rude about it.

When the shop came into view, Yani slowed. She pressed her hands against the breaks on the handle bars. She rolled her pedals back so that she kicked up dust as she ground to a halt.

“Miss Katelyn!” Yani chirped. She could feel the sweat dripping down her back and flopping across her forehead. She threw a hand across her face and took a breath to steady herself. Katelyn stood at the entryway. She must’ve caught her right before close. “I’m so glad I didn’t miss you!”

elegant