where the good things are . kopal

k a t e l y n .

The halfway mark between games was usually the most peaceful time for Katelyn. There was nothing to prepare for. No Capitol related things to do. Were eleven a career district she’d likely have spent the last several months training tributes for the games, and she counted herself lucky that that was not something she had to do. Though sometimes, sometimes she wondered if that sort of instruction might save a life or two.

In any case, the thought fled her mind as she bustled about her kitchen, preparing for the week. She had several things in the oven, all of which needed the same temperature, but had different bake times. Some would need to come out soon. The peach cobbler could wait. Then there was a sharp yet hesitant knock at the door.

Katelyn wiped flour off on her apron and went to check on it. One of Harb or Kirito’s kids looking for a treat most likely. Perhaps Vasco? If it were one of Olivia’s people coming to check up on her, she felt as though the knock would have been more insistent.

What she hadn’t been expecting was to see the light of her life. “Oh,” she whispered softly in surprise. She’d have waited at the train station had she known. But it was a wonderful surprise, their last conversation in the Capitol had often been on her mind. “Oh,” she repeated as she wrapped her arms around Opal and buried her face in her neck. “Oh, Opal, you’re here. You came. I—“

Missed you. Love you. Don’t want you to leave. Want to hug you. Want to kiss you. Have a ring in a box in my nightstand. There were far too many ways for that sentence to end and it was nigh impossible to pick one. Opal Earnest was perhaps the only person in the world that could fluster her like that. She pecked her on lips and then the cheek, the forehead and the tip of her nose. They stood in the doorway for a few minutes, just embracing each other and enjoying each other’s warmth. Then one of her timers dinged.

“Come in, come in,” she said hastily, ushering her girlfriend inside. Her mind was traveling at a mile a minute. Should she take Opal on a tour of the district? No, no she was probably tired from the train ride, not yet. Should they cuddle on the sofa and play catch up? Just sit at the table and stare into each other’s eyes? Katelyn chewed her bottom lip in concertation as she headed to the kitchen to check on the bread in the oven.

Opal Earnest, standing in her house. It was a dream. Did Opal like it? Most of her furniture was wooden, hand carved. Like most of eleven, her home was decorated rustically. An oil painting of a lakeside scene hanging over her dining room table. Pictures of Opal, Ky and a few of her friends framed and hung with care. The kitchen was cluttered with the remnants of her prep work for baking. She took the bread out and left it on the counter to cool.

“I missed you so much,” she said lovingly, taking a seat next to Opal, her eyes shining. “How have you been? Are you doing well?” She caressed Opal's back with one hand, rubbing it gently in small, comforting circles.

k a t e l y n .

Sunlight and daisies. That was what Opal was made of. Katelyn’s heart sang a tune the rest of her couldn’t express. A bittersweet symphony of aching violins, punctuated by a discordant cymbal of anger that flashed when she beheld Opal’s wounded hand. A mournful horn bleating a dirge for Opal and her son and the pain they’d suffered.

“Oh, the usual,” she replied. “Baking, gardening, pining for you.” Spying on my best friend for my Capitol taskmaster. Katelyn tended to be put together, every word carefully chosen for maximum impact, every role played the way it was expected of her; a persona for the Capitol cameras, a stern but caring hand for the yearly tributes. Oh, she cared, she couldn’t fake the heart beating inside her chest. But the line between who she was and who she had to be had been blurry for years. Eventually, it was going to be her downfall.

Someday.

That day would come sooner if she let Opal slip through her fingers a second time. With her, she didn’t have to be put together. In fact, she couldn’t, not when Opal could unmake her with a smile. Smoothed out her rougher edges and made her feel like she could breathe, even as she took her breath away. She smiled knowingly to herself and pushed away the thought of cooking breakfast for Opal wearing nothing but her apron. There'd be time for that later.

Opal wanted to do something nice, just the two of them. Katelyn brightened and quickly packed up the bread loaf into a basket alongside some smaller pastries she’d prepared earlier. An order had come in for brownies and the bakery had been out. “We can pop around to my bakery then,” she said with a dazzling smile, untying her apron and hanging it up. “Come along then!”

Katelyn lead her out the door and into the street. She’d always enjoyed their walks in the Capitol, and offered her an arm to hold. A playful laugh escaped her lips, the kind that she never used with anyone but Opal. It’d take some time to get to the bakery, but when they were together she felt like she had all the time in the world. It might have been her imagination, but the sun seemed to be shining brighter. All the colors around them standing out just a bit more.

The district bled into them, the smell of rich soil, freshly turned in the fields, apple trees in bloom over a sweet scented floor of clover. So strong you could taste it. “Do you ever think about the past?” she wondered aloud as they walked. “The people we were, and the people we’ve become?”

She wanted to ask if she ever thought about the future. Their future. A future that could become the present if she could only find the courage to say four little words. But it was hard. So much had gone wrong in her life, so many plans that fell through, so many trains derailed. So many other people making choices that she had to live with. It was stressful just wanting things to be okay and stay okay. Somedays it hurt her soul just to hope for that better tomorrow that people like Vasco always talked about.

“For me, it’s like I missed you before I even knew you. You make everything better. You make me better,” she said, giving Opal’s hand a comforting squeeze. ”But at the same time, I feel like I’ve known you my whole life, like you were always there.” Her eyes were warm when she held Opal’s gaze, a stark contrast to the cold the media usually portrayed them as, the chill they held when she was scolding a volunteer for throwing their life away nowhere in sight.

No ice for Opal, never for her.

“You’re special to me, Opal. And I never thought I’d say that about anyone.” You’re too good for me, she almost added. She had enough baggage to fill the luggage compartment of a Capitol train. “I love you.” She said, kissing her gently on the side of her cheek.

k a t e l y n .

The future. They could have a future together. It didn’t seem real. Opal felt like she’d slipped right into her life and shined a light on a very dark place. This, this was love. They completed each other. Each of them, the things that the other wasn’t but part of the same picture, like pieces of a puzzle made to fit together. And them Opal said she wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

Katelyn’s breath caught in her throat. It was one thing to know how Opal felt. It was another thing entirely to hear it. Of all the times to leave the ring in her nightstand back home—No, she’d waited this long. She could wait a little longer. The moment had to be right. Just right. Not here on the dusty road, no ring in hand. It had to special. Had to be—well, it didn’t need to be a grand gesture. Not a show-stopper, and certainly not in a public place.

Even disregarding the threat of paparazzi, Katelyn didn’t think she had the courage to do something so monumental in front of a bunch of strangers. Opal deserved something better than that. She was such a special woman. And then there was Ky! Oh, Katelyn already had a special place in her heart for Opal’s son. He was family already, though he didn’t know it. As far as she was concerned he was a part of Opal, and she didn’t want any part of the woman by her side to be left out from what they were sharing.

Katelyn squeezed her hand again, her heart feeling fit to burst. The words she wanted to say were dancing on the tip of her tongue. Even with another games and the machinations that she was caught in, she felt as though maybe, just maybe, she could hold onto that joy, that bliss that pervaded her being. "I love you so damn much, Opal Earnest." she said with a grin.

It was a good feeling.

The feeling that maybe, just maybe, she could have a happy ending after all.