voice in the violence; Payton

It was late, and Katelyn was still awake, re-watching clips from the previous games and trying to identify where Delroy and Neysa had erred. Some years it was easy to see when the gamemakers mutts and traps were targeting the districts that they didn’t want to win. Other times she chalked it up to the personalities of those her tributes allied with or those they made enemies with.

There was a knock on her door and she sighed quietly, turning the television off.

It had been years since she’d mentored a tribute that had actually managed to sleep through the night but it was fine, she kept odd hours anyway. She opened the door to reveal Belle, the one who wanted to come back home for a boy. Adam. Her first impression of the girl was one of earnestness. But while a fighting spirit was important when it came to survival, it wasn’t enough on its own. Katelyn had buried enough tributes over the last eighteen years to know that.

With the Capitol inquest searching for rebels back home, with Mayor Vasco in the crosshairs and her fellow victors not far behind, she knew the smart thing to do would be to let Belle and Revan sink, to be an ineffectual mentor and do nothing that might take another crown away from whatever career the capitol had their eyes on.

It was the smart thing. But it wasn’t the right thing.

“What can I help you with, Belle?” she asked genially. “Do you need a late-night snack or some games advice? Both?”

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.