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There's still not much in the way of service on the trains ten years out from the war, but it's better than it was. Haymitch is able to get a few sandwiches and a tray of drinks, all white liquor and sodas, and he tells the bar attendant they are for his whole compartment, but he knows that no one will drink them but him.
He returns to their quiet compartment, concessions in hand, hands out the food, and sets to work on the drinks. It's been hours, and they're on the second half of the trip. Panem is massive, he'd forgotten since he stopped going to the Capitol every year.
Across from him, Katniss is half-asleep, dozing with her head against the window. Each time the train hits a small bump, she'll wake, check that they haven't made much progress, and close her eyes again. Beside her, Peeta is working on some sort of puzzle - a word search or crossword or similar - the kind of thing that is tucked into the back of the weekly newsletter in District 12. Beetee had given him a bunch when they stopped in District 3 for a break from the train, and Peeta appreciated the diversion, it seemed.
Beetee himself is beside Haymitch, his hair entirely gray ten years on, not that Haymitch can really say he's doing much better in that regard. He's listening to his pocket radio with one earphone, and he is making polite conversation here and there, but none of them really have much to talk about.
The conductor comes by an hour or so later, once Haymitch has put back three of the four drinks, and tells them that their stop is coming up in about 30 minutes. Katniss is awake now, staring out the window at the landscapes of District 4. "I can't wait to get up and walk around," Peeta says.
They took the train from District 12 to District 3, stopped for a day and a half in District 3, then took another train to District 4. It's been a long journey, but it's also the first time they've done such a trip in the ten years since the war ended. They're out of practice. "You could just go jump in the ocean if you wanted to," Haymitch jokes.
When they do arrive, Haymitch is sufficiently buzzed from the alcohol, thanks to his relative sobriety over the past few years. He stumbles a little getting his bag, enough to earn him a glare from Katniss, but nothing more. They have fallen out of each others orbit in the past few years: he has stopped worrying so much over her well-being, and she has stopped harping on him about his habits.
The platform in West Port, District 4 is bright and sunny, generously warm for mid-May. As he gets off the train, he looks up and sees Annie waiting for them, a child beside her, and Johanna beside him.
He hadn't been expecting Johanna. Well, he was expecting her, he supposed, if all living victors were coming, as Annie had said, but he wasn't prepared to see her already there, waiting. She stands in Finnick's place, on the other side of his son, and she stays back with him as Annie rushes forward. "You made it!" she calls out, greeting them and taking an extra bag from Katniss. "I'm sure you're exhausted. I'll show you where you're staying, and we can get you something to eat." Annie looks nice, in a long skirt and buttoned blouse, her hair flowing down her back in waves. It takes a moment for Haymitch to catch the strange stomp in her step, the way her fingers tap on her hip, compulsions or tics she seemed to always have, Annie traits.
She walks back to Johanna and the child, and then crouches down to his level. "Seamus, these are my friends, from before the war. This is Haymitch, Beetee, Katniss, and Peeta. Everyone, this is my son, Seamus." Seamus looks tall for a ten year old, with fluffy brown hair a Finnick's sea green eyes. But he has none of Finnick's swagger, and his eyes dart around looking for an escape.
They all greet the boy, who half-cowers behind his mother's legs, and Johanna ruffles his hair. "How are you, Jo?" Peeta asks, and she shrugs.
"Not bad," she says. Haymitch feels stupid for being surprised that her hair is long, cut at her shoulders, but the last time he'd seen her, it was that terrible short cut from the prison. She still looks too thin, but he forces himself to look away, to stop analyzing Johanna the second he sees her again.
Annie checks her watch and the station signage. "The train from District 2 should be coming in about fifteen minutes. Jo, did you want to take them and I can wait, or-"
"I can wait," Beetee offers. "Should we just walk down to the village after it arrives?"
Annie looks surprised at this offer, but nods. "There's a tavern right on the main road, yellow with blue trim. Turn right when you see that, and you'll get to our neighborhood. I'll look for you there in 30 minutes."
"I can't believe Enobaria agreed to come," Johanna says, mostly to Annie.
Annie shrugs. "I wanted all the living victors to meet up, at least once more. Once she heard everyone else was coming, she agreed."
Beetee waits on the platform for the train from District 2 to arrive. It's quiet now, with the others departed for the village, and he stands in the afternoon sun, appreciating being out in the fresh air, somewhere where he can stretch his legs. He's never been one for the outdoors, really - at home he prefers his apartment with all of his computer terminals and broken down electrical components for tinkering with - but after that long train ride, he can appreciate the change.
He hadn't anticipated being so struck by the boy. He knew Annie invited them with the pretense of celebrating her son's 10th birthday party. He knew there was going to be a little boy there, of course. But he wasn't prepared for the onslaught of emotions upon seeing him. He looked nothing like Ampert, of course - this boy looked just like Finnick and Annie, no doubt - but there was something in his shy, sweet demeanor that brought Beetee right back to the early days, before Ampert was old enough to be in the reaping ball, back when he was still a mentor, but before he knew how much worse things could get. He thinks about opening his wallet, looking at the photograph that's yellowed with age, creased from too much handling, but he resists, and just pictures his son in his mind's eye instead.
The train arrives soon enough, a minute or two ahead of schedule, perhaps, and Enobaria steps off, along with a few others. "Continuing on to 7!" the conductor calls. "All aboard!" For a moment, Beetee thinks about getting on. Despite his hatred of sitting on trains, he could distract himself with getting to know the mechanics of the engine. He could tinker with the radio in his rucksack. He could just get on and keep going, away from District 4, away from that little boy who moved so similarly to his own son and tore his heart open to even look at.
"Good afternoon." Enobaria approaches him, distracting him from his thoughts. He should have been the one to welcome her, to greet her, but instead, he has been wrapped up in his own thoughts, and she's had to approach him. He watches the train doors shut, his opportunity gone.
"It's good to see you," he says, and it is, in a way. It's good to see Enobaria well. She's just as she was, but ten years older. She's still straight-backed and confident, with long hair in tight braids and two gold hoops in each ear. She's wearing linen pants and a sleeveless shirt, a jacket tucked over her arm, and she is still slender with toned muscles, he can see. Whatever she is doing in District 2, she is staying fit.
She offers him a polite smile and looks down the platform, obviously trying to figure out which way to go. Beetee searches for the directions Annie gave him. "The village is this way," he says. "And then we need to turn at the tavern."
She nods, and, shouldering her bag, follows him. It's strange to be with her and have this not be the Games, or the war, or something to do with Snow. Enobaria feels like the old regime, even though he hasn't seen any of the others since the war ended, either. "Have you been well?" he asks, mostly to ease his own discomfort at the silence.
She nods. "I have. My sister-in-law and her daughters survived the war, and I have a job now, working at a vineyard."
He smiles a bit at this. He knows he's expected to respond, but what to say? He has no one, really. Friends, certainly, but no family. And his job was a kindness, really, something to make sure he had food on the table. Truthfully, he knew someone half his age could do his job faster, and not have to squint at all the small parts on the electronics he repaired. "I'm glad," he says.
They take the correct turn-off and walk to the village Annie indicated, and meet her in the center of several houses. He realizes this is the old Victor's Village, a dozen houses in a vague grid, with a forest behind and the sea to another side. The rest of the town was back the way they came.
"Beetee, you and Haymitch can stay with me and Seamus," Annie says, pointing to a little cottage with a wrap-around porch. The roof has been patched, and there's wear and tear on the structure, but it looks lived-in and quaint. Beetee wants to protest, to say that he can stay somewhere else, away from the little boy, but how could he reject Annie's hospitality?
"If you need Katniss and Peeta, they're with my brother and sister-in-law, at that next house, there. Enobaria, there's a spare room at Johanna's place, next door."
Enobaria looks more than a little uncomfortable with this suggestion, but she nods, shouldering her bag once more, and walks towards the next house.
The house Annie pointed to looks different from the rest of the houses in the Victor's Village. It's smaller, most obviously, being only one story, but more importantly, it seems to be made with reclaimed wood. All the different pieces are joined together well, but Enobaria can see where some parts of the house used to be a boat, and others shipping pallets. The windows and door look like they might have come from an old railcar. She knocks at the door tentatively, unsure of this sleeping arrangement.
It isn't as if she has any hard feelings against Johanna, it's just that she doesn't really hold any affection for Johanna, either. She hadn't realized Johanna had come to live here, in District 4 after the war, but she didn't know what happened to any of them. She supposes it made sense, in a way. Johanna was always sticking her nose out for Finnick.
Johanna opens the door, nodding in greeting at Enobaria and stepping back to let her in. She's wearing a long-sleeve shirt, too hot for the weather, and shorts, showing a tattoo snaking up her left thigh, her hair in a half ponytail. "Sorry you got stuck with me," she says, but I only have one spare bed, so I couldn't host Katniss and Peeta, and I refused to have Haymitch here."
"It's fine," Enobaria says, because it is. It's a long weekend in District 4. She knew she was going to see people she didn't exactly get along with before, so it didn't really matter who she stayed with. "Here." She hands Johanna one of the bottles of wine she brought. She will give another to Annie.
To her surprise, Johanna opens it up right away and pours a glass. "You want some?" she asks.
She nods, but then realizes Johanna is turned away. "Yes, please." She would love to relax with a glass of wine after her train ride, she realizes. Johanna shows her to the spare room, a small room tucked into the back of the house with a bed, dresser, and lamp, and not much else. She shows her the bathroom, invites her to anything in the kitchen, and then asks if she'd like to walk down to the beach. "Yes, let's go," she says.
"Annie is doing a welcome dinner thing," Johanna explains as they walk. She's finished her glass of wine and lights a cigarette now. Enobaria is still sipping hers. "So we'll have to go back in time for that." She leads Enobaria down a path and then they are standing on a rocky beach, the tide lapping in and out. The sun is shining overhead, and Enobaria can see boats out further in the water, probably fishing.
"I didn't realize you lived here," she says, as they continue to walk down the beach.
Johanna shrugs. "Annie needed the help, and well… there's nothing for me in 7 anymore."
"Did you build that house?"
She nods. "I do know the basics with lumber, at least," she says, her laugh not quite reaching her eyes. "The plot where I live was Annie's house in the Victor's Village. She burned her house down after she won, that's one of the things that got her tossed in the asylum, so when I moved here, I moved in with her at first. She's in Finnick's old place." Johanna puts out the cigarette on a flat rock but holds it in her hand, refraining from tossing it on the beach. "But I couldn't stay with them forever. No one wanted that burnt out foundation, so I took it, and eventually built that house."
"I got kicked out of the Victor's Village," Enobaria says. She's not sure why she's telling Johanna of all people, but she supposes it's fine. She probably won't see her again after this weekend, and if she does, it'll be years. "They gave all those houses to 'war heroes' and assigned me to an apartment in a high rise. It's fine and all, but I miss it sometimes."
Johanna nods, smiling as she kicks a pebble. They turn onto a path back through the town. "I didn't like District 2 much on my tour, because of all the Peacekeepers, but I thought the houses were pretty."
There's a man up ahead, and he nods at Johanna in greeting. He's tall and a little heavy, and he sways like he's had a bit too much to drink as he walks to meet them. He sizes Enobaria up a little too long, and she is reminded of years ago, when men would do that to her openly in the Capitol.
"Jo, who's your friend?" he asks.
"This is Enobaria, she's visiting from District 2. Enobaria, this is Finnick's brother-in-law, Ryder."
"Aw, Jo, don't be so cold," he says, pressing her into a side hug. She rolls her eyes but tolerates this, and Ryder smiles at Enobaria before reaching out to shake her hand. "It's nice to meet you," he says.
"Likewise."
"Oh! I remember now!" he says, as she knew he would. Once they see her teeth, they always do. "Jo, keep me away from her!" he jokes, pretending to hide behind Johanna who was about a foot shorter than him. As if Johanna couldn't murder him just as easily.
"Listen, we gotta get back," Johanna says. "Annie is doing a thing for dinner. I'll see you at the party."
They walk away, and Johanna shakes her head. "Sorry about him," she says. "He was married to Finnick's sister, but she died during the war. Now he mostly just drinks."
There's a gentleness in the way she says it, as if she sympathizes with the man, despite his clumsy nature. They get home and Johanna pours them each a second glass of wine, "to prepare for whatever bullshit happens at dinner", and Enobaria sips it, contemplating how strange it is that she can just sit in Johanna's company now, ten years on. There are age lines at Johanna's eyes, her confrontational personality toned down a bit by the war and the years of peace that had followed. And then, just as they're getting ready to go, Enobaria sees it. She passes Johanna's bedroom on the way to the bathroom, and the morphling syringe is only half tucked away on her nightstand. The long sleeves and the gaunt look and the separate houses and the mellowed out personality make sense, suddenly.
Katniss sits at the long table in the garden as the food is set out, but she keeps looking over her shoulder. It's just the eight of them: 7 living Victors and the child of one of them, but she expects her mother to come around the corner at any moment, as if she could sense that Katniss is near. There are too many conversations happening at once, and Katniss has given up trying to follow them, she just listens to bits and pieces here and there as bread and salad are being passed around.
"Oh, yes that's the wine Enobaria brought. Is this where you work?"
"Is that all you're taking, surely you're more hungry than that!"
"Did you help make this? What a big boy!"
It's all mundane, polite chatter, and it's easy to almost drift off even among all these people. Dissociating is easier than thinking about the fact that her mother left, after the war, and the last Katniss heard, she was working here in District 4, and place Katniss hasn't been for ten years. She takes a portion of what is passed onto her plate, and accidentally catches Annie's eye, and Annie smiles kindly at her. "The salad should be good," Annie says, "We picked the lettuce and the carrots and the tomatoes just this afternoon from the garden, and the herbs are from the containers on the porch."
"Sounds delicious," she manages. She can't help but look at the boy, full of Finnick's features, and when he notices her staring, he turns red and tries to hide behind his mother, even though it's impossible at the long picnic table. He whispers something to Johanna, who is sitting on his other side, and she looks up at Katniss.
"Oh her?" Johanna says to Seamus. "She is a really nice lady, but she's just as shy as you."
Katniss wants to protest this, to say this isn't the problem at all, but maybe it is, really. Because she has been hiding away in District 12 for years - even within her home District she'll go days without leaving her house - and she is terrible at expressing herself. After being made into a symbol, after everything she did was twisted into propos, it really did become difficult to just be Katniss Everdeen. She realizes that Seamus is too young to know who the Mockingjay is, and that's a relief, in a way.
She wants to tell Seamus how much he looks like Finnick, or how much she came to value Finnick, but what good is that to a child who never knew his father? Plus, she's sure he's heard such things from Annie and Johanna thousands of times.
Katniss eats the fish that's served to her - a filet she's told was caught just this morning by Annie's brother-in-law, Jude. He and his wife Odessa and their son Simon, who's 13 years old are hosting Katniss and Peeta, and she can see them now through the window of their house, eating their own dinner. She's told the house they inhabit was once Mags', and this is why they live so close to Annie, in the Victor's Village. It's nice, to watch this little family interact, even from a distance, and she watches as Odessa ruffles Simon's hair, and Jude laughs at something he says, as they're lit by the glow of their dining room lights and framed by the picture window.
"Katniss? Did you hear me?" Peeta is asking. She has not heard him, she was lost in thought, so she shakes her head. "I told Annie I would help with the baking for the party tomorrow, if that's alright with you."
She nods. Of course it's alright. She can walk around, or just stay in bed and sleep. She could find the hospital and see if her mother is there. But it's Annie who interrupts her thoughts. "Odessa can show you around, if you like. Or if you just want to relax, I can point out some good spots. And you can always stay and chat while we work."
"You don't want me around," Katniss says. "I find a way to make a mess somehow." There was still an extra day before the party, an extra day for them to enjoy District 4, or each others' company, and Katniss half wishes she had just arrived closer to the party to avoid such a gap. But what's done is done, and she tries to plan for the next day. She doesn't particularly want to spend time with any of the others, so she supposes she'll ask for the recommendations for where to go to be alone. She wants to leave the table, to go to bed and away from the talking and socialization, but there's no easy way to excuse herself, and besides, Jude and Odessa are busy with their own lives at the moment.
She bites her lip as she looks around the table. The others are distracted as a pie is being cut and more wine is being poured. Johanna and Enobaria are talking about something. She knows they weren't particularly fond of each other before the war, but they're about the same age, and they were mentors together, and forced into the same sex work, she realizes. They were held captive together, during the war. Beetee is quiet, but he cracks a smile at something Haymitch says. They had been two of the masterminds behind the plan to end the Quarter Quell early. Beetee had been on the planning committee with Coin and Haymitch during the war.
But there are other connections, too. Annie and Peeta had been in that Capitol prison with Johanna and Enobaria, as well. Johanna lived here now, with Annie, the two of them closer than Katniss had expected. And Katniss suspected some sort of history between Haymitch and Johanna, from the way he was watching her during dinner. She might have been the Mockingjay, she might have been the face of the rebellion ten years ago, but she really was just tagged in at the end. She had Peeta, and to a much lesser degree, she had a connection to Haymitch. Everyone else was an acquaintance at best.