The 'Flower of Panem' or 'The Angel of Mercy', Seraphine Reza is the jewel and pride of Panem. One of their most treasured victors in the history of the Hunger Games and a favorite of President Snow.
While she smiles, comforts and plays her part ev...
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Streets leading to the Presidential Palace were deserted. No cars or people on sight. The only people she saw were the ones on the moving tall boards dotted around a few distance away from the palace.
The boards displayed brightly lit posters and banners with celebratory images for the Quell. With a range of changing flickering posters from the districts and some permanent ones for the returning victor.
Yet, the posters for the returning victors as tributes had been turned to shrines with decaying flowers worshiping their images.
Sera didn't expect that at all.
She pressed her face closer to the window of the car she was in and took in the images in front of her. They were shrines, alright. Dead and dried flowers along with candles littered those posters of the victors. Each with a different amount depending on their popularity.
Chaff's was barren and so was Wells and Leora's. She expected Johanna's to be the same and yet, she was wrong. Naturally, Finnick's had an abundance of gifts with Cashmere and Gloss closely following behind. But none of that came close to the joint tributes of Twelve.
The joining posters of Katniss and Peeta had flooded the footpath where the board stood. Flowers, candles and even bows were carefully placed in front of the brightly lit posters. Amid those tributes, she noticed a few flashes of golden birds.
Mockingjays.
Maybe that's why avoxes had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They hurriedly dumped all the candles and flowers from the makeshift shrines into large metal cans that they dragged as they moved. The mockingjay pins and small prints were the first to go. Then it was the candles, the last were the flowers.
Nothing was left when she looked back. Everything had been swept and destroyed in a matter of seconds. But it was much clear to her that the majority of the Capitol didn't want this game at all.
They weren't baying for anyone's blood let alone for the ones they worshiped and coveted.
Perhaps, it was a sign that the Capitol's rebellion network had grown larger since last year. Not everyone could be so oblivious to the significance of the mockingjay pins and signs.
For as long as Sera could remember those birds were seen as signs of rebellion. Something that was born out of the control of the Capitol.
Sure, it was possible that the majority of Capitolites were blinded by Katniss' mask of a wide-eyed and earnest victor so in love with her partner. They were eager to mimic and throw around every symbol related to her. That could've been the other option.
She saw it with herself when she won. Capitolites wore flowers for over a year in the aftermath. Artificial and overly bright colored flowers. Her eyes still ached remembering how insane those capitolites were when it came to her: half in awe and half in anger.
