How It All Goes Down
- All the people who know Darius are incredibly upset at what's happened to him, but Katniss knows they have to stay calm and act like it's no big deal.
- Katniss can't bear it, though – she blames herself for what's happened – and holes up in her room.
- At dinner, the team regroups.
- At one point, Katniss creates a diversion so she can touch Darius's hand. They have a special moment without speaking where they try to convey their feelings.
- Then, as a group, everyone heads to view some video of the event they just attended.
- Katniss thinks about how cruel the opening ceremonies are. She's trying to stay away from Peeta.
- She goes to bed and has terrible dreams about other people's mouths.
- Going to breakfast the next day, Katniss dreads the meeting where they will discuss their strategies for the Games.
- She delays as long as she can before meeting Haymitch and Peeta. Haymitch tells them that their strategy has to be getting "allies" while they train with the other tributes, otherwise they won't make it through. They also have to keep up the appearance of a love affair.
- Katniss isn't that into it, but Haymitch pushes. They should choose the allies who will be helpful during the Games – that's the only way to win.
- Then Peeta and Katniss go down to the training center to meet with the other tributes.
- They see two others there, Brutus and Enobaria. Enobaria is pretty vicious.
- They begin training. There are different areas around the room they can visit to learn different skills.
- Katniss practices tying knots, and briefly encounters Finnick.
- She then heads to another area to practice lighting fires without matches. She decides to try to befriend the two people from District 3 who are also practicing, Wiress and Beetee. They're kind of weird, but Katniss likes them.
- Wiress and Beetee open up a little, and the three try to speak in code to see if there's been any rebel activity in their different districts.
- On the way to lunch, Beetee and Wiress point out an interesting fact to Katniss: the Gamemakers are there observing the tributes, but they've got an invisible force field set up around them for protection. Katniss learns that each of these fields has a weak spot.
- They end up sharing a table at lunch.
- Katniss has a brief moment alone with Peeta, and they confer about whom they want as their allies. They both want different people, and they're still a little uneasy with each other after the brief disagreement they had.
- After they eat, Katniss meets more of the other tributes.
- She doesn't want to team up with some of the obvious choices, like the in-shape pair from District 1. She's interested in the older woman, Mags, who doesn't really have a chance in the arena but understands the principle of sacrifice. They practice making fishhooks.
- After that, Katniss lets loose at the archery range and blows everyone away with what a great shot she is.
- Everyone wants to be her ally, but she has her own particular opinions.
- They keep training. On the last day, each tribute has to face the Gamemakers alone and get a rating for the Games.
- Peeta and Katniss up last. They commiserate about how they don't want to have to be murderers again.
- Peeta goes first. He takes a long time. Katniss doesn't know what happened, but when she goes in after him, everyone seems upset. A big portion of the floor has been hastily hidden.
- She decides she's going to make them even more upset if possible.
- Plutarch seems to be uninterested, which pushes Katniss even more.
- Katniss makes a noose and hangs up one of the figures they use to practice shooting. She writes on it the name of the previous Head Gamemaker (Seneca Crane, the one who was executed) using berry juice, and presents it to the other Gamemakers.