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THE SUN IS shining as Johanna Mason makes her way out of the train, Thana Jardin is waiting with Rohan to welcome her to district 9. The older girl looks absolutely breath taking in her simple black jeans with a green top. But sadness pools in her eyes as her eyes lock with the new victor.
Thana stands anxiously besides Rohan as Johanna walks towards them. Her hands are sweaty and tremble as the victor comes closer with each step. Right now, the cameras are still present. Which means that Thana looks her best in a soft orange button up flowy dress with brown flats and belt. Rohan just stands there in nice looking clothes to help ease Thana.
"It is so good to see you again Rohan," Johanna's face is neutral as she shakes the man's hand.
"Completely likewise Johanna," Rohan smiles softly at the girl before him before turning to Thana, "this is Thana, but you already knew that."
"Welcome to district 9," Thana greets Johanna with a bright and genuine smile and takes the woman in an embrace, "I hope your trip was okay."
Johanna is in shock that the kindness and most outstandingly the welcomeness that the girl before her offers her is genuine, but she shakes it off with a smile.
"I have prepared a room for you in my house," Thana says Johanna and her enter the house. "To be honest, I don't really use it. So, it is still very cold and not homey at all."
"Well, where will we eat then?" Johanna asks the girl with a frown as she puts her small suitcase in the room.
"Somewhere warmer and full of love," Thana answers encrypted. "I am sure you love it."
"Yeah, sure," Johanna sounds sarcastic as she follows Thana the front door and the girl laughs warmly which makes Johanna itch.
"Come, I want to show you something," Thana takes Johanna's hand and pulls her with herself.
"On the other side of the big forest is District 7," Thana says as they leave the car that some peacekeeper drives for them. "Your home."
Small tears form in Johanna's eyes as she looks at the tears, her heart knows that Thana is right, but she turns around to face the girl. "It is, yeah. That is my home." Her voice sounds lost and Thana notices it.
"Don't worry, one day you will find it." Thana smiles kindly at her and takes her hand again to enter the car.
Thana motions Johanna to follow her as they enter a part of town that looks warm and full of people, very different from the victory part of town. Many small colourful houses stand close together and Thana navigates both through them, occasionally stopping to greet and talk to people she has known for a long time, before she finally stops on an outskirt of the place. An orange house with warm light inside and a lot of chatter.
"We are here," Thana smiles at Johanna, "my home."
Inside the Jardin household it is complete chaos. Jamila is ordering everyone around, Verrill is trying to calm his wife down. Sadiya and Clément are cooking, Latif is placing down plates and Zahra the silverware. It is homey busy, but for the family; they are used to it when people come by to eat and there are higher expectations.
Thana confidently walks in and immediately kisses her mother on her cheek as Jamila is cutting some vegetables for dinner.
"This is Johanna Mason," Thana introduces the victor, "Johanna, this is my family."
She softly tugs Johanna with her, "this is my younger brother, Latif." Latif smiles kindly at the woman as they shake hands, "this is my older sister Zahra." To surprise Johanna again, the woman embraces her.
"Nice to meet you, Johanna," Zahra smiles as she stands back with her brother and Johanna nods at the woman.
"This is my oldest sister Sadiya and her fiancé Clément Sol."
"It is nice to meet you," Sadiya squeezes Johanna's hand and Clément nods at the girl.
"And these are my parents, Jamila and Verrill." Thana finishes of.
"It is lovely to meet you and have you over here," Jamila smiles and hugs the girl tightly.
"We are happy to open our doors for you," Verrill smiles as he shakes Johanna's hand. Johanna is flabbergasted by all the genuine welcomes she got from the family.
"Thank you," Johanna smiles uncertain, "I have a small gift for you all."
Out of a bag, Johanna takes a nice wooden plank, that looks like a tree bark, decorated with flowers in it.
"As a thank you for having me over for dinner," Johanna smiles as she tries to give the gift to Thana who nods and smiles before passing it on to her parents.
"You shouldn't have darling," Jamila says as she looks at the beautiful plank, "but we will treasure it forever in our hearts."
Again, the victor from district 7 is touched by the heartfelt words, she tries to fight back tears as they make her think of her family. Even though her family acted very different, she misses being able to just hug her younger sister or parents.
As the evening goes on there is a lot of chatter and laughter. It makes Johanna feel at home and she immediately understands why Thana secretly still lives with her parents and siblings. She feels a small pain in her heart when the dinner is over, and its time is for her to go with Thana to the cold victor house. She is slightly scared at what nightmares will bother either one of them.
"It was lovely meeting you," Verrill smiles at the young woman as she leaves with his youngest daughter, "sleep well."
"Thank you for having me over," Johanna smiles, liking this dinner more than the one she had to hold all on her own for Annie, luckily both Mags and Finnick came to join them. "I really enjoyed it, you two have a lovely family."
"That is sweet of you darling," Jamila gives the girl one last hug, "you are always welcome to come by."
Johanna touched by the words nods wordlessly with a big smile as she follows Thana towards victor's village.
"You have an amazing family," Johanna smiles, "you should treasure it."
"I know," Thana looks back to her home, "I most certainly do."
nora speaking!
I know it is a short chapter, but Thana and Johanna have met :)
I love this story so much and so much still has to happen, aahh!! The pain they still have to go through will kill me, I am certain of it.
