A letter came in the mail.
Tigris had been worried, after the Games were over, that things wouldn't have gone well for Lucy Gray. If Coriolanus had been so badly punished, she thought, what would they do to a girl from the districts?
It had been difficult to find an address for the girl. She didn't want to ask Coriolanus to bring her the letter; he had enough to do. Tigris had to pay a woman physically going to District 12 to hand it off. It took a while, but the letter arrived alright.
I hope my letter finds you well. I should preface this by saying that this comes from Tigris Snow. I'm very glad that you made it home. At least, I do hope you've made it home. I write because I'm worried that, because of the circumstances, you were hindered by the Peacekeepers or unable to for some other reason. They told Coriolanus he was cheating in the Games, and they've forced him to enlist in the Peacekeepers. He'll be down there in 12 by now. If you're there and you've met again, I'm sure Coriolanus has told you all about it. Letters take so long to arrive.
Please, do not feel obligated to respond to this. I know correspondence from so far is expensive. I would love to know that you're alright, but I'm sure Coriolanus will tell me.
I also wanted to send this to let you know that I really did love your songs. You've certainly touched some hearts here, and I thank you for it.
A warm feeling spread through Lucy Gray as she read the letter and knew she wanted to write back to Tigris quickly, she sounded so worried. After carefully thinking of what to say, Lucy Gray started putting pen to paper, trying to make her words sound "Capitol-like" at least enough that it would be good enough.
First off, I want to thank you for the letter. I'm not the type of girl who gets many letters, especially not ones as kind as yours. I'd also like to thank you again for what you did to my dress during the games. You truly have a gift when it comes to clothes.
To lighten up your worries, I am in fact back in District 12, and yes, Coriolanus told be about the cheating. Admittedly, I am part of the reason they found out. To make a long story short, after the games, I was searched and they the compact which was used to smuggle in rat poisoning. I guess the pieces just fell into place after that. After that, the dean, Highbottom if I recall, gave me some money and I was sent home back to 12 on the train.
Since then, I've been back and preforming with the Covey. It was a something of a shock to see Coriolanus, but it wasn't unwelcomed. He is safe, or at least as safe as he can be with the Peacekeepers. He visits me and the Covey when he can at least, and I think the others are starting to warm up to him.
I'm glad you enjoyed my songs, maybe one day you'll be able to hear me sing again, but it's nice to hear from you either way. I hope you continue to write to me some more, you and your cousin are rare birds.
Hopefully, this made sense of the situation, Lucy Gray's thoughts had been something of a blur since coming back to 12, like life was dream and she was waiting to wake up. Now, all she had to do was mail the letter. Maybe she'd give it to Coriolanus next time she saw him...