Stephen gives her a sideways grin. "Believe me, Astrid, the Capitol gets caught up in ridiculous things every day." He's poking fun at his city, at himself -- he knows it's not really funny, but he knows how nomadic prehistoric men feel about things like wigs, and he imagines a warrior-queen won't be that much different.

He sobered a little, and took a deep breath. "But it's true. The Capitol..." Stephen shakes his head. "The Capitol lives vicariously through the Tributes. You have things we want: strength, skill, romance -- and putting you in the Arena lets the Capitol watch you demonstrate those things. I'm saying this so you can understand, Astrid--" he adds, so that she'll know he's explaining, not excusing, "--so you can know what to do when the Arena comes."

Stephen has come to understand the nature Tributes' feelings about the Games far better over the past six months than he did in his five years of work before the Quell.