Alain listens, and listens with a certain quiet intensity. Not all of what she says makes sense immediately, but it pulls several of the pieces together. There are plenty of questions he could ask - what the Games are for, what this District tour is, whether he's right in the guesses he's starting to make about both her and the Games. But they feel like questions that will answer themselves in their own time. They don't need answering now.

Instead, he says slowly, "I'll remember it, and say thankya. Bite my tongue and smile along with him, is what you mean to say?" Hardly a new game to him, and one he thinks he can play a while, if he has to.