"So they just ravaged through your stuff and then left?" Will asked, a mouth full of food muffling his words.

"Yeah," Asher shrugged, "I have no idea why they stopped after my place. I mean, what could they have possibly found interesting about me or my apartment?"

"I dunno, man," Will said, swallowing, "don't ask questions, it'll just eat at you because you definitely won't get answers."

"No kidding," Jackson chimed in, shooting a dark opaque haze from his hand and into a target several yards away. It struck near the center, abruptly taking the form of a small knife allowing it to pierce deep into the material. The handle vibrated from the impact.

"It's the Capitol," he continued, walking over to them and snatching a few chips out of the bag Will was quickly devouring. "They do what they want, and don't ask for permission. We either find out about it later, or we hear nothing. Usually, it's the second one."

"It took them forever to go through my place," Will complained, eyeing Jackson as he took more chips. "I'm not sure why. I don't have that much stuff."

"Probably because what stuff you do have is buried underneath a bunch of dirty dishes, old food, and trash," Asher mumbled, thinking back to earlier in the day when he'd been left to clean up after his friend's mess at his apartment.

"It was just too odd," Jackson said, "Do they really expect us to believe the Capitol let a thief outsmart them and make it all the way down here to hide? Even if that happened, what would they have been able to steal that's valuable enough to make the Capitol send their forces in like that?"

"They had a few surrounding villages searched too," Will noted, "but the search was called off around midday apparently."

"That's around when they left my place," Asher mumbled.

"I'm sure it's just timing," Jackson reasoned. "They could have stopped because another search party in a different village found the guy they were looking for, so they called it off, no big deal. Let it go."

It was evening now. The sun was slowly descending behind the treeline, and the crisp night air was blowing in to replace the scorching heat. The shrill chirps of crickets gradually overcoming the ending songs of birds hidden in the trees, and light poles were beginning to flicker, doing their best to turn on and illuminate the way home.

It had been a beautiful day to be outside, but it had also been scorching hot. Asher had done his best to hide by taking shelter under a large tree, the branches supplying a canopy of shade. However, it still felt as though the rays of fire had somehow reached his bones, and as he sat there on the large towel Maggie had laid out for them, he felt the sting of invisible burns creeping along his skin.

As he sat there, munching away on snacks everyone had brought, he observed. Watching the others train was like attending a performance, their movements a dance, and the training arena their stage. He enjoyed watching when he could, it made him feel included in this other half of his friend's lives.

Usually, he wouldn't be able to do this. Most of the time, they trained at one of the professional facilities supplied by the program, but they were closed for maintenance. Apparently, a real fight broke out between two students who were significantly powerful. They had broken quite a bit of the machinery and done some structural damage to the building before they could be stopped.

"Hey, Asher!"

His head snapped up, eyes landing on Hannah.

She smiled, jogging over to him, "Spar with me!"

"W-what?" he stuttered in surprise.

"C'mon, please?" she begged, "I need to work with someone else, a person I don't spar with, like, multiple times a week," she gestured to Will and Jackson.

"Um, rude," Will mumbled.

"Can't you just ask some of your other classmates?" he asked, gesturing to another group of individuals working on the other side of the large, fenced-in area.

"Nooo!" she whined, "I want to spar with you! You're different! Refreshing!"

"Are you trying to compliment him into doing what you want?" Maggie laughed as she walked over, holding a newly refilled bottle of water.

"Whatever works," she shrugged.

"She does have a point though," Will said, making Hannah grin widely, "Asher hasn't gone through the program, so he sees things a little differently. He doesn't follow the same thought process as most others."

"Exactly, thank you, Will!" Hannah cheered.

"I'm not just saying this for you," he smirked, "I want to spar with him after you!"

"Don't put so much pressure on him guys," Maggie warned, worried eyes glancing at Asher.

Asher smiled and stood up, dusting off any crumbs left on his lap. "It's fine, Maggie," he assured her, then turned to an overly excited Hannah.

"Alright, I'll do it. No abilities though, and for a short time limit," he said sternly.

"Oh! Asher's calling the shots!" Will yelled, clapping enthusiastically.

"Yes!" Hannah cheered, rushing back over to the field, the others following behind her.

Shielding his eyes as he stepped out from under the tree's protection, Asher walked onto the field as well. It felt a little odd to him, standing on an official outdoor training ground such as this, with people who were all thoroughly trained and capable, unlike himself.

Visually a stranger wouldn't be able to tell he was different. Given how many times he had been asked to spar by his friends, and the fact that his job was manual labor, he was easily able to maintain a fit physique. He had even picked up a few techniques by watching, and he would attempt them himself occasionally, out of pure curiosity.

They stood a few yards apart, facing one another. Hannah prepared herself in a stance that Asher had witnessed her do countless times, one she had learned through her years of training to be effective. He, on the other hand, remained neutral. He didn't think there was any purpose to begin in such a stance. He thought it was just to be showy or threatening, and he was neither of those things. As Will said, he viewed things differently.

"Alright, two minutes on the clock," Jackson said slowly, setting a timer on his watch.

"Kick her butt, Asher!" Maggie laughed, cheering from the sidelines.

"Thanks for the support!" Hannah snapped, to which Maggie just rolled her eyes.

"Don't let her kick your butt too hard, you gotta spar with me next!" Will called over.

"Shut up already, you two," Jackson chuckled.

"Alright, here we go. Begin in three... two... one... Start!"