The audience laughed.
“Yes, yes, of course. Now, Tom. That final fight. The last two tributes standing. Very short in time, but so full of tension, stakes. What was going through your head at that moment?”
The doctor gave him a few instructions to deal with his health, and two Peacekeepers stayed to escort him else. One more stayed in the room with the doctor. Tom thought he heard a small pop.
~~~
”Well, well! Welcome, Tom! How does it feel to have won the Quell?”
Thearion Yorelar asked the questions, Tom would answer, and the live studio audience would react.
“I’m afraid it does. You’ll likely never see me again after the next two days and it would be extremely unwise to acknowledge this conversation at all.”
“What the president wants, she gets. Once that’s over, you’ll choose whether to return to the location of your reaping or to emigrate to the Free States.”
“Something to think about. You’ve got two days before the interview. The president has requested that you attend her week long party in its entirety before you get shipped out.”
“Are you sure? Did you win, or just make it out alive? Will you ever really, truly be able to get their faces, their voices, out of your mind? Out of your nightmares? Can you truly, honestly, call yourself victorious?”