THE GOLDEN AGE, sejanus plinth

018. in the arena

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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
IN THE ARENA
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THE PENTHOUSE OF the Snow family was nothing like that in her memories. Even though she had only walked down the hall to the living room, she could see the lack of furniture. And that smell...

Was that boiled cabbage?

Not even the jasmine tea that Tigris had made for her and Mrs. Plinth was strong enough to overpower the smell of... what exactly? Poverty?

Aurora turned around on her chair and stared into the dark hall. The Snows had been rich and she had always thought that it had stayed that way, even after the war.

Coryo had certainly done a job of fooling everyone or maybe only her. Maybe she had spent too much time being in her own head the last years that she had been ignorant to her friend's wellbeing.

It made sense now why the boy had always demanded to meet either at the library or at her place for their studies.

His grandmother, on the other hand, was the same as the woman in Aurora's memory. Still not being the nicest person in Panem, she sat on her own chair and watched Mrs. Plinth quietly crying in her handkerchief.

Aurora had no recollection of her own grandparents. They had either died before the war or before she was born and the only stories she had heard from her mother hadn't been good ones.

The girl stared at the teacup in front of her. She watched the steam rising, almost being hypnotized by it. Coryo wasn't home yet, so the four waited. Mrs. Plinth had told the Snows the same story she had told Aurora before.

And now, thinking about him throwing the chair, leaving the auditorium, and walking away from her, the girl couldn't help it but get worried herself.

What if he'd done something stupid? Of course he had been upset about what they'd done to Marcus, she had been too, but not even coming home? It was already dark outside.

"Coryo!" Tigris jumped up from her chair at the sound of the front door opening.

The blonde stepped into the living room, surprise on his face as he saw his visitors. The situation was quickly explained and all he did at first was to stare at Aurora. She thought that he wasn't happy about her being here right now.

"He was upset, ma'am. But I don't know that it's any cause for worry. He probably just needed to blow off some steam. Took a long walk or something. I'd do the same thing myself." He nodded at his words, like always being the polite boy that he was.

"Aurora already told me that he's been upset. But it's so late. It isn't like him to up and disappear, not without letting his ma know," Mrs Plinth answered, still having this thin voice. She was on the verge of crying again.

Coriolanus looked at his friend again, an eyebrow raised to which she shook her head barely noticeable. She hadn't told the woman that her son had thrown a chair around the auditorium in his rage. She would probably worry even more if she knew.

"Is there anywhere you can think of he might go? Or somebody he might visit?" Tigris asked the woman softly. She sat across from Aurora on the table, only being illuminated by the television and a soft glowing chandelier that had seen better days.

Aurora had seen more luxury in her own home during the war than she saw here now.

"No. No. Your cousin and Aurora are his only friends," Mrs Plinth sobbed.