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In Ten, birthdays are special.
Well, birthdays are special everywhere, actually, but it's different in Ten. Nobody actually knows why - it's something so old, nobody really thinks to ask - but it's just...always been there.
If you are born in Ten, then you are born knowing these simple rules:
1) Get up at a time before the sun is up. In a place where people generally work with farm animals all day, this isn't that out of the ordinary.
2) Gather everybody you consider to be family - whether it be blood, friend, significant other, or anybody else important to you. Family is important to Ten. Another thing so old nobody questions.
3) You watch the sunrise.
Sunrise is a special time in Ten. It represents a new day - the shedding of old mistakes and the welcoming of a fresh start. Enemies become allies, old grudges are forgiven, and everything along those lines.
The bottom line is, if you truly care about someone and want them to know it, you invite them to your Sunrise.
Bianca was 13 when she was Reaped. Only got 13 Sunrises with her family before she was yanked away from it all.
Afterward, when she became Bee, when she became the poster girl for 'perfect Victor', she found a new family - forged it out of her sweat and blood and tears. She took Tobi under her wing, she welcomed Jaren with open arms, she coaxed John out of his room, she calmed Eric with a gentle touch.
She became the center, the mother - not a Peacekeeper, broken and remade in the irons of Two, but a peacekeeper; gentle and ferocious and protective.
On her Fourteenth Birthday, she dragged them all up before dawn and made them watch the Sunrise with her.
Eric complained John and Jaren bickered, and Tobi was nearly dead on her feet, but they powered through it for her.
Afterward, she explained in a quiet voice what Sunrises mean to her - what Sunrises mean to Ten.
The year after, during her Fifteenth Sunrise, she didn't even have to wake them up - they were already out on the balcony. Josiah was there too, a gentle smile ready for her as always, and the six of them watched the Sunrise.
Bianca was not afraid to admit that she cried. They pretended not to notice, bless their hearts.
On her Sixteen Sunrise, they were again already there. Jackson was sitting crisscrossed, talking quietly with John. Jaren had his blanket around him and Tobi, the two of them almost asleep leaning against each other, and Eric and Josiah were sitting in companionable silence.
She cried again that year. Afterward, she'd pulled Jaren aside and given him a hug, one that he'd returned with gusto.
"I can't really understand what it means to you," he'd said afterward, cheeks flushed from the cold, "but you just seemed so happy the first time, so I'll keep getting everyone together."
She'd given him a great big smacking kiss on the cheek for it. He'd laughed and hugged her again.
Her Seventeenth Sunrise was a little tense. Ezra hadn't fully given in yet to her machinations, but she'd been determined to get him on that balcony, and once Bianca set her mind to something, it was hell to try and get her to give up.
He'd protested, but she hadn't taken no for an answer. He'd sat and he'd watched the Sunrise, and afterward, she'd thanked him with a kiss on the cheek.
Ezra had flushed a bright red and fled to his bedroom, and she'd smiled at his retreating form.
After that, he started opening up more. Good. He was family, whether he liked it or not - he'd seen her Sunrise, after all.
Her Eighteenth Sunrise is different, in that it marks her as finally an adult.
That year, she asks to be alone on the balcony with Matt. Jaren, Jackson, and Ezra (who, by the way, turned into a massive worrywart when he did finally give in) looked concerned, but Josiah and Tobi just lead them away whilst John and Eric promised not to let them peak.
She'd sat in silence with Matt, watching that Sunrise. Usually, in Ten, it was the only Sunrise you watched alone - a passageway, a rite, that marked your adulthood - but Matt didn't deserve to be left out. He'd just watched quietly with her before taking her hand and squeezing it. There was a certain kind of understanding in the 14-year-old boy's eyes.
Matt enfolded into their family easily.
On her Ninteenth Sunrise, with Jordan now in their family, she sits with them all around her.
Jaren, John, and Josiah, the foundation; Tobi and Jackson, the heart; Eric, Jordan and Ezra, the protectors; and her, in the middle of it all.
This is what she has carved.
She thinks to herself, on her Twentieth Sunrise, when they've all settled into their places finally, that this is her family, complete.
And then she meets Rebecca.
-
Rebecca is 12 when they first meet. Rebecca is 12, Rebecca is loud, and Rebecca is angry.
Watching her build her brand, Bianca is filled with a sudden sharp hurt.
She wants Rebecca to win, she realizes, badly. Not that she didn't want any of her other Tributes to win, of course, but Rebecca is different in that she is brave in ways Bianca never could be. She is not a coward like Bianca was - like Bianca is - and that fills her with an emotion she can't quite identify.
Maybe this is why, the night before the Games begin, Bianca finds herself at Rebecca's doorway.
"What." The young girl says. Not a question, but a statement. She's hostile, and Bianca can't find it within herself to blame her.
"Can I come in?" Bianca asks softly. She keeps her body language gentle, unprovoking. Rebecca calls the shots here. It's the least she can offer.
There's a split moment of hesitation, before--
"Yeah, fine."
The door opens, and Bianca walks in slowly. She doesn't take in the room - doesn't have to. It hasn't changed a single bit in the eleven years since she slept here.
She sits on the bed and watches Rebecca study her warily.
"You chose your name today?" She starts.
Rebecca nods, movements slow. She's still standing by the door; Bianca wishes she could do something to make her relax a little. "Minx," the girl says slowly, and Bianca, in all her 24 years of life, has never felt more helpless than she does right now. "JustAMinx."
God. An aggressive branding, huh?
"It's good," she says, starting slow. She smiles at Rebecca, genuinely, the 'mum' smile that Josiah and Ezra both say makes her look a lot less threatening than she can actually be.
Idiots, she thinks fondly, before forcing herself to refocus on Rebecca.
"It's memorable," she adds belatedly. "Makes you stand out."
"Why did you come here?" Rebecca butts in, eyes still wary, and Bianca winces.
The crux of the matter is that Bianca tries to be distant from her Tributes. She's seen the way Jaren and Jackson throw themselves all in, only to get crushed every single time. She's tried her best to protect herself from that.
She studies Rebecca for a long moment before sighing.
"I was the poster girl," she begins. The quick jump in topics seems to give Rebecca whiplash. "I was the perfect Victor - 'look', they'd say to all the Districts, 'look at how wonderful and obedient she is.' I can't tell you how long John and Eric resented me for that." She shakes her head, chuckling sadly.
It's silent for a moment. "You know why I was so obedient, Rebecca? Why I was so 'perfect'?"
Rebecca looks uncomfortable, but she shakes her head. Bianca smiles ruefully.
"I was a coward," she says plainly. "I am a coward. I'm terrified of what they'll do to me or my family if I even try to rebel in any tiny way."
"But you," She says, bringing her gaze up to meet Rebecca's eyes, "you aren't. You're strong, Rebecca, and you're brave in ways that I never could be." She swallows, hard. "You don't back down, you don't conform, you don't roll over."
"Why are you telling me this?" The young girl whispers, and Bianca stands, moves forward, takes Rebecca's hands in her own, and squeezes them gently.
"Because I want you to win, Rebecca - and more than that? I believe that you will."
The ring - the token that Ian had given her before she'd gone up that tube - she slips into the blonde's hand is proof of that.
"I believe in you," she says quietly, and Rebecca looks like she might cry. "I believe in you, Rebecca, I promise. You will always have me in your corner."
And tomorrow, Rebecca will go up that tube a ring on her finger and that belief held close to her heart.
-
It's four-thirty in the morning, and when Rebecca sees Bianca waiting for her in the Common Room, she looks a little dumbfounded.
"Follow me," is all the elder says before she begins her walk through Floor Five, and Rebecca, seemingly not knowing what else to do, does so.
The layout of Floor Five is exactly the same as Four, so Bianca has no trouble finding the balcony door. She opens it, motions for Rebecca to go out. She closes the door behind them.
It's quiet for a moment. The coldness of October sends a little chill through her body.
"Your birthday," she begins, "it passed during the Games, right?"
Rebecca flinches at the mention of her Games - necessarily drawn out, and the memory of it makes Bianca want to rage and bundle up this child and steal her far, far away, where the Capitol can never hurt her again. The young girl nods, and Bianca sighs, before reaching out and taking her hand.
"Then I'm assuming you didn't get a proper Sunrise?"
The blonde looks away. Bianca tuts. "No, look at me. Don't be ashamed that you weren't able to do it. You're life matters more than the tradition." Rebecca relaxes, slowly, and turns back to meet her eyes.
The light of the sun is slowly starting to break through the horizon.
"You didn't get a proper Sunrise," she says again, and Rebecca nods. "So you'll get one now."
Rebecca's head whips toward her. "W-what?" she stutters, and it's so unlike her, Bianca smiles.
"You're going to get your Thirteenth Sunrise, right here, right now," she repeats.
Rebecca stares at her, dumbfounded.
"I--," she stops. Opens and closes her mouth a couple of times.
"You don't have to say anything," Bianca says gently, and Rebecca shuts her mouth. "If you don't want me here, that's fine, but I just wanted to make sure you got a proper one."
"I do," Rebecca blurts before flushing. "I mean. I do. I want you here for...for my Sunrise."
Bianca's grin is so wide and bright the younger girl actually looks away, flushing.
And so they sit there, the two of them, and they watch the Sunrise over the rooftops. Rebecca, at some point, leans forward and leans into Bianca's side, and Bianca doesn't say a word, just puts an arm over her shoulder and pulls her close.
And afterward, when Rebecca throws herself into Bianca's arms, she just holds her tightly and thinks, I guess my family wasn't quite as complete as I thought.
Because Rebecca is family now, whether she likes it or not. Not by blood or by relation, no.
Rebecca is family in all the ways that really matter.