Despite the long train ride that got him here, the many teary goodbyes, the complete barrage by stylists and escorts, and the fact that he was in the Capitol, Elias still felt numb to the whole situation.
He just wanted to go home, or at least be in an area that felt familiar. Even the windows in his room didn't offer any reprieve, showing a world of glittering lights and gray concrete. The only trees he had managed to see were delicate little things with flowers that had to be genetically modified to be that bright, and those kinds of trees just weren't common where he came from.
So, in the dead of night, wanting any semblance of comfort, he found himself going down the elevator of the Capitol building where hopefully no to a few people were wafering around. There was a section of the main floor that had a little atrium, with decorative ferns and mosses and a juvenile maple. Trying to find solace in it, he sat on the edge of the wall that held the soil, bringing his knees up to his chest. It wasn't until he could get a deep breath in that he took in his surroundings, making eye contact with someone else that had wandered down here this late.

















