Seneca whistles. "She's a natural."
I swallow my pride as she steps off to the side to watch Jackson. She's a natural, just like her dad...
"So, what do you have for me?" I ask Seneca, not caring to watch Jackson. My blood is still boiling from this morning. He was flirting with my little... sixteen year old girl. 
Fuck, Rose was sixteen when we met. She was pregnant 3 months later..
"Not much, luckily. Carrick hasn't proposed many changes to the arena other than the removal of some protective brush from a few quadrants. He wants more open space to promote more hand to hand combat."
I nod. "It's just like him. It was what he'd trained me in for years. He wasn't great at any of the other skills." 
"I can only imagine what that was like," Seneca says with a sarcastic chuckle.
"It landed him in a wheelchair," I say. 
Seneca stares at me blankly for a moment. As he gets the message, he recovers with a smirk. "He's an absolute shit-for-brains. What he did made no sense. He pulled resources out of plots we had engineered for more artificial intelligence. Given this pool of tributes, it may be more entertaining to watch them fight it out, but you know we need those options. No matter how tough a tribute seems, someone will always be afraid."
My gut tugs almost painfully. Will Willow having to go hand to hand with each one...? 
"And if you're saying you were trained as a fighter, I would hope that means Willow was trained as one, too?" Seneca continues. I nod. "So even though Carrick thinks he's set her to fail, it may work out in her favor after all. I've already watched her knock down two of the boys that were brave enough to spar with her, this after she knocked down the trainer twice."
"Two boys? Which ones?" My pride is back with a fury now. She's knocked down boys! I wish I had been here to watch her all day. She's worked very hard over the years and I have to admit that I was excited to be Head Gamemaker and get a front row seat to watch my baby annihilating the competition in everything. If only my dad hadn't come back..
Seneca points them out. One is of average height and build, standing only a couple inches taller than Willow. He is lean and seems strong, but he stoops low in the shoulders, his weak point. I bet Willow spotted it and used it to her advantage. The other is the one I caught her eyeing from earlier. He's much bigger than the other boy, but not bigger than I am. I can't tell yet what his weakness is, though I am sure Willow discovered it when they were up against one another. This is a welcome relief to hear. She knocked down two boys and her trainer!
"Cato," Seneca hesitates. "we've worked together for a long time. At this point, I'd even say we were partners. I've gotten to know you very well, and I know how you feel about your family. You don't have to say what you have planned, but I know you well enough to know you aren't just letting this happen."
"Seneca," I start.
He shakes his head. "I don't want to know, it's better for the both of us I'm sure. All that is to say that I hope you know that you can rely on me where it counts."
"Where it counts?" I ask.
"In there." He nods towards the holographic replica of the arena we'd created that was rotating on a screen in front of us. "If she needs out of the arena..." he says lowly, giving me a look as he gestures towards a particular spot on the arena. 
I nod, understanding him completely. Every arena has a detonation point, a weak spot, that we have engineered into the structure in case of.. well anything that would require destroying the arena.