Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Hunger Games world. All characters, places, and names are the property of their respective owners.

The man sitting next to me calls out for another drink, and I find myself groaning. He's a scraggley older guy, mid length hair, might have even been called handsome in his day, but right now all I can think about how I'm going to spend the rest of the night cleaning his puke out of my cloak.

The tavern light is low, and I find that I have to squint far more than usual as I read through my leatherbound account book. Sixty-three gold coins left, I mutter my breath as I take another sip of the house ale. It's disgusting, but that's to be expected in a seedy out of town bar like this. In my occupation you occasionally had to sacrifice luxury for security. Out here, in this middle of nowhere tavern, nobody even noticed me. I doubt half of them even knew I was female, their drunkenness not pushing them to notice anything more than the dark black cloak I have pulled tightly over my face.

What they didn't know, however, is that hidden in my pocket was a sapphire broach. A piece of jewelry that could keep every man in this tavern eating for a month. The thing is my latest acquisition, a little piece I slipped from the dress of the most obnoxious daughter of a Duke, some noble twit with an idiotic name like Shimmer or Glimmer.

Sadly, the broach is useless at the moment. I hadn't even planned to take it, had passed up on an emerald crown for the momentary satisfaction of ruining that obnoxious girl's day. Sure, I could get another forty gold for the broach, but I'd have to wait at least six months to sell it. The cut was distinctive and I didn't have a buyer laid out. If I wanted to get full value, I would have to hold back.

Out of nowhere, I feel a hand clamp down on my back, but before I can I ever slip the knife from my pocket, a friendly face pops into view.

Gale.

"Catnip," he greets me, calling out to the bartender for a beer and taking the seat to my right, "figured you'd be here. Some noble, a Lady Glimmer, is missing a sapphire broach," he laughs, "know anything 'bout that?"

Gale and I had grown up together. Had worked together, even. When I was just a young thief trying to keep my family alive, he had been there for me.

I take a swig of my drink, "Wouldn't tell you if I did."

"Well," he says, "I knew you were in town and so I figured, if you're stealing sapphire broaches like that you must be looking for work, and so I figured I'd give you a job."

I roll my eyes at him, "I'm not looking for a job, Gale."

"Trust me," he says, "you'll want this job," he rolls the beer the bartender hands him to the man on my other side, "Albernathy, you want to fill her in?"

My eyebrows shoot up at that, and as the man turns towards me, I see he's not the cranky old drunk I thought he was. The suit concealed under his suit is a fine silk, and besides, he's easily recognizable to anybody who grew up in Seam.

Lord Albernathy? What was he doing out here, fifty miles from our home in some seedy bar. Sure, Haymitch loved a drink. He was known for his alcoholism, bought up half the wine from our local black market, but why was he here, making dealings with Gale of all people?

"Gale," I groan, "what'd you get me into?" I pull some coins from my satchel and place them on the bar, "Whatever you're into, I think I'm going to pass."

But as I go to stand up, Gale grabs my sleeve, "You'll want this job, Katniss. Trust me, I don't imagine you're enjoying this dry spell, so let me give you an offer," he shuffles through his pockets and places a little velvet satchel in my palms, "just for hearing me out, alright?"

The satchel is heavy, and as I pull it open I realize why. There are at least ten gold coins in there, more than Gale would give to me on a whim. "Fine," I say, sitting back down, "what's the job?"

Haymitch leans across the stall, his voice lowered, even though half of the people here are too drunk to comprehend whatever he's about to say, "I want you to gain access to Prince Peeta's chambers."

I snort, "I'm not taking a hit out on the dear Prince, if that's what you're asking. Too risky, even if he is part Mellark, the other half of him..."

Haymitch shakes his head, "No, sweetheart, nothin like that. I'm just looking for you to take the Lion's Ruby. We both know the King is barely hanging on, Peeta will inherit the throne soon enough and the Palace is desperately searching for a queen. Ball after ball is being held looking for a match, it wouldn't be at all hard for you to slip past security if we spiffed you up a bit, a nice dress and maybe you'd look like a real woman."

I laugh, the Lion's Ruby was one of the most renowned jewels in all of Panem. But a job like that, it was impossible. The Lion's Ruby was stored in the Crown Prince's vault. I was good, but even I couldn't do that job.

I wrinkle my nose, "You're proposing we steal the Lion's Ruby from the Palace? That I, of all people, trick the Prince into letting me close enough to it? It's unpractical, and besides, can't Johanna take the job. You ought to know this is more her style." Johanna is a "friend" of Gale's, she'd tricked more than one man into giving her his purse. I didn't like her much, and I doubt I was one of her favorite people, but there was no denying she was better suited for this job.

Haymitch laughs, "I've met that little friend of yours, and trust me, the Prince wouldn't fall for it. You're more the boy's type, besides, you're the only one that can convincingly pass as my daughter."

"Your daughter," I raise an eyebrow at that.

He nods, "You need somebody to fake a noble pedigree. How about this, five hundred gold upfront, just for attempting the job."

I extend my hand cautiously, I needed the money and if Lord Albernathy was fool enough to offer five hundred gold… "Fine," I say, "I'll take the job."

Author's Note: The following chapters will be longer, of course. This is merely an introduction to the subject. Let me know what you think!

Shout-out to the awesome tumblr peeps that helped me out with this one. I'm looking for a beta if anybody is up for the job:)

You can follow me on tumblr at starveinsafety. I also have a tumblr blog devoted to giffing Everlark fanfiction, which you can find at everlarkfanfictionclub.