Barley Mayes

"*Barley is something different. She has a chance: more than any other girl her size could say.*"
―Sylva Mayleaf about Barley Mayes
**Barley Mayes** was the female tribute for District 9 in the 61st Hunger Games. She was the main protagonist of *The 61st Annual Hunger Games*. She was fifteen years old during her Games and formed an alliance with Dagan Starche, Rhonda, and Milo.

## Biography

### Early life

Barley was born a few months after the 46th Hunger Games in Barley Village of District 9, which she was named after. In her second year of school, she met her best friend Jeremy from Rye Village. They became best friends, and once they became of an eligible age to be reaped into the Hunger Games, Barley took out one tessera every year for Jeremy. She occasionally went out with her aunt Maggie Whitaker to clear down small trees with machetes to make room for more wheat fields.

One day in 60 ATT when she was teaching her then eleven-year-old brother, Catellus, how to efficiently harvest crops, a poor boy from Rye Village attacked Catellus out of jealousy of his comparative wealth. When the boy tried to stomp on her brother's back, Barley threatened him with a machete, and he didn't come back again. She was schoolmates with Lillian Bond, the female tribute from District 9 in the 60th Hunger Games. After Lillian's death, Barley's father was interviewed due to being her schoolteacher before she was reaped.

### 61 ATT

#### Before the Games

##### The Reaping

In 61 ATT, Barley's mother sewed her a beautiful flaxen dress for the Reaping. That morning, her father reminded her to stop jittering her leg because he thought she had nothing to worry about. She asked Catellus how he was feeling about his chances a few hours before she needed to be in the square. While she waited for the time, she sat in her room staring at the ceiling, mentally asking herself questions on how she would handle it if she was reaped.

She didn't recognize the male tribute from her district, Dagan Starche, but noted that his parents most likely wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. When Barley was reaped for the Hunger Games, she was in disbelief and cried on her way up to the stage. The escort for District 9, Priscilla Happith, had to ask her a few times to make it up on the stage. Her great-uncle, Mayor Whitaker, had his mouth gape wide open when Barley's name was called. She noted that Dagan didn't seem "even the smallest bit upset that he's been reaped".

Her family, including her great-uncle Mayor Whitaker and Aunt Maggie, the ironsmith who lived across the street from her, and Jeremy, all visited her in the hour before she was taken to the Capitol. When her immediate family came in to visit, they all started crying and hugging her. She unsuccessfully tried to not get emotional during her goodbyes, which made her family a little bit upset. Her mother gave her a turquoise necklace that was given to her by her mother after the 1st Quarter Quell. The reason her mother gave her the necklace was so that it would give her hope that she would win, but Barley just decided to take it into the arena because she couldn't think of anything else to take. Catellus gave her encouraging words and her father whispered in her ear, "Whatever you do, show the Capitol you do not belong to them."

When Jeremy visited, he burst out in tears and apologized for not spending more time with her "while she was alive." Barley scolded him for not giving her hope and they joked about how even though Barley was uncharismatic, she was more charismatic than Jeremy. They joked until the end of the farewells hour.

##### The Train

When she boarded the train bound for the Capitol, she didn't bother looking for her mentor and went into the dining room to eat the delicious food. She kept stress-eating for almost an hour until Sylva Mayleaf walked into the train car and introduced herself as her mentor. Then, Priscilla Happith and Dagan and his mentor, Fallow O'Leary, came in. Fallow slurred about their dismal chances that year, to which she replied, "We *never* have the best chances. You're always like this!" Fallow reminded her that she wasn't perfect, as the previous year, she beat up Lillian Bond when suffering from morphling withdrawal. Dagan and Barley protested against their arguing and requested that they give them advice. Sylva advised that they watched the recaps of the Reaping across the different districts.

They watched the recaps and Barley noted Districts 1, 2, 4, 8, and 11 as being memorable. After sleeping in her room aboard the train, Barley wakes up to see an Avox servant standing over her. Since she was in her underwear, she scrambled to cover herself up and get clothes on. She didn't realize the servant was an Avox, so it confused her why she wasn't talking. The servant pointed to the clock on the dresser, insinuating that she was going to be late if she didn't get up then. Barley didn't recognize many foods from the Capitol, including Caesar salad and biscuits.

##### The Tribute Parade

When Barley made it to the Remake Center in order to meet her stylist and prep team, she took her bearings of the other tributes who were waiting in the lobby. Her stylist Martin Cella introduced himself, but Barley noted that he seemed way too excited to be preparing her for a child death pageant. Her prep team, Phyllis and Adonis, stripped off all of her body hair. Martin called them into the back office for a few minutes, and when they came back, they were holding an overhauled remake of the dress she wore to the reaping that they wanted her to wear to the tribute parade. Barley despised it because she felt that they turned something she loved into something she hated, but she pretended to love it.

Priscilla and a clean-shaven Dagan greeted her outside and Priscilla took them back to the train until the parade. The stylists and tributes gathered on the Avenue of the Tributes that evening and prepared to mount the chariots. Barley wore the dress prepared by Martin. Once the chariots started moving, she looked around to glance at her competitors. She kindly smiled at the girl from District 10, Sarahva Boor, who was looking depressed. Sarahva smirked back.

After President Coriolanus Snow gave his speech to the tributes, Martin told Barley that they would get a chance to work on her people skills before her interview with Caesar Flickerman, which made her wonder what she did wrong. He told her that Sylva was looking for her and gave her the instructions to get to her room in the Training Center. Once she made it up, Sylva was eating and stopped to give Barley advice. She said that she thought the best method for her was to act sweet and cute, but not naive.

##### Training

The elderly Avox woke her up again the next morning. She decided to ask Dagan what the deal with her not talking was, and he told her what he knew about Avoxes, which was very little, but still helpful. She changed into her training outfit and met Sylva outside of the gymnasium doors. Sylva was slightly oblivious to Barley's questions and gave depressing at insulting answers to her questions. She did, however, give the valuable advice to not spend too much time at the weapons training stations.

After the head trainer went over the rules, Barley and Dagan went to the knot-tying station, where Rhonda and the tributes from Six were practicing. Rhonda kindly introduced herself, which caught Barley off guard. Rhonda vented about how little Haymitch Abernathy was doing to help her and discussed the odds of certain tributes with Barley. Then, Caspian Hadala and Clarisse (the tributes from Four) started glaring at her menacingly.

Rhonda suggested that her, Milo, Dagan, and Barley became an alliance, to which both tributes from District 9 agreed to. Then, Barley went to the camouflage center, but it wasn't interesting her at the time, so she went to practice her machete skills on a dummy. She pretended that the dummy was Caspian in order to be more aggressive. The six Career tributes came up behind her and Caspian teased her about her short height. Barley inverted the insult to insult his trash-talking. Twinkle suggested that the Pack should have just left Barley alone since they would root her out easily in the arena anyways. Caspian threatened to kill her then walked away.

That evening, she tried some turtle soup, but immediately spit it out because she didn't like it. Priscilla shouted, "Manners!" at her, causing her and Dagan to eventually burst out in laughter. Before going to bed, she talked with Sylva, who was intoxicated. She recounted how she won her Hunger Games. That evening, she had a dream where President Snow turned into a golden snake and ate her. Then, it shifted to her harvesting in the grain fields. In the dream, she spotted a demonic-looking Caspian holding her decapitated head and tossing a match into the field, causing it to burn up.

The next day, Caspian came over to Barley at the machete station to threaten her. She continued to pretend the dummy was Caspian and called it a "pompous waste of oxygen." He came up behind her and said, "Like calling an opponent a pompous waste of oxygen is going to throw them off in the arena." She urged him to leave her alone and go talk to the other Careers. He pulled closer to her and threatened to slice her head off. Then, he shoved her against the steel wall and walked away confidently.

On the morning of the day of the private sessions, Barley and Dagan discussed whether they should run for the Cornucopia or not during the bloodbath. He said that he was going to go but recommended that she hide in the woods and said that he would get enough supplies. She said that he was forgetting to consider Rhonda and Milo, but he told her that they could do what they wanted because they weren't as liked as her and would have a smaller chance of winning. She spent much of the day thinking of what she could do in her private session until she thought of disguising herself with paint, sneaking into the Training Center gymnasium undetected, lighting a fire, and watching as the gamemakers looked around confused to find the culprit.

She spent the rest of her training time practicing her fire-starting and camouflage skills. She and her allies had trouble with fire-starting, but the trainer helped them. Later, Dagan caught her sneaking pallets of paint into her pocket to take back to her room. He didn't turn her in for breaking the rules. Back in her apartment, she got grey clothes, evened the colour out with paint to match the Training Center walls, and applied it to her skin and hair. She ran through the halls just as the sessions started and turned the lights off to not be spotted. She snuck into the sessions while Maximus was demonstrating his skills and secretly watched the rest of the tributes demonstrate theirs. While Volta was talking to the gamemakers, she noticed Barley sneaking on the wall under the balcony and placing down a pile of wood but didn't mention it. She lit the pile shortly before her name was called and waited there for the gamemakers to notice it. They didn't see her walk through the door, so they called Sylva to ask her where Barley was, but Sylva said she didn't know where she was.

Then, the Head Gamemaker Lucius Bindlings noticed her fire and the gamemakers looked around for a minute looking for her. They finally spotted her and Bindlings dismissed her, giving her a smirk. Martin was outraged at Barley's actions, so she went into the shower to wash the gray paint from her hair. When she came back, the training scores were announced. Dagan received a score of 7 and Barley received a score of 10. Martin came over to apologize to her, Sylva congratulated her, and Fallow hugged her celebratorily.

##### Interviews

For her interview with Caesar Flickerman, Martin Cella advised her over breakfast to review her interpersonal skills. He advised her to aim for a cutesy look. She was worried that this would make her a target in the Games. He told her that, as one of the younger competitors, she has already taken on that role, so she might as well play it right, reminding her that it "has to look good on [him], too." She was angered by this comment and vented about the state of her life compared to his. She then apologized, and Martin briefly questioned the morality of the Games before changing the subject and reverting back to his old self.

She had a brief conversation with Dagan about their outfits for the interviews, but it stopped when he blanked out and entered a dissociative haze. For her interview, she wore a stunning white dress that was almost short enough to be considered a skirt, with a ribbon bow on the upper left corner. She mixed the cutesy look with a fierce look with Caesar. Barley started the interview off nervous, but she got the hang out it eventually. She told Caesar and the audience about her uncle, her family, and her district token. She told them that she enjoyed growing plants and drawing, then exaggerated her abilities with a machete. Right before the buzzer went off, Barley emotionally told her family that no matter what would happen in the arena, she would still love them and her "closeness with [them] will never fade" and her "adoration for [them] will burn like an inferno." The crowd loved this declaration.

She then watched Dagan's interview, which was going wonderfully until Caesar asked him about anything he was looking forward to at home that he'd no longer get to experience. He went back into the same dissociative stupor that he was in before with Barley and wouldn't go out of it until the interview was over. He spent the rest of the night in his room.

Sylva told Barley that she moved up two places in the betting placings. Barley didn't engage in too much luxurious eating that night, as it was the night before the commencement of the Hunger Games. Phyllis and Adonis advised her to get a good night's sleep, so she went to bed at 9:30, but before she could fall asleep, she heard the piercing screams of an Avox who had been attacked by Sylva when she suffered from a mania induced from morphling withdrawal. She injured the Avox by cutting her knees with smashed alcohol bottles. The Avox tried to call out to Barley for help, but only animal sounds came out, so the victim ran out to the elevator. Barley tried to get some sleep, but Fallow got up, disturbed by Sylva's shrieks of regret, and attacked her. She then charged at him, but Barley didn't get to see the results of this, as she plugged in some headphones and listened to calming music to help her fall asleep. Despite this, she couldn't fall asleep for long.

Sylva and Fallow were in the hospital in the morning, so Priscilla escorted the tributes to their hovercrafts. Barley was upset by a comment Priscilla made about the Games, but she just responded by thanking her, as to not make the last memory she would have of her a negative one. She was temporarily stunned in place when she stepped on the ladder leading to the hovercraft. The ladder lifted up into the hovercraft and a Gamemaker in a lab coat inserted her tracker before she could move again. She discussed her odds of winning with Martin and he gave her the clothes she would wear in the arena. He hastily wished her good luck when she walked into her tribute tube, and she realized that the time had truly come for her to enter the arena.

#### The 61st Hunger Games

##### Day One

Her podium was situated between Moti's and Caspian's in the sand. For the first 3/4 of the minute before the Cornucopia Bloodbath, she looked around at the Boardwalk Arena. She noticed that Dagan was on the opposite side as her, and she wished that their positions could have been switched so he could have a quicker route to the forest, and he could access the mouth of the Cornucopia. Put under the pressure, Barley debated attending the Bloodbath, but Dagan's stares convinced her not to. She decided instead to run for the closest materials she could find to the path to the forest and make a beeline for the woods.

She noted that the final five seconds before the commencement of the Games felt twice as long as the others. When the gong sounded, she evaded Caspian as he attacked Moti. Dagan grabbed a shield from the Cornucopia and Barley picked up a loaf of bread and a bottle of water, as well as a coil of rope and a fishing rod. Angus threw a rock at her, but she narrowly evaded it. She runs towards an area of the birch forest that other tributes weren't running to and crouched into the bushes.

From there, she distantly witnessed Maximus chasing Rhonda, who was terrified. He chased her in Barley's direction until he caught up to her when she tried running back to the Cornucopia. Barley watched in horror as Maximus slashed Rhonda's neck with a knife, the very first death of the Games. Right after the Bloodbath, Barley left the forest because too many people were coming towards it. This caused Dagan to have trouble looking for her. Before The Fallen were broadcasted, she worried that he had died. She slept by covering herself with sand.

##### Day Two

Barley woke up with water in her mouth from the rising tide. Around noon, she heard a cannon and worried that it was for Dagan's death. She tried to tell herself that she was being paranoid, but she argued with herself that she was paranoid about being reaped, and she was right about that, too. Depressed, she took a stroll along the beach bordering the boardwalk. She started to cry and worried about how hard it would be, as she thought Dagan had died. She realized that if she was destined to die, she wanted it to be a quick death and not a slow death of something like hunger, so she tried catching fish or crabs. The only things she was able to grab were some minnows, which she used as bait for her fishing rod.

She was upset because she didn't have any luck catching fish. Then, she heard rustling in the bushes, so she hid under the boardwalk. When she recognized it was Dagan, she revealed herself and they were relieved to see each other. He explained that he saw a dead girl ensnared in a trap and thought it was her. They went over the supplies they altogether gathered at the Cornucopia on the first day (a backpack with bread, a narrow blanket, and a flashlight, a shield, a machete, a throwing knife, another loaf of bread, a bottle of water, a coil of rope, and a fishing rod). Dagan criticized Barley for getting supplies even though she agreed she wouldn't. She defended her actions, then they mourned Rhonda and Milo.

She offered him the opportunity to sleep under the blanket that night. However, after hearing her story about having to bury herself with sand the night before, he let her use the blanket. She advised him to sleep further up on the beach, so in the morning, the tide wouldn't disturb him.

##### Day Three

In the morning, Barley and Dagan talked about the psychological effects the Games have had on them. Barley expressed that she didn't know how she would cope if she needed to kill someone, which Dagan agreed with. He shared the horrors he experienced during the Bloodbath and the nightmares about the tributes' deaths that ensued. They assured each other that they would continue to ally through the rest of the Games, even though many other horrors were in store. She told him, "Until death do us part," and they laughed.

Barley could hear Dagan's stomach rumbling from where she was sitting, so she offered him her half of the loaf of bread that they split. She insisted that he eat it, as she was less hungry than him because she ate some berries the previous night while he hadn't eaten anything since before the Games. He told her that she was "too good for this cruel world." This reminded her of Blight Atwood, who was also considered a kind person until he snapped and killed the other tributes at the feast. She had herself convinced that if she were to survive, she would have to take drastic and violent measures like Blight.

That night, it was Dagan's turn with the blanket.

##### Day Four

Both tributes from District 9 spent four hours of the morning fishing. They had caught three seabass and a long and slender fish they weren't able to identify. This stopped when they heard the cannon signaling Emmer's death. When Sarahva came running out of the forest being chased by Twinkle and Jade, they hid by grabbing their supplies and clinging to the support beams underneath the boardwalk. Barley wasn't able to hold onto her supplies, so she jumped down into the water. Dagan soon clumsily fell down, too. They hid on the muddy rocks on the sand under the boardwalk.

They heard Maximus, Caspian, and Clarisse blocking Sarahva's methods of escape. Barley and Dagan started to scale the boardwalk's underbelly to get away from them, but when Barley started to pity Sarahva and thought of the first time she saw her at the Remake center, Barley convinced Dagan to go back and fight. They climbed up a sand dune to get back on top and they charged towards the Careers. Twinkle threw her spear at Sarahva and it skimmed her shoulder. Dagan lunged towards Twinkle and pushed her down with his shield. Jade pulled attention towards Barley and started running towards her.

He attacked her in her left forearm with his axe, leaving a deep and potentially lethal wound. In more pain than she had ever been in before, she jumped up at him and cut his neck with her machete. She painfully went over to join the others. Caspian used his katana to chop Sarahva's ear off and Barley stabbed Caspian in his back. He was mostly unfazed, though irritated, by the attack, and blocked another attack. Dagan jumped in front of Barley with his shield to protect her from Caspian's katana nearly killing her. He also saved Sarahva from being sliced in the legs by Clarisse. Maximus was also engaged in the attack, but much less so than the others, excluding Jade.

Jade was writing on the floor, and Sarahva shot him twice, causing his body to go limp. The seagull muttations went down to eat his body and his cannon shot. After the cannon shot, Clarisse keeled over on the floor and held her ears, suffering from an injury inflicted by Freida during the Bloodbath. Intimidated by Sarahva's bow and arrow, Maximus cowered.

She, Barley, and Dagan weakly ran towards the forest. Twinkle and Maximus almost caught up to them, but Maximus was scared off by another of Sarahva's arrows and Twinkle was pushed back again by Dagan's shield. Once the trio was far enough into the forest, they laid on the ground to catch their breath. They talked about how odd and painful that experience was. Sarahva told Barley her name and thanked her and Dagan for their bravery in protecting her, telling them that she wouldn't forget about it. They discussed the argument of whether hope was useful or not, then Sarahva retreated into the forest, explaining that she didn't want to make any allies that late into the Games.

Barley and Dagan found a building near where they met on the second night that was designed as a seashell souvenir and accessory store. They set up base there and laid down to start trying to heal. Barley worried about her arm injury, as she knew that if left untreated, it would kill her very quickly. She believed that the chances of Sylva finding enough sponsors to get her adequate treatment were minuscule. When Emmer and Jade's portraits were displayed as The Fallen, she broke down in a fit of tears, knowing it was more than likely that her picture would be shown in the next couple of nights. It was her turn with the blanket again that night.

##### Day Five

Feeling guilty for her behaviour the night before the Hunger Games, Sylva Mayleaf awoke from her Capital Hospital bed and decided to find sponsors to treat Barley's injury. When she looked on Tribute Status on her Mentor Tablet, it listed Barley as "*District 9 - Barley - 0 kills".* Sylva realized that Barley was different than the other tributes she had mentored because she had a chance.

That day, Barley sat in the seashell shop without the lights on, barely able to move her arm. She cried and writhed on the floor due to the effects of Jade's attack. Gray flabs of dead skin peeled from her arm and she was still bleeding, though she eventually decided to use a rope as a tourniquet.

The only medicine available to treat her costed 5000 solidi in sponsor donations. Sylva went to Magnolia Square's sponsorship center to find sponsors. The first citizen she approached to potentially sponsor Barley wasn't interested, because "nine is too easily slain. She looks like a runt; she's probably going to die anyways." Sylva tried to ask him again, but he begged her to leave him alone. Depressed about the fate of her tribute, she started ordering drinks for an hour until Pompeius and Cornelia Anderson approached her. She told them her story and they felt pity for Barley. They donated 3500 solidi and pledged that they would urge their friends to do the same.

She didn't have a blanket that night, so she slept under the desk with a cash register.

##### Day Six

In order to cope with the extreme pain, Barley used a tied rope as a tourniquet. She spent much of the day dwelling on how horrifying it was to her that the entire nation was watching her in that amount of pain. She reflected on two different Hunger Games: 33rd Hunger Games (won by Stanley Gleamway) and the 58th Hunger Games (won by Cecelia Losa). She thought about Stanley's Games because she knew that the Capitol liked a charismatic victor, which Stanley was before he disappeared. Dagan related Cecelia's case to Barley, as both were in unlikely positions to win the Games.

She and Dagan both kept to their respective sides of the seashell store. Wanting to break the silence between them, she asked, "Do you think we'll get any sponsors?" He doubted the idea and yelled up at the ceiling sarcastically at Fallow. She said that it was possible that Fallow genuinely didn't know how much trouble they were in, as he was likely dishabilitated by his addictions. When Dagan asked if Fallow might send any gifts, Barley said that she would likely want to, but probably wouldn't get an opportunity to get enough sponsors (as she was unaware of the Andersons' donation).

Changing the subject from her fate, he recalled to Caesar's interview with her and asked her about her machete abilities. She recounted a story that took place about a year prior, on the holiday commemorating President Snow's birthday, which was called Presidential Day. She was teaching Catellus how to efficiently harvest crops when a poor boy from Rye Village attacked him out of jealousy of his comparative wealth. When the boy tried to stomp on her brother's back, Barley threatened him with a machete, and he didn't come back again. Dagan was happy that she had at least some weapons experience but asked her if she ever felt bad for people like that boy. She felt confronted by this and said that she wasn't thinking about that part of it, she was just protecting Catellus. She tried to deflect, and the conversation changed to how they wanted to win in order to stop the poverty in District 9.

When they heard a cannon from far away, they started speculated whose it could be, and joked about it hopefully being Caspian, Clarisse, Maximus, or Twinkle (it was actually Volta of District 3, killed by deer muttations). Regardless of who it was, Barley said, "Well, my loyal ally. That sound right then? That was the sound of us getting closer to victory," however, she actually found her odds of surviving dismal. Even though both of them weren't likely to make it to the final two, she said that if it did come down to the two of them, she wanted him to win as the leader of the alliance. He said they would cross that bridge when they got to it, but assured her that they would be allied "'til the bitter end."

She asked him about his district token, a photograph of his family. He didn't talk much about it but came over to show her it. His mother, father, one brother, and two sisters were near him in the picture. Barley told him that it was okay to think about his family, as she also thought about hers every single night.

Then, a silver parachute landed off the roof. She pulled it down with the fishing rod and opened it. In an exterior pouch there was a large spool of bandages. Inside the package there was a canister of ointment and instructions for application. She sat in awe and disbelief that Sylva managed to find enough sponsors to buy that gift. Dagan went out to hunt while Barley applied her ointment and bandages then went to sleep.

##### Day Seven

Dagan returned from hunting in the morning, so he and Barley decided to go fishing after realizing that Barley's wounds have healed. The Careers intentionally left a boat near District 9's territory to lead them away from their base so Clarisse could launch a surprise attack. Dagan and Barley took the boat out all the way to the arena's force field, which she warned him to stay away from. During Barley's turn with the rod, Dagan began acting strange.

He told her that nothing was wrong but asked her if she thought there were cameras nearby. She said she didn't know, and he dipped his head in the water to look. He told her that the Gamemakers wanted him to admit something specific to the audience, but he wanted "to show the Capitol that [he was] more than just an object of theirs." It reminded her of her father's last words of advice for her before she was taken away. She asked him to confess what was going on, and he explained that he wasn't actually eighteen anymore and he turned nineteen the day after the Reaping. Barley initially didn't believe him.

Once Barley wrapped her head around the concept, Dagan explained why he was so withdrawn during the Reaping and the interviews. The two discussed the possibility that the Games' Reaping were rigged every year. They brought up Trevor and Tuila (the siblings from District 8) and Emmer as other examples of unbelievably unlucky tributes. Barley realized that if the Gamemakers really could hear what they were discussing, there was no way either of them could win. She asked Dagan what to do, and he sarcastically replied, "Hope there are no cameras in the boat," She lowered her voice and told him that if there was still a chance they could win, she would do whatever it took to make him win in order to pay him back for all the times he'd protected her.

He told her that he couldn't live with himself if he killed her or caused her death in some way, then started bawling. Barley became uncomfortable while seeing Dagan cry but comforted him because he deserved that relief. While looking at the sky, Barley noted that one of the only upsides of being a tribute was the beautiful scenery, even if it probably wasn't real. They started oaring in after catching four fish because the seagull mutts started attacking them.

When Dagan walked through the doorframe, Clarisse jumped out and stabbed him with her longsword. Barley screamed and then retrieved Dagan's shield, which he threw to her. She painfully slipped the handle of the shield into the remnants of her injury, which hurt, but lodged the heavy shield "exactly where it needs to be."

After fighting for a while, with Clarisse barely missing Barley several times, Barley noticed black earplugs in her ears. She recalled her reaction during the battle on the fourth day, so climbed on her back and took out one of the earplugs. She threw the earplug into the sand, which made Clarisse both furious and terrified. She growled and lunged at Barley, but it was too late, and Dagan's cannon went off. She laid on the floor cursing and writhing hysterically until Barley sliced her throat twice to silence her out of mercy.

Her cannon went off, and a hovercraft came down to let out two smaller drones to pick up the dead tributes. Barley stared in horror as the drones came closer. She tried to carry Clarisse's body into the building, but the drone was smaller and hooked onto her body. She then went into the seashell shop and exhaustedly pushed Dagan's body into his old corner, spreading her arms and legs wide to cover him. She yelled at the drone to run away because she wouldn't let them take his body. The drone used an electric rod to temporarily paralyze her again until the body was extracted.

She noticed that both Dagan and Clarisse were really just victims, even if Clarisse was cruel and daunting. She didn't want to be reminded of them, so she stayed inside and smashed anything fragile in the shop with her machete during The Fallen broadcast. She picked up Dagan's family picture and two wishing stones, which were left behind. The photograph's glass frame had a y-shaped crack down Dagan, his father, and his mother.

## Relationships

* Caspian Hadala, Clarisse, Maximus, Twinkle, Jade (enemies)
* Dagan Starche (ally, friend)
* Martin Cella (stylist)
* Sarahva Boor (opponent, temporary ally)
* Sylva Mayleaf (mentor)
* Rhonda, Milo (allies)
* Mr. Mayes, Mrs. Mayes (parents)
* Catellus Mayes (brother)
* Jeremy (friend)
* Maggie Whitaker (aunt)
* Lillian Bond (classmate)

## Appearance

Barley was a short (5'2") 15-year-old girl with amber eyes and slightly-below-shoulder-length golden flaxen hair. She was relatively thin due to her short height but was better fed than most children in District 9. She looked younger than her age and was fairly cute. At the Remake Center, all of her body hair was shaved off. She preferred to tie her hair back into a ponytail.

Her mother sewed her a beautiful and modern flaxen dress matching her hair for the Reaping, and she wore black flats that she previously wore to her end-of-the-year school dance. The dress her mother sewed was later remade and redesigned by Martin, this time with a gold belt and accessories that looked like stalks of Barley in the back. This dress was more expertly crafted than the original. During her interview with Caesar Flickerman, she wore a stunning white dress that was almost short enough to be considered a skirt, with a ribbon bow on the upper left corner.

Her training outfit she wore in the gymnasium was an orange athletic with her district number, "9", printed on the front. In the arena, she wore "arena-approved undergarments, lightweight socks, a dull blue tank top, a brown polyester-cotton zip-up coat, cargo pants that can zip up into shorts, and some black hydrophobic shoes," the same as all other tributes that year.

## Personality

Barley was kindhearted and loyal. She felt contempt towards people from the Capitol and disliked putting on a show for them. She was not intimidating but was still sharp-tongued. She was very sentimental and enjoyed drawing and growing plants. She cared deeply for her family, especially her brother Catellus. She was relatively shy, but still social, when meeting other tributes. She felt deeply compassionate towards most people around her, but sometimes deflected allegations of not feeling bad often for those worse off than her. She painfully mourned The Fallen every night.

She admitted that she was uncharismatic and physically weak. She was often overwhelmed by her sentiments and anxiety. She considered herself the only person to even consider that she could be reaped. She was socially awkward when around large amounts of people and didn't think much of herself at times. Despite having experienced the Reaping three times before, she was still extremely nervous on Reaping Day. She always felt depressed after the tributes were chosen even if she didn't know them. She didn't believe it was possible for her to win the Games and worried constantly while wounded in the seashell store. She had a tic where whenever she was nervous or felt confronted, she started jittering her leg.

## Abilities

* Machetes
* Growing plants
* Drawing
* Kindness

## Possessions

Barley took a turquoise necklace given to her by her mother into the arena. She used a machete retrieved for her by Dagan. She wore the dress her mother sewed for her to the Reaping alongside black flats she last wore to her end-of-year school dance.

## Family Members

* **Mother:** Mrs. Mayes (deceased)
* **Father:** Mr. Mayes
* **Brother:** Catellus Mayes
* **Aunt:** Maggie Whitaker
* **Great uncle:** Mayor Whitaker (deceased)

## Trivia

* Barley's first name is a cereal grain. Her surname, Mayes, is a play on "Maize", another cereal grain (corn).