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Please don't read this if you haven't finished Mockingjay!

Gale

I didn't set that bomb. Didn't build it either, in spite of what a lot of people think. Even though I'm now in the business of helping them all rebuild a world that died long before the Capitol took over, all those people don't matter. They didn't matter then; still don't, now. Not their thoughts, or their small, mundane daily lives that I died to defend. Katniss did. No, not died. Mattered.

She thinks I set it, though, and that's enough to tell you everything. If, after all our years watching each other's backs, she can accept that I'm capable of something like that …

I might've argued; maybe even could've found my way back to her side, where it was once my right to stand guard, keeping hunger at bay. But in the end, it was easier for her to find me guilty by default. The only thing of worth I had to give back then was, in effect, to take. Take the choice between us away, granting her permission to be with the baker's son instead of always wondering about me. So I let her believe.

My new wife doesn't ask questions when I go out into the woods for hours on end and come back empty-handed. She doesn't hunt. Doesn't like being outdoors. Her forest is the stage; her bow and arrow are powerful speeches and carefully crafted public appearances, wielded in the service of rebuilding Panem minus circenses. At night, her embrace almost cancels out the memory of soft leather footsteps stalking squirrels alongside me.

It's better like this, without either of them knowing.

Prim wasn't the only citizen from District 12 we buried that day.

A/N: I'm a Peeta/Katniss shipper. That said, I liked the character of Gale throughout The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. I really couldn't comprehend the twist things took in Mockingjay. It wasn't a character evolution as much as a character mutation, more so than Peeta, even. I've taught the books and studied their nuances carefully. Where did that Gale come from? There are tiny hints here and there, but I keep thinking I missed something significant. Anyway, this was my attempt to reconcile the Gale Who Once Was with the Gale Who Became.

Next installment to come: Katniss' perspective on things.