Unexpected Gratitude
Set ten years after the rebellion, Katniss receives an unusual visitor in District Twelve.
Ten years after the rebellion Katniss Everdeen-Mellark sat in home in Victors Village. Peeta was at the bakery and her children were at school. Katniss was at the window enjoying the warm spring sunshine when a tentative knock at the door roused her from her thoughts.
She started towards the door as the person knocked again, this time louder but not at all rushed. She opened the door to find a nervous young woman, around twenty, standing outside. The young woman looked small for her age and her dark brown hair fell in a curtain around her head.
Her eyes, Katniss noticed, were those a person who had been affected personally by the rebellion, but most people in Panem had that kind of look in their eyes. But there was something else about her, her small stature, hair, and a look in her eyes that seemed familiar, if not fleeting to Katniss, like a long lost memory of someone she used to know.
After scrutinizing the woman, and deciding she was not a threat Katniss said with a smile, "Hi. Would you like to come in, maybe have some tea or coffee?".
"Thank you, tea would be nice," the woman replied somewhat shakily. Her eyes darted back and forth as though she wasn't sure if she was allowed to be there or not.
"It's okay," said Katniss as she led the woman into the house, and poured them both a cup of tea. She sat down at the wooden table and gestured to the woman to sit with her.
The woman looked unsure but after a minute sat down carefully like she was afraid to anger the older woman.
The young woman slowly raised her head, she knew she had to be brave and get her message across.
"My name is Katala," she said, her voice wavering for a second before going on, "I'm- was- Clove's little sister".
The eyes, Clove's eyes, looked up at her with fear, something that shocked Katniss, but brought her back to that awful day at the Cornucopia. She quickly looked away.
"I'm so sorry Kata-"
"No. Don't be sorry. I came here, "she paused breathing, "I came here to thank you, Katniss"
"Thank me? I got your sister- I got Clove killed- she's never coming back, "she blinked away tears as the memories of the Arena flooded her mind.
But when she looked up she saw in the familiar eyes the determination of Clove and in the voice when Katala spoke again.
"You saved me. She would thank you for that. But this is about her. I know, I saw that little girl in your first games and your sister, at the reaping," she paused as tears filled Katniss' eyes.
"Maybe you just started the rebellion for that little girl. Maybe you ended it just for your sister. But you fought for all of them Katniss. Clove and Cato and everyone else who was ever killed in those games. You fought for all of them."
"I'm sitting here today because you stood up against the Capitol, and because in my eyes, you fought for Clove. In others you fought for their families, their districts, but you fought for us all and I could never thank you enough for that."
"You know, my sister just wanted to come home, same as the rest of you. She knew that if she did she would be loved. She never a good family like you. I think that's why she hesitated. She knew I was watching."
Katniss looked at the young girl, and thought that maybe she finally understood Clove and the struggles of the Careers, just like the rest of them.
"I still don't understand why you don't hate me. I killed Cato too."
"You know," with a glint in her eye, "My sister said something to me, when I told her that I would see her soon before she left. She looked at me in a way that I knew to mean no matter what she wasn't coming back. I asked why. She said to me, You know Katala, someday I think you'll understand this, but I'm going to tell you a secret about the games, You can be a Victor, be showered in gold and riches, but you cannot win. Only the Capitol does. Because we are just children playing at war."
Katniss looked up, so Clove knew what she was doing, she thought.
"I don't think anyone up there blames you, Katniss, I certainly don't. She made a choice, secret but I understood. I think maybe I was the only one who ever really loved her." she said with tears in eyes, "But I loved her a lot."
And then Katala stood, thanked Katniss and walked back out of Victors Village. If you hadn't seen her you never had known she was there at all.
That night Katniss saw Clove in her dreams. But it was not Clove throwing a knife at the boy from 9, or tackling her to the ground with means to slit her throat, or the mutt, leaping up the Cornucopia. It was Clove dancing and laughing with her sister. It was Clove smiling and living and being young again.
Peeta never knew of her visit, he knew something had happened, but he would never ask. Katniss never saw her again, but somehow knew she had ended up okay, had grown up strong, and that Clove was somewhere in heaven (somehow she knew Clove would not have gone to hell) smiling down.