Story picks up after Snow's execution, after Katniss killed Coin, after she was locked up, tried and got off, and just after Katniss was sent back to District 12.
I woke up that first morning in a fit of confusion.
Bolting upright, I scanned my surroundings. Clean bedroom, soft sheets, a familiar aura.
Then my eyes settled on the open closet door, through which showed an array of day dresses.
One, a light pink with roses embroidered around the hem, had been Prim's.
That's when I remembered.
I was in the large, spacious house in the Victor's Village, home, or at least where I'd lived since my other house had been destroyed in the bombing.
I blearily wiped my eyes and stretched, in no hurry to rise from my sleep.
I knew what would be waiting for me. No mother, surely. She'd be too happy with the slew of patients in the Capitol to return to a place as dismal and full of bad memories and death as this.
No Prim, I remembered, that same sharp pain that I'd felt when she'd first gone digging inside me, threatening to come out.
I squelched it, determined not to cry again today. If I couldn't cope with death, I'd end up like Annie Cresta.
I wondered vaguely how she was before rising and continuing my mental list.
No Snow. That, at least, I could be grateful for. He was good and dead, I thought, opening the door out to the hallway.
No Coin, either, I thought, descending the tall staircase and padding in bare feet out to the kitchen.
I'd made sure of that.
I opened the cabinets, looking for some kind of food.
I must have made some noise, because the next thing I knew, someone I never expected to see again tapped my shoulder.
I turned to see the broad, toothless smile of Greasy Sae.
"Hullo. Glad to see you up. Want some stew? I 'ave some fresh." She said, and suddenly a flash of half-awake memories returned to me.
"Please." I said. "Sae, were you here this whole time?"
She nodded. "Of course, you don't remember? Feedin you and cleaning. Not that you made much of a mess, always asleep like you were."
"How long did I sleep?" I asked, surprised.
"Oh, three, four days." She said it casually, as if people always slept this long.
I left her then to her work, intent as she was over the stewpot.
She brought me my bowl wordlessly and then left me to my thoughts.
Suddenly I realized who I hadn't thought to ask about.
"Sae!" I called after her, jumping up from the table and sprinting down the hall behind her.
"Aye?"
"Where are Peeta and Gale?" I asked.
Once upon a time, I would have had to use their first and last names and a brief description of what they look like to jog Sae's memory. Now, she knew who I meant immediately. I guess that's what happens when your life is televised.
"Both in the Victor's Village. Mister Hawthorne-"
"Gale." I interjected.
"Alright then. Gale lives in one of the fancy houses down the south end, working as an officer and reporting back to the Capitol about work in the mines."
I nodded. "And Peeta's here too?"
"Of course." She said. "He wouldn't abandon you. He's in the same Victor's House he had before, running a new bakery out of it I last heard."
Again I nodded.
"Thanks."
I waited until she'd gone, and then pulled my boots and jacket off of the coatrack by the door, put them on and pushed out into the cold air.
A strong breeze whipped about my face as I strode to the street, and I heard the trees behind the great District fence creak and groan, their leaves rustling.
When I reached the part of the road where I would need to decide who to visit first, I sighed.
The choice had already been made.
I had to go break Peeta's heart.
"He would never abandon you!" Greasy Sae's words echoed in my head all the way to his house, all the way up the path and reverberated loudly as I knocked on the front door.
"Hello?" Someone called from within, their voice muffled.
"Peeta?"
"Katniss?" The door flew open and I was pulled into his smiling embrace.
That's when I broke a little, seeing his smile, his delight at the mere fact that I was here.
I began to cry into his shoulder.
As he began to realize this, he panicked, an obvious response from someone who had just been through a war. Tears were never good, but especially so during a war.
"What's wrong, Katniss? Who's hurt?"
"N-nobody." I choked, trying desperately to swallow my tears.
I didn't want him to think I had any doubts about my choice.
And I didn't.
I only felt bad about having to say it.
At least, that's what I told myself as I straightened and pulled away from him.
"Well, what's wrong?" He asked, gently brushing away my tears.
I batted his hands away, but allowed him to close the door behind me and walk me down the hall.
I sat down in the first chair I saw - a stiff wooden one with a seat and armrests worn soft from use.
"I'm sorry, Peeta." I said quietly.
There was a pause then, but not one of confusion. The confusion melted from Peeta's face as soon as the words had escaped my trembling lips.
He closed his eyes, tilting his head backwards.
I hung my head, knees touching, but feet splayed in opposite directions, and stared at my hands in my lap.
The silence seemed to stretch forever.
Finally, he sat down in a chair opposite me.
A little while after that he said, eyes on the floor, "I expected this."
"Why?" I asked, taken by surprise. I had loved Peeta just as much as Gale. Why would he expect me to reject him?
"I don't know." He sighed. "You've been friends and lovers longer than I've even been around. You had to make a decision eventually. How could I compete?"
I reached out my hand, intending to place it on his, but he pulled his own hands out of my reach.
"That's not it, Peeta." I said quietly.
He met my gaze, holding it a moment before I realized he was waiting for me to say more.
"I...He...Gale just..." I stuttered.
"It's okay, Katniss. I get it." He said.
There was another of those gaping silences, causing a separation between us I hadn't felt since he'd gone mad from being tortured.
After a few moments of deafening silence, I stood.
Wordlessly, I started to leave.
Wordlessly, he let me.
I looked back before shutting the door.
"Peeta."
"Mmhmm?"
"Are we...is it really okay?"
He thought for a moment before looking up.
"No. No, it's not okay." He answered. "I'll accept it. I understand. I expected it. But it's not okay. It still hurts."
I felt tears prick at my eyes.
He angrily wiped away his own.
He rose.
I nodded.
He nodded.
I walked down the hall, feeling his eyes on my back.
I shut the door, on his house, on our relationship, and, as it seemed, on our friendship.
I shut the door, and with that, the tale of the star-crossed lovers came to an end.