I slowly wake up, coming around from a dream. Not a nightmare, a dream. That's rare.
Peeta has arms around me, my head resting on his chest. I look up and his blue eyes are fluttering open, his normally smooth blonde hair ruffled up. It's unusual for Peeta to rise at the same time as me. I'm usually up and out before he's even out of bed.
"Hey." he sighs happily, letting me go, rolling over onto his back and stretches. I sit up and shake my long dark hair out. It's probably sticking out everywhere.
"No nightmares. You?" he asks.
"No. I had a dream though. It was happy and sad at the same time." I say, the images rushing clearly through my head.
"What was it about?"
"I was going through town and into the Meadow and you were there."
"Sounds terrifying." Peeta laughs, running a hand through his blonde locks.
"Let me finish. Prim and my father were with you." I snap. I hear him take in a sharp breath. "You were all talking. You were telling them about our lives now. My father and Prim hugged me and told me how much they had missed me. We all talked for what felt like ages. Then Prim led me away and we sat on this big rock. She asked me why I had no children of my own and I told her about . . the girls. I told her I wasn't sure how I could ever bring myself to do it again. I told her how hard it was, losing more."
"I thought she would try and convince me that it wasn't my fault but she didn't. She just looked up at me and smiled. Then she whispered to me, 'Let go." and I woke up." I say sadly.
I look at Peeta. His blue eyes are fixed on me, reading my emotions. I just give him a sad smile then turn away.
"And now I've woken up, I have. I'll always mourn them but I've got to let them go now. It's time to move on. You know when we left for the Quell before we could say goodbye?"
"Yeah?"
"Well when we were going away, I pretended that all those loved ones were birds in a cage. When we were on the train, in my mind, I let those birds go. Only in this situation, I've been keeping their birds locked up for too long. Now, they've flown away. They're free."
"Then we're free too, Katniss."
"I feel free,Peeta."
"You deserve your freedom. You've suffered enough for it."
"So have you. Yet I haven't given you what you long for."
"You tried. That's all that matters to me."
"But you want it, don't you?"
"Of course."
"So you'll try again?"
"Yes."
