Katniss and Peeta are sitting at the table in the living room when Lyric walks in the front door. Her sun dress is dirty from the dusty winds that decorate the landscape, and her hair is curly and tousled and keeps falling into her face, but her appearance is nothing compared to her parents.

Katniss's dark hair-the exact same as Lyric's-is tied back in a familiar braid, but her shirt is torn, and Peeta appears as if he has been dragged through the woods by a terrified horse.

Lyric rushes into the kitchen to hug them. "What happened to you?"

"Sit down Lyric. Hunter." Katniss says, and Hunter, who has been hovering by the door, moves to sit beside her, shoving her over on the long wooden bench. Lyric can't help but notice how grave her parents' faces are. She is itching with curiosity, but her brother sits patiently, and she knows he has learned that asking will not guarantee an answer. They will speak in time.

It is Peeta who speaks first, moving his hand to hold Katniss's, and staring them both in the eye. "We decided it's time to tell you about our past. In the Games."

Lyric blurts out: "But what happened to you-"

Katniss holds up a hand to silence her. Lyric's voice trails off, she should know better, but fury rises in her, until she feels ready to explode. She has spent her whole life waiting for her mother to trust her, and being silenced again is infuriating.

Katniss does not seem to notice her daughter's anger. Peeta has always been better at sensing feelings, of seeing what others do not, and he sends her a pleading look over the table that quiets her anger. Somehow, she always feels like her father understands her so much more.

When Katniss speaks, her voice is cold, buried deep within memories she has tried so hard to forget. "A long time ago, there was 12 Districts and a Capitol. They had been punished for their rebelling against the Capitol years before. The Hunger Games were created as a reminder to the people of Panem about the price of rebelling. The people in the Capitol had plenty of money and food, no worries, but the Districts were full of starving people. Some of them, like 1, 2, and 3 were better off than most, but there were so many people that suffered. I lived in 12. We were known for mining. When I was young, my father died in a mining accident and left my mother, my sister, Prim, and I alone. I learned to hunt in the woods outside my house, with a bow my father left me…."

Katniss's voice drifts on as the night get's longer and the sky turns darker. Peeta adds in comments here and there, people that Katniss didn't mention, small details she has overlooked.

They tell of the Hunger Games. They tell of Cato and Thresh and Foxface. They tell of little Rue, with her five younger brothers and sisters. The flowers. The families. The thank-you they received in 11.

Peeta speaks of the romance between them, first a plot to get them out alive, and then later, true love. He tells of the baby and the wedding and Mockingjay dresses.

Katniss's voice gets hollow when she talks of the Quarter Quell. Of the reaping. Of Peeta's volunteer. Katniss's eyes blink fast as they try to hide away the memories. She liked Finnick from the beginning, Lyric can tell. Aunt Johanna too, even with all of the teasing. Katniss is honest when she says she did not suspect a plot in the arena, but Lyric also believes Peeta when he says that he did. All the tributes dying for them, there was something hidden there, something breakable, something like a plan.

He takes over when her voice breaks. He takes over when Katniss confesses that he was captured. That he was picked up by the Capitol and tortured for information. Katniss was-is-the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebellion, the force that tore the country apart and stitched it back together, on the ashes of those buried before them.

Peeta's voice is so calm that Lyric can feel herself as if she is there. She can see the Peacekeepers in their white uniforms, can feel the heat from the bomb blasts that rock the street. Lyric cries when he tells of Finnicks's death. Her cousin Finn is surely as brave as his father was.

Hunter has been quiet during the whole story, but Lyric can see shining in his eyes when Peeta talks of the explosion that killed Prim. He weaves a tale only he could, that makes Lyric believe she can see it. If she closes her eyes, she can picture, with perfect clarity, what he is saying.

The flash of fire burns her too, but deep inside, in a place that dreams and wishes and cries. She is burning. She can see suddenly why her mother did not want to tell her, why it is such a secret. Her parent's world was a nightmare that they will never escape.

"I still get confused sometimes." Peeta says, hands tapping on the table nervously. "The tracker jacker venom-I forget what's real."

This time, it is Katniss's hand who reaches for his.

Peeta turns to smile at her. "But its all right, because we saved each other."

Katniss's returning smile is hesitant in a way that tells Lyric she does not fully believe this, that she still feels guilty for the pain he underwent. "You tried to kill me once." She teases.

"Oh!" He pretends to act offended. "And what exactly were you doing when you gave me those berries?"

Katniss grins. "I was rebelling against the Capitol."

Peeta's laugh fills the entire room. Lyric can't help but laugh with him.