Twelve is rebuilding. The banging, clanging, booming noises of construction can be heard everywhere. There are plans for a new justice building, a new hospital, and even a new Hob. For the most part, everything is being built on top of the ruins of their corresponding buildings. The hospital will be placed where the physician's office was. The justice building will go right on top of the old one, but this time the stage will be for elections, not picking which kids will be slaughtered. It will even have a memorial for all of the war victims from Twelve. The Hob, which is now a legal market, begins to take form. I'm not sure how I feel about all of this. In a lot of ways, it still looks like the district I grew up in, but in a lot of ways it doesn't. The ruins aren't gone yet, and the ghosts are still present.
Peeta and I both decide to join the cleanup crews. We help rebuild what was destroyed in the bombing. I know this is hard for Peeta because he still has his doubts on who was responsible for all of this. He handles it well, though. When he feels a flashback coming on, he puts down any tools he was holding and grips something – a piece of wood, a block of concrete, anything that helps him keep hold of reality. It is not much fun for me either. I can't help but think that I caused all this, with my stupid berry stunt. When this happens, I try to remember what Dr. Aurelius said to me: the people wanted a rebellion, the people who died wanted to be free of the Capitol, the world is safer and no one else will starve…
Peeta decides to open up the bakery again. It too stands atop its predecessor. In a matter of months, a brand new bakery stands where there was once nothing but rubble. For the most part, the design is the same. There is a counter and shelves for the pastries and breads. A window looks out towards the rest of the town with another shelf for the cake display. In the yard, the big apple tree stands tall and undamaged, except for faint scorch marks on the trunk. The pig pen is also left the same, but this time with new pigs. Now, Peeta works there every day. He finds other people to help him now that his family is gone and he even frosts cakes again. Although he admits his family's ghosts are still apparent there, he likes it. He smiles more often now. He has something to distract him from the empty hours of grief and sorrow.
I decide that I want a new beginning too. I cannot just spend my days inside or hunting in the woods. I tell Sae of my problem and she suggests that I could work with her at her soup counter in the new Hob. I genuinely smile when I accept. This way I can spend time every day hunting to bring meat for her and cook for Twelve's remaining residents. It's also one of the only ways I can think of to repay Sae for all she did for me when I couldn't take care of myself. I owe her and I am going to repay that debt.