Gym class in 13 is basically code for military training. Though the rebellion is over the curriculum for the young people in the district hasn't changed much, the goal is for everyone to be in physical shape to fight at all times, to bring the children up to know how to handle various weapons and how to survive a conflict. This isn't entirely a bad thing, many of the things being taught are good life skills, and being in top physical shape isn't such a bad idea either. The reason for the classes are what makes me sad, I realize we still live in a world where the worst could happen, it's a scary place to raise children.

My class is a group of boys and girls a year or so younger than me, the classes are done by ability level, and I am embarrassed to say my strength and speed are down since the so called incident with Coin. Once I am back to shape fully I should be able to be with people my own age. It's amazing to me to think that the others my age still live with their parents, they are like normal teenagers and then there's me and Peeta, our youth was taken away from us by the Capital, long before that mine had been taken from me when my father died. Of course now, after the rebellion many of young people have lost a parent or sibling, they understand more but it is a far cry from having to kill and avoid being killed for entertainment in the games. The thought turns my stomach; I hate thinking of my time in the arena and the things I had to do in order to be here now.

Instead I focus on the class, I need to get my timed run time down before I can move on, so this is what I work on first. I jog around the track trying to tune the world out around me until I see Willow, she is halfway around the track and she spots me at the same time I see her. Willow pauses on the track waiting for me to catch up and once I do she picks up again running alongside me. Time goes faster with her by my side. I find her stream of words, telling me all about the social goings on of the district fascinating. With the rebellion at an end the district is getting less tight with their rations, now crops can be grown above ground and animals can see sunlight.

Willow tells me about her new work, "Since I have done well in my classes I have moved unto the agriculture field, I will be assisting with the grunt work at first but it's OK, I get to be outside in the sunshine digging in the dirt, it's what I've always wanted. There is going to be such a greater variety of food here now. I am learning about the planting and care of all sorts of things, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, corn, and radishes….well you get the idea. Their different needs are so interesting to me, and we can engineer the plants to grow larger fruits, cross them with each other, so many things." Her eyes show me how excited she is about this, and after so many years underground eating the same food every day I don't need to ask her why.

"Do you think you'll stay in 13 after you're released?" she asks me, obviously hopeful my answer will be a yes. "Well, I will travel around the districts at first, but after my job is done there I am not sure where I will settle. Might be here, might in 12, or somewhere else entirely." I shrug and steer the conversation in a different direction, it's hard for me to think too far into the future, it is hard to imagine that I even have a future.

After gym I run back to my room for a quick shower before lunch. Once I enter I know someone has been here and dropped out things off. I go to my room and check my nightstand drawer, in there is the small pile of notes Peeta wrote me while we were apart. In my dresser is the silver fabric of the parachute and the pearl Peeta had given to me so long ago. The notebook I had been keeping for Dr. Chand was also in there. I didn't have too long to look through the things delivered to our room as I was headed to lunch and knew how tight of a schedule they liked to keep here, I was hungry after the work out.

I walk into the cafeteria and realize it is my first time coming here without Peeta. I dislike being away from him, but so glad that I am getting my independence back slowly but surely. Before the games I never counted on anyone for anything, even my mother, after my father's death she was a shell of a person, she needed me to care for our family. I realize there was one person I did count on, Gale, and with that thought I knew who I needed to find in the dining hall…his family, I had been so close to them, his sister Posy was only a little bit younger than my Prim, his mother like a second mother to me. I was ashamed that I never went to them after the final mission, they remind me so much of Gale, and it is so painful to think of him. Today I decide it's time to find them and reconnect, it isn't their fault that Gale….well did what he did and became whoever he is now.

I search the tables and see the 3 of them sitting together next to my mother and once I have my tray I approach them, feeling unsure of myself. I stand in front of their table and clear my throat slightly, "Hi….can I eat here with you?' I ask quietly as Mrs. Hawthorn and my mother look up in surprise. Once Posy sees me she is out of her seat and has her small arms around my waist. She is still so tiny but has grown so much since she left 12 after the bombings. "Of course!" they tell me in unison and I put my tray down next to Posy's.

As we eat I can feel that things are awkward and once the children finish they are sent to the indoor playground and park to burn off some energy. My mother and Mrs. Hawthorne ask me the usual small talk questions before Mrs. Hawthorn moves on to what she must have been thinking of this entire time.

"Katniss, Gale asks about you each time we talk. He misses you so much, do you think…someday soon you'll be up to talking to him? You used to be so close" she asks me quietly looking at her hands while she talks. My mother takes one of her hands in her own and gives her a reassuring squeeze. They are friends here and it surprises me, they were never very close at home.

I shake my head sadly, "I don't know, I'm sorry but I just don't. Let's not talk about it too much, maybe one day I can think of him separate from what happened, I will let you know if that day comes. For now, I want to reconnect with you, Posy and Rory…it's been such a long time, the kids are so big now…" we prattle on for some time about what the kids are doing, how Posy misses me, and I promise to come over to spend some time with her, I was like her sister too.

At the end of lunch Mrs. Hawthorne looks at me, "Gale is working at clearing the district of the traps the Capitol set. He is trying to make up for the things you're upset at him for. Maybe one day…" she doesn't finish her through and excuses herself. My mother bids farewell to me as well, letting me know she will at the medical center until dinner time in case I need her.

The rest of the afternoon is uneventful…since my education was interrupted by the games I had never moved unto the specialized classes for skills. It was decided, I am not sure by who, that I would do best working with children as a teacher. My guess is that it had something to do with my assignment to write the new history of Panem. The course was interesting; I was going to be learning how to get through to children, the best way to teach them to help them retain information and so on. In the end though I didn't want to work with children, I had nothing for them, I didn't even want my own. I wanted to be outside during my days, not cooped up in a classroom.

Finally it was dinner time and I waited for Peeta in the dining hall, having gotten there first. I was sitting with Finnick and Annie when he finally arrived a bit covered in flour and smelling like fresh baked bread. He held a small bag and inside it were the cheese buns, one for each of us. I walked with him to get his tray, slipping my arm around his.

"How was your day? I hated having lunch without you" he asks sweetly as we wait in line.

"I know it, my first meal without you in a long time it seems. I decided to meet up with Gale's family; I haven't seen them since before the final mission we were sent on." I cringe as I say Gale's name, I wonder if it will ever become less painful.

"How are they doing anyhow? I've seen them around and talked to Mrs. Hawthorn a few times but I was never really close to them back home."

"Doing well mostly, as well as anyone can be doing after having their home bombed and fleeing to a strange underground place. Sorry, that wasn't fair to say… they seem to be fine. The kids are doing well in school and Mrs. Hawthorne is working in the textile area making, mending and cleaning clothing for the district. She seems to be enjoying her coworkers. They all miss him of course." I don't need to say who 'him' is, Peeta knows who I mean. "She tried to get me to talk about him and she tried to tell me about his work, but I just can't do it…I can't think of him too much, it makes me so sad, every time he comes up I think of Prim, and her face right before the second explosions." With that I pull my arms around me shivering, trying to shake the image from my mind.

"I can understand that, maybe one day you can talk with her about Gale, maybe never. Who knows, it's really a tough situation all around." I nod my head but don't say anything further as we are back at the table.

Dinner goes smoothly, Annie talks excitedly about their nursery and the new furniture going in there and how Finnick is having a tough time assembling it all. I laugh imagining Finnick struggling to do anything. Peeta, as always, decides to help… "Do you want me to come over and be a second set of hands? Hold something while you hammer maybe?" Finnick enthusiastically accepts and it is settled, after Peeta and I are out of whatever the meeting we have in room 781 we will come over to Finnick and Annie's compartment and help with the nursery. With that decided we all rise and go our separate ways, me and Peeta walk hand in hand to the elevator.

I've never been on the seventh level before, I don't even know what is down there, we leave ourselves plenty of time to walk the unfamiliar hallways. We finally arrive in front of a door marked 781, it looks like a regular door to someone's living compartment, but I don't think anyone lives down here, the halls are empty and there are no name tags on the door. We pause outside the room, turning to each other and silently wondering whether we should knock or not.

We're not given too much time to decide as the door is flung open and we are greeted by a man neither of us recognize who ushers us inside. In the room is a conference table with chairs around it, lining the walls are electronic equipment and at the head of the table is large TV. Looking at the other people in the room I am surprised to see Beetee ,Johanna, Haymitch, and Finnick there, I didn't realize that Beetee and Johanna were still in the district. There were also 3 other people, I didn't recognize them, but they introduced themselves and it seems they are members of the military organization of the new Panem government.

Mella, a tall brunette woman speaks first, "Hello everyone, I am sure you're wondering where you are and what you're doing here." She pauses for a moment as we all nod and then continues, "Well, you all were involved in the rebellion in a major way under former President Coin. All of you followed various orders passed down from her on good faith. Now we have information that these orders were not made in the best interest of the rebellion and Panem but for Coin's self interest. Unknown to Coin at the time many of the meetings she conducted in her war room were video recorded. The room was set up for recording, but usually this function was turned off, she and most of us had thought that turning the feature off would result in no recordings, but Beetee here figured out a way to make the equipment seem to be off when it really was functioning. Over the past few months we have been reviewing these recordings and finding out a lot of new information. Some of this information is quite shocking and before it comes to light what really happened behind the scenes of the rebellion we wanted to give you" she looks around the room "a chance to see some of this footage first, before these details are revealed."

I sit there with my mouth open, Beetee, such a quiet guy, but so bright and with so much forethought. I had to ask him, "Why did you do this Beetee? I mean it's great to have now of course, but how did you know we'd need the footage?" Beetee smiles at me, "Well, after meeting Coin a few times and having discussions with a few members of her team I began to suspect something was amiss with her. She seemed very concerned with what would happen when we won, she wanted to be sure she would stay in power, she seemed to be very intimidated by you Katniss and the hold you might have over people. I just didn't trust her. I figured better to record and have the information than not to and have her words be lost forever." I grinned at him, "You're a genius Beetee! I am so glad to have you on my side" I tell him and he returns my grin with his own and with a blush, he is such a modest guy.

Mella starts talking again and Peeta takes my hand in his giving it a reassuring squeeze. "The first video I plan to show is a meeting that occurred between Coin, Gale Hawthorne and a few members of the war council. Katniss, this has to do with the bombing of the Capitol children….and the death of your sister. If you're not ready for this you may step out of the room, some of the footage is disturbing and most of it is fairly shocking." At this Peeta scoots his chair closer to me and wraps an arm around my should, whispering into my ear, "You don't have to do this Katniss, I will go with you if you want to leave."

I shake my head vigorously, its time I learned the truth, what Gale knew and did not know, whether my sister's death was a tragic miscalculation or a planned plot to break me. "I want to see this, I have to know what happened, for Prim I have to know the truth." I put my head against Peeta's shoulder, my breath becoming faster but I am determined to sit through this entire thing.

The big TV screen flashes on and a still image appears. Gale and Coin sit around the familiar conference table facing each other, on either side of Coin sit a few of her people and on the table in front of them are the plans for the presidential mansion. Mella looks at me, giving me a final chance to protest or leave but I just nod, "Its OK, go on, its time I saw this." She hits play and we all watch the meeting unfold.

Thanks to anyone still reading - I love reviews good, bad or whatever…would love it if you would give me some feedback.

I am having such a good time writing this, I write a chapter a day while on my lunch break at work, it really clears my mind from my work.