Interview With the Mockingjay

by Kiwiwriter47

Here's a slightly different take on the events after "Mockingjay." A journalist from the Capitol's newspaper goes to District 12 to find out the real story - and come to terms with his own role in the Second Rebellion and his own lost love. Author's note: This story has become increasingly about the folks who fought the revolution and are building the post-war world.

38. Chapter 38

INTERVIEW WITH THE MOCKINGJAY – Chapter 38

It's chillier and windier this morning in District 12, and autumn leaves swirl past Katniss's home. It's too cold to sit outside for the next stage of the interview, so we all sit in her patio, eating breakfast sandwiches on soft rolls again. Buttercup the yellowish cat emerges from the living room, stares at us, tries to look fierce, and then saunters back into the living room, her tail wagging.

"She isn't so evil anymore," Katniss says.

"She's well-fed and living better," Meredith says. "She isn't desperate."

Archer sets up his camera gear, and Meredith continues. "I read a fable in one of my books in which the Sun and the Wind make a bet over who can get a man walking along a road to take his coat off. The Wind blows with all his might, but the man clings to his coat to stay warm. The Sun comes out and warms up the man, and he takes off the coat. The idea is that kindness is better than harshness."

We all stare at Meredith. "You'd think that President Snow would have figured that out 40 years ago," I say.

"He didn't read the story," Archer shrugs. "We're ready."

I nod, and say, "So you're alone in the tree, District 11 is rioting, and the Careers have all scattered." I flip up a monitor and show Katniss a screenshot from that night in the Hunger Games. The Careers have broken up their alliances, because their supplies are all gone.

"After that, what?" I ask.

"No one materialized," Katniss says. "I guess the Tributes were all scattered around, and the others were asleep."

"They were conked out around the Arena," Archer says. "Separately. No more Alliances."

Katniss continues. "I was getting ready to make camp when a silver parachute floated down and landed in front of me. It was a loaf of bread. Not the fine white Capitol stuff. It was made of a dark ration grain and shaped in a crescent. Sprinkled with seeds. I flashed back to Peeta's lesson on the various district breads in the Training Center. This bread came from District 11. It was still warm."

"It must have cost them a lot," I add.

"Especially when you consider how we could barely feed ourselves," Meredith chips in. "Actually, the gift was originally for Rue. But when she died, we decided to give it to Katniss, because she'd supported her."

"It was a first in the Hunger Games," Archer says. "No District had given their support to another District's Tribute before."

"And I assume the betting went crazy again," I say.

"Well…yeah," Archer says.

I point my pen at Katniss, keeping on track. "Everybody saw you thanking District 11 for the bread. I know that was from the heart," I say.

She nods. I give Meredith a grin. "Is your District's bread any good?"

"Not as good as mine," Peeta ricochets, before Meredith can answer, smiling. "But we offer District 11 bread at my bakery."

"That good, huh?" I say. "Think our food editor would be interested in it?"

Peeta shrugs. "I'll give you some samples for her to try," he says.

"Good," I say, making a note in my book, "Tell Naomi about District 11 bread." I look up back at Katniss. "And then?"

"I looked right into the sunset and said, 'My thanks to the people of District 11,'" Katniss says. "I wanted them to know."

"And we knew," Meredith says. "People were cheering up and down my block when they saw that. The Peacekeepers had restored order by then, but they were still standing everywhere, brandishing their guns. When they heard that, they got nervous, and fired shots in the air or at empty buildings to intimidate us."
"Did they?" I ask Meredith.

She shakes her head. "I think they were becoming afraid of us," she says.

"So you climbed up to the top of a tree," I say to Katniss, "strapped yourself in, and conked out."

"I dreamed of Rue, teaching me about the mockingjays and singing to me," she says. "Didn't give me much rest. When I woke up next morning, I felt like there was liquid lead in my veins. I lost the will to do the simplest tasks. I just sat there motionless."

"At least you didn't fall asleep again," I say. "We had a problem with our sentries nodding off from exhaustion."

"I gave myself commands to follow," Katniss answers. "Sit up. Drink water. Go through Rue's pack."

"What did she have?" I ask.

"My sleeping bag, an empty water skin, nuts, roots, rabbit, extra socks, and her slingshot. Oh, and I went through the District 1 pack. He had several knives, two spare spearheads, a small leather pouch, a first-aid kit, a full bottle of water, and a pack of dried fruit," Katniss answers.

"Those wealthy Careers had it all," I say, sardonically, comparing riches with poverty.

"And arrogance," Katniss says. "All that food at the Cornucopia and he goes around carrying dried fruit. Why bother?"

"Well, after the alliances fall apart, who knows what could happen at the Cornucopia," I say.

Archer cuts me off. "What happens is that you have to kill your opponents before they kill you, and your enemies might be hanging around at the Cornucopia, so you have to live off your backpack," he says, with a harsh smile. I forget that he knows the Hunger Games the way I know Shakespeare and combat leadership. "If you find yourself with no food in the Arena, you'll die quick, and not from a knife to the throat."

I nod somberly. That was true in the rebellion. I had to check on ration packs all the time. And socks. Make sure everybody changed them to avoid frostbite. "Go on," I say.

"I didn't know where I was," Katniss says. "Or the Careers."

"We can handle that," I say, nodding at Archer. He taps a button on his camera, and a hologram appears on the table of that day and hour in the Games. "That's a screenshot of that exact moment," I say.

"We have a lot of your screenshots," he says. "Some got destroyed in the last days of the war."

Katniss stares down at the hologram. All of the surviving Tributes are marked. Foxface is off in her own corner, avoiding or stalking everyone else. She is no longer around to tell us which. The Careers have scattered, fearing the worst – and each other. For some reason, Peeta isn't showing up as either dead or alive. Thresh is also on his own. "I was closer than I thought to them. Or they were closer to me," she says.

"Only you didn't know it. Either of you," I say. "I don't think they realized you had destroyed their supplies."

"Everybody in the Capitol knew it," Archer says.

"The only person who has no idea of what is going on in the battle is the person fighting it," I add, looking flat-on at Katniss. "You're just trying to survive, day after day."

The only man who really knows is the man who looks into the void of death, and even he doesn't know, I think. I look down at the screenshot hologram. Even that can't tell me. It's got names, heart and BP rates, movement directions, and that's all. It doesn't put me in their heads.

"Get rid of that," I tell Archer. I don't want to be distracted any further.

"That Tribute was the first human being I ever killed," Katniss says. "I've killed lots of animals, but never a human being, and I did it the same way. But it was so different. I was thinking about his family and girlfriend back home watching him die on TV."

Meredith and I look at each other with grim stares. "Even when you've seen a field of men and women go down, it doesn't get easier," she says.

"I thought about Rue to balance it," Katniss answers.

"Well, she was worth more than some Career Tribute," I say. If you can assign values to human beings, I think. But some are worth more than others. Look at the shitheads you fought in the war. The Capitol's torturers who are going on trial.

"So what did you do then?" I ask, seeking to break the reverie.

Katniss stretches, clasping her fingers together, pushing her hands forward. "Oh, nothing happened after that. They couldn't find me, and I hid from the Careers."

"They were going in all directions, getting nowhere mighty fast," Archer says.

"After that, I was whipped. It was near sunset, and I just wanted to hear the day's death toll. Only this time there were no deaths, just an announcement," Katniss says.

"And that was the big one," I say. "Where they said that they had changed the rules so that both Tributes from the same district could be declared winners if they were the last two alive. I didn't get it."

"Well, everybody outside of the arena did…the government, in its generosity, was offering the star-crossed lovers a lifeline," Meredith answers. "To build up drama, and more importantly, hope."

"I didn't understand that for a long moment. Then I yelled out Peeta's name," Katniss says.

"You realized the truth," I say. "That Peeta was working to protect you and create an environment where the rulers of Panem would have to let you both go home."

"It came from the top level," Meredith adds.

"And you know this…how?" I ask her.

"Being the Assistant Business Administrator of a District has its advantages, fair man," she answers, offering a coquettish smile. "Actually it seemed like an obvious move. It's about power. I guess you never read The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli."

"Can't say I have, dark lady," I respond.

"I think you could call it the Standard Operating Procedure for Panem," she says. "Divide and rule. Keep the people in a state of fear and terror. Offer them hope, but not too much, so they can't revolt. You have to be flexible."

I ponder that for a moment. So does Katniss. So does Peeta. "Sounds about right," I say.

"I was trying to keep Katniss alive," Peeta says. "Whatever happened, I wanted her to get home. Whether it was with me or going back to Gale, at least she could make it home. When they said we could both go home, I really believed it."

"What did that do to the betting?" I ask Archer.

"Well, it went nuts, of course. The betting shops went crazy. Everybody knew it had to be over the star-crossed lover stuff," he says.

"I was in a bar when they made the announcement, and the place was packed, with people yelling and cursing and shit. Some guy I was next to who had lost money on a dead Tribute got a little drunk and said, 'Hey, if we're trying to keep the districts intimidated, why not just round up 24 teenagers at random and shoot the little bastards all together in a prime-time event? Sunday Night Execution. Faster and easier.'

"Some other guy told him, 'One, don't spout shit like that, you'll get arrested, and two, the reason is to give the Districts some hope that if one kid can win in the Arena, they ALL win in the arena, so there's hope for a better future for all of them. Which we know is bullshit, unless they start a revolution or something.'

"Anyway, the first guy finished his beer in disgust, fell off his stool, and pissed his pants, which ended the discussion, and got a lot of laughs. That's the only reason I remember it," Archer finishes.

I shake my head. I knew Peacekeepers like that growing up, who enjoyed "thumping skulls," but not the sheer sadism, decadence, and debauchery of the Capitol.

"So now you had to find Peeta," I say. "And kill the remaining Tributes. That sounds like a major problem."

"Yes, but I wasn't afraid of them. Foxface was just an evader, not an attacker. Not to mention she ran from the woods. Thresh had vanished. So I think Thresh owned the woods and Foxface was afraid of Thresh."

I look at Archer. "Yeah, that was about it," he says, "and the two Tributes from District 2, Cato and Clove. They were working together. And I mean together. As soon as they heard the announcement that both Tributes from the same District could win, they set up a camp and spent a good chunk of the night doing…it."

"On nationwide TV?" Katniss gasps.

Archer shrugs. "In full color," he says. "People were making bets on that, too. Everything from the size of his dick to how many times they would bone. Then they went to sleep."

Overheated teenagers, I think. And a little exhibitionism, too. Probably thought they were invincible. "You don't have to share the betting results, on that one," I say.

"Meanwhile, you went to sleep," I say to Katniss.

She nods.

"You probably slept the sleep of exhaustion," I say. "We had guys in my unit who were so exhausted, they couldn't be awakened without a kick to the ribs. And next morning?"

"Well, I didn't need a kick to the ribs," Katniss says. "I just woke up, and tried to be careful. I was worried about a lot of things, and wondering how Peeta got away."

Peeta smiles. "That took a lot," he says.

"I started another fire as a ruse to lure the Careers away, and then started heading down the stream from the camp Rue and I had made towards the lake, thinking he might be there, only he wasn't. There was no sign of him. Just a bloody streak doing down the curve of a boulder, and I thought he was dead. Then I heard something I couldn't believe."

"And that was, 'You here to finish me off, sweetheart?'" Peeta bursts out, laughing.

"He sounded weak, but it was him," Katniss finishes. "But I couldn't see him. It was the final word in camouflage. He turned himself into mud and plants."

"It was frosting. The final defense of the dying," Peeta says. "Cato cut me in my left leg, up high."

"I got him into the stream, and Peeta told me, 'Remember, we're madly in love, so it's all right to kiss me anytime you feel like it.' I jerked my head back up but ended up laughing, 'Thanks, I'll keep it in mind.'"

"So you got him into the stream and started cleaning him up of both the wounds and the mud," I say.

"His flesh was pale in the sunlight, he had tracker jacker stingers, and he needed burn cream. He was burning with fever. I used the first aid kit from the District 1 boy to reduce is temperature."

"I felt better from the medication, but I couldn't eat," Peeta chimes in. "I just wanted to sleep."

"I couldn't let him. I had to get his pants off first. Then I found where he was cut…an inflamed gash oozing blood and pus. His flesh was festering," Katniss says.

"I thought it was pretty awful," Peeta says. "Katniss said it was 'so-so.'"

"Well, it was compared to the wounded miners they'd bring to my mother," she says. Then she pauses. "Actually, any time she was treating someone with something worse than a cold, I'd leave the house. Prim could handle it better. She could have handled Peeta better, too, in that situation."

"What did you wind up doing?" I ask.

"Went into the first-aid kit, which wasn't enough. But I knew that tracker jacker leaves draw out infection, so I took some of those, and in a few minutes, the pus was drawing out of the infection, and I was ready to throw up."

"I asked Katniss, 'How about that kiss,'" Peeta says, "and she burst out laughing."

"Well, I'm not my mother, I had no idea what I was doing, and I hate pus."

"But you hunt," I say.

"It's easier to put an arrow through a deer," Katniss says. "I gave Peeta some pears. This all helped. The swelling went down, and I covered his wound in a bandage. Then I let him sleep for most of the day while I let his clothes dry out."

"But it was getting late," I said. "You were increasingly vulnerable if you stayed in one place. So you didn't."

"Right. I wanted to get him in a tree," Katniss answers.

"But that wasn't going to happen. Peeta couldn't move very far, so I half-guided, half-carried him into a small cave-like structure 20 yards above the stream. Then I camouflaged the entrance, and we hid there."

"I thanked Katniss for finding me," Peeta says. "If she hadn't, I would be dead."

"Then he started to tell me what to do if he died," Katniss says, "and I leaned forward to kiss him. I don't know why. I never kissed a boy before." Her face reddens.

"That's all right," Meredith says to Katniss, smiling slightly. "There's a first time for everything. And it worked out in the long run."

"I'm sure it would have been better if it had been a more private moment and environment," Meredith continues. "You had the whole country watching you. My first kiss was from Dwayne in closet in school. I had duplicated a key to it in the metal shop. It was right after we were officially matched. If we were going to spend our lives together, it seemed like a good idea if we could at least kiss each other. We did have to worry that a teacher might open the door and find us."

We all chuckle and Katniss's face resumes its normal color. "I told Peeta he would not die. I forbade it. And just as I said that, a parachute came down from the sky, with a pot of broth.

"Haymitch was trying to ignite the romance," Meredith says. "Trying to make the love real."

"You know, I'd never been in love, in the way…" her voice drifts off.

"You mean like us," I say, "Meredith and me."

"Right," Katniss says. "The closest I had was Gale. And I was never sure if we were really in love or just hunting buddies."

"I'm not sure if he knew, either," Meredith says.

"I think he was in love with me," Katniss says. "But then he got…harsh." She pauses. "And I spent a lot of time watching my parents. My father would bring my mother gifts from the woods. When he came home from a shift, she would hear his boots at the door and her face would light up. After he died, her face never lit up again. It was like she stopped living."

There is a silence in the room, punctuated only by the ticking grandfather clock. "I know exactly what you mean," I say. "When my mother died of breast cancer, I was a teenager. Just like you. I felt like my life had ended as well."

"But your father didn't curl up into a ball and not even move," Katniss says.

"Actually, he did, part of the time. But he was a Peacekeeper the rest of the time. When he went on duty or on assignment, he couldn't show emotions or think about his personal problems for a second…and that he didn't have the time or energy to be a housekeeper, let alone be a parent. He was devastated and overwhelmed. I think that's when he began to really dislike his job. He couldn't quit and he couldn't stop. It was a mess," I say.

Then I smile. "It was when I really learned to cook," I say.

"I was lucky," Meredith says. "I had my whole family." Then she pauses, sad. "Of course, now I don't. They ignore my existence."

There is a silence in the room. Out situations are unique, but not unique. Virtually every family in Panem has been torn apart. Before the war, it was the violent and brutal nature of the regime. During the revolution, it was the violence of war. Since then, we've had the messy aftermath as well as counterrevolution.

The only one who is not wounded is Archer, who whistles idly as he takes advantage of our silence to change his disks in his camera. But he's still basically a kid. His first real introduction to the war was only a couple of days ago, and the war has been over for months.

Katniss breaks the silence. "It took me an hour to feed the broth to Peeta," she says.

"We saw you kissing him a lot," I say. "I guess that was to impress the viewers."

"I was hoping we'd given the Gamemakers an interesting day and they would give us a peaceful night," she responds. "And in case you're wondering…"

I cut her off. "Groosling and roots. And no casualties that day. But you didn't get much sleep."

"I couldn't climb into a tree and leave him there," Katniss says. "I had no idea where the other tributes were. So I got into the sleeping bag. It was hot because his forehead was hot."

"But you stayed there," I say.

"I had to trust the instinct that made me come after him," she says. "So I had to stay with him."

Next morning, she continues, as dawn broke, so did Peeta's fever. So she went off to find more food and returned with blueberries, which she made into a cold berry broth in her pot.

"I woke up and she's gone," Peeta says. "I was worried about her."

"That was pretty amusing," Katniss says. "He was worried about me? He hadn't taken a look at himself."

"I told her – and I'll tell you – I was afraid that Cato and Clove, from District 2, would hunt us down by night. They liked doing that," Peeta says.

"How did you know that?" I ask.

"They talked about it when I was with them. It was their preferred tactic. Then they went out and did it," he answers.

"I can tell you from experience that they used smart tactics," I say.

"The 3 a.m. assault always catches defenders when they're least prepared," Meredith chimes in. "I wonder how they knew that? Was it part of the Tribute training in the Capitol?"

"No," I answer. "In District 2, the would-be Tributes were heavily trained in all kinds of combat scenarios. Usually by active-duty or former Peacekeepers. That is how they were so tough.

"So how were you feeling that morning?" I ask, resuming the thread.

"Better than yesterday," Peeta says. "Clean clothes, no mud, sleeping bag…and Katniss."

"I reached out to touch his cheek with my hand and he pressed it against his lips, and I wondered where he learned that," Katniss says. "I mean, I used to see my father do that with my mother, but I knew that Peeta's family was meaner than mine. It wouldn't have happened in his."

"I saw warmer families show more romance at the Hob," Peeta says. "It stuck in my mind, because I didn't have that warmth at home, and I would wonder what was wrong in my house.

"When I stroked Katniss's hair, it was like the first time I'd ever felt real love in my entire life," he continues. It's tragic, I think. He never had it until the Hunger Games. I had it from my mother, my father, and now I know it from Meredith.

"The stroking made me fall asleep," Katniss picks up. "The next thing I knew, it was late afternoon."

"You were not exactly providing great TV entertainment," Archer pipes in. "Everybody was waiting for you to attack somebody or someone to attack you."

"Well, we were in no position to attack anybody," Katniss says. "Peeta was hot, his leg swelling was increased, and he had blood poisoning."

"He'd die for sure if they didn't get him out," Meredith says.

"Yeah," I answer. "You need serious anti-biotics for that. Even Valerie couldn't have helped."

"No way you'd get those anti-biotics, either," Archer adds. "The longer the Games go on, the higher the price of supplies go up. No way was anybody going to bet on you against District 2's killers at that point."

"My theory was that we would just outlast the others, survive, and Peeta would get proper medical treatment in the Capitol," Katniss continues. "So I went down to the stream to make a groosling soup, using the hot stones to heat up the pot. I swear the Gamemakers were deliberately setting the temperatures high by day and cold by night."

"They were," Archer says. "All the arenas are like that. Or were like that."

"So you had a good soup," I say. "And then?"

"I rigged some snares, hoping I could get lucky. Then we just lay there. I asked Peeta if he wanted anything, and he told me," Katniss says.

"What was it?" I ask.

"I wanted Katniss to tell me the happiest day she could remember," Peeta says.

"And I couldn't think of any that I wanted to share on national television. It might get somebody back home in District 12 in trouble. So I told him how I got the money for Prim's goat, Lady."

What follows is an amusing story, and I scribble it down, regarding it as secondary or even tertiary to the articles. If Katniss was going to write a book, I think, it would belong in it. It's a hunting story, going out into the woods illegally with Gale to shoot game and sell that. The problem is if that you told a story like that during the Hunger Games, every Peacekeeper in the nation would be watching it and Gale, his whole family, and everyone who knows anything about this incident would be in the stocks in an hour, being whipped.

However, she told Peeta at the time she sold an old silver locket that belonged to her mother, and nobody would care about that.

After that, truth took over, and the rest of the tale was negotiations with the goat's owner and how happy Prim was to receive a goat.

Meredith looks down at her shoes after hearing the story. She grew up with more money and property than the average District 11 resident did, but she saw her neighbors starving in summer and freezing in winter including her betrothed, Dwayne. I was the son of a Peacekeeper, which on paper was theoretically illegal, but nobody enforced the regulation. Someone high up decided it was a good thing for Peacekeepers to have wives and children.

More importantly, we had no shortage of food. We didn't have to stand in line at the grocery shop…Mom would just go up to the Peacekeeper Commissary in the Nut and buy what we needed, until the cancer hit, and I had to do it, first for both me and her, then for me and Dad.

District 12 meant you mined coal in unsafe seams, starved, and died of explosions or something our medical writer calls "black lung." A team in the Department of Health is using the technology they have to cure Capitol residents before the war of major illnesses to reverse-engineer treatments for ailments like black lung and cancer.

"A family whose greatest moment is acquiring a goat," I say, upset. I avoid mentioning the occasion, long before Mom got cancer, which Dad came home with a new set of golf clubs, part of an award package he had received from his superiors. He was very pleased with the clubs, told us what they could do, complete with test swings, and tried them out the next day. But he would never tell us what he did to earn them. I still don't know.

Goats and golf clubs. Dreadful poverty and horrific murder games. That was the society we just ended. Correction: society we are now ending.

"Next thing I heard was trumpets," Katniss resumes. "It was Claudius Templesmith inviting us to a feast. I waved him off. On the air. So he said, 'This is no ordinary feast. Each of you needs something desperately.' Well, I did. I needed medical supplies for Peeta."

They were giving out backpacks at the Cornucopia, each numbered by District. "He told us to 'Think hard about refusing to show up. For some of you, this will be your last chance.'"

"I presume that gave you two something interesting to argue about for a while," I say.

"Well, yes," Peeta says. "Katniss wanted to go alone, and I was afraid she'd killed. She wanted to get whatever was in the bag, which she presumed was medication, and bring it to me, but was concerned that I'd die while she was gone."

"Marvelous choices," I say, caustically. "From what I remember, the sun was high, but you were freezing."
"The Gamemakers were messing with the temperature," Katniss says.

"You have to remember that these Arenas are basically giant domes," Archer says. "They can seal them off from the outside and pump in heated and cooled air as they like."

"But we needed whatever the supplies were," Katniss says. "So I lied to Peeta. I told her I wouldn't go – I'd let Cato and Clove and Thresh fight it out and pick up the pieces after they were done."

"But I could tell she was lying," Peeta says. "I told her she shouldn't gamble. She'd lose her last coin."

Meredith chuckles. "Well, you can gamble at cards for very small sums. I did it with my brothers, but you should never draw to an inside straight."

Peeta and Katniss stare at Meredith, eyes blank.

"When you have three or four cards of a straight, you're hoping you can draw to the straight. But the odds are never in your favor," Meredith says.

"I presume you've noticed that they've begun competitive poker tournaments on Panem TV," I say. "They're very popular."

Katniss sucks in her breath, then answers. "I guess the odds are in their favor." She pauses. "Anyway, after some heated anger, we agreed that we would both stay."

"She told me to drink my water, wake me up when necessary, and eat every bite of my soup, no matter how bad it tasted. Which I did."

At this point in the proceedings, Katniss tells us, a parachute floated in, bearing a container. She almost missed it.

"It was sleep syrup," she says. "Everybody uses – I mean, used – it in our District. My mother gave it to hysterical patients to knock them out to stitch up a bad wound or quiet their minds or just to help someone in pain get through the night."

"And that did the trick?"

"At a very low level," Katniss answers. "If I gave him the usual dosage my mother gave, he could have been out for days."

"Then it was your turn to crash," I say. "And be ready for a huge fight in the morning at the Cornucopia."

"I had nine arrows left and the knife," Katniss says. "I knew that Cato and Clove were out there together, with Thresh and Foxface operating separately. I was kind of hoping I'd see that one or two had died, but nobody did."

"Foxface and Thresh were hiding and Clove and Cato were shagging each other silly again," Archer says. "I guess they were afraid it was their last night on Earth or something."

"I read once about how people in doomed situations or societies would have gigantic parties and debauchery just before the final collapse," I say. "I saw it in the Capitol when we were in the final assault. We found a lot of evidence of wild parties in mansions and apartments. In some cases, they had ended with people committing suicide. There were bowls full of nightlock berries on every table, undressed couples next to each other lying dead, empty liquor bottles…"

"I get the idea," Katniss says. "I was there, too."

Long pause. "Sorry, I forgot. Go on. If you're up to it."

"I crawled into the cave, and found myself thinking about my mother and Prim. I wondered if they would sleep that night. It was a situation that had never happened before," Katniss says.

"Two District 12 Tributes being in the Arena this late and both having a chance to survive," I say. "That probably never happened before in the District's history."

"Never happened before in any District's history," Archer says.

"I found myself thinking about what my family and my District were doing," Katniss says. "They could have been watching it on our old clunker of a TV set or watching it with the crowds in the square. The schools would have been closed."

"They would be," Meredith says. "If we had anyone go deep into the Games, everything shut down and nobody complained from the Capitol about shortages of fruit deliveries. And Katniss is right…we'd all go down to the square and they'd shoot video of us singing the Anthem in support of our Tribute." She shakes her head. "It was like we were cheering for the execution."

"What did you want?" I ask Katniss.

"They'd have privacy at home but support in the square. I wondered if the baker would provide bread for Primrose. And I could see all my neighbors cheering us on – even the Peacekeepers who bought food from me," Katniss answers.

"And Gale?" I add. I have to add it. More than 800,000 readers will want to know this answer, including me.

"He'd be there, watching every second, but not cheering or shouting. He'd be hoping Peeta makes it out, but hoping I will too, and then we can run away from all this together," she says. "But I'd wonder what he'd make of my 'romance' with Peeta."

Likely a lot of jealousy and anger, I think. Then I think of Kae Lyn. Beneath that warm exterior, she probably has a lot of jealousy and rage towards Meredith. And me. I stare at the floor for a long moment, digesting that.

"You're thinking about Kae Lyn," Meredith says. As usual, she has read my thoughts. "She gave you up pretty easily."

"Too easily," I retort. Suddenly I hear myself saying, "You read David Copperfield, didn't you? We had it in The Nut."

"We had it in the District 11 Library," Meredith answers. "You're talking about Dora Spenlow versus Agnes Wickfield, both wanting to marry David Copperfield. You're saying that this is the same situation."

"The difference being that Dora Spenlow was a wonderful person, but a totally incompetent homemaker, while Agnes Wickfield had it all together," I say. "But Kae Lyn is far from incompetent at anything."

"Kae Lyn just had bad luck, fair man," Meredith says.

"I have to do something about that," I say.

I can see Meredith bristle. "Such as," she asks coolly.

I shake my head. "I don't know," I answer. "But something."

Now I feel Katniss staring hard at me. "What is David Copperfield," she asks. Archer's eyes are saying the same thing.

"It's a semi-autobiographical novel written hundreds of years ago by a talented author named Charles Dickens," I say, with a sigh, embarrassed that I have made Katniss and Peeta look like fools because of their lousy District 12 education. "Agnes loves David, but stands aside while he marries Dora Spenlow. Only Dora can't do anything. She can neither cook nor clean nor run a house nor handle a home budget nor imitate a hoverplane. The stress of all that kills her. When Dora lies dying, she begs Agnes to replace her as David's wife, and David realizes that he loved Agnes all the time. So they get married, have an organized home and wealthy life, punch out a lot of kids, and live happily ever after. It's a classic novel."

"I see," Katniss says, trying to sound calm and relaxed, even though she is clearly not.

"I'm sure we have a copy here," Meredith says. "If you're interested."

"Maybe later," Katniss says coolly. Clearly, reading books is not high on her list of priorities. Understandable.

"Why don't you just continue," I say.

She describes an extremely cold night. At about three hours before dawn, she began her final preparations, which even involved cutting holes in Rue's socks to turn them into additional gloves.

"I gave Peeta a long, lingering kiss. I imagined the teary sighs emanating from the Capitol and pretended to brush away a tear of my own," Katniss says.

"And I bet everyone watching that on TV was riveted," I say. "And you?"

"I was just thinking about how much easier this would be if Gale and I were doing this, with our metal flasks full of herb tea, our lanterns…he'd have my back," she says, sadly.

"I know this must be hard for you," I say, trying very hard to both be compassionate and get the story I have been sent to find. "Yes, it would have been better if you had Gale…or me…or Meredith at your back that morning…but now, I think the entire nation has your back."

Katniss exhales softly.

"Anyway, I watched the moon cross the sky," she continues, not needing as many prompts now. "Three hours before dawn, I began final preparations."

"What did you leave Peeta with," I ask.

"Water, the medical kit, and his sleeping bag. I put his jacket on over my own. I even cut up Rue's socks and put holes for my fingers. I took my knife, my bows and arrows, and gave Peeta a long, lingering kiss," Katniss says.

"Everybody saw that," Archer says. "It was near dawn and everybody got up early to see how this was going to come out."

"It must have been cold," I say.
"Like a November night at home," Katniss answers. "It reminded me of going out with Gale to go out and hunt for game. And I really needed him that morning." She gives Peeta a warm look. "I'm sorry," she says.

"It's all right," he answers.

"You need your best fighters with you," I say, "I understand how you felt. There are a lot of people I fought with who died in battles, and I'd say, 'Gee, if only I had so-and-so with me today.'"

Katniss nods. "It was difficult being alert – with my left ear damaged, I couldn't hear on that side. I just reminded myself that if I made it home, I'd be so rich, I could hire someone to do my hearing."

We chuckle, and Katniss continues. "Anyway, I just worked my way through the same route to Rue's hiding place near the lake. There was no sign of the other Tributes."

"They were closer than you thought," Archer says. "They were all heading that way, for the big bloodbath."

When Katniss reached the Cornucopia, she says, dawn was just glinting off its top, and the elevator beneath rolled up four small pedestals with four backpacks. "There were two large black ones with the numbers 2 and 11," Katniss says, "a medium-size green one with the number 5, and a tiny orange one that I could have carried around my wrist, marked with a 12.

"Then I saw Foxface race out of the Cornucopia, grab her bag, and run off," Katniss finishes.

"How did that make you feel?" I ask.

"I thought, 'leave it to her to come up with such a clever and risky idea! That should have been my strategy! It gave me many feelings: surprise, admiration, anger, jealousy, and frustration. When I watched her go, I realized she was probably my real enemy. And watching her had cost me time. Because the other Tributes were running in while I was sitting there, watching and thinking," Katniss says. "And that meant that anyone of them could run in and nap my pack."

"So you sprinted for the table, and Clove threw a knife at your right side," I say.

Katniss nods. "I deflected it with my bow, and fired an arrow straight at her heart. But she turned enough to avoid a fatal hit. I punctured her upper left arm."

"The wrong place," Meredith says. "She was a right-hander."

"Yes, but it gave me enough time to grab my backpack and set up my next shot."

"But she was faster than you…she knifed you above your right eyebrow," I say.

"I had a gush of blood running down my face, and I couldn't see. I fired an arrow, but it missed. Then Clove slammed into me, knocking me flat on my back, pinning my shoulders to the ground with her knees," Katniss continues.

"What were you thinking?" I ask.

"Basically, 'this is it.' I hoped it would be fast. But Clove was enjoying it. She took her time," Katniss says.

"What did she say? We saw you two conversing, but the sound was poor," I say.

"Oh, she asked, 'Where's your boyfriend, District 12? Still hanging on?'"

"I realized she had no idea, so I snarled, 'He's out there now. Hunting Cato.' Then I screamed Peeta's name at the top of my lungs."

"She punched you in the neck, if I remember," Meredith says." That's how you silence a windpipe, I think. "Then she straddled you to hold you down."

Katniss nods. "I couldn't speak. But she looked like she believed me. She said, 'Liar. He's nearly dead. Cato knows where he cut him. You've probably got him strapped up in some tree while you try to keep his heart going. What's in the pretty little backpack? That medicine for Lover Boy? Too bad he'll never get it.'"

Meredith and I give each other shocked looks. We never heard this audio from the actual Games. We couldn't see that angle, either.

"She opened her jacket and it was full of this impressive array of knives. She selected one that looked very dainty, with a cruel, curved blade," Katniss continues, "She said, 'I promised Cato that if he let me have you, I'd give the audience a good show. I tried to fight back, but her hold was too tight."

"She said something else we couldn't hear," I say.

"It was 'Forget it, District 12. We're going to kill you. Just like we did your pathetic little ally…what was her name? The one who hopped around in the trees? Rue? Well, first Rue, then you, and then I think we'll just let nature take care of Lover Boy. How does that sound? Now, where to start?'

"She was looking at my face and tilting it from side to side like it was a block of wood, and deciding what pattern to carve in it. I tried to bite her hand, but she grabbed my hair, pushed me back on the ground, and said, 'I think we'll start with your mouth.' Then she slightly traced the outline of my lips with her blade," Katniss says.

I look at Katniss with some horror. Meredith looks at me with some puzzlement. Archer brings his head up from his camera and purses his lips to avoid wrecking the natural sound.

"What?" Katniss asks.

"We are having pimping problems in the Capitol since the war ended," I say quietly. "They imprison sex workers and treat them as slaves. If they misbehave, the pimps cut up their lips." I pause. "Our surgeons can't restore slashed lips." I pause again. "She was going to humiliate you while killing you."

"No doubt," Meredith says.

"Yeah," Peeta says, his voice clipped.

"That was exactly what it was," Katniss says. "She said, 'I don't think you'll have much use for your lips any more. Want to blow Lover Boy one last kiss?' So I worked up blood and saliva and spat it in her face."

"Good for you," Meredith says.

"Why didn't you see this?" Katniss asks. "Wasn't it on TV?"

"The camera angles were wrong," Archer says. "Nobody thought to put one on the ground where you were fighting, so all we saw was Clove on top of you. Couldn't hear, couldn't see. Everybody was waiting to see how this battle would come out, A lot of betting, too."

Katniss rolls her eyes and shakes her head in disgust.

"You have to understand…these guys would bet large sums of money on a cockroach race," Archer says, sheepishly. "But everybody did see what happened next."

"And that was Thresh storming out of the woods and grabbing Clove like a rag doll. I remember him as big, but he seemed more massive, more powerful than I can ever recall. He flipped Clove around and flung her to the ground.

"Then he shouted, 'What'd you do to that little girl? You kill her?'"

This part we saw…Clove scrambling backward on all fours, yelling "No! No, it wasn't me!"

It didn't matter then, and rehearsing the argument doesn't matter now. Everyone heard and saw Thresh screaming white-hot fury at Clove and hearing her scream back, begging for Cato to intervene.

"Cato was totally lost," Archer says, spinning up his hologram and video again. "He was hunting through the forest, trying to find Peeta. He was way out of hearing range."

Katniss closes her eyes, not wanting to see Thresh bash in Clove's skull again. I wince at the sight myself. Archer looks nervous, having just been in a battle. Meredith look straight at Katniss, lips pursed. Peeta looks away. I think it's the first time he's ever seen this video.

We watch Thresh confront Katniss again, asking if she really did ally with Rue and killed her assassin and bury the little girl in flowers.

Before us, Katniss is close to tears from seeing it again. I signal Archer to shut off the video.

"I told him to do it quick," Katniss says. "He lowered the rock and said, 'just this once, I let you go. For the little girl. You and me, we're even then. No more owed. Understand?'"

"I'm sure you did," I say.

"I knew it," she says. "He was breaking all the rules to save me, like his District had. Right about then, I heard Cato yelling, calling for Clove, so I knew I had to flip over and run off."

"Thresh grabbed two backpacks and ran off in another direction," Archer says. "Cato kneeled by Clove, and begged her to live."

"As we know, she didn't," I say sharply. I shake my head. "I'm sorry, I know she's a kid, but I knew her back in District 2, and I find it hard to feel sorry for her. She was a well-trained killing machine. And Cato was just a thug with a lot of training."

"I ran away from Cato, knowing that he could fire his spear further than I could hit him with an arrow. I was bleeding over my eye, and I tried to use Rue's socks to cover the bleeding. They didn't work," Katniss says. "The only good thing was that Thresh had taken the District 2 bag, so Cato didn't have whatever he desperately needed."

"I don't know what that was, either," Archer says. "Maybe a whetstone for Clove's knives, or new points for his spear."

"I don't know, either," Katniss says. "All I remember was getting back to the cave, finding Peeta alive, and opening the bag. There was a box containing a hypodermic needle. I jammed the needle into Peeta's arm and pressed the plunger.

"Then my hands went to my head and then dropped to my lap, slick with blood. Then I passed out," she finishes.

There is a long silence in the room. I can see that Katniss is emotionally exhausted from days of interviews, and she and Peeta need a break. She drops her head into her hands. Peeta caresses her right cheek and kisses her.

"Why don't we resume this the day after tomorrow," I say. "I think we all need a break from this. I need to start writing this story, and," nodding at Meredith, "You have a job to do."

"Such as it is," Meredith says.

As the three of us rise, Katniss looks up at us, and says, "Going through this is going to get a lot harder."

"I know," Meredith says. "But believe it or not, it will inspire a lot of people around the country and be a cathartic experience for you." She pauses. "I know it helped when I told Charlie about what happened to me."

Katniss nods. "Okay, then," is all she can say.

XXX

We hike back to Meredith's home with our gear. "What was Thresh like?" I ask her.

"Not a thug like these Career Tributes," she says. "He just sort of accepted the role. He put his name in a lot, hoping to feed his family and not get called."

"Like a lot of guys," I say.

Meredith nods. "I have to do a lot of catch-up tomorrow," she says.

"Well, let me know if I can help," I say.

Meredith shrugs. "The budget's done. It's a lot of other stuff I have to deal with. Meetings and documents. It's not that hard. The truth is, I'm overqualified for this District. Now that the plans are in place, the construction teams are here, they won't be needing me in a few months."

"And then you come with me to the Capitol and we get married," I say.

She takes my hand as we walk along. "I'm looking forward to that," she says.