DISCLAIMER: HG characters do not belong to me.
Chapter 31-The New Team
Katniss walked back into her room, closing the door behind her. She still had a smile on her face-she was happy that Gale had accepted her olive branch of becoming friends again. The past two days had been awkward between them, she was glad to see he was finally letting his guard down-just a little.
She put the black armband on her left wrist, inspecting it. From far away it looks like a regular watch, for it had the face of a watch and appeared to work as one. When she looked at it more closely she could tell it did a lot more than just tell time. For one, there was the button on the side that Gale showed her, and also the middle part where the clock worked was larger and thicker than most watches.
She assumed if the time came that she needed to use it, the signal would only go to Gale's device, which meant he would come. She hoped it didn't come to that, but, it gave her comfort knowing if what happened to her and Rain was ever repeated, she had a way to call for help.
It made her feel good to know that his protectiveness over her has not changed. Looking back on her actions, she knows she took him for granted, knowing he'd always be there for her. For him to not accept her offer of friendship right away made her realize he was apprehensive about history repeating itself. She promised herself she would make every effort not to take him for granted again.
She never took Peeta for granted that way. She realized while lying on the bed crying after her phone conversation with him that the reason she was so sad afterwards was because she had finally realized that perhaps their relationship had run its course. At least for her it did. She still loved and cared about him, she always would, but she didn't think she was in love with him anymore. It would explain why she no longer constantly thought about him like she had in the past or missed him beyond belief like she had when she was in District 13. He was on her mind from time to time, but not as much as before.
But did that mean her feelings for Gale had resurfaced? She knew no matter how hard she tried to forget him the last seven years she couldn't. Before she was able to channel those thoughts into anger and hatred for what happened with Prim. But now, after coming to terms with the fact that hating Gale didn't make her pain go away. It just increased it because she couldn't stop thinking about how she lost Prim-for when she thought of Gale, she thought of her-and not in a good way.
That had to stop and she was finally able to do that, thanks to Rain. Katniss was still grieving over losing Rain, she missed talking to her, laughing with her, practicing Sioux with her. While the time they had together as friends was short, it was a friendship that resulted in a lifetime of good memories.
She thought about what her mother told her once when she was a little girl, after her Grandmother-her father's mother had died. It was her first time experiencing losing someone she loved and it was hard for her to understand. She remembers her mother saying to her, "When we lose the people we love they never truly leave us, they will always be with us in our hearts."
It was one of the few nice moments Katniss remembers having with her mother, before her father died five years later. She knows eventually she will have to go see her mother District 4, she owes it to her mother and to herself to try to move forward-without Prim. They never really did that, since Katniss hadn't seen her until she came to see her in District 12. Before that, she hadn't seen her mother since she left the Capitol.
There was only so much closeness they could have talking briefly on the phone. It wasn't like they talked for hours and hours.
But by going to District 4 meant she again would be postponing going back to District 12. She didn't know what she would say to Peeta, but for now she thought she would wait until she crossed that bridge to decide how to handle it.
She took a shower and got ready to head out with Spencer and the other four soldiers Gale decided would go with her. She hoped she was able to get along with them as well as she did Spencer. The six of them could be spending a lot of time together and she didn't want additional awkwardness. She wasn't expecting to be friends with them, just hoping they would not be at each other's throats.
At noon she went to the room she had breakfast with Gale in earlier, she saw Spencer sitting there with two females and two males. She slowly approached.
"Hello Katniss" Spencer said brightly. He turned to the other four soldiers and introduced them to her. One of the females-Penny Topper was the pilot, the other female was named Hannah Hance. She informed Katniss she preferred to be called Hance.
The two males were named Stone Easton and Robin Ross. Katniss wondered if Stone was from District 2 with a name like that. She also wondered if Robin was possibly from District 11, for it was known a lot of Robin's resided in that area, plus he had the look of someone from District 11 with dark skin and dark eyes.
All four seemed civil enough, but the only who seemed even remotely friendly was soldier Topper. Katniss couldn't help but notice it appeared soldier Topper was quite fond of Spencer.
Spencer asked Katniss where she wanted the hovercraft to go. She asked the squad members if they had a way to track where the Sioux tribe was headed. If they were planning on returning back to the village, it would still be another 14 days before they got there. She also thought it was possible they stayed with the Comanche though Katniss was under the impression when she left that they didn't want to stay with them any longer since the cameras were destroyed.
They told her that a small tracking locator could be sent out from the hovercraft if they got near the area, the tracking locator sends a signal down while flying through the air and if it picks up movement from humans, it can then fly over the area and take images to send back to the hovercraft.
They departed on the hovercraft at 12:30 pm to head out. While sitting in her seat, Katniss wondered how she would convince some of the Sioux warriors to travel with her on the hovercraft. She knew she couldn't approach these other tribes without the Sioux there, but she also didn't want to waste the next several months walking from tribe to tribe. She also didn't think the President would allow her to keep Panem's soldiers for that long along with this hovercraft.
She knew she would have to talk to Red Bear and hopefully convince him, otherwise, she'd have to come up with a new plan.
