DISCLAIMER: HG CHARACTERS DO NOT BELONG TO ME
A/N: Words not spoken in English will be italicized
Chapter 142-Winds of Goodbye II
September 2
Gale cautiously approaches the Sioux village, waiting for one of the tribesmen to show themselves to him. As expected, an arrow strikes the ground, just a few feet from where he stood. He puts his hands up high in the air and gets down on his knees. Suddenly, four Sioux men are in front of him, when they see it is him, they lower their weapons, but show their confusion for he has never come to the village without Katniss.
Knowing that now is the hard the hard part, for he unfortunately no longer has Katniss to help him speak Sioux, he says as best as he can, "Wait here".
He can tell they have understood him, for they nod and wait. He disappears and after a few minutes he reappears, with a moving box beside him. They draw their weapons immediately, but Gale again puts his hands up, and encourages them to come closer, they do, and they see Katniss inside the box, her black dress continuing to flame.
The men begin talking loudly, clearly upset by what they have seen. Not just because they realized the woman they considered a part of their tribe was dead, but because she was in a box that was levitating itself off the ground and her clothes were on fire.
"We need to show this to Red Bear" one of the men said.
Recognizing Red Bear's name being said, knows they will wait for their leader to decide if he will be entering the village with Katniss's body or not. He knows they still do not trust Panem's technology.
They motion for him to stay there while the four of them leave. He goes and sits down by a nearby tree. He is exhausted, for this past week he has hardly gotten any sleep. Yesterday however was an especially difficult day, for they watched Katniss's memorial service on TV in the hotel. Prior to the service starting they were allowed some time alone in the mausoleum. For the first hour it was just the family, minus Katniss's Mom who remained at the hotel. Then for the second- and third-hour friends arrived. Gale was not surprised by the turnout, many people he had not seen in quite some time were there, along with people he saw on a regular basis. Touched that some traveled into the Capitol, he took solace in speaking with some of Katniss's friends, ones that she had not seen in the last few years but still spoke with on regular basis. Jocelyn and McKenna came from District 9, and Spencer and his wife. Spencer who was now a surgeon and living in the Capitol, had gotten married fifteen years ago. One person who came that Katniss had not been in contact with as much with over the years was Effie Trinket, and as it was with Peeta, it was strange for Gale to speak with her again. Friends who Katniss had seen a more regular basis, such as Johanna had come with her new boyfriend. And Annie and Zale traveled in from District 4. Kimber and Livia, both still living in Silver Lake were there without their significant others. Livia was now married to a woman named Coral, who was from District 1, and Kimber who had gotten divorced a few years ago had started a new relationship with a man from a nearby town. Kimber telling Katniss she hopes this third relationship was her last one. And of course, Haymitch was there.
Those next two hours went by fast for him, for he spent the time talking and thanking everyone who came. Occasionally he would look over at his children, to see how they were doing, Sienna and Avery were mingling with everyone which wasn't surprising. Jackson and Juniper sticking close to his Mom, Posy, Vick and Rory. Once it was time to leave, they went back to the hotel and watched the memorial service, which was another two hours. Six people spoke, including the President, Heavensbee, and Beetee. Cressida also spoke, talking about the memories she had fighting in the war with Katniss. Effie spoke about her time working with Katniss as her advisor, then spoke about her memories of Katniss as a friend. And last but not least, Haymitch gave the final speech, Gale could tell he was struggling to get through his speech and he figures he probably had a bit to drink before, but he wasn't drunk and showed the most emotion of all of the speakers. He spoke about his time mentoring Katniss, and about how during the games and the war she became one of his few true friends, how she was in almost every sense of the word, his best friend. How she was always there for him, during the good times and the bad, and how having her in his life was one was one of the few things that gave him comfort since winning the Hunger Games. Gale was standing at the back of the room behind the couches where everyone was sitting while Haymitch talked, for he needed to stretch his legs.
He had to sneak out and go outside to the hotel hallway after Haymitch gave his speech and the service transitioned to a live chorus inside the mausoleum. Outside the mausoleum, holograms were projected of Katniss during her time in the arena and war. He had noticed it looked as if there were about three thousand people outside the mausoleum, with even more mourners at the square.
He tried to calm himself down, for while he was for the most part a calm person, his emotions had been off the chart due to his grief. After hearing Haymitch's speech he needed a few moments to himself. Suddenly, the door opens, and Rory comes out.
Rory sees his brother sitting on the floor of the hotel hallway. He kneels beside him, a look of comfort on his face. He reaches out and places a hand on Gale's shoulder, not staying a word.
After a few minutes of continued silence Gale says, "Did they notice I was gone?"
"No, their eyes are pretty much glued to the TV" Rory says gently.
"I should probably go back in there."
"They are still showing live musical performances, they have a performer singing the Hanging Tree now"."
Gale curses out loud. Of course, they would have someone perform the Hanging Tree, thinking the only thing worse would be if they had shown old footage of Katniss singing. But he knows if someone wants to hear Katniss sing, one would have to go to the Hunger Games museum.
"Haymitch's speech was really nice" Rory says, unsure of what his brother will say in response.
Gale looks at his brother and nods, saying, "It is times like that when I can see how he was a great mentor to her and Peeta". He then hears the door open and Vick comes out. Gale and Rory get up off the floor as Gale says, "I take it I need to come back in now?"
Vick nods and says, "They are about to end the ceremony".
The three of them head back inside and Gale squeezes in on the couch between Juniper and Avery. His mom on the other side of Juniper and Jack on the other side of Avery. On the smaller couch beside them was Katniss's Mom and Sienna. They all watch as the President lays red roses on Katniss's casket, with Heavensbee, Beetee, and Cressida laying red roses as well. Effie and Haymitch leave primroses, and Gale watches as Haymitch and Effie walk back to their seats holding hands, Haymitch helping console Effie as she sobbed. Once they are back in their seats the floor below Katniss's casket opens, with the casket slowly descending into the floor. The six of them hold up their three fingers in salute, the TV camera then showing the thousands of people outside holding up their three fingers as well. Juniper leans on Gale and begins crying, he wraps his arm around her shoulder bringing her closer to him as he tries his best to comfort her. He feels Avery take his other hand and he wraps his other arm around her as well. They then hear President Paylor thank everyone for coming together to pay respects and asks everyone to respect the Hawthorne family's privacy, and that the family has asked in lieu of flowers that a donation be made to PES instead, with the donation information appearing on the screen.
But the mausoleum was not to be Katniss's final resting place. Unbeknown to everyone in Panem, once Katniss's casket was lowered into the floor it was then transported to a hovercraft for the casket to go to its final resting place. Where Gale was now sitting and waiting for Red Bear to come. He had come alone, while he gave his children the option of coming, they all declined. Knowing that the final goodbye would be too hard for them, even for Sienna, for he himself did not know if he would be able to make it through what he knows will happen next.
Once Red Bear arrives, he stares at the casket, Gale sees the sadness in his eyes. Gales tries his best to tell the tribal leader what Katniss's wishes were from the tribe. He figures he must have done okay in his broken Sioux, for Red Bear nodded in response and motioned for Gale to approach the village.
Once he arrived the tribe immediately began Katniss's death ritual. They had Gale open the casket and they removed her body, wrapping it in a shroud and placing it on a platform of a scaffold that stood about eight feet tall. Each tribe member placed food under the scaffold. That night the tribe performed a ghost dance. The next day, the platform that held Katniss's body was placed in a tree, where it would remain for one year before the body was buried in the ground.
When he had told his children what their Mother wishes were for her burial, they became angry, saying it wasn't right that their Mother would not be buried in District 2 or 12. Gale was not surprised that this was Katniss's final wish, while he wished her burial could have been different, he knew that having a tribal burial was important, for it was part of her final journey.
He told his children what Katniss had told him over the years, "The Sioux believe death is not an end of life, but the beginning of another journey for the spirit".
"But you and Mom should be buried together" Sienna had cried to him.
"Where we are buried was not important to your Mom, this was what she wanted" he said to his eldest daughter taking her hands in his.
"But we can never visit her grave!"
"Sienna, we can still visit Mom at the mausoleum, they have a memorial tombstone for her there".
"It's not the same" Sienna said fiercely.
"Your Mother will always be with you; it doesn't matter if her body is not there".
Hearing those words caused Sienna to become even more upset, for she then collapsed in her Father's arms and cried. The two of them holding each other for what seemed like an eternity.
He stares up at the tree while one of the tribe members begins chanting, helping Katniss's spirit move on. Once the chant ends, the tribe leaves, allowing Gale to have his final moment. He places his hand on the tree and closes his eyes. He feels the wind pick up around him, almost as if her spirit were saying goodbye to him. He opens his eyes and takes out his pocketknife and begins engraving into it. He stands back and looks at what he has written:
K.E.
G.H.
S.H.
A.H.
J.H.
J.H.
Pods Forever
What was once a running joke between them, became much more than that. For while they were two similar peas, their pod had grown into a family of six. Satisfied with this final goodbye, he turns and walks away from the tree, and goes to say his goodbyes to Red Bear and the tribe, knowing that this will be the last time he would ever see them again.
A/N: This is still not the end of the story, as I mentioned before you will get to see what happens next with Gale and kids, along with other characters.
