Chapter 22: Epilogue

[May 2262 AD]

Finally Primrose and I had had our wedding, and we had started our honeymoon in District Eleven. I had been able to arrange something for us, and while this was just a small cabin with few amenities, the lovely nature around the place, specifically including a small pond with warm water and a waterfall, more then compensated for that. Above and beyond that, all what we really needed was ourselves.

After spending most of the morning outside, we got a little bit tired, and once we had eaten a simple lunch, Prim fell asleep on me for a nap while we were resting on the soft grass next to the pond; the constant noise from the waterfall provided a nice background.

My thoughts went back to the time when we had first met, more than ten years ago, and it was so amazing that we had been together for such a long time already. Most specifically, I had had a chance to watch this wonderful and amazing person as she grew up to be the beautiful young woman she was today.

During the Snow regime there had been lots of trouble, and the 74th and 75th Hunger games had been demanding on our families. Fortunately, this was now something in the past, and we could look forward to a bright future. While daydreaming I fantasized about any children we might eventually have, and I wondered if one of them might move back to what had been called the 'Old World', Europe. Based on what we had learned from our allies, Central Europe had fared better than Panem during the Great War and the climatic apocalypse for various reasons, and it was reported to be a good place to live. So, yes, the future had many options, and for now there was not a single dark cloud on the horizon of my mind. We were already greatly enjoying our honeymoon, and soon afterwards, in August most likely, we were going to move to the Capitol District. Live was great, and I was thankful for living in that time. I really hoped that my potential children and grandchildren would also be able to enjoy the free and democratic Panem and maybe visit other areas of the world, but that might be part of another story.

THE END

[Author's Notes: That's it – this story, or rather those two stories, are at an end. As mentioned a few chapters earlier, number of reviews and story visits have spoken clearly, and although I do have a few more ideas to write about, severe lack of reader attention cannot be ignored. No complaint here – I know quite well that my preferred writing (and reading) style is far from mainstream.

However, I have started to write a story which takes place more than one hundred years later, in both Panem and Central Europe, with the main characters having Everdeens and Mellarks as ancestors. I have not yet started to publish this one yet, as the story needs some more polishing, and I am currently very much focused on my Skyrim Balu story, too. Stay tuned if you are interested; the new story might be starting in late 2022 or early 2023!]

UPDATE NOV. 2022: New story now online, more than one hundred years later, with same background: "Timotheus and his girls x2"!