"Hello," says Gale.
It is the worst thing he could have said. But I guess it was all he could think to say. I feel a wave of pity toward my former friend and find myself trying to save the situation.
"Hello Gale," I answer him, my gaze never straying from his face. It is so much like mine, like everyone's in district twelve, but he is distant to all of us now. He isn't part of the district anymore, he renounced it long ago, when he joined the ranks of Coin.
"We've come to ask you a few questions," Finnick purrs.
I have never heard so much hatred and anger in his voice before. His face is deadly calm. Gale's is ashen. Peeta's eyes flick about the room, from one face to another.
"You tried to kill me," Finnick continues, "and I have a son, and he may never have known his father. You hurt so many people, including your best friend. Why?"
Gale slumps. His whole body seems to sag, and I swear I see tears in her eyes.
"Don't you see," he whispers, his voice weak in a way I've never known it to be, "I did it for her, for everyone."
"What do you mean," asks Peeta. I can see the pity in his eyes, but also something else. He believes that Gale may be more innocent than he seems.
"I'm so sorry Katniss," Gale continues, ignoring Peeta. He is like a spirit. It's as though he has to tell us, whether he wants to or not.
"I'm so sorry about Prim, about everything. But she said," his voice breaks with emotion, "she said she would hurt you. That she would hurt my mother, my siblings."
He looks straight at me. His eyes beg for my forgiveness. I don't know what to say, what to do. My brain struggles to comprehend anything that he has just said. I sit down. There are several plush chairs scattered around the room and we all sit. I think we all know what happens now.
"Tell us what happened," I command.
Gale takes a deep breath.
"When I first swore loyalty to Coin, I thought I was doing it for everyone who had suffered at the hand of the capitol. By the time I found out about her true intentions it was too late. I was right in her inner circle. She knew about me; who I cared about, my weaknesses. She said she needed me for the rebellion. I was important."
"You're smart Gale," I find myself saying softly, "you're good at strategies, traps. She wanted that."
Gale doesn't answer. He just stares ahead and continues.
"She started getting me to do things for her. Little things. She would threaten people every time she asked a 'favour'. She was testing, seeing how far she could push me. Killing Finnick was the final test of loyalty. It was you or him Katniss. She sent the mutts, not Snow. But I changed them. Once they lost your scent Katniss, they would stop killing."
"You saved me," Finnick is nearly as white as Gale. I see my own expression mirrored in his eyes. Pity. Horror.
"Finally, the bombing," Gale says, his voice stronger now, filling with choking emotion as he continues, "I planned it. she said it was my big moment. I didn't know Prim…"
He trails off. Peeta reaches a hand toward him, comforting him in a way I have never been able to.
"It wasn't your fault," he says firmly.
"Not Prim," Gale whispers, "but everyone else. I knew they would die." His voice rises to a shout of anguish, "I let them die."
He goes quiet. We all do. Shocked. Confused. Pain etched in every face. This is what war brings. This is the price we paid for the peacetime we are enjoying now. We paid it so that future generations wouldn't have to. But the price is a terrible one. Finnick breaks the silence with difficulty. He wanted to come here. Clearly, he's decided to see it through.
"I forgive you," he says.
"Me too," I add. Forgiveness. It is so easy to say. And yet it can do so much. Peeta repeats us.
We sit in silence for a minute more.
"Come home," I say, "they miss you there. Most of them don't know what you did. District twelve is where you belong."
Gale looks up at me. His face, though pale, looks happier, more peaceful. If he returns to twelve, he can put all of this behind him. Get away from guns and weaponry, and come to work with medicine, healing other's wounds.
"So?" asks Finnick, "I'm going back to four regardless, but do you want to live happily or not? Well as happily as you can, having lived through a war."
Gale gives a half smile. The pain of the past may never leave his face, but it is like that for all of us survivors. You don't have to be in the Hunger Games to feel that pain. We have all been hurt, we have all hurt others. But moving on is all we can do. The past is over, and we cannot go back. We have to let it go before it pulls us away from the future. Gale replies.
"I think I will."