Brand New Breeze
by FanficAllergy & RoseFyre

oOo

Chapter Two: Let It Go

oOo

Last Time in Brand New Breeze:

"Fine. I'll try. For you, Catnip. I'd try to destroy the Capitol if I thought it meant we could be together."

"Thankfully, I'm not asking you to. Just give Peeta a break and try to befriend him." I lean against him. "Who knows, you might even like it."

oOo

The atmosphere is strained for the next couple of days. It's clear that Gale and Peeta are trying to respect my wishes and work together, but it's obviously not easy for them.

The morning of my birthday starts promisingly. Peeta heads off toward the end of our watch, ostensibly to use the latrine, but when he returns he hands me a bouquet of dandelions. "Happy birthday, Katniss."

"You didn't get these by the latrine, did you?" I eye them warily.

He laughs. "No. I got them from over by the creek. They're clean, I promise."

I take the bouquet from his hands, picking one of the flowers out and popping it into my mouth. "Thank you."

Peeta smiles.

At breakfast my mother wishes me a happy birthday, which causes another ruckus.

Rory starts and looks at me in terror. "Aw, shit! It's your birthday?"

"Rory Hawthorne! You watch that language!"

"Primrose Everdeen you are not my mother!" He sticks his tongue out at her.

"Children. Not before I've had my coffee," my mother says.

"But we don't have any coffee," Rory points out.

My mother looks up toward the ceiling. "I know."

The two look at her confused but stop fighting, which I assume is what my mother wanted anyway.

Rory wolfs his food down then excuses himself, stating that he's going exploring.

Gale looks over at me. "So? Shall we?"

"Where are you going?" Peeta asks, his voice is carefully neutral which I've started to learn indicates he's trying to hide his real emotions.

"Hunting," Gale says, struggling not to smirk. "We'll be back later."

"Do you want anything special for your birthday, Katniss?" my mother asks.

I wrack my brain, trying to come up with something. I fail. In desperation, I say, "Um, food? Food's good."

"Booooooooooooooooooring!" Prim says.

I can't stop the smile that spreads across my lips. My sister hasn't acted her age for months, not since before I got sick. Even before then, there was the looming specter of starvation and the Games, which gave her a sense of gravity. The fact that she can be so carefree and childlike makes me even more glad that we left. Despite whatever hardships we might face, at least for now my sister can be a child.

"Surprise me," I say.

I flash my sister one last smile, then Gale and I head towards the river to hunt.

"Happy birthday, Catnip." He picks a flower and hands it to me.

I eye it warily. "You know this is water hemlock."

"So don't eat it." He takes it and weaves the flower into my braid. "There. Beautiful."

"Me or the flower?"

He regards me intently. "You have to ask?"

"Whatever," I mumble. I can feel my face flush and I turn away to hide it.

We find a good spot to start hunting but Gale keeps distracting me by picking various flowers and weaving them into my braid until I think my braid is more flowers than hair. I'm flattered and annoyed at the same time. Flattered by all of the attention. Annoyed because I don't get anything.

Gale, on the other hand, is extremely lucky. The birds are just dropping into his lap and by mid-morning he has two ducks, a turkey, and two chickens. After his fifth bird, I call it a morning. Even if I were to kill something right now, we don't have enough hands to carry it all back.

Gale seem both pleased and disappointed. Good. He can join me in confusing emotions land.

We take his kills back home and turn them over to my mother. Several hastily covered lumps sit next to Prim who smiles pseudo-innocently at me.

I eye the lumps. "Did we come at a bad time?"

"Yes," Prim says, not bothering to be coy. "Now go away so I can finish your present!"

"Fine!" I turn to look at Gale. "You coming?"

"Oh sure," Gale starts to say. Then his face falls. "No, wait. I should probably stay here."

My mother smiles at him knowingly.

I grab an empty bag and head out to try gathering.

I bypass my namesake and Prim's and instead gather the roots of the solomon's seal, one tuber for each of us. My mother's namesake, the violet, is in season, so I gather a lot of the leaves, making sure not to strip the plants too much, so that they'll come back next year. We can dry them, both for tea in the winter and as a thickener for soups. Meat is good, but we're going to need more than just that if we're going to make it through the long winter.

For the most part, I pick whatever I can find, making sure to leave part of the plant alive so that we can use it again next year. I check on my mother and Prim's garden on the floodplain near where the creek meets the river. When I get there, I notice a deer is nibbling at some of the tender shoots.

My first instinct is to chase the deer away. We need that garden! But then it hits me. Why let such good meat go to waste?

I draw my bow and take aim.

A few seconds later the deer drops, an arrow through its eye.

"You need help with that?" Peeta asks, walking up from the stream bank, a small fish in one hand.

I smile at him gratefully. "Please."

"No problem!" He holds up his fish. "You can help me with my catch and I'll help you with yours. That way we can call it even."

I laugh, taking the fish. "It's pretty small."

"Hey! It's not the size that counts! It's what you can do with it!"

I raise an eyebrow. "I think you can do a little bit more with a deer than a bass."

"Sure, be all correct and stuff," Peeta says with a smile. "You certainly deflated my ego."

I laugh again. I've been doing that a lot lately. It's a little strange. I guess leaving Twelve has affected me more than I thought.

"I thought we told you to go away!" Prim exclaims, hurriedly shoving something behind her back as we approach the cave carrying the deer.

"But deer!" I say, nodding my head at the animal in my hands.

She makes a shooing motion with her hands. "Leave it there, I'll have Gale take care of it later! You scoot!"

"What about me?" Peeta asks.

"You scoot too!"

Peeta looks over at me. "So do you want to gather more?"

I look down at my full bag of food. "Not really."

"Give me that and go!" Prim says.

I set the bag down next to the deer. "So now what?" I ask Peeta.

"We could go down to the river?"

I shrug. "Yeah, sure." We could go exploring or chop wood, but it's my birthday and apparently I'm not allowed in the cave.

We head back down to the river and wade in the shallow lengths. I notice a few dark shapes darting around. "So is this where you've been fishing?"

"Trying to," he corrects me. "I'm not really all that successful."

"I wish we had some nets," I say, looking at the fish. "I think some of these might be trout."

"Is that good?"

I nod. "They're pretty tasty. And they preserve well."

"Then I wish we had some nets too."

We walk along the edge of the river, picking up a few flat rocks and skipping them. I look at Peeta. "You want to go swimming?"

"Sure, but I can't swim."

I hold out my hand. "I'll teach you."

He takes it, running his thumb over my wrist. "Sounds like fun."

oOo

Prim comes down to get us several hours later. "Okay you can come up now!"

Peeta and I are laying out on the bank watching clouds and drying off in the early May sun. Peeta's swimming lesson wasn't a total disaster and now he can move himself through the water. He's not graceful or quick, but at least now if he falls in he won't immediately drown.

I open one eye and squint at my sister. "Are you sure? You're not going to just chase me away again?"

"Well, I could. Mom's roasted a turkey in some kind of pit oven and it smells delicious. I'm sure Rory and I could eat your share."

Peeta sits up. "Now that's a threat. I don't think we can take that lying down, can we, Katniss?"

"I guess not." I sit up, feeling my muscles protest.

Prim crosses her arms and glares at us. "Come on! Everyone's waiting on you two lazy bones!"

"And whose fault is that? I seem to recall some bossy blonde shooing me and Peeta away."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Prim replies airly, sticking her nose in the air.

Peeta extends his hand to me. "Come on. We should go."

"Fine. I suppose I won't skip my own party," I say, taking Peeta's hand.

All three of us return to the cave. I can smell the roast turkey partway down the hill. My mouth waters. Prim's right, it does smell delicious.

When we enter, Gale eyes Peeta's and my joined hands but doesn't say anything, but I can tell from the set of his shoulders that he's not pleased.

Peeta also notices Gale's reaction and glances at me questioningly.

I shrug. I'm not embarrassed. I refuse to be. I tighten my grasp on his hand.

"Happy birthday, Katniss," my mother says. "Take a seat and we can eat."

"But what about presents?" Rory asks. I'm a little curious what Rory might have gotten me, considering he didn't even know it was my birthday until breakfast.

"After supper," my mother says firmly.

Rory doesn't argue.

"Why don't you sit here, Katniss?" Gale pats the mat next to him.

I shrug, dropping Peeta's hand, and sit down.

Peeta sits down on my other side.

I really hope they don't spend my birthday dinner arguing, but they both seem to be at least trying to not fight even if they aren't completely getting along.

"Dig in, Katniss," Gale says. "You get first dibs."

I tear off the leg and take the thigh, passing the drumstick to Prim. It's always been my favorite piece of meat. I take a bite and revel in the fatty richness of the turkey. My mother has seasoned the bird with a mixture of wild onion, rosemary and tansy with a little salt. She stuffed the body cavity with a mixture of greens and cattail roots then finished the stuffing in a pan so that it's crispy and soft at the same time.

The conversation over dinner is light and comfortable. We don't talk about anything serious, just fun things and what we plan on doing. Prim talks about her basket weaving attempts. She's finally made a rudimentary basket. It can hold things, but it's not pretty and it's definitely not watertight.

Rory brings up that he'd like to start learning how to shoot a bow. He's been having a lot of luck with his slingshot lately, apparently he felled a chicken today, but he'd like to move on to being able to use a bow. Since we have four, it's not a bad idea to have another marksman and I tell him I'll think about it. The boy smiles hopefully. Rory also mentions that there's lots of ruined houses in the immediate area and that we should really go check them out. He's been finding all sorts of really useful stuff, and there's no reason to make something we can just scavenge.

My mother talks about her garden. She thinks it's going well. She wishes she could put up a scarecrow but she knows that's not possible, but she thinks she might be able to put up some flappy things to chase away the birds, or maybe nets might help. Gale offers to set more snares around the location and Peeta says he'll chase anything away when he's in the area fishing.

Gale mentions that he'd like to build a wall outside the cave along the ledge to serve as a windbreak and a defense. He looks over at me. "I think I'd also like to try my hand at making some furniture. We could really use a bed or two, maybe some shelves, and a table and chairs would be nice. Not that there's anything wrong with your mats, Prim. I just think we'd all like to not have to sit down on the floor."

Prim pretends to glare at Gale. "I'll get you for that, Gale Hawthorne."

"Not if I get you first." He reaches over and tickles her.

She squeals and smacks his hand away. "Stop it!"

I look over at Peeta. "So what are you thinking about?"

"Well clearly I am not the fisherman of the season. I would have a horrible life in Four."

"So it's a good thing we're not in Four," Gale teases.

"I think I'm going to want to try tanning all the furs that we get, not just the big ones. The little ones too. If nothing else, we can always use them as rags or for other things. Maybe make braided leather rugs out of them, like rag rugs. I'd also like to try to make an oven. Maybe see about finding a way to make flour or something like that. I don't know about you, but I find myself really missing bread. Even the stale stuff."

"I do too," my mother says. "I think we can make flour out of a few different things. I'll have to check Solomon's book. And I wouldn't be upset about having a real stove to cook on. But how would you even go about making it?"

"Maybe some bricks from that house we found? If I can get clay, that would probably be better, but just bricks might work." He turns to me. "What would you like to do, Katniss? What would you like to see around here?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. I've always just been so worried about food and thinking about more food."

"Don't think about that," Gale says. "Think about what you really want."

I suddenly realize something. I already have what I really want. It's not a thing at all. It's a feeling. My sister is happy and able to be a child. My mother seems reinvigorated like I haven't seen her since before my father died and is actually starting to act more like a mother. And I've got friends in Gale and Peeta and maybe more. So long as we've already got food and shelter and a way to make it through the winter, I don't need anything else.

I shrug again. "I'd like to take a bath. A real hot bath. And sleep in a warm soft bed."

"We can try to make that happen," Gale says softly.

This feels right. Sitting between Gale and Peeta, talking with my family about what we want to do and what we plan on doing, this is something that I could only dream about. I can't think of a better gift.

"Since it looks like everyone's done eating, you know what that means!" Prim chirps. "Presents!"

"Me first!" Rory says.

"I'm gonna save mine for last," Prim says. "It's the best."

Rory goes into one of the other rooms and comes back with a cut glass bowl full of flowers. "Here. I got this for you."

"I bet you just found that today," Prim accuses.

"So what? It's the thought that counts!"

I take the bowl, eyeing the flowers warily. I don't see anything poisonous and most of them appear to be a mix of dandelions and violets. "Thank you, Rory. I'm sure these will be delicious."

"Well, mine's not as useful as Rory's, but I hope you like it," Peeta says, pulling something out of his pocket. "Here."

It's a simple freshwater pearl. I'm not sure what to do with it, but it's pretty. "Thank you," I say. Maybe we can drill a hole in it and make a necklace out of it or something.

"I just thought it was rare and unusual and it made me think of you."

Not to be outdone, Gale pulls out his gift. "Happy birthday, Catnip."

He hands me a leather thong with a small carved wooden mockingjay hanging from it.

He moves his shirt to show off his pin. "I used the one my father gave to my mother as inspiration."

"Thank you," I say.

"Here, let me help you put it on." He leans over and slips it over my head so that the mockingjay rests in the hollow of my throat.

"I guess that leaves me," my mother says. "Since Prim is insisting on going last."

Prim sticks out her tongue.

My mother gets something from another room and hands it to me. It's a soft down-filled pillow made of some of the fabric my mother brought with her from Twelve. "I've been saving the down from all of the birds you've been getting to make this. I figure I can make more and maybe even a quilt with any other birds you get."

"Thank you," I say. We've been sleeping on our packs and this pillow is much softer. It's the first step to that warm soft bed I requested earlier.

"My turn!" Prim skips off and returns a minute later with something lumpy stuffed in a bag.

I open it to find two large nets carefully rolled up so they don't get tangled.

"You were just talking about that today," Peeta says. "Now we can get those trout we saw."

I nod my head. "Thank you, Prim. This is perfect."

"You're welcome! Just make sure to bring back lots of fish for Buttercup. He helped too."

I smile. "I'm sure he did." I look around at the rest of the group. "Thank you, everyone. This was the best birthday ever."

oOo

I wake up to the sound of raised voices.

"Nice gift, Mellark. What kind of gift was that? The half-assed kind?"

"I would have done something better if I actually had the tools to do so."

Gale snorts. "Like what? You'd have baked her a loaf of bread?"

"If that's what she would've wanted, yeah, sure, I would've baked her a loaf of bread. You heard her last night! All she wants is a soft bed and a hot bath. Does that sound like somebody who wants a complicated gift?" Peeta counters. "At least I didn't spend hours wasting my time on something that she can't use."

"So what? She liked it."

"She liked mine too! Mine's special. You don't find pearls every day."

"And I suppose you were looking for one."

"I was looking for something."

"You obviously didn't find it. It was a half-assed gift. Even Rory's was better than yours."

"Yeah, and Violet's gift was better than yours!"

"It's not a competition. Leave them out of it," Gale growls.

"So why are we making it into one?"

I get up and stalk into the entry room. "Have you been going at this all night?"

I see Prim nodding her head.

Both boys flinch guiltily.

"You promised me this would stop. You promised! I am not a prize to be won and the more you guys keep acting like it, the less I want anything to do with you! In fact, here! This is what I think of both of your gifts!"

I rip the necklace off and hurl it at the ground. I fish the pearl out of my pocket and drop it on top of the necklace.

"There! Now neither of you won!"

"Katniss!"

I whirl around. "I don't want to hear it! I've had enough of your fake apologies and false promises!" I turn to look at Rory. "Are you still interested in learning how to shoot?"

He's put on the spot. "Um, yes?"

"Good. Get your stuff. We leave in half an hour."

"And where are you going?" my mother asks.

"Out. Away from them." I point at Gale and Peeta accusingly.

My mother nods. "And when will you be back?"

"Once I no longer want to kill them. So who knows, probably not anytime soon."

She seems to understand because she says, "Okay. Take care."

I head toward the supply room to grab packs and food. I pause in the doorway and look at my two stunned suitors. "Oh and by the way, Prim's gift was the best."

oOo

Rory has enough sense not to talk to me immediately, allowing me to cool down enough to initiate a conversation. When I finally do, it's mostly instructions on how to walk silently so as not to scare game. It's clear Gale never trained Rory on how to move in the woods but he's eager to learn and at least he's better at it than Peeta.

We scavenge several houses along the way, finding some useful items and other things that I have no idea what we'd ever do with them. We see several scraps of fabric but none of them are worth bringing along with us. And I'm not ready to go back to the cave with any hauls.

I don't let Rory handle a bow until he can prove to me that he can actually walk silently. By the end of the day he's made a lot of improvement and I kill a goose for our supper.

The next day we explore a place that seems less like a house, maybe more like a business. The building is collapsed, but we're able to find a few items wrapped in thin plastic that have made it through. We also stop at what looks to be a very old logging camp. There are several rotted stumps and, unlike some of the other areas we've been in, it's not as heavily forested. Again, we find several usable items.

The third day after we leave the cave, I finally give Rory the chance to use the bow. I don't give him any arrows, just let him draw and sight against some stationary targets, giving him the chance to get used to the feel of it. It's the same way my father taught me how to use a bow. But like any child, Rory is impatient to get to the fun stuff.

"When will I get to actually fire against something real?" He turns toward me, his eyes pleading.

I'm not moved. "When I say you're ready."

"And when will that be?"

"When I think you're ready."

"And when will that be?"

I glare at him. "Never if you keep asking me. Sometimes you remind me of your brother."

"Why are you so mad at him anyways?" Rory asks, picking up the bow and drawing it again. I see his back muscles bunch and the boy winces a little. "I mean, Gale loves you, you know."

"I know." I motion for him to stop practicing.

Rory sits down against a tree gratefully, rubbing at his shoulders. "So...what's wrong? What's the big deal? Do you not like him? I mean, it sounds like you don't like him?"

"It's complicated," I say, inspecting the bow for any signs of stress and unstringing it once I'm done.

"Why is it complicated? Is that Peeta guy in the way?"

"Shut up, Rory. It's none of your business."

"But Gale's my brother! Of course it's my business. We're brothers, we look out for each other."

I look up from my task to glower at the pre-teen. "Look, do you want to learn to fire a bow or not?"

"...Yes."

"Then shut up."

That day, I'm so angry I don't even let Rory consider hunting. This turns out to be a good thing because we find so much stuff. It looks like we're heading into a more built up area, and there's lots of open meadows surrounding these ruins. Using the saw we found at the logging camp, we use a couple of saplings and some of the things we found to make a travois. One of the items, a cast-iron stove that Rory found wrapped in layers and layers of still more plastic, is too heavy for Rory and me to handle even with the travois. We note where it is and move on.

The next day we stumble onto a surprise. There's a large clearing with piles of dark black stone with nothing growing in it. Both of us recognize what the stone is immediately. It's coal. We've found an ancient coal depot.

"Do you think we should go back?" Rory asks.

"And do what?"

"I don't know. Tell them about all these things we found. I mean, you can't still be mad at those two."

"Yes, I can."

"Are you going to be mad forever?"

I give the pre-teen a look. "I don't know. It depends on what your brother and Peeta do. If they continue acting like the idiots they are, then yes."

"So tell them not to act like idiots."

"I have. Several times. It's up to them now."

"So what do they need to do?"

"None of your business, Rory."

We go on to the next house.

"So...have you thought about dating my brother?"

I glare at Rory but don't say anything.

"You know, cause I think you'd make a great couple. You remind me of my mom. You'd make a good mom."

"Just...keep searching, Rory." I want him to drop this line of conversation.

Of course, he doesn't. "Do you like Peeta instead? I mean, I suppose he's cute and all, you know, if I were a girl. Do you want to date him instead? Is it because of his hair? I like his hair."

"Knock it off."

"I bet you do. That's why you won't talk with me."

I stand up, dusting my hands off. "Look, it's complicated, and it's none of your business, so just...let it go." I need to distract him from this incessant pestering. "You want to try hunting? Let's try hunting."

"Alright, that's awesome!" Rory exclaims, bouncing around like a ball. "Can I use the bow?"

"Not yet," I tell him. "But if you can kill something with that slingshot of yours and manage not to scare any game off, I'll consider it."

"Yes!"

The day after that we explore a couple of houses but the real find is a patch of strawberries and several mulberry trees with ripe berries. So we decide to forgo exploring and hunting and pick as many berries as we can, filling all the containers that we brought with us or found.

When we finish harvesting everything that we can, I look over at our pile of finds and sigh. "We're going to have to head back."

"Have you made a decision?" Rory asks hopefully.

I shake my head. "No. We've just got too much stuff to keep looking."

"So does that mean you're gonna let me actually shoot the bow eventually?"

"If you promise to stop pestering me about your brother and Peeta, I'll consider it."

He pumps his fist in the air. "Woohoo! I promise! These lips are buttoned. No more pestering."

I can't help but smile, he's just so enthusiastic. "Come on, Rory."

When we return to the cave, my mother and Prim greet us happily.

"Oh you're back! Does that mean you're not upset anymore?"

"No."

My mother examines our makeshift travois. The base is a dark green plastic container about three and a half feet tall with a black plastic lid. The lid is cracked, but it's still usable. We've tied it to the wooden poles using a long bright orange cord with some weird thing on the end. "So did you find anything interesting?"

"A bunch of stuff." We start piling everything out in the center of the main room. In addition to the travois itself, there's a glass bottle full of maple syrup. It's mostly crystallized, but it still looks usable. There's what looks to be honey in an odd bear shaped container. There's a whole bag of little tiny round candles. It looks like there's more than a hundred of them. There's several bottles of what looks to be alcohol. I can't fully make out the labels. I think one reads 'Jack' something and the other has 'clear' on the title.

I pull out a strange plastic package from one of the houses. "These look to be a set of knives, but they're not like any knives I've seen." They're bright blue and they're completely encased in this weird clear plastic that conforms to the shape and appears to be airtight. While out with Rory, I couldn't figure out a way to get into the container and I didn't know if the knife I brought with me would penetrate it.

Peeta enters the cave and his face lights up when he sees me. "You're alive!"

"Yes," I say giving him a look. Of course I'm alive. I'm a little offended he'd think I wouldn't be.

"We were worried about you," Prim says. "We didn't know where you were or if you were okay."

"Don't worry about us, Little Duck. We're fine."

"Are you here to stay?" she asks eagerly.

"Not for long. We just came to drop off a few things and we're going to head back out."

Peeta speaks up. "Gale and I want to talk with you."

"I'm not ready to talk to you," I tell him bluntly. "Look, there's a cast-iron stove about a couple miles away from here, pretty much due west. We left it out. It's wrapped up in plastic. You and Gale could probably get it back pretty easily but you'll have to work together." The suggestion is pointed.

He seems to get it. "So when will you be back?"

I shrug. "I don't know. Whenever I've made up my mind what to do with you two." I turn to Rory. "Get your pack. Let's go."

"Aren't you going to wait and say goodbye to Gale?" Prim asks.

"No." That'd just lead to another awkward conversation I'm not ready to have.

We get clear of the cave and start heading back west in the direction that we came from.

"So where do you want to go now?" Rory asks.

"Let's see how quietly you can move."

We walk for several hours, Rory demonstrating the skills he's learned. He's getting better. Dried grass is his enemy, but so long as he doesn't encounter too much of that, he does pretty well.

We make camp alongside the river that night and I treat us to a roast duck and watercress salad.

The following morning, as a reward for good behavior, I let Rory fire arrows at a rotten stump. We spend several hours practicing until his back and shoulders hurt too much to keep going. He didn't hit the stump as often as he'd like, but the few successes drove him on.

We take it easy the rest of the day, only exploring a few places, but not finding much.

The next day goes better. We start the day by exploring another partially collapsed house.

Rory holds up a little glass figurine. "Hey, do you think Prim would like this?"

I look at it and shrug. "It's a cat. Probably."

He slips it into his pocket. "I think I'll take it back for her."

Well, it can't be any more trouble than Buttercup and it'll certainly eat less.

That evening, I take Rory hunting for an animal for the very first time. I teach him about how to find a spot and just sit still and wait for the animals to come to you - and it works.

He has a couple of false starts and near misses, but he's finally able to bring down a rabbit. It's not a clean shot through the eye and he has to finish it off with his knife, but it's his first kill with a bow and he should be proud.

"Did you see, did you see? Katniss I got it! Whoosh!" He mimes firing the bow. "Pow! That rabbit was dead!"

"You still need to work on your aim."

"I know! But did you see? I did it! I'm awesome!"

I remember the excitement of my first kill. I was alone at the time and I wish that I'd had someone to share it with, but I also remember just how proud I was of my achievement and what it meant for my family. "Congratulations. That means you get to skin it and clean it and cook it."

Rory freezes, looking over at me with puppy dog eyes. "Do I hafta?"

"Yes," my tone brooks no argument.

"Aw, man!"

The next morning, after a breakfast of cold rabbit, we head further into what looks to be the ruins of an old town. Several of the former houses have been flooded by the nearby river and we don't even bother to look through those, while others appear to have burned down quite some time ago. There's even a few signs of several violent explosions. I'm not sure how they happened or why they happened, and I'm not sure I want to know.

We walk through the town and keep going. We get to a point, just past another bend in the river, where we startle a large herd of deer and a few things that look like they might be a cross between a sheep and goat.

I bend down to investigate. Underneath a thin layer of grass, I find several clear cubic crystals. It's salt.

"Is that what I think it is?" Rory asks.

I take a little taste up to my lips. "Yes."

"Your mom's going to be so happy!"

"Yeah. Let's take as much back as we can get."

"Back? Does that mean we're going home?"

"Yes."

"So...does that mean you're not mad anymore?"

I pause and take a deep breath. "It depends on what your brother and Peeta have to say."

"I hope they're not idiots."

"I hope so too."

oOo

AN:
Written: 2/16/15
Revised: 3/12/15
Revised 2: 3/30/15

Posting a day early because both of us are insanely busy tomorrow and for the rest of the week. The next update will be back to Wednesday.

The title of this story comes from the movie "Frozen" and the iconic song "Let It Go."

So time to talk about plastic. Plastic is going to be a rarer commodity out in the districts because oil supplies are very limited and plastic is made from petroleum. Most of the containers would be glass or ceramic or metal in the districts and the only time plastic is mentioned as a material is in the Capitol, in the Games, or in Thirteen. But why would Katniss and company find plastic? Well, plastic has this wonderful characteristic that it doesn't biodegrade in the normal sense. If kept out of the sun, plastic will take 500-1000 years to start breaking down. The items that they are finding for the most part were kept in plastic. Be they ziplock bags, or grocery bags, or what to us is ubiquitous vacu-formed plastic packaging. Also because the Cataclysm happened before the biodegradable/recycling movement the plastic isn't engineered to biodegrade like it is now. So how would something like a cast iron stove survive? Plastic! The store (which we used a listing from a similar store to randomize what they found) is made out of cement block walls with a metal roof. Eventually it all collapsed, but the stove itself was in the loading dock area and was kept dry by plastic packaging and that clear pallet stuff that kind of looks like saran wrap. Archeologists of the future aren't going to find our buildings, they're going to find our trash and a good chunk of it is going to be plastic.

When looking around Google Earth at the area we have this placed, we found the following quarries/mines/depots/mineral deposits. Salt. Limestone. Coal. Peat. Sand. Gravel. Concrete. Shale. Yeah… Lots of stuff. (And, by the way, the guessing game is still open: guess the closest town to where we placed them while logged in and win a drabble! We'll allow one guess per person per chapter.)

Things We Randomized:

- Everything they hunted/fished
- Everything they salvaged
- Which day they found salt/if they found salt.

Thanks for reading!