At dawn we pack up camp and head out. I point us East and we start slowly picking through the thick forest. I try scaling a few trees to gather my bearings, but the foliage is too thick, or we are too far away for me to pick out any landmarks. While we are heading in the right direction I have no idea where we are in relation to the other districts. We are a few hours in when I make up my mind about what needs to happen next.

"I need to find the road" I say loudly to the group from my spot next to Peeta. His head whips in my direction.

"Katniss, no. They are looking for us, and I am willing to bet they are trying to catch up by utilizing the road."

"Exactly!" I rebuke, "And if someone doesn't figure out where we are our whole party might stumble through some trees directly onto it, or we might accidentally get close enough to a district for them to pick up our trail again. I am the fastest rider and I am going." I try to make it sound like there is no room for argument, but of course Peeta doesn't accept this.

"I am coming with you."

"Of course you are. Lets find somewhere safe for the rest of the party and then we can go."

His eyebrows shoot up at my response, he clearly expected me to argue. I am done protecting Peeta, since he clearly doesn't need my protection, and if I am being honest I want his company for the next part of the plan. I am hoping we are close enough to a district to slip in and gather some supplies.

We set up a temporary camp in a particularly thick patch of trees to leave our uneasy group behind. They clearly are not all in support of the plan, Clara seems the most outspoken about lettings us go off on our own, but no one has offered us a better solution so we head out.

"I would guess we are somewhere between the fourth and fifth districts," Peeta says after a half hour of wordless riding, "We can't be far off the road, it should be coming up on our right."

"Your navigation has improved a lot since those first games," I offer him a weak smile.

"Hunting with you back home has helped a lot."

Home. A pang of sorrow hits me when I realize I don't know the next time I will be seeing our home. I had such high hopes for this tour, getting to over my fear of the train, getting to see mom and Gale, getting to spend time with Peeta and sort out my feelings… my thoughts are interrupted by a stone whizzing past my ear. My head snaps in the direction it came from, and then I hear a surprised woman shout, "Kattniss?! Katniss!"

Just when I don't think the day could get any weirder, my very own mother steps out from behind a tree. "Katniss! I thought you were dead!"

She is running now, and I stagger off my horse to meet her. I keep blinking my eyes to make sure this is real and not just a vision I conjured up in my desperation. She is hugging me now, and crying.

"All of the news is about the bomb! They said almost everyone at that party died!" I know instantly someone started the rumor to hopefully get the terrorists off our tail, and while I am grateful for their quick thinking, we were being followed from the party so I don't know how effective it was. She continues, "And then that man tried to kill Mayor Wells, and now there is no more news coming in!"

So it was part of a bigger plan, eliminate all of the current government officials and cut communication. While I am glad my mother's district is safe for now, I worry what shape the others are in. I hug my mom back, give myself a moment of weakness, and then I pull away, now confident in my plan to get the President safely to district 13.

"We are fine, we have the president with us. There are nine of us in our group, but we need your help."

Peeta gives my mom a quick hug before launching into an explanation of what happened the night before. "So where are we exactly?"

"The road is about a mile that way, and if you follow it down two more you will be at District 4," mom says.

"When I heard the news, I started walking. I didn't pack a thing. Just started walking toward District 3. Pretty stupid plan now that I am thinking clearly."

I give her a sad smile and another quick hug, "Peeta and I need to get into District 4 to gather some more supplies. Mainly we need riding shoes, lightweight clothes, and blankets for our group."

My mother really sets us up, borrowing little by little what she didn't have to give us herself, so her neighbors would not know what was going on. We now have 3 additional tents, enough clothes and shoes for the everyone, and an additional week's worth of food. Our horses are so weighed down with loot it is going to take us double the time to make it back to our group. With a bittersweet goodbye Peeta and I once again head out on our own, back to the group we left behind, with a promise that we would contact her as soon as we make it to District 13.

"As far as our plans go, this has definitely gone the smoothest," Peeta says as we weave our way back through the forest, "What are the odds that we would run into your mother of all people?"

"Not that surprising actually." When Peeta gives me a confused glance I continue, "She used to do that, wander through the woods, after we found out about dad." We ride in silence for a while after that.

After a while he takes a deep breath, "Do you think that is why you have trouble planning a future with me? Because your dad?"

"Maybe," I agree, "I had been wanting to talk to you about that actually." I steel myself. It isn't the time or place for this conversation, but there is no telling when that time will come, "I think I am ready. For us to start that future. If we get through this I want to get married. I love you, Peeta." He looks at me and then cracks a smile.

"I thought you might."

"You thought I might what?"

"Love me, be ready to talk about marriage. You are not as mysterious as you might think you are Katniss, I know how to read your face."

He glances at me sideways and I I huff. "You are ruining my big declaration of love! You have no idea how long I have been wanting to talk to you about this!" He is full on laughing now. We hop off our horses to walk them the rest of the way to our small camp but he stops me.

"I am so happy you have found a way to tell me with words Katniss, but you have been telling me with your actions and your jealousy for a while now, so it just isn't as surprising as you might think."

I want to shock him, just once. I take the three steps to him, wrap my arms around his neck and then we are kissing. He lips stay frozen for only a moment and then he is right there with me. I have no idea how long it has been when he breaks apart and reaches into his pocket to pull out a small leather pouch I have never seen before. Just as he opens his mouth we hear a branch snap and then all of the sudden Clara is standing in front of us, and she is not happy.

"If you are finished making out, we have all been anxiously awaiting your return. The president has taken a turn for the worse." She turns on her heel and marches away from us, back toward the camp we hadn't realized was so close. I feel so foolish in that moment. Kissing Peeta in the woods when I have a group of people to take care of. I grab the small medical kit my mom sent with us off Peeta's horse and turn in the direction Clara walked off in.

"Katniss.." Peeta calls after me. He clearly wasn't finished with our conversation.

"Later, Peeta." I reply, and follow Clara toward President Paylor's tent.

As I glance over my shoulder I see him shove the small pouch back into his pocket before following with the horses.