CHAPTER 20: Eight Trees

It was the Reaping. That was how Katniss felt as she straightened the collar of Peeta's ill-fitting shirt. Despite their boxes upon boxes of tailored, flawless clothing designed for them by Portia and Cinna, they had decided that they wanted to meet Gale and Madge as citizens of District 12, not as Victors of the Hunger Games.

Peeta wore a white button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up - though white was a generous color assessment of the coal-dusted garment. His black slacks were faded, and threadbare in the knees, but fit him well. His hair, which, just that morning had been a mess of blonde curls had been mussed with the activities of the afternoon, and so was slicked back, just as it had been the day that he had been reaped with Katniss for the 74th Hunger Games.

Katniss wore, with regret, her self-same Reaping dress - one of the few remaining clothes she had from before winning the games and moving to the Victor's Village. She wore her hunting boots, laced up to her knees, and her hair was down, falling in gentle waves down her back, thanks to Peeta's assistance taming it. That, at least, was different from the Reaping.

All in all though, their clothing was dingy, their hair simple, their faces bare, and their hands clasped - nervously awaiting the uncertainties of the next few hours. It was exactly like the Reaping, especially when they welcomed Gale and Madge into their home.

Like Effie Trinket and her escorts had when she entered District 12, they looked out of place. That was the first thing that Katniss noticed, before a "hello" had even passed their lips. Katniss was not prepared for this - the feeling that Madge and Gale were invaders, rather than guests in their home. She hadn't expected them to look so... processed.

Madge's hair was in curls, pinned up at the back of her head and falling down at the nape of her neck to rest between her shoulder blades. She wore make up, Katniss could see, soft pinks and golds, not unlike she herself had worn the night Peeta proposed to her in front of all of Panem. Her dress was fitted in the bodice, with cap sleeves and flowing skirt, made of rich fabrics like velvet and real silk. It was a deep green, like the forest. Katniss noted this with a squeeze of Peeta's hand, swallowing the jealousy that rose bitterly in her throat.

Gale himself was... almost too much to take in.

He wore a tailored suit with a strange collar. It was grey with embroidered leaves to match Madge's dress down the lapels. He wore a black, button up shirt, and grey pants that somehow made him look taller and leaner than she knew him to be - maybe he was, she realized with a start.

As he reached out to shake hands with Peeta, she heard a strange noise. A click. Her head instinctively tracked the sound to its source, Gale's shoes. He wore square-toed, black shoes - and they were shiny like a slick of oil. Her eyes snapped back up to his face, which smiled with practiced ease as he and Peeta locked hands.

This Gale was no longer from District 12.

She had so little time to process what this actually meant before Madge was embracing her. It was a soft, foreign, feeling. Madge's skin was impossibly soft as they brushed cheeks, and her arms held Katniss fast, but were also so forgiving. Madge smelled earthy, and sweet, not like she used to - like the wildflowers of the meadow. Katniss assessed it must be some sort of perfume, when Madge broke their embrace to hold her at arm's' length, with tears brimming her eyes.

"It's so good to see you, Katniss," she said quietly, then turned to hug Peeta, and then Gale was hugging her too - a firm, quick embrace. Long enough for her to notice that he smelled of clean clothes and shoe polish. No leather, no pine. She accepted his hug and patted him on the back, then gave him a weak smile. She was relieved when Peeta's hand slipped back into hers.

The shiny, almost-Capitol pair was difficult to reconcile with the only two people who had been her childhood companions. Madge, who had only worn pretty dresses for reaping day, and Gale who had surely never dressed well until this very moment, as far as Katniss was concerned. There were several moments in which they all only stared at one another in various states of attempted smiles, relearning faces, examining one another - all in awe of the way their old friends had become new.

"Momma," cooed a small, high voice, insisting to be recognized.

The smile that broke Gale's face was like nothing Katniss had ever seen from him before, as he stepped aside, revealing the tiny, dark haired girl clinging to his crisp pants. How had she not seen her before? She was dressed like a miniature of Madge, though her looks were all Gale, down to the sharpness of her jaw, the curl of her hair, her tiny little nose. Katniss's breath caught in her throat, and she clasped Peeta's hand more tightly than was probably necessary.

"Why don't you introduce yourself, dear?" Madge offered, carefully adjusting the green bow in her daughter's beautiful curly hair, the same look of incredible love on her face. Peeta squeezed Katniss' hand gently and when she looked up to him, Katniss pretended she couldn't see the look of longing on his face. Peeta did not have to tell her in words how much he wanted children of his own. Today was not the day to have that talk. This year was not the year.

"Pleased to meet you," the little girl explained, rather formally, "My name is Maysilee and my favorite color is purple. We live in District Two," she scrunched up her face, and then added "they said the train moves very fast but it still took us a long time to get here. It's okay though, we found the mountains again anyway."

Katniss knelt down to her level and looked at her carefully. She didn't know what she had been expecting, it had never occurred to her that Gale and Madge's daughter was, in fact, her own little person with interests and feelings. Upon closer inspection, Maysilee seemed a sort of kindred to Katniss - grey seam eyes, constellation of freckles bridging her tiny nose, and honestly, at the moment, she seemed to be the only one who made any sense.

"Hi Maysilee, I'm Katniss and my favorite color is green. This is Peeta, and his favorite color is orange. What kind of purple is your favorite?"

Maysilee made a thoughtful face so much like the face Madge had made when they had a particularly difficult math problem to solve, that Katniss almost laughed out loud, but sufficed to wrinkle her nose and bite her lip the way she did sometimes to hold in a sneeze.

"Do you have bushes at your house? We have some bushes at our house and they grow these lil-lick flowers and they are beautiful," Maysilee's face was very serious, but she could not hide the excitement in her voice. "I love that purple they are. My dolly has a dress she loves, too, and it's almost the same as the lil-lick flowers. But I guess it's not fair to like one purple more than the other ones. They are all very beautiful," she said seriously, as if concerned she would hurt someone's feelings, "do you have a favorite green?"

"No," Katniss said, "I think I like all of the greens. But your dress is a great color. It looks like it's easy to play in too." Katniss fluffed the bottom of the dress a bit, to emphasize the ease of movement.

"It is," she said seriously, but could not hide her happiness at getting so much attention from an adult, and a smile crept onto her face, "I love to play chase and house and hunting. Momma told me that you know all about the forest, is that true?"

"I suppose so. I like the forest a lot," Katniss thought about just earlier today, when she had avoided the leafy arms of the woods and ended up in Peeta's instead. To keep herself from blushing, she turned back to the little girl, "Do you go into the forest where you live?"

"No," she said solemnly, disappointment etched on her face. "I am too small, but we do have a garden, and that's pretty good?" she offered hopefully, with just another hint of a smile.

"Well, maybe I can take you into the forest, just a little bit, if you want to. If your mom says it's okay."

Maysilee's entire face lit up, "Really?" her eyes were huge and hopeful, and Katniss felt pinches of regret, that Prim would have loved, loved this child.

"Yeah," Katniss teased, "if you have any clothes that can go in the forest, I don't think you want to risk this nice one."

Maysilee was clearly pleased by this, and swished her dress shyly. "It is nice, isn't it? I know. My momma let me pick it out. She said I could have it," her voice dropped to a very loud whisper that was clearly audible to everyone around her, "so long as I never told daddy how many it cost."

Katniss had to stifle her laughter and heard Peeta coughing to cover up the quick burst of laughter that had escaped him. Katniss glanced up at Gale, who looked somewhat baffled and was torn between glaring at Madge, who looked decidedly embarrassed, and blinking astoundedly at Maysilee, all wide-eyed innocence.

"And I never did tell him!" She announced proudly, with another swish of her dress.

"You are a very smart girl," Katniss proclaimed, "How old are you, then?"

Maysilee, who seemed to be nearly in love with Katniss, held up her tiny hand with her thumb tucked down, "I will be four in nine days! I am going to have a birthday party when we get back to two and invite all of my friends. Can you come? I can get you a green party hat! Do you know Finn? Him and his moms are going to come too. He is my very best friend."

Katniss shook her head mutely. The number caught Katniss completely off guard. Maysilee was nearly four... three years had passed since the end of the rebellion, four years had passed since the Quell, just this July. Peeta's words came back to her like a ton of coal, they had sex. She had seen Maysilee on television, but never put the pieces together. Maysilee was conceived months before the Quell.

All of the guilt and the doubt that Gale had instilled in her for what she was doing with Peeta, and he was doing that... was having sex with Madge. Katniss bit her lip again, to keep from screaming. More than Gale's treatment of her, what about Madge? She counted in her mind, the hours spent with Gale in the forest, training, talking, and even the few kisses they'd shared between the Tour and the Quell. She combined these images with the naked, vulnerable feeling she'd experienced after having sex with Peeta.

Gale had slept with Madge, only to spend all of his time chasing after Katniss like a predator chases prey. He had been so focused on Katniss, had he thought about Madge at all? Madge who was carrying their child - his child - in secrecy? Alone?

Katniss's thought of Madge, fighting through the snowstorm with her mother's medicine, bringing the paper to their Quarter Quell training sessions - quiet, supportive, and filled with love for Katniss, and concern. She had watched Gale do this, felt Gale abandoning her. Katniss found that trying to imagine this tragedy, and the loneliness it must have brought Madge gave her a dull ache, like the aftermath of being hit very hard.

Her eyes fell upon Madge, who was studying Gale with a tight, controlled expression. She held her arms around herself, and fiddled with a loose thread on her dress. Madge's eyes met Katniss's for just a moment, and darted away. Madge was insecure even now, even after their daughter, and their engagement about Gale's preference for Katniss. Luckily, Katniss was practiced at losing people's favor.

As if sensing something, Peeta put his hand on her shoulder,

"Maysilee, would you do me a favor?" Katniss asked, in her best secret voice, recalled from years and years ago and reached her hand out, which Maysilee stepped quickly forward and grasped, nodding her head seriously and fervently, sensing none of the intensity around her.

"Good," Katniss said, "Now this is very important. Can you count?"

"Yes! To twenty!" She reported.

"Good. Perfect. I need you to turn around for just one moment, I want you to look very carefully into the woods and count as many trees as you can, when you get to twenty, you go ahead and turn back around. Can you do that?"

"Yes," Maysilee said and took several steps closer to the woods.

Katniss could feel everyone's eyes on her as Maysilee obediently turned around and began to count loudly.

"One tree."

Katniss got to her feet and dusted the soot from her dress where she had been kneeling.

"Two trees,"

She avoided the gaze of the other adults, who apparently were too dumbfounded for questions.

"Three trees."

Then, she looked Gale straight in the eye.

"Four trees."

It was as it had been; no words had to pass between them.

"Five trees."

Then, Katniss reeled back and punched Gale in the face with a closed fist, throwing as much power and meaning into the gesture as she could, just as Maysilee called out,

"Six trees."

Peeta sucked in a loud, deep breath, and Madge let out a tiny shriek.

"Seven trees,"

Gale only put his hand to his face and met Katniss with a rye smile, as if to say, fair enough.

"Eight trees,"

Katniss did not have to explain, he knew exactly where that had come from.

"Oh-kay then!" Peeta said too loudly, "Gale! Why don't I take you into town and show you the new shops. I meant to pick up a bottle of wine to go with dinner anyway."

"I saw a bird, Katniss, but what was that noise?" Maysilee called out, "should I turn around?"

"You bet," Katniss replied, "Eight trees was just perfect," she said, shaking her hand, knowing it would turn black and blue soon enough.

As Peeta led Gale away, sure to keep his face diverted from Maysilee's view, Peeta looked back at Katniss with a million questions in his eyes. They could be answered later.

"Don't hurry back!" Katniss responded, hoping sincerely that there would be several good hours until she had to look Gale in the eyes again, and then, deliberately, she added, "I love you." She didn't say this for Peeta's benefit, but for her own. She wanted to rub salt in Gale's wound. Gale's head snapped around and his scowl told her that she'd succeeded, but when her eyes found Peeta again, he looked reproachful.

Of course she'd taken it too far. He had merely questioned, not judged, when she hit Gale, but using Peeta to hurt Gale further was childish, and she knew it. She didn't feel better at all. Her stomach turned, and her hand ached as the door closed, and she ran out of reasons to face away from Madge and Maysilee. She took a deep breath and prepared herself to explain, to apologize, to just get through it and get to the end of it.

This was going to be a long couple of days.