Chapter 23: Vows
They all awoke the next day feeling refreshed. Despite having more literal and figurative headaches to work through, it seemed that their personal drama was, for the most part, behind them. Now, the task at hand was an ambitious one, but a pleasurable one nonetheless. Planning Madge and Gale's wedding proved a great team building exercise for them, as it took bringing everyone's heads together to even remember what a District 12 wedding ceremony entailed.
Gale, Madge, and Katniss, alongside Madge, Haymitch, Greasy Sae, and a few other older residents from District 12 sat down with a pot of tea and a piece of paper, and wrote down everything they could remember about wedding ceremonies that they had attended in their home District.
When Hazelle arrived with Gale's siblings from 2, she was very helpful at filling in some of the gaps in their memory, since she herself had had a traditional wedding ceremony in 12. Madge was initially reluctant to invite her to help. She held some resentment regarding the way that Hazelle, Vick, Rory, and Posey already treated Katniss like family, when she always felt like an outsider when they saw each other in 2. They embraced Katniss more warmly than they did Madge, but surprised her by offering freely to aid in the ceremony in any way that they could.
"Really, Hazelle?" Madge had tried to sound sincere, rather than surprised. "But you've just come all the way from 2, and the kids..."
"Oh, Madge," Hazelle waved her off, "They're barely kids now, anyway. And the trip was worth every minute."
"Well, thank you," Madge had given her a polite nod. They stood, awkwardly, in the kitchen of Peeta's home in the Victors' Village, where she and Gale had been staying to simplify the Wedding planning process.
Madge tried to think of something else to say, when Hazelle took her into a Katniss-worthy embrace, and whispered to her, "You saved my Gale," her voice cracked, and Madge became aware that she was crying, "You saved my boy from becoming a man I didn't recognize. For that, I will always be grateful to you, Madge, and be proud to call you my daughter in-law." Madge has just squeezed her tightly, taken aback by her kind words.
Maysilee, with almost clairvoyant timing, had chosen this moment to escape the bath that Gale had been giving her. She popped into the kitchen, soaking wet and bare-naked, squealing with delight when she saw Hazelle, "Gramma! I heard your voice from upstairs where Daddy was giving me a bath!"
"You are very smart, Maysilee, just like your mother," Hazelle had responded, picking up the little girl, despite her dampness, "And you are very difficult, just like your father." With that she had carried Maysilee back to the tub, and been one of the strongest advocates of the wedding ceremony, and of Madge, every moment after.
Along with Gale's family, several other out-of-towners rolled in on the morning train - Beetee, whom Gale had been friends with in 13, and, much to Madge's surprise, Cressida and Pollux, who had helped with the rebel propos arrived, cameras ready to film the ceremony. Apparently, it was to be a part of the stock footage being used in the Voting Tour propos. It was already being advertised in the Districts, since it was to begin in just a month or so.
Since Madge and Gale had gone on television in support of the Election, citing their family as the reason they were doing so, the Propo Team had decided that showing the nation - just bits, they assured - of their wedding would help move the citizens of Panem to act.
One new face caught everyone a little off guard, that of 'Soleila,' as she called herself. She had pale, almost translucent skin, large gold eyes, and silver hair. She was young, incredibly tall and slender. Willowy. Was she their age, the same age as Madge, Gale, and the rest of them? She looked like she could be, but she also looked much older. She was from District 7, like Johanna Mason, and had watched the Hunger Games from a young age, taking in, not the violence, and the horror, but the fashion aspects of the Games.
She had wanted to be a stylist for as long as she could remember, she informed them in a chirpy voice, with the elongated vowels that weirdly, but perhaps appropriately, reminded everyone of Johanna. Since the Capitol and the Rebels collectively had killed all the stylists, Soleila had finally gotten her chance. She was the official stylist of the Voting Tour. Her first assignment was to style Madge and Gale's entire wedding, and to make sure that the footage Cressida and Pollux took was up to the aesthetic standard that the public was used to.
For this reason, everyone cold-shouldered Soleila a bit. It did feel like they were being put on display, like the tributes before the Games, but surprisingly, Katniss and Peeta came to her defense. They, of all people, would not underestimate the value of a good stylist. Johanna on the other hand was weirded out by the idea that she and this bizarre, ethereal girl were from the same District. So much so that she had taken to quizzing her ruthlessly on their District words, customs, and geography. Soleila was strangely quite patient, and answered her queries so completely that Johanna could no longer doubt her authenticity.
After Peeta and Katniss made clear to everyone that Soleila would do more good than harm, they attempted not to resent her for trying to do what she was assigned. She was very helpful, Madge reasoned to herself, and to Gale, when he inevitably got upset. He had never had much of a stomach for Capitol folk, or wanna-be Capitol folk, as it were.
"IT'S OUR WEDDING!" he had shouted, not at her, but to her in frustration. "I just don't see the point of pouring over every little detail until we completely hate each other and ourselves, and the idea of getting married."
"Gale," Madge had scolded. He hurt her feelings, even if he hadn't intended to. "I could never hate you, or the idea of marrying you."
"You know what I mean," he had insisted.
"No," she was being difficult on purpose. She did know what he meant. "I'm afraid I don't know." She had coldly wrapped her sweater around her shoulders, and sat down on the bed, brushing through her hair with her fingers. "Soleila has been very helpful to me. I have to worry about many more things than just, seeing that the meadow is landscaped properly."
"Is that all you think I've been doing?" He fumed, "Playing around in the meadow?"
Maysilee, with her increasingly-perfect timing, had wandered in and pointed a disapproving finger at Gale, "Daddy, it sounds like you are using the voice that you use when you are being a jerk." This always broke Gale's resolve.
He had apologized immediately, giving Madge a firm, affectionate kiss of the forehead as he relented, "If she's helpful to you, Madge, that's all that matters. I'll try to be more patient."
Peeta and Katniss's home became the designated place to drop off kids and messes. During the day, when their respective parents were working on setting up for the wedding, River, Maysilee, and Finn were Katniss and Peeta's responsibility. Peeta, of course, couldn't be happier. Katniss spent a lot of time in the woods. It was Katniss and Peeta that Gale ran to when it was announced that the cake they had ordered to be transported in from 2 hadn't made the journey. Apparently, it had actually been looted from the train during a fuel stop.
Shortages were still common to the Districts, since the new government was still shaky at best. Working the kinks out would take time, and where there were shortages, there was thievery. Madge had panicked, when she heard the news, but Gale had gotten right up, made the journey to the Victors' Village in record time, and asked Peeta and Katniss to fix it. Peeta, who had already been doing some baking and food prep for them agreed in an instant.
It was the same panic that brought Madge to Katniss when Soleila insisted that those giving toasts in the ceremony had to wear matching outfits. The girls, who were called 'Bride's Maids' in the wealthier Districts, according to Soleila, would have to wear dresses in the same color, and the boys, called 'Groom's Men' would have to wear blazers at least, even Johanna - who had jokingly asserted that she wouldn't wear anything underneath. It was far too late to make anything, or order it, and, though Gale's job brought in plenty of money, neither of them could justify the expense. Katniss and Madge had gone through the boxes of clothing that she and Peeta had saved from their Victor days, and they were able to find suitable jackets for all of the men, and dresses for Katniss, Annie, Caridee, and even Posy in varying shades of pink.
Technically, the dress for Posy, who was barely 9, had been a short dress on Katniss, and was almost full length on the young girl, but Soleila had taken it in to fit, and the crisis was averted.
Maysilee's crush on Katniss had quickly evolved into a crush on Peeta, which for some reason, Madge was more comfortable with. Maysilee, according to her, was working on some 'secret project' with Peeta. And he was so funny. And he was so nice. And he was 'never ever mean to her.' Mean, by Maysilee's definition meant saying no, so Madge took this to mean that Peeta was spoiling her rotten, but she didn't have time to worry about that.
She had hardly had time to enjoy a deep breath, or even a second alone, both of which she reveled in when she finally came to be standing in front of a mirror in her wedding dress, in a room with no one but herself and her thoughts for company. She stared at the dress, which had been one of the only aspects of the wedding that was incredibly important to her initially. It was a silk white gown that ended at her knees. The top was belted with a strand of pearls at her waist, and the top ended in a heart shape at the top of her breasts. The heart-shape connected to lace shoulders. It was sleeveless. She wore a pearl bracelet, and pearl earrings.
Her curls were pinned up at the back of her head, and trickled like water down the back of her neck. It tickled in a way that was unfamiliar, and she kept running her hand along the back of her neck and her shoulders to assure herself that it wasn't falling out of place.
As she took in herself in her dress, and fingered the lace that was delicately hemmed at her shoulders, she thought back to a time before she knew she would marry Gale, before she had Maysilee, before she even knew who Gale was, when marriage was simply a word to her, an obscure term that had no meaning, save for a photograph of her parents at their wedding.
Her father, though no one probably remembered him this way, looked more like he was a Seam resident than a merchant. He had dark hair and an olive complexion, though his eyes were blue and he was well dressed. He had gone salt and pepper grey so early in life that most people had forgotten that he ever looked that way.
In the photo, his arms were around his mother, who looked so much like Madge herself that it was startling. Vivacious, blonde, bright-eyed, and smiling in a way that Madge had never seen her to smile again. Madge had hired a seamstress to make her mother's dress, as best as she could recall it from the photo. She and Gale would look like her parents had on their wedding day. For some reason, this made her feel closer to the elusive family that she had never truly known, and never truly mourned.
Madge turned from the mirror to the door, and said breathlessly, "You can come in now."
Caridee's was the first face to poke in the door, her freckles and brown eyes seeming to leap off her face in excitement as she threw the door open, and broke into a smile. Annie was at her hip, and Madge couldn't help but smile as these two beautiful, kind women rushed to her, taking her hands, spinning her, expounding upon the beauty of the dress, and filling the room, which had previously felt empty and lonely, with life, energy, and love. Soleila stood in the doorway, nodding approval at Madge, understanding that now was not the time to nitpick.
Caridee exclaimed, in her distinctive and endearing District accent, "Well aren't you just the prettiest little piece of pie on the table!"
Annie, whose distant, sea-green eyes were surprisingly focused and steady today, nodded enthusiastically, adding her own surprisingly applicable District-ism, "a shining mother-of-pearl."
"Thank you," Madge said, emotion swelling in her chest and threatening tears. She sniffled, and then realized with a start, "Where's Katniss? It's getting on five o'clock isn't it?"
"4:45," Soleila corrected, nonchalantly.
Madge reassured herself. Katniss said she'd be back by five o'clock. She had, to no one's surprise, requested to spend the morning in the woods. Since the ceremony started at 5:30, she promised to be back at 5:00. This was to give her enough time to dress, but not too much time - so that she could avoid getting anxious or getting too much make up time with Soleila. Gale had given Katniss his watch, and a pat on the shoulder, teasing, "I was always better at reading the time from the sun. This way, you won't be late."
Katniss had taken the watch with a smile and a promise, and darted out the door. This seemed to be at Peeta's dismay, perhaps only because he was so nervous, or that he had been up most of the night working on the final preparations for the wedding. Madge would have felt guilty, except that Peeta performed so well under pressure, she knew it probably brought him calmer to have things to do to fill his time, rather than just to wait around, doing nothing.
In truth, Gale and Madge would probably be thanking Peeta for the rest of their lives for all he had done for them. They had asked him, not only to host, to bake, to clothe, but also to perform the wedding ceremony, as the officiate. There was no particular person in 12 who officiated weddings. It was the bride or groom's father who usually did it, but neither Madge nor Gale had a father left. Peeta, in addition, was the most well-spoken person in District 12. He was so kind, and genuine. He would surely be the best choice, and seemed honored.
Peeta was like that. He understood the meaning behind gestures, even if the eloquent words were not there to explain. The words, ineloquent though they were, came from Madge, since she and Peeta had known each other when they were younger, before the Games, before the Rebellion, before any of it.
"Peeta," she had begun, quietly, talking to him from the chair that he had so kindly brought into the kitchen so that people could talk to him about the problems that arose with wedding while he baked in preparation for the wedding.
Peeta let out a warm laugh. He recognized her tone by how many problems had been brought to him - hence the chair - that started out with just the mention of his name, 'Peeta.'
She coughed, and he stopped kneading the dough he had been working on to face her. "What is it this time, Madge?" he grinned. He really did do well when asked to rise to an occasion, no wonder he had survived the Hunger Games.
"Well, Gale and I-" she paused, trying to imagine how to phrase the question. "We thought that, well, since our fathers are gone, and we're not close with Haymitch, and, well, Hazelle's not very well-spoken, and- We thought that maybe, you might be the officiate for our Wedding."
The smile, as well as the color had dropped from Peeta's face. "Me?"
Madge, who had trouble stopping talking once she had started, continued, despite his less-than-excited reaction, "Well, yes. You do so well with crowds and you're so eloquent. Like the toast you gave the other night. You just... a-always know what to say." There was a long silence.
"Not right now, apparently," he whispered, color returning to his face.
"I'm sorry," Madge said quickly. "You've done enough. We've imposed so much and-"
Peeta caught Madge's eye, a solemn, earnest look on his face. "I would... be... so happy to do that for you. Honored." He averted his eyes, and kneaded his hands together a few times. Madge thought that maybe she should say something, but he seemed to be thinking. "After..." he began haltingly, "after I was hijacked, I thought maybe I had just about out-lived the good I could do anybody. To be such an important part of your union," He moved to her and took her hand, his eyes shining, "It would mean everything to me."
Madge had hugged him tightly, with more trust than she and Peeta had ever had between them. Knowing each other in their youth had not prepared them for the feeling of family that they now shared. Like Gale and Katniss, people could easily mistake Madge and Peeta for cousins, or even siblings, but had never shared the emotional bond to go along with that assessment, which is probably why no one had ever done so. Madge's joy that Peeta would be performing the ceremony was almost enough to negate her sadness at her father being unable to do so.
As promised, Katniss poked her head in the door at about 4:55, fully dressed in her gown, which Madge recognized as the one she'd worn the night Peeta proposed to her on television during the Victory Tour. Besides the dress though, she looked as though she had been in the woods. Twigs were tangled in her braid, and patches of dirt seemed to leap from her skin in the late-afternoon sunlight that streamed through the window.
Soleila gave a deep, but patient sigh, and re-braided Katniss's hair the way it had been for the Reaping, gently separating hair from twigs and debris as she did so. She washed Katniss's face and had finished just the bare minimum make up when Peeta poked his head in, announcing that it was time to line up for the ceremony.
Madge took a deep breath, held her bouquet to her chest, and tried to recall the details of the ceremony as they had laid them out during their brainstorming session.
"Coal buckets," Haymitch had blurted out. Everyone was surprised that he was the first one to contribute. "Used to be that witnesses brought gifts of coal in these fancy little buckets to put in the first toasting fire. If they could spare it, the guests brought coal to add, not just for the toasting fire, but so the couple would have coal in to ease their first few weeks of marriage."
Greasy Sae nodded seriously, a misty look in her eyes and added, "When things were better, witnesses used to make little speeches before they gave over their coal."
"Speeches?" Gale bristled next to Madge.
Greasy Sae, not catching his worried tone, explained, still nostalgic, but no nonsense as always, "Yeah, nothing fancy, just a few words wishing the couple happiness, good health, that type of thing."
Katniss had blushed as she added, "I remember that... someone does a trail of breadcrumbs... before the ceremony. To lay a path of prosperity for the couple to walk." Madge didn't pick up on the reason for the blush until Gale added,
"Of course you'd remember the part having to do with food, Katniss!" He gave her a shove, and they laughed. Madge was pleased that this brought her no ill feelings, or nagging doubts. Instead, she smiled along with them and rubbed Gale's knee assuringly.
"It wasn't just a symbol, either," Haymitch amended Katniss's statement. "The breadcrumbs attract Mockingjays. They gather in the trees around the ceremony, and sing the Wedding Song along with the guests, then, when the wedding is over they get the breadcrumbs."
"Good deal for them, then," Peeta laughed, and the way Katniss looked at him was a face Madge had never seen on Katniss. Benevolence. Pure, unadulterated joy, just at being next to him. Madge wondered if she, herself, ever could bring herself to wear such a true and vulnerable face for Gale in front of people. Surely she looked at him that way when it was just the two of them, but even in front of Maysilee they both showed restraint, as if displaying that their world would fall apart without the other invited the world to do so.
"There is a public toasting," Madge found herself remembering just glimpses of a bride and groom in 12 toasting rolls over a sort of chalice filled with burning coals.
"They use the coal brought by the witnesses," Haymitch explained.
Katniss couldn't seem to help herself as she added with excitement "And then there's a feast!"
Gale laughed heartily, and everyone joined in. Katniss looked sheepish, but Gale gave her shoulder a squeeze, affectionately. Peeta caught her eye and flashed her one of his winning smiles. Madge relaxed and joined in the laughter.
Madge studied Katniss for a moment. She looked healthier than she had ever been, in terms of weight, but the distance in her eyes that would always be there was hard to ignore. Madge could remember the same look of hunger, of loss in those eyes when she was nothing more than a starved girl from District 12, the quiet girl from the Seam, and Madge's only friend. She smiled to herself. No, Katniss Everdeen would never forget any ceremony involving a feast, and how could Madge blame her?
She couldn't, as she turned and took in her so-called 'Bride's maids.' The women in her life, who had, at different times brought so much joy to her, comforted her when she was lonely. Annie, Caridee, Katniss and even little Posy. They looked at her expectantly, and she could say nothing but raise her hands to them. Immediately taking the cue, they embraced her, petted her hair, and told her she looked so beautiful, that they were so happy, so proud. Madge tried to find any of these feelings, but in this moment, she could only breathe as she followed them down the stairs and out of the house, toward the rest of her life.
Dusk was only just falling on the meadow. A crowd of people much larger than Madge had imagined were camped out on blankets, stray rocking chairs or just sitting on the flowery grass. A small table had been set off to one side in front of an arch. Peeta, Gale, and his four witnesses were waiting for them off to one side, behind the crowd. Madge immediately sought Gale out, his silvery eyes glowing with anticipation in the waning light. He embraced her tightly, and whispered to her in a hushed voice, with his hand on the side of her face, his fingers caressing the spot behind her ear where her tattoo was proudly displayed, "You are beautiful."
She could only blush and take his hand in hers. A fiddle began, and Peeta took a flame from Haymitch, lit the coals brought to his large metal bowl already by the people already gathered. He gave them a look, a question. Madge saw Gale nod in assent. Peeta gave them a wide smile, and processed slowly around the crowd, which fell quiet.
Madge watched Hazelle give Mayilee a little nudge, and the two of them progressed around, Maysilee scattering breadcrumbs around with affected importance and a bright, proud smile on her face. Madge was suddenly thankful to Soleila, who had assured her that her makeup would stay true on her face however many tears fell. The sight of their daughter, of her baby, who had served as her only link to sanity when she thought she'd lost Gale, looking so beautiful in her little pink dress, and so happy to have the attention all on her as she processed with her grandmother, had brought a flood of tears down her face.
Maysilee tossed the last of the breadcrumbs rather unceremoniously in front of the pyre, and caught her eyes. Madge could only smile as the next pairs began their march. Annie and Caridee, then Katniss and Posy with tiny, decorative buckets of coal, walked slowly, stately, around the crowd and up to stand to Peeta's right. Then Vick and Rory, and Johanna and Gentry, all of them looking polished in their dark suit jackets, with their less-decorated, but brightly shining coal buckets. Then, silence.
Suddenly, a voice; Katniss's.
No words, just clear, joyful strains. The crowd shifted, everyone who was able stood, and looked expectantly to them. Madge felt frozen, overwhelmed, but with Gale at her side, giving her his widest grin, his face tracked with happy tears, she moved forward with him, toward their friends, and their daughter. All around them, familiar faces, all smiling, approving.
The walk seemed to take forever. She felt incredibly relieved when the singing stopped and they stood, hand in hand, with Maysilee tucked safely in front of them. One hand in Gale's one hand in hers, the three of them, standing united.
Peeta stepped forward and raised his arms. The crowd shifted again, and Madge could make out the quiet noises of people settling back into chairs and onto the ground.
"Welcome!" Peeta began, when the silence returned, "On behalf of Gale and Madge, I want to thank you all for coming tonight to witness their union. It has been a long time since we had something to celebrate here, and I hope you will all thank them for giving us something to be glad for, to bring us together." He continued on, but Madge could only smile, and alternated between staring at Gale, who now looked serious, listening intently to Peeta, and Maysilee, who had already, began to squirm a bit.
After a while, those whom they had chosen as witness to their wedding stepped forward, each saying their piece, congratulating them on their strength, their love, wishing them the best for the future, thanking them for their friendship. These Madge tried to listen to, but even as she tried to hold onto the words, they slipped through the cracks in her mind like raindrops through her finger tips. Luckily, she had always loved rain showers, and so resolved herself to letting their words hit all at once, like a storm. An overwhelming feeling of warmth, and love washed over her as she collected the few words and snippets like she had raindrops on her tongue when she was a young girl.
"I knew we'd be friends the moment I saw you, and I'm always eversoglad we are," Caridee had gushed to her, her face completely wet with tears, "I knew, before you did that you loved your war hero. We'd watch him on the tee-vee, and you would just stare like if you looked long enough you could bring him home to you... and you did. I know y'all are going to be so happy."
"Marriage is hard," Johanna had asserted, "But I don't know a lot of people stronger than Gale Force, here. Or Madge, for putting up with him for this long. You two can do it. You know how I know that?" Her question rang out in the nearing darkness, "Maysilee's strong too, and she'll make you."
"I thought you'd be mean," Vick had said somewhat sheepishly to her, "but my brother doesn't smile like that at anybody else, so you must make him happy. I suppose I can handle another sister, if it makes Gale smile."
"You two are my oldest friends," Katniss began in a trembling voice, "and this is the happiest I have ever seen either of you. Gale and I, and Peeta," she faltered. "We fought alongside each other... risked everything... so that people could know happiness like yours, but I think Gale didn't... and I know I didn't ever imagine that we would know that happiness ourselves. Don't ever let that go." At the end of her sentiment, she took Peeta's hand, and the look on his face almost broke Madge's heart.
She gave Gale's hand a squeeze and met his gaze, which reflected Peeta's to a T. She knew that what Katniss had said was true. They had fought completely selflessly, not thinking that they themselves would even survive, and not daring to hope that they might ever truly live again afterward. Perhaps this is why they had become so close so quickly when they had finally come back together. After all, Gale and Madge had planned to wed when their only witnesses were Gentry and Caridee. They weren't even certain that Gale's real family would attend, and now, each and every person in attendance was as essential to the ceremony as the very love around which it was based.
She silently thanked each and every one of them as again and again, they all said it, the words closed each speech as they tipped their coal baskets into the fire, "I love you both," "I love you all," "I love you."
When the speeches were over, Peeta led them both in the prescribed, legal vows, and they repeated after him, vowing to love, to protect, to keep as long as they lived. The words fell numbly from Madge's lips, as she saw in Gale's eyes, everything he was, everything he had been, and everything he would ever be to her.
Then, a surprise; Maysilee broke off from them and grabbed another small basket, which Madge had not noticed, from the side of the arch. Maysilee had on the look she liked to call 'her most serious face,' and directed it back and forth between them as she recited clearly rehearsed, but no less meaningful words, "We are a family. I made our toast bread myself because I love you and because I want to show everyone that we are a wonderful, Hawthorne family together." She held a lumpy, vaguely heart-shaped loaf up to them, her secret project with Peeta. Madge thought her heart might burst, as she pushed down a sob of happiness.
And in front of the community, the three Hawthornes toasted. As they fed one another first bites, Gale to Maysilee, Maysilee to Madge, Madge to Gale, Katniss began the first lines of the Marriage song.
Home now together, you light the first fire
Your home shall glow with countless pyres.
Everyone else joined, harmonizing and echoing, recalling the melody and words out from the dust and ashes of their memories.
Lit in the morning, smould'ring through night,
Your love shall remain as true as this light.
As the song went on, the Hawthornes fed one another the bread the smallest of them had brought forth. Taking care to blow in Maysilee's bits, playfully teasing one another before popping torn off pieces into smiling mouths.
Should you tend it, should you mind
Should you be true, should you be kind.
The sun had reached the horizon, and pink flooded the meadow. The guests would recall for years afterward how beautiful and happy this young family had looked. The symbolic marriage of the Mayor's daughter and a fatherless boy from the Seam. A district united in love.
This fire, your love, will brighten the days
Until you find there's naught more to say.
More Mockingjays appeared, drawn in by the music and the breadcrumbs, some of them beginning to chirp along, after all, there were not many voices they respected enough to fall silent to, but they seemed to understand the importance of this, and chirped in tune.
When you have tended all the last coals,
and bodies no longer hold your souls
Know that the light of the fire, no longer yours,
Now lends its glow to another pair's doors.
Miraculously, the bread and the song were finished simultaneously, and Peeta, the same blinding smile on his face, held out his arms again, in that tiny silence after the singing, "It is my great honor to introduce The Hawthorne Family!"
The crowd did nothing, for the birds provided the applause, having arrived in scores exploded into a symphony of beauty.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, Madge she took in the sight of her husband and child, her friends and community gathered together in love, bathed in the light of the gifted coal. Madge was happier than she had ever been before, and the feeling of unmatched happiness had been such a prevalent feeling as of late. She hoped, wondered, if it could really last forever, as they had vowed.
As the preparations for the feasting and dancing began, no one seemed to mind the ghosts that had no doubt come out to witness the ceremony. The wedding had, after all, been conducted on the Meadow, which served as the mass grave for the citizens of District 12 - including Madge and Peeta's families, Gale's mining crew, Seam Folk, and Merchants alike lay underneath the unassuming grasses.