Chapter 12:

Appearing out of nowhere, he stands there calmly, like a knight in shining armor, holding the damsel-in-distress Prim as though she were as light as a rag doll. Asking her if she is all right, Prim doesn't respond- it looks as though she has fainted due to all of the commotion. Gale gently sits down and sets Prim onto the ground, but keeps her head resting on his crossed calves. After a couple of seconds, she comes to, and Gale and I immediately see if she's okay. Prim nods but says she needs to lie there a little while longer and rest. We are skeptical but when we realize that she's going to stay conscious, I sit down as well and Gale and I start to talk.

"What in the world are you doing here?" I mean to talk in a normal tone of voice but the words escape my lips as a whisper.

"Um, saving your little sister, Catnip," he replies simply. "And you'd better be thankful, too, because she hurt the hell out of my arms." I realize now why he had to set her down, so he could get the weight off of them. "I was hunting, and with how loud you girls were being, you were scaring away all of the game. So I figured I would come over to tell you two to shut up." He grins as he says it. He's obviously happy to see us.

I think about how vulnerable Gale looked the last time I saw him. In bed, delirious from the medicine, whipped and beaten, though never broken. He couldn't look more different now. Tough and strong.

"But why are you hunting today?" I whisper. "Aren't you supposed to be in the mines?" I realize it's probably best to keep our conversation quiet. If the Capitol saw us kiss in here so long ago….

"Working there seems to be an on-again, off-again kind of thing," he explains, shrugging. "Right now, I guess it's off-again. We haven't worked in a few days."

Perhaps that explains the necessity of keeping the fence shut off. We sit in silence. "So, how are you guys doing?" he eventually asks. "...Sorry to hear about the Quell."

I'm not sure exactly what he wants to know. "It's going all right, I guess. We're spending a lot of time training Prim and Peeta's brother Paavo. We're making progress."

"Clearly," smirks Gale, in reference to Prim's inexperience in the trees.

"Well, I didn't know that the fence had been de-electrified until recently," I said. "Have you been hunting a lot?"

"Yeah, when I'm not mining," he replies. "I kinda have to. Gotta feed the family, you know. Not all of us are lucky enough to get to stuff ourselves just because there's a wedding coming up," He is clearly referring to the other night's feast that he had to watch on TV. His voice takes on a bitter tone that I'm not sure how to deal with. I can't exactly blame him for feeling the resentment that he does, watching his best friend given the lavish life that he might love if it weren't from the establishment that he hated. And with another guy, on top of all of that. But it's not all my fault. And it's not exactly the life that I want, either.

I just nod in reply; I don't want to say anything to irritate him further. Eventually I change the subject. "So….how is your back doing anyway?"

In reply, Gale twists around and lifts up his shirt for me to see. His back is still as muscular as ever, but grotesque scars cover nearly the entire thing, circling up all the way to the nape of his neck. I can see every slash Gale took from the whip etched clearly, and it takes me back to that awful day. I cringe.

"Not too pretty, huh?" asks Gale.

I shake my head. Given what I witnessed that day, however, it's a miracle that the scars are the only thing you can see now, that he looks perfectly normal until he lifts his shirt. I muster up the courage to tell him so. "I'm just glad you're okay. You could have died. And everything I'm doing, the wedding….it's all for our families, you know." How I feel about Peeta is irrelevant at this point. I don't want to be married yet…if ever.

He nods. "I know, Katniss. But the Rebellion just isn't happening fast enough. And in the meantime I'm watching you with him…." He trails off.

I lean over and carefully whisper in his ear. "The Rebellion is happening faster than you think. I don't know much, but from what I hear, about half the Districts are doing something. We have something in the works for the Quell."

Gale's eyes widen. He goes to ask me for additional details, but I cut him off before he gets the chance.

"And Peeta-" Just saying his name makes me lean back, away from Gale. I try to summarize my complicated feelings for the boy with the bread, but I can't. But I do know that the kiss he and I shared the other night has me thinking differently about him than I ever have before. And I do know that I don't want to share any of this with Gale. I eventually give up and change the subject. "Look, we aren't supposed to be talking out in the open like this. I'm not supposed to be talking with you, period. You need to give things time to unfold. A few months from now, things might be very different. But right now, I need to concentrate on training Prim; Reaping Day is less than a month away. That is all I have time to focus on." My voice hardens defensively. I would gladly exchange my life now for my old one, if that meant I didn't have to worry about my sister like I have the last couple of months. Except for maybe Peeta.

Gale softens, nods sympathetically. I think he realizes for the first time in a while that while my life is superficially better than it was, better than his, I have legitimate worries and fears now just as I did then. Winning the Games didn't make my problems go away- and as hard as his life has been, he's never had to worry about the Games except on Reaping Day- either for him or his family. He clears his throat. "Can, I, um, do anything to help?"

"Well, since we could probably get in big trouble if we're caught associating, I would say that I should tell you no," I reply. "But we'll be here pretty much every evening for the next month, working on climbing trees. And if you happened to show up a night or two to teach Prim some better snares than I can, I wouldn't be mad at you for it."

Gale nods. "Okay. When I'm not working, I'll be here hunting anyway. How about tomorrow?"

I nod, all of a sudden weary and tired. The day has been exhausting, and this conversation is not helping. I check on Prim, lying down, eyes closed, but not breathing heavily in the case of sleep. "Prim?" I say as I nudge her gently.

"Yeah, I'm ready to go home," she replies. "I think I've had enough climbing for one day." She smiles and sits up abruptly. I am waiting for her to feel woozy from the drop in blood pressure, but she's ready to go. She makes her way to her feet, and Gale and I follow her lead.

"Well…..see you tomorrow then, Gale," I say, and Prim and I start off towards the fence.

"It was good to see you girls. Bye, Prim. See you, Catnip." Gale waves and turns back the other way.

After a few steps, I turn around and watch Gale walking away for a moment. I feel sad. Because we will never be what we once were; we will never get those Sundays back. The Capitol has killed it. And by the time we might be in a position for things to be anywhere close to that again, too much will have changed. A lone tear slips down my cheek.

But as I walk towards the Victor's Village, hoping that Prim and Paavo will have their own places there soon, thinking of Haymitch, and of Peeta, I start to feel more and more like I am going home.