Three days earlier...

Neither Gale nor Peeta pretended to be happy as they met on the train platform. Peeta was the nearly official leader of what remained of District 12. Gale had been a successful reporter in District 2, working in that capacity to investigate the fates of District 12 residents who had been transferred before its "liquidation" by the Capitol. He stepped off the train, and three others followed: Johanna Mason, Hunger Games champion of District 7, Victoria Gimble, one of the "mole people" of District 13, and a man of perhaps fifty, dressed in sackcloth with a big placard fastened to his clothes that read: I AM ROMULUS THREAD HEAD PEACEKEEPER OF DISTRICT 12. I PLANNED THE GENOCIDE OF 9,000 CITIZENS OF PANEM.

Curious onlookers approached the platform. Some wore ordinary clothes, some mining uniforms of bygone days, and a fair number wore the gray uniforms of Restorers, former peace keepers conscripted as laborers in wartime reparations. Most of them clearly recognized Thread, and even his former comrades were clearly anything but friendly. "Bet you wish President Paylor hadn't abolished the death penalty," Peeta muttered to Thread.

"I wish they would get this placard right," Thread answered, neither loud nor quietly. "Remember, that's why I'm helping you."

"How about you sing for your supper, Confessor?" Johanna said.

When the new government had proposed replacing the death penalty with life-long servitude, just as the Capitol had done with citizens convicted of treason, they had proposed a provision said to be worse than execution: Rather than being rendered mute like the Avoxes, the Confessors would be required to recite on demand the crimes for which they were convicted. Thread surveyed the crowd, and waved his hands almost in an exagerated shrug. "Let's call a spade a spade, shall we?" he said. "I am Romulus Thread. I submitted a feasibility study."

Three big men stepped forward, all wearing miner's helmets. The leader had burns over half his face. Then someone cut in front of them all, grinning broadly. "Hey Vickee how you doing?" Haymitch Abernathy said. He went right up to the mole woman, threw his arms around her, and kissed her on the lips. "Johanna, long time no see! And Gale, you could use a phone once in a while!" He threw an arm around Gale, and then looked to the peacekeeper. "And you, how about we get you into something more comfortable."

The crowd parted, and the group of five marched away in the direction of Victory Village. Gale walked alongside Peeta, both of them trying to look amicable. But it clearly had little effect on the villagers who gathered to watch. Every face could have told the tale, if not of what had transpired then of the impressions they had made on their fellow men. Gale was the hero who had saved the District, only to leave his people behind. Peeta was the awkward black sheep who in many eyes had betrayed his people, but had risen tentatively to leadership. Before that, they had been rivals in a tragic love triangle for the heart of Katniss Eberdeen.

It was Gale who finally spoke: "How's Katniss?"

"Married," Peeta said curtly. After a tense moment, he added, "We had the wedding a couple months ago. Everybody came. I mean, literally, everybody in Twelve showed up. Katniss wanted to invite you. I said you wouldn't come."

"How sweet. Are you still sleeping together?" Johanna said. "You were so cute together in the last Games. Like racoons with a can of pineapple they can't open." Peeta's face flushed. Gale would have smirked, but Johanna had already had the entire train ride to get back under his skin.

"What's she doing here?" Peeta said.

Gale shrugged. "We work together, on and off. She asked for the assignment. I think they accepted her because Katniss said no. Who knows, maybe she threatened to eat somebody again."

Peeta looked back at Johanna, then at Gale. "You didn't... Oh yeah, you did."

"It wasn't like that," Gale said.

"Well, promise you won't tell me what it was like," Peeta said, "and I won't talk any more about Katniss."

Dinner was at Peeta's house, which had been repurposed as an administrative building. Dilly Cartwright was on hand to cook, and Romulus served and poured without being asked. Johanna did most of the talking. "So, what's new in Twelve?" she said.

"We found another twelve bodies last week," Peeta said. "They tried taking shelter in a blacksmith's forge. Smoke inhalation got them. We might be able to identify them."

"That makes, what, 5,000?" Johanna said. "Then there's 839 who made it to 13... 100 guestworkers in 2, 50 of whom Gale found alive... 100 the Capitol interned... those people in the woods, was it two dozen?... I guess that leaves 4,000 to go, dead or alive. Of course, that's what we're here for."

"We are here for far more than that," Romulus said. "If there are more survivors of 12, they are not necessarily safe. If they are not safe, and perhaps even if they are, then all Panem may be in danger."

"Whatever," said Johanna. "So, Peeta, people are still asking... Are you and Katniss going to try for another baby?"

He sighed. "She wants to wait," he said, meeting a pointed gaze from Gale. He looked to Haymitch, who had been chatting intermittently with the mole woman. "How about you fill me in on what's going on with these two? I think Katniss knows, but she won't tell me."

"I'll tell you when you get your own business straightened out," Haymitch answered.

"I'm the District 13 liaison to 12," Victoria said coolly. "I was assigned to work with Haymitch to compile data on the pre-Rebellion district. He has been helpful."

Haymitch looked back more knowingly. "Come on," he said, "I'm old enough to be her dad."

"Haymitch," Victoria said, with a hint of redness creeping in around the ears, "I'm twenty-eight..."

"Trust me," Haymitch said, "in Twelve, I'm old enough."

As Romulus and Dilly cleared the plates, Peeta excused himself. "Say hello to Katniss for me," Johanna told him. "I'm sorry she couldn't come over. I hope we can see her before we go."

"I'm sure Katniss will make time to see you," Peeta said, looking at Gale. "Good bye."

"Good luck," Johanna called after him. "You know... with trying." He left, flushing again.

"Peeta instructed that the master bedroom be prepared for Gale," Dilly said. "There are guest bedrooms upstairs. He asked me to leave for the night, in case you want privacy." With that, she walked out the door. Romulus was already lumbering upstairs. Haymitch and Victoria followed, talking quietly. A door shut, and another. Gale and Johanna listened for a moment, and heard a third door shut.

Gale and Johanna looked to the door of the master bedroom. "I should go upstairs," Gale said. "It's the chivalrous thing."

"Thanks," said Johanna. "Just as well. Sometimes, I grind my teeth in my sleep, and who knows where that might lead." She went in the bedroom and almost shut the door.

"Who knows," Gale muttered, and went upstairs.