A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review! Apologies but I won't have much time to add to this in the next month or so. Will try to get something new posted when I can.
We say goodbye in one of the hangars, along with all the other families. Not knowing many of the district 13 people, I stay near the Everdeens while Katniss and Gale say those goodbyes. Though we sometimes sit with them at meals, Prim seems to have matured without my noticing. It doesn't take long to see that Rory has not been so oblivious.
It's hard to believe that a year ago I still thought of Katniss as a young girl. I had already started accepting that Gale really was all grown up. After all he was almost more father than brother to Vick and Posy. Still, seeing them in their soldierly uniforms, stoically waiting to head into battle, seems totally wrong. I want to drag them both out of here and protect them from whatever might face them in the Capitol.
Katniss gives me a hug. It's not often I feel compelled to advise the girl but now the words just slip out. "Take care of yourself," I tell her. She steps back, looking me in the eye and nodding seriously. She says goodbye to the kids, ruffling Vick's hair, kissing Posy's cheek.
Gale is saying something to Carolyn Everdeen. As I watch he turns to our family. His eyes meet mine for just a moment before going to Rory. I hear him say, "You're the man of the house now, Rory. You have to be brave for me and help Ma. ..." I choke up thinking about what he's done for his brothers and sister, everything he's given up and risked for them. After Rory is Vick, who is already crying. Gale just hugs him, wordlessly at first, then murmuring, "it's alright, Vick. We're gonna win this war and I'll be back before you know it." I can feel the tears threatening before he even turns to face me.
I tell him, "I love you Gale. I'm so proud of you. And I know ... your father would be too." Then my voice wavers and I cut myself off before I break down.
He hugs me and answers, "I love you too, Ma." He doesn't say anything else, but I think of all our conversations about the war. I know he considers this the ultimate step to protecting his siblings. No more reapings, that's what it comes down to for him. I know he'd do anything to keep them safe. I just hope this doesn't become his last gift to them.
"Just come home safe," I whisper. We both have wet eyes when Posy breaks apart our hug, clamoring for attention and forcing smiles on our faces. He'll come home, I tell myself. He's a survivor.
By the time Gale and Katniss board their hovercraft, Rory is trying to comfort Prim and Carolyn is withdrawn into herself. Carolyn and I aren't close, but we have come to know each other through our children's friendship, and after all we are both going through the same thing right now. "Why don't you come to our place for a cup of tea?" I offer. She gives me a half smile and nods in agreement.
Back in our unit the kids all head to the main room unbidden, the homiest spot available for them to commiserate. I put the kettle on and Carolyn perches uneasily in a chair at the table, a simple utilitarian thing.
Though we weren't close, I had spent a few nights with her and Prim during the games. While I had been feeling helpless watching Gale in district 12, she had truly been helpless as Katniss faced the arena twice. Now we were both helpless to what would happen to our children in the war against the Capitol.
I am not ready to console and commiserate, with our children so freshly departed for war, so instead I ask how she's been liking the medical center here. She says it's been good, to be in a community of people instead of working on her own with just Prim. She starts to tell me about Prim being trained in medicine, but emotion takes over and she breaks off.
"They'll look after each other. They have for years," I say.
She nods, tears in her eyes. "We were finally feeling like a family again," she answers with a sigh.
Most of what I know about Carolyn has come through our children, but in this moment sitting with another anxious mother, I see her perspective better. Katniss and Gale were raised in the Seam, they'd known nothing else. In their adolescent certainty it's no wonder they've judged her so harshly. But as I look across at Carolyn, I see the woman from town, who fell in love so many years ago and gave up her comfortably life to move to the Seam. Their families hadn't approved of the marriage. She had to find her own way through the hardships. And maybe when our husbands were killed in the mines, it was too much for her. But she had no one. And she's still here fighting. In a rush of empathy and shared feeling, I tell her, "We'll get through this together."