A/N: You guys have been amazing. Thank you so much for the reviews, follows and faves.

The song Peeta hears Katniss sing in this and the next chapter is "Lovesong" © 1989 The Cure. You can find amazing covers of this song in nearly any genre. It is (IMO) a testament to the songwriting skills of Robert Smith that this New Wave song from 25 years ago translates so easily in bluegrass, bossa nova, reggae, R&B, etc.

I used the traditional American folk song "Down in the Valley" as lyrics for the Valley Song.

Many thanks to my amazing (and extremely patient) beta for this chapter, dandelionsunset.

Chapter 11—rehearsal (Katniss POV)

After dinner, Katniss washed up and then walked to the Undersee's. As she got closer to the Mayoral Mansion, she started to get a little nervous about singing in front of total strangers. Maybe she'd sing one song and Rye would send her home. Katniss didn't much like that thought but told herself that if she was kicked out of the group, it would at least solve the issue of who was walking her home at night. It was not a very comforting thought.

Madge and Rye were waiting for her when she arrived, looking quite pleased with themselves. Together, they told her about the Mayor's visit to the bakery. Madge had been home when Mr. Mellark had arrived on their doorstep, asking to speak with her father. "I was the one who suggested that we make it look like Peeta was doing me this huge favor by having him walk you home. Even if I hadn't come up with it, Dad would have done it anyway. He isn't overly fond of Mrs. Mellark."

Rye snorted, "Neither are her sons. But whatever, your dad was brilliant this afternoon. I'm going to go downstairs and get set up. You coming, Everdeen?"

"I'll be right there. I need to talk with Madge real quick." Katniss waited for Rye to leave and turned to Madge. "I don't know what you said to Gale today, but he stopped by my house and apologized. He's going to stop by here around 8:00 and apologize to you, too."

Madge had a very satisfied look on her face. "I didn't tell him anything he didn't already know. I'm glad he apologized to you, though. How did it go?"

Katniss frowned. "It was a little weird. He thought we were..." Katniss just sort of gestured with her hands. She really needed to learn how to talk. Luckily, Madge seemed to know what she meant.

"Gale thought you two were going to eventually wind up together." Madge stated and Katniss nodded in response. "What did you tell him?"

"That I didn't feel that way. I felt really bad, though, because Gale's more than just a friend to me. He's...I'm not even sure how to put it."

"I do," said Madge. "He's family."

Katniss felt something click inside her. That was exactly right. Gale was family. "Anyway," said Katniss, "we cleared the air, at least."

Madge asked, "Is he going to start walking you home again?"

"No, I told him Peeta was going to and he seemed to accept it. Which reminds me—um, are you trying to get Peeta to notice you?"

Madge giggled. "No, absolutely not. I mean, I certainly want you home safely. But if I wanted Peeta to notice me, why on earth would I send him home with you? Besides, Peeta already has his eye on someone."

Katniss frowned a little. She hadn't known that. And anyway, what did she care? She had decided a long time ago that she was never falling in love. Peeta could have his eye on anybody, it wasn't her business.

Katniss headed downstairs and chatted a little while Rye tuned his guitar. They were shortly joined by three teenage boys carrying instruments.

Rye introduced Katniss to everyone. Marsh Brocket played flat pick guitar. He was a tall, gangly kid with light brown hair that stuck up in every direction. He had a sleepy look about him. He didn't utter a single word when Rye introduced him to Katniss. Instead, he nodded at her and solemnly shook her hand. Then he set up his guitar over his knees, closed his eyes and started tuning the strings.

Dalton Cartwright was their bass player. He was Delly's older brother. Like his sister, he had puffy blond hair, pale blue eyes and a relentlessly cheerful disposition. He took Katniss' hand in both of his and then pumped it up and down for a full minute while he told her how thrilled they were that she was going to be singing for them, what an honor it was for him to be in the Mayor's house and did he mention how excited he was to have Katniss as part of the band?

Rye finally lost patience and had physically removed Dalton's hands from Katniss. "Dalton! Down! Bad Dalton!"

Dalton looked confused. "Why are you talking to me like that?"

"So you won't pee on the carpet," said Rye. He then introduced her to Mandor Guy. Mandor was short, not much taller than Katniss but everything else about him was big. Big hands, big mouth, a big nose that looked like it had been squashed, big ears, broad shoulders. His blond hair was in a buzz cut and he had blue eyes. He brought both a banjo and a mandolin. He had the deepest voice Katniss had ever heard. Mandor didn't speak, he rumbled. Katniss was interested to see how someone with hands as large as his could play an instrument as small and delicate as a mandolin.

After introductions were made, Rye said, "Well, before we get to far into this, I guess we need to make sure our singer can actually sing. I thought we'd start with the Valley Song, since everybody knows it, it gets played at every single festival, grand opening and toasting and it should give us an idea for how we work together as a group."

Dalton played the three lead-in notes and then the boys started a fairly uptempo rendition of the song. Katniss waited until they had played through the intro and at Rye's nod, started singing:

Down in the valley, the valley so low,

Hang your head over, hear the wind blow.

Hear the wind blow, dear, hear the wind blow,

Hang your head over, hear the wind blow.

Katniss glanced at Rye to see his reaction. Rye was smiling and looked a little relieved. He kept playing, so Katniss kept singing. They played through the rest of the song. When it was done, Katniss looked at the rest of the members of the band. There was a beat of silence, then Mandor growled out, "Fuckin' A, man. What's next?"

And just like that, Katniss had been accepted.

"OK, here's what we're going to do," Rye announced. "I need to get a feel for how we sound together, so we're going to do one run through of a song and then move on to the next one. We'll focus on songs that get played at both toastings and festivals. No stopping for mistakes, save your questions for later and look to me for tempo changes. Got it?"

Dalton raised his hand.

"I just said no questions, Cartwright."

Dalton put his hand down.

They started. Rye was clearly working on love songs for the moment. A lot of them weren't really bluegrass but they were popular and people would expect to hear them at toastings.

As they played, Rye would walk up to each person in the band, close his eyes and keep playing his guitar. After a few bars, he'd open his eyes, move to another musician, and then repeat the process. Katniss didn't know what he was listening for, exactly, but Rye clearly did. After each song, he'd move somebody around. Once or twice he walked to the other side of the room while they played.

Finally, he seemed to have them in an arrangement he was satisfied with. They stood in a semi-circle, with Katniss front and center.

After about an hour, Madge and her father came downstairs with cookies and drinks. While they ate, they discussed what they should name the band. Nobody seemed have anything very catchy. Rejects included:

The Merchant Boys (Katniss: "I'm neither one of those, Dalton.")

The Rye Mellark Bluegrass Revue (Mandor: "No fuckin' way, Rye.")

Coal Miner's Daughter (Rye: "I'm neither one of those, Dalton. And neither are you.")

Coal Dust Country (Rye: "Shit, Mandor, that makes us sound like hillbillies. No.")

Warrior Everdeen and her Merry Band of Men (Katniss: "That's a joke, right? Oh my god, Rye.")

Just before 8:00, Madge excused herself upstairs. Katniss guessed she was waiting for Gale to arrive and deliver his apology. They started rehearsing again, only now Rye stopped to tell them what he wanted, or to work out a part somebody might be having trouble with. The Mayor stayed to listen. Katniss was worried she was going to be nervous about singing in front of the Mayor but Rye kept her too busy to think about it. After 20 minutes or so, Madge returned back downstairs. She looked happy, so Katniss guessed that Gale had delivered his apology.

Katniss was seriously impressed with just how good all four boys were. Mandor could play every single song on either the mandolin or the banjo. They had completely different sounds, so what was a lilting love song when he used the mandolin could make you tap your feet and dance when he played the banjo. Dalton could riff any bass line Rye threw at him, no matter how complex, although he tended to rush through the slower songs.

Katniss liked watching Marsh the most. Marsh usually played with his eyes closed but never, ever, missed an entrance. Sometimes, he would take a small liberty with his part and then squint open one eye to see if Rye noticed. Rye would catch the little change, repeat it on his own guitar and send it back to Marsh. It was fun, like watching little boys playing catch.

As for Rye, it was clear that he had more than just an ability to play the guitar. He could take any melody and spin endless variations on it. He knew exactly what he wanted out of all five of them at any point in a song. Best of all, he didn't treat Katniss any differently than he did the guys.

The last song they worked on that night was "Lovesong." Katniss thought the lyrics were kind of boring and repetitive:

Whenever I'm alone with you,

You make me feel like I am home again.

Whenever I'm alone with you,

You make me feel like I am whole again.

And so on. Still, it had a pretty melody and it was a crowd pleaser. Rye encouraged all of them to take some liberties with their parts. Katniss made the melody soar towards the last half of the song instead of repeating the melody over and over. Rye liked it and had them run through it a second time.

Suddenly, Madge and the Mayor were standing up, Peeta was in the doorway and it was time to go home. Katniss looked at the clock. It was after 10:00. She could not believe how quickly the evening had passed. She realized with a small shock that she hadn't worried about anything for the last few hours. Not one single thing. Not her talk with Gale, not hunting, not food or provisions, not school...nothing.

Rye stopped her briefly as she was leaving. "Good rehearsal, Everdeen. I'm glad you're here. Can you do this again tomorrow night?" Katniss told him she could.

Katniss joined Madge and Peeta. Madge looked like she'd been crying and she gave Katniss a little hug. "Katniss, you guys are wonderful. I can't wait to hear you guys tomorrow night." Katniss hugged her back but wondered what had gotten into her friend. Madge was usually pretty reserved.

Madge walked them to the back door and invited Prim to join them the following night. Then Peeta and Katniss left.

Peeta and Katniss walked along in a comfortable silence. Katniss' mind was still back at the Undersee's house, going over the evening and how quickly the time had gone by. After a few minutes, though, Katniss came out of reverie and looked over at Peeta. He looked at her from under his eyelashes and smiled at her. "Everything OK?"

"Yeah, I'm ok. I just-" Katniss shook her head, unsure how to say what she was feeling. Peeta just let her be as she gathered her thoughts. "I'm not very good with words." Her inability to say what she thought was really starting to frustrate her.

"Are you upset?" Peeta prompted.

"No, not upset. I just wasn't expecting to the time to go by so quickly."

"That happens to me sometimes when I paint," Peeta said. "A whole afternoon can go by and I'm not even aware of time passing."

"I didn't know you painted. Are your paintings as good as your cakes?"

Peeta was smiling at her again. "Well, I don't know that they compare very well. They're very different from each other. My cakes taste better, though."

Katniss nearly asked him if she could see them but then remembered what Madge said—that he had his eye on somebody. Would asking to see his artwork make it seem like she was interested in him? Katniss didn't know, so she changed the subject. "Hey, what was up with Madge at the end of the rehearsal? She looked like she'd been crying."

Peeta grinned. "Your singing literally reduced her to tears."

"I'm that bad?" Katniss worried.

"God, no, Katniss. You have an amazing singing voice. "

"Hmmm. That reminds me—where did you learn I could sing? You said it was a story for another time and we have time." Even in the dark, Katniss could see Peeta blush.

Peeta took a deep breath and blew it out between his lips. "Do you remember our very, very first day we went to school, when we were little?"

"No."

"Ok, well my dad was walking me to school. He pointed you out to me. He told me that he had wanted to marry your mother but that she had run off with a coal miner, instead. I asked him why and he said, 'because when he sings, the birds stop to listen.'"

"That's true. They did stop," Katniss whispered. She didn't know what she had expected Peeta to say but she sure wasn't expecting it to be a story about her father.

"Anyway," Peeta continued, "later that day, the teacher asked if anybody knew the words to the Valley Song. Your hand shot up in the air. She had you stand on a chair and when you sang—well, the birds stopped to listen."

Katniss was floored. She only had the vaguest of memories of that day. "I can't believe you still remember that, Peeta. It was so long ago. I only barely remember it myself," she admitted.

"I've never forgotten it, Katniss. I don't think you understand the effect you have on people."

Katniss was looking at him now. Peeta was looking her right in the eyes and she wasn't sure what his expression meant. He looked so serious.

Thank him, she thought. I should thank him now for the bread. If he remembered about a song she sang exactly once when they were five, had had to remember that he took a beating for burning that bread. But the expression on his face was so solemn, so grave, that she didn't want to remind him of being hurt.

So instead, she asked, "Why was Rye giving you such a hard time about it?"

Peeta groaned and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes for a moment before wiping his face with both hands. Katniss was pleased to see he was smiling again, though. "Because he's Rye. Honestly, I was...kinda terrified you'd kill me for telling him about you. And he knew I was terrified. He couldn't pass up the chance to embarrass me."

Katniss was confused. "Why would I care who you told? And why were you terrified of me?"

"Because you're a very private person. Who kills things."

The idea that Peeta was afraid of her was the funniest thing Katniss had heard in a long time. For gods' sakes, this boy was on the wrestling team! "Peeta, I kill squirrels. And bunny rabbits. You lift bags of flour that weigh more than I do, plus you're twice my size. I think you can take me in a fight."

Peeta grinned back at her. "Oh, it would never get to that point. I'd just throw myself at your feet and beg for mercy."

Katniss realized that they had arrived at her house. The lamps were still on downstairs. Katniss could guess why; her mother was waiting up for her and clearly expected her to bring in Peeta to meet her. She cringed inwardly at the thought of Peeta seeing how poor they really were but-it was only polite and proper for a young man to meet the mother of the girl he was walking home every night.

Katniss invited him in and introduced Peeta to her mother.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Everdeen. I'm Peeta Mellark." He shook her hand. "I'll be escorting Katniss home from my brother's rehearsals." They made small talk for a few minutes, then Peeta said, "Katniss, see you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow," Katniss replied and escorted him back to the door. He gave her a small wave and a gentle smile, then walked out into the darkness.

While Mrs. Everdeen extinguished the lamps, Katniss told her about the other band members and that she thought they were off to promising start. Mrs. Everdeen listened with a distracted air. As Katniss was lighting a couple of candles for them, Mrs. Everdeen said, "He looks just like his father did at that age."

"Who does?" Katniss asked. But she knew.

"Peeta Mellark. He looks just like Farl did, before he grew so unhappy." She sighed, kissed Katniss goodnight and went to bed.

Katniss looked out the window into the blackness of the Seam. The thought of Peeta marrying some witch like his mother and becoming unhappy like his father made her sad. He deserved some sweet Merchant girl who would adore him and give him lots of blond, blue-eyed babies. But the thought of Peeta marrying somebody like that made Katniss sad, too, although she wasn't sure why. She finally put the whole matter out of her mind and went to bed.