"Right" I said in a hushed tone, my eye on the turkey who was wandering around a few yards ahead of us "I usually aim at the head, it's a nice clean kill and not quite as messy but, as long as you hit it, I don't really care where you aim."

Peeta nods, positioning the arrow in the bow and aiming it at the turkey. We'd spent a few hours shooting trees, Peeta was a fast learner but I didn't want to try him on anything living until he hit the marker I put there for him. "I'll do my best."

"Just don't over think it."

He nods and takes another quiet step forward before he catches his foot in a hidden rabbit hold, falls over and accidentally lets go of the arrow. We both watch, Peeta still sprawled on the floor, as the arrow flies through the air and hits the turkey straight through the eye. "Well, would you look at that!" He laughs, sitting up.

"Only you, Peeta" I laugh "good shot though."

An hour later, we're sitting beside the creek that Gale and I use for fishing, his traps are still there, loaded with fish which we collect up. Peeta's started a fire and we take a couple of the fish and decide to cook them for lunch. "This is so much more fun when we're not in the games." Peeta states as he watches me gut the second fish.

I nod in agreement. "The games have taken the fun out of it a little" I sigh "it took me a while, after the first games, to get used to hunting again." I hand the second fish over to Peeta and start to sort out some of the other stuff we'd collected; we decide on eating some of the berries as a nice treat.

"How are you coping now?" He asks and I know that he's not just asking about the hunting, he's asking how I'm coping in general.

"Better" I tell him honestly "the boys distract me and you distract me" I say with a smile. "I still get nightmares every now and then but I don't think that they'll ever go away completely. How about you?"

Peeta nods "it's about the same for me. The painting still helps along with you and the boys…I sold my first painting the other day, I forgot to tell you."

"People are buying your paintings?" I ask in surprise "the ones of the games?"

"Yeah; well, it wasn't really related to the games. It was one of you, your mother and Prim; Cinna bought it, figured that it would make a nice present for your mom. He said that she doesn't have that many pictures of you smiling."

I smile now as I am glad, once again, that mom and Cinna found each other. "That's nice of him" I nod.

"That's Cinna for you; he's head over heels in love with her. I bet that she could ask for the world and he'd find a way to get it for her." He pauses for a minute, staring at the cooking fish "that's how I feel about you, you know. You could ask for anything and I'd get it for you…or at last try."

"I don't want the world, Peeta" I say, climbing into his lap and kissing his cheek "I just want you; anything else you give to me is just an added bonus."

"Like the boys?" He asks, smiling

"Exactly. I love the three of you so much; I didn't know that I could ever love anyone or anything so much." I wrap my arms around his neck and we stay there for a while until footsteps alerts us to the fact that we're no longer alone.

"Alright, lovebirds" I hear a familiar voice say "hope you saved us some fish, I'm starved!"

Johanna and Gale plonk themselves down beside us, around the fire. "What are you two doing here?" I ask in surprise "shouldn't you be resting?"

"Pfft" she blew a raspberry "I've had enough rest to last me a life time."

"Haymitch and Effie are looking after the girls." Gale tells me, starting to gut two more fish. "Peeta mentioned that you two were coming out here today and Jo fancied a walk so here we are! Hope you don't mind and I hope we weren't interrupting anything."

I shake my head "of course I don't mind; hey, Peeta shot a turkey straight through the head!"

"No way!" Gale laughs, looking genuinely surprised.

"It was an accident" Peeta chuckles "I tripped and let go of the arrow."

"Hey, a kill is still a kill" Gale nudges him.

"Yep" I grin "and we have a nice fat, juice, turkey for supper tonight!"

Johanna raises her eyebrows at me "it that an open invitation?"

After we've eaten the fish, Gale and I suggest to do a bit more hunting but Peeta and Johanna decide to stay behind.

"I've done enough killing to last a life time" she states "but you guys go ahead."

"My leg aches" Peeta tells us, looking at me "I'll stay too."

I smile at him, knowing that he wasn't particularly keen on leaving Johanna by herself and he wanted to give me time alone with Gale. It doesn't take Gale and I long to get back into our old routine and we return with a couple of pheasants and a large buck.

We check the snares on our way back to the fence, collecting up a dozen or so rabbits before Gale resets them for next time.

"You know we don't have to split the entire haul" Gale tells me as I insist on sharing what we'd brought back.

I shrug "won't hurt, will it? Anyway, I'm going to give some of this to my mother and Prim."

He nods before looking at Johanna who was returning from collecting Jade and Saffy from Haymitch. "See you for supper then?"

"You're bringing the wine" I tell him with a grin.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." He winks at me before running over to his girls and picking Jade up, swinging her around and making her giggle before heading home.

"Ready?" Peeta asks, walking up to me with Reed and Mo trotting alongside him. Mom and Prim had graciously offered to watch them today and it looked like they'd had fun. Both boys were covered head to toe in paint.

I nod before laughing at my boys "wow! Look at you two! Did you run out of paper?"

"Bath time, I think!" My husband grins, scooping Mo up and tickling his tummy, making him squirm.

The next day, we began preparing the hob. It was the same size as the last one but it wasn't quite as rickety; it had been built with bricks, like the houses, so it was more like a very large, one roomed, house.

"This is perfect" I say, standing in the middle and looking around. I was already making a plan of where things could go. Weapon racks along the walls, targets for knife throwing and archery along the far end wall, the climbing net, Finnick had offered to make, to the left of the doors and some other climbing apparatus opposite that. The middle of the room could be used for the practical skills, like making a fire without matches and learning the difference between edible and inedible plants, berries and leaves. If Gale's offer, to teach how to make traps and snares, still stands then I'd place him just to the right of the doors.

It would look a little like the training centre we'd been in, back in the Capitol, but not quite as hi-tech.

"What are you thinking, Katniss?" Peeta asks, his voice echoing around the empty room.

I tell him and he draws up a brief plan for me; suggesting his own ideas as well, moving things around and suggesting ideas for classes, changing them depending on the age of the people who show.

"It'll take a while to put together" I say as we walk back home "but, if we do it well, it'll work."

"With you running things I have no doubt that it will" he laughs. "I'll grab everyone together and show them our plans. I'm sure that they'll still be happy to help."

"Things getting a little mundane for them as well?"

Peeta shrugs "I just think they realise that people really do need to know these skills regardless. From what Gale said, most of twelve were defenceless and didn't know what to do or how to survive after the Capitol bombed us…we don't want another repeat." He smiles, taking my hand as we walk "I think that your mom is going to offer her services as well; setting up a class so that people can mend minor injuries themselves without having to go to her."

"That's a great idea" I say, remembering the mother's who'd go to her for a paper cut or a skinned knee.

"Things are changing, Katniss" he sighs happily "I can feel it; there's more hope, more freedom than there was before. People are happier now. It's so fascinating to watch."

"Maybe you can paint twelve, now that it's almost healed" I suggest

"I'd rather paint it how it was before" Peeta replies "I miss how it looked before; have you been in the new school recently?"

I shake my head "when were you in there?"

"I was supplying some cakes for the grand opening; it's amazing in there, Katniss. They have so much stuff that we didn't before but it feels strange…like a school they'd have in the Capitol."

"Times are changing" I say "we're no longer in the stone age, Peeta, we're finally catching up to where we should have been years ago."

Peeta nods "I know but it still feels strange; it will take a bit of getting used to I guess."

"At least our children will have a better education than we did; no more nonsense about how we owe the Capitol or about how they will have to put their names in a giant glass ball, every year, because of a failed rebellion they were never involved in."

"I thank the stars for that every day" he whispers, his face looking a little grey at the thought of it. "I'm glad you pulled out those berries, Katniss."

And, for the first time since that day, I was able to honestly say "so am I, Peeta."