A Tale of a Boy and His Flower

Training

That morning we join a group that includes Katniss, Johanna and Annie. As well a peeta's friend from 12, Delly. It's something to see Finnick's transformation since our marriage. The broken young man who tried to help me hold it together has now been replaced by someone who radiates life. Finnick's real charms of self-effacing humor and an easygoing nature are on display for the first time. He never lets go of my hand. Not when we walk, not when we eat. I doubt he ever plans to. I seem lost in some daze of happiness.

I'm starving and the stew is so delicious--beef, potatoes, turnips, and onions in a thick gravy--that I have to force myself to slow down. It's the first time we are having real district 10 meat in months. All around the dining hall, you can feel the rejuvenating effect that a good meal can bring on. The way it can make people kinder, funnier, more optimistic, and remind them it's not a mistake to goon living. It's better than any medicine. So I try to make it last and join in the conversation. Sop up the gravy on my bread and nibble on it as I listen to Finnick telling some ridiculous story about a sea turtle swimming off with his hat.

I laugh before I realize he's standing there. Directly across the table, behind the empty seat next to Johanna. Watching Katniss. Katniss chokes momentarily as the gravy bread sticks in her throat.

"Peeta!" I say. "It's so nice to see you out...and about."

Two large guards stand behind him. He holds his tray awkwardly, balanced on his fingertips since his wrist sare shackled with a short chain between them.

"What's with the fancy bracelets?" asks Johanna.

"I'm not quite trustworthy yet," says Peeta. "I can't even sit here without your permission." He indicates the guards with his head.

"Sure he can sit here." I say.

"Yeah. We're old friends," says Johanna, patting the space beside her. The guards nod and Peeta takes a seat. "Peeta and I had adjoining cells in the Capitol. We're very familiar with each other's screams."

"You were there too?" I say, "I didn't know that."

Johanna nods. "You were on his left, I was on his right. Whenever he wasn't chatting with you through that vent he was enjoying my lovely screams."

Annie, who's on Johanna's other side, does that thing where she covers her ears and exits reality. Finnick shoots Johanna an angry look as his arm encircles Annie.

"What? My head doctor says I'm not supposed to censor my thoughts. It's part of my therapy," replies Johanna.

The life has gone out of our little party. Finnick murmurs things to Annie until she slowly removes her hands. I reach for her hand and give it a squeeze. She's been through so much and deserves peace.

Then there's a long silence while people pretend to eat. I try to break it. "Thank you, Peeta. For the cake. It was beautiful."

"My pleasure, Amaryllis," says Peeta, and I hear that old note of gentleness in his voice that I thought was gone forever.

"If we're going to fit in that walk, we better go," Finnick tells me. He arranges both of our trays so he can carry them in one hand while holding tightly to me with the other. "Good seeing you, Peeta."

"You be nice to her, Finnick. Or I might try and take her away from you." It could be a joke, if the tone wasn't so cold. Everything it conveys is wrong. The open distrust of Finnick, the implication that Peeta has his eye on me, that I could desert Finnick, that Katniss does not even exist.

"Oh, Peeta," says Finnick lightly. "Don't make me sorry I restarted your heart." He leads me away after giving Katniss a concerned glance.

We start to take a walk around the complex together.