The Rebel Queen

6

Walking into the dark of my tent, I carefully kneel down next to the fire. Peeta is outside, talking to the people he met, telling them about the process of shoeing the dreaded Kelpie. Everyone who witnessed this simple feat is amazed that a  "snowflake" was able to tame her when no warrior could even get close enough to even feed her.

I smile to myself as I pull out my new weapon supplies. Picking up the arrowheads from the broken arrows of a few days ago, I begin binding the new shafts with sinew string. I hum to myself and  listen to the crackling of the wood as I work, thankful for the peace and quiet finally allowed to me. People speaking in happy voices outside, but I drown them out as I work, needing just a moment to be myself, to be myself. 

The tent rustles and Peeta walks in, the door falling back down as he walks in. I glance at him and he smiles at me. "Your people are very impressed by a simple act of shoeing a horse. They gave me this meat to make dinner." He holds out the back leg of a deer and I chuckle.

"Considering there are more than a few of them that got a swift kick to their genitals from Kelpie, They would respect a man who was able to come away from her unscathed," I say and he smirks, carefully setting the meat on the rocks by the fire. 

"Do you have any poles for me to roast this with?" He asks and I nod my head towards the spare wood in the corner.

"Knock yourself out," I say. "I don't cook in here, or at all really, so you will probably need to track down salt and such for it." Peeta walks past me and I place my arrows down. "You are settling in well?"

"Yes, thank you, Katniss," He says, grabbing some wood to set the long flat cooking stone on top of. "And this may not be the most ideal time, but where am I to stay, permanently? I don't want to impose on you, seeing as you are who you are." I set my weapons down and look up at him. 

"Do you wish to leave?" I ask. Peeta looks at me, blinking a moment. He walks around the fire and I keep my eyes trained on him.

"You don't want me to?" He says and I slowly stand, my long braid falling to my side

"I offered you shelter," I say. "I meant what I said, that you can remain in this tent. You don't have to leave." Peeta looks away from me and walks around me. 

"I know what the others think of me," He says. "It isn't the first time I have been called a snowflake. I don't think it is a good idea for me to stay here, for there to be whispers about you and I, with who you are." I look at him and shake my head. 

"Would you want to leave me?" I ask, walking around him and gathering my weapons. "If the whispers were not there, would you still wish to leave this tent?" Peeta swallows nervously and I step closer to him. I feel my heart beating and he takes a step back.

"Katniss," He says, "If it did not matter, I would never leave your side again. But your men, they may respect what happened today, but that did not win their respect for the snowflake." I reach out and grab onto his wrist. I hold up his fist and look at the scarred and calloused hand, abused by years of working the ovens of the bakery.

"You have my respect," I say, I run my fingers across the leather bad, the crown I wear, still wrapped around his wrist. "That is all that should matter. Those arrogant cockheads that judge you on your appearance are the same ones who took over a year to accept that I was the Valkyrie that Tigris envisioned. I do not care what they think of you. I know your worth. If you wish to remain here, I will hear no more of it, and you are permitted to keep your bed on the south side of the fire." He blinks at me and brings my hand to his lips, kissing my knuckles.

"Who am I to argue the will of a queen?" He says softly and I smile, glancing at the meal cooking. I look back at Peeta and chuckle, looking at his messy, well worn clothes from the last few days. I let go of his hand and walk to the pile of clothes I had traded with Gale's mother, the laundress for. I pick them up and hold them out to him. "What is this?"