The Rebel Queen

19

I look over at Peeta as I duck into our tent, still smiling from the pleasant reception at the Solstice. He is sharing some parting words with Tigris, her hand resting softly on his arm. I stand in  the doorway a moment and Peeta glances my way. His eyes are kind of worried but he turns to Tigris and nods.

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you Tigris," He says, just loud enough for me to hear. "For now, I think my Lady and I will retire to bed for the night. Even on a night like this, dawn fast approaches." They both look at me and I blink, trying to figure out what they could have been talking about. Peeta turns and walks towards me and I see Tigris pull up her hood, ducking away.

"What was that about?" I ask and he shakes his head.

"Nothing for you to worry about, Darling," He says, slipping his hand around my waist and pulling me into the tent.

"You seem troubled though" I say softly and Peeta glances at me, shaking his head.

"It was just Tigris being Tigris," he says. "She had some silly dream about the sky wolves and thought I should know. I blink and shake my head. 

"Because of your dreams after I left?" I ask. "Sometimes a wolf is just a wolf." He sighs and shakes his head. 

"The more she sees and it adds up to my own life, I find it very hard to dispute," He says and I take a step towards him.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"The wolf, " He sighs shaking his head. "I told you I saw him, but not exactly what I saw." 

"And I told you, if there were no reason or if it was too painful, you didn't have to share dreams like that with me," I say but he shakes his head. He grabs his kettle and a bundle of tea leaves, setting them on the fire and sitting on our bed.

"It was always night, with a roaring storm over head," Peeta says. "In front of me, a wolf, it's coat seemingly made of gold, and eyes just a piercing, He glowed against the dark and everywhere he stepped was dry for a moment, as though sundently quenching the earth of all moisture." I blink at him and slowly kneel on the ground near him. "Something about him, it told me to follow him. I could tell he was searching for something, his sky like eyes glowing as he scented something on the wind and he began to run." I watch as he stares at the fire, resting his chin on his knees. I fold my hands over my middle as I listen to him continue the story.

"I followed him for hours in this stormy dream, my footsteps matching the dry places the wolf left. He stopped suddenly at the entrance of a cave a I could see, inside there were two glowing silver eyes, intense if not more so thon the wolf's. As the wolf took a step towards it, the eyes disappeared, the creature he had been chasing receding further into the cave. The light around the golden wolf illuminated the cave as he entered and he stepped over a hammer, turning his head to me as though asking me to join his hunt for the one he was seeking in the cave." He sighs and shakes his head. "As I would kneel down and wrap my hand around the leather handle, the dream would always end before I could join the hunt."

"What does this have to do with the sky wolves?" I ask and he glances at me.

"She told you, didn't she?" Peeta says. "About the sun and the moon visions she had the day of 12. How she believes that we each represent one of the sky bodies." I blink at him.

"She did," I say. I reach my hand around my neck for the golden bird in the circle of the sun.

"Do you believe in them?" He asks and nod slowly.

"When she said that, I remembered how we always called one another those nicknames when we were younger," I say, looking down and letting go of the necklace. "How we still call one another those names from time to time."