I lay my hand on top of Peeta's, stroking my fingers over the grooves of his bones and knuckles. My life seems to much less complicated, laying against him by our dwindling fire. In the dead of night, I accepted his proposal to court me, and for now, I will enjoy that part of my life.

Peeta stirs a little and his other hand brushes my hair from my shoulder, kissing my bare skin softly. I sigh and I lean back a little. Peeta chuckles and grips on to my hand. 

"I should probably go fetch more firewood," He says and I shake my head, groaning. 

"I don't wanna move," I groan and he sighs, gripping onto my hand. 

"Well, as comfortable as this is, that fire is going to go out and it's going to get cold in here," He says, kissing my cheek.  "Besides, I need to start drawing up plans for the winter food stores. It needs to be perfect if I'm gonna try to convince people to follow it." I sigh, sitting up. 

"You will be fine," I say. "You are good with your words. You will find something that translates well." I let go of his hand and get up, stretching. "I'll even let you skip training if you want to work on it." I grab a long green dress and duck into the shadows so I can get dressed. 

Peeta gets up and walks over to his own pile of clothes, carefully getting dressed for the cold outside. My warm woolen dress slides over my head and I use the ties to tighten it to my body. Smoothing it out, I move to my waist belt and tie it around my middle. I see Peeta coming over out of the corner of my eye and he gently lays his head on my shoulder his arms around my middle. 

"What is it?" I ask and he just shakes his head. 

"It still feels like a dream," He says, "Until I reach down and feel that hammer on my chest, and realize it was all real." I glance at him and sigh.

"I think it would be best not to brag outside this tent just yet," I say softly. "I want to be very certain that they have a better acceptance of you." I look down a little and he holds me tighter. 

"As long as I can call you mine here, I will not judge you for keeping me a secret. As long as it isn't permanent silence," He chuckles and I grip onto his hand. "It is not a permanent arrangement, right?" 

"I will announce it to my council when the time is right," I say. "When this isn't so brand new and the possibility of marriage is more imminently on the table."

"Oh I intend to marry you as soon as you would let me," He says. 

"Let's not be rash, Peeta," I say and he lifts his head from my shoulder. "I agreed to allowing you to court me. We are not betrothed and if you asked me this instant, you know my answer would be no. Now is not the time for me to think of marriage. Not with winter raging outside." He nods and kisses my cheek. 

"I just want a chance to see if this really could be something," He says. 

"I agree," I say. "And I'm letting that happen. But it just can't be anything too complicated just yet." Peeta nods and I feel one of his hands come up and stroke through my hair. 

"Can I at least tie up your hair?" He asks, his voice a little crestfallen. "Follow just a little of the tradition?" 

"Of course you can," I say. I turn around and look at him and hold onto his hand. "Just because I'm not ready to shout from the treetops doesn't mean I'm going to stop showing you any of the perks of courting me. That would be a losing battle with how we already spend every minute inside this tent and most of the time outside together. You can certainly try your hand at it." He smiles and tips my chin up. "I'll even take a stab at doing something with your ragged mop in return."

"Well let's try it then," Peeta says and I walk past him and sit down on my trunk. He sits down next to me and pulls my hair down my back. 

"Just don't pull on it," I say and he chuckles as he starts to run my brush through my hair. 

I feel him carefully remove the tired, messy knots and makes my hair fall in it's long raven curtain. He pulls away a small piece and I feel him start to french plait the sides of my head, creating a fairy like loose crown around the back of my head. He ties it off and braids the remaining strand from these plaits in a loose tail down the middle of my head, letting it lay softly against the unbraided half of my hair. I glance back and he shrugs.

"I hope you don't mind that I didn't tie it all up," Peeta says, "I just figured you might like something different since we aren't training today and you don't need the practicality." I feel my cheeks grow red and he chuckles, kissing my cheek. I run my hand down the length of a loose lock of hair and stand up. 

"It will do," I say. "Now is your turn." 

"You were serious?" he asks nervously and I nod, walking around him and snatching up the hairbrush. 

"Of course I was," I say. "You aren't cutting your hair anymore, I'm going to make sure you look like you belong here and not in a hermit's shack. You are tented with a queen. You are not going to run around like an unwashed sheep dog. 

"Don't make me look too girly," He says and I cuckle, playfully hitting him with the brush.

"I'll make you look like a true Norse warrior," I say. "Not that I've ever tied up a man's hair before, so don't hold it against me too much if it isn't perfect."

I carefully brush out the finger length blonde curls and start twisting them into strands to tie up. I gather them up and tie up a small ponytail with as much as it will reach at the back of his head. I then move on to grab a lock at the nape of his neck and braid it into a simple plait. I knot it off and look over his shoulder. 

"Not bad," He says turning to look in my propped up mirror and I chuckle, kissing his cheek.

"Well, thanks," I say, carefully standing up straight and going to grab a my warm fur vest. I pull it on and grab my deer coat. "I'll leave you to your business then." He looks over at me as I button up the cloak.

"Where are you headed?" Peeta asks, standing up. I move my hands from my buttons and look over at him. 

"I'm going to converse with Tigris and maybe get a reading," I say. "It has been a while and maybe a new shuffle of cards might give me a plan to help stay the winter." He smiles and walks over to me, tipping my chin up to look at him. 

"About us too?" He asks and I shrug. 

"I will tell her, yes, but if there is nothing to tell, I cannot do anything about it," I say and he smiles.

"Just, if she says anything to worry you, about us or anything else," He sighs and lays his hand on my cheek. "Don't bare it alone.  I don't want to find you like I did last night, crying by the fire because you didn't confide in someone." I smile and lay my own hand on his face, leaning my head against his a moment. 

"I will," I reply quietly and Peeta pulls away.

"Goodluck," He says and I nod. 

"Same to you," I reply, my hand falling away from his face. I smile at him before turning and sliding on my boots and ducking out of our tent. 

The snow crunches under my feet, glowing blue under the still dark sky. The tents around me glow faintly with their fading fires and I can hear the light rumblings as people start waking up. I walk slowly through the cold outside world, trying not to disturb the still waking world. a couple of the soldiers dip their heads at me from outside the mess tent as they wait for their coffee. I keep walking past the tents as I move to the outskirts of our village  and the priestess' tent by the river.

Her tent is beautiful, covered in runic sketches and draped in bone wind chimes. I carefully walk up, stopping at the opening and run my hands over the metal chimes that she uses to indicate when someone is there. They ring out, sharp and clear and I take a step back, pulling my cold hand back into my cloak. There is a rustling and the feline face of Tigris pokes out. she notices me and blinks a moment before opening her tent all the way to let me in.

"Welcome, Lady," She says softly and I dip my head, ducking into the warm tent. I pull off my hood and look around a moment. "It has been some time since you sought me out here." I breath in the strong scent of flowery incense and carefully remove my boots. 

"I respect your arts, believe in them even, but it was not the time," I say. 

"You were not happy with my intrusion on your flame," She says walking around me and carefully kneeling down at the fire. "You are very protective of him, I have observed." 

"He has always protected me," I say, removing my cloak and kneeling in front of her as I have for years now.  She smiles and nods, lighting a new stick of incense.

"What have you come to seek?" She asks and I look at my hands. 

"Whatever Freya allows to be revealed," I say. "The war is at a stalemate and winter is setting in. I seek out where I go from here." 

Tigris nods and pulls out her long black obsidian blade. Her long nailed hand reaches out and clutches mine, pulling it over the incense. She carefully slits my palm, making me wince and she watches as my blood pools in my hand. She mumbles in her ancient language and starts to use her fingers to draw runes on my arm in blood. She carefully wraps the hand and looks up at me, her feline like eyes very clear.

"You have chosen a King," She says and I just blink at her.

"I have only agreed to allow him to court me," I say. She blinks at me and I look at the blood on my arm. "But yes, I do believe he will one day be King. But it is not the time yet." Tigris lets go of my hand and starts shuffling her tarot cards.

"He is a good choice," She says. "A strong heart to lead at our side. He is not swayed by self preservation."

"What does any of this have to do with what I am seeking?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"I just make small talk, Lady," She says before carefully pulling a card and smiling to herself. "Though according to this, the King will have everything to do with what you seek." I look at the card and see a blonde child riding a white horse and surrounded by rays of a sun. 

"The Sun child," I say. "What does that have to do with Peeta?" She looks at me and shakes her head.

"He did not tell you, did he?" She says and I shake my head. 

"Does the Sun have some significance?" I ask and she nods.

"The gods showed me, in this temple, before you had returned from the 12th district," She says. "The guiding Moon would finally shine from the light of the Sun. You came here on the back of the horse, glittering with glass and metal shrapnel, held up from your weakness by a stranger, a man with hair of Sun like gold." 

"You believe that the moon means me and that Peeta," I look down at my necklace and she smiles, reaching forward to hold it up and nod.

"He is the spirit that gave you the strength to become the Queen of Rebels," She says. "With the sun by your side, you will only grow stronger." She pulls another card and nods. "He will succeed in his plan to feed the people. This winter will be harsh, but the Sun will prevail in melting the snow and hearts of his new people."

"I had no doubt of that" I say quietly before looking at her. "What of the war?" She looks at a different card and lays it out, showing a woman holding two swords. 

"You will find two warriors," She says. "One of our kind and one of the sea. They will not like them, but you must not be bind to the aid that their counsel would give you. I am unsure beyond that. The visions become hazy."  She looks at my hand and suddenly clasps it.

"What is it?"I ask and she shakes her head. 

"It is nothing," Tigris says. "A flicker of something, but I think I was reaching too far. It is gone now." I nod and pull my hand back. Something in her eyes suggests she knows more than she is telling, but I can't press her. If she cannot tell, for some reason I don't feel that I need to know.

"If you recieve more, you will tell me?" I ask and she nods.

"When all are ready, I will tell you," She says and before I grab my boots, she smirks. "Though I will say, I have a feeling that I will be binding you with your king before winter's end." 

"We shall see what happens," I say, "Thank you, Tigris. I thank you and Freya for what you have shown me, both good and bad." 

I button my coat and nod to her before carefully leaving, confident is some things, but underneath terrified about what shook her so much at the end of the reading.