I sit with my bow in my hand, running my fingers along the grains of the wood. A meal of roast rabbit sets over the fire and I glance across it to look at Kolby, tilting my head a little. I glance at Peeta and sigh, setting down the weapon.

"How did you survive?" I ask and Kolby chuckles looking at his brother.

"She's quite direct," He says and I flick a finger against the bowstring.

"I find it is best to be," I say. "Unlike this one, I do not take joy in hearing my own voice like a bird." 

"May I raise you a question, Lady?" He says, dipping his head to the side a little, almost mockingly. "How did you? Because between a 23 year old man and a half starved 11 year old girl, my bets would be on me." I look at Peeta and smirk, glancing back at the fire. 

"Your brother helped me, gave me rations," I say. "I ran through the forest carrying that and a dream that I would be free. After training long and hard, the camp seer visioned victory on the back of a valkyrie. So I was named Queen." I grab up a piece of dried apple and blink at him, bitting it softly. "Now you." Kolby chuckles and picks up his own piece of fruit.

"I was out slopping the pigs when the fire began to rain down. The bakery was one of the first buildings to go," He glances at his brother and sighs. "Mother, Father, and Leif were still inside. I ran for the cellar. By the time the ground had stopped shaking, I found my way to the woods, but trampled ground just lead in every direction. So I prayed to the dead gods." I blink at him when this happens and glance at Peeta.

"Who?" He asks and Kolby looks at us. 

"Just about everyone, honestly," He says, "Not that it seemed to me anyone gave a shite enough to answer."

"They rarely do in my experience," I say. "But someone did, or else you would not have added this to your tale. So who was it that guided you through the snow storms, who fed you when you hungered, and sheltered you from the cold?" He looks at me and smirks nodding.

"Freya," He says and I look over at him. 

"The great beauty showed pity on you and guided you through the winter?" I say and he looks at me.

"She gave me the sight," He says and I start to laugh.

"Kolby, you ask an awful lot of questions for a seer," I say. "Not to mention, the only seers I've heard worth a damn have been eternal maidens and I'm pretty sure we know that you are not that." Peeta looks at his brother, tilting his head a little.

"I don't think he's lying, Katniss," He says. "You and I both know that the gods are not always what they seem." Kolby looks between us and lights a cigarette he must have bummed off one of the soldiers.

"You also know I'm not lying when I say this," He says. "You dreamed a dream of floating dandelions, glowing in the meadow. It is where you feel peace. It is what fell over you the night you fell between the willow trees. The silver eyed one protected you from the cold, did she not?" I look at Peeta and shift a little. 

"Is that true?" He asks and I reach for my necklace, holding the bird on my palm.

"I never told anyone that," I say softly. "I dreamed of that place often as a child, but I could never," I glance at Peeta, "I haven't dreamed of that meadow since then, had so few a peaceful dream like that." I let the pendent fall and look over at Kolby. "You would do well not to push that far again."

"Of course," He says, "Just proving a point. Believe me now, Lady?" Peeta sighs and gets up.

"Dinner should be ready," He says, grabbing up the rabbit. I glance at Peeta and glance at the ribbon of red leather binding my hair.

"What else do you see?" I ask and Kolby  blinks at me, puffing on his cigarette. He pulls it away, blowing noxious smoke in the air.

"Your shadows, he ones behind you right now, they are not those of a human," He says. "Instead, I see the shadows of the wolves who have been guiding this path." I glare at him and roll my eyes. 

"Tell us something we don't already know," I say and he just looks at me a moment. His eyes trail down my body and he shakes his head. "What is it?" He sighs and takes a plate from Peeta.

"The pain," He sighs and sits up right, "You will face a pain that I would never wish upon an enemy, let alone my brother's family."

"What do you mean?" I ask and he sighs, grabbing a piece of rabbit. He glances at his brother and shakes his head.

"I would not knowingly let you sit with such dread until the unthinkable happens," He says and I begin to grab my knife but Peeta grabs my hand away. 

"Katniss," He says, "You told me not to worry about the unknown. If it is to remain unknown, let it." I glance at him and then glare at Kolby. I slowly get back down by the fire and take the plate of food.

"Why didn't you offer to aid us that way if you had this great power, Kolby?" I ask after a moment and he shrugs.

"I'm still learning," He admits. "Better to aid with a hunting skill that she showed me to use than sights not everyone here might believe in." 

"That is true," Peeta says and I glance at him as I begin to eat. "I wasn't all that excited to hear what the spirits wanted to reveal to me."

"Even though it laid out a destiny beside that fine woman there, laid her before you on a silver platter to be your wife and bare you children of a new world," The elder brother asks, smirking as he takes another puff of his cigarette. 

"I'm more than an object for the gods to have gifted to your brother and you know it," I say, rather spitefully and he chuckles.

"Of course not," He says. "That is just how it would be phrased, if it were me. Puts a little more fire in a man's step that way." I chuckle and pick at my meal a little more. "Though I will admit, you have grown to be quite the beautiful creature, Katydid."

"Flirting right in front of your brother," I say. "After all the work I have put into training him to kill, that would be a risky front, even if he's your blood." Kolby smirks and I continue to eat my meal.

I am quiet, letting the two boys catch up after that, laughing and chattering to one another about the memories they have. I almost feel I am intruding on them as I sit silently by my promised's side. I can feel his hand on mine as I rest there and I glance at Peeta as Kolby speaks again.

"What is that around your neck?" He asks and I reach for my necklace. He looks at his brother. "Is that were the Mockingjay has been all this time? Protecting her?" 

"She had to live, Kolby," Peeta says. "If any of what she said about being more than a bunch of withered plants would come to pass, she needed to carry the bird." I look at the both of them and sigh, gripping onto my comfort. I start to pull it from my neck and Kolby stops me. 

"Keep it," He says, "Consider it a gift, a symbol of your entrance into our family. After all, that's how it originated, an invitation to marry a man and run away with him. You two just did it a little out of order." I look at Peeta and he just sighs.

"Kolby," He says. "It's getting late. Perhaps you'd like to go and rest." Kolby looks at the two of us and smirks. 

"Yes, of course," He says. "We all need our beauty sleep, eh?" He gets up and I watch as he walks to the door. "After all, you two need time to move those beds back together." I glare at him and start to say something  but he's already gone before I can. I get up, growling.

"That arrogant snake, saying something like that about us," I say and Peeta gets up.

"Yes, it isn't as though it's true and I wake up with that raven hair of yours in my face," He says, pulling out our bed roll and flattening it out where we had been sitting. I look over at him, feeling my face turn red. "Come on, I can see your eyelids drooping. We might as well lay down for the night." I sigh and walk over to the pile of clothing in the corner. I start to untie my dress and let it fall to the ground. I pull the tie from my hair and shake the braid out, letting it fall across my shoulders. 

"Don't watch me like a creep," I say. "It isn't yours to look at." I glance at him, the pale fabric I had worn under the dress swishing slightly.

"I wasn't and am offended by the idea that I am anything but the perfect gentleman." He says and I roll my eyes as I lay down. 

"Yeah, but you are in a rush to get me into your bed, kicking your brother out like that," I say and he turns a little red in the flames of our fire. He shakes his head and gets up.

"I was only making sure he didn't creep you out with that stuff about the Mockingjay," He says. I reach around my neck and pull up the sun disk and the bird around my neck. I glance at it and run my fingers over the feathers of its body.

"Why did you give me this, Peeta?" I ask and he sighs, looking at it.

"Have you ever heard the hanging tree?" He asks softly and I glance at him, turning over onto my back and looking at him. 

"The war song?" I ask and he nods. He carefully holds the necklace between his fingers and watches it a moment. "What about it?"

"Well, it isn't just an old poem, obviously," He says. "They were real people, fighting against the Capital in its early days." He lets it go and looks at the fire. "The woman in the story was a daughter of my family. Her and her lover sent crossispondance through those birds, using them like carrier pigeons. On the night he was sentenced, that was the last thing he sent with their birds." 

"That's rather morbid, isn't it," I say and he shrugs.

"It was a sign of their desire for freedom," he says. "Of the dream to once again be a free people." I sit up and tilt my head a little. 

"Yeah, but didn't she commit suicide?" I ask and he looks at me.

"She claimed the birds are the ones who sang the song in the voice of her dead lover," he says. "She was driven insane by it. That's why she killed herself."

"But why give such a sad thing to me?" I say and he smiles at me.

"Because it isn't just about the morbid story," Peeta says. "It is about hope, and not giving it up, no matter the consequences. Their story is a war song people sing to remember that the freedom we gain for others comes at a price. I gave it to you because the intention was that the bird protects her mistress, that's why she diverts the arrow. I was hoping that she would protect you on your journey. I had no idea that she would become your symbol, your mission." I grip onto the necklace and sigh. I lay back down and lay my head against his leg.

"Well, it isn't as though I could fail the first person to believe in me, okay?" I say and he chuckles as he watches me. 

"You were more tired than you let on, huh?" he says and I look up at him.

"What of it?" I ask and he smirks. "Your brother and you are exhausting with all that jabbering." I pull the furs over me and glance at him. "Are you waiting for an invitation or what? We have an early day tomorrow." Peeta smiles and sets his things to the side. He carefully lays down next to me and rests close to me. I feel his arm over me and my hand grips his as I settle into his embrace