Gale's dandelion

I bite down hard on the apple in my hands, it's been way to long since I've had one of these. The Grocer gave me a good price though, just a few squirrels for a whole basket of my favourite fruit. Katniss has gone on the victory tour so I'm back to hunting by myself which sucks, I miss the company she gives me and...oh who the hell am I kidding I miss her. We haven't talked since I stupidly decided to kiss her and even though the moment had been one of the best in my entire 19 years, how did she  feel about it? Did she enjoy it as much as I did?  As I'm contemplating this I feel a pair of 6 year old eyes watching me curiously from the other side of the table. Slowly I place my apple down an see Posy with her head in her hands staring at me.

"Wha?" I ask my mouth still half filled with apple. She blushes and looks away.

"Nothing." She says in her adorable little girly voice, then she sighs and I know something is up, she's not normally this quiet.

"Come on spill." I tell her leaning forwards on the table with my eyebrows furrowed.

"Just...what happened to dad?"

"You know what happened, there was an explosion down in the mines and he got caught up in it." I tell her shrugging, mum had already explained this before her first day at school.

"Does that happen a lot?" She asks.

"Yes, there are lots of accidents down in the mines." What's with all these questions?

"Are you going to die?" I freeze. How exactly can I tell her that I'm absolutely not going to die, when the same question enters my mind each morning as I head under the earth in that silly little lift that I swear is older than Greasy Sae, which must be old.
"I hope not." I tell her, bringing a small smile onto my lips. She nods but I can see there is still something bothering her. "What's with all the questions anyway?" I ask a little bit concerned at her abnormal behaviour.

"I was playing with Kirke in the bedroom, we were looking for buried treasure and I found this." She lifts a piece of paper out of her pocket and places it down on the table. Except it's not a piece of paper its a photograph. Me, Kirke and Rory are stood just in front of our parents, all looking clean and well dressed. Although we're all smiling you can get an air of sadness, this was my first reaping. My name had been entered 6 times, which was a lot for a twelve year old kid. I smile and brush my fingers over dads face, photos cost a lot of money but he'd been saving up forever, said he wanted one of all the family together. When I eventually look up I see Posy is close to tears.

"Hey it's ok." I say pulling her hand into mine. "Don't be sad about dad, he wouldn't want it." I thought the words would be comforting but all it does is make her clench her jaw.

"I wouldn't know what he would want, I never even met him." I look back down at the photo and see what is truely bothering her, her absence from the family photo. "You and mum and Rory and Kirke talk about him all the time, while I have to sit and listen like a muppet because I have none of my own memories to add!" How can I respond to that? Is it even possible? Then in a small voice she asks one last question."Is it wrong to miss someone you never knew?"

"No." I respond automatically. "Of course not Posy, your allowed to miss your father, your allowed to mourn his loss. I'm sorry if the rest of us are insensitive, but you understand we're just trying to keep his memory alive. Would you rather we never talk about him? Turn his name into a taboo?" She shakes her head, and I take her in. Her huge grey eyes, cute little rounded face, warm tanned skin and ebony hair. "Dad always wanted a little girl." I tell her and she lifts her gaze up so she can see me. "He was so sick of having 3 grubby little boys running around the place, when mum told him she was gonna have you he was the most happy I've ever seen him, he said you were going to be a little girl but none of us believed him. How on earth could he know? Then he died and it was like the family had fallen apart. That is until you came along. It was like you brought us all back to life, you where our light in the dark, our dandelion in the spring. You where the little girl dad always wanted." When I'm finished I see that she's mesmerised by my words, seeming unable to look away from my lips, which have spoken the things she so desperately needed to hear.

"How do I know you're telling me the truth?" I squeeze her tiny hand in mine.

"I'd never lie Posy, not to you anyway." I wink and she smiles, then gives me a peck on the cheek and runs out of the kitchen her happy normal self. I lean backwards in the chair and pick up the apple again. Peeta Mellark eat your heart out, whose great with words now?