Katniss hands slightly trembled as she stared down at the small device which lay in her palm. It looked like a pendant – a black circle with a smooth surface – which was connected to a silver chain, which she wore every day since Egeria gave it to her, concealed under her clothes. But of course it wasn't just a pendant. It was a microphone which would record as soon as Katniss would press it. It was meant to give her the ability to record things Peeta says without him noticing and made her able to send spoken messages to the minister herself. And this was what she was about to do. Sort of.

She already has written several messages which she could read to the device in a convincing tone. She already has chosen a message which she would read because she didn't trust herself enough to spontaneously put her lie into the right words. If she wanted to make this story believable she had to be prepared. She only had one chance to record it in the right way since the messages get send directly to Egeria. Katniss wasn't able to hear for herself how good or bad she had lied. She could only hope that she had made herself sound believable.

She deeply inhaled and scanned her message one last time before she finally squeezed the pendant tightly between her fingers.

Miss Lascius. This is Katniss Everdeen reporting on the recent doings of Peeta Mellark. Mister Mellark has left his apartment today at seven o' clock in the morning dressed in a dark cloak which indicates that he obviously didn't want to be spotted by curious eyes. I have followed him all the way to his destination which was a huge mansion located in the garden district of the Capitol. He stayed there for several hours. I wasn't able to get near the house to check on what he was exactly doing in there. But when he left I saw him kissing a strange girl which could be his secret lover or just a distraction. After his visit he went straight back home, still concealed by the cloak. His behaviours had been calmer but he still didn't want to be seen. After that he spent the rest of the day home without doing anything suspicious. I'll keep you updated on any further developments between these two or message you as fast as I can when I find out something more useful for you. End of the report.

She dropped the pendant and exhaled relieved. That went better than she had expected. The minister wouldn't suspect a thing. That's what Katniss hoped at least, for Peeta's and her sake.

"A secret lover or distraction? Really? " Her head whipped around to see Peeta standing in the doorway, eyeing her with obvious amusement on his face.

She rolled her eyes. "My choices of lies I could've told were limited and this was the best one in my opinion."

"Oh, really? And why?" He frowned at her.

Katniss shrugged. "Let's say I took a little bit inspiration for it from Finnick Odair."

His frown deepened and the once amused smirk left his lips. "I hope you know that in reality I'm nothing like that greedy little bastard."

"I know," she replied without any hesitation, "I didn't mean any offence."

"And none are taken," he said in a much gentler tone. He also actually managed to smile at her while he still leaned against the frame. After that an awkward silence followed in which both of them weren't quiet sure what to say. The tension of yesterdays fight still hung in the air. But Peeta didn't want to go on like that. He didn't want to fight with her anymore since they now were both on the same team.

"So...uh, you want some breakfast?"

Secret lover. Egeria didn't know wherever she was supposed to laugh or cry after reading Katniss report from today. The Mellark boy was supposed to have a secret lover? How laughable. How painfully disappointing. When Katniss had messaged her earlier that day Egeria had been filled with so much anticipation, hoping that the girl was able to find out something that Egeria could proudly present Snow. But this. This was nothing.

I took her great deal of control to not throw her notepad against the wall. Frustrated she let herself sink deeper into her chair and tried to even her breathing. She was able to contain her calm mask in front of Snow or other officials but sometimes she just was too weak to hold her guard up. She hated that. She hated not being completely in control of her whole body, hated the way her emotions were like a wild beast – untameable and coming to the surface whenever they wanted – and hated the way how aware she had to be about every step she took.

But these were just the struggles and worries which came with working for Snow. It's like you're walking on thin ice. One misstep and it'll break under you and you'll drown. Killed and forgotten. That's how it went when you didn't obey Snow's command. Egeria had seen many of her colleagues suddenly disappear. At first she had wondered where they'd gone. But after working for Snow for a longer amount of time she had started to realize what really happened to them and stopped caring about it. It was much easier and much more bearable to go on like that.

But some small part of her seemed to always wonder: When would it be her turn to go?

"Oh. My. God. What is that?"

Peeta tried to keep the swell of laughter from coming but he burst out giggling anyway. The scene before him was priceless. Katniss was staring down at the pancake he just made in quiet fascination. He had never seen anyone actually freaking out so much about a freaking pancake.

"A pancake," he answered inbetween his helpless laughter.

Katniss shook her head at him while she took another bite. "Pancake is such a dishonourable name for something that glorious. It tastes like god himself made it in his holy oven."

"Well, thanks," Peeta said and slightly bowed while he flipped a still frying pancake in the pan.

"Seriously, you're like a magician," Katniss marvelled and stabbed her fork into her plate since she didn't notice that she had already finished off her pancake.

Peeta only shrugged. "It's not like making them is hard. I could teach you, if you want," he replied and tried to hide how deeply he was actually blushing because of her compliments. He wasn't used to so much real appreciation. All he received here in the capitol were fake one's and back home no one had even cared for his hidden talents.

Katniss gazed at him excitedly. "You could teach me how to do magic? Well, that's not something I'll say no to!"

"Well, magic always comes with a price, so..." He only frowned and puts another pancake on Katniss plate.

But she didn't seem to notice it. Instead she looked at him challenging. "And what would be your price?"

Peeta smirked at her. "That's something I'm still trying to figure out."

Before Katniss could reply to that statement a shrill sound cut her off. Peeta nearly jumped out of his skin before he hurried to open the door for whoever it was standing before it. Meanwhile Katniss quickly finished off her meal and quickly ran over to the sink so she could pretend she was really working for Peeta if the someone before the door wanted to pay a visit. But Peeta didn't have company when he came back. Instead he was pale and holding a small piece of paper in his trembling hands.

"What's wrong?" Katniss asked and stared him concerned.

He just shook his head. "Nothing…I…I should actually be happy about this but…it's just…too soon…"

She didn't understand. "What…what is too soon?"

Peeta held up the paper. "It's from Snow. It says I'm supposed to return to 12. Because of the reaping for the Quell. With you."