Katniss goes to the detention level and finds Venia, Flavius, and Octavia filthy, starved, shackled, and terrified. Venia explains they were taken from the Capitol the night Katniss escaped and later punished in District 13 for repeatedly stealing bread because they were hungry. Furious that Cinna’s prep team has been treated like criminals, Katniss forces the issue until Plutarch uses his authority to have them released.

Katniss brings the trio to her mother at the hospital because she trusts her to treat them without cruelty. While waiting, Katniss interprets the punishment as a warning from President Coin not only to Katniss but also to Capitol-born allies like Plutarch and Fulvia: no one is safe if Coin decides they are disobedient. Her mother later reports that the prep team will recover physically, though they are emotionally shaken, and Plutarch immediately asks when they can return to work.

Released from Mockingjay duties for the rest of the day, Katniss goes hunting with Gale under District 13’s supervision. In the woods, the brief return to their old partnership gives Katniss rare relief and a sense of near-happiness. After they gather game, Gale questions why Katniss cares so much about her prep team, arguing that Capitol citizens helped normalize the Hunger Games; Katniss insists the stylists are ignorant rather than cruel, and their disagreement exposes a widening moral divide between them.

Back in District 13, Katniss gives the meat to Greasy Sae, then returns to her family’s new compartment and sleeps until Prim wakes her for a mandatory assembly. In the Collective, Katniss notices the lingering physical scars of District 13’s past epidemic and sees Finnick, still fragile, occupying himself with knot-tying. When Finnick worries about Annie Cresta’s safety, Katniss realizes she failed to include Annie in the immunity deal and immediately has Coin add Annie’s name.

At the assembly, Coin announces that Katniss has agreed to serve as the Mockingjay and that Peeta, Johanna, Enobaria, and Annie will receive pardons despite possible harm to the rebel cause. The crowd resents Katniss for demanding mercy for potential enemies, but Coin then adds a condition Katniss did not know about: if Katniss shows any disloyalty in motive or action, the immunity deal will be void, and all four victors, as well as Katniss herself, will be judged under District 13’s law. Katniss understands that Coin has turned her bargain into a threat, making obedience a matter of life and death.