Katniss returns briefly to the ruins of District 12, against District 13’s advice, because she cannot accept their plans for her until she sees what has been lost. Still recovering from Johanna Mason’s blow to the head and from heavy medication, Katniss tries to steady herself by listing simple truths: she survived the Hunger Games, the Capitol hates her, and Peeta has been captured. As she walks through the ash, bodies, and wreckage, Katniss blames herself for the bombing, believing her destruction of the arena’s force field gave President Snow the excuse to punish District 12.

Moving through the district, Katniss remembers how quickly the attack came after the Quarter Quell and how Gale saved hundreds by leading people to the Meadow, into the woods, and then to the lake until a hovercraft evacuated them to District 13. She acknowledges that District 13 has fed, housed, and protected the survivors, but she remains bitter toward its leaders and suspects their generosity is partly self-serving. The scale of the loss deepens when Katniss reaches the square, sees the ruins of Peeta’s family bakery, and realizes Peeta would have almost nothing left to return to.

The sight of the square and the remains of the gallows trigger Katniss’s fear for Peeta, who she imagines being tortured in the Capitol. She runs to Victor’s Village, the only part of District 12 left standing, and hides in her old house. There she reflects on the constant pressure from Plutarch Heavensbee, Fulvia Cardew, Alma Coin, and other rebel leaders to make her the Mockingjay, the public face of the rebellion. Katniss resists because she does not trust their manipulation, believes Peeta would have been easier for them to use, and doubts that her actions help anyone without causing more suffering.

Inside the house, Katniss moves quietly through familiar rooms and gathers a few keepsakes: a wedding photograph of her parents, a blue ribbon for Prim, and the family plant book. She thinks about the people harmed or killed in the wake of her earlier defiance, including the old man in District 11, the victims of the crackdown in District 12, and Cinna, who rebels believe died under interrogation. Katniss considers fleeing entirely, but she cannot leave while Peeta’s fate is still unknown.

Katniss finds Buttercup, Prim’s cat, alive in the house and captures him to bring back to her sister. She then goes upstairs for her father’s hunting jacket, but in her bedroom she notices the scent of a fresh white rose hidden among dried flowers. Katniss immediately understands that President Snow left it as a personal warning that he can still find and threaten her. Terrified, she rushes back to the hovercraft with Buttercup and the jacket, concealing the rose’s meaning from Gale and the others while privately recognizing it as a promise of unfinished business between her, Snow, and the captive Peeta.