Jaw clenched in annoyance, Gale had to bite back the retort that automatically came to his tongue. He knew he deserved that response, that he’d more than earned it. He should have known better.

There wasn’t much he could say to that - nothing that wouldn’t make it worse, anyway, and if he did, the kids would give him hell for it. So finally, he rose and stepped back onto the ice.

“You didn’t have to come back to District Twelve, Undersee,” he said quietly, finally looking at her again. This time, there was a guilt in his eyes that maybe his words hadn’t gotten across. He still bore the burden of his failure, still counted himself as the other reason Madge had no one left, and had to latch on to someone else’s family to keep going. His mother was too loving to turn the girl away, Gale knew, and he couldn’t fault her for doing what she did best. “There are plenty of other places you could have gone, and you wouldn’t have been alone.”