Replying to Caesar's question about his thoughts on the current war, Peeta encourages a cease-fire, claiming that a war will mean the destruction of all humanity. He says that the rebels and Capitol supporters must not fight, and he asks everyone to lay down their weapons.
Peeta's revelation that he has a romantic interest in Katniss establishes the beginnings of a new problem for her. She misses Gale and feels that's he truly her friend, but he's not around.
Like Katniss, Peeta ended up back in District 12, which was still recovering after being firebombed. By that point, Peeta greatly recovered from the brainwashing, but he still had PTSD from having his mind hijacked. Being in close proximity to Katniss was greatly beneficial as they relied on each other to heal.
He jokes with her, whispering that it's okay to kiss him since they're madly in love, but once Katniss begins to clean him in the stream, she can see how weak he is.
In Chapter 9, as Caesar Flickerman interviews Peeta before the Games, Peeta reveals to Caesar and all of Panem that he's in love with Katniss. Peeta's revelation sets in motion the storyline of him and Katniss as ill-fated lovers that carries on throughout the Games.
Katniss here's this and understands that even though she may not love Peeta (then) that it's one less person who has to die. (At least that's what I have always thought.) Katniss realizes that if she pretends to be in love with Peeta people will want the capitol to let them survive.
Peeta used the dyes to paint a picture of Rue after Katniss covered her with flowers when she died. He says he wants to hold them accountable for killing Rue, and Effie tells him that that kind of thinking is forbidden. Katniss then tells the team she hung a dummy of Seneca Crane.
She apologizes to Peeta and, again, feels that she owes him. That night, she and Peeta say goodbye to Effie and Haymitch, who will go to the Games Headquarters.
Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson: Katniss' fellow District 12 tribute comes from a family of bread bakers, and his name is an alternate—or dystopic, if you will—spelling of pita. The humble Peeta stands in contrast to the grandiose Panem, which, as noted above, is Latin for bread.
She expected their years of friendship would make it harder to kill. But she knows her one and only true ally is Peeta, so she decides she must kill Finnick now. Katniss climbs down from the tree, determined to kill him now before he has the chance to kill her.
Peeta urges Katniss to run and stays to fight fellow tribute Cato while she escapes. He survives the encounter with Cato but suffers a stab wound on his leg. He camouflages himself into the rocks and mud alongside a riverbank, slowly dying of blood poisoning until Katniss finds him days later.
She asks Gale and his family to escape into the woods with her. He agrees happily, and confesses that he loves her. He is disappointed by her reply that she cannot love anyone romantically at such a perilous time. He is further angered when he finds out that Katniss plans to bring Peeta along into the woods.
In the session with Haymitch, Katniss is coached on her interview skills with little to no luck. Katniss is hostile, angry, and has trouble talking about herself or her family. Haymitch says she has about as much charm "as a dead slug" (9.27). Haymitch coaches her to act humble.
Who cleans the blood off Katniss's face and hands?
The red-haired Avox comes into the room. Katniss apologizes to the Avox for not helping her when the Avox was captured. The Avox is kind to Katniss, washes Katniss' face and helps her clean up the room.
Given that she is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect Peeta, it's safe to assume that the Morphling was committed to the rebel cause. Like the other victors, she knows the power that Katniss has as a lightning rod for the rebellion, and she knows that Katniss will not help without Peeta.
He has betrayed her and is betraying all of District 12 by buddying up with the Careers, whom she calls the "Capitol's lapdogs." She decides that if the Careers don't kill him, she'd be more than happy to. Then, she wonders why Peeta hasn't told them about her bow and arrow skills yet.
He says that the rebels and Capitol supporters must not fight, and he asks everyone to lay down their weapons. The interview ends, but not before Katniss realizes that Peeta's support of a cease-fire makes him a traitor of the revolution.
Although his feelings are genuine, he is hurt to discover that Katniss' were not entirely. He and Katniss become friends despite the fact that they are forced to use their fake romance to both placate and subvert the capitol during their Victory Tour and the 75th Hunger Games.
While the Hunger Games film never talked about it, the Catching Fire novel explained why she could only communicate through hand gestures. Katniss briefly mentioned that a previous stroke could have caused Mags' garbled speech. However, post-traumatic stress disorder could have also caused her speech incapacity.
In The Hunger Games, the first tribute Katniss allied with was the twelve-year-old Rue from District 11. Katniss was drawn to Rue as she reminded her of her little sister Prim and sought to protect her in the Games.
Katniss made the choice to build her future with Peeta. If she didn't love him, she wouldn't have made that choice. Katniss made her whole world about getting the people she cared about to the next day, her choice to survive with Peeta proves her love for him.
Katniss's focus on survival and her family's safety prevented her from fully considering romance, but her feelings for Peeta and Gale diverged in the end. Katniss ultimately chose Peeta because he understood her trauma and she didn't want to lose him, proving her love for him.
The problem was that Gale was the one who created the firebomb devices. Despite not being fully responsible, Katniss couldn't overlook his possible involvement. Katniss returned to District 12, where she reunited with Peeta after she couldn't allow herself to fully forgive her childhood best friend.
