He smiles. It feels good to talk about her -- he misses her, much as he's learned to bury that certain kind of homesickness here. He wouldn't wish Panem on anyone and he knows it's far better to miss her than to have to see her die over and over as someone's slave. At least one Alternia it only happened the once, and once is more than enough for him to have to know about.

"Most everything I know, if I'm being honest. How to find safe shelter no matter where we were, how to haggle, all of the useful or edible plants, where all the hidden water in the desert was. So much of it was things she had to discover for herself after she took me and left the brooding caverns, so it was even more impressive how much knowledge she had to pass on by the time I was old enough for it. I don't think I would have lasted half as long without her to teach me that anything could be lived through if you were stubborn enough."