It's true; she's never needed anyone to tell her what to think. Even if her thoughts were always kept to herself while Gale's were shouted into the recesses of the forest, they were there and they were hers. The Capitol didn't own them and never will. "I just want him to be happy. I always wanted to keep him alive...and safe, but I knew I couldn't guarantee that he would be happy, but in Panem being alive was enough," even if it was selfish on her part, even if she needed him. "But this place can. Face it, it's the safest place any of us have been in," Katniss doesn't believe it for herself, she doesn't believe that safe exists anywhere. She says it solely for Gale's benefit, but he doesn't have to know that.