He thought he'd been done saying his good-byes when he'd left Four for the Quarter Quell. It seemed not. He doubted that was how Katniss would say it, but to him, that's what it was: making sure that somebody knew how much they had mattered before they left.
"I'm really glad to have met you, Katniss," Finnick told her, and was able to say it honestly, with actual warmth. He was, too. He knew in many ways that he had underestimated her just as much as she had originally underestimated him, even if he had changed his opinion of her much faster. It had been easy to judge from a distance when the Capitol was his main source of news for her. A stupid basis, and he had known that. But it was different when they had been in the Quell together, especially when it came to Peeta. She was more than he had expected.
And on the same side of things, as he had watched her evolve and the chances that she had started in the world, he'd felt bad for her. She deserved better. So many bad things had happened and so many of those responsibilities had been placed on her shoulders. And she blamed herself for so much of it. He didn't know how to put all of that into words that she would believe.