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The hot summer day is starting to fade, and Coriolanus has yet to untangle himself from the Covey—most importantly, from Lucy Gray. He can spot the sky taking on tinges of pink from the window as he sits in the Covey’s living room, if it can be called that with only a wooden table and mismatched chairs placed around it. Surrounding him is a clutter of activity and noise. It’s an alien sensation after a lifetime of growing up with only Grandma’am and Tigris, and asides Grandma’am’s warbled singing, the Snow household was rather muted.
It’s uncomfortable, but he is not yet done with Lucy Gray for today.
Tam Amber and Clerk Carmine are not near, but Coriolanus doesn’t care to know where they might be (practicing their instruments, he guesses, if the irregular faint musical sound coming from one wall is anything to go by). Sejanus is busy engaging Maude Ivory with conversation. He’s busy watching Lucy Gray. It’s nothing so obvious, he knows how to be discrete, but his eyes glance over at her every so often, as if reminding himself of her presence.
What he sees now is Barb Azure standing off to the side, a hand on her hip, with Lucy Gray talking with her just out of his earshot. Lucy Gray’s skirt swishes around from the slight swaying of her hips. It’s almost mesmerizing to watch. She’s not anywhere close enough for him, but he’s willing to be patient if he must.
As if they sense him looking, Barb Azure and Lucy Gray turn their heads towards the table. His eyes meet Lucy Gray’s brown ones. Is that a hint of a smile on her face?
“I’ve got a question to ask,” Lucy Gray says, Maude Ivory and Sejanus quieting down at last. “Would you two like to stay for dinner?”
Maude Ivory makes a gasp of excitement. “Please stay!” How can he say no?
Coriolanus feels his mouth turning upwards into a smile as he glances at Sejanus, silently asking him to play along. “We’d love to.”
Sejanus nods, saying his own agreement, which is enough for him to turn back to looking at Lucy Gray.
This time, he can catch Barb Azure speaking, her voice a touch firm. “If we’re going to have those two around, you’ll need to collect some extra food from the usual areas.”
“I’ve got it,” Lucy Gray says. Almost immediately, after Barb Azure has vanished to presumably start the dinner, Lucy Gray meets his eyes again, a beat too long for it to be accidental. The message is heard loud and clear.
It takes a moment for her to walk out the door, wooden basket in hand, and only an extra minute before Coriolanus summons a weak excuse for stepping outside (hardly needed, as Sejanus only gives him a smile before returning to talk to Maude Ivory). Just as he hoped, Lucy Gray is lingering near the door.
“There you are, sweetheart. I was about to wonder if you got cold feet about stepping out with me.” Her voice is just on the edge of teasing, her lashes batting at him.
It’s easy as anything for his hand to slip into her free one, squeezing gently. How nice it is to have Lucy Gray’s sole and undivided attention, the rest of the Covey now behind them both.
“Not for you,” he says. Not for his girl.
“Come on.” Lucy Gray takes the lead, almost tugging him forward as she apparently has a destination in mind. He looks at the back of her head, seeing the way her hair falls down past her shoulders. “I get to show you where our good herbs are. Covey secret. You seem like a trustworthy soul.”
The borderline unbearable sticky and unpleasant summer heat has cooled down with the approaching nightfall, and he can say that it’s almost nice out without another soul to bother them, walking for long enough that they hit the edge of the woods down by the meadow before Lucy Gray stops.
“It’s just a ways in, but watch your step,” she warns. It’s not what he was hoping for. But he follows her regardless, this time clinging to Lucy Gray’s hand perhaps a little tighter than before, unwilling to be separated in the woods with vines and broken sticks eager to make him fall. He has no natural sense for walking in the untamed woods, the twigs he steps on embarrassingly loud to his ears whereas Lucy Gray fares much better, used to the path. And there’s the humiliation of running into low branches that are just high enough to smack his forehead as he moves, a stinging pain digging into him even as he bravely resolves to not let Lucy Gray stop for him. Coriolanus’ only consolation is the sound of Lucy Gray’s humming, a soothing balm to his annoyance.
The mockingjays must have gone to sleep already, as there’s no sign of them. Good riddance, he thinks.
It’s only a minute or two of this (still too long for him) before they break into a small clearing, almost perfectly circular with herb and berry bushes surrounding the area, nearly something that he could imagine the Capitol constructing. It brings to mind Grandma’am’s rose garden back home, with everything in its place.
“This is nice,” Coriolanus concedes. “I didn’t think the woods would have something like this.”
“Nature provides all sorts of things if you know where to look,” Lucy Gray says, dropping down to her knees in front of a bush. She glances at him, a sly smile appearing on her face as she plucks a blueberry. Something is up.
“Try this, Coriolanus.” Lucy Gray throws the berry, a beautiful laugh following the motion.
He catches it and puts it in his mouth, the burst of sweetness a promising sample of dinner. “Delicious.”
“There’s more of that if you help.”
He does, settling down near her to better fill the basket together, the grass pleasantly soft to his knees (he tries his best to not think of the stains). If they eat one or two berries in the middle of the gathering—with the heightened sensation of Lucy Gray’s hands touching his as she passes the berries to him for collecting—that’s their secret. He drinks up the attention, how Lucy Gray’s eyes seem to drift to him just as he did for her back at the Covey’s home. Coriolanus can’t help but want to savor it, the feeling settling in his gut like a filling meal.
Yet, Lucy Gray’s attention cannot be on him forever. Coriolanus’ finishing up with the last of his portion of the picking, when Lucy Gray has gone somewhere that’s not right beside him, and it comes to his attention that despite his best efforts, his fingers are stained with berry juice, prompting him to frown as he attempts to clean himself up, trying not to let the woods leave its mark on him today. Surely what they gathered is enough for the Covey plus him and Sejanus later tonight?
“Oh, Coriolanus, look!” His head jerks up at her voice, so joyful at something beyond his awareness. “They like to come out when it’s getting dark.”
He doesn’t expect to see Lucy Gray standing and holding a dark gray snake. The creature is twisting around in her hands, and as he approaches Lucy Gray, he can better see how the thing’s tongue is darting in and out, tasting the air, its black beady eyes seemingly staring at him.
The Capitol gave him so few opportunities to see any kind of wild animal. There was the run down Zoo and the occasional bird that flew by, but a wild snake, unrestrained from any cage or discipline, is a different sight altogether. It takes him a moment to register that, yes, he is wary of what it could do to him or Lucy Gray.
“Is it venomous?” he finds himself asking, before anything else. Coriolanus stands next to her, eyes refusing to stop watching the snake for long.
Lucy Gray’s smile dims a fraction as she looks back at him. “It’s a mere garter snake, darling. I promise it can’t seriously hurt you.” As if an afterthought, she adds, “But I’ve handled venomous snakes before.”
“Have you?”
Now that’s a thought Coriolanus wants to turn over in his head. It’s not what he expected, but it’s not unwelcome either, now that his mind is drawing up the memory of her shocking Mayfair into embarrassing herself with the Capitol watching. A fitting punishment. Yes, his girl certainly seems fond of snakes. For a moment, he wishes he could see his girl retaliating again with them. Perhaps against one of the drunk men at the Hob whose eyes linger on her figure a moment too long for his tastes when he watches her sing. What a sight that would be. All the better for him to be by her side properly, able to truly appericate that streak of strength in way he couldn't before. Coriolanus recognizes it: a reflection of his own self.
“I’ve learned how to handle myself around the dangerous ones.” Lucy Gray looks down at the snake in her hands, her smile brightening once more. “They have their own endearing charm if you ask me.”
Coriolanus struggles to see how a potentially deadly snake can be endearing, but before he can think of how to respond, Lucy Gray disrupts his thoughts.
“Do you want to pet him?”
A rejection is on the tip of Coriolanus’ tongue before he gives the snake another glance. There’s a certain fascination there, too, seeing how calm Lucy Gray is with it. It indeed looks harmless just as she said.
“If I can,” he says, reaching towards the snake. Right before Coriolanus touches it, an unpleasant thought worms its way into his head for a second, that Lucy Gray could be lying or mistaken of its harmlessness. Still, before he can jerk his hand away in self preservation, the snake’s body brushes against his fingertips, the scales smooth to the touch.
“I think he likes you,” Lucy Gray says. Perhaps it does. It doesn’t at all look as if it wants to strike him. The tension in Coriolanus’ body unwinds, and at once, he feels ridiculous for the fear.
Too soon, he sees Lucy Gray lifting her head, taking note of the fading light in their private space. “I’m sorry, Coriolanus, but we better get going before it gets too close to nightfall.” He pulls his hand back almost reluctantly.
Coriolanus watches her settle the snake back down to the grass, the animal slithering off without a moment’s delay.
“Should we go?” he asks, giving the area one last glance, already mourning losing this bubble of privacy with his Lucy Gray. Perhaps it’s worth the walk to get here. Further testing is needed, he decides.
“Just one last thing.” Lucy Gray turns to him with a faint smile, a look in her eyes that makes his heart beat faster as she eagerly pulls his face to meet with her lips. Coriolanus responds with enthusiasm, tasting berries once more.