The Serpent and The Bird

"You and I, we drink poison from the same vine"

- What's your favorite color?

His voice was very soft, and she almost smiled at the ceiling. Close to her, the fire crackled.

- Red. - She whispered back, and in the silence of the night, it sounded like a shout. - But I like green, too.

- Do you have a middle name?

- I do.

- What is it?

- Sophia.

- Huh.

That's all he said, and even though she couldn't see his face from the couch, she could hear the pondering in his voice.

- What?

- Sophia... It suits you.

Everleigh's heart was starting to pump extremely fast before the question left her mouth.

- Why?

- It's pretty.

"- What does the S in your name stand for?"

"- Sophia. My grandmother's name."

"- Everleigh Sophia... that's quite beautiful. But then again, so are you. So I'm not surprised."

She tried to lock the memories back in again, but they gushed out. Mocking her. Laughing at her soft attempts to bury them.

"Sebastian A. Sallow loves Everleigh S. Grayson."

- Everleigh.

Sebastian called out to her, and it was the first time he had used her name. And something fluttered in her stomach as the smile grew bigger.

- Yes?

A moment of silence.

- Don't fall in love with me.

A single tear rolled down her cheek, and as quickly as it had come, the smile faded away.

Too late.

- Okay.

That's all she whispered back.

                          *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Everleigh had been in the river for hours, water up to her thighs. She could see the fishes swimming around her, like they were laughing at her inability to catch them.
The spear she had fabricated out of a piece of wood was sharp enough.
But she was just not quick enough using it. And she was running out of patience.

There was one particular very fat fish she had been eying for quite a while. It looked like a salmon, and it liked to glide in between her parted legs here and there, like it was mocking her lack of fishing skills.
Everleigh waited for it to swim back around her and with a quick move, she buried the spear in the water, as she took a step forward. Her foot found a very slippery rock and suddenly, she was losing her balance and her body was submerging under the water up to her chest.
And to top it off, she didn't even get near the damn fish, the spear coming out clean from the river.

- For fuck's sake!

She cursed, pressing her lips together as she tried to stand up again on the slippery river ground.

- That type of vocabulary is very unbecoming of a lady.

Sebastian's voice came from the side of the river, and she turned her head to stare at him, as he leaned against a nearby tree to look at her. He was still a little pale after the blood loss. But after a couple of days of using the Dittany leaves on him and forcing him to rest, he was able to actually walk on his own.