Red

Twelve.

Court was silent on the ride home and stayed silent when we got back. Once we were back, he set the baskets down before taking me to the room.

He began inspecting my hands and arms before he let go of me. "You aren't showing any signs of a reaction so you should be good. Wash your hands and we can get to sorting the berries." Court stood up and I followed him out to the sink.

I washed my hands off after Court rinsed his and grabbed the berry baskets. Once my hands were washed, I went over to Court's side as he set the baskets down.

"Separate them by color and then by type." Court instructed and I nodded at that. 

I began taking the berries out and separating them by their color and then putting them with their respective type. Court did the same until they were all properly separated. Once that was done Court rinsed off the berries before putting them in separate containers.

"I'm sorry about the flower." I murmured and Court turned to me.

"It's fine. Just don't do it again. Contrary to widespread belief wolfsbane is poisonous to people just as much as it is to canines." Court said as he put the last container of berries away before turning to me.

"If you want to pick flowers, Lucia has a bunch of them around her cabin. I can take you to her place to get some more clothes as well one day." Court told me and I nodded.

"Thank you." I murmured and Court smiled at me. He looked very nice when he smiles.

"You are free to do whatever you want with the berries. They are all safe to eat. I can bring some ingredients back from the village if we don't have it here." Court told me and I nodded.

"Do you have flour and eggs?" I asked.

"Eggs, but not flour. Here if you tell me a list of things you'll need I'll write them down and when I go to the village tonight for the feast the king is throwing I'll bring it back tomorrow." Court offered and I nodded.

He sat over at the table before grabbing a piece of parchment paper and ink.

"I'm going to need some flour, ginger, some raw honey, oatmeal, and cocoa powder." I told him and Court nodded as he wrote it down.

"We have some raw honey. Lyell likes to put it in his tea. But I can get you everything else." Court said as he wrote it down and then folded the paper and slipped it into his pocket. "I'll dry out some of the berries for you." Court said as he took some berries to dry out.

"Thank you." I murmured and he smiled at me.

"No problem." Court stood up and walked over to where he cooked food. He put some meat on and began letting it cook as I sat at the table. I listened to the sizzle of the meat before glancing out the window.

The sun was beginning to set. After a little Court came back over with meat on a plate. "What is it?" I asked as he set the plate down.

"Rabbit." Court said before he went over to get himself some.

I silently cut up the meat and began eating. Court came back over with his own plate of rabbit and sat down across from me. The two of us were silent as we ate our food. 

Court had salted the rabbit and let it soak in some sort of sauce with bits of herbs and a few berries. None were from the berry picking we went on today. We sat there at the table eating our food in silence until we finished it up.

Once we were finished with our food Court took the plates and put them in the sink. As he came back over the door to the cabin opened. Xerxes walked in followed by Lyell. Lyell was laughing as he carried a dead rabbit in his hand.