A Baird and the Snow

At Ease

As soon as Coriolanus and Lucy Gray stepped out of their room, General Odair manifested from around the corner.

He walked up to us, his poster tense and ready like the soldier that he is. He cleared his throat. "I trust you had a pleasant night."

Coryo almost laughed when he saw Lucy Gray's face turn red but she held her ground so he held his tongue.

"We slept well, thank you," she replied and the General nodded, clearing his throat again.

"President Coin asked me to take you guys to the mess hall," he said, turning his body and gesturing for them to follow.

To Coriolanus' disappointment, they turned down a different hall than the one that led to Coin's office. He was hoping to get a glance inside.

The walk to the mess hall was short, but in the amount of time it took them to get there, Coryo made sure to observe everything meticulously. Every face, every weapon, every single little movement and its purpose.

He watched one man in particular who held a clipboard and was pointing to the places he was ordering people to go. Then he turned and their eyes met.

Coriolanus recognized him immediately and his eyes went wide at the same time his did.

Hilarius Heavensbee. His classmate in the academy.

They watched each other until General Odair led them around another corner.

What the hell was he doing here? And how long had he been here? Questions swam frantically in the pool that was Coriolanus' mind.

"This is the mess hall," General Odair said, interrupting the chaos in his mind.

A thousand different smells wafted towards him and he took a deep breath. He hadn't smelled this much food since he ate with Sejanus at the academy. The day Arachne was killed.

Lucy Gray laughed with joy beside him as she spun around, looking at all the food and the people who had full trays. "I haven't seen this much food before," she said, her voice filled with awe.

Coriolanus suddenly felt selfish for complaining about the little food he had growing up. He was sure Lucy Gray had seen worse times than he had.

"You're free to anything," General Odair says. "President Coin is expecting an answer by this evening."

"We have it now," Lucy Gray said, redirecting her attention and holding herself high. "In fact as soon as we've eaten, we'd like to see her."

The General gave them a curt nod. "I'll be back in an hour." He turned to leave but Lucy Gray stopped him.

"Thank you very much for helping us since we arrived," she said and the General's rough demeanor softened for only a moment when his mouth twitched upward.

"Only doing my duty, miss." He nodded again and left.

•••

Lucy Gray immediately looked at Coriolanus with a wide grin on her face before running to the end of the line that went to the plates of food lined up along a table that stretched far across the room.

Coryo followed her with a faint smile, watching as she waited anticipatingly for it to be her turn to get a plate of food.

At last it was her turn to grab a plate and she moved forward in the line only to notice that Coriolanus hadn't grabbed his own plate.

"What're you doing?" Lucy Gray asked him, lifting a brow.

He shrugged. "Not hungry."

But she saw the way he was eyeing the food on the table. "Coriolanus Snow, pick up a plate right now and fill that plate up with more food than you think you could eat. I won't let you starve yourself out of unnecessary habits."

When he hesitated, Lucy Gray grabbed a plate and shoved into his hands, giving him a pointed look.

He was so used to rationing food that even when he was surrounded by it, he couldn't take even a little bit.

She made him go in front of her in the line and she watched carefully as he served himself, making sure to tell him if she thought he hadn't grabbed enough.

When they made it out of the line, Lucy Gray's plate of food looked like the skirt of her mama's dress. Colorful with its variety of fruits and vegetables and meats.

That was something Lucy Gray had wished she had been able to take with her. Her Mama's dress. She had to leave it behind but she knew that the covey would take good care of it for her.

She and Coriolanus found an empty table to sit at together and she tucked herself closely into his side. She had to restrain herself from wolfing down the food in front of her but Coryo seemed uninterested in his own.

"Eat, Coriolanus," she said, giving him another pointed look. "There ain't nothing more shameful than letting a good meal go to waste."

He just chuckled lightly before lifting his fork and taking a bit of the food. Then it was like something snapped inside of him. She saw it in his eyes, the way he immediately went back for another bite, one after the other, again and again until the entirety of his plate was gone.

Lucy Gray ate at a slightly slower pace, but she polished off her plate shortly after Coriolanus did his. "Nothing like a good meal to lift someone's spirits," she said when she heard music playing from the other side of the mess hall.

There was a band, standing on a small stage, performing music that sounded similar to the stuff the covey played.

She took Coriolanus' hands in hers, lifting him off the bench of the table and pulling him towards the melody.

Once she caught the rhythm of the song, she moved her feet, leading Coryo in a dance of laughter and boot stomping. She felt more close to home in that moment than she had since they left district 12, and it sent relief through her bones.

She knew that she wanted to stay in 13, and she was a bit skeptical about it ever feeling like a home, but now she felt its possibility, like the sun emerging from the horizon in the early mornings.

She watched as Coriolanus warmed up to the music, to their surroundings and his icy blue eyes melted into a joyous river that seemed to cascade over the room, as though his light could illuminate the darkest of rooms.

He was smiling and holding Lucy Gray as they stomped their feet to the music along with the rest of the crowd.

When the song ended, they held hands, still trapped in the warm embrace of bliss as they made their way back to their table.

Maybe this really could become their home. Someday.

"I've missed seeing you like that with the covey," Coriolanus said, brushing a thumb across Lucy Gray's jaw while he grinned. He pulled her into a tight hug, resting his chin on top of her head.

Then they heard someone walk up. "The president will see you now if you're ready," General Odair said and they pulled apart.

"Ready?" Lucy Gray asked Coryo and he nodded.

"Ready." He said.

***

Author's Note:

This took absolutely FOREVER to get out and I apologize. That dam (yes that's a Percy Jackson reference) writer's block had to come for a visit again.

Speaking of Percy Jackson... OH MY GOSH the new show is so amazing I'm literally waiting in agony for each new episode to come out.

Anyhoo, hope this doesn't feel too forced of a chapter and that you enjoyed it :)