Aristocracy in the Heart

I have no idea where this is going to go. I'm just gonna' tap it to life. If it needs mouth to mouth, so be it.

Sap encrusts as viscous dribble dries, pushed out of the towering pine unyielding to the face of a man in the early morning break. James extends his reach up into a supple shoot, pinching the ordered green protrusions as it breaks free. He gathers a small handful of the aromatic and proud petals. James turns, and locks eyes with a beautiful young lady, hair darker than shadows, skin a smooth alabaster.
-
"Is this enough?" Words break the expanse of natural calm as James waves the harvest over his shoulder.
-
"That should be fine." Lily calls back: "The water's boiling now!" James closes the distance back to the morning camp. He shrugs with strength defined in his form. "Is this really good for tea?"
-
Lily's eyes flashed to James' eyes, and her lips pursed together. "You don't trust me?" A smile quips along with her feigned hurt. James nods, a blond but thick beard stretching from his ears down into the part of his neck that resonates with his voice, concealing parts of his lips and most of his cheeks. Most. The slash of a scar that stretched from his lower eye pocket and down a little less than four inches of his left cheek gave James a more rugged appearance, and not in an unsightly way.
-
James was attacked by a falling set of sheers. The vicious garden tool could make a grown man faint from fear in the hands of an inconvenient density gradient existing from an eight foot drop. Always pack a pistol, preferably one equipped with armor piercing rounds, when venturing into the confines of a garden shed.
-
Lily would one day hear the truth of his harrowing tail. For now, James, who is always concerned with sober and humble accounts of his exploits, alluded to that day as one where he merely defended himself from a much lesser foe, though still one reckoned fierce, the dreaded assault stapler.
-
Lily put the bits of pine fronds into the pot, and steeped it for five minutes. With a mixture of honey, the hot fluids jump into the cups. James and Lily drink. They pretend it's better than it is, but get dosed with high amounts of vitamin c, and share the experience with each other anyway.
-
"James, when are you going to go back to school?" She asks with eyes that express intent interest and sincerity welded into one.
-
James pours out his cup on the campfire. "Hey, you wasted the honey!" Lily says smiling, and after a pause she pours hers out too.
-
"I think I'll enroll in the fall. I am going for nursing." James sets his cup down and picks up a stick, prodding the log and playing with the fire.
-
"That's - you! A nurse? I wouldn't have thought of you doing that. You've lost your interest in welding?" Lily looks at him, not prying, but gentle, and genuine.
-
James looks back at her, guarded, but not excessively. "I like welding, and would do it. It's a good job, and I could make a decent pay. I don't know though... I just, want to pursue this."
-
Lily responds with a nod, and shares "You're really smart. Too smart for me!You can do anything."
-
James smiles, puts his arm around Lily, and reclines his head onto hers.

Author's Note

This isn't going to have any relation to my tag words. That was just a creative stretch. Let's find out what this is about together. (You're encouraged to let me in if you already know).