On the 31st of December, it had been lightly snowing on and off. During that week, Adrien found himself more and more consistently able to stop the pendulum; on that afternoon, Val had told him that he could consider himself proficient at Earth magic, and that they would move on to the next element in the coming days. When the evening came, they enjoyed a dinner that was longer and more elaborate than usual; Val, who would usually retreat to his private quarters much sooner, had decided to stay in the main hall with Adrien until the new year, playing card games such as scopa as they waited for midnight to strike.