Adrien tried to smile in response - but the conversation had brought him in front of a tormenting thought that he couldn't ignore: that, if Val had all the time in the world, he did not - he really did not; and that his time at Val's tower was reaching its end. How much longer could he stay? He wanted to know, but he couldn't bear to ask. He knew that his alchemy training was almost complete; not much was left for him to learn in the Novice-rank course. He could not hope for his apprenticeship to continue for longer than a few more months. One thought leaped in the foreground of Adrien's mind: if Val was able to celebrate his birthday with him, he wouldn't be able to celebrate Val's birthday in the coming November. He knew that, by then, everything would have already ended.

"I'm sorry", Val said - pulling Adrien out of his head with a start. "Your birthday should be a happy day. Let's not talk about unhappy things".

"It's alright", Adrien said. He tried to take Val's suggestion to heart, and did his best to shove away his thoughts and ignore the feeling of cold that they had left within him.