When they were done cooking, Val and Adrien thanked the kitchen and said goodbye; they brought the cake upstairs and enjoyed some. Adrien spent the rest of the day enchanting scrolls; Val sat by the fire reading a book. To an outside observer, their day would have seemed one of gentle bliss, one that would fade into quiet sleep; and yet, when the evening was over and Adrien returned to his room, he felt anything but calm. The sound of Val's soft laughter kept haunting him; the joy they had lived together stoked his wishes once again.