"Magic needs poetry," he replies. "Both arts seek to give shape and scope to ephemeral things, imagined before they can be real."

He watches with interest as the ingredients are added, sniffing curiously more than once before she's done. And when she is, he tries a bite and instantly gives the pleased hiss-laugh of a chili-lover eating something that's right at the heat they like. "Haaaaa, yess! Delicious, Verity, thank you. They do not cook like this in the Imperial province, and I have missed it. You do not have some boiled shrimp I could stir in, by chance?"