“I thought, isn’t onion gratin soup the perfect meal for such a cold day – ah, but there was no wine, so I used tomato juice instead, and I guess cream cheese isn’t too different from grated cheese – how is it?”

She had dropped whole slices of bread into the soup as well; the result was rather alarmingly squishy, but the colour was nice, and the texture interesting – Dimitri had never had to chew soup before.

“It’s wonderful,” he decided, and Flayn beamed like he’d offered the moon.