"Welcome to Dab's Bakery, how may I help you," Malozar said, his voice coming from behind the kitchen door. "Oh, Aleister, was it?"

"No, I'm Eyi, his brother. People do say we look the same very often though."

Malozar stared at him with a blank face.

Aleister rolled his eyes. Why did no one ever play along? "Yes, it is me, Aleister. Apologies for being late. I ran into some legal problems."

"Oh, no worries," Malozar said. He looked even more bewildered than just moments before. He entered the kitchen and came back out with a wooden create. The lifted cover revealed a pure white cake. "When you said a cake for tea lovers, I decided upon a cake made with chai tea. On the top here, I did a simple decoration with some gooseberries, whole cardamom pods, whole star anise, and a cinnamon drizzle. Let me warn you, don't actually eat any of the herbs."

Aleister sucked up the built up saliva in his mouth and nodded. "This is perfect!" He handed Malozar ten gold coins.

"Ah, your cake only came out to—"

"Don't worry about it." Aleister closed the crate and carried it back to the manor.

"I am here to fatten you up like a pig to the slaughter."

Myra opened her door whilst rubbing one eye. "What?"

"Eh, yeah, that might have been a bit harsh." Aleister raised the wooden crate to his front. "Happy Birthday!"

"Oh." Myra looked at him with no expression. Or rather, too many expressions that cancelled each other out. "You remembered?"

"No, I just decided today was the day you were born."

Myra forced a smile at him. "Thank you."

Aleister could tell something wasn't quite right. "I take it that your birthday doesn't bring back the happiest of memories."

"I'm sorry." Myra shook her head. "I just—I—I don't know how to react. This has never happened to me before."

"First time for everything, I suppose." Aleister jiggled the crate in his hand around. "This cake will definitely bring you happy thoughts. No promises though."

Myra wiped the small formation of a tear from her eye and let him enter her room. It was small and plain, but immaculate.

"I think you skimped on how effectively you cleaned my room," Aleister said.

"S-sorry."

"I meant that as a compliment."

"Oh, sorry," Myra said, trying to force a laugh.

This was not how he expected this encounter to go. He planned everything out in his head perfectly on the way here. He appeared with a joke. She laughed. He brought out the cake, and they consumed it with happiness and joy. Instead, the mood of tonight was quite depressing. A feeling he tried to avoid.

"You don't need to apologize." Aleister took a seat. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize that today wasn't a good day."

"You couldn't have known."

Aleister scrunched his body and bent inwards. "I could have asked first."

"Why would you have asked?"

A good question. She never mentioned nor did she show signs earlier today of anything being off. At least, from what he could tell. Maybe he consumed too much of his own thoughts to pay attention to any signs she might have shown. Damn it. Maybe he never really did pay attention to anyone else.

Like the other day, he didn't even listen to what Nana wanted to say. Or even think about how Elemmir would feel when he told Phisvaelte right in front of him. He couldn't have known for sure that she was listening. Who gave him the right to tell her like that. Did he even have any interest in what was happening to Elemmir's father? Or was it just a game to him? Something to entertain him? What stake did he hold in it? Just the thinnest of a business relationship he formed for his own personal gain.

No. That's exactly why he controlled that conversation. He held interest, but much less so than them. His emotions didn't blind him to that situation. Not that it mattered. In the end, Nana still went to tell her mother. She'll more than likely resolve anything, anyway. So his input didn't matter.

"I'm so sorry," Myra said, her voice cutting straight through his jumbled thoughts. "I didn't mean to like, bring the mood down so much. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." This time, Aleister forced a chuckle. "And stop apologizing so much."

"Sorry," Myra said before immediately covering her mouth.

Aleister grinned and tapped the top of the crate. "Well, this cake isn't going to eat itself, now is it?"

"Why does it smell like chai tea?" Myra asked as she sniffed the air.

"That's because Malozar custom created this cake with chai tea." Aleister slide the top off. "And the spices on the top probably add to that too." He stabbed two forks into the cake. "Well, I didn't bring any plates, so—dig in."

Myra's eyes quivered as she looked at him. "I don't know what I did to deserve this."

"The way you said that makes it sound like this is a negative experience."

"I just—" Tears deluged from Myra's eyes. She buried her face in her hands.

"Holy hell." Aleister swallowed a piece of cake. "This cake is something else, I'm telling you."

"I—already can't even repay you for earlier."

"I serious, if you won't start eating, I'm going to finish this."

"And, you never even—."

"Wow, that cake was great. Sure would be a shame if it went to a waste." Aleister stood up and walked to the door. "See you tomorrow."

"Wait." Myra tugged on his sleeve. "Thank you."

Aleister waved as he left. "Happy Birthday!"