He had finished considering it; tonight he saw no reason to refuse. He wasn't himself and he wasn't taking the long view, as he had just said, but for once he didn't altogether care. This was ground he hadn't walked in a long time. He liked her. He couldn't think of anyone else he wanted to talk to. He could damn well go with her and have ... well, and have pie, if it came to that. He even smiled, although it blended with a bit of a sneer when the first elf popped up at the end of the staff table. "I thought I'd about died and gone to heaven, when I first came here ... but boys eat rather more, don't they. Let's, then. Cake sounds about the thing."