"I think he has a date," Levi comments wryly, although not without a fleeting thought that it's interesting that a king can cook so well.

"Anyway, I used to know my way around a kitchen, but it's been about a century." He approaches slowly, still a little sheepish in the angel's presence, but content to lead the way up the hall and to the kitchen. He knows the layout of this apartment well enough. He's seen it through his own eyes, with Balthazar operating his body, many times.

"I'm mostly a painter," he says, "but I've dabbled in other things. I can carve wood and stone, but I get impatient with it. Clay is better, but sometimes i feel like I need the color to make my brain work right. I was good with glass, believe it or not, but I never had enough space for my own equipment, and working with someone else would've meant making what they told me to make. Couldn't make myself do it."