Sieg watched dubiously the pan. The glob of batter and chocolate splattered to the center of it looked like what it would remain from a blast zone. He turned to a side, receiving an encouraging look from Jeanne.

The girl's doubt-free, smiling face sparked a twinge of guilt inside of him, but he said nothing, returning to focus on the mess he was sure he was doing.

Truth was, he never even considered the idea of having to cook anything, let alone pancakes. Not like he disregarded the type of work, it was just that he only considered himself just a warrior.

Not like he had time for anything else, though.

Even so, he couldn't deny that he felt more at ease with a sword in hand, using what spare time he had to train or, at best, to study. It felt… less wasteful of a time? He really didn't want to be too haughty, but he couldn't but think that.

Still, Jeanne had a way to ask things. He wasn't sure what it was or why, but somehow he couldn't say no to her, not when she smiled and clutched her hands before her chest.

And so, the glob.

"Now try to turn it."

Following Jeanne's gentle instruction, he took up the spatula. It felt light and fragile, so much that he almost feared of seeing it bend between his fingers.

Trying to be as gentle as possible, he pushed the instrument under the glob. The smacking sounds he received as he tried to dislodge it from the pan wasn't the most pleasant, but he ignored it. Eventually, the glob gave way, and he raised it up, taking care to keep it over the pan.

"Well done!" Jeanne clapped her hands once, to which he nodded briskly. Her radiant smile managed somehow to make him feel like even that little task was something worth celebrating.

Now, to spin it. He wanted to do it with a single, smooth gesture, a quick movement of the wrist, like he did during swordplay, and…

The glob shot upward like a rocket. It smacked against the ceiling, and remained there, another perfectly round plate of pastel together with the previous three.

Sieg felt something crack inside of him as he watched it, and even more when he turned to look at Jeanne. The girl's smile was stretched thin, to say the least.

"Well, it can happen, right? Four times in a row, that is." She said, awkwardess dripping from every word.

Sieg nodded briskly, even while his stomach sank with discouragement. He was really wasting her time here; and to think she had been so kind to offer him to learn how to cook.

Jeanne was good to hide her unpleasant sensations, but it still didn't escape him how she held one of her hand between the other. She only did that to hide how she rubbed her fingers together, the gesture she always did when she wasn't happy how things were going and was trying to steady herself.

The boulder in his stomach managed somehow to sink even lower.

"No matter!" Jeanne smiled radiantly, the moment of hesitation already gone. "We have a lot of pastel still ready. Take more and try again, ok?"

Sieg pushed his gaze against the pan. "Ok." He grumbled.

He felt her hesitate for a moment at his side.

"Et-voilà! Look at this, Jeanne!" Taken by surprise, the girl turned to the other Servant using the kitchen in that moment, Sieg subtly imitating her.

Smiling wide, Cu Chulainn in his Caster incarnation was showing off a plate. The tower of pancakes that filled it seemed fit to be presented to the King of Heroes as breakfast.

"Wow! You're really good at this, Cu!"

Sieg felt that he should have shared Jeanne's returning enthusiasm, or at least, be happy for it.

He wasn't.

"Of course!" The Caster-class took a prideful pose, before shooting the girl a wink. "And you should see at what else i am good for…"

Again with that suggestive tone. Sieg couldn't really fathom what he was referring to. He used it often though. It had to be something important.

Jeanne had to get it, because she rolled her eyes, even as still smiling. "Cu, please…"

The Caster-class chuckled.

Seeing them banter like that, the connection they shared, sparked something of unpleasant in Sieg. He didn't know why, but he didn't like it. It made him feel… lonely, left by a side, together with something that could be irritation. Still, he should have been happy for Jeanne to smile like that after his mess, right? Yeah, right, his four-times mess. Guilt jumped into the mix. He fixed his gaze against the frying pan, trying to find an answer for those emotions in its spotless surface, or maybe to bore a hole in it for vengeance.

"Oh, we're starting to run out of powdered sugar."

"I will go to take more."

Sieg talked before thinking, just glad of having a chance to take a break from all that.

Jeanne watched him, hesitating for a moment, then turned to Cu Chuilann. The Caster-class shrugged.

Sieg left the kitched door close behind himself, the last image he had of his previous little purgatory, the hesitant gaze of Jeanne.

Thrusting his hands into his pockets, he began to march down the corridor. The lessening of tension lasted just for a moment, the feelings for the situation he had just left returning in full force as soon as he aimed his steps toward the right destination and stopped thinking about it.

He had to stop himself from kicking the floor in frustration. He really had let Jeanne down with that performance. Even that last glance of her, he had probably made her dubious about her ability to teach others.

He thinned his lips into a tight line.

He didn't think of himself like a genius or something like that, but everything he had put himself to he managed to get a good grasp to. He never found something he couldn't master with seriousness and commitment. Even then, he had to admit that it had always been about martial or study matters. He never even looked at a kitchen, never had the time for it since he aimed his vision toward other subjects. As a Homunculus, there was so much that he wished to learn, and time seemed to never be enough.

Still, he really had to fail to something so simple? The thought that he could have brought discomfort to Jeanne…

Brooding like that, he arrived to the entrance of the warehouse where the food was stored.

"Hello?" He asked, stepping inside.

A cavernous space filled with shelves loaded with boxes welcomed him. He looked about, searching for someone.

"I am here." Cracked a voice like sandpaper from somehwere.

A moment later, an old man that Sieg had never seen emerged from between the shelves. The Homunculus registered the thick, white beard it covered his chest and face, and the strangely bright, azure eyes peeking from it, before returning to business.

"Powdered sugar, eh?" The old man stroke his chin, or, at least, that's what Sieg supposed he was doing. His hand disappeared between the beard. "You're lucky. I was just putting the last box away. It should be… a-ah!" He took up a little box from a shelf. "So, how much you need?" He smiled at him, hands moving expertly to open the box and unpack the content.

Sieg thought about it briefly. They would need a little bit, but, again, was it wise for him to return? He would probably do better by just delivering the sugar and go, unburden Jeanne of his presence. It was a sad thought, but it probably was for the best. She was having fun with Cu alone. He would only spoil that. He ignored the strange irritation at taking notice of the Caster-class.

"Four packets, please."

The old man's smile faltered. "So few?" He asked, his thick brows knitting together. "I heard that you were three this morning to cook. That's too little."

Sieg wondered where he had heard that, but it wasn't really important and so he just shook his head.

"I am no good with it." He said, barely managing to keep the frustration from dribble out. That old man was probably busy enough to not need to hear him complain too. "They will be better without me."

Frustration and sadness, again, but there was little to do. It was for the best.

He expected the old man to just hand over the packets and send him on his way, but, instead, he put the box under his arm and watched him with an arched eyebrow.

"And why's that?"

Caught by surprise, Sieg was uncertain of what to answer. He decided that it didn't matter, and he told him everything.

When he finished, the old man's eyes were gleaming with mirth.

"Really?" He just asked, almost chuckling.

Sieg frowned. Was he missing something or this old man was fooling around with him? Still, he had read that it was common education to show respect to the elderly. "Excuse me?"

He was only more confused as the old man chuckled for real.

"You know Jeanne, right?" He asked.

Caught out-guard by the sudden question, Sieg forgot his irritation. "Well, a bit, i think." He wouldn't dare to presume to know her as well as she deserved, nor, well, everybody deserved their privacy, she even more.

"Right." The old man nodded. "Try to think about her, then. What would she think if someone she invited burned a couple of pancakes?"

Sieg tried to understand what the old man's point was. Why was he asking all those strange questions? Still, his piercing eyes, even while amiable, didn't leave room for protests and he was unwilling to start to argue, so he obeyed, and started to think. Truth was, it was easy for him to recall Jeanne's smiling face, her gestures, her composure. What would she think in that situation? What would she…?

Sieg paused.

The old man nodded, still smiling.

Sieg managed only to nod briskly before his newfound awareness pulled him away from there like a rope. Out of the room, into the corridor, he ran, barely keeping care to where he was putting his feet.

He cursed himself. Jeanne, getting angry over a couple of burned pancakes? The same Jeanne that he knew? What had gotten into him to think such a ridiculous thing? Jeanne wouldn't never get angry over such a little thing. She would think that she had ruined a person's day by inviting him there, to do something that he clearly hadn't shown being happy about. That's why he had seen her like that. What a fool he was!

The way back was short, but somehow it managed to feel like a thousand miles journey to Sieg, so much that he almost threw the door out of the hinges as he broke in the kitchen.

"Sieg!" Jeanne looked like she was unsure if being flambergasten or scandalised at his abrupt entrance.

Sieg took the briefest notice of it, stopping before her and taking one of her hands between his own.

"I am happy to be here."

Jeanne paused. Sieg felt his solemn confidence get pinpricked as the girl watched him with curious confusion.

"Sieg?"

"The pancakes… i am happy to be here to cook them!" Sieg thinned his lips in a determined line as he said those words.

They remained like that for a moment, their eyes locked as Sieg struggled to keep himself under control and Jeanne searched his gaze for an explaination at that strange behaviour.

The girl had to find something because her features softened in a glad smile.

"Is that so?" She asked. "I am happy to hear it."

Feeling all his nervousness melt, Sieg nodded, and smiled of his own. That smile had some properties of its own, he decided, and he liked them all.

"Can i try again?"

"Sure! Only…" Jeanne hesitated, smiling. "We still are running short of powdered sugar."

"Oh." Sieg startled. "I… i think i have forgotten it."

His expression had to be something, because Jeanne chuckled softly. "Don't worry." She said, taking his hand. "We'll try something else."

Sieg would have liked to protest, after all, he had gone out just to take that, but somehow those doubts didn't stick. Nodding, he followed her to the counter, where pastel and chocolate waited for more, probably disastrous, trials.

They got busy so quickly that neither of them noticed Cu slipping silently out of the kitchen.

As he made sure of closing the door without a sound, he shook his head, smiling at the cheerful banter of Jeanne and to Sieg's silent listening to her.

He knew when a battle was lost.