They weren't too far from the outside of campus now. Aurelie was almost sorry for it, though she had work to get back to and certainly hadn't proven to be particularly thrilling as far as conversation went. Just her luck then, she thought ruefully, to find something to talk about as the journey was nearing its end.
"Ah... It is," she agreed. To her surprise, she did rather mean it. It was a shame, even if she couldn't quite picture it. She had to assume he would dress more appropriately for the activity, and Aurelie couldn't picture that either. The absurdity of it made her smile.
The smile held as Yazad went on, talking about jams. Rose jam seemed just the thing for him. Floral, lovely, and just a little strange—certainly she didn't find that it suited all palates here. In fact, thinking on it, she thought he even smelled a bit floral. She could have been imagining it, of course—they were a bit too far apart for her to be really sure. And not like roses, but still. A corner of her mouth quirked up just a little more.
"I'm afraid you might find that fewer here are as fond of floral flavors as you and I—oh, I, er. I do rather like them, also. I tried to make some scones, recently, with candied violets in them... They, ah, they were a disaster." Aurelie wrinkled her nose, remembering the test batch she had given to Allie. Her roommate had dutifully eaten as many of them as Aurelie could bear to watch her consume, but she knew they were awful. She hadn't really gotten the chance to try again, much as she might have liked to. She had to be absolutely sure she knew the adjustments she would want to make, anyway. There was no sense in wasting violets on another failure.
That would have to wait for next spring, she thought wistfully. They were out of season now, and hot-house flowers were far too expensive to be used on something like this. Perhaps, if she were lucky, they would come by some candied ones made before the end of the season. But only if they were lucky, and they would have to be in such great quantity that nobody would object to Aurelie using some of them. That seemed unlikely.
For a moment she fell silent again, thoughtful. Not as dour as before, but she chewed a corner of her lip. After a few paces, she seemed to come to some kind of decision. She turned, her hands folded together in front of her. "I-if you'd like," she offered hesitantly, looking up at his pale, pretty face, "W-well. When the jam is done, er, I think... I don't know if, er, your master, ah... I assume you are here because he works for the University in some capacity...? Er. I could give you a jar, if you'd like. After the end of Yaris—it should be done by the first week of Dentis...?"
Aurelie didn't know if this was something she could offer. Her stomach twisted, really, thinking of it. That had been awfully bold of her. Still, she reasoned, this master was an academic. Which meant that he likely worked for the University, didn't it? And by that count, then, the jam was as much his as it was anyone's. Just one jar couldn't hurt, she thought. It was only one jar.