Lyra almost cried again in sheer relief when she saw the smiling girl and shy-looking boy sitting at the first-year table.

"Special delivery!" she called brightly. Crossing to the table, she set the tray in front of the startled first-years with a warm smile. "No term at the Royal Academy of Magical Baking can start without Chef Flax's special cinnamon rolls. You're Marzipan, right?"

The girl's eyes nearly disappeared into her rosy cheeks as her smile widened. "That's right! First name's Cherry, though no one calls me that. Marzipan or Marzy, my whole life." She leaned forward, eyes suddenly wide with awe. "And you're Lyra Treble."

"I am. Glad to meet you, Marzy." Lyra looked at the boy, who was also gazing at her with wide eyes. "What's your name? I know you said it yesterday, but… the welcome feast can be a bit overwhelming. Even for second-years."

"I — I'm — Arch," the boy stammered. "Arch Balustrade."

It was Lyra's turn for a wide-eyed stare. "Arch Balustrade? That's… not a baking name, is it?"

"Nope." Arch shook his head dejectedly. "My dad's an architect. So's his dad, and all my uncles and aunts and cousins. But my mom's a baker. Hazel Canapé."

"I keep telling him it doesn't matter," Marzy said heatedly. "You don't have to come from a baking family to go to the academy. Right, Lyra?"

"That's right." Lyra placed a cinnamon roll on Arch's plate. "My family has always been bards. You're a lot further along than I was. I don't have any bakers in my family tree, anywhere. And architecture… surely there are some skills there you could apply to Presentation?"

Arch brightened. "I do enjoy the design part."

"Did you see his entrance exam cake last night?" Marzy asked eagerly. "It was the one shaped like the Royal Academy Main Hall."

Lyra gasped. "That was you, Arch?" When the boy nodded, she sighed in remembered delight. "Oh, sharps — I mean, salts. Those are some serious piping skills. How did you do the ivy? And all those individual stones?"

"It took a long time," Arch admitted, ducking his head modestly. "But it wasn't too hard. Magic helps a lot."

"But you were only allowed one Presentation spell," Lyra pointed out. "Which one did you use?"

Arch looked to the left and right, as if afraid the walls would overhear. "Master Brulée's Coloring Charm," he whispered.

"A coloring charm?" Lyra echoed. Arch waved at her frantically to lower her voice, and she obliged. "Are you telling me you did all that shaping and decorating by hand? No magic? And why are we whispering?"

Arch mumbled something inaudible and pretended to focus on his cinnamon roll.

"Speak up!" Marzy swiped the roll from his hand and held it above her head. "No more treats until you stop being so ridiculous."

"It's not ridiculous," Arch hissed. He made a half-hearted attempt to reclaim his cinnamon roll, then turned to Lyra with a sigh. "I'm hopeless at colors. Hopeless. I couldn't afford to choose any other spell. Without Master Brulée, the design would have been unrecognizable. No matter how neat or shiny."

"I agree with Marzy," Lyra said. "That's not ridiculous. It's just even more impressive."

Marzy returned the cinnamon roll to Arch's plate and grabbed a second for herself. "That's what I said. Everyone has a weak spot. Thanks to Master Brulée, no one even knows about yours. And you did all that other stuff by hand."

Lyra shook her head. "Without letting Flavor or Texture suffer. That level of detail, and it still tasted good? I think you're going to be just fine. Professor Genoise will be throwing a parade in your honor this time next year."

"I think he's a shoo-in for Enjoyment, too!" Marzy gushed. "He gets it."

Lyra's face hurt from smiling, but she couldn't stop. The air around Marzy vibrated with infectiously cheerful energy. Lyra couldn't help but think of Ginger Crumble, her first-year colleague who had been cut right after second term.

"I think you both get it," she said to the pair, making them radiate glee. "The way you responded to Chef Flax's song yesterday… it gave me hope, Marzy."

Marzy bounced slightly in her seat, now reminding Lyra forcibly of Professor Honeycomb. "It just makes sense. That special feeling you get when you eat something wonderful… that doesn't fit into the other three categories. And if it exists, we should be able to learn about it! Right?"

"See?" Lyra chose her own cinnamon roll and sat back in her chair. "You get it. Maybe by the time you hit third year, we'll be far enough along that you can specialize in Enjoyment."

"I'm actually hoping for Flavor," Marzy confessed. "That's always been my favorite. My family's more Texture-focused, but… Flavor is just so fascinating."

Lyra smiled. "Oh, I agree. If not for Enjoyment, I think I'd focus on Flavor too. Madame Hazelnut's Deepening Spell is still my favorite magical baking song."

Marzy leaned in, her voice suddenly hushed with awe. "What's it like? To be in the same class as… Boysen Berry?"

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"Boysen?" Lyra repeated.

Marzy nodded solemnly. "The Berrys are the very best at Flavor. And Boysen is… the very best. Of the Berrys." She leaned in even closer and somehow dropped her voice even lower. "What's he like?"

"Boysen?" Lyra said again, trying not to laugh. "Boysen is great. Really, really great."

"Aw, Treble!" drawled a familiar voice behind her. "You're too kind."

Lyra whirled around as Marzy jumped back with a squeak. Boysen was standing by their table, smiling down at them both with a classic Berry grin.

"I mean, I know I'm great." He slid into the empty seat next to Lyra and helped himself to a cinnamon roll. "But really great? With an extra really thrown in? That's high praise. Particularly coming from such a really, really, really great individual as yourself."

Lyra snatched the cinnamon roll out of his hand. "Those are for the first-years, Berry. Meet Cherry Marzipan and Arch Balustrade. Marzy, Arch, this is Boysen."

"A pleasure!" Boysen held out one hand to each stunned first-year in turn, while using the other hand to sneak a cinnamon roll into his apron pocket. "An honor, actually. Your entrance exam cakes last night… exquisite."

Lyra confiscated the stolen cinnamon roll and held it out to Arch. "Remember the one that looked like the main hall? That was Arch's here. He's from a family of architects." She turned to Marzy. "Which one was yours?"

Marzy hadn't moved since Boysen sat down at the table. She was staring at him, her half-eaten cinnamon roll forgotten in her hand.

Arch tapped her on the shoulder. "Marzy? Hello?"

Startled back into awareness, Marzy looked down and seemed to notice the cinnamon roll in her hand. She automatically took a large bite, then looked at Arch with wide eyes.

"Hello?" she mumbled around a mouthful of cinnamony sweetness.

"Lyra asked which cake was yours yesterday," Arch explained.

"Oh! Right." Marzy flushed and doubled her chewing pace.

"Take your time," Lyra said kindly.

Boysen nodded. "Absolutely. Chef Flax's cinnamon rolls are not to be rushed. They should be savored by those who can appreciate them…"

Lyra smacked his hand away just as it reached the edge of the tray. "We will get ours later. I've been helping Chef in the kitchens for an hour. There's plenty to go around."

"Cherry!" Marzy blurted, having finally managed to swallow the massive bite of cinnamon roll. "My cake was almond with a cherry jam filling. And a surprise layer of marzipan, of course."

"Of course!" Lyra's eyes lit up. "Oh, I remember that one. Talk about Enjoyment! There was something… extra in there too, wasn't there? I thought I tasted some other 'accent' Flavor. It really drew the cherry and almond together, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was."

Marzy and Boysen spoke in unison.

"Cardamom."

Marzy flushed. Her eyes darted to the tray of cinnamon rolls as if seeking an escape. Before she could stuff another into her mouth, though, Boysen broke into one of his special nerves-lightening laughs.

"Well done, Marzy!" he crowed. "Cardamom is just the thing to give some depth to those two flavors. Though it's a… tricky spice to work with in general. Right, Lyra?"

It was Lyra's turn to flush. Pushing away all thought of the dashing, dark-haired third-year Presentation student from the year before, she met Boysen's sidelong glance with a calm smile. "That's right. Quite tricky. Best taken in small doses."

"Very, very small doses," Boysen agreed.

"Which Marzy understands!" Lyra went on, eager to change the subject. "The balance in that cake was perfect. Marzy has a special interest in Flavor, you know."

"Of course she does. And the talent to go with it." Boysen stood and bowed formally. "Anyone who tasted that cake would agree."

Marzy squeaked something incoherent in reply.

"And I'd guess Arch here is going in for… Presentation?" Boysen turned to the boy, who nodded.

"I — it would be an honor. Though I don't want to think too far ahead," Arch added quickly. "Mom kept telling me, over and over. 'Just focus on getting through this year.'"

"That is very wise advice," Lyra told him.

Arch nodded again. "And I don't want to limit myself, either. Especially if Enjoyment gets offered next year."

"Enjoyment? Next year?"

The shrill tones of Chantilly Joconde's humorless laugh pierced Lyra's unprepared ears, and she winced.

The petite girl settled into a chair at the first-year table, somehow managing to look down her nose at all the taller students around her. "I highly doubt that will be the case. In fact, I will be extremely surprised if this little… 'experiment' lasts through this year."

"And what makes you say that?" Marzy asked heatedly, her voice unlocked by anger.

"Oh, I was talking to one of the third-years." Chantilly reached a hand towards the tray and delicately selected a cinnamon roll. "Florentine. Her parents are on the board, you know. They have… grave concerns over the academy's direction. And power to voice those concerns."

"What a load of spun sugar," Arch muttered.

Marzy's face turned even redder than it had when Boysen appeared. "Well said, Arch. I'd like to hear those 'concerns.'"

"Don't worry." Chantilly took a long moment to chew and swallow the tiniest bite of cinnamon roll, then smiled graciously at Marzy. "Florentine said she'd tell us all about it on the campus tour later. It's important to get a full picture of the academy." The diminutive third-year turned her sneering gaze on Lyra. "The academy as it should be."

Lyra sputtered, but before she could form a reply, Boysen was pulling her from her seat.

"Pleasure to meet you all again," he said smoothly. "Enjoy the cinnamon rolls, and the campus tour. I'm sure you're going to love the academy."

He flashed an encouraging smile at Arch and Marzy. "For what it is, and for what it could be."

Then he was off, dragging Lyra towards the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" she whispered fiercely. "We need to get back there. Chantilly is… she's poison!"

"She sure is," Boysen replied grimly. "But so was Aniseed. Remember?"

Lyra's mind flashed back to the haughty would-be Flavor expert who had started at the academy with them. Despite being well-connected in the baking world, Aniseed hadn't made it past the first term.

"I do remember. What's your point?"

Boysen paused at the kitchen doors. "My point is that 'mentoring' doesn't mean 'hovering.' We had to learn our own way through the academy. We pulled together and figured out which ingredients were toxic and which were helpful. If someone else had been hovering over us the whole time, trying to do all the work for us, do you think we would have made it?"

Lyra wavered. "No… but —"

"And those first-years aren't stupid. At least not those two." Still gripping Lyra's arm tightly, he turned her so she could look back towards the first-year table. "See?"

Despite the harsh duet of anxiety and frustration clanging through her mind, Lyra had to smile. Marzy and Arch were both speaking with great fervor and animation. Arch even took a cinnamon roll and waved it in front of Chantilly's face, as if to demonstrate the obvious power of Enjoyment-enchanted food.

"I think they're going to be just fine," Boysen said through a grin.

Lyra sighed. "I know. You're right. But, Florentine… maybe we should try to join that campus tour?"

"Not a chance." Turning again, Boysen pushed open the kitchen doors. "We'll catch up with them at dinner and debrief. You can do all the careful mentoring you want then. For now, I am owed cinnamon rolls. A whole tray of them."

"A whole tray?" Lyra repeated. "Just for you?"

"Just for me. And baked by the two of us, together, with Bumble. As recompense for each one you just snatched away from me. Remember…" Boysen led her into the kitchen, responding to Chef Flax's greeting with a cheery wave. "Gotta start second year right."

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