"Everything smells wonderful," he tells Rex honestly. It's simple and hearty, and hu shen have always been folk spirits, little peasant gods. "You've done a great job on very short notice."

He lets Fives steer him after that, and when everyone is seated, says "Thank you all for welcoming me into your home." It's the most formal thing he's said since he quit, but hospitality is old magic, older than his bones, and despite his trickster's voice it comes out warm and soft and very sincere.

He helps himself to the potatoes before he has to say anything else.