"Cakes!" he confirms gleefully. "Come have one, Lan Zhan, they're very good. Mine had a candle stuck into it -- it's the inn's custom to make a wish and blow it out first. I would have waited for you," he adds, a bit rueful, "but it was a very small candle burning down very quickly."

Indeed, there's a little spent stub of a red candle tucked near the cupcake platter.