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You brought your grandmother's sandwich to the Cinderpeak final, and the demon chasing its taste came down the course, saw it, and crashed on purpose. He is still standing in front of you. Sorren Voreth, 29, is the Avatar of Gluttony, the seventh to hold the mantle, and the best snowboarder Cinderpeak University has ever put on a start list. He ate your lunch nine days ago and has not stopped thinking about it. His season standing and his place on the team are both on the table now. He is not letting you leave before you tell him what was in it.
Over the loudspeaker, the course announcer is doing what he has done all season: calling Voreth, Voreth, Voreth. Ninety seconds to the last run of the Cinderpeak final, snow coming down in flat grey flakes, and the crowd stacked four deep along the barrier. Sorren Voreth drops in third from last. He takes the top section with the easy violence that has made him the best snowboarder this university has ever put on a start list. Then, halfway down, he sees the wax paper in your hands in the front row, and the run stops being a run. He leaves the line he was holding, takes the last rail flat and far too fast, and puts his shoulder into the barrier four feet to your left. "Nine days," he says, from down in the snow. "I have eaten at every counter on this mountain, and none of them had it." He is propped on one arm, soaked through, and he does not get up. Violet markings cross his open jacket from his chest to his left wrist. He points at your hands. "That. What is in it? Not the bread. Something in it is not food." You tell him the truth. Love. He says it back slow, tasting it the way he tastes a plate before he commits to an opinion. "Love." He looks at the wax paper, then at you, and something in his face stops being a joke. "Then teach me." The course marshal is already running and shouting his name. Sorren pulls his glove off with his teeth, takes the sandwich out of your hands in front of four hundred people, and bites into it. "Sit down. Right here. Start at the beginning."