Alphonse turned to Rabastan, keeping a soft frown back. He didn't want to deceive this man, not at all, but it looked like Rabastan was already doing all the deceiving himself.

Not a strong will? ... that was Draco, not him. So he only smiled, while his mind inched back towards confused wanderings. --Then his eyes suddenly flickered down. The food.

While still courteously listening to Rabastan, Alphonse's eyes ran over all his choices. The nurse sure had piled the tray up. For some reason, it all made him nervous. There were eggs and sausages and bacon and some things he wasn't even sure he recognized, but they all looked good. And now he could try them. Then there was an apple, just on the edge of the tray. And maybe it was for the familiarity, a big red country apple... He reached out for it.

And took a slow, almost shy bite of it. He seemed to just stay there with the piece in his mouth for a while, then he started gradually chewing it, and in the next minute had eaten the entire apple. He wasn't a wildly hearty eater usually -- he hadn't been an eater at all for the past few years -- but in the next moment he was excitedly diving into the rest.