Valentines day? Something to do with romance, I think.

[And since Touchstone isn't here, it's utterly irrelavent to Sabriel. Although between the starvation and the bloodshed, she doubts anyone was feeling particularly amorous.]

As for the food... Our last mission brought us to a town that someone had made a bargain to try to bring back after every living thing there died. The problem was that whatever power a single orb holds, it wasn't enough- so the people acted like... bad simulacrums, the food was flavorless, and it turns out, what we were eating was ash, if it wasn't just air.

And then the illusion ended and I'm not sure if that was better or worse.