Hosting a quiet Workshop

Rei stood in front of a small chalkboard in the Fluff Co. garden, holding a piece of white chalk and deeply regretting every decision that had led him here.

Six beasts sat before him. Five were watching intently.

The sixth—a moss toad the size of a saddlebag—was chewing on the attendance sheet.

"This," Rei said wearily, "is not what a workshop is supposed to look like."

Ellyn passed by with a tray of herbal biscuits. "You said you wanted to teach something useful."

"I meant basic tea blending."

"This is."

"To three sky-bears and a soot-fox?"

"You're bridging cultures," she said, smug.

The soot-fox nodded proudly, a little wisp of flame dancing on its tail.

Since the Council of Whispers declared Rei and Fluff "Catalysts of Balance," their quiet little shop had been flooded.

Not with violence. Not even with business.

But with requests.

Requests to mediate.To explain.To teach.

Apparently, in beast circles, this was the equivalent of sainthood.

And sainthood came with paperwork.

Even if that paperwork was gnawed on.

Rei turned back to his pupils.

"So... tea blending. We start with identifying base leaves. No fire. No clawing. No spirit bonding rituals unless they're pre-approved by a qualified mentor."

A squirrel immediately pulled out a tiny ritual circle.

Rei sighed. "That is not qualified."

Halfway through the lesson, a group of cloaked figures arrived at the garden gate.

Guild officials.

They didn't say a word.

They just sat.

Watching.

Rei tried to ignore them.

A soot-bear tried to eat a teacup.

The moss toad fell asleep on the lesson board.

And somehow, the workshop ended with a two-species bonding dance ritual performed entirely in interpretive tail movements.

The guild officials applauded.

Rei buried his face in his hands.

Later, Rei sat under the plum tree with a cold cup of tea and no idea how his life had spiraled so gently out of control.

Lady Seris Orlan arrived, unannounced but expected.

She wore a pale cloak today, trimmed with silver thread, and a single beast-feather pin at her collar.

She looked around at the workshop remnants—scattered teacups, bite marks on the chalkboard—and smiled faintly.

"You're building something dangerous," she said.

"I'm building nothing," Rei replied. "It's all accidents and polite disasters."

"That's why it works."

She poured herself tea from his pot and leaned back.

"The guilds are watching. The nobles are twitching. And the beasts are learning."

Rei closed his eyes. "I didn't mean for any of this."

Seris tapped her teacup. "Intention is irrelevant when influence walks in your shadow."

That evening, an official summons arrived.

Stamped with the crest of the regional tamer council.

Rei opened it slowly.

Ellyn read over his shoulder.

You are hereby invited to attend a Strategic Cooperation Dialogue between human tamers and allied beast representatives to discuss post-Compact social integration policies, education models, and standardization procedures.

She blinked. "They want you to write the syllabus."

"I barely graduated."

"They called you a keystone."

"I brew leaf water."

"They offered a stipend."

"I'm listening."

Despite everything, Rei still found time to sit alone in the garden at dusk.

Fluff hopped into his lap, paw pads dusty from the day.

"Should I be worried?" Rei asked softly.

Fluff blinked.

"About the beast factions? The human guilds? About... becoming a name?"

Fluff tilted his head.

Then placed a single dried petal on Rei's knee.

A gesture of trust.

Rei sighed.

"Fine. I'll go to the meeting. But if they ask me to make a speech—"

Fluff headbutted him gently.

Then yawned.

And Rei, for the hundredth time that week, made peace with doing what he didn't want to do...

...because no one else could do it like he could.