"—and with that, I believe the proposed timeline for the Saint's Acknowledgement Tour has been laid out as evenly as we could manage," concluded one of the meeting's presenters, who was a mouse-folk.
He cleared his throat, smoothing a folded set of notes before him.
"We've spaced the acknowledgements over the four regions as such: Winter in Northwyn, Spring in Eastwyn, Summer in Southwyn, and Fall in Westwyn. Each region will host Saint Edward's Acknowledgement Tour for about a week, wherein candidates will undergo the initial qualifying trial; the 'Acknowledgement', to determine their eligibility for the Mystic Treats Competition at year's end."
"And these are all final?" asked another, this time a tiger-folk.
The mouse-folk looked up briefly and shook his head. "Oh, not yet. This is a provisional calendar, so it will need to pass through the Royal Council for review before it can be officially confirmed. But with fair pacing and ample recovery time between regions, this schedule proposal should keep the final Acknowledgement from falling too close to the actual competition."
He nodded politely toward the rest of the table, and the others murmured to each other in agreement before he continued.
"With that settled, I'll leave the remaining culinary integration details in the capable hands of our culinary representatives from Eastwyn," he turned with a small smile. "Mr. and Mrs. Ribbuns, if you'd kindly continue?"
Mireille Ribbuns smiled and nodded her head in acknowledgment. While Noah Ribbuns, who was seated beside her, simply patted the pocket of his vest and whispered, "Do the thing, sugar."
Mireille gave the tiniest sigh. "Of course."
Upon hearing the name Ribbuns, which she thought she'd been mishearing, Raveena's ears twitched and eyes widened a bit.
From her corner in the meeting room, she eyed the couple while clutching Professor Vask's briefcase like a good but slightly annoyed assistant.
Then, slowly, she stepped up beside her aunt and leaned in, whispering just low enough for only her to hear. "…Hey. If it's okay to ask, those Ribbuns people. Are they really…?"
Professor Vask, without taking her eyes off the table, gave a nod. "Yeah. They're Aya's parents. You couldn't tell?"
"I had a hunch when I saw and heard their name for the first time but… I was having second thoughts," Raveena responded.
"I pity how slow you can get sometimes," Professor Vask sighed. "Their business, Ribbuns Delight, is a big deal. Huge, actually. Staple name in the culinary world for a while now."
Raveena was surprised to hear that, and her golden eyes returned to the table as Mireille Ribbuns began explaining the finer details of their role in the Saint's Acknowledgement Tour. Something about providing regional taste profiles, cultural relevance, and harmony through aroma… or something.
Truth be told, Raveena wasn't listening too hard.
But she couldn't stop watching.
"That's Aya's mom? And the man beside her is her dad?" Raveena thought with a small smile. "Huh. Her parents must be really amazing if they're here…"
She drifted back to her corner, setting the briefcase down beside the polished wall before she stood straight and still.
It made sense now that she thought about it.
Aya made good food. No, great food. It had warmth, heart and care. Not to mention her treats always tasted like someone had made it just for you.
She stared across the room at the Ribbuns couple again.
"That explains a lot," she thought.
And stars help her, the mother's way of speaking? It was so Aya, it almost hurt.
Raveena couldn't help but smile again.
"It's almost adorable… how much she takes after her. Here I thought this was gonna be another long-winded drag of a meeting…
But no.
Turns out, with Aya's parents in the room, and especially after knowing earlier that she and Aya can find a chance to hang out during the Concorde Summit, this whole thing suddenly turned kind of bearable.
The rest of the meeting carried on smoothly. Professor Vask spoke during her segments, and Raveena assisted where needed, handing papers, adjusting diagrams. All very standard, yet very boring.
But her eyes? They still wandered. More than once.
Strangely enough, mostly to Aya's mother.
She couldn't help it. She apologized to whomever may think that she's creepy, but to her, it was just… curious observation.
Again, there's just something in the way Mireille Ribbuns talked, with her warm voice and hand movements when describing a concept.
Aya did all of that too.
Like a carbon-copy bunny, just with a few more stammers and less apron.
And stars help her, the more Raveena looked, the more mesmerizing the older Ribbuns woman became.
Not in a weird way.
"My head, please don't go there," she blushed faintly, remembering the entire situation earlier back in her and Professor Vask's suite.
"Oh no." She quickly shook her head, one hand rubbing her brow. "Stop thinking like this..."
Then, slowly… guiltily…
She glanced at Mireille Ribbuns again.
"...I'm sorry, Mrs. Ribbuns," she thought.
"I may or may not have seen your daughter in… a very not-parent-approved state of dress. It was an accident, honest."
Stars, how she wished she could just say that outright to Aya's mother and get it off her chest. Maybe she could ask about how and why that thing… the transformation thing happened to Aya too.
She crossed her arms tightly to consider, but after a few moments, she gave up.
"Definitely not going to mention it."
"Ughhh… finally," Professor Vask groaned, slumping into her chair as she and Raveena arrived at their table in the large dining hall. "All those meetings were such a chore to listen to. But hey, all for the kingdom, right?"
Raveena set Professor Vask's briefcase beside her seat and slid into the spot across the table. "You looked like you wanted to throttle someone during that meeting."
"I did," the professor muttered.
Raveena then leaned back, arms crossed, one brow lifting. "So, question. During the last meeting, why were you even there for the culinary talks? You don't even teach anything kitchen-adjacent."
Professor Vask gave her a withering look. "Don't remind me. You've got no idea."
Raveena shrugged. "Well? So, how'd it happen?"
The professor waved dismissively. "It's just somehow those flowery delegates managed to wrangle me in just because I'm 'well-versed enough' in the technical side of major event logistics. Specifically, for competitions like that Mystic Treats thing at the end of the year."
"Wow," Raveena said. "Must've been exhausting, giving expert advice and plans."
Professor Vask pointed a finger at her. "Exactly that. They still want input on how cooking equipment should be maintained, what tools need to be standardized, mechanical tolerances, stuff like insulation, and so on. I don't even know at this point."
"So you're a… culinary equipment consultant now?"
"You've been through all the meetings, kid. You should know by now that I'm the everything consultant," Professor Vask sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "If it breaks, leaks, explodes, or hums suspiciously, I'm everyone's favorite expert. Sure, there's the Westwyn delegations, but they have their own thing."
Raveena smirked. "Sounds like you're famous."
"Trust me," Professor Vask muttered as she flipped open the menu on the table, "you don't want that kind of attention. The only people I've seen handle this much expectation without combusting are probably the Winters siblings. And that's only because they've mastered the ancient art of swerving out of responsibility."
"Duly noted. Not like I'm planning on becoming famous or anything."
"Good," the eagle-folk muttered, her feathers still slightly fluffed from earlier stress. "Keep it that way."
Just as she was about to tell Raveena to go ahead and pick what she liked from the menu, a voice chimed out nearby.
"Well, well, well! Boy am I surprised to see Professor Junna Vask."
The professor blinked, slightly startled. Then she looked up from the menu.
Raveena, on the other hand, didn't even look. She remained laser-focused on her menu, flipping it open to see the food because she was more interested in the chance that Aya herself might be the one cooking her order.
"No harm in hoping for it, she did tell me that she's part of this event's cooking team," she thought.
Back to the source of the voice, now standing by their table was a tall, well-groomed deer-folk man, dressed in a tailored jacket and sporting a smile that reeks of professionalism yet also hidden motives.
Professor Vask tilted her head slightly. "He looks familiar…" but for the life of her, she couldn't immediately place the name.
The deer-folk stepped closer. "You've got that look," he then said with a soft chuckle, "like someone who's forgotten an old partner already."
The professor blinked, then stared a little harder.
After scanning the deer-folk again, her eyes grew wide as the name finally clicked into place. The man before her was Professor Eric Vellmore. And if she remembers correctly, the leading Arcane Tech professor for third-phase education in Westwyn's engineering academy.
She shot a quick glance at Raveena, who still had her nose buried in the menu.
Then, clearing her throat, Professor Vask stood up and gave a weary chuckle. "Apologies. I've been through probably nearly half a day's worth of meetings and another day's worth of headaches. Didn't recognize you right away, Professor Vellmore."
The moment the name left the professor's mouth, it made its way to Raveena's ears as well, and it made her stop in the middle of her thoughts.
Her shoulders stiffened, ears flicking once before she forced them still. Her eyes didn't leave the menu, but they weren't reading anymore.
Because Professor Eric Vellmore was also her old instructor from when she was still studying in Westwyn.
"What in the world… is he doing here…?" Raveena asked in her head as the anxiety crept up her spine.
Professor Vask stepped forward and shook the deer-folk's hand, keeping her smile as light as she could manage under the circumstances.
"That's cold, Junna," Professor Vellmore said with a teasing grin. "Is that what three years away from Westwyn's academies did to you?"
"Or it could just be that I'm tired, Professor Vellmore," she playfully replied as best as she could.
"Tired, huh? Well, whatever it is, it's still a pleasure to see you again, Junna. Truly. And please, just call me Eric, we're friends, right?"
"Likewise. And yes, Eric, I'm sorry about that. All those meetings got me stiff and formal."
"This is really a surprise, I didn't think I'd run into you like this. But now that I have, I do hope we'll get the chance to catch up. So, what say we do over dinner? Just like our usual chats in the academy."
Professor Vask's smile thinned just a hair at the invitation. "Well, I might be able to have a chat with you… but not at this moment. My student and I were just about to have dinner, and well, I have a lot of things to talk to her as we—"
But Vellmore raised a hand, cutting in gently but firmly. "Yes, yes, speaking of a student… how could I have forgotten."
His eyes then slightly shifted right to Raveena's direction, but not yet directly looking at the panther-folk who was still doing her best to remain as still and as visually insignificant as possible.
"…I thought I was seeing things at first," Professor Vellmore continued, "but deer-folk as I may be, I've always had a keen sense for… certain individuals."
He tilted his head slightly, then his tone went light, almost too light. "And I could never forget this one. I heard you left Westwyn. Naturally, I hoped you might grow into something more polished. Someone proper and well-mannered. Especially now that you're in Junna's care."
Professor Vask tried to interject. "Professor… no, Eric. Look, why don't we just continue this later—"
But he cut her off once more and scoffed. "But it's been what? If we exclude the short vacation, you're barely a month in at Saint Maribelle's."
Raveena's fingers tightened hard around the menu as Professor Vellmore spoke, but she was pouring all her mental effort into making sure she holds back and doesn't do something unsightly in such a place.
Then her old professor continued. "They're known for character-building and for positively shaping student behavior through academics. And yet still I can tell… it hasn't been nearly enough time to fix you, which was to be expected."
Then, his poison-laced gaze finally dropped directly down at her, dead center.
"How have you been, Miss Raveena Hartwell?"