Tessa exhaled slowly, then clapped her hands once to command attention.
"Alright," she announced. "New rule."
The scattered rogue beastmen immediately turned toward her. Hunger sharpened focus faster than any speech ever could. Ears lifted. Tails stilled. Even those pretending not to care leaned closer.
If this new rule benefited them, they wanted to hear it first.
"Since most of you don't have money," Tessa continued, "or even know what money means... no problem."
A murmur spread through the crowd.
"It's probably useless here anyway, so let's drop that idea."
The beastmen nearly rejoiced.
Several shoulders relaxed at once. A few cats openly grinned. Tania, who had wanted everything for free from the beginning, looked smug for half a second.
Zephyr frowned from beside the stall.
He stepped closer and lowered his voice.
"But yesterday you said you wanted to use that as a trading system."
Tessa didn't even turn fully.
