Magical Mead Making

Brumsel sat quietly in his hut, currently pondering what he might dedicate his time to today. However, the Tyrian was not yet aware that that decision would be made for him, as a knock once again rang through his home, causing him to get up and open the front door to find his green-coated friend waiting outside.

"Sorry to drop by unannounced," Fey started. "But the local market had such fun-looking fruits on sale that I couldn’t stop myself from buying a few aaand I might have gone a bit overboard, so I wanted to share some with you!" Not waiting for her friend’s approval, the runner pranced inside and put the woven basket, which held her purchases, securely onto the counter in Brumsel’s kitchen.

"You know," said Fey, reaching into the basket and pulling a large jar of honey out of it. "I’ve been wanting to make gatherers' mead for ages—think we could take a stab at it together?" A hearty laugh escaped the yellow-coated Tyrian at his friend's suggestion.

"You couldn’t have chosen more perfect timing," said Brumsel, a chuckle still lingering in his speech. "It’s almost as if you heard me complaining in my head that I didn’t have anything planned and decided to personally do something about it. I’m all for it. Let’s go—what do we need for the mead?"

"That’s the fun part!" retorted Fey with a beaming smile. "Besides the usual ingredients to start a mead with, we can go wild—gatherers' mead infused with roses, cinnamon, or even anise if you really want the gatherers' mead to punch you in the face for taking a sip are all options." While talking, the green-coated runner had been pulling the tools necessary for the endeavor ahead of the two from Brumsel’s cupboards and kitchen drawers.

"Hm—I must admit I've never made gatherers' mead before, lets just stick with what you think a Gatherers Mead is typically supposed to contain. So you'll have to guide me through most of it," said the gold-coated Tyrian, putting on a tailor-made apron to prevent some of his longer fur from getting into the mead. Seeing as this had become a semi-regular occurrence that Fey had been dropping by to cook at Brumsel’s place, the Tyrian also now called a runner-sized apron part of his possessions. He extended it toward Fey, who immediately put it on.

With the two Reoseans prepared and gearing to go, Fey took out the first bits of ingredients from her woven basket and placed them next to the jar of honey on Brumsel’s counter. "Be a dear and fill this pot with water already, please. We’ll have to add the honey and bring it to a boil." As Fey gave her friend instructions, the last few words came out a bit muffled as she tried to get into the honey but kept struggling with her paws, finally resorting to trying to unscrew the cap off the jar of honey with the help of her maw.

Brumsel turned around, carefully grabbing a pot from the shelf, which was too high for the runner to reach as the kitchen was made with Tyrians using it in mind. Placing the pot down, he quickly went to fill it with water before putting it onto the stove and lighting a fire under it.

"There we go!" said Fey, having opened the jar of honey in the meantime. Brumsel’s eyes wandered over to the lid of the jar, and he smiled, spotting multiple dents in the lid from where Fey had bitten down on it to try and get into it. This lid told the story of a plethora of attempts before actual success was achieved. Fey handed the jar of honey to Brumsel, who held it over the pot while Fey scooped its contents into the boiling water. Once done, the green runner pointed back over to her basket.

"There’s some mixed fruit in there, namely a handful of berries and an apple! Could you wash them and then drop them into the water? The apple also needs to be sliced." While the runner scrambled to fetch a knife for Brumsel, the Tyrian trudged over to the sink with the fruits he had scooped into both of his clawed hands. Fey’s voice rang out once more as Brumsel got to washing the fruits.

"I’ll start to add the yeast now—seeing as you are on the fruit, it won't be a problem." Time passed until the last ingredient needing to be added to the mead were the coffee beans Fey was adamant belonged in the mead—the only problem was that neither of them knew how it should be added.

Should the whole bean be dropped in to infuse it? Merely serve as decoration? Should they brew coffee and add it to the mead? The Tyrian and runner looked at each other, then to the coffee beans, and then to their mead, which had boiled and was now cooling down to allow the yeast to do its job.

"I—" started Fey, but Brumsel had already grabbed the coffee beans and, before she could continue talking, chucked them into the pot with the mead.

"Fair enough," responded the green-coated runner as she had intended to ask precisely about that. "It comes down to waiting now and seeing if we should make this gatherers' mead again," said Fey to Brumsel saying that he was also excited to give it a try. The two friends would spend the next hour watching the mixture as the fruit pieces and coffee beans floated around in the warm water, eager to bottle their homemade gatherers mead.