Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Across the water, riverfold leaves stirred beyond the bend.

The warm scent strengthened when the breeze moved through them. The fresh root beyond the leaves carried more than the dried market sample—wet peel, sharp flesh, and a sweetness that disappeared whenever Nia tried to separate it from the rest.

Shen followed her gaze.

“The stones are uneven,” he said.

Nia folded the remaining dried fruit back into its meal cloth and returned the small bundle to the top of the basket. “I can manage them.”

“You can.”

Shen folded his empty wrapping separately and tucked it beside hers. The cloth they had used to dry their hands had already lost most of its dampness on the warm stone. Nia folded it loosely and placed it away from the food and plant samples.

Shen secured the basket and carried it to the edge of the narrow channel.

Nia stepped toward the first dark stone.

His arm closed around her waist before her boot touched it. He lifted her over the water and placed her on dry ground without breaking his stride.

His hand remained at her waist after her feet settled.

Nia looked down at it. “You said I could manage the stones.”

“You could.” His thumb moved once against her side. “I wanted to carry you.”

Nia laughed, and Shen released her before setting the basket beside them.

She followed him beneath the riverfold leaves.

The plants crowded both sides of a narrow stream, their broad surfaces overlapping above knee-high stems. Several had been pushed aside by small animals moving between them. The warm scent came from below rather than from the leaves themselves.

Shen crouched near one of the disturbed places.

A pale root showed where the wet soil had been scratched away. Thin red lines marked its skin, and several smaller knobs branched from the thicker center.

“There,” Nia said.

Shen brushed loose earth aside with a strip of fallen bark. “Warm-water redvein.”

“That is related to the market root?”

“They belong to the same broader family, but they are different plants. The market root grows on the drier eastern slopes. Warm-water redvein favors these channels.”

Nia knelt beside him without touching the exposed root. “Do healers use both?”

“For different preparations. The market root is milder after drying and keeps longer. Warm-water redvein is stronger when fresh. A small shaving settles cold stomach, travel nausea, and weakness after spoiled fat, but too much numbs the mouth and irritates the stomach.”

Nia leaned closer and breathed in.

The scent sharpened immediately. It reminded her of ginger, though the sweetness beneath it was closer to the expensive dried market root than anything she remembered from Earth.

She glanced at Shen. “Safe to touch?”

“The skin is. The cut flesh may tingle if the juice remains on your fingers.”

Shen used the cleaned knife to remove a narrow side knob from the exposed root. He left the thick center and most of the branching growth untouched.

The scent opened as soon as the blade passed through it.

Nia inhaled, then coughed when the sharpness climbed into her nose.

Shen’s mouth shifted. “You leaned closer.”

“I wanted to smell it properly.”

“You succeeded.”

He rinsed the cut knob in the stream and sliced away a piece no larger than the edge of her smallest fingernail.

Nia opened her palm.

Shen kept the shaving between his fingers. “Touch it to your tongue first. Do not chew until you know how strong it is.”

“You sound as if you expect me to ignore that.”

“I watched you smell emberleaf from closer than necessary.”

“That was different.”

“It reached the back of your nose.”

Nia narrowed her eyes at him and took the shaving.

The first touch brought warmth rather than flavor. Then the sharpness spread across her tongue, bright and clean, followed by the faint sweetness she had caught in the air.

She chewed once.

Heat bloomed through her mouth without the harsh bitterness of the dried market root. It was stronger, but fresher in a way that made the scent feel alive instead of concentrated by storage.

Nia swallowed.

Shen watched her face. “Numbness?”

“Not yet.”

“Burning?”

“Warmth.”

He waited.

Nia ran her tongue over the place where the shaving had rested. “Still warmth. It has the sharpness I wanted, but the sweet part may change with heat.”

“In what way?”

“I do not know yet. It may disappear. It may move into the broth. The peel might carry more scent while the inside carries more heat.”

Shen looked down at the red-lined skin. “You would test them separately.”

“For the first batch. Peel in one small pot, flesh in another, and then both together. I also want to know what drying does to this kind.”

“The fresh root loses strength quickly after cutting.”

“How quickly?”

“By the next day, the scent begins to flatten. After several days, the cut surface darkens and becomes unpleasant.”

Nia looked across the grove.

Warm-water redvein did not grow everywhere. She could see only four mature clusters beneath the riverfold leaves, with several younger plants rising nearer the water.

“So it is not a reliable pantry supply.”

“Not from this grove alone.”

“But if a side root can be replanted—”

“It can.” Shen touched the thicker crown without disturbing it. “A piece with one growing point may take root in damp soil.”

Nia smiled. “Then we take one piece for the fresh tests, one to dry beside the market sample, and one small division to see whether it will grow closer to Hearthfang.”

“If the gatherers approve the new place.”

“Yes. I am not planting a medicinal root beside ordinary food without asking the people who know how it spreads.”

Shen removed a second side knob from another mature cluster. From a third, he cut one small division with several fine roots and a growing point still attached.

He packed damp moss around the planting division and wrapped it separately in a riverfold leaf.

Nia placed the first side root in a clean pouch and tied it with one knot. She loosely wrapped the second in dry cloth to protect it during travel and marked the tie with two knots for the drying comparison.

The moss-wrapped planting division remained apart from both.

Shen rinsed the blade and his fingers. He dried the knife with a clean edge of cloth and returned it to its sheath before Nia closed the basket.

Nia looked through the grove again. “There are enough mature plants to collect more.”

“There are.”

“But not enough to waste before we know whether we can use it.”

Shen’s gaze moved from the untouched roots to her. “You are learning restraint.”

“I have always had restraint.”

“You followed a scent across the water.”

“You carried me across the water.”

“That does not strengthen your claim.”

Nia smiled. “It strengthened the crossing.”

A quiet laugh passed through his chest.

They followed the grove upstream.

The redvein clusters ended where the channel widened into a shallow pool. Above it, thin branches bowed beneath clusters of small green fruit. Several had fallen into the water and split against the stones, exposing pale flesh around a dark center.

Nia smelled the sourness before she reached them.

Shen selected one that had fallen onto the dry bank and turned it in his hand. The skin had softened slightly where it struck the ground, but it had not split.

“Rainpear,” he said.

“People eat these?”

“On the day they fall. Sometimes the day after, if the skin remains whole.”

Nia took the fruit when he offered it. It was smaller than her palm and shaped like a rounded drop. Its smooth skin gave slightly beneath her thumb.

“Why are they not sold in the market?”

“They bruise during the walk. By the time a basket reaches Hearthfang, the bottom fruit has usually split.”

“Do people preserve them?”

“Not well. Drying leaves a hard sour skin around a softer center. Boiling makes the flesh separate into threads.”

“That does not mean it is useless.”

“No.”

Nia glanced at him. “You remembered.”

“I listen when you explain food.”

Shen rinsed the fruit in the running water, drew the knife, and cut it cleanly in half. He handed one half back.

The pale flesh shone with juice. Nia touched the cut surface to her tongue and immediately pulled her head away.

Sourness tightened the sides of her mouth and climbed behind her eyes.

Shen watched her with suspicious calm.

Nia swallowed. “You knew it would do that.”

“I have eaten rainpear.”

“You could have warned me.”

“I wanted to see whether you would take a second bite.”

She offered the fruit to him instead.

Shen leaned down and bit directly from the half in her hand. His expression barely changed.

Nia stared at him. “You are irritating.”

He took the fruit from her fingers and wiped a bead of juice from the corner of her mouth with his thumb.

The other half remained in his hand.

Nia reached for it.

Shen raised it just beyond her fingers, watching her for a breath before lowering it again.

This time Nia bit into the flesh instead of merely tasting the surface.

The sourness still struck first, but beneath it the fruit carried a clean green flavor and a faint floral edge.

“This could cut through rich meat,” she said after swallowing. “Or brighten something heavy after cooking. It might work with fresh curd if it does not make it grainy or force out too much whey.”

“You would use it before it spoils.”

“Yes, but the short life is the problem. Hearthfang cannot depend on a fruit that bruises before it reaches the kitchen.”

“The trees grow along several warm channels.”

“That helps only if people already travel those channels.”

“Some gatherers do.”

Nia looked at the fallen fruit in the pool. “Then it may be a seasonal ingredient for nearby households, not something everyone stores.”

She finished the flesh remaining in her half and placed the dark center beneath the rainpear tree.

Shen ate the rest of his half and set its center beside hers.

Nia crouched near the water and examined the unbroken fruit still hanging from the lowest branch.

“We should take only firm ones. None from the upper clusters.”

Shen bent the branch low enough for her to reach.

“If they are difficult to carry,” Nia continued, “overfilling the basket will ruin them. Six good fruits will teach us more than twenty bruised ones.”

She chose five fruits with firm skin and no dark marks. She left the softest ripe fruit on the branch and gathered one newly fallen fruit from the dry bank.

Shen lined a shallow section of the basket with folded riverfold leaves. They placed the rainpears in a single layer so none rested beneath another.

He rinsed the rainpear juice from the knife in the running water. He dried the blade and handle with a clean edge of cloth before returning it to its sheath.

Nia refolded the cloth and returned it to its separate place near the top of the basket.

A low rushing sound moved through the grove.

Shen’s attention shifted downstream.

The soft movement of water beneath the leaves had become a fuller, continuous rush.

“The channel is rising,” he said.

Nia listened. “Rain farther up?”

“Possibly. A blocked run may also have broken open.”

He crouched beside the stream and touched the wet line on one stone. Water had already climbed above the earlier mark.

“We should finish here.”

Nia closed the basket while Shen checked the ground around them. He examined the covered bark container containing the emberleaf, made certain the rainpears had not shifted, and tightened the basket cover.

They returned toward the narrow channel at the edge of the grove.

Brown water now covered both stepping stones. Part of the near bank had begun sliding into the current, and exposed roots trembled as the soil beneath them broke away.

Shen stopped above the damaged edge.

“The bank is failing.”

Nia looked toward the riverfold leaves behind them. Water had begun cutting into the lowest side of the grove.

“If you transform here, more of it will come down.”

“Yes.”

“The western rise?”

“It gives us firm ground. I also need to see how far the new water has cut across the lower routes.”

He carried the basket upslope.

The riverfold grove fell behind them as they climbed between older trees. On the clear rise above it, the ground widened and hardened around exposed roots and dark stone.

Shen set down the basket.

He undressed and folded each layer. Nia closed the gathering compartment, then tied his folded clothing across the top of the covered basket so none of it could press against the rainpears beneath.

She slid the straps over her shoulders.

Shen transformed on the open rise.

His human shape lengthened and expanded until white-silver scales filled the space between the old trees. His immense body curved across the firm ground while the redvein grove remained below them.

His head rose above Nia, large enough to block the nearest opening in the canopy.

He lowered the third line of scales behind it.

Nia climbed without waiting for instruction. She caught one raised edge, used the pressure of his magic beneath her foot, and settled astride his neck with the basket against her back.

Shen’s magic closed around her hips and lower back.

“You knew which scale,” he said.

“I told you I was learning.”

His silver eye remained on her for another moment before he turned toward the western rise.

The route was not a worked path.

Shen kept to the upper edge where old roots gripped stone firmly enough to bear his weight. Below him, narrow lines of connected ground wound between the flooded hollows.

His gaze followed each one while his body remained above them.

The rising channel had divided through the lower growth. Water filled shallow depressions and passed between the trees in brown ribbons. In several places it had already reached ground that had been dry when they entered the grove.

Nia leaned with each turn.

She no longer searched for the ground beneath him. His muscles warned her before he climbed or curved, and the bond kept the immense distance between his head and trailing body from feeling strange.

Wet leaves brushed the air above them. Brown water flashed below the roots. White scales moved through both without hurry.

Shen slowed near a split in the rise.

One side descended toward the route they had used that morning. The other continued west between taller trees and dark shelves of stone.

He lifted his head, tasting the air.

Nia waited.

“The new flow has crossed the lower return,” he said. “The ground beyond it is softening.”

“Can we go around?”

“Yes.”

She looked toward the western line. “Will we still reach Hearthfang tonight?”

“I can carry you home tonight.”

Shen turned one silver eye toward her.

“I would rather take you to the western shelter, let you rest, and inspect the changed route after first light. The lower ground will tell me more when I can see where the water has settled.”

Nia looked through the trees.

The sun had already moved behind the western canopy. The warm gold that had filled the grove was thinning into deeper green.

“We were supposed to be home tonight.”

“Yes.”

“Kael will know we did not return.”

“The bond will give him your direction. He will know you are not distressed, and he already knows you left with me.”

Nia rested one hand against the scales beneath her.

“He may still be angry.”

“At the water.”

“And at you.”

“Possibly.”

“You do not sound worried.”

“I am bringing you to a dry shelter instead of carrying you through changing ground all night.”

Nia considered that. “He may only be angry at the water.”

“That would be reasonable.”

She laughed.

Then she remembered the basket against her back.

“The fresh redvein will begin losing its strength.”

“The shelter has a cold seep above it. We can wrap the cut end in fresh damp moss and keep it near the stone basin overnight.”

“That will slow the change?”

“Yes. The drying piece should be opened once we arrive. Leaving it in the cloth all night would trap too much dampness.”

Nia settled more fully against him. “You thought about the samples too.”

“I knew you would.”

“And the rest of the food?”

“The dried fruit is enough while we settle the samples and prepare the shelter. I can hunt before the light is gone, or gather something close if you prefer not to wait.”

Nia thought of the small meal bundle at the top of the basket. “Hunt. We already have enough plants to sort through.”

“Then I will hunt.”

Shen continued along the western rise.

The ground climbed slowly beneath him. The warm channels fell farther below, hidden and revealed by turns in the slope. Steam gathered in low pockets where water crossed dark stone, then dissolved among the branches.

After a while, the basket straps began pressing into Nia’s shoulders.

She shifted once.

Shen continued.

She moved her left hand to another scale and rolled one shoulder.

Shen stopped beneath a stand of tall, narrow trees.

“You are tired.”

“I can continue.”

“That was not what I said.”

Nia rested both palms against his scales. “The basket is pulling more than it did before.”

His magic shifted around her. Pressure rose beneath the lower edge of the basket and along her sides, taking most of its weight from her shoulders.

Nia exhaled.

“You noticed before I asked.”

“You moved the same hand twice and corrected late after the last turn.”

“I still followed it.”

“After it reached you.”

Nia lowered herself along his neck, resting her forearms across the broad scales before her.

“You are annoyingly observant.”

“I find it useful.”

A slow movement of magic passed along her back, easing the remaining pressure beneath one strap.

Nia’s laugh came out softer than she intended.

Shen began moving again.

This time she remained lowered against him. His magic supported her without fixing her in place, and his pace shifted into longer, smoother waves.

Nia closed her eyes for several breaths.

She did not need to watch the flooded ground below them. Shen’s movement remained steady beneath her, and the basket no longer dragged at her shoulders.

Her fingers loosened around the scale.

“I am not asleep,” she said.

“I did not accuse you.”

“You were thinking about it.”

“I was deciding whether to speak before you began dreaming.”

Nia opened one eye. The silver edge of the scale beneath her hand shone through the leaves.

“I trust you enough to sleep.”

“I know.”

The simple answer warmed her more than the air.

They continued west.

The forest changed as the ground rose. The riverfold leaves disappeared first. Redvein no longer crowded the water. The trees stood farther apart, their roots gripping sloped shelves of black stone instead of sinking into wet earth.

A pair of small gray animals watched from a hollow trunk. One climbed onto the other’s back to see over the broken edge, then both vanished when Shen’s head passed beneath them.

Nia lifted her cheek from his scales.

“What were those?”

“Stone-tailed climbers.”

“They looked offended.”

“They object to anything larger than their tree.”

“That includes most beastmen.”

“They are easily offended.”

A thin call sounded above them.

Another answered farther west.

The forest was not becoming quiet with evening. Its voices were changing.

Day birds moved toward the upper branches while smaller creatures stirred beneath fallen leaves. Something heavy crossed the slope below them without showing itself.

Shen’s head turned once toward the sound, but his pace did not change.

Nia felt no answering tension in the muscles beneath her. He had noticed the creature and dismissed it.

The western rise narrowed between two slabs of stone.

Beyond them, the land opened into a long shelf above the warm channels. The distant forest rolled beneath them in layers of dark green, broken by pale steam and thin flashes of moving water.

Nia straightened despite the tiredness in her back.

They were farther from Hearthfang than she had realized.

The mountain remained visible behind them, but the worked paths, patrol markers, and rising household smoke had disappeared.

Shen stopped at the edge of the stone shelf.

The last sunlight caught along his scales and turned the silver edges almost white.

“The shelter lies beyond the next ridge,” he said.

Nia looked toward the deepening forest.

She should have felt disappointed that the evening meal in Kael’s cave would pass without them.

Instead, the knowledge that the forest would not end with a short walk home opened something bright beneath her ribs.

“We are really staying.”

“Yes.”

“And tomorrow you will still show me the western route?”

“In daylight.”

Nia lowered herself against the warm curve of his neck again.

“Then keep going.”

Below them, water continued spreading through the channels they had left behind.

Shen turned toward the ridge, carrying her farther into the evening forest.

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