Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Nia was washing breakfast cups when Mari appeared at the entrance with a work strip in one hand and sawdust on one sleeve.

“You moved the basin again.”

Nia looked at the basin beside her. “It works better here.”

“It used to be farther in.”

“That was before the wet baskets, the stone, the shelterbark, and everyone deciding I needed to stop putting things wherever they fit.”

Mari stepped around the entrance landing without looking down. She had used it often enough now that the change no longer slowed her. “Good. Then you can put one more thing somewhere sensible.”

Shen was drying the last bowl, but his attention shifted to the strip in Mari’s hand. Nia’s followed his.

“What cleared?” Shen asked.

“The lower water-station frame.”

Nia set the cup beside the basin. “I thought they were still waiting on a full board.”

“They were. When the workers opened the old crosspiece this morning, the wood underneath was sound. They repaired it with two shorter lengths instead.” Mari raised the work strip. “The full seasoned board moved to the next household on the list.”

Nia wiped her hands before taking the strip.

Two public work marks above hers had been crossed out. A storage repair beneath them had been marked complete that morning. Her household mark came next.

“When is it coming?”

“Selvan is bringing it after the woodworker finishes the damaged edge.”

Nia glanced toward the path. “I am trying to picture how wide it is.”

Mari tucked the strip into her belt. “You will know when Selvan gets here.”

Nia washed her hands again before returning to the clean cups, while Mari walked farther inside and stopped near the wall where Nia had crossed out the old clean-cloth mark the day before. The new score nearer the washing side was still bare.

“You moved it.”

“The steam kept reaching the old place.”

Mari looked from the gray hot-pot stone to the wall and then toward the hearth. “This one is better.”

Shen set the dry bowl away. “The old position took moisture every time the pot steamed.”

“Better to move the mark now than scrub around a badly placed shelf later.”

Outside, someone called for two empty water jars, and a second voice answered from lower on the path. The lower station had reopened that morning, though one side remained blocked where the ground was still soft. Foot traffic had returned to the shorter route, mixed with repeated warnings from workers whenever someone drifted too close to the damaged edge.

By the time Selvan arrived, Nia had moved the clean cups away from the work area and Shen had shifted the temporary cloth stack farther toward the basin. The two old dry lengths from Luma’s retired carrying frames were stacked near the wall where Selvan had left them days earlier.

Selvan came up the path backward with one end of a long board against his shoulder. Another worker carried the far end.

“Slow at the turn,” Selvan said.

“I see it.”

The other male adjusted his grip and brought his end through carefully, keeping the board clear of the shelterbark landing.

They lowered it onto two low stone rests on the construction side of the cave. The worker straightened and rubbed his shoulder.

“Next time you get the end that keeps catching the path.”

“The lower route was crowded.”

The male gave Selvan a look over his shoulder as he headed back outside before another load came up behind him.

Nia approached the board and studied the full length of it inside their cave. The top was broader than she expected, with enough space for a large cutting area without forcing her against the wall, and the grain ran mostly straight from end to end. One long edge had already been shaved where the woodworker had removed a split.

She nearly touched the surface before Selvan brushed sawdust from his forearm.

“Leave the top alone for now.”

Her hand stopped above it. “Wood-yard dust?”

“And fresh cutting dust. I trimmed the damaged edge again before we came up. We fit everything first.”

“We can wash it when you finish.”

“Tomorrow morning,” Shen said.

Nia looked at him.

“If we wet it late today, we cannot watch underneath while it dries. I want to see whether water stays around the new supports.”

Nia looked at the old frame wood near the wall. They had waited too long for dry material to trap moisture beneath it on the first day.

“Tomorrow morning.”

Selvan crouched beside the two old frame lengths and placed them on the floor, parallel to each other.

“These go front to back beneath the board, one near each end.”

He opened his work bundle and brought out four thick seasoned blocks, several smaller braces, and a handful of temporary wedges.

The four short blocks would stand on the cave floor as legs. Each old frame length would rest across a front and rear block, giving the broad board a support near either end without attaching anything to the cave wall. Selvan slid the wedges near his knee.

“These are only for setting the height. Once we have the measure, I cut the blocks to fit the floor and remove the wedges.”

Nia nodded as Selvan positioned the blocks roughly, laid the old frame lengths across them, and had Shen help him raise the board from the two stone rests.

Once the board was on the temporary support arrangement, Nia carried the two stone rests back outside to the work-material pile beside the cave. Selvan slid wedges beneath two of the floor blocks until the board stopped shifting.

“Try it before I cut anything.”

Nia stepped into place and knew the board was too high before both palms reached the top. Her shoulders rose slightly when she mimed the downward movement she used for chopping.

“Lower.”

Selvan watched her elbows. “How much?”

Nia tried again, bending her wrist as if she were working through a thick root. “About two fingers.”

Shen came around to her side. “Your shoulder lifts before your hand comes down.”

“That is what I feel.”

Selvan changed the wedges and stepped away. Nia repeated the motion, reached to the far side, then turned toward the hearth and back toward the basin. The board now sat low enough for her to press downward without raising her shoulder, but not so low that she needed to bend over it.

“This is better.”

Mari had already taken a rough work cloth from the bundle she had brought with her. She crouched and pushed it beneath the nearest support, reaching around the front block before testing the space behind the rear one. Her knuckles touched the cave wall.

“This end needs to come forward.”

Selvan crouched beside her.

“If it stays here, I cannot get a cloth behind the rear block without scraping my hand.”

Nia reached across the board before Selvan moved anything, checking how much space she could afford to lose at the front.

“A little forward is fine.”

Shen kept the board steady while Selvan shifted the temporary arrangement. Nia tested her reach again and could still touch the back of the work surface without leaning her body against the front edge.

Mari passed the rough cloth behind the rear block without catching her fingers. “Keep that space.”

Selvan marked the four block positions against the floor with shallow chalk scratches, then lifted the board away with Shen’s help and started fitting the legs to the uneven cave floor.

The rear-left block needed the most trimming. Selvan shaved its lower edge, set it back into place, checked the movement, and cut a little more from one corner. He adjusted the remaining blocks in the same way until all four sat flat without wedges.

Nia stayed on the construction side with them. She carried the smaller scraps, passed Selvan tools by the handles when he named them, and kept the work cord from slipping beneath the support pieces while he measured.

Mari swept loose chips from the passage before anyone stepped on them and carried the first pan of sawdust outside.

A male from the lower path stopped near the entrance while she was gone.

“Is any of that dry enough for a fire?”

Selvan pointed to the pale curls shaved from the new board. “Those are. Leave the darker shavings.”

The male crouched and gathered the pale curls into his carrying cloth.

“What happened to those?”

“Old binding dirt in the frame wood.”

He left the darker shavings where they were and headed downhill with the clean curls.

Selvan laid the two old frame lengths across their fitted floor blocks again and cut short braces to keep the supports from shifting sideways. He pegged the braces into the support wood where Mari would still be able to clean around them, leaving the temporary wedges beside his tool bundle while he and Shen brought the preparation board back over.

He adjusted the board slightly, checked both ends, and marked where each old frame support met the underside. Shen raised one end while Selvan cut a shallow seat across the underside where that support touched the board. They repeated the process at the other end, leaving two shallow seats in total.

When they lowered the board again, each old frame length settled into its seat. Selvan pressed against the front edge and then the side without shifting the surface.

“Now you.”

Nia placed both hands against the front edge and leaned some of her weight into it. She moved to the far end and tried again before turning toward Mari, who was already crouching with her rough cloth.

Mari checked beneath the board, behind the rear blocks, between the front supports, and around each brace. At the right end, one brace sat low enough that her knuckles scraped the floor.

“Move this one up.”

Selvan looked where her hand stopped.

“I can reach behind it,” Mari said, “but not around the peg.”

He removed the brace and reset it higher against the support wood. Mari passed the cloth through again.

“That works.”

Nia smiled. “You knew she was going under there.”

“I knew she would check it. I did not know where the brace would get in her way.”

Mari continued to the next support while Nia passed Selvan another peg.

They kept adjusting until Mari could reach every side of the floor blocks and both old frame supports without pressing her hand against the wall or floor. Selvan then collected the temporary wedges and put them back into his work bundle.

By then the board’s top was streaked with yard dust, chalk from Selvan’s fingers, and fresh shavings. Shen washed the dust from his hands before bringing over two empty bowls for the spacing test.

Nia looked at them. “You want to test both sides.”

“I want to see what happens when two people work here.”

He set one bowl near the end closest to the washing area to stand in for raw work. The other went nearer the hearth side to represent food that had already passed through the dirty part of preparation. Both bowls rested on the still-unwashed board as Nia stood where she expected to cut.

Shen mimed bringing a washed raw ingredient from the basin to the near end, then stepped back instead of crossing in front of her.

“That works,” Nia said. “But I do not want everyone treating one half as if it stays dirty forever.”

“If we can, raw work starts near the washing side,” Shen said. “If you need the whole board, we clean the whole board before the next job.”

“Good.”

He moved the raw-work bowl closer to the washing-side corner. Nia reached toward the other bowl from her usual working position without crossing the raw-work space, then turned toward the hearth and mimed taking a finished dish away from the board. The route stayed clear of both the basin and entrance landing.

Mari watched their feet instead of the bowls. “What happens when someone comes in with a gathering basket while both of you are here?”

Nia stepped away from the board and went to the entrance. She brought the empty gathering basket from outer storage, set it on the shelterbark landing, mimed unloading toward the washing side, then returned the basket outside and washed her hands before coming back to the preparation area.

Shen remained at the board, and they passed each other without either person needing to turn sideways.

“That is much better than winter,” Nia said. “I kept ending up at the hearth edge whenever we both needed space.”

“You noticed it before I did,” Shen said.

“I was the one running out of room for my elbows.”

Mari nudged the raw-work bowl farther from the middle with one finger. “Now they can stay on your side.”

Nia laughed.

Two people outside began arguing over a bundle of reed mats before the conversation could continue.

Mari went to the entrance and looked down the path.

“The ties are marked for the care shelter,” she called.

One of the males below answered that he had been told lower station.

“Then check before you take it farther.”

The bundle stopped while the two men looked at the ties again. Mari came back inside.

“What is left?”

Selvan checked the support points once more. “Final fit, then we clean the work area. Nobody puts food on the board today.”

Nia leaned lightly against the front edge and looked across the surface toward Shen. It was wide enough that he could stand opposite her without crowding her hands. Through winter, even when they cooked together, they had often worked in turns because the usable cutting spaces were small and the safest place belonged to whoever needed it first.

Now Shen could stand across from her and still leave her room to work. He looked from her hands to the open space between them.

“You could teach from this side.”

Nia checked the distance again. Someone could watch her hands without standing in the path she needed.

“After we wash it.”

“Tomorrow,” Shen said.

Mari rubbed the rough cloth between her fingers, checking the dust it had collected, then folded it dirty-side inward while Selvan pressed each support once more before gathering his tools.

“If water gets under the wood and stays there, tell me. If the top starts twisting as the air gets wetter, tell me. Do not try to straighten it by putting weight on one corner.”

“I will call you before I try to fix it myself.”

Selvan nodded and packed the rest of his tools. The measuring cord went back into the bundle with the wedges, spare pegs, knife, and small mallet.

Shen removed both test bowls from the dusty surface. Because they had touched the unwashed board, he carried them directly to the washing side instead of returning them to household storage.

Selvan swept the remaining pale cutting curls into the waste pan with the darker frame shavings while Nia looked over the board.

“When did it actually clear?”

“This morning. I checked the split edge before we brought it up. If the damage had run deeper, the board would have gone back to the woodworkers.”

Mari took the waste pan and laid the folded rough work cloth across its handle so she could take both outside.

“Clean the floor before you wash the board tomorrow. Otherwise you will put sawdust straight back onto it.”

“I will.”

Mari stepped around the entrance landing and headed down the path with the dirty work cloth and waste pan. Selvan followed with his tool bundle and work cord.

Nia and Shen spent the next while cleaning the room around the new surface. They swept the remaining sawdust from beneath the supports and along the wall and carried it outside. Nia took one of their rough floor cloths from the work side, dampened it with the basin water, and wiped around the four blocks without soaking the dry wood.

She put the used floor cloth with the dirty washing when they finished. Shen emptied the basin outside, rinsed it, refilled it with clean water, and then washed the two test bowls before setting them to dry away from the construction area. They both washed their hands in the fresh water before returning to the rest of the cave, while the preparation board stayed dusty for the morning cleaning.

Later, sunlight reached the far end of the new surface. Nia stepped behind it without touching the top, bent her elbows as if she were cutting, reached toward the far side, and turned once toward the hearth. None of the movements pulled at her shoulder or pushed her into Shen’s space.

He took his place opposite her with room for both sets of hands to work. Nia lowered her arms and went to wash for the evening meal, leaving the dusty board alone until morning.

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