Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Nia woke before sunrise and saw Kael just outside the entrance, looking past the hearth toward the new preparation board while he scraped damp dirt from the edge of one boot.

“You are looking at it too,” she said as she came closer.

“It is hard to miss.”

“I still have not touched it.”

Kael rinsed the sole with water from the outer washing side before stepping into the cave. He washed his hands at the basin, then passed Nia on the way to breakfast and brushed a warm hand across the back of her waist.

Shen came from the washing side with fresh water before Nia could move any closer to the dusty surface.

“Good,” he said. “Keep it that way until we wash it.”

Nia looked between them, then went to wash her hands while Kael sat with his bowl.

Nia and Shen had left the board untouched overnight. Sawdust no longer covered the floor around the four fitted blocks, but a faint pale film still marked the top, along with chalk from Selvan’s fingers and the darker streak where the woodworker had shaved away the split edge.

Shen set the water down on the washing side.

“We clean the floor first,” he said.

Nia looked down at the stone around the supports. “We cleaned it yesterday.”

“And we have been walking through here since then.”

Nia looked at the faint dust carried in by ordinary morning traffic and took the rough floor cloth.

They kept the work simple. Kael finished eating, washed his bowl at the basin, and set it with the clean dishes to dry before Nia began on the floor. Shen moved the clean household things farther from the work side while Nia wiped the floor around the board supports.

“The west markers are done,” Kael said while Nia crouched near the rear supports. “I am checking the lower bend today. Two carts cut too close to the soft side yesterday.”

“Are people ignoring the new path?”

“Some are still cutting across the old edge because it is shorter.”

Nia looked over her shoulder. “Even after two carts sank into it?”

“Each cart sank one wheel. They were pulled out before they tipped.”

Kael bent to press a kiss into her hair, then straightened. “I will be back before midday.”

Shen moved the basin closer to the entrance so it would be ready once the floor work was finished, and Nia continued wiping around the supports.

By the time the floor was clean, the lower path outside had filled with people moving water jars in both directions. Someone farther down called for a missing lid. Another voice answered that the lid had gone to the care station with the wrong jar, which started an argument about who had tied the carrying cloth.

The dispute continued while Nia put the used floor cloth with the dirty washing. Shen carried the used basin water outside, rinsed the basin, and refilled it with clean water. They both washed their hands in the fresh water before touching the board or the cloths meant for cleaning it.

Nia used hot water first. She worked from the washing-side end toward the hearth, wiping with the grain and changing cloths whenever the water began to gray. Shen stayed opposite her, cleaning the far edge and then crouching to check whether runoff reached the supports.

“Anything underneath?” Nia asked.

“Not yet.”

She used less water on the next section. “I do not want to soak it.”

“If you start using too much, I will tell you.”

The first wash lifted yard dust. The second took away the chalk and fine residue left by Selvan’s cuts. When Nia reached the shaved edge, she slowed and ran the damp cloth over it twice, then rinsed her hand before checking the wood with the flat of her fingers for anything sharp.

Shen crouched again and checked behind the rear-right block. “A little water reached this side.”

Nia came around the end. “Is it sitting there?”

“No. It ran along the stone and stopped before the wood.”

He dried the damp patch and checked behind the block again. Nia looked at the narrow gap Mari had insisted on.

“Then the gap is doing what we wanted.”

“It would not be if the support were any closer to the wall.”

“Tell Mari that and she will remind Selvan for the rest of spring.”

“She may do that anyway.”

Nia smiled as she went back to the board.

They rinsed the surface with clean water, then used fresh cloths to remove the last residue. Shen checked underneath again while Nia crouched at the front supports and made sure no water had collected against the wood.

They had waited a long time for properly seasoned material. Nia did not want the first washing to leave moisture trapped around the dry supports.

They cleaned the used cloths and spread three across the rim of the shallow reed basket beside the basin. Shen emptied the wash water outside, rinsed the basin, and refilled it with clean water. After both of them washed their hands, they left the board bare to dry with the entrance opened wider for the spring air.

Nia had intended to sit down, but she noticed that the reed basket now occupied the space she would need when carrying washed ingredients from the basin to the new board.

Shen followed her attention. “You want to move it.”

“I want to know why I put it there in the first place.”

“There was no board there yesterday.”

Nia nodded toward the route between the basin and the preparation surface. “It worked before this changed the path.”

She picked up the basket and carried it to the wall side of the basin, farther from the entrance. After walking from the basin to the board once, she returned and shifted the basket another hand-width before testing the route again.

Shen waited while she reached back toward the drying cloths without turning fully.

“I can still reach them.”

“Then that place works better.”

She kept the basket there, and by late morning the board had dried evenly. Shen checked under each support once more before Nia finally put her palm on the top.

The wood felt smooth and dry when she pressed near the center and slid her hand toward the far edge. She could use it now without imagining sawdust ending up in their food.

Because Shen had just been checking around the floor supports, he washed his hands again. Nia washed with him before either of them brought food onto the newly cleaned surface.

Nia brought out ordinary roots, a bundle of dried greens, two sharp bulbs, and a portion of game meat wrapped in a household cloth.

Shen looked at the ingredients. “Are we making broth?”

“Something we already know. If I have trouble with the board, I do not want a new ingredient confusing the problem.”

He began setting out the pot.

Nia washed the roots and sharp bulbs on the washing side before carrying them to the new board. She paused after the first cut into a root. Her knife came down without her shoulder lifting, the board stayed firm, and she did not need to turn her elbow away from the wall. She cut into the root again while Shen looked over from the hearth.

“Better?”

“Much better.”

He came across when she finished the first root and took his place opposite her. Nia gave him a second knife and pushed the cleaned sharp bulbs toward his side.

“Slice those.”

“How thin?”

“The way I showed you for the light broth. I do not want them disappearing before the roots soften.”

Shen started cutting. His slices were more even than they had been when Nia first taught him, with fewer thick pieces mixed among the thin ones.

Nia looked over his work. “Your practice is showing.”

“You told me to keep doing it.”

“I did.”

They continued without taking turns around each other. Nia cut the roots and separated the tougher dried-green stems from the leaves while Shen finished the bulbs. He washed his knife when he was done, set it to dry, and moved toward the hearth.

Nia set a raw-use bowl beside her before opening the meat. She folded the wrapping cloth dirty-side inward and put it with the dirty washing, then trimmed the game into the bowl with her own knife, keeping the meat and its juices on the washing-side portion of the board.

When she finished, she carried the raw-use bowl to the hearth side for Shen. She poured hot water into a small wash bowl and cleaned the section where the meat had been prepared with a fresh washing cloth. She rinsed the board with clean water and scrubbed her raw-use knife in the same small wash bowl.

The used cloth went directly to the dirty washing. Nia emptied the raw-cleaning water outside, rinsed the small wash bowl, and returned it to the washing side. She washed her hands at the clean household basin, then gave the small wash bowl a final rinse with fresh water and set it to dry. She gave the knife its final fresh rinse before setting it aside to dry.

At the hearth, Shen rendered a little fat into the pot.

Nia brought over the first bowl of roots. “You do these.”

Shen glanced into the bowl, then tipped only part of the roots into the hot fat instead of crowding the pot.

Nia leaned one hip against the preparation board and watched.

The first time she had taught him to brown roots before adding broth, he had needed her to point out each change in smell and color. Now he spread the pieces into one layer and gave them time against the hot surface without asking when to turn them.

The mild sweetness deepened as the cut sides colored. Shen turned the roots, let the second side brown, then moved the first batch into a bowl and added the rest.

Nia came closer. “You remembered the smaller batches.”

“The pot stays hotter.”

“Yes. And the roots brown instead of steaming in their own water.”

He finished the second batch and looked toward the raw-use bowl.

“Do I add the meat next?”

“Yes.”

Shen tipped part of the meat from the bowl into the pot and used the wooden cooking spoon to spread the pieces across the hot surface. He added the rest once the first batch came out, then carried the emptied raw-use bowl directly to the dirty-washing side.

He washed his hands before returning to the hearth.

When the last meat left the pot, Nia pointed toward the heat.

“Lower it before the bulbs.”

His hand moved to the hearth control. “Is that low enough?”

“A little lower.”

Shen lowered it again.

“That is better.”

He added the bulbs and softened them in the browned fat while Nia returned the roots and meat to the pot. They poured in stock, added the tougher green stems early, and left the leaves for the end.

Once the broth settled into a steady simmer, Nia scrubbed the raw-use bowl at the basin but left it on the washing side. She carried the contaminated basin water outside, rinsed the basin, refilled it with clean water, and washed her hands.

With clean hands, she gave the raw-use bowl a final fresh rinse and set it to dry with the other clean vessels.

A woman passing with two jars slowed at the entrance and nodded toward the new surface.

“Mari said she spent half the fitting under there checking whether she could clean it.”

Nia laughed. “She checked every support.”

“She usually does,” the woman said before continuing toward the lower station.

When the broth was nearly done, Kael returned with mud along the lower edge of one boot and a fresh scrape on his forearm that had already stopped bleeding.

Nia saw the scrape while he was still at the entrance.

“What happened?”

“A cart frame caught me while we were pulling it back onto firm ground. The driver tried to move it without unloading first.”

Kael cleaned the mud from his boot at the outer side of the entrance and washed his hands before stepping farther into the household. He left the scraped forearm alone.

Nia looked at it again. “Sit down.”

“I am fine.”

Shen glanced over from the hearth. “There is still dirt at the edge of the scrape. Let her clean it before we eat.”

Kael sat near the hearth.

Nia took a small medicine-side vessel, filled it with clean water, and brought a medicine cloth with it. The scrape was shallow, exactly as Kael had said, but dirt remained near one edge.

She cleaned it while Kael told them the lower bend would stay open only to people carrying loads by hand until the ground hardened.

“People are going to complain about the longer path,” Nia said.

“They already are. They can complain while they use it.”

Shen added the dried-green leaves to the broth.

Kael watched him from his seat. “Is the food almost ready?”

“It needs a few more minutes.”

Nia finished cleaning the scrape and carried the used medicine water back to the medicine side. She emptied it outside in the proper drainage area and left the small vessel at the medicine washing side. The used cloth went with the medicine washing before she cleaned her hands at the household basin. With clean hands, she gave the small vessel a final fresh rinse, set it to dry with the medicine supplies, and returned to the kitchen.

By then the broth smelled like meals they had eaten many times before, with browned meat, sweetened roots, sharp bulb, stock, and greens. Nia tasted it first and asked for a little more salt. Shen added it, stirred, and waited before offering the spoon back.

Nia tasted again. “That is good.”

Kael was already watching the pot, so she served him first. Shen noticed and smiled slightly before taking his own bowl.

They ate while Kael told them about the lower route. One of the markers had already been knocked loose after someone decided the safer turn added too much distance.

“They actually moved one of your markers?” Nia asked.

“One man did. I put it back and told him the rope stays where it is.”

“Did he listen?”

“He did after that.”

Kael finished the rest of his broth before leaving again for the lower route.

Nia and Shen cleaned after the meal from opposite sides of the new work area. Dirty dishes stayed on one part of the preparation surface until they reached the basin, while clean bowls had room to dry without being stacked over them. With the reed basket moved beside the wall, neither of them needed to step around it or wait for the other person before crossing between washing and preparation.

Shen washed the wooden cooking spoon with the other used cooking tools and set it to dry near Nia’s knife. When the board was clean again, Nia crouched and checked beneath the supports. The stone around all four floor blocks was dry.

She straightened, washed her hands at the basin, and returned to the clean side while Shen finished rinsing the last bowls. The cleaned pot rested on the gray hot-pot landing, and the reed basket remained beside the basin without blocking the path between washing and preparation.

Nia wiped a drop from the board’s edge with a clean cloth and laid the cloth across the reed basket to dry.

Shen passed her a clean bowl from the washing side. She set it near the hearth end of the board.

He handed her the last clean cup, and Nia placed it beside the bowl without moving either one.

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