Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Nia heard the crack before she saw the egg.

She stopped beside Ayari at the entrance to the side market row.

Several stalls ahead, a man had just lowered a broad woven basket onto a table. One corner struck the wood harder than he intended.

The seller leaned over the basket at once.

“Leave it there.”

The carrier took both hands away.

Tovin, who had been leading them toward that end of the row, angled directly toward the table. Ayari followed, and Nia went with them.

Shen stayed beside Nia as the row narrowed around baskets, people, and goods set out for the morning trade.

Kael had left before dawn to check the empty-cart test at the north turn. The ground had stayed firm overnight, but that only meant the workers could test the repaired seam. Loaded carts remained barred until the empty-cart test passed.

Sera had already warned Nia that early spring eggs were scarce and that lower-stone transport broke enough of them to matter. Tovin had come because he knew the household at the end of this row and had heard they would have an open batch this morning.

The wet patch spreading through the dry grass inside the delivery basket showed Nia exactly what Sera had meant.

The seller removed the lid carefully.

“Two,” he said after moving the first layer of packing.

The carrier exhaled through his nose. “I did not drop it.”

“No. The basket shifted when you turned.”

“The lower path was crowded.”

“I know.”

There was irritation in the seller’s voice, but he was already working rather than arguing. He slid a flat wooden scoop beneath one broken egg and transferred it to a shallow dish. The second shell had a long crack down one side.

“If that one is clean inside, we will cook it this morning,” he said. “The other is done.”

The carrier pulled the wet packing from the corner and dropped it into a refuse tray beneath the table.

Tovin crouched beside the basket.

“The side fiber moved again.”

The seller nodded. “The shallow baskets are better than the deep ones, but the packing still shifts when the lower stones force the carrier sideways.”

Nia watched the carrier replace the wet grass with dry fiber from beneath the stall.

Ayari stood beside her, looking more interested in the repair than in the eggs themselves.

“Tovin has been talking about egg baskets since the end of last warm season,” she said.

Tovin did not look up. “Because the bottom layer breaks in deep carriers.”

“This one still lost two.”

Tovin pressed one of the shifted grass rings back into place. “The eggs stayed in one layer. The packing around this corner is what moved.”

Ayari watched him adjust it, then looked back at the seller’s hands.

The seller glanced toward Nia. “You came for eggs?”

“Yes.”

He moved the remaining packing aside far enough for her to see the intact shells.

Fourteen eggs remained in the delivery basket. Their shells ranged from pale cream to brown, and their sizes varied enough that Nia could tell they had not all come from the same bird.

A second shallow tray on the table held six more.

Nia pointed toward it. “Those are already spoken for?”

“Yes. Most are the larger eggs.”

“How many were available before the orders?” Nia asked.

“Not many more than this. We kept most of the morning lay at home.”

The seller adjusted a grass ring beneath one of the smaller eggs.

“Laying improved after the cold broke, but one bad rain can change the count again. Three households above us lost nests during the last cold rain.”

A woman sorting tied bundles of dried greens at the neighboring stall looked over.

“My sister’s household lost three.”

The seller nodded. “We lost one.”

Nia looked over the open batch again.

Six eggs would not turn them into an everyday ingredient. She did not need everyday supply yet.

She needed enough to learn how these eggs behaved when she cooked them.

“How many of the open batch can one household take?”

“Six today.”

“That works.”

The seller picked up one medium egg and turned it slowly in the morning light.

“This one does not.”

Nia leaned closer.

A thin flaw ran near the narrow end of the shell. She might have missed it if he had not turned the egg.

He returned it to a separate section of the basket.

“It has not opened, but I would not send it uphill.”

Shen had been watching the seller’s hands.

“How long do you keep eggs in the market batch?”

“Not long. We bring what clears household use while it is still good. The amount changes with the birds.”

Nia nodded. “I am only testing with them. I do not need a dependable supply yet.”

The seller gave her a brief look of approval.

Tovin stood and brushed his hands against his thighs.

“Do you still have the shallow carrier my cousin traded you?”

The seller bent beneath the table and brought up an oval woven basket with stiff sides and a flat bottom.

“This one came back yesterday.”

Its inside had been packed with dry fiber shaped into six separate spaces rather than one deep bed.

Nia studied it.

Tovin pointed toward the side walls. “My cousin tightened those after the first two baskets bent.”

The seller added a little more dry fiber around one of the rings. “It keeps the eggs in one layer. That helps. It does not make the lower path smooth.”

Nia ran one finger along the outside rim.

The carrier was small enough that she would have to carry it separately from anything else.

“So the single layer helps, but the lower turns can still shift the packing.”

Tovin nodded. “My cousin can adjust the carrier again if this keeps happening.”

The seller looked at Nia. “You can take the six home in this one. Bring the carrier back tomorrow. Leave the packing inside unless something breaks.”

“I will.”

The carrier beside the seller finished replacing the damaged packing in the larger delivery basket. Instead of lifting it onto his shoulder again, he tested the weight with both hands and carried it to the back of the stall.

The seller began choosing Nia’s six.

He inspected each shell before setting it into the shallow carrier. Medium eggs filled the first five rings. He replaced one with another after noticing a rough spot near the base, then settled the sixth into place.

Loose dry fiber went between the rings.

He covered the top with a light woven lid without pressing it down against the shells.

Nia watched closely.

“The cover stays loose?”

“It only needs to keep hands and loose goods out. If you tie it down hard and the packing shifts, the lid presses the eggs.”

Nia had been thinking about packing since Sera told her breakage was a problem, but the people who carried eggs every week had already solved part of it through basket shape, depth, and flexible packing.

They had not solved the stone path.

Tovin checked the side of the carrier once the seller finished.

“This fiber is longer than the last batch.”

“It stays in place better.”

The carrier who had brought the eggs in spoke from behind the stall.

“The short cut works on the upper path. It moves too much after the second turn.”

Tovin nodded as though filing the detail away for his cousin.

The conversation stopped when another customer approached.

“Any large eggs left?”

“Those six are promised.”

The man looked toward the open basket.

“What about tomorrow?”

The seller continued adjusting the delivery packing while he answered. “Ask tomorrow.”

The customer gave the eggs one more disappointed look before moving down the row.

Ayari watched him go.

“His household has been looking for large eggs all week.”

“That is why the seller separated them,” Tovin said.

Nia looked at the six in her own carrier.

The seller named the normal trade amount.

Nia paid it.

Then she slid both hands beneath the shallow carrier and lifted.

The basket weighed almost nothing compared with the market loads she had grown used to carrying. Because it was so light, she had to remind herself not to let it swing naturally with her stride.

Shen looked at the basket, then at the crowd behind her.

“Keep the flat side toward you.”

Nia adjusted her grip.

“Like this?”

“Yes.”

A man carrying smoked meat passed too close to the stall entrance. Shen stepped between him and Nia before the bundle could brush the egg carrier.

The man noticed what she held and moved wider.

“Sorry.”

“It is fine.”

Tovin waited until the path cleared before leading them away from the stall.

Ayari drifted toward a spring-cloth seller two rows over, then stopped long enough to inspect a yellow length hanging from the front.

Nia slowed beside her.

Ayari pinched the edge between two fingers, checked the weave, and let it fall.

“Too loose.”

Tovin had stopped several steps ahead. He waited without calling her.

Ayari rejoined him.

They continued.

Nia did not buy anything else.

That became harder when they passed the early dairy row.

A woman was carrying two covered jars toward one of the shaded tables, and another seller was pressing fresh curd into a shallow draining basket.

Nia remembered Sera’s lead immediately.

Sera was checking which mornings the ridge milk came down. Once she had an answer, Nia could follow the lead.

Today she had six breakable eggs in both hands.

The side market opened into a broader path near the lower rise. Foot traffic thinned enough that Nia could relax her shoulders slightly.

Shen stayed nearest to anyone passing downhill.

When two workers approached carrying a long timber between them, he moved ahead and checked the wider inner edge before Nia stepped aside.

She kept the carrier level against her body until the timber passed.

Nothing inside shifted enough for her to hear it.

At the north turn, the empty-cart test was still underway.

Kael stood beside the repaired seam with two workers while an unloaded cart rolled slowly across the firmest line.

He saw Nia before the cart reached the opposite side.

His gaze dropped to the shallow basket.

“Eggs?”

“Six.”

The cart wheel crossed the repaired stone without sinking.

Kael looked back to the workers.

“One more empty crossing from the opposite direction. If the edge moves, loaded carts stay off another day.”

One worker nodded and turned the cart around.

Nia remained beyond the marked work line.

Kael came to her rather than asking her to cross the soft edge.

“How did the market go?”

“The seller lost two from the delivery before we arrived. Mine are intact so far.”

Kael looked over the basket without touching it.

“The upper path is clear.”

“That is what I wanted to hear.”

His hand settled briefly on her shoulder.

Behind them, the cart began its second crossing.

Tovin looked toward the branch in the path above the route repair.

“Our way splits here.”

Ayari stepped close enough to look down at Nia’s basket.

“Keep both hands under it on the last climb. The path narrows again above this turn.”

“I will.”

Tovin touched Ayari’s back and guided her toward the path leading to their household.

“I will see you tomorrow,” he told Nia. “If you bring the carrier down, I can return it from the market row.”

“I will have it ready.”

Ayari lifted one hand before following him uphill.

Nia and Shen continued toward home.

The last climb was easier than the crowded market but steeper than the side row. Nia kept both hands beneath the carrier and shortened her steps when the path rose sharply.

By the time their cave came into view, her fingers were stiff from maintaining the same grip.

Shen cleaned his boots outside and washed first.

Nia stopped on the shelterbark landing with the egg carrier still in her hands.

“Can you bring the egg bowl?”

Shen went inside.

He returned with a shallow household bowl lined with fresh dry fiber and placed it on the raw-ingredient side where Nia could reach it without carrying the market basket farther into the kitchen.

Nia set the borrowed carrier on the landing.

She lifted the loose cover.

Six eggs sat inside the dry rings.

No wet patch marked the packing.

Nia checked the first shell before lifting it. The shell was intact, and she moved it into the household egg bowl.

She checked and transferred the second, then the third.

Shen watched without reaching into the carrier.

By the time Nia transferred the sixth egg, all six pale shells were resting in a single layer of dry household fiber.

She checked the carrier again and saw no sign of a leak.

Nia replaced its light lid and left the empty borrowed basket on the shelterbark landing, ready for her to take down the next morning.

Then she washed her hands after handling the market eggshells.

Shen covered the household egg bowl without touching the shells and moved it to the coolest dry position on the raw-ingredient side, away from the hearth and from finished food.

Nia watched him settle the six eggs into storage beneath the light cover.

“I want to test them carefully before I decide what they are useful for here.”

Shen looked back at the covered bowl.

“How many will you use first?”

“Two should tell me enough without wasting the rest.”

“You already have something in mind.”

“I have several things in mind. I am choosing one.”

Nia did not need to make every egg dish she remembered from Earth. She needed to learn the simplest useful things first: how rich the yolks were, how firmly the whites set, and what one or two eggs could add to food they already made.

Shen moved back toward the washing side.

“The ridge-sour still needs its cut test.”

Nia looked at him.

“You volunteered for that yesterday.”

“I remember.”

“Good.”

His mouth moved slightly before he turned away.

Nia looked once more at the cool storage position.

The six eggs remained together beneath the light cover, each shell intact and settled into dry fiber.

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