Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

The two route men returned to Hearthfang late the next afternoon with dried mud on their calves and fresher mud darkening one boot each.

Nia spotted them from beside the lower agreement table, where Shen stood with her and Tovin was sorting through the small household trade bundle Kael had brought down from their stores. Kael had come from the upper route turn only a few breaths earlier with the outside-market notice rolled beneath one hand.

Tovin had just pushed one of the bulkier stone pieces away from the smaller ones when he glanced toward the eastern passage.

“The route men are back.”

By then Kael had already turned toward them.

The two men came through the lower turn at a steady walk. Neither looked injured, but both carried the tired stiffness of men who had spent most of the day on uneven road. One had tied his outer wrap around his waist despite the cooling afternoon. The other still wore his route pouch high against his ribs, away from the mud on his hands.

Kael let them reach the table before speaking.

“Water first,” Shen said.

The route man with the loosened wrap accepted the cup Tovin passed across the table. His companion drank after him while Kael unrolled the notice beside the trade pieces.

The first man emptied half the cup before giving his report.

“The road is usable on foot. The shaded descent has not worsened, but there is a softer patch below the bend. We kept to the outer line and it stayed firm under both of us. The water points are running, the marked crossing is still below the knee, and the shelter is dry.”

His companion crouched to loosen the strap around one ankle. “The middle of the crossing is faster than the edges, but the mark is still the cleanest line. The loose shelter screen has not torn any farther.”

Kael’s gaze moved between them. “Any fresh wash across the road?”

“Nothing beyond the old runoff,” the first man said. “It had not widened when we came back.”

The second man finished with the strap and rubbed the side of his ankle through the cloth wrapped beneath his boot. Kael’s attention dropped to the motion before returning to his face.

“Eat before you go anywhere else. If that ankle swells after you sit, go to the care station.”

The man looked down at it once. “Yes, Chief.”

Both men glanced toward the lower hearth, where the late work pot was still giving off steam. Nia doubted either of them would need to be ordered twice.

Kael looked at the notice, then at Nia and Shen.

“The route is usable.”

Nia’s fingers curled against the table edge, and her ears lifted before she could stop them. Shen’s fingers slid between hers with familiar ease.

Kael turned to Tovin. “Send word back that Hearthfang will come.”

Tovin nodded. “I can get word to the eastern sellers before evening.”

Nia looked toward the eastern turn even though she could not see the marker from where she stood.

Shen squeezed her hand once. “We should finish choosing what we are carrying.”

Tovin returned to the household bundle and finished the selection he had begun. He set the larger stone piece aside, tied the smaller worked pieces together, and checked the two lengths of cord before folding the hide section over them.

Nia touched the finished bundle. Tovin gave her a confirming nod.

Kael gathered the chosen pieces along with the larger stone they were leaving out of the trade bundle. A worker passed behind them carrying two fresh wooden scrapers toward the repair row, and Tovin shifted his own remaining goods away from the edge before the worker’s elbow could brush them.

By the time Nia, Kael, and Shen climbed back through Hearthfang, the afternoon cooking fires had started to thicken the air with broth, browned meat, sharp greens, and smoke. Someone below the pottery row had finally repaired the carrying pole Nia had seen the day before. Two filled jars hung from it while the owner complained that the new balance pulled harder on his left shoulder.

A woman near the lower hearth told him to slide the heavier jar closer to the center before he rubbed his shoulder raw.

Nia smiled as they passed.

At home, Shen washed first and went directly to the storage side. Nia washed after him, tied back her sleeves, and pulled the evening food closer to the hot-pot stone while Kael returned the larger stone piece to their stores and set the selected trade bundle beside the carrying baskets on the dry side of the kitchen.

Shen had already placed three water containers on the preparation board.

Nia looked at them. “Three?”

“Two larger, one smaller. We divide them between us.” He touched the smallest. “This one stays easy to reach. If a larger container leaks or cracks, we still have water without unpacking everything.”

Nia nodded and returned her attention to the pot.

Shen moved the smaller container toward her side of the board and reached for a flat medicine packet. Instead of putting it into the larger travel basket, he tied it beneath the outer flap of his own shoulder bag where one pull would free it.

Nia stirred the evening pot while watching him from the corner of her eye. “What is in that one?”

“Only what I may need quickly on the road. Cleaning cloth, wound powder, binding strip, and one stomach remedy.”

She glanced at the packet beneath the flap, then back at the food. “That should stay where you can reach it.”

“Yes.”

Kael brought one of the carrying baskets over and set it on the dry side of the kitchen.

“Try this before we fill it.”

Nia lowered the spoon, wiped her hands, and stepped into the straps. The basket was light enough that she barely felt it until Kael tightened one strap at her shoulder. Shen crouched long enough to check where the lower edge rested against her back, then shifted the bottom strap a little higher.

Nia rolled her shoulders. “Do not make mine empty just because you two can carry more.”

Kael’s eyes met hers. “Your water goes here. Your food goes here. You carry what you choose at the market until it becomes heavy.”

“And then?”

“I carry it.”

Nia looked at his shoulders, then at the larger basket waiting near the storage archway.

“I am keeping my own small purchases until I ask for help.”

“Yes.”

Shen stepped aside. “Walk to the entrance and back.”

Nia crossed the room and returned. The basket stayed high without pulling at her shoulders.

“Better,” she said.

Shen removed it from her before she could forget the pot.

Dinner continued around the packing. Nia stirred while Kael divided the selected trade pieces between the carrying loads. Shen waited until the road food had cooled enough that it would not trap steam inside the cloth before wrapping it.

When Kael looked at the amount of meat, Shen opened the second wrap and showed him the following morning’s portion.

Nia tasted the pot and added a little salt.

“Pack enough that nobody starts pretending hunger is an emergency halfway to the shelter.”

“I already did,” Shen said as he refolded the cloth.

“Good.”

After they ate, Shen brought out the clean wrapping cloths for whatever came home with them. He folded one inside another and tucked them along the dry side of the basket, keeping a heavier outer cloth apart from the ones meant for food.

Nia watched him separate the cloths. “For anything wet?”

“Wet, oily, or strongly scented. I do not want it touching food or medicine.”

Her gaze moved briefly toward the protected place where their redneedle supply stayed away from everyday food handling.

“Especially after that.”

Shen gave a small nod and tucked the heavier cloth closer to the top of the basket.

Nia sat at the table while he finished packing and looked toward the kitchen shelves.

“I do not want to come back with everything just because it is new.”

Kael, seated beside her, ran one thumb across the edge of a worked-stone trade piece before setting it with the others. “Good.”

“I want to see what people from other territories use for finer grinding and pounding. I want to look at how they steam food without turning half the cooking space into one pot. And I want to see food I do not recognize before we decide whether any of it belongs here.”

Shen tightened one knot. “Looking first will save us several bad purchases.”

“It might also give me ideas for things Hearthfang can make better than anything I buy.”

Kael nodded. “Then look.”

Nia reached for her cup. “And if somebody hands me something strange, I am not putting it in my mouth until we know what it is.”

She caught Shen’s glance.

“I remember the hotmouth husk.”

His mouth softened before he returned to the basket.

Kael reached over and touched one of her rabbit ears near the base, smoothing his thumb along the fur before letting his hand rest against the side of her head.

She leaned into his palm anyway.

The three baskets were ready before the hearth burned low.

Kael checked the outer sky once, then came back inside and barred the door.

“We leave at first light.”

Nia looked at the baskets along the dry side of the entrance. Hers was the smallest, but her water, food, and folded cloth were already inside, with enough room left for whatever she chose to carry home herself.

Shen came up behind her and rested his hands at her waist. His chin brushed the top of one ear before he shifted aside enough not to bend it.

“You should sleep,” he said.

“So should you.”

“I intend to.”

Kael passed them on his way toward the bedroom hallway and touched her shoulder.

Nia followed between them. Shen’s tail curled loosely around her ankle as Kael lowered the bedroom cloth behind the three of them, leaving the packed baskets by the barred door.

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