Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Nia woke before the market reached full noise.

Someone near the cooking circles was splitting kindling, and two men at the far end of the sleeping roof were already tying their road baskets. Beyond the platform, sellers crossed the packed ground with folded mats, water jars, and covered loads while the morning light was still weak enough to leave the paths gray.

Shen sat beside their baskets checking the wrappings they had used the day before. He had fitted the pierced clay vessel near the middle of the largest basket between folded cloth, while the wrapped grinding bowl and its rounded hand stone rested beside him.

Kael returned from the water point with two filled containers. “The wetland side is already busy.”

Nia pushed the sleeping cloth from her legs. “Then I want to go before the best grain is gone.”

Shen passed her water. “Eat first. We can reach the seller before the later road groups finish arriving.”

Nia accepted the food he gave her and watched the market while she ate. A seller carrying an empty grain basket crossed the opening toward the wetland side, while another man passed in the opposite direction with a stack of folded reed mats balanced against one shoulder.

They left most of their travel load at the sleeping platform again. Kael carried the remaining trade bundle. Shen took two clean food wrappings, water, and the medicine bag. Nia carried nothing as they crossed the central route.

The wetland side smelled different in the morning. Damp reed mats had been rolled back from some of the stalls, and several sellers were opening baskets that had stayed tied overnight. One man ran his hand through the top layer of pale grain before replacing the cover. Another tipped an empty basket upside down and knocked the rim against packed earth until old husks fell free.

Nia followed the path past the seller from the day before, then took the split Ren had described. The seller she wanted was easy to recognize once she saw the baskets.

Two sale baskets stood nearest the board. One had a pale reed strip tied near the upper binding, while the other had a darker strip. Behind them, three larger reserved baskets sat together beneath folded reed covers, while a fourth stood slightly apart. One of the three grouped baskets had two narrow ties near its upper binding. A woman crouched beside the rear stock checking the knots while a man lifted the cover from the pale-marked sale basket.

Nia stopped at the edge of the stall. “Ren said your household keeps different storage lots separate. I want watergrain from two different storage ages, and I want the lots kept apart.”

The man lifted the cover farther. “Then you came to the right place.”

The woman straightened. “How different?”

“I have already cooked grain that stayed stored longer through winter. I know how that behaves. I want some from a later store too, so I can compare them.”

The man looked at the sale baskets, then toward his wife. She pointed to the one marked with the pale reed.

“That one came from our later winter store. We opened it yesterday.”

Then she pointed toward the basket with the darker marker. “That one was stored earlier. It stayed dry, but it has been put away longer.”

Nia moved closer after the man motioned that she could inspect the open basket. The later-stored grain was fuller than the older lot she had first received in Hearthfang. The difference was not dramatic, but she recognized the smoother shape and slightly less dry surface. She picked up several grains, pressed one between her fingers, and smelled them before putting them into the inspection dish rather than back into the main basket.

“There is no sour smell,” Shen said.

The seller nodded. “None.”

Nia looked toward the older basket. “May I compare them?”

The woman opened it herself. The grains inside looked more familiar to Nia. They were drier and slightly narrower, close to the first lot she and Shen had worked with at home.

“This is much closer to ours.”

The man leaned one hand against the board. “If you already know the older one, why buy more of it?”

“Because I know I can cook it. I do not know what I will need to change for the newer lot yet.”

He considered that. “Most buyers choose the newer basket first.”

“Do they boil it the same way?”

The man shrugged. “They boil grain until it is soft enough to eat.”

The woman reached past her husband and turned the darker marker so Nia could see the tie more clearly. “If you take both, keep them marked until you use them. Once the grain leaves our baskets, the two lots look too similar for people who do not work with it often.”

Shen unfolded one of his clean wrappings. “We will keep them separate.”

The woman reached beneath the board and brought out two short reed strips, one pale and one dark. “Use these on your bundles. The basket markers stay here.”

Nia pointed toward the later-stored basket. “I want one household measure from that lot.” Then she looked toward the older grain. “I also want a smaller measure from the older lot.”

The seller filled the larger measuring bowl from the later-stored grain, leveled it with the side of his hand, and tipped it into the cloth Shen had spread across the board. Shen gathered the corners but did not tie them yet.

As the seller changed to the smaller bowl, Shen spread the second clean wrapping beside the first. The seller filled the smaller measure from the older grain and tipped it onto the waiting cloth.

Before he finished settling the bowl back onto the board, Ren spoke from behind Nia. “You reached him before the best later lot disappeared.”

Nia turned to see him standing just off the seller path with two men from the red-fox house behind him. One carried a stack of empty trade sacks.

“You were right about the seller,” Nia said.

“I usually am when grain is involved.”

The seller gave him a flat look. “He says that after other people do the growing.”

Ren smiled as he stepped closer and looked toward the four larger baskets behind the board.

The seller's wife indicated the rear stock. “Your four stayed separate from the sale grain. We opened the one that took spray when we reached the market and kept it apart from the others. I checked it again this morning. The double-tied basket is still closed.”

“Leave that one until last,” Ren said.

The two red-fox workers moved without waiting for another instruction. One set the empty sacks beside the rear row. The second crouched near the basket that stood apart while the seller's wife loosened its outer covering.

Ren looked toward Shen. “You are leaving today?”

“Once we finish here and repack the baskets.”

“The lower road was still clear at first light.”

Kael asked, “You had word from the west side?”

“One of our carriers came through before sunrise. The water at the crossing has not risen.”

Kael nodded while Ren turned back to the reserved grain. One of the red-fox workers drew grain from deeper inside the opened basket with a narrow scoop and spread it across a shallow board.

The seller's wife crouched beside him. “The spray happened at the lower crossing two days ago. The outer side looked dry when I checked it again this morning.”

Ren picked up a few grains from the board, smelled them, and pressed one between his fingers.

The seller leaned against the rear post. “You agreed to four baskets.”

“I agreed to four that passed inspection.”

“That one is still good grain.”

“It may be. I am not putting it into the same load as the dry baskets.” Ren indicated the opened basket. “If you want the red-fox house to take it, keep it separate and let us check it again before we leave. If it stays clean, I can move it on a shorter road. I will not send it with grain that has farther to travel.”

The seller's wife retied the outer covering. “What about the other three?”

“If they pass, I take all three at the exchange we agreed.”

The seller looked at him. “You are not lowering it because the fourth basket had trouble?”

“If the other three pass, their exchange does not change because this basket took spray.”

The seller bent to help his wife remove the cover from the next reserved basket. The next two reserved baskets passed inspection, and Ren's workers began filling sacks from them while the seller watched each measure.

The woman opened the double-tied basket last. One of the workers drew grain from beneath the top layer and spread it across the inspection board. Ren checked the grain from deeper in the basket, then nodded.

“This one passes.”

The worker pulled an empty sack closer and began measuring from the double-tied basket. Ren checked the first finished sack before stepping away and letting the two men continue.

Nia looked toward her own bundles. The newer grain sat in Shen's larger cloth, while the smaller older portion rested on the second wrapping.

“What are you trading for them?” Ren asked.

Nia looked toward the seller. “We have not settled that yet.”

The man named the amount he wanted in hide, asking for most of the section Kael exposed when he opened the remaining trade bundle.

Nia looked at the two grain measures, then at the hide. “That is too much for these amounts.”

“The later grain is one of my better baskets.”

“I know. I am not asking you to lower the grain because it is good. I am saying I am not buying enough grain to give you that much hide.”

The seller considered the smaller older measure, and Nia continued before he answered. “Make the older portion smaller if you need to. I want it for comparison and because I already know how to cook it. I need more of the later lot.”

The seller's wife looked at the two measures. “Take one scoop out of the older bundle. Half the hide section is fair for what remains.”

Her husband considered the two bundles before nodding. “Half the hide.”

Nia looked at the later lot, then at the smaller older measure. “All right.”

The seller removed one scoop from the older bundle and returned it to the correct sale basket. After Nia agreed, Kael cut the hide section at the halfway point, passed one half across the board, and returned the rest to the trade bundle.

Shen tied the later-stored grain first, placing the pale reed strip beneath the outer tie. He gave the smaller older bundle a different knot and secured the dark strip with it.

“Which one do you want accessible on the road?” he asked.

“I do not need either one accessible on the road. We are not cooking them before we get home.”

“Then both can stay inside the dry food basket.”

Kael lifted the larger bundle once to judge its weight. “We can carry this.”

Behind them, the red-fox workers finished the third approved grain sack. Ren checked the tie on one and returned it to the worker because the lower knot had twisted.

“Retie that before it goes on a carrying pole.” The worker immediately loosened the knot and began tying it again.

The seller's wife watched him fix the knot. “After three markets, my husbands started checking every knot twice before your house sees them.”

“Good,” Ren said.

Shen finished wrapping their purchases as Ren came around the end of the stall.

A worker carrying one of the approved sacks started toward the damp basket. Ren looked over. “Not beside that one.”

The worker changed course and carried the sack away from the damp lot.

A woman arrived at the stall carrying a smaller empty basket, and Nia moved aside so she could reach the seller. The woman asked for the pale-marked grain without looking at the older basket.

The seller's wife shook her head. “Only a little of that lot remains.”

The buyer frowned. Nia glanced at her own pale-marked later-stored bundle before moving farther aside to give the woman room.

“We still have two southern loads to check,” Ren said to Shen.

Kael shifted the remaining trade bundle under one arm. “We need to repack before the sun climbs higher.”

Ren nodded. “The western road will be busier by midday.”

Nia looked toward the wetland seller. “Thank you for keeping the lots separate.”

Her husband lifted the half section of hide Nia had traded and folded it once before setting it behind the stall.

“If the later grain cooks badly, do not blame me until you try more water.”

“I will test the water carefully. I need to learn how this lot behaves.”

The seller nodded and turned toward the next buyer as Nia stepped away from the stall.

They returned toward the sleeping roofs with the two grain bundles divided between Kael and Shen. Nia led at the first split, crossed the central route after a loaded group passed, and turned near the clay stalls without stopping.

A man shouted prices beside stacked hides. Two women examined the bottoms of storage jars while their husbands waited behind them with carrying straps. A seller dragged a reed cover farther across his fruit baskets as the sun reached his side of the path. Somewhere near the stone sellers, a man struck the pounding bowl again with a heavy stone.

At the sleeping roof, Kael set the newer grain beside the largest basket while Shen placed the older bundle near the dry food wrappings. Shen opened the travel baskets and repacked the protected tools and marked grain for the road, keeping the food bundles dry and the clay cushioned between folded cloth. Kael kept the remaining trade bundle beside him while Nia passed Shen the outer cloth when Shen reached for it.

“Do we have room?”

“Yes. The weight is higher than when we came, but the baskets are balanced.”

Kael tested the largest basket after Shen tied it. “This one is fine.”

Shen adjusted the second basket. “The clay should stay with this side upright.”

Kael looked at the wrapping position and nodded.

Nia packed her own smaller things back into her basket and tightened the strap the way Shen had shown her before they left Hearthfang. When she finished, she ran her fingers beneath the strap once to make sure it had not twisted, then stood.

By the time they carried the baskets from beneath the sleeping roof, several new travelers were arriving to claim the spaces people had left that morning.

Nia looked back toward the southern stretch of the market where the red-fox buyers were still working. Ren stood beside a stack of sacks listening to one of his workers and glanced up as Kael shifted the largest basket onto his back. Shen raised one hand, and Ren answered with the same brief gesture before turning back to the worker in front of him.

Nia turned toward the road out of the market. Kael moved ahead to take the first crowded crossing, and Shen stayed beside her until they reached the wider route. Nia adjusted her basket once as the three of them joined the other travelers moving toward the western road. Behind them, someone called Ren's name, and a buyer near the wetland stalls called to the grain sellers.

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