Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Snow packed thickly against the outer mountain vents by morning.

The storm had settled overnight into the kind of steady winter snowfall that buried pathways faster than patrol crews could fully clear them, leaving most of Varesh moving through narrowed routes packed down by repeated traffic and shoveled slush.

Nia stood near the lower kitchen hearth with both sleeves rolled halfway up while steam drifted through the preparation area and gathered against the darker ceiling beams overhead.

The room smelled like soaked grain, simmering broth, damp wool, and the sharper herb mixtures the kitchens had started using after Nia showed them how much flavor herbs could release once warmed properly.

One of the kitchen women leaned over the nearest preparation table shaping dough with visible concentration while another stirred a thick grain mixture slowly enough that the heavier surface barely shifted beneath the spoon.

Nia reached over before the mixture caught along the bottom.

"Lower the fire stones a little," she said. "The grain thickens faster once the heat sits too close beneath the pot."

The older wolf beastwoman beside her adjusted the stones carefully.

"Like this?"

"Mm. Better."

The woman nodded once and returned to the dough.

Three weeks ago nobody in the lower kitchens would have listened to Nia that quickly. Now half the room argued over grain texture like a ruined batch could damage winter storage for an entire corridor.

People measured grain carefully enough now that Nia doubted anybody was exaggerating.

Somewhere near the rear storage shelves, Mara — one of the older wolf beastwomen who had gradually taken over much of the preservation work after Nia started teaching new storage methods — lectured two younger workers about drying cloth placement while checking the hanging racks herself between sentences.

"If moisture settles into the weave again," Mara said, "you'll spend the rest of winter scraping mold out of storage bins instead of storing food in them."

The younger wolf beastmen looked resigned already while one of them quietly rehung the cloth bundle Mara had just criticized.

Nia hid a smile behind her cup.

Mara noticed.

"This is your fault," she said.

"You say that every day now."

"Because every day somebody learns a new kitchen technique and creates three more problems beside it."

Nia could not really argue with that.

The corridor coverings near the outer storage routes shifted open briefly before colder air rolled through the kitchen carrying traces of snow, wet fur, and melting ice.

Several workers looked up.

Kael stepped inside carrying snow across the shoulders of his heavier outer layers while melting frost darkened the edges of his gloves and dampened the fur lining near his wrists.

Workers moved aside without interrupting their tasks as Kael crossed the kitchen, and several younger patrol runners near the side walls straightened once they noticed him.

His attention settled on Nia first.

Several people nearby looked between them before turning back toward the preparation tables.

Nia frowned.

Snow still clung along the edges of his gloves.

"How long were you outside?"

Kael stopped beside the preparation tables.

"Long enough."

"Your hands are freezing."

"Vent channels iced over near the eastern lifts."

"Mm. I guessed that part."

One of the kitchen women turned very carefully back toward the dough before the corners of her mouth betrayed her anyway.

Kael crossed the room toward Nia and rested one hand briefly against the edge of her worktable.

The chill coming off his skin cut through the kitchen heat strongly enough that Nia glanced down at his hand again while faint moisture gathered beneath his palm against the wood.

"You stayed outside too long," she muttered.

"Still standing," Kael said.

Nia glanced toward his half-frozen hand.

"That remains questionable," Nia said.

The kitchen women nearby stopped looking quite so focused on the dough shaping.

Mara made a low sound in her throat while checking the nearest pot.

"You keep encouraging this," she told Kael.

"Encouraging what?"

"Her habit of treating the chief like an irresponsible hunting pup every time he walks inside half-frozen."

Kael looked toward Nia.

Nia pointed toward his gloves.

"Because nobody else here seems interested in stopping you from freezing your hands off."

Several workers nearby stopped pretending they were not listening.

The corner of Kael's mouth shifted once before he looked back toward the preparation tables.

Before Nia could continue, another gust of colder air rolled through the kitchen entrance as Darius stepped inside carrying two wrapped bundles beneath one arm.

"There you are," he said easily toward Kael. "Rhaegar said you disappeared again."

"Vent channels."

"Mm. That's what he said too."

Darius handed one of the bundles toward Mara before glancing slowly around the kitchen, his attention pausing briefly on the simmering broth pots near the side hearths.

"This room smells different every time I walk through it lately."

"That is because people finally learned food can taste like something," Mara replied without looking up.

"Now everybody in this mountain suddenly has opinions about food."

Nia laughed quietly into her cup before she could stop herself.

Darius looked toward her afterward.

"Surviving?"

"Mostly. Everybody keeps trying to feed me until I can't move."

"Good," Darius said easily. "Then Sera doesn't need to threaten anyone today."

Nia believed that easily enough.

One of the younger workers near the side hearth looked up from the cutting table.

"The lower steam cavern opened again," he announced toward Mara.

Conversation loosened around the room while somebody near the rear tables started arguing about whose turn it was to scrub the heated basins.

Mara closed her eyes briefly.

"Finally."

Nia glanced toward Darius.

"Steam cavern?"

"One of the communal hot pools beneath the lower residential routes," Darius explained while loosening the wrapping around the second bundle. "The vent runoff froze during the storm yesterday."

"The wipe rooms were freezing," one of the kitchen women muttered.

Several people nearby muttered agreement while continuing their work.

That at least sounded closer to what Nia already understood.

Most people in Varesh still cleaned themselves with heated cloths, river washing during warmer seasons, or the communal steam pools when winter vents stayed stable enough to use.

Private bathing chambers like Kael's were rare.

Kael looked toward her.

"The bath near my rooms cleared this morning."

"The vent line froze there too?"

"Part of it."

"The lower steam caverns started filling the moment the vents reopened," Darius said.

One of the older kitchen women pointed her spoon toward Kael.

"Everybody spent all morning complaining about freezing cloths."

"Because nobody enjoys winter wipe-downs," Mara muttered while checking the nearest pot again. "Cold cloths for half a day and suddenly everybody starts complaining like they're dying."

The conversation drifted after that while work continued around the room.

Workers started discussing frozen runoff channels while somebody farther down the preparation tables complained about patrol crews tracking snow through the steam corridors. Another voice argued back that patrol crews at least carried their own heating stones afterward while somebody else complained about wet cloth bundles blocking drainage cuts again.

Nia listened while rinsing grain paste from her fingertips beneath one of the heated basins.

Nobody treated any of it as unusual — not the communal steam caverns, not the shared washing systems, not the household structures. The entire mountain moved around those assumptions so naturally that Nia kept realizing new things halfway through ordinary conversations.

Mara pointed her spoon toward Nia without looking up.

"Go warm yourself before Kael tracks snow through the upper halls again."

"Mara," one of the younger women protested.

"You know I'm right."

She probably was.

Nia dried her hands carefully against one of the folded cloths hanging near the side shelves.

The kitchen remained loud behind her with steam, conversation, the scrape of ladles against heavy pots, and somebody already arguing about grain storage again while another worker crossed past carrying heated stones wrapped in layered cloth toward the lower prep hearths.

Winter kept more people inside the mountain now, and nearly every corridor carried footsteps, steam, damp wool, voices, and movement between caverns.

Kael waited near the corridor entrance while she finished drying her hands.

Darius stayed behind after Mara started lecturing him about improper citrus storage before he even finished setting down the second bundle.

He accepted it with the same easy patience he seemed to use for most kitchen scolding.

Nia stepped into the corridor beside Kael.

Warmth from the kitchen faded gradually once the coverings settled shut behind them, though traces of broth and heated grain still clung faintly to her sleeves.

The residential routes carried a quieter rhythm away from the kitchens.

Workers moved between lower storage caverns carrying heated stones wrapped in thick cloth while patrol crews rotated inward from the outer routes with damp snow still melting from their boots and collecting in the shallow runoff grooves carved along the corridor edges.

Several younger beastmen crossed past carrying folded drying cloths beneath their arms.

Nobody looked embarrassed about it.

By now the mountain’s communal routines had started fitting together inside her understanding almost automatically, each new detail connecting naturally into the systems she had already spent weeks watching everyone maintain.

She glanced toward Kael.

"How large is the bath near your rooms?"

Kael adjusted the heavier outer layer hanging open near his throat.

"Large enough for the household."

That still did not tell Nia very much.

"The geothermal vents beneath the chief caverns were opened before my grandfather's generation," he added.

Nia stared at him while they continued climbing through the warmer corridor routes. "You have heated stone baths inside the mountain and nobody mentioned this before now?"

Kael looked toward her once.

"You never asked."

The answer lingered in her head long enough that she nearly walked directly into a worker carrying heating stones through the narrower corridor turn.

The worker dipped his head politely before continuing toward the lower routes.

Kael’s hand stayed warm against the middle of her back while he guided her around the tighter corridor turn, and Nia focused very carefully on the workers hauling drying cloths ahead of them instead of acknowledging it aloud.

The farther they moved through the chief household routes, the warmer the corridors became above the geothermal lines running through the stonework.

Steam drifted faintly through the vent channels overhead while warmer air rolled steadily through the stone corridors from the geothermal cuts below.

Somewhere deeper inside the residential caverns another argument broke out loudly enough that Nia immediately recognized Auren’s voice underneath it before the conversation disappeared farther into the household routes again.

By the time they reached the private bathing corridor connected to Kael's household chambers, melted snow no longer lingered along the floor edges.

Several workers crossed past carrying drying cloths and fresh heating stones toward one of the side chambers while damp bootprints faded quickly against the warmer stone floors.

One younger wolf beastman nearly stopped short after noticing Kael.

"Chief."

Kael nodded once.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!