Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Mari stayed long enough to finish half the preserved fruit herself.

Another kettle joined the hearth hooks while the cedar bundles finally started drying properly beside the bath corridor. Melted snow spread slowly beneath the emptied root baskets Kael had left upside down against the entrance wall to dry.

Nia sat cross-legged near the grain bowl adjusting the mash for tomorrow while Mari sorted through the preserved fruit strips beside her.

The grain mixture already held the right texture. Nia folded another ladle of warm water through it anyway to keep it from stiffening overnight near the hearth.

Mari watched the movement for another moment while Nia folded the warm water evenly through the grain.

“You make that look easy,” she said.

Nia checked the texture again before answering.

“It’s mostly timing. If the grain sits too close to the hearth overnight, it tightens by morning.”

“The lower kitchens nearly ruined an entire storage pot trying to copy yours yesterday.”

Nia winced softly.

“What did they do?”

“Too much root starch first.” Mari reached for another preserved fruit strip. “Then somebody tried fixing it with more water after it started sticking.”

“That would turn the bottom gummy.”

“It turned black.”

Kael’s shoulders shifted once near the hearthstones while he continued separating roots beside the fire.

Mari pointed toward him with the fruit strip still in her hand.

“He already heard this story downstairs and still sat up here waiting to hear it again.”

Kael brushed loose frost from one of the cracked roots before dropping it into the smaller basket.

“You’re telling it louder this time.”

Mari laughed quietly.

“The whole lower corridor smelled burnt all morning. Nobody escaped it.”

Mari laughed quietly before tossing another fruit strip into her mouth.

Shen finished tying the final cedar bundle near the bath corridor while the conversation drifted around him. He checked the spacing between the hanging bark strips one last time before lowering his hands.

“The lower chamber should be ready before sleep,” he said.

Mari glanced toward the cedar bundles.

“You heated the lower vents already?”

Kael nodded once while stacking the sorted roots into separate baskets beside the fire.

“The western draft sealed.”

“That explains why the corridor stopped freezing my feet halfway up the stairs.”

Nia folded another careful turn through the mash while the residence gradually warmed around them. The hearth never fully cooled anymore once evening work began, and the warmed vent channels carried enough heat beneath the stone that the sharper mountain cold rarely reached the rear rooms now unless the outer corridor stayed open too long.

Warm floors pressed through her socks now, and the blankets near the rear wall already held heat before she crawled beneath them at night. People moved around one another constantly now without pausing whatever else they happened to be doing.

Nia reached for another preserved fruit strip while Mari continued talking about the lower kitchens reorganizing winter storage.

“The smoke shelves near the east wall froze again,” Mari said. “Everyone started fighting over dry space.”

Shen crossed toward the water shelf.

“The eastern stone stays colder.”

“Yes, thank you, mountain scholar.” Mari waved one hand lazily. “We all know why. It still means somebody has to move everything.”

Kael rose beside the hearth and lifted the larger water bucket one-handed toward the kettle hooks.

“I’ll handle the lower shelves tomorrow.”

Mari stared at him.

“You volunteered for extra labor in front of witnesses. The lower kitchens won’t believe me when I tell them.”

Kael ignored her completely.

Nia tried hiding her smile against the rim of the grain bowl and failed.

Mari noticed anyway, her gaze moving between them once before shifting toward Shen near the water shelf.

Shen continued pouring heated water into the second kettle with complete calm.

Mari’s eyes narrowed as she looked between them again.

Nia reached for the spoon again, though Mari had already noticed too much.

Mari leaned back farther against the stool.

“Oh,” she said softly.

Nia tightened her grip on the spoon.

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing.”

“You definitely meant something by that.”

Mari reached for another preserved fruit strip.

“The residence feels warm tonight.”

“It’s winter,” Nia said too quickly.

“Hm.”

Kael hooked the filled kettle above the hearth while Shen adjusted the firewood beneath it.

Neither of them offered assistance while Mari watched all three of them too carefully from the stool beside the hearth.

Mari bit into the fruit strip while openly watching all three of them near the hearth.

Then wind slammed hard enough against the outer entrance supports to shake frost loose from the stone overhead.

The sound shifted the room at once. Kael’s attention moved toward the entrance while Shen crossed toward the corridor curtain without discussion.

Mari clicked her tongue softly.

“That storm’s worsening faster than expected.”

Nia rose with the grain bowl still balanced against one hip while Kael pulled the outer latch aside.

Freezing air rushed hard through the residence the moment the entrance opened. Wind drove loose snow through the tunnel bend hard enough that it scattered across the heated floorstones and immediately began melting against the warmed stone.

Kael braced one arm against the outer support.

Shen leaned slightly into the draft while looking toward the corridor mouth beyond the bend.

Snow pushed heavily through the outer tunnel bend beyond the entrance.

“The upper path disappeared,” Shen said.

Mari pushed herself up from the stool immediately.

“I should get back downstairs before they seal the lower doors.”

“You’ll stay,” Kael said.

Mari looked toward him.

“The lower kitchens—”

“Will survive one night without you.”

Another burst of wind shoved through the corridor while snow scattered farther across the floorstones around Mari’s boots.

“Fine.”

Nia shut the grain cover quickly before the cold reached the bowl entirely.

Shen secured the inner latch once Kael pulled the heavy curtain closed again. The residence slowly settled back into itself afterward while melted snow spread across the entry stones near the heated floor vents.

Mari rubbed both hands briskly along her sleeves.

“That storm’s ugly.”

Kael crouched near the melted snow spreading across the heated floorstones and pressed one hand briefly against the stone near the entrance.

“It’ll worsen overnight,” he said. “The outer path’s already disappearing.”

Another burst of wind echoed somewhere deeper through the corridor tunnels.

Nia looked automatically toward the rear sleeping space.

The residence held enough bedding for the household comfortably.

An unexpected guest during a storm changed that quickly.

Mari noticed where she looked almost immediately.

“Oh, don’t start rearranging things in your head already.”

Nia glanced back toward her.

“There’s enough room if we shift the storage furs closer together.”

“There’s enough room because mountain men think sleeping three inches apart counts as reasonable.” Mari rubbed both hands near the hearthstones again before pointing toward Kael. “He’d probably sleep in the wood storage if somebody asked him to.”

“We’ve done worse during storms.”

“That is not helping your argument.”

Shen secured the inner curtain ties before crossing back toward the hearth.

“The lower corridor households used shared sleeping rooms during heavier winters,” he said. “It keeps heat from dispersing through separate chambers.”

Mari stared at him.

“You too?”

Shen adjusted one of the kettle hooks slightly.

“It works.”

A laugh slipped out of Nia while Mari groaned softly beneath her breath.

“You’ve adapted to mountain life too fast.”

“I like heated floors,” Nia said while smoothing the grain cover closed. “And not freezing before sunrise.”

“That’s exactly how they convince people to stay here permanently.”

Kael crossed back toward the hearth while Mari continued muttering about impossible winter instincts and overcrowded mountain households beneath her breath.

Nia escaped toward the rear shelves with the grain bowl before the conversation could drift any further.

By the time she returned, Mari had claimed the stool nearest the fire completely and stretched both hands toward the heat while Shen poured tea into smaller cups near the kettle hooks.

The household adjusted around the extra person within minutes.

Kael added another split log to the hearth.

Shen pulled an additional sleeping fur down from the upper shelf before setting it near the rear wall.

Mari accepted the tea while still grumbling quietly about mountain winter habits.

Nia slid the grain bowl into place beside the storage jars and paused briefly near the shelves.

Heated floors, evening meals beside the hearth, baths warming through the lower chambers — all of it had settled so deeply into her days that she no longer caught herself expecting it to disappear.

The kettles simmered steadily while wind echoed faintly somewhere beyond the outer corridors.

Behind her, Mari accepted one of the tea cups from Shen.

“You really spend every night like this now?”

Nia turned slightly toward the hearth.

Kael sat near the firestones separating the last usable roots from the frost-damaged pile while Shen leaned beside the kettle hooks with steam curling around his sleeves. Mari occupied the middle stool with her boots drying near the heated stone while preserved fruit sat open across the storage table.

The residence carried the dense winter warmth shared mountain spaces naturally developed once enough people moved through the same rooms every day.

Nia paused beside the rear shelf before answering.

“Mostly,” she answered.

Mari looked between them once more before lowering her tea cup.

“Hm.”

Outside, the storm buried the mountain deeper through the night while the residence stayed warm through heated stone, shared work, drying cedar, and people who no longer kept much distance from one another.

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