Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Ayari arrived after breakfast with Tovin beside her and a lidded basket hanging from his hand.

Nia had wrapped her market basket in a carrying cloth so it would not strike her leg on the lower stairs. Shen stood behind her, testing the fastening where the strap crossed her shoulder.

Ayari looked at the empty bowls beside the basin. “You ate.”

“You told me to.”

“I told Bram too. He left before Sareth brought the bread from the hearth.”

Tovin shifted Ayari’s basket to his other hand. “Sareth wrapped it. Bram may come home for repair pegs before we leave.”

“Then give it to him as soon as he comes in. If he reaches the peg basket first, he will leave again.” Ayari turned toward the passage. “We need to stop at my cave before we enter the market. Tovin brought seller agreements home, Aurel has been watching the lower entrances since first light, and Sareth will hear from someone else that I passed our door with guests if we do not go inside.”

Nia joined her. “Do we have time?”

“The sellers will not open their stalls before the first bell.”

They descended with the morning traffic. Shen stayed on Nia’s outer side while Tovin walked beside Ayari, moving the lidded basket whenever workers needed more room to pass.

Sellers carried folded cloth, clay weights, covered food baskets, and poles for hanging goods. Two men guiding a broad table around the central turn called ahead until the passage cleared. Wet footprints darkened the stone near every reopened entrance.

Ayari’s household occupied a wide cave along a middle terrace above the craft passages. Two woven screens had been rolled and tied above the entrance. A shallow channel carried wash water away from the threshold.

A man stood just inside, fastening a leather guard around one forearm. Tawny feathers covered the backs of his arms and continued beneath his spring wrap. Broad wings rested folded behind him, their darker tips reaching close to the floor.

He looked at Ayari first.

“The eastern stair has dried,” he said. “Water is still standing beside the visiting-trader posts at the lower entrance.”

Ayari stepped over the channel. “Are the traders below Kael’s marker?”

“One cart remained there. Another tried to unload onto the road until Garrick sent the driver back.”

The hawk beastman noticed Nia looking at his wings.

Ayari touched his wrist. “This is Aurel, my hawk husband. He can see someone crossing a route marker long before that person realizes anyone is watching.”

Aurel inclined his head to Nia. “The outer edge beneath the market roof is still wet. Keep near the inner posts.”

“I will.”

He turned back to Ayari. “Use the eastern stair. I planned to fly you to the landing before the market poles went up, but Tarek sent word that the upper watch may need me.”

Nia pictured Ayari being carried over the muddy stairs instead of walking them and envied her that convenience.

Ayari stroked the feathers along Aurel’s forearm. “Has the watch change been confirmed?”

“Not yet.”

“Then come inside until it is.”

Aurel took Ayari’s outer wrap from her shoulders. He hung it on the peg nearest the entrance, noticed the damp line beneath it, and moved the wrap to a dry peg along the inner wall.

The household cave contained several connected spaces. Woven dividers shielded sleeping alcoves. Storage shelves covered the dry rear wall. A long, low table near the hearth held seller slates, folded carrying cloths, repair tools, and several packets marked with trade cords.

A lean man sat at one end sorting those packets into shallow trays. Fine bronze-green scales covered the backs of his hands and followed the sides of his neck beneath his collar. His long tail curved around the cushion behind him, clear of the walking path.

A covered pot rested over low coals within his reach.

“This is Sareth, my lizard husband,” Ayari said. “He handles most of our food when he is home. He also checks the spring bundles so medicinal leaves do not end up on the cooking shelves.”

“The early bundles usually contain both,” Sareth said. He lifted two narrow leaves from the tray beside him. Their shape was almost identical, though one had a dull gray line beneath its edge. “They grow together along the wet wall. Once the bundles dry, the difference is harder to see.”

Tovin placed the lidded basket on the table. “I marked the gray-edged leaf on the seller slate. The next bundle should arrive separated.”

Sareth returned each leaf to a different tray, then moved the trays aside so Tovin could spread the seller slates near the table’s edge.

Nia set her market basket beside her feet and sat on a cushion across from Sareth. Shen lowered himself beside her, close enough that his knee touched hers.

The pot released the scent of meat, softened roots, and dried green leaves. The broth smelled clean and warm, with enough softened root to give the liquid a little thickness.

“We ate earlier,” Sareth said. “I kept this for anyone returning between market duties.”

He stirred the pot once and poured a small cup. When he offered it to Nia, she hesitated.

“I already ate.”

“It is only a taste.” Sareth kept the cup extended.

Ayari settled beside him and began sorting loose agreement cords into two piles.

Nia accepted the cup but did not drink yet. “I do not want to accept something and learn later that it meant more than broth.”

“Not from a household pot,” Ayari said. “Water and a place near the hearth are the same. No one will care if you refuse one thing.” She pulled a frayed cord from the pile and handed it to Tovin. “Refusing everything can make people think you dislike their home or mean to keep the visit formal.”

Sareth offered Shen a second cup. Shen accepted it and drank while Tovin dropped the frayed cord into a discard bowl and retied the slate with one from Ayari’s usable pile.

Nia tasted the broth.

The roots were soft without breaking apart. The dried leaves gave the liquid enough flavor that it did not depend entirely on salt. Most of the meat taste remained in the pieces rather than spreading through the broth, but the food was warm, filling, and pleasant.

“This is good.”

Sareth watched her expression. “The meat in your Stormbreak broth smelled different before you added the water.”

“I browned it first.”

“With fat?”

“A little if the meat is lean. The cut surfaces have to touch the hot pot before the water goes in.”

His gaze moved toward the covered pot.

“Leave this one as it is,” Nia said. “Taking the meat out now will not brown it the same way. You would only lose heat.”

“How dark should it become?”

“Until the outside changes color and the smell from the pot becomes richer. If the smell turns sharp or bitter, the meat stayed too long.” Nia glanced toward the knife and clean cutting board beside his cushion. “I can show you another morning from the beginning.”

Sareth nodded, still watching the covered pot.

Ayari leaned against his shoulder while tying the usable agreement cords into one bundle. “He has asked several people what you did. One man told him the difference came from festival spice.”

“Another said Shen made the broth,” Sareth added.

“Nia made it,” Shen said. “I prepared the ingredients the way she told me to.”

Sareth looked at Nia again. “Tell me when you have time to show me.”

Nia finished the small serving. Shen had already emptied his cup and set it beside his knee. Sareth placed both cups on a shallow wash tray near the hearth.

Aurel shifted his wings near the entrance while securing the final tie on his arm guard. A young runner stopped outside and passed him a rolled route strip.

“Tarek moved Rovan’s relief to the visiting posts,” the runner said. “He needs you above the east rise until second bell. Kael wants any cart leaving the marked road reported before it reaches the upper bend.”

Aurel took the strip. His wings drew closer to his back.

“I was assigned to Ayari’s market route.”

“The change came after Kael checked the lower entrance.”

The runner waited until Aurel tied the strip at his wrist, then hurried back toward the upper passage.

Ayari rose. “Meet us near the pottery turn when someone relieves you.”

“The eastern stair is still the driest.”

“I heard you.”

Aurel looked toward Tovin, who was sorting the seller slates he would carry into the market.

Ayari stepped close enough to place both hands against Aurel’s chest. “I wanted you with me. I also want the visiting carts where Kael marked them.”

The tension across Aurel’s shoulders eased, though his mouth remained tight. He bent, and Ayari pressed her forehead beneath his chin.

“Do not use the lower entrance,” he said.

“We will check the other routes before we leave.”

He touched his mouth to her temple. Keeping his wings folded, he turned sideways beneath the low stone lintel and stepped over the wash channel.

A compact man arrived moments later carrying two rolled agreement hides beneath one arm. Rounded gray-brown ears rose through dark hair marked by pale stripes near his temples. A thick striped tail curved behind him, held clear of the water channel.

He crossed directly to Ayari before setting the hides down. His hand settled against the back of her neck, and he pressed his mouth to her forehead.

“This is Garrick, my chipmunk husband,” Ayari said.

Garrick placed the agreements on the cleared end of the table and greeted Nia and Shen. He unrolled the first hide, checked the marks along its lower edge, and passed it to Tovin.

“The side passage behind the cord makers is open,” he said as he opened the other agreement. “The lower entrance is crowded, and two cover crews were carrying poles through the eastern stair when I came up.”

Tovin drew the route slate closer. “They expected to finish before the first bell.”

“One pole split. They went back for another.”

Ayari crouched beside the slate. “Then we decide after you finish checking those.”

Garrick bent over the agreement hide.

Bram stooped beneath the low lintel with mud on his knees and a pouch of wooden wedges tied at his hip.

“I need the short horn pegs,” he said.

Sareth pointed toward an upper storage basket. “Sit first. Your food is still here.”

“The repair crew is waiting for the pegs.”

“They can wait while you drink.”

Bram looked toward the passage, then lowered himself onto the nearest cushion.

Sareth poured him a larger cup of broth and unwrapped the bread he had kept near the hearth. Bram drank while Garrick read the route agreement and Tovin matched seller cords. Ayari loosened the wet tie at Bram’s wrist before it pressed deeper into the skin.

Bram ate half the bread in several quick bites. When he reached toward the upper basket, Sareth wrapped the remaining piece in the same cloth and placed it on top of the horn pegs.

“Take both.”

Bram tied the wrapped bread beneath the basket handle.

Garrick continued reading with one hand resting briefly against Ayari’s knee. Sareth checked the knot holding Bram’s bread while Ayari retied the leather around Bram’s wrist. Kael and Shen were far stronger than Ayari’s husbands, but Nia recognized the same steady care in the small motions around the table.

Bram finished the broth and returned the cup. He lifted the horn pegs and wrapped bread together.

“The support beneath the pottery turn is sound,” he said. “The cord-makers’ platform has one closed section, but the walking stone is clear.”

He left before Sareth could offer another serving.

Tovin untied a small packet bearing both a seller cord and Ayari’s household mark. Three lengths of pale fastening fiber lay inside.

Nia recognized Ayari’s household mark tied beside the seller cord.

“A gift?” Nia asked.

“A sample,” Tovin said. “The cord maker wants our household to test it on a loaded market cover.”

Ayari gave one length to Garrick. He pulled it between both hands, then rubbed the twisted fibers beneath his thumb.

“We need a full cover’s weight to test this,” Garrick said. “Pulling it by hand will not tell us enough.”

Tovin returned the length to the packet with the other two. “I’ll mark where Bram uses it.”

Nia looked at the household mark tied beside the seller cord. “Using it means you owe him an answer?”

“If we test it, we owe him an honest answer,” Ayari said. “We do not owe him a purchase. He wants other households to hear whether the fiber holds.”

“And if a seller gives me something at the market?”

“Ask whether it is part of the trade, a sample for the household, or meant personally.” Ayari closed the packet and handed it back to Tovin. “The wooden case yesterday was offered to that female. This cord came through our agreement table.”

“If the seller avoids answering,” Shen said, “we leave it there.”

Ayari nodded. “Let him explain what it is before you put it in your basket.”

Tovin placed the sample packet inside the lidded basket.

Garrick finished reading the agreement in front of him. “The visiting traders must stay outside the food row until Kael marks their spaces. You can reach the household tables through the cord-makers’ passage without crossing the trader crowd.”

Tovin placed the last seller cord on its slate. “We need to speak with the cord makers before the first bell. Fewer buyers will be around their tables now.”

Ayari pressed one finger to the side-passage mark on the slate. “We use that entrance. Aurel can meet us at the pottery turn after the watch changes.”

Sareth lifted the shallow tray holding Nia’s and Shen’s cups and carried it to the wash shelf beside the channel. “Bring her back another morning before the market opens. I want to watch from the moment the meat touches the pot.”

Nia rose, lifted her market basket, and settled the strap across her shoulder. “Use the meat you normally cook. Then you will know what the method changes instead of comparing two different meals.”

Sareth looked from Nia to the low coals. Shen stood beside Nia and took his place on the outer side of the passage.

Ayari crossed to the dry inner wall. She took down the wrap Aurel had moved, settled it around her shoulders, and secured the pin near her collar.

Tovin returned the first agreement hide to Garrick, stacked the seller slates inside the lidded basket, closed it, and lifted it from the table. Garrick remained with both route agreements while Sareth covered the broth and carried Bram’s empty cup to the wash tray.

Outside, workers called to one another while another pair carried a market cover through the lower corridor.

Ayari stepped over the household channel and took Nia’s hand.

“The cord makers first,” she said. “You should see what people actually buy before the sellers in the other rows learn you have arrived.”

Ayari https://imgur.com/iDq1ADM

Aurel https://imgur.com/Q97uPhw

Tovin https://imgur.com/ARc1OFw

Bram https://imgur.com/jYuswYG

Sareth https://imgur.com/PjXlleq

Garrik https://imgur.com/UG8n0rn