Chapter 172 — Rain Against the Entrance
The rain started while Kael was eating.
Nia heard the first drops strike beyond the entrance and glanced toward the opening, but Kael kept tearing meat from the bone in his hand without slowing. Shen noticed her attention and looked outside.
“It will be heavier before it passes.”
Nia leaned sideways in her chair to see past Kael’s shoulder. The morning had been gray since they woke, but the clouds had stayed high enough for everyone to continue working. Now the exposed stone beyond the shelterbark landing was darkening one patch at a time. A harder burst of rain struck before Kael finally looked.
He had come home shortly before midday because the first loaded cart had crossed the repaired north-turn seam without shifting it. He had intended to eat, change one damp binding at his wrist, and return before the next cart moved.
Nia reached for her cup. “How long before you decide going back out in that is necessary?”
“If the north turn moves, immediately.”
“And if it does not?”
Kael took another bite before footsteps sounded outside.
A young patrol male appeared at the entrance with rain already darkening the shoulders of his outer layer. He stopped on the wet side of the shelterbark landing and kept his dripping boots away from the clean stone.
“Chief.”
Kael set the bone down and turned in his chair.
“The loaded cart cleared the seam. We pulled the second one back before the rain reached the upper bend. The western marker crew is under the stone shelter.”
“Any movement at the seam?”
“None before we covered it.”
Kael wiped his hand. “Keep loaded carts off it until the rain stops and the runoff clears. Empty hand traffic can use the longer north line if the lower stones stay firm. If water reaches the binding stakes, close that too.”
The male nodded. “Tarek is below the second turn.”
“He can close the lower line without waiting for me.”
“Yes, Chief.”
Another sheet of rain struck outside, and the patrol male adjusted his hood before leaving at a quicker pace than he had arrived.
Kael watched until he disappeared around the turn, then picked his food back up.
Nia smiled into her cup. “So you are staying.”
“For now.”
Shen reached across the table and moved the dish of sliced roots closer to Kael. “Then finish eating before something else gives you an excuse to stand up.”
Kael gave him a look but took the roots.
The rain thickened while they ate. By the time Nia carried the first bowl to the washing side, water was running steadily past the outer edge of the entrance. The new shelterbark landing kept wet baskets and boots where they belonged, though wind pushed a thin mist across the first strip of stone.
Shen lowered the outer cover by another handspan.
Nia dried the bowl she had just washed and looked over her shoulder. “I like this much better now that the entrance is not turning into mud every time someone comes through.”
Kael had removed the heavier piece of his outer gear and hung it near the wet side. “You did not like the old entrance.”
“I liked having one. I did not like what everyone carried through it.”
Shen finished tying the cover. “You disliked it enough to redesign half the room around dirty baskets.”
“I redesigned half the room because dirty baskets kept crossing into places they should not have been.”
His mouth shifted faintly. He remembered every argument she had made about clean and raw routes before the first board ever arrived.
Kael came up behind her with his empty bowl. Nia extended her hand, and he gave it to her.
“You could wash one.”
Instead, he bent and kissed her temple before moving toward the table again.
Nia laughed despite herself. “That did absolutely nothing for the dishes.”
She rinsed Kael’s bowl and set it beside the basin with the first one. Shen picked up the drying cloth from where she had left it and dried both before passing the cloth to Kael when he returned for the next bowl. Kael took it without comment, dried what Shen handed him, and reached for another.
Nia decided the correction had worked well enough.
The three of them finished the small cleanup while rain filled the pauses in their conversation. Water rushed through the upper drainage cut, loud enough to reach the main room. Somewhere lower in the mountain, a worker called something Nia could not make out, and another voice answered from farther along the passage.
When the last bowl was put away, Nia wiped her hands and went toward the entrance. She stayed well inside the dry line and sat on the broad bench near the wall, where cool damp air reached her face without carrying the rain inside.
She watched water strike the stone beyond the shelterbark and run toward the drainage cut.
Rain had always been one of her favorite kinds of weather. On Earth, she had liked sitting near her apartment window while the city blurred beyond the glass. She would cook while water streaked down the window and traffic softened beneath the rain, especially on days when she had nowhere else to be. Here, the damp air carried wet stone, leaves from the upper slope, wood, and fresh earth instead of pavement and car exhaust.
Kael sat beside her, his thigh resting against hers as his hand slipped around the back of her waist.
Shen remained near the kitchen long enough to check the hearth and hang the final damp cloth before coming to her other side. His tail curled around Nia’s ankles as he settled, the white coil crossing one foot.
Nia looked down. “You know I was not going anywhere.”
“I know.”
His fingers smoothed a loose curl away from her cheek.
Nia leaned into Kael and watched the rain. “I used to do this at home.”
Kael’s hand moved once against her waist. “Watch rain?”
“Whenever I could. My apartment had a window beside the kitchen. If I was cooking and it started raining, I would keep looking outside until the food reminded me why I was standing there.”
Shen looked at her. “How often did the food have to remind you?”
“Enough that I learned not to walk away from the stove.”
“That answer does not improve my opinion of your old stove.”
Nia smiled. “You would have hated it.”
“I already dislike equipment I cannot control.”
Kael’s thumb moved slowly against her side, and Nia covered his hand with hers.
“I liked rain best when I did not have to go anywhere.”
Kael looked toward the entrance. “You do not.”
“And apparently neither do you today.”
His golden eyes shifted to her face before he leaned down and kissed her. There was no hurry in it. His mouth moved over hers slowly while his palm spread wider against her waist, and Nia turned toward him until the bench made her knee press awkwardly against his thigh. She shifted closer, bracing one hand against his shoulder as Kael’s hand moved to her hip.
Shen’s tail tightened around her ankles before loosening again.
Nia broke the kiss and reached toward him. Shen came closer immediately, his mouth touching the corner of hers before he turned her face and kissed her fully. His fingers slid behind her neck while Kael drew her nearer against his body.
Rain struck outside in a steady rush as Shen kissed along her jaw and Kael’s mouth moved to the other side of her neck. Nia laughed softly when both touches reached her at once, then turned her head toward Shen and slid one hand into Kael’s curls.
Kael’s teeth grazed her shoulder, catching her breath as Shen’s palm traveled down her back. His tail unwound from her ankles and curled around one calf while Nia shifted on Kael’s lap, trying to make room where there was very little.
Kael rose with her before she managed it.
She caught his shoulders with a startled laugh. “I was trying to move.”
“You were losing the argument with the bench.”
His mouth touched hers again before she could answer.
Nia reached toward Shen and caught his wrist. “You are coming.”
Shen’s gaze dropped briefly to her hand before returning to her face. “Yes.”
Kael carried her toward the sleeping room with Shen beside them.
The bedroom was darker than the main chamber beneath the rain-heavy sky. Gray light reached beyond the cloth at the doorway and softened the familiar sleeping platform and folded clothes near the wall.
Kael set Nia at the edge of the bed, and she kept him close while going immediately for the ties at his shirt. He bent over her and kissed her before she loosened the first one.
Behind her, Shen worked the fastening in her braid loose enough that her hair would not pull beneath her.
“Leave some of it,” Nia murmured.
“I know.”
He loosened only what he needed and let the freed curls fall over her back. His fingertips traced the nape of her neck afterward, sending a shiver through her while Kael’s shirt came away beneath her hands.
Nia pressed her palms over Kael’s chest, tracing familiar skin and old scars while he bent to kiss her again. Shen slipped his hands beneath the hem of her top, and she lifted her arms so he could draw the fabric over her head. He placed it away from the edge of the bed before returning his hands to her waist.
“You are still putting clothes away,” Nia said.
“I prefer not to step on them.”
Kael’s mouth moved over her throat before she could say more.
Nia leaned back into Shen while Kael stayed between her knees. Shen’s palms traveled along her sides, slow enough to make her skin increasingly sensitive, while Kael’s hand moved over her thigh. She drew Kael closer with one hand and reached back into Shen’s hair with the other.
Kael lowered her onto the bed and followed, with Shen moving beside them. His tail slid across her leg as his mouth touched her shoulder.
Nia shifted beneath Kael until his weight settled where she wanted it, curving one leg around his hip while Shen kissed lower along her shoulder and chest. His fingers moved across the skin Kael’s body left within reach while Kael kissed her deeply and kept one hand firm against her thigh.
Nia arched toward the pressure of both men and reached down between herself and Kael, drawing him closer until he entered her slowly.
Her fingers tightened against his shoulders as Shen stayed beside her, one hand moving along her ribs and lower while his mouth brushed her neck. Kael began to move, and the sound of rain remained steady beyond the bedroom while heat gathered across Nia’s skin.
She wrapped her legs more firmly around Kael when his pace deepened. Shen threaded his fingers through hers against the bedding and kissed her when she turned toward him. Nia moved between their mouths and hands without stopping to separate one touch from another, kissing Shen until Kael’s next thrust pulled a sound from her and then turning back to catch Kael’s mouth.
Shen’s free hand moved between their bodies.
Nia’s hips jerked against Kael, whose breath roughened beside her cheek. Shen adjusted his touch, and the next movement tightened Nia’s legs around Kael.
Kael slowed for only a moment before Nia pulled him closer again.
She came with Shen’s hand clasped in hers and Kael pressed deep inside her, trembling hard enough that Shen’s mouth paused against her throat. Kael stayed close while the tension gradually left her legs, kissing her cheek and then her mouth before shifting enough to let her breathe more easily.
Nia turned toward Shen before much space opened between them and pulled him close by the back of his neck.
He kissed her with less restraint than before.
Kael remained beside her, one broad hand moving over her stomach while Shen settled between her legs. Nia pushed his white hair away from his face and kissed him again, her body still warm and oversensitive from Kael.
Shen’s tail slid beneath her calf as Nia shifted toward him and guided him in.
His first movements were measured, though the strain beneath that control showed in his breathing. Kael’s palm moved from Nia’s stomach to her thigh, his thumb stroking slowly over her skin while Shen bent over her.
Nia reached sideways and closed her fingers around Kael’s wrist. When her legs tightened around Shen, his rhythm changed, his hair falling forward to brush her cheek and shoulders while each breath grew rougher.
Kael kissed her shoulder.
Nia turned her face and reached his mouth while Shen continued moving inside her. Kael stayed warm along her side, Shen above her, and Nia kept touching whichever man was closest as their bodies shifted together across the bedding.
Shen’s careful rhythm finally broke. His movements became uneven, and Nia tightened around him as his face lowered against the side of her neck.
She stroked his hair while his breathing settled.
When Shen shifted beside her, Kael drew the loosened cover over Nia’s legs.
Nia laughed quietly. “I can still move.”
Kael’s hand closed around one of her feet beneath the cover, warmth spreading into her toes before Shen settled on her other side and drew her leg across his.
Nia looked at both of them and gave up the argument before speaking it.
The rain outside had softened, and water still traveled through the drainage channel with a gentler, steady trickle.
Nia rested her head against Kael’s shoulder while Shen’s fingers moved lazily through the loosened section of her hair.
“I used to like rain because it gave me an excuse to stay home,” she said.
Kael’s thumb moved over her ankle beneath the cover.
Shen separated one curl gently between his fingers.
Nia pressed a kiss against Kael’s shoulder, reached back until her fingers closed around Shen’s hand, and listened to the rain tapping against the entrance of their home.