Chapter 205 — Work That Goes On
Nia heard the counting as she and Shen reached the inner-store turn.
“Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve.”
She slowed near the open arch.
Shen carried the household’s small grain sack beneath one arm after their stop at the lower food-share room. He stopped beside her without shifting the sack.
Cord filled most of the room beyond the arch. Thick coils hung from pegs driven into the stone wall. Shorter cut lengths rested in shallow baskets near a long worktable, and two men farther inside sorted the heavier coils before carrying them toward the cutting side.
At the nearest low table sat the man whose bond Vessa had broken.
His walking staff leaned against the table beside his knee.
A shallow basket of cut cord rested to his left. Twelve lengths lay aligned beneath one hand, their ends even against the table edge. He took a shorter tying piece, wound it twice around the middle of the group, and pulled the knot tight.
The finished bundle went onto the stack at his right.
A worker crossed from the cutting table with another handful of cord.
“Upper coil.”
The seated man shifted the new lengths toward the back of the left basket before reaching for the next piece already in front of him.
The worker glanced toward the finished stack. “Six ready?”
“Six.”
He counted the bundles quickly, gathered them against his chest, and carried them toward the rear shelves.
The seated man had already begun another group by the time he noticed Nia and Shen standing near the arch.
“Morning.”
“Morning,” Nia said.
Shen inclined his head.
Nia looked toward the finished bundles. “You’ve gotten through a lot.”
The man glanced at the stack before drawing another length from the basket.
“They keep the table full.”
A worker farther inside looked toward them while lifting a coil from the wall.
“We would rather keep bringing it than have the cutting side wait.”
The seated man nodded once and returned his attention to the cord beneath his hands.
Nia watched him align another length with the others. His movements were slower than the men standing farther inside, but his hands remained steady on the next group.
Nia stepped back from the arch.
“We’ll let you keep working.”
He looked up. “Good day.”
“You too.”
She and Shen continued uphill.
The counting followed them until they reached the next turn.
“Four. Five. Six.”
Other work sounds gradually covered his voice.
Ahead of them, two men carried folded winter covers toward one of the storage rooms. A woman followed with a bundle of ties hanging from one hand. At the next intersection, another thick passage screen had been rolled around its pole and secured against the wall.
Cooler outside air moved through the open section of corridor.
Nia lifted her face slightly as it reached her.
The air still carried the damp smell of spring stone, but it no longer made her want another layer around her shoulders.
A little farther uphill, sunlight from one of the upper openings warmed a broad patch of floor. A child sat near the wall with three narrow drying pegs across his knees while an older man repaired a split in a fourth.
The child pointed toward the open passage screen. “Will that stay open tonight?”
“Not yet.”
“It is warm now.”
The older man tested the repaired peg between both hands. “It will be cooler after dark.”
The child looked toward the bright section of corridor again but did not argue.
Nia and Shen passed them and continued toward home.
Their own entrance screen was tied partly open.
Shen carried the grain directly to the dry-storage side when they stepped inside. Nia loosened her outer layer and hung it where the moving air could reach it before going into the bedroom.
She stopped at the edge of the bed.
The broadest winter fur had been pushed almost entirely toward the foot.
One corner hung over the side.
Nia looked at the lighter fur beneath it.
During the coldest part of winter, she had pulled the heavy layer around herself whenever Kael shifted too far away and let colder air reach her side of the bed. Lately, she had been pushing it off with her feet before morning.
She caught the hanging corner and lifted it back onto the bed.
Shen entered behind her.
“I think we can put this one away.”
He looked at the heavy fur.
“The nights still cool after the upper stone loses the day’s heat.”
“We can keep the lighter fur on the bed and leave one of the smaller wraps near the top of the chest.” Nia pulled more of the heavy layer toward the middle. “If I get cold, we can take it back out. Right now I keep waking up with one leg outside it.”
Shen crossed to the bed and pressed his palm against the lighter layer beneath.
After a moment, he nodded.
“That should be enough unless the night turns sharply colder.”
“Good. Help me fold this before I change my mind about how much work it is.”
He took the opposite edge.
They spread the heavy fur across the bed first.
Without the layer twisted around their feet, Nia could see its full size again. It covered most of the sleeping space, with enough extra length to tuck beneath the lower bedding.
She folded her end inward.
Shen kept the opposite edge straight while she worked.
The first fold pulled one corner farther than the other. Nia opened her side again and shifted it closer.
“Hold that edge there.”
Shen did.
She folded the fur a second time, and the corners met more evenly.
He smoothed both palms over the thick hide, working the trapped folds outward before bringing his side across.
The fur became a broad, heavy square in the center of the bed.
Nia pressed down on it with both forearms.
It rose again when she eased her weight.
“That explains why it takes over half the bed by morning.”
“It is thick enough to hold its shape.”
“And we spent all winter putting three bodies beneath it.”
Shen’s mouth softened slightly.
Nia caught the expression and smiled.
“It was useful. I am still putting it away.”
“I know.”
She crouched beside the bedroom storage chest and lifted the lid.
Several lighter sleeping wraps rested in the upper section. Cold-weather clothing had been folded along one side, leaving deeper space beneath the wraps.
Nia removed two of the lighter pieces and placed them on the bed.
“I want these where we can reach them without unpacking everything.”
Shen shifted the folded winter fur closer to the chest.
He lifted one side while Nia supported the lower edge, and together they lowered it into the open space.
The fur filled most of the deeper section.
Shen pressed one side flatter. Nia tucked the opposite edge beneath itself and tested the lid.
It stopped above the rim.
She opened it fully again.
“That fold is still too high.”
Shen reached beneath the thickest overlap and shifted it toward the deeper half of the chest.
Nia pressed down where he moved it.
The fur settled enough for the lid to close.
She opened the chest once more, replaced the two lighter wraps on top, and lowered the lid again.
When she stood, the bed looked wider.
Only the lighter fur and sleeping wraps remained across it.
Shen lifted one side of the lighter fur and shook it once. The layer fell across the bedding with fewer folds than before.
Nia crossed to the opposite side and pulled the lower edge even.
“Leave a little more open at the foot. If I get cold, I can pull it down.”
Shen adjusted the fur until it rested just above the place where her feet usually reached.
“That should move more easily.”
Nia sat on the edge and stretched one leg across the bedding.
The lighter fur slid over her ankle without dragging the rest of the layers with it.
“Much better.”
She was still testing the space around her feet when the outer screen moved.
Kael’s steps crossed the main chamber.
He left his dusty boots near the entrance, then washed at the basin.
Shen continued smoothing the bedding while Nia went back into the main room.
Kael stood near the basin drying his hands. One sleeve had been pushed above a faint scrape on his forearm.
His gaze moved past Nia toward the bedroom.
“We put the heavy winter fur in the chest,” she said.
He came farther inside.
“Too warm at night?”
“Yes. The stone is holding more heat, and the bed stays warm with the lighter fur now.”
Kael’s hand settled at the back of her waist as he passed her.
Nia touched his wrist before following him into the bedroom.
“And both of you make it warmer.”
His fingers moved once against her side.
“I know.”
Shen stood near the far side of the bed.
“We left the smaller wraps on top of the stored fur. They are easy to reach if the temperature drops.”
Kael pressed one palm against the lighter bedding.
“The upper vents were warmer before first light this morning.”
Nia sat near the foot of the bed.
“So it was not just me.”
“No.”
Kael sat beside her.
The bedding shifted beneath his weight without the heavy fur gathering around Nia’s knees.
She stretched both feet forward and moved them beneath the lighter layer.
Shen sat on her other side after checking the corner nearest the wall.
For a little while, Nia simply enjoyed having room around her legs.
Then Shen’s tail crossed the bedding and settled loosely over both ankles.
Nia looked down.
He followed her gaze and eased the weight enough that she could move her feet freely.
“The heavy fur is gone,” she said, “but that does not mean you have to move.”
His tail remained where it was.
Nia flexed one foot beneath it.
“That is fine.”
Kael’s hand rested against the outside of her thigh.
The contact added another steady patch of warmth through her clothes.
Nia leaned back on both hands and looked from Kael’s hand to Shen’s tail.
“The bed is going to stay warm no matter what we store.”
Shen glanced toward the closed chest. “The difference should still be noticeable tonight.”
“I think so too.”
Kael’s thumb moved once along her thigh.
Outside, quick footsteps passed their entrance.
A child’s voice carried through the screen.
“I can take another one.”
An adult answered from farther down the passage. “Carry those to the drying room first. Come back after.”
The footsteps turned toward the upper bend and faded.
Someone else called for another pair of hands near the drying frames. A reply came from below almost at once.
Kael looked toward the entrance and listened.
He stayed seated.
Nia shifted closer until her shoulder rested against his upper arm.
“You are not needed for that?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Shen stretched one leg across the bed and leaned back against the wall.
His tail remained loose over Nia’s ankles.
The room no longer held heat the same way it had during deep winter. With the entrance screen partly open and the thickest bedding packed away, air from the main chamber reached farther into the bedroom.
Nia could hear more of the upper passage as well.
A woman laughed near the water turn.
A basket scraped once against stone.
Wood struck wood somewhere farther along the level.
Kael’s hand stayed on her thigh.
Nia slid one foot out from beneath Shen’s tail and stretched it beyond the lighter fur.
Cooler air touched the exposed skin above her ankle.
She left her foot there.
Shen shifted his tail enough to rest across the other ankle instead.
Nia looked toward the closed storage chest, then at the open stretch of bed in front of them.
The heavy winter fur remained inside the chest.
Cool air from the passage reached the bedroom while Nia sat between Kael and Shen.