Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Ren was looking at the wrong path.

Nia noticed before he took it.

She shifted the shallow basket against her hip and watched him study the fork ahead. The left branch descended toward the lower market row. The right curved behind a line of household caves before meeting the same route farther down.

Ren glanced left.

Nia kept walking right.

Behind her, his steps stopped.

“You were going the other way.”

“I was considering it.”

“You were wrong.”

Ren looked at the left-hand path again, then joined her. “I would have reached the market eventually.”

“That is not the same as knowing where you're going.”

Nia smiled and continued downhill.

Ren fell into step beside her with one hand resting against the strap of the narrow travel bag across his chest. His dark-red hair was tied back loosely today, though shorter strands had already escaped around his face. One fox ear remained turned toward the busier path below while the other angled toward her.

Nia's own curls had been pulled away from her face before she left the household, but the spring damp had already worked several loose. One brushed her cheek when the breeze shifted.

“You survived Kael correcting you yesterday,” she said. “You'll survive me.”

Ren's tail gave a slow sweep behind him. “I am beginning to understand why the two of you get along.”

Nia laughed and let him have that one.

Ren had arrived at Hearthfang that morning with two workers and a legitimate reason to be there. A seller using the eastern shelter had goods waiting for one of Ren's regular routes, and Ren needed to settle the transfer before his workers carried them north.

He had finished that work before Nia finished sorting what she needed for the day.

Then he had found her near the lower route board with her basket.

He had asked where she was going, and when she told him, he mentioned a seller he still needed to check before leaving.

That was how he had ended up walking beside her.

At least, that was the reason both of them were using.

The narrower path curved around a stone rise. Nia stepped over a shallow drainage cut without slowing.

Ren went around it.

She glanced down at his boots.

They were unusually clean. His dark trousers had collected road dust near the lower hems, but the leather showed no fresh mud.

“You went around because of your boots?”

“I cleaned them this morning.”

Nia looked at the path ahead. “That effort isn't going to survive Hearthfang.”

“I know.”

His complete lack of concern made her glance at him again.

Ren smiled.

Nia shook her head and kept walking.

They reached the lower turn as a man carrying a bundle of narrow poles came toward them. Nia moved close to the wall before he reached the tightest section.

Ren followed without being told.

The man passed, nodded to Nia, and adjusted the poles before continuing uphill.

Ren glanced toward the outer edge of the path.

Recent rain had softened the strip beside the drop.

“You knew he would need the inside.”

“I've walked this path enough to know where people carrying heavy things step.”

Ren looked at her for a moment.

Nia adjusted the basket against her hip and continued.

The lower market row was louder than the path above it.

Two sellers had opened their coverings beneath the first shelter. A household male was counting folded hide strips at one end while a woman near the middle inspected three clay jars and rejected one because the rim had dried unevenly. Someone farther down was pounding something in a stone bowl, each strike carrying beneath the shelter roof.

Nia moved around a stack of empty baskets.

Ren started toward the gap between them.

“Not there.”

He stopped.

A man backed out from behind the baskets carrying a wide storage tray and crossed directly through the space Ren had been about to enter.

Ren stepped aside.

When the man had passed, Ren looked at Nia.

She raised her eyebrows.

“I was testing you.”

Nia laughed and walked away.

Ren caught up without defending himself.

A familiar voice called from the second shelter.

“Nia.”

Mari stood beside a low table with two covered bowls and a stack of folded cloths. Her ram ears shifted when she noticed Ren beside Nia, but she did not stop what she was doing.

Nia changed direction.

Mari uncovered the first bowl before she reached her.

“Smell this.”

Nia leaned over it.

The sharp sourness reached her first, followed by something warmer underneath.

“You used the darker strips.”

“Less than last time.”

Mari pushed the second bowl toward her. “This one used the lighter batch.”

Ren remained a few steps back while Nia compared them.

The second was cleaner. The first had a deeper smell but also a faint bitter edge she did not remember from the earlier batch.

Nia touched the side of the first bowl. “Same soaking time?”

“Same water, same bowl size, same morning.”

“Then try less time with the darker strips. If that doesn't fix it, rinse them once before soaking. Don't change both things together.”

Mari gave her a satisfied look. “Good.”

She covered the bowls again.

Only then did she look fully at Ren.

“Merchant.”

“Mari.”

“You brought the sour lot.”

“I transported it. Nia bought it.”

Mari nodded once. “Better answer.”

Ren's ears tipped forward.

Nia bit the inside of her cheek.

Mari gathered her cloths. “Tell Shen I want the finer strainer back now that he fixed the seam.”

“I'll bring it.”

“And don't let Sera change the whole batch because one bowl went bitter.”

Nia snorted. “She can try.”

Mari left for the upper storage passage.

Ren watched her go.

When Nia picked up her basket, he said, “I gather taking credit for your purchase would have been a mistake.”

“A stupid one.”

“I answered correctly.”

“You did.”

He seemed pleased by that.

Nia let him enjoy it as they resumed walking.

They reached the seller Ren had wanted to check.

He changed beside her before he even spoke.

His posture straightened slightly. His attention settled on the folded bundles beneath the seller's cover, and the easy pace he had used beside Nia disappeared.

The seller recognized him.

“Ren. I thought you were leaving.”

“Soon.”

The man touched one of the bundles. “The narrow weave came in.”

Ren stepped closer.

Nia stayed beside the path rather than following him under the cover.

The seller opened the top fold. Ren checked the weave between two fingers, asked where the fibers had been dried, then turned the edge over to inspect the binding.

His questions came quickly, and the seller's answers became more precise after the second one. Ren did not waste time pretending to admire a piece he had already found fault with.

Then he looked toward her.

“This might interest you.”

Nia stepped beneath the cover.

The cloth was sturdy, but not especially soft. She rubbed the edge between her brown fingers and folded one corner over itself.

“What would I use it for?”

“Protecting jars or other breakable loads. It's tighter than the cloth around your outside-market purchases.”

The weave held without opening when she pressed at the fold.

“It would be useful if the price isn't ridiculous.”

The seller made an offended sound.

Nia looked at him. “I said if.”

Ren smiled.

His tail moved behind him, and Nia knew that look well enough now to recognize that he was enjoying the seller's reaction.

She released the cloth.

“I don't need any today.”

Ren nodded and did the same.

He asked the seller two more questions about quantity and future availability, then thanked him and stepped back onto the path with her.

Nia waited until they had moved away from the shelter. “You didn't bargain.”

“You didn't want it today.”

“I might later.”

“Then I'll know whether he still has it later.”

Nia adjusted the basket strap where it crossed her shoulder.

Ren glanced at the movement, but instead of reaching for the basket, he nodded toward the path ahead.

“Where were you going before I distracted you?”

Nia pointed toward the household work area.

“This way.”

The market thinned beyond the covered row.

Nia took a side path instead of continuing along the trader route. Ren followed without asking where it went.

The air changed as they left the market shelters. Smoke from a drying fire drifted across the path. Somewhere ahead, wet cloth slapped against stone. Two men were stretching a hide between low pegs while a woman beside them checked the edge and told one to pull his side tighter.

Nia greeted her as they passed.

The woman greeted Nia back, then looked openly at Ren.

Her gaze moved from his red fox ears to his tail, then back to Nia.

Nia kept walking.

Several steps later, Ren said, “I believe I was just inspected.”

“You were.”

He waited.

Nia glanced at him. “What?”

“Nothing. I assumed you might know the result.”

“I wasn't inspecting you with her.”

That seemed to disappoint him enough that Nia laughed.

Aurel came around the next turn carrying a long wrapped bundle under one arm. His hawk wings were folded close enough to clear the passage.

He saw Nia first.

“Ayari is below.”

“I wasn't looking for her.”

“She is still below.”

Nia smiled. “Thank you.”

Aurel's gaze moved to Ren.

“Merchant.”

“Hawk.”

Aurel looked at Nia again. “She's been complaining that you haven't come by.”

“She saw me two days ago.”

“I know.”

He continued uphill.

Ren watched him pass.

Nia knew the look on his face well enough to stop him before he began.

“No.”

“I said nothing.”

“You were about to.”

Ren laughed.

“You and Aurel would be annoying together.”

“I like him already.”

“You barely spoke to him.”

“That has never prevented me from liking someone.”

Nia shook her head and continued toward the work area.

Sera sat beneath a partial cover with three bundles of dried red strips beside her and a shallow tray across her knees. Another woman Nia knew by face was sorting small dried leaves at the far end.

Sera looked up.

“You're late.”

“I never gave you a time.”

“You usually come earlier.”

Nia crouched beside the tray. “What happened?”

Sera's gaze moved to Ren before she answered.

“Is that the merchant?”

Ren placed a hand lightly against his chest. “I had hoped my reputation was more impressive.”

“It depends which reputation.”

Nia laughed.

Sera pointed at the bundles instead of continuing.

“The newest strips dried darker.”

Nia picked up one.

“Same patch?”

“Yes.”

She bent the strip between her fingers. It flexed before breaking.

The lighter strip beside it snapped sooner.

“Same thickness?”

“Mostly. The mornings were wetter too.”

Ren remained standing until Sera nudged an empty low stool toward him with her foot.

“You can sit. You're making the shade uneven.”

Ren looked up at the cover.

Nia laughed before she could stop herself.

He sat.

Sera handed Nia another dark strip.

Nia compared it to the first. “How long did these stay under cover?”

“Half a day longer.”

Nia looked at her.

Sera sighed.

“I know. I changed two things.”

“Then we don't know which one mattered.”

“I hate when you say that.”

“You're the one who did it.”

Ren's smirk widened.

Sera pointed at him. “Your face is not helping.”

He arranged his expression into innocence.

It did not work.

Sera snorted and returned to her tray.

For the next several minutes, Nia and Sera compared the strips. They decided to keep the darker batch separate rather than mixing it with the earlier drying. Sera would use the next small harvest to repeat only the longer covered drying while keeping the thickness closer to the original batch.

Ren listened.

When Sera mentioned households taking most of what she dried, he asked, “Are you selling any outside Hearthfang?”

“Not now. There isn't enough.”

“If there were?”

Sera looked at the bundles before answering. “The plant doesn't grow because traders want it. Hearthfang uses it first. If there is enough after that, maybe.”

Ren nodded.

He did not offer a price.

Nia caught his eye briefly.

When they left Sera, Nia's basket held one marked sample from each drying batch.

The extra weight pulled the strap more firmly across her shoulder. She shifted it, and one of her curls caught beneath the cloth. Nia freed it with an irritated tug.

Ren's hand moved toward the basket.

She moved it away before he reached it.

He stopped.

Nia looked at him.

Ren looked at the basket.

“You can ask.”

“May I carry it?”

“No, but thank you.”

His ears angled outward.

Nia smiled and started up the path.

Ren followed, laughing under his breath.

The path rose toward the household caves.

At the next split, Ren did not study both branches. He looked at Nia.

She pointed left.

He went left.

Nia noticed but said nothing.

They reached a wider ledge where the path opened over the lower part of Hearthfang.

Nia stopped to adjust the cloth beneath her basket strap.

Below them, market shelters broke the stone into patches of shade. Workers moved between storage passages and household routes. Smoke lifted from several cooking fires. A pair of hunters crossed the lower path with wrapped meat loads while someone near the drying area shouted for another length of cord.

Ren stepped beside her.

From there, he could see several of the paths they had just used.

Nia followed his gaze.

“You can probably find the market from here.”

Ren gave her an offended look. “I could find it before.”

“You almost took the wrong path.”

“I was new.”

“You've been here before.”

“Not with you leading me through every side route in the territory.”

Nia laughed.

Ren turned back toward the view.

His dark-red tail had gone still behind him.

Nia remembered Shen telling her that Ren chose high places whenever he could.

“You like it up here.”

One of his ears shifted toward her.

“The view is useful.”

Nia smiled.

Ren looked sideways at her. “You don't believe me?”

“I didn't say that.”

She was not going to tell him about the shoes today.

Below them, Sera came out from beneath the work cover and crossed toward the market row. Mari appeared farther up with the same stack of cloths she had carried away earlier.

A man called to Nia from the path below.

“Did Sera keep those batches separate?”

Nia leaned far enough over the ledge to see him.

“Yes. She's testing the darker one again with the next harvest.”

He raised a hand in thanks and kept moving.

When Nia straightened, Ren was watching her instead of the path.

“What?”

He looked down toward the work area again.

“Mari gave you something to carry home. Sera gave you something to remember. He expected you to know what she decided.”

Nia glanced toward the man disappearing beneath the shelter.

That had not seemed unusual until Ren pointed it out.

“You belong here,” he said.

Nia looked down at the paths.

She could remember when she had needed to think before choosing nearly every one of them. That morning, she had corrected Ren twice without thinking about either turn herself.

Her fingers tightened once around the basket handle.

“I do.”

Ren's tail moved behind him.

A voice called from below.

“Merchant!”

One of Ren's workers stood near the market shelter with a folded strip raised in one hand.

Ren straightened.

“I have to go.”

Nia nodded.

His gaze dropped briefly to her basket, then returned to her face.

This time he did not reach for it.

They started down together and separated at the next fork.

Ren stopped there.

Nia pointed toward the lower market. “That one.”

He looked at the path, then at her.

“I knew that.”

Nia kept walking.

His laugh followed her uphill.

“Nia.”

She turned.

“Next time, I am choosing the path.”

“You can.”

His ears lifted.

Nia adjusted the basket against her hip. “If you know where you're going.”

Ren laughed again and headed down toward his waiting worker.

Nia continued uphill.

At the next turn, she did not need to look back to know which path would take him to the market.