Chapter 191 — What Came Back in the Baskets

They reached the lower crossing while the morning air was still cool. Kael checked the water first and led them through. Nia followed his path, careful with her footing until she stepped onto the opposite bank. Her legs were already tired from the return journey, and the climb beyond the crossing made them feel heavier before the ground leveled again.

The eastern marker appeared between the trees not long afterward. Nia recognized it before Kael pointed it out and crossed back into Hearthfang without slowing.

A patrol male was clearing wet leaves from a drainage cut farther up the road. He straightened when Kael approached.

“Chief.”

Kael returned the greeting while the man glanced over what they carried.

“Worth the trip?”

“Yes,” Nia said. “I am glad we went.”

“Looks like you found enough to carry home.”

“We did.”

The man stepped back toward the drainage cut. “Then I will not keep you standing here.”

Nia thanked him, and they continued uphill. The farther they went, the more the sounds around them changed. Water and wind gave way to footsteps on stone, voices from branching corridors, and the steady knock of work somewhere deeper inside Hearthfang. Two men passed carrying split wood toward storage. Beyond the next turn, someone demanded to know who had borrowed a cutting tool.

“Look under the lower workbench,” another man called back. “You were using it there this morning.”

Silence followed for several seconds before the first man muttered something too low for Nia to catch.

She looked toward Shen. His mouth had shifted slightly.

“He found it,” she said.

“Probably.”

A woman carrying washed greens against one hip slowed when she saw them.

“You made it back.”

“We did.”

The woman’s gaze moved briefly over what they carried and returned to Nia. “Go home before somebody sees the chief and remembers something urgent.”

Nia laughed softly. “That is where I am going.”

They parted at the next turn. A little farther on, Nia heard someone calling for more drying cloth and another voice answering from inside a workroom. Nobody stopped them again.

By the time their door came into view, Nia wanted nothing more complicated than to put down what she carried and sit somewhere that did not move beneath her feet.

Kael opened the door. Inside, the air was warmer than the corridor, and Nia smelled heated stone, dry herbs, banked hearth smoke, clean cloth, and the mingled household scents she had stopped noticing while they were away. She stood just inside for a moment, looking toward the kitchen board, the cups on the shelf, and the storage jars in their usual places.

“I missed home.”

Kael began setting down what he carried on the removable landing near the entrance, then took Nia’s basket from her. Shen added what he had carried beside the rest while Nia sat on the nearby stool.

“Wash before you start touching things,” Shen said.

“I know.”

Nia went to the basin while Kael began loosening the road lashings. Dirt had worked into the basket weave, and several outer travel cloths bore damp marks from the journey. Shen washed after Nia and returned to the inner edge of the landing.

Kael turned the first wrapped bundle and found a darkened corner along the outer cloth.

“That one is damp,” Nia said.

Kael pressed the exposed edge between his fingers. “Only along the side.”

“Open the outside layer there.”

He loosened the knot and folded the damp cloth outward, keeping his hands on the road-worn layer. Shen reached into the opened wrapping, lifted the protected bundle free, and carried it farther inside.

Nia watched him put the food down. “You were right about bringing extra wrapping. I thought we had too much when we left.”

Shen nodded once and returned as Kael opened the next bundle.

Another outer cloth had picked up enough smoke and strong market scent that Nia noticed it from the stool.

“That one too.”

Kael loosened the travel layer and folded it away. Shen lifted the inner package clear and carried it inside.

Kael continued through the return loads while Shen took each protected bundle inward as it became accessible. Nia stayed on the stool, following their hands and the shrinking pile near the entrance.

When Kael uncovered the medicine packet, he folded the outer travel cloth away from it. Shen lifted the protected packet from the center and carried it to his treatment supplies.

“We never needed it,” Nia said.

Shen tucked it away unopened. “Better that way.”

Nia nodded.

Near the end of the unpacking, Kael opened the road wrapping around the unused trade goods. Shen took the protected bundle from inside and put it with the household stores. Kael continued with the remaining wrapping until the protected market tools were accessible.

Shen lifted the wrapped pieces free one at a time and carried them to the clear end of the work board. Nia leaned forward on the stool as he set them down. She put her palm against the first wrapped shape, feeling the hard surface beneath the cloth while her thumb rested near the cord.

“I want to open these when I can actually pay attention.”

Shen looked from her to the bundles. “Then wait until tomorrow.”

Nia nodded and removed her hand. Shen left the protected pieces together on the board and returned for the last of the clean goods.

Once Kael had emptied the return loads, he rinsed the road dirt from the baskets and set them upside down to drain. He gathered the used travel cloths for washing and removed his boots near the entrance. Shen put away the last protected bundle, then joined Nia at the basin while Kael finished at the landing.

After Kael set the used travel cloths by the wash area and left his boots near the entrance, all three washed at the basin. Nia dried her hands and returned to the stool while Shen crossed directly to the hearth.

“Something hot,” she said.

Shen was already reaching for a small pot. “Broth.”

“That sounds good.”

He began with food already in their stores, adding preserved meat and dried greens while root cakes warmed nearby. Kael took three cups from the shelf and set them on the table before sitting beside Nia.

She ran her thumb along the rim of her cup. “I missed eating here.”

Shen made a quiet sound of acknowledgment without turning away from the pot. Nia rested one elbow on the table and breathed in the smell of the broth while Kael’s knee rested against hers beneath the table. At the hearth, Shen moved through the familiar motions of cooking at home, lifting the lid, checking the heat, and shifting the root cakes nearer or farther from the fire. Steam carried the smell of meat and greens across the room as the broth heated.

Her eyes moved once to the wrapped tools at the far end of the board. When Shen lifted the lid again, she looked back toward the hearth.

He turned one root cake so the edge nearest the heat would crisp more evenly. The smell of the warming cake mixed with the broth, and Nia leaned forward slightly as her hunger sharpened.

Kael looked at her. “Hungry?”

“Very.”

He moved one of the cups closer to her and poured warm water into it.

By the time Shen served the meal, Nia no longer cared how simple it was. He set a bowl in front of her and placed the root cake with the crisped edge beside it. Nia tore off that edge first and ate it before taking her first spoonful of broth.

The preserved meat gave the broth enough richness to feel substantial, while the dried greens had softened almost completely. Nia ate several bites before taking a drink.

“I did not realize how hungry I was.”

Shen reached for the pot and added another spoonful of broth to his own bowl. “Eat.”

Nia took another spoonful. For the first few minutes after that, nobody said much. Kael ate steadily beside her, and Shen remained focused on his bowl until a raised voice came faintly through the corridor.

Nia paused with her spoon halfway to her mouth. “Do you think that is still about the cutting tool?”

Kael listened for a moment. “No. Different voice.”

Shen tilted his head slightly. “The first man was closer.”

Nia looked between them. “You can tell that from here?”

Another voice answered somewhere beyond their door before either man responded, followed by the scrape of something heavy against stone. Nia listened for another moment, then returned to her bowl.

People kept moving through the corridor while they ate. Footsteps passed their door twice. Someone farther down called for a larger carrying frame, and another voice answered that the first one had not been returned yet. The smell of something roasting reached their room briefly before fading again.

When Nia finished most of her bowl, Shen asked whether she wanted more. She held it toward him, and he added a little before taking more for himself.

Nia took another spoonful and settled more comfortably at the table. Shen set the ladle beside the pot and returned to his own bowl while she kept eating.

By the time she emptied her bowl, Nia had stopped shifting to find a comfortable position. She set her spoon inside it and stretched her legs beneath the table.

“I am not moving for a while.”

“You do not need to,” Shen said.

He gathered the empty bowls, washed them at the washing side, and set them to drain. After washing his hands, he refilled their cups with warm water and returned to the table.

Nia had shifted closer to Kael by then. She leaned against his upper arm as Shen took the seat on her other side.

“Stay here for a minute.”

Shen settled closer. Kael turned enough for Nia to rest more comfortably against him, and his hand came to her thigh beneath the table.

Nia reached across the small space between herself and Shen and rested her hand over his wrist. He turned his hand beneath hers until their palms met.

For a while they sat without talking. Nia could hear people moving through the corridor and the faint drip of water near the entrance. Kael’s body was solid and warm against her side, and Shen’s fingers rested loosely between hers.

“I do not want to go anywhere tomorrow morning,” she said.

Kael’s hand remained on her thigh. “Then stay home.”

“Sleep first,” Shen said.

Nia hummed and let her head rest more fully against Kael.

Someone called from farther down the passage. Another person answered without coming any closer, and the sounds passed by their door.

A wooden object struck stone somewhere nearby, followed by laughter from another household. Nia listened until the laughter faded, then lifted her cup.

Near the door, the emptied travel baskets stood upside down on the landing. A thin line of gray rinse water slid from one into the drain while Nia drank between her husbands.