Chapter 223 — Breakfast Before the Road Clears

Ren woke to Kael telling someone not to move a cart. When he opened his eyes, the sleeping cover beneath him was still warm. Pale morning light had reached the entrance, and the fire had already been rebuilt from the banked coals of the night before.

Kael stood near the doorway with one hand holding the screen aside. A young tiger male waited outside under the overhang. The rain had stopped, but water still dripped from the upper stone behind him.

“The lower turn is still carrying water,” the male said. “Selvan's men cleared the branch that washed into the channel, but the outer edge is soft. The eastern shelter wants to know whether the merchant's loads can move.”

“No carts,” Kael said. “Shoulder loads wait until I inspect the edge.”

Ren pushed himself upright, and his hair fell across his face. He moved it aside and immediately remembered why he usually tied it before sleeping anywhere another person might see him in the morning.

Kael glanced over, and Ren's ears lifted.

“Tell my workers to keep both loads under cover. If they've already retied the outer wrapping, they can leave it tied until the road opens.”

The young male nodded and left. Kael let the screen fall back into place while Ren sat long enough to look around properly.

His cloak hung where he had left it the night before and no longer dripped. His boots sat beneath the drying rail with their openings turned toward the room, and the cloth inside them had been changed since he went to sleep.

Across the cave, Shen was already awake. Of course he was.

His straight pale hair was tied back, and both sleeves had been pushed away from his hands. Several grain cakes browned in a shallow pan over the hearth. Shen turned one, shifted two others toward the cooler edge, and checked a covered pot without fully lifting the lid.

“Nia went for water,” he said as Ren looked toward the deeper part of the cave. “If you're going to fold that cover, it belongs on the upper shelf beside the others.”

Ren shook the sleeping cover once and followed the existing crease. “You could have mentioned the shelf before I started.”

“You hadn't put it down yet.”

Ren looked at the lower shelf where he had been about to place it, then carried the cover to the upper one instead. Shen returned his attention to breakfast without comment.

His tail had recovered most of its usual fullness now that it was dry, although the fur near the end remained slightly uneven where Nia had pressed the rainwater from it the night before. Ren ran his fingers through the worst section and accomplished very little.

The entrance screen shifted before he could try again, and Nia came in carrying a water vessel against her hip. Her hair had been gathered away from her face, though a few short curls had escaped near one temple. One brown rabbit ear turned toward the hearth before the other angled toward Ren.

She stopped when she saw his hand still buried in his tail. “You look much better than you did at the door yesterday. Your hair hasn't recovered, but the rest of you has.”

“I'll take better.”

“You should. Yesterday was a low point.”

Ren's mouth curved, but he left his tail alone.

Nia carried the water to its stand, poured some into the smaller household vessel, and washed her hands before going directly to Shen.

She looked into the pan over his shoulder. “You saved the darker one.”

“You said you wanted it.”

Nia touched his arm and kissed him. The kiss was brief enough that Shen never stopped watching the pan, though his free hand settled against her waist for a moment before he moved the browned grain cake onto a waiting plate.

“Eat it while the edge is still crisp.”

Nia broke off a corner immediately as Kael crossed the room toward the route board. She caught his wrist before he passed her.

“Are you leaving before breakfast?”

“After.”

“Good.”

Kael was already bending when she lifted her face. Nia kissed him, and when he started to straighten, she caught him for another.

Ren's tail shifted once across the stone as he reached for his boots. By now, Kael and Shen's place beside Nia required no interpretation from him. Instead, he found himself noticing the smaller habits around the affection: Shen had remembered which grain cake she preferred, Nia had known Kael was preparing to leave from the direction he walked, and Kael had bent for her before she needed to pull him closer. None of it delayed the morning around them.

Shen slid another cake onto a plate and set it near Ren. “Unless you're planning to wait for the road to open before eating, take that.”

Ren came to the hearth. A spoonful of softened root sat beside the grain cake with several narrow pieces of reheated meat. Kael's plate held more meat, but otherwise the meal was the same.

Ren sat with them while Shen finally made his own plate and added two pieces of dried fruit from a covered bowl.

Nia's hand moved toward the bowl.

Shen shifted it farther from her fingers. “You already have one.”

“I wanted another.”

“From my side.”

Nia looked at him, then took a bite of her grain cake instead.

Ren broke his own cake. “I was told you preferred sweets.”

Shen picked up one of the dried pieces. “You were told correctly.”

He ate it before Nia could reach again.

Ren's mouth moved, but he kept the comment to himself and tasted his breakfast instead. The outside of the grain cake had browned enough to give it texture without turning hard, while the center remained soft. The root beside it was roughly mashed, with small pieces left intact.

Nia caught him considering the next bite. “You can stop studying it. It's breakfast.”

“Merchants study anything put in front of them.”

Kael reached for another piece of meat. “Eat it.”

Ren did.

Nia laughed softly and returned to her own plate while Shen reached for his cup.

A knock sounded against the outer stone before anyone could continue. Kael set his food down while the man outside stayed beyond the screen and called in.

“Chief. The north channel is clear, but runoff moved gravel over the second marker. The post is still firm and the binding held.”

“Leave the marker where it is,” Kael said. “Move the gravel off the walking line and keep carts below the first turn until I check the outer edge.”

The man acknowledged the order and left. Kael returned to breakfast while Shen reached across the table and wiped a smear of softened root from the side of Nia's thumb.

She caught his hand before he withdrew it and kissed his knuckles. Ren drank from his cup.

When Nia shifted, her foot brushed Kael's beneath the low table. Kael moved his leg enough to give her room while Shen asked whether she wanted the last of the root. She pushed the bowl toward Kael instead, and he took it without interrupting the route strip he had begun reading beside his plate.

Ren had eaten breakfast in buying houses, road shelters, market rooms, and once on a seller's spare floor when weather made travel foolish. Wherever he woke, morning usually brought news of what had changed overnight and which agreement was likely to become troublesome before midday. He liked beginning the day with work already moving.

This household did not lack movement. Kael had taken two route reports before finishing his food, Ren's workers were waiting below with two loads, and the eastern road still needed inspection before either household carts or merchant goods could move. At the same table, Shen had quietly moved the dried fruit out of Nia's reach for the second time.

Ren reached for his cup just as Nia lifted the water vessel. She filled his first, then her own and Kael's, before Shen took the vessel and filled his own.

Breakfast continued around the ordinary work of the morning. Shen removed the empty pan from the hearth, Kael marked something on the route strip, and Nia finished the last crisp edge of her grain cake before gathering the dishes within reach.

Ren stood with his own plate. When Nia held out a hand for it, he moved the plate away.

“I know where this goes.”

Her eyebrows rose, but she let him take it.

At the washing side, Ren rinsed the plate while Shen moved the pan aside to give him room. Nia arrived with two cups and set them beside him. Ren took one before she could reach for the water, rinsed both, and placed them with his plate.

“These too,” he said.

Nia smiled. “I see that.”

Her smile made his hand pause on the second cup. She stepped closer, and Ren's attention dropped to her mouth when she caught the front of his dry tunic lightly between two fingers and kissed him.

There was no waiting behind the kiss this time. Ren leaned into it before she drew back, his fox ears tipping forward.

Nia released his tunic and glanced at the cup still in his hand. A thin line of water ran along one side.

“You missed a drop.”

Ren wiped it away with his thumb. Nia took the clean cups to the shelf while he watched her go.

Shen had already returned to the hearth and gave no indication that anything noteworthy had happened behind him. Ren looked at him for a moment, then went to check his boots.

The leather was still slightly damp around one ankle, but no longer wet enough to matter once he was moving. He pulled them on, tightened the wraps, and checked his cloak next. The shoulders had dried completely. The lower edge still felt cool beneath his fingers, though it no longer transferred moisture to his hand.

Kael finished breakfast and stood while Nia met him near the entrance and straightened a fold in his outer layer.

“Be careful on the edge.”

“I will.”

She kissed him again. Kael's hand settled briefly at her hip before he looked toward Ren.

“If the road opens, your loads go after the marker crew clears the turn.”

“That was my plan.”

Kael nodded once and left, letting morning air move through the entrance before the screen fell closed again.

Nia began collecting the remaining dishes. Ren reached for the larger bowl at the same time she did, and their fingers met against the rim. When Nia withdrew her hand, Ren carried the bowl to the washing side, where Shen shifted over to give him room.

Ren looked down at the bowl. His own dishes were already clean, and nothing remained between him and the road except Kael's release. His bag was packed and his cloak fastened.

He washed the bowl anyway.

Several minutes later, a familiar voice called from outside.

“Ren.”

One of his workers stood below the household entrance, far enough back to respect the space. Ren stepped beneath the overhang to meet him.

The sky remained grey, but the rain had moved east. Water still ran through the drainage channel beside the path.

“The chief's men cleared the walking line,” the worker said. “We're allowed through after the marker crew passes. Both loads are dry. The outer cord on the second one loosened overnight, but we retied it before breakfast.”

“No shifting inside?”

“None.”

“Good. Make sure everyone eats before we move.”

The worker rubbed one hand over his jaw. “Tovin sent us to a seller with hot root cakes. We weren't going to wait for you.”

“What did the seller charge?”

“Less than you would have paid.”

Ren nodded. “Then you were right not to wait.”

The worker's grin widened. “We'll be ready.”

He headed downhill while Ren stayed beneath the overhang for another moment.

Behind him, Nia and Shen were dealing with one of the breakfast cloths.

“It is already folded,” Nia said.

Shen lifted it by one edge. The lower half opened immediately.

Nia watched it fall. “Fine. Do it your way.”

He folded it again and set it with the clean cloths.

Ren's ears turned toward them before his attention returned downhill. Two workers crossed the damp path carrying tools away from the repaired marker. Someone called from the lower row, and an answer came back through the wet morning air. With the repair crew beginning to clear away, Ren went inside for his bag.

Nia had already picked it up from beside the wall and held it toward him.

“You're leaving as soon as they clear you?”

“Yes. The load after this one still has a buyer waiting, and yesterday's rain has already cost us part of a morning.”

She nodded and passed him the strap. “Then don't keep them waiting.”

“I won't.”

Ren settled the bag across his chest and checked the fastening on his cloak. Before he turned toward the entrance, his gaze went once to the upper shelf.

The sleeping cover sat squarely beside the others where he had left it.

He adjusted the strap once.

Nia stepped close enough to fix the section that had twisted against his shoulder. Her fingers smoothed the strap flat before she let it go.

“Watch the wet edge.”

“Kael will have marked the bad part by the time we move.”

“Watch it anyway.”

Ren's smirk softened. “I will.”

Nia kissed his cheek. Ren touched two fingers briefly to her wrist before releasing her and crossing the threshold into the damp morning.

By the time he reached the first turn, the marker crew was already lifting its tools from the walking line. Ren adjusted the strap across his chest and continued down toward his waiting workers.