Nia narrowed her eyes at Kael, but he only looked calmly satisfied with himself as they continued walking through the settlement. The expression should not have been attractive.
Unfortunately, it was.
Annoyingly so.
Nia redirected her attention toward the path ahead before her thoughts wandered somewhere unhelpful again.
The farther they moved through the lower settlement, the more details she noticed beneath the initial strangeness of everything around her. Children chased each other between buildings with enough speed to make her nervous near the stone walkways, older beastmen sorted tools beneath open shelters while talking across the workspaces, and the smell of smoke drifted steadily through the air from the communal fire pits spread throughout the flatlands.
Everywhere she looked, people were working. Some repaired tools beneath the open shelters while others carried baskets between the communal halls, cleaned hides, stirred cooking pots, or sat weaving thick blankets near the fire pits. The tribe moved with a constant rhythm that never felt frantic despite the sheer amount happening around her.
Kael slowed slightly when a pair of younger wolf beastmen jogged past carrying long wooden poles between them. One almost clipped Nia’s shoulder before Kael’s hand settled at her waist, smoothly guiding her half a step closer against his side before the poles passed safely by.
The entire movement happened so quickly that Nia barely processed it before it was over.
The younger wolves immediately skidded to a stop several feet away.
“Sorry, Chief.”
Kael’s expression remained calm. “Watch your spacing.”
Both wolf beastmen nodded at once before hurrying off again.
Nia looked up at him. “You reacted fast.”
“They weren’t paying attention.”
“You moved before they even got close.”
Kael glanced down at her as if the answer should have been obvious. “You’re injured.”
Nia stared at him for a second before looking away first again.
This was becoming a problem.
One of his ears flicked faintly.
Nia saw it from the corner of her eye. “You’re smug again.”
“You noticed.”
“That was your goal.”
“Yes.”
At least he was honest about it.
They passed another large communal fire where several women sat weaving thick blankets from layered fibers and soft fur. One older rabbit beastwoman looked up as they approached, and her eyes widened so dramatically after spotting Nia that the woven material slipped right out of her lap.
“Oh,” she breathed softly.
Nia blinked at her.
The older woman stood slowly, her long ears twitching faintly as she stared at Nia’s face with open disbelief.
Kael’s attention sharpened beside her.
“You know her?” he asked.
The rabbit woman looked at him like she had barely remembered he existed. “No. I just…” Her gaze returned to Nia again. “She looks like moon cocoa.”
Nia blinked again. “What?”
The woman gestured vaguely toward Nia’s skin while still looking slightly stunned. “Your coloring. It’s beautiful.”
Warmth rose unexpectedly into Nia’s face.
Not because of the compliment itself, but because there had been no hesitation behind it. No awkwardness. No strange curiosity beyond simple admiration.
The older rabbit woman seemed completely sincere.
Kael watched Nia’s reaction carefully.
He liked when she looked pleased.
Far too much already.
The rabbit woman finally seemed to recover enough to look mildly embarrassed by her own staring. “Sorry. You startled me a little.”
Nia smiled despite herself. “It’s alright.”
The woman’s ears twitched happily at the smile before her gaze drifted briefly toward Kael.
Then toward his hand still resting near Nia’s waist.
Understanding appeared in her expression.
“Oh,” she said again, though this time the sound carried far more amusement.
Kael looked entirely unmoved.
Nia, unfortunately, understood exactly what the woman had realized.
The rabbit woman settled back down afterward while still smiling faintly to herself, and Nia continued walking before her embarrassment had the chance to fully catch up with her.
“You have admirers,” she muttered under her breath.
Kael looked down at her. “So do you.”
“That is different.”
“How?”
Nia opened her mouth.
Then paused.
Because honestly, she did not entirely know how to explain it.
Kael being admired made sense. He was chief. Strong. Beautiful. Protective. Confident in a way that made people instinctively trust him to handle problems before they became dangerous.
Nia still felt like an outsider walking through someone else’s world wrapped in borrowed clothing.
The fact that people looked at her with warmth anyway felt strangely disorienting.
Before she could untangle the thought properly, another scent drifted through the air strong enough to pull her attention sideways.
This one smelled sharper and earthier beneath the smoke.
Nia slowed automatically near one of the open work shelters where several older women sorted bundles of dried plants across woven mats.
Not dried carelessly either.
Prepared intentionally.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she studied the different leaves and stems spread across the tables. Some looked brittle and papery while others still held faint traces of color. A few bundles had been tied separately with different cord markings, almost like categories.
Kael noticed her slowing again. “What?”
Nia pointed carefully. “Those aren’t food plants.”
“No.”
“Medicine?”
“Mostly.”
Her attention sharpened.
One of the older women glanced up from the mats before holding up a pale green stem covered in tiny clustered leaves. She said something toward Kael while gesturing at Nia with obvious curiosity.
Kael translated smoothly. “She wants to know why you’re staring at her herbs like you plan to steal them.”
Nia looked mildly offended. “I have never stolen herbs in my life.”
Kael’s eyes lingered on her face for a second too long. “You considered it.”
“That accusation lacks evidence.”
“You made the thinking face again.”
Nia pointed accusingly at him. “You cannot keep inventing expressions.”
“I’m not inventing them.”
“Yes you are.”
One of the older women laughed softly while continuing to sort leaves into separate piles.
Nia stepped a little closer toward the mats despite herself. Different scents drifted upward as the wind shifted, some bitter, some floral, and others carrying resinous sharpness beneath the smoke-filled air.
One small cluster of dark purple leaves caught her attention because their edges curled similarly to mint varieties she remembered from Earth, though the scent carried something warmer underneath when the breeze shifted across them.
Her fingers twitched instinctively.
Kael's gaze dropped toward her hands.
“You want to touch them.”
“I want to examine them.”
“That sounds similar.”
“It is completely different.”
Kael looked unconvinced.
Nia crouched carefully near the edge of the woven mats while keeping weight off her injured ankle. One of the older women handed her a small sprig without hesitation.
Nia blinked. “Oh. Thank you.”
The woman nodded calmly like sharing herbs with suspiciously curious strangers happened every day.
Nia rubbed the leaves lightly between her fingers before lifting them closer to smell. The scent carried something warm and sharp beneath the smoke-filled air, faintly citrus-like but deeper than mint, and her thoughts immediately began moving toward teas, oils, and cooking possibilities before she consciously realized she was doing it.
The scent lingered in her thoughts longer than she expected, and possibilities immediately began forming around preparation methods, oils, teas, and cooking applications.
Her mind was already building combinations automatically. Different preparation methods would probably change the strength of the scent. Oils might pull out deeper notes than water alone, and if the leaves held flavor as strongly as the aroma suggested, they could completely change the heaviness of the tribe’s broths.
Kael watched her quietly from above before speaking.
“You look happy.”
Nia glanced up.
Kael stood over her with his attention fixed entirely on her face again, calm and steady in a way that made her suddenly aware of how close he was standing.
“I’m curious,” she corrected.
His gaze shifted briefly toward the herbs still in her hand before returning to her expression. “You get this look whenever something interests you.”
“That sounds fake too.”
“It isn’t.”
One corner of his mouth lifted slightly again.
Nia was beginning to suspect Kael enjoyed watching her discover things almost as much as she enjoyed discovering them.
One of the older women sorting herbs watched the exchange between them with increasingly obvious amusement before finally speaking toward Kael again.
He listened briefly before translating.
“She says you’ve been hovering around me since you walked over here.”
Nia immediately looked at him.
Kael looked entirely unashamed. “You’re crouching on an injured ankle.”
“That does not explain why you’re standing close enough to breathe down my neck.”
“You’d fall if you leaned too far.”
“That sounds made up.”
“It isn’t.”
The older women laughed softly among themselves while continuing to sort the plants across the woven mats. Nia suddenly became aware that several of them had started watching Kael more than her now, their expressions carrying the kind of knowing amusement older women everywhere apparently shared regardless of species.
Nia suddenly became aware that several of them had started watching Kael more than her now, their expressions carrying the kind of knowing amusement older women everywhere apparently shared regardless of species.
One of the women reached toward another bundle before holding up a long stem covered in tiny silver-green leaves. She offered it toward Nia curiously.
Nia accepted it carefully this time before rubbing the leaves gently between her fingers.
A stronger scent released.
Sharp.
Clean.
Almost pine-like beneath something cooling.
Her attention sharpened further.
This one reacted differently than the darker leaves. The oils released faster from friction alone, which probably meant heat would intensify the scent even more during cooking or steeping.
Or bathing.
The thought arrived so naturally that Nia paused slightly.
Bathing here still felt… primitive was not the right word.
Open.
Functional.
The tribe clearly bathed regularly from what she had observed so far, but everything revolved around rivers, springs, and practicality rather than comfort. Warm water infused with herbs, oils, or scents would probably feel incredible after long hunts or cold weather.
Nia blinked once.
Then realized she had accidentally started mentally redesigning an entirely different world’s bathing culture while crouched beside a pile of mystery plants.
Kael studied her expression.
“You’re planning things again.”
Nia looked up quickly. “I am thinking.”
“That’s what I said.”
“It is not the same thing.”
“It is on your face.”
“That sentence continues sounding fake every time you say it.”
One of the older women snorted softly at that.
Kael crouched beside her then, lowering himself smoothly until he rested close enough that his shoulder nearly brushed hers. The movement changed the space around them. His size alone created warmth against the cooler mountain air, and Nia suddenly became aware of several nearby females watching the interaction with renewed intensity.
Some looked entertained.
Some looked wistful.
One younger cheetah beastwoman looked actively annoyed before an older woman beside her smacked the back of her arm without even glancing up from her herb sorting.
Nia almost smiled.
Kael’s gaze drifted toward the silver-green leaves still in her fingers. “What does it smell like?”
Nia hesitated briefly before holding the stem toward him. “Here.”
Kael leaned closer automatically.
His nose brushed lightly against the leaves first before he inhaled.
Nia became aware that she was still holding the stem while his face hovered dangerously close to her hand.
Warm breath brushed faintly across her knuckles.
Her pulse betrayed her.
Kael's eyes lifted toward her face.
Of course they did.
“It smells cold,” he decided after a moment.
Nia blinked. “Cold?”
He nodded once. “Sharp. Clean. Like winter water.”
She stared at him for a second longer before realizing the description actually made sense.
“That’s… surprisingly accurate.”
Kael looked mildly smug again.
Nia narrowed her eyes. “Do not get proud over smelling leaves correctly.”
“I was right.”
“That is not the point.”
“It usually is.”
One of the older women laughed hard enough this time that she had to set down the herbs in her hands.
Nia pressed a hand briefly against her forehead.
“You people encourage him too much.”
“We like seeing him like this,” one of the women replied calmly.
Nia paused.
Kael’s attention shifted toward the speaker.
The older woman looked entirely unbothered by it. “Relaxed,” she clarified while gesturing vaguely toward him. “Our chief usually looks like he’s mentally preparing to fight winter itself.”
Kael looked unimpressed. “Winter deserves preparation.”
“That was not a denial,” Nia muttered.
A faint huff left him through his nose.
The older women looked even more delighted.
Nia was beginning to suspect Kael’s reputation inside the settlement leaned heavily toward intimidating competence, which meant every visible sign of softness around her probably stood out dramatically to anyone paying attention.
That thought should not have affected her as much as it did.
Unfortunately, the thought lingered longer than she wanted it to.
One of the women pointed toward the herb still in Nia’s hand before speaking again.
Kael translated. “She says that one gets rubbed into sore muscles with heated fat after winter hunts.”
Nia’s attention returned to the leaves.
“That would probably work well,” she murmured mostly to herself. “Especially if the oils strengthen under heat.”
Kael’s gaze sharpened slightly at the thoughtful shift in her tone. “You know plants well.”
Nia’s fingers paused briefly against the leaves.
Careful.
She needed to be careful.
Not because Kael himself had given her reason to fear him, but because she still did not fully understand this world or what counted as strange within it. Talking too much without thinking had always been dangerous even before transmigrating into an entirely different reality.
So Nia answered carefully.
“I cooked a lot before.”
That at least was true.
Kael studied her face for a long second like he could tell there was more beneath the answer than she had chosen to say. But instead of pushing, he simply nodded once.
“That explains some things.”
Relief made it easier to answer naturally.
One of the older women began gathering several small herb bundles together before holding them toward Nia unexpectedly.
Nia blinked. “What’s this?”
Kael glanced at the bundles. “A welcome gift.”
Nia looked startled. “I can’t take your supplies.”
The woman waved dismissively before saying something that made the others laugh softly again.
Kael translated with visible amusement in his eyes now. “She says if you keep staring at the herbs this hard, you’ll eventually steal them anyway.”
Nia looked scandalized. “I am being profiled unfairly.”
“Yes,” Kael said calmly while accepting the bundles for her. “Probably.”
The betrayal.
Nia narrowed her eyes at him while carefully taking the herbs anyway. The scents rose around her, sharper now gathered together in her hands. One smelled floral beneath the smoke-filled air while another carried a deeper earthy bitterness she could not identify yet.
Possibilities started forming again before she could stop them.
Kael watched her expression soften into concentration.
Then one corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
“You’re doing it again.”
Nia looked up warily. “Doing what?”
“Planning.”
“I am holding leaves.”
“You look happier holding them than most people look holding jewelry.”
Nia opened her mouth to deny it.
Then paused.
Because honestly… that might have been true.
The realization caught her off guard enough that she laughed softly under her breath.
Kael’s gaze fixed on her at the sound.
Dangerous.
Everything about this man was becoming dangerous in ways she had not expected. Not because he frightened her anymore, but because every small interaction kept making the settlement feel warmer around the edges. Easier. Safer.
And Nia was beginning to realize safety could become just as terrifying as fear once someone started wanting to keep it.