The smell reached the lower halls long before Kael finished the second bowl.
Nia realized that became obvious the moment heavier footsteps started passing outside the cave entrance more frequently than before. Some slowed briefly near the opening before continuing again, and once she distinctly heard quiet voices whispering farther down the stone corridor before someone got shushed immediately afterward.
Kael continued eating like none of it was unusual.
Nia stared at him over the rim of her bowl. “Your tribe is investigating your soup.”
Kael looked entirely calm. “That makes sense.”
“No, it absolutely does not.”
“You changed the smell of the cave.”
“That sounds dramatic.”
Kael glanced toward the entrance. “You can smell it from halfway down the hall.”
Nia narrowed her eyes slightly before taking another sip herself.
The broth really had turned out better than she expected considering the limited ingredients available. The roots carried natural sweetness now instead of tasting dull and earthy, while the herbs kept the rendered fat from becoming too heavy on the tongue. It was still simple compared to what she was used to cooking, but now the flavor actually shifted while eating instead of remaining flat from beginning to end.
And now that she had started experimenting, her thoughts were already moving automatically toward other combinations.
Kael noticed her expression shift. “You’re planning again.”
Nia pointed her spoon toward him. “Stop learning my face.”
“You make the same expression every time you think about changing something.”
“That sounds judgmental.”
“It sounds observant.”
Nia muttered quietly under her breath while taking another sip.
The cave settled into comfortable silence afterward while firelight flickered softly against the stone walls around them. Kael leaned back slightly beside the fire pit with his empty bowl resting loosely in one hand while Nia remained closer to the cooking area, surrounded by herbs, preparation bowls, and the lingering scent of the broth still warming over the fire.
The entire space felt warmer now than it had earlier. Not only because of the cooking fire, but because the cave no longer felt untouched. Herbs rested near the preparation stone. Bowls sat scattered around the fire pit. The richer smell of the broth lingered through the air instead of the usual heavy scent of boiled meat alone.
Two days ago she had been terrified to fall asleep near him.
Now she was reorganizing his kitchen.
The thought hit her hard enough that another wave of laughter nearly escaped before she could stop it.
Kael looked toward her. “What?”
“This situation is ridiculous.”
His expression stayed calm. “You’ll need to narrow that down.”
Nia laughed despite herself. “I’m arguing about soup with a giant tiger man while his entire tribe investigates the smell from the hallway.”
Kael considered that for a moment. “The soup argument seems reasonable.”
“That is still concerning.”
“It tasted good.”
“That is not helping your case.”
Kael’s mouth shifted slightly before his attention drifted toward the cave entrance again.
The footsteps outside had stopped.
Then came a knock against the stone wall.
Not hesitant exactly.
Careful.
Kael looked toward the entrance. “Come in.”
A broad-shouldered beastman stepped partially into the cave afterward, taller than Nia by nearly a foot even in human form. Brown ears flicked once atop messy dark hair before his attention immediately locked onto the broth still hanging over the fire.
Then onto Nia.
Then back toward the broth.
His expression shifted into visible confusion so quickly that Nia almost laughed again.
The poor man looked like his brain had stopped functioning halfway through entering the room.
Kael remained entirely unbothered. “What do you need?”
The beastman blinked once before visibly remembering why he came.
“The hunters brought down two mountain elk,” he said, though his eyes kept drifting back toward the pot. “Your father wanted to know if you were joining the evening division.”
Kael nodded once. “Soon.”
The man hesitated afterward.
Then finally looked directly at the broth again.
“…Chief.”
“Yes?”
“It smells expensive.”
Nia choked on her drink.
Kael looked completely serious. “That’s because the food improved.”
The beastman stared at him.
Then at Nia.
Then at the pot again.
Nia watched the exact moment curiosity overpowered dignity.
“What’s in it?”
“Roots. Herbs. Broth.”
“That smells suspicious.”
Nia had to lower her bowl entirely because she was laughing too hard to safely drink anything now.
Kael’s eyes warmed slightly while watching her.
The beastman looked increasingly distressed by the situation unfolding in front of him. “Why does it smell like that?”
Nia finally managed to recover enough to answer. “Because the ingredients actually taste like themselves now.”
The poor man looked even more confused.
Kael, meanwhile, looked entirely accepting of that explanation now, which somehow made the situation worse instead of better.
The beastman stared openly at the pot for another several seconds before finally asking the question clearly haunting him.
“…Can I try it?”
Kael looked toward Nia instead of answering himself.
The small gesture caught her slightly off guard because technically this had been his food, his kitchen, and his cave, but he still deferred to her automatically regarding the broth itself.
The gesture caught her off guard enough that she looked toward the confused hunter again before answering.
“There’s enough.”
The relief on the man’s face appeared so quickly that Nia nearly started laughing all over again.
Kael reached for another bowl without comment before filling it from the pot and passing it over.
The hunter accepted it carefully.
Then froze once the scent hit him fully up close.
Nia watched the exact same sequence happen again. Confusion shifted into curiosity, then caution, followed immediately by growing suspicion that food was not supposed to smell this interesting.
The man took a careful sip.
Then went completely silent.
Nia leaned slightly forward despite herself.
Kael caught the way she leaned forward from the corner of his eye. “You’re watching him like a hunter.”
“I’m observing results.”
“That sounds predatory.”
“I learned from the best.”
Kael looked mildly pleased with that answer.
The hunter still had not spoken.
Instead, he slowly lowered the bowl before staring down into it with an expression that looked almost personally offended.
Then he looked up at Kael.
“…Why have we been eating the old version?”
Nia lost the fight against laughter entirely.
Kael stayed completely calm beside her while the hunter took another drink from the bowl like he genuinely needed confirmation that the flavor was real.
The reaction blooming across his face afterward looked almost dazed.
Nia suddenly understood that this was probably how the entire tribe was going to react eventually. Not because the food itself was extraordinary, but because nobody here expected food to feel interesting while eating it.
The hunter lowered the bowl again slowly. “Food can taste like this?”
Kael looked toward the remaining broth in the pot before answering with quiet certainty.
“It can now.”
The hunter looked back down into the bowl afterward like he no longer trusted anything he previously understood about food.
Nia watched the realization happening across his face in real time.
Another sip.
Pause.
Then a slower sip.
His expression kept changing slightly afterward in the exact same way Kael’s had earlier, subtle enough that she doubted either of them realized they were doing it.
His attention rested briefly on the hunter before shifting toward Nia again.
She looked pleased.
Not proud in the loud, demanding way some people carried pride, but deeply satisfied in a quieter way that seemed to settle through her entire body whenever the food reacted the way she wanted. He had noticed the same expression while she cooked earlier, especially whenever the scent changed properly or the broth started developing the way she expected.
She liked creating things.
Not for attention.
Not to impress anyone.
Just because the process itself genuinely pleased her.
Kael found that increasingly difficult to stop watching.
The hunter lowered the bowl again slowly. “The flavor changes.”
Nia looked delighted that he noticed. “Yes.”
“It wasn’t the same the second time.”
“The herbs hit differently afterward.”
The hunter stared at the broth again like she had started speaking another language halfway through the explanation.
Kael understood the feeling.
Earlier, while eating, he had kept expecting the flavor to settle into one thing eventually. Instead, every swallow shifted slightly depending on what remained on his tongue from before. The roots softened the broth first while the herbs cut through the heavier richness afterward, and somehow the entire thing stayed balanced instead of becoming muddy.
Before tonight, food had always been simple.
Meat tasted like meat.
Broth tasted like broth.
Roots tasted like roots.
Good food meant fresh food, filling food, hot food after winter hunts.
Now his mind kept returning to the bowl beside the fire because apparently food could do more than that.
The realization bothered him slightly.
Mostly because he already knew he was not going to enjoy the old broth as much anymore.
Nia leaned slightly toward the hunter afterward. “You’re slowing down while eating now too.”
The hunter blinked once before looking down at the bowl again.
“…I am.”
“You keep waiting for the next part of the flavor.”
His expression shifted into visible confusion again. “That’s exactly what it feels like.”
Nia looked entirely too pleased by that answer.
Kael felt his own amusement rise quietly at the sight of her trying unsuccessfully not to look smug.
She failed.
Completely.
The hunter took another drink before looking toward Kael with increasing accusation. “Chief, why did nobody do this sooner?”
Kael’s gaze shifted toward Nia automatically.
Because the answer sat right beside him sorting herbs with broth still warming her hands.
She had walked into his cave injured, exhausted, cautious, and strange in ways he still did not fully understand, and within two days she had somehow managed to make the entire mountain smell different.
The thought should have felt disruptive.
Instead, Kael found himself thinking the cave smelled better this way.
Warmer.
Alive.
Like someone actually lived there instead of merely sleeping inside it between hunts and patrols.
His attention returned to Nia without conscious thought.
She was still talking to the hunter now, explaining why heating roots first changed sweetness while gesturing lightly with the spoon in her hand. Firelight caught against her curls and the soft brown rabbit ears drooping beneath them while she spoke with easy animation that barely existed when she first arrived.
The difference between now and two days ago felt enormous already.
Back then she had watched him like a dangerous animal.
Now she argued with him about soup.
The thought lingered long enough that Kael found himself unwilling to push it away.
The possessive certainty arrived naturally enough that it barely startled him anymore.
Not because he believed she already belonged to him.
She did not.
Not yet.
But his instincts had stopped separating her from his space almost immediately after bringing her into the mountain. Every object carrying her scent now registered automatically in his awareness. The bedding she slept on. The herbs spread near the fire. The bowls resting near her side.
Even the cave itself already felt different because she existed inside it.
The hunter looked toward the pot again with open longing now. “There’s more?”
Nia laughed softly. “You already finished the bowl.”
“That wasn’t enough.”
Kael understood the feeling.
Which was another deeply concerning realization.
Nia pointed toward him. “See? This is exactly why you shouldn’t have let him taste it first.”
“I wasn’t aware broth addiction developed this quickly.”
“It absolutely develops this quickly.”
The hunter looked alarmed. “Addiction?”
Nia waved one hand dismissively. “That was mostly a joke.”
“Mostly?”
Kael watched her fight another smile while the hunter suddenly looked suspicious of the bowl in his hands.
“She’s exaggerating,” Kael said calmly.
Nia looked toward him. “You asked for a second bowl.”
“That was practical.”
“That did not look practical.”
Kael ignored her completely.
The hunter looked between them slowly before his expression shifted into something increasingly horrified.
“…Chief.”
“Yes?”
“You’re flirting.”
Nia nearly inhaled broth into her lungs.
Kael stayed perfectly calm while she coughed violently beside him.
The reaction answered several things for him more clearly than the hunter probably intended.
Nia recovered enough to stare at the hunter in disbelief. “What kind of conclusion was that?”
The hunter looked deeply unconvinced. “I have eyes.”
Kael’s amusement deepened quietly while Nia looked increasingly betrayed by the entire conversation.
“That was not flirting.”
“You were smiling.”
“That is not evidence.”
“You only smile like that at him.”
Nia opened her mouth.
Paused.
Then looked genuinely offended that she apparently could not immediately deny it.
Kael watched the realization happen across her face and had to suppress the urge to smile openly this time.
Very interesting indeed.