Chapter 249 — Water Warmed by the Mountain

Nia heard Ren ask Kael whether he had been keeping a particularly good bathing place to himself.

She looked up from the table, where she was arranging the last of their midday food. Kael had just returned from the upper paths, and Ren stood near the entrance with the expression he usually wore when he'd discovered something interesting.

“The water is too hot in the upper basin,” Kael said.

“I'm asking about the lower ones.”

“You didn't ask about those.”

“Then I'm asking now.”

Nia put down the serving spoon. “What lower basins?”

Ren turned toward her. “There are pools on the western stone shelf. Apparently, the mountain warms the water before it runs down into the stream.”

“Are you talking about hot springs?”

“Something like that,” Kael answered. “The water comes through heated stone higher up. It cools as it moves down the channels.”

Nia knew the mountain had places where warmth traveled through the rock. Hearthfang's bathing arrangements made use of that water, and she'd seen steam rising along some of the upper paths. She hadn't realized there were natural pools close enough for an afternoon visit.

“Can people actually get into them?”

“The lower basins are comfortable. There's a broader one with room for several people.”

“Then why haven't we gone?”

Kael considered the question. “You haven't asked.”

“I didn't know they existed!”

Ren laughed, evidently pleased that she shared his interest.

Nia approached Kael and caught his hand. “Can we go this afternoon? We don't have anything planned after the meal.”

“I can finish my work before we leave. The walking path is still usable, although the last section is stone.”

“That sounds fine to me.”

Shen emerged from the kitchen carrying a covered bowl. He glanced toward Ren, who was still looking pleased with himself.

“The western basins?” Shen asked.

“Yes,” Nia answered. “Kael says we can go after we eat.”

“I haven't been there since last year.” Shen set the bowl on the table. “The water is pleasant when there's still a little coolness in the air.”

“Then you're coming too.”

“I intended to.”

Ren pulled out a seat. “I remember finding a warm resting place with Shen on one of our earlier journeys. He stayed there so long that I nearly had to persuade him to leave.”

“I was waiting for my hair to dry,” Shen said.

“You could have tied it back.”

“It was wet through. Tying it back wouldn't have dried it.”

Nia laughed as she took her place at the table. “If there's enough sun, you can both take as long as you want today.”

Kael sat beside her, and they began eating.

They left later in the afternoon with a small basket of grain cakes, dried meat, fruit, and drinking water. Shen had chosen food that would keep during the outing, and Nia tucked a folded cloth beneath the provisions so they would have somewhere dry to sit afterward. She carried her bathing wrap and a change of clothing in a separate bundle.

Ren offered to carry the food basket, but Nia held on to it.

“You carried goods all over the eastern roads. I can manage a basket for one afternoon.”

“I wasn't going to argue.”

“You were reaching for it.”

“I was offering.”

She smiled and let him take the clothing bundle instead.

The lower passages were busy with people enjoying the warmer weather. A woman was speaking to two children who had gathered an impressive quantity of long grass, while several workers farther down the path were replacing gravel washed away during the spring runoff. One of the children stopped to investigate a beetle crossing the stone, leaving the other struggling to hold both bundles until the woman called them back together.

Nia watched the child hurry to retrieve the fallen grass before continuing beside Kael.

They followed him past the last houses and onto the western stone shelf. The route narrowed gradually, with low spring plants growing along the edges and several familiar resting places overlooking the lower paths.

Water became audible before Nia could see it.

At first she heard only a thin, steady trickle. Then the sound grew fuller, joining the faint hiss of steam escaping from cracks farther up the mountain. The air carried the clean smell of wet stone and new leaves.

Kael led them around a rounded rise.

Nia stopped.

Several pools lay across the broad shelf, their edges formed by natural hollows in the rock. Water ran between them through narrow channels, spilling from the upper basins into larger ones below. Thin strands of steam drifted above the highest hollow, while sunlight touched the surface of a broader pool farther down.

Beyond the stone shelf, the mountain fell away toward a green slope.

“Oh, this is beautiful.”

She walked closer to the lower basin, keeping to the dry stone while she examined the water. It was clear enough to reveal the rounded bottom and the darker channels through which the warmer flow entered.

Ren crouched near the highest pool.

Kael called to him before he touched the surface. “That's the one I warned you about.”

“I remember.”

Ren tested a little water at the edge and withdrew his fingers. “And now I know why you warned me.”

He rose and followed Shen toward the larger basin.

Nia found a shallow section where she could sit comfortably without lowering her shoulders too far into the water. The stone under her feet was smooth, though there were rougher patches near the channel openings. She set the food basket and clothing bundle beneath a shaded overhang away from the warm rock, then changed into her bathing wrap behind a natural rise.

When she returned, Kael was already in the lower basin, resting with his back against a broad stone ledge.

Nia stepped into the water beside him.

The warmth spread slowly around her ankles and calves. It was hot enough to make her pause, but not uncomfortable, and the deeper water settled around her with a pleasant weight.

“Oh, that's good.”

She lowered herself onto the submerged ledge and stretched her legs, feeling the gentle current move across her skin.

Shen entered from the other side. His long white hair was gathered over one shoulder, and his tail slipped into the deeper part of the pool as he settled near the warm inflow. He seemed content almost immediately.

Ren chose a sunlit corner and leaned back against the stone, his dark-red hair tied away from his face. Kael shifted to give him more room, then stretched his own legs along the bottom.

For several minutes, nobody said much.

Nia listened to water running over the higher rock. Whenever the breeze reached them, it cooled her damp shoulders while the lower half of her body remained comfortably warm.

She moved one foot through the water, following a cooler current that crossed the edge of the basin.

“There's a cold stream coming through here.”

“From the side channel,” Kael said. “It mixes with the heated water before spilling down the slope.”

“I like it. If I get too warm, I can stretch my feet into it.”

She shifted closer to that side of the ledge and rested her arms against the stone. Ren had closed his eyes, while Shen was watching a thin line of steam drift across the upper pools.

“You really do like warm water,” Nia told Shen.

“Very much.”

“Ren said you stayed behind at a resting place once because your hair was wet.”

“That wasn't the only reason.”

Ren opened one eye. “There was a woman selling preserved fruit nearby. Shen decided he needed to taste nearly everything she had.”

“She offered samples,” Shen replied. “It would have been rude to refuse.”

Ren smiled at the memory. “She watched everyone while they ate. I think she enjoyed seeing which travelers could manage the sour pieces.”

Nia turned toward him. “Did she make them especially sour?”

“Some batches were sharper than others. She knew exactly which ones would make someone's face change.”

“She also knew her ingredients,” Shen said. “She'd adjusted the drying time depending on the fruit. The softer pieces kept more of their sweetness.”

“Did you buy some?”

“A small packet. Ren found out where she obtained the fruit, although he spent considerably longer speaking with her than I spent choosing.”

“She'd traveled from a settlement farther north,” Ren said. “I was interested in the route. She had three daughters who helped prepare everything, and one of them wanted to begin taking goods to the next meeting ground herself.”

“Did she?”

“I don't know. We didn't travel that way again before the season changed.”

Nia smiled at the thought of the family preparing their fruit together and selling it to travelers who were trying not to make faces.

“I think I'd like to meet her.”

“If she's still traveling the same route, perhaps we will,” Ren said. “Though you'd probably enjoy talking with her daughters just as much.”

“Probably.”

The conversation moved on when Kael mentioned that people had been visiting these western basins since he was young.

Before he became chief, patrol groups sometimes stopped here after returning from the upper routes, particularly when the spring winds were still cold.

“Did you come with them?” Nia asked.

“When I had the time. There used to be an older male who brought his meal and stayed until he'd finished every piece. He ate slowly enough that some of the others would leave before he was ready.”

“That sounds rather pleasant.”

“It was, unless you were waiting for him.”

Kael pointed toward a broad shelf beyond the pool.

“He preferred sitting over there. The stone held the sun's warmth, and he could watch the water without getting his food wet.”

Nia followed his gesture. The shelf was dry now, with a narrow patch of spring growth along one edge.

“Was he a patrol leader?”

“For a time. Later, he helped younger males learn the western paths. He knew where the ground softened after heavy rain and which crossings were still usable when the streams rose.”

Ren looked toward the shelf. “Was he the one who used to bring a little carved bowl for his meals?”

Kael glanced at him. “You knew him?”

“I met him several times when I came through Hearthfang. He asked about the roads whenever I arrived from the west.”

“He asked everyone about the roads.”

Ren smiled. “He told me I walked too quickly to notice anything useful.”

“That sounds like him.”

“He was wrong about that,” Ren said. “But I did enjoy speaking with him.”

Kael settled more comfortably against the ledge. “He would have enjoyed arguing with you.”

Nia watched the two men exchange a few more memories of the older male. Kael remembered his habits from patrol work, while Ren knew him through visits to the trade shelter. She liked discovering that they had known the same person in different ways.

As the conversation faded, she began exploring the currents with her feet again. The water was warmer near Shen and cooler beside the overflow, with several comfortable places between them.

She moved along the submerged ledge until she found a shallow rise that made an excellent seat.

“Ren, try this place.”

He looked over. “What's different about it?”

“You get the warm current against your back, but the cooler water reaches your legs.”

“That sounds better than where I'm sitting.”

He crossed the short distance and settled beside her. The water curled gently around his waist, and his fox tail drifted toward the surface behind him.

“Oh, you're right.”

Nia watched the dark-red fur fan out in the current.

“Does your tail always float like that?”

“Only when it gets wet enough.” He moved it experimentally and watched the fur spread farther. “It takes considerably longer to dry than the rest of me.”

“It looks soft.”

“It is.”

“Can I touch it?”

Ren moved his tail toward her. Nia ran her fingers gently along the floating fur, amused by the way the water supported the thicker section while the tip sank and rose again with the current.

She released it and watched the fur spread out once more.

Then she cupped a little water and sent it toward Ren's shoulder.

He blinked at her.

Nia smiled as innocently as she could manage.

“What was that for?”

“I wanted to see whether you'd notice.”

“I noticed.”

He laughed and returned a small splash before she could move away.

Nia shrieked with surprise, then splashed him again. Ren caught most of it against his arm, but enough reached his face to make him shake water from his hair.

Kael watched them for a moment before a wave from Ren's movement crossed his chest. He glanced toward Nia, who was laughing too hard to pretend innocence, then gathered water in one broad hand and sent it toward her.

Nia ducked, but the splash struck her shoulder and scattered cool droplets across the back of her neck.

“Kael!”

“You were close enough.”

Ren laughed, and Kael turned enough to splash him as well.

The next few moments were thoroughly undignified.

Nia tried to send a handful of water toward Kael, only to have it fall short. Ren showed her how to sweep her hand close to the surface, which produced a much better wave. She used it on him immediately, making him laugh as he raised both arms to shield his face.

Shen had remained comfortably settled near the inflow, his long hair gathered safely out of the water. He watched until a stray splash reached his shoulder.

Nia turned toward him.

“You're not going to join us?”

“I was enjoying the warmth.”

“You can do both.”

Shen regarded her for a moment before moving his tail through the deeper water. A broad, gentle swell traveled across the pool and reached Nia just as she was preparing another splash.

She caught the edge of the ledge, laughing as the water washed around her.

“Oh, that's unfair!”

“You invited me.”

Ren tried to imitate the movement with his own tail, but he produced only a smaller ripple that barely reached Kael. Kael joined in again, sweeping water toward the center of the pool. Nia sent a splash back at him, and for a while all four of them played without keeping track of who had started what.

It ended when Nia had laughed so much that her sides began to ache.

She rested both arms on the ledge and lowered her head between them.

“I need a moment.”

Ren moved closer and offered her his hand, which she accepted while she caught her breath.

“You were doing quite well,” he said.

“Until Shen decided to move half the pool.”

Shen smiled. “It wasn't half.”

“It felt like half.”

Kael was still chuckling as he settled against the stone again. His dark hair had become damp around his face, and water clung to his shoulders.

Nia leaned against him for a moment, enjoying the sound of the men speaking quietly behind her. She hadn't expected an afternoon at the basins to involve so much laughing.

The next breeze made her shiver, and she slid back into the warmer water.

“I'm not getting out yet,” she announced. “I've only just found the best place.”

Ren returned to the neighboring ledge while Shen let the current move gently around his tail.

Kael reached beneath the surface, found Nia's hand, and held it loosely.

They stayed in the water as the afternoon passed.

The sun moved slowly along the western slope, leaving the upper basins bright while the larger pool fell partly into shade. Small birds called from the nearby growth, and the warm channels continued spilling over the stone.

Nia discovered that she could sit with her shoulders in the cooler air while keeping the rest of herself submerged in the heated water. She liked the contrast enough to remain there until her stomach began making itself known.

“I think I'm ready for food.”

Ren glanced toward the basket. “So am I.”

Shen shifted his tail toward the shallow edge and rose, gathering his wet hair over one shoulder as he climbed onto the dry rock. Nia followed him out, and Kael brought the basket from its shaded place beneath the overhang.

They dried themselves and changed into their clothing before spreading the clean cloth across a broad section of stone away from the water's edge. Ren settled on a nearby rock where the sunlight could reach his damp tail.

Nia took the grain cakes from the basket while Shen uncovered the dried meat and fruit. They shared everything between them, eating without much urgency.

The warm water had left Nia pleasantly hungry. She ate a grain cake with several pieces of meat, then reached for a slice of fruit. The tart sweetness was especially refreshing after the heavier food.

Shen preferred the sweeter pieces, and Ren passed him the last one from the small packet without being asked.

“Did you save that deliberately?” Shen asked.

“I saw you looking for another.”

“Thank you.”

Ren returned to his own meal, and Nia smiled as she ate.

Kael sat beside her with his legs stretched toward the sun. He finished his meat, then reached for another grain cake while Ren examined the narrow channels running down from the upper pools.

“I didn't realize how much the water changed between one basin and another,” Ren said. “The upper one was almost too hot to touch, but this lower pool is comfortable.”

“The cooler channels make the difference,” Kael answered. “The amount of water passing through them changes with the season.”

Nia looked toward the higher rock. “Does it ever get too cool to use?”

“Not often. The lower basin is less pleasant after heavy rain, but the warmer side usually remains comfortable.”

Shen finished his fruit and took a drink of water.

“I prefer it when the air is still cool. In summer, the water can feel too warm after a while.”

“Then we came at a good time,” Nia said.

Ren leaned back on his hands. “We did.”

When they finished eating, Ren carried the scraps and empty wrappings to the basket while Shen secured the remaining fruit. Kael shook loose crumbs from the cloth before spreading it again over the stone, and Nia immediately claimed the broadest section.

“Come sit before I get too comfortable,” she told Ren.

He joined her, settling with his back against a rounded rise. Kael sat on her other side, and Shen stretched out nearby with his long hair arranged where the sun could reach it.

Nia lay back, feeling the warmth of the stone beneath the cloth.

A small bird hopped across the upper shelf before disappearing into the spring growth. She watched the place where it had vanished, then closed her eyes as another breeze moved across the rocks.

Someone shifted beside her. Ren had stretched his legs farther into the sunlight, and Kael moved the edge of the cloth so it wouldn't bunch beneath him.

Shen was quiet. When Nia turned her head, she found him lying with his eyes closed, one hand resting comfortably against his stomach while the ends of his white hair dried across the cloth.

“You're going to fall asleep,” she murmured.

“Possibly.”

“Do you want us to be quiet?”

“No. I like hearing you.”

Nia smiled and settled back.

For a while, Ren and Kael discussed the western paths they'd both traveled. Ren knew the settlements and small meeting grounds, while Kael remembered the slopes and crossings within Hearthfang's territory. Neither appeared particularly interested in reaching a conclusion about anything.

Nia listened when something caught her attention and let the rest pass around her.

Eventually, she raised her head to look toward the far side of the shelf.

“Next time, I want to sit over there before we get into the water.”

Ren followed her gaze. “Where the sun reaches the lower stone?”

“Yes. It's been warm all afternoon, but the shade is moving across it now. I think it would be lovely to rest there first.”

Kael examined the section she'd chosen. “That part stays dry unless the water rises.”

“Then we can bring the food straight over there and leave it while we bathe.”

Shen opened his eyes. “I'd like something sweet next time.”

“You had the sweet fruit today.”

“I know. I'd like more.”

Nia laughed softly. “I'll remember.”

Ren looked toward the remaining packet. “The tart pieces were good too. We should bring enough of both.”

“Then you'll have to help choose them,” Nia said.

“I'd enjoy that.”

She lay back again, content with the idea of returning without needing to decide exactly when.

The warmth beneath the cloth was beginning to fade at the edges, but the broad stone still held enough heat for them to sit comfortably. Shen lifted a section of his hair and spread it farther into the sunlight. Ren moved his legs to give him room, then leaned back beside Nia.

Kael was watching the water as it passed over the lip of the lower basin. Nia followed his gaze, noticing how the surface brightened whenever the afternoon light caught the moving current.

After a while, Ren asked Kael about the narrow opening above the pools. Kael pointed out where the water disappeared into the rock before emerging farther down, and Ren leaned forward to examine the place he'd indicated.

Nia listened to them for a little while before turning onto her side.

She could hear Shen moving his hair behind her, the quiet exchange between Kael and Ren, and the continuous rush of warm water over stone.

A narrow patch of sunlight reached the cloth near her feet. Nia stretched her legs into it and settled more comfortably while the conversation continued beside her.