by Martha Wells
Moon had put off this decision for so long, out of a combination of inability to choose and nerves, and he was hoping for a little more excitement at finally having made it. The lack of it didn’t make this situation any less exasperating. He said, “We’re going to have five mentors. Maybe six.”
“Good.” Jade sat back on her heels, checking the blanket’s arrangement.
“We’re going to do it right now, out on the deck,” Moon added.
Jade gave in, stood up, and gripped his shoulders. “Moon, I’m just tired. We can talk about it when we get back to the court.”
Moon hated the image of the sullen spoiled consort who fled in dis-array when he didn’t get what he wanted, so he kept his face expressionless and did not shift and break the door into pieces when he walked away.
He stood out on deck, breathing the damp cool wind. Flicker and Deft, on watch atop the steering cabin, regarded him warily. Then he went to look for Saffron. He disliked Saffron as much as she disliked him, but they had been imprisoned by Fell once together and that did create some sort of bond. Sort of.
He found her in the stern, using a bucket of water to scrub dust out of her frills. Some Golden Islanders sat nearby, sewing up rips in the covers used to protect the windows in bad weather, and River was up in the look-out post atop the mast, so Moon kept his voice low. He said, “Jade’s upset. Did she say anything to you?”
“We barely stopped to sleep and hunt.” Saffron glared at him.
Moon stood there, waiting. After a long moment of trying to maintain eye contact, Saffron hissed and said, “She didn’t like dealing with the Kish groundlings.” She flicked her spines. “That was all. Who wouldn’t be upset after all this?”
Moon couldn’t decide if she was telling the truth or being a good warrior and refusing to carry tales about the queen to the consort. He hissed at her and left.
He tried to find Stone then, but Stone was hiding so effectively that he might as well not be on the boat. Chime, Shade, Lithe, Heart, and Merit were all asleep in a pile in one of the other cabins. Moon gave up and went to lean against the deck railing near Bramble.
The breeze held just a hint of rainy season coolness and was like silk against groundling skin. Everyone else was either asleep or up atop the cabins, enjoying the sun.
Jade was obviously unhappy with him, and he was worried that the root of it lay in what was improper consort behavior by any Raksuran standard. Jade had been tolerant of Moon’s behavior, because the court had been lurching from one crisis to another and there wasn’t much room for a consort who couldn’t take care of himself. But before the dreams had started and Callumkal had arrived, things had been quiet. Maybe Jade had gotten used to that quiet and it had eroded her tolerance for a consort who couldn’t stay out of trouble.
And he was very aware that a consort getting into trouble in the Reaches was a very different thing from a consort being captured or killed by official forces of Kish. That if Malachite had wanted to retaliate, everything could have been unimaginably worse.
It was a depressing thought. Queens and consorts who traveled frequently together weren’t exactly unknown, at least in Indigo Cloud’s history. Moon had heard all the stories about Solace and Sable, though their adventures were probably exaggerated. What he and Jade had done hadn’t seemed all that different.
Moon glanced over his shoulder and saw Root coming out of the belowdecks door. Root saw him, twitched, and vanished back inside with guilty speed. Exasperated, Moon turned back to the view of the approaching wetlands. “Bramble, is something wrong?”
“With me, no,” she said, sounding genuinely puzzled. “With everybody else, sometimes I wonder.”
They were two days into the wetlands, the long prelude before the Reaches, when the warriors on watch called a warning. They had seen several figures flying at a distance, either Aeriat or Fell.
Stone climbed up on the steering cabin to shade his eyes and squint in the indicated direction. He jumped down from the cabin to report, “Warriors, coming this way.”
Moon hissed out a breath. A scatter of warriors sounded like a planned patrol, not survivors fleeing another Fell attack.
Jade’s spines twitched. “Can you tell who it is?”
“Not at this distance.” Stone stood, waiting for Jade to make a decision. Their behavior towards each other was absolutely correct, but the obvious disagreement between them, whatever it was, hung in the air like a boulder.
Jade said, stiffly, “Will you go up and signal them?”
Stone nodded and turned for the stern. Jade’s spines tilted in distress for an instant before snapping back to a firm neutral. Moon caught Bramble’s gaze, and Bramble signaled bafflement. Moon had no idea either.
In the past two days, it had become obvious that some Raksura were not speaking to other Raksura but there were too many Raksura on the boat to make the configurations obvious. Stone was avoiding everyone, Chime and Lithe were as baffled as Bramble, and when Moon had tried to ask River, he had hissed, “I’m not involved in this!” and climbed up on top of the mast again. Shade had changed the subject so adroitly Moon couldn’t figure out if he knew anything or not. Any attempt to pin down Merit just resulted in pointed questions about Moon’s injuries and veiled threats to put him into a healing sleep. Delin and all the other Golden Islanders seemed oblivious to whatever had happened, which further confused the issue. To Jade, Moon said, “Scouting for Fell?”
Stone jumped off the stern, shifted, and caught the wind, rising high above the wind-ship.“Maybe,” Jade said, watching Stone.
Moon waited on the deck with Jade, the air cool and as humid as a wet blanket. There were traces of rot in the breeze, but not nearby. As the strange group drew closer, River and Flicker went up in the air to question them. They landed back on the deck and River reported, “They’re from Emerald Twilight and Ocean Winter. They say they have news.”
Jade turned toward Moon. “It’s better they don’t see you.”
Moon stared at her, baffled. “Huh?”
Jade said pointedly, “It’s Emerald Twilight. You know how they are. They might start rumors. Tell Shade, too.”
Moon had to bite his lip to keep from baring his teeth. Emerald Twilight was perfectly capable of starting rumors about him whether they saw him or not. But he made himself turn and go through the doorway. He met Shade coming up the steps, caught his wrist, and tugged him back down. “We have to hide.”
“I thought they were just warriors,” Shade said, confused.
Moon swallowed a hiss. “They are. Stone had sex with a sealing all over this boat but we have to hide because they might start rumors.”
Shade pulled Moon to a halt at the bottom of the stairs by simply stopping. He said, with just a little exasperation, “Moon, you’re a consort, but there are courts that won’t treat you like one unless you act like it. Emerald Twilight is one of them. Believe me, I know.”
Moon managed not to growl. He was right, which didn’t make it any better. “I know.”
So they ended up sitting in the cabin next to the main hold while Jade and the others spoke to the warriors. They kept the door open so they could hear, and Chime, Flicker, and Bramble sat with them. Delin sat in the doorway, trying to be part of both conversations. Moon had difficulty controlling his irritation, but at least it was good to get more recent news of the Reaches.
The two female warriors who led the group were Crocus from Emerald Twilight and Spin from Ocean Winter, and they had been sent to make sure the Fell had left the wetlands. Crocus said, “We’ve been finding half-dead stragglers, and scattered dakti. There was word of an almost intact flight still in the area, but it was gone by the time we got out here.”
Spin added, “We could tell the further the Fell were from the Reaches, the worse they got it, whatever it was. The last day or so, we haven’t seen anything but rotting clumps of bodies.”
As Jade asked for more details about the situation, Moon tried not to think about what it
would have been like to come home and find the Reaches like this. Colonies empty and silent, with nothing but the scent of decaying bodies. The Hians had come so close to succeeding.
Even with the recent news, it was still a relief to see the colony active and well when the wind-ship dropped below the Reaches’ canopy and made its way through the mountain-trees to Indigo Cloud.
Moon stood at the rail with Chime as the wind-ship entered the clearing under the colony tree’s immense canopy. Groups of warriors flew patrol circuits and the Arbora were out on the garden platforms. There were far more Arbora and warriors outside than usual in an afternoon, since Jade had sent River and Deft ahead to tell the court they were here.
Pearl and Malachite must have arrived a few days earlier so everyone had been expecting them. The first to greet them was Celadon, who swooped up and dropped down onto the deck, followed by a happy cluster of Indigo Cloud and Opal Night warriors.
Celadon said, “Balm told us you were captured by groundlings, you idiot,” and pulled Moon into a hug. He must be more upset than he was willing to admit to himself, because he held on to her longer than he had meant to. Finally she squeezed his waist and pushed him back. “You’re all right?” she asked, brows lowered in concern.
“Sure, I’m fine,” Moon told her. He felt it was unconvincing, and Celadon eyed him suspiciously.
Distracted, Chime pointed to the opposite end of the clearing. “Is that what I think it is?”
Celadon turned and her spines flicked. “It’s the half-Fell flight.”
Moon stepped to the rail to look. There had been occasional drafts touched with Fell stench coming from this direction, so the presence of the flight wasn’t a surprise.
A camp had been built on a cleared platform in a smaller mountain-tree at the edge of Indigo Cloud’s canopy. There were tent shelters augmented with saplings and firepits, and it looked exactly like a Raksuran camp, except for the pale groundling forms of the rulers and dakti. Celadon said, “They’re staying here until it’s time to go back to Opal Night. Malachite’s promised them a colony tree in our territory.”
Chime turned to her, brows lifted. “I bet Emerald Twilight and the other courts are thrilled.”
“It was an interesting conversation,” she admitted. “But the mentors said the Fell queen can’t breed like a progenitor, so there was no reason not to have them here. Pearl supported Malachite on it. They make a fairly unstoppable combination.”
As the wind-ship tied off to a branch above one of the bigger platforms, Moon and the others flew to the knothole entrance and went inside.
Filled with warriors and Arbora, the cavern of the greeting hall was loud with happy greetings. The wash of familiar scents, mixed with the sweet clean scent of the mountain-tree, made it unexpectedly hard for Moon to keep his spines neutral.
And it was strange to see the Indigo Cloud mountain-tree so full of Raksura. It wasn’t crowded by any stretch of the imagination, but almost half the balconies in the normally empty levels between the hall and the queens’ level were now obviously tenanted. There was a profusion of new scents, far more sounds of movement and voices, and a lot more clothing and blankets hanging out to dry.
Balm arrived in a flurry of wings and spines, shifting before she reached the ground. She flung herself at Moon and he caught her. “Pearl said you were alive,” she said, and nipped his ear, “I wasn’t surprised, I knew—I knew—”
He nipped her back. Not very coherently, he said, “Me, too.”
She let him go and turned to Jade. Bone grabbed Moon enthusiastically then and he lost Jade and Balm in the crowd. Ember appeared after that, pulling Shade along with him, the warriors nearby stepping aside for them. He looked as beautiful as usual, even when flustered and worried. He said, “Moon, Shade said you were all right, but—You’re really all right?”
“Sure,” Moon said. “How are the kids?”
Shade nudged Ember, an I told you so gesture. Ember watched Moon carefully, but seemed relieved. “They’re all fine.” With more assurance, he added, “And you’ll be very proud of how Frost behaved while you were gone.”
When the storm of greetings had died down, Moon found himself next to Chime again.
Chime stood near where Heart and a large group of Arbora had surrounded Bramble and Merit. He was looking up at the central well, smiling a little. “This must be what it used to look like,” he said. “I never thought we’d see it like this.”
Moon looked up again, watching warriors flit from balcony to balcony. “It’s going to be quiet when they go.”
Jade appeared, skirting the noisy crowd of Arbora. She told Moon, “I’ve got to go meet with Pearl and Malachite.”
Moon pretended to believe that. “If you need me, I’ll be down in the nurseries.”
She hesitated, then said, “I’ll go down there later,” and then leapt up onto the wall of the greeting hall.
Moon had meant to spend some time with his clutch and the Sky Copper fledglings, and talk to the teachers. But after answering a storm of questions from Frost and giving her, Thorn, and Bitter an expurgated account of the journey, and playing with all the babies, he fell so deeply asleep he didn’t wake for anything. Even with Blossom, Bark, and Rill standing over him and talking and occasionally accidentally stepping on him.
He woke the next morning in a pile of babies and fledglings, with Rill handing him clean clothes, pointing him to a bathing pool, and telling him the court was getting ready to do the farewell for Song, as well as Coil and the two Opal Night warriors who had died in the fighting. Moon hadn’t meant to sleep like this. He had meant to talk to Jade, and make sure the Golden Islanders were settled and comfortable, and a lot of other things. He hadn’t even known Coil had been killed.
Part of the reason for the long sleep had to be that he was still recovering from being injured, but most of it was probably just the feeling of being home again, and completely safe. He asked Rill, “Where’s Jade?”
“Up on the queens’ level,” Rill reported, pulling him to his feet. “Balm came down to see where you were, but she said Jade said not to wake you if you were asleep. Now hurry!”
Moon staggered to the bathing pool and got ready.
The court sang for the dead, a blend of Indigo Cloud and Opal Night’s song. Moon had come to understand Indigo Cloud’s song over the turns, but Opal Night’s was still the one that wrung his heart. He fled the greeting hall as soon as it was over.
He went up to the consorts’ level, quiet since Ember and Shade were both still below with the others, and reacquainted himself with his bower. The Arbora had been in to renew the heating stones in the hearth and the snail shells that were spelled for light. Moon would never take this for granted, this room that was his alone, something he had never had until he had come to this tree with the court. But it didn’t feel right, knowing something was still wrong with Jade.
Then the draft of rain-scented outdoor air told him Stone was up here in his favorite spot for brooding, and Moon found him in the room with the outer door. It was open to the green light of the canopy and the breeze and hum of insects, and Stone sat on the floor in front of it. Moon sat across the room, where he could lean back against the wall and still feel the air on his skin. He sat there a while in companionable silence, sorting out and identifying the rich green blend that was the scents of the Reaches. It seemed turns since he and Stone had sat here and argued before leaving for the sel-Selatra.
After a time, Stone tilted his head toward Moon. “You wanted to talk.”
Moon frowned. He hadn’t been trying to wear Stone down with silence. In fact, he hadn’t thought it was possible. But maybe Stone wanted to talk. As an opening gambit, he tried, “I think Jade is mad at me because I got caught by Lavinat.”
Stone grimaced. “No, that’s not it.”
Moon considered that for a moment. At least Stone was willing to admit there was an “it” and it wasn’t just Moon’s imagination. “Is she mad at you?”
/> “She was. I don’t know now.”
“Are you mad at her?”
Stone moved uneasily. “I was. Not now.”
“Why?”
Stone turned enough to regard him with his good eye. “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated how? You’ve were traveling across Kish and staying in a groundling city together for how many days, and you couldn’t figure it out?”
Stone sighed and looked away. “By the time I was ready to talk to her about it, we were a little busy dealing with you and your new Kishan groundling friend.”
“So what changed . . .” Well, one big thing had changed. “You found me. You were mad at each other because I got caught by Lavinat? Why?”
Stone pushed to his feet abruptly. “She needs to tell you herself.” On the way out, he gave Moon a shove to the head, part annoyance and part apology.
Moon felt he needed more information. Shade had been unresponsive before but maybe it was worth another try. He found Shade on the largest garden platform, swimming in one of the ponds with a mixed group of Opal Night and Indigo Cloud warriors and Arbora. The pond was in the center of a grove of fruit trees with long twisting branches and brushy canopies. Tending and pruning had made them much taller than they had been when the court had first arrived.
The Indigo Cloud warriors and Arbora seemed comfortable around Shade, even when he was in his shifted form. It probably helped that the Opal Night Arbora were happily splashing and playing with him, and that he and Flicker kept getting into mock wrestling matches, which Shade pretended to lose. Moon crouched at the edge of the pond and managed to deflect attempts to get him to join in. When Shade surfaced in a spray of water and shaking spines, Moon got him to climb out and retreat past the grove and out of earshot.
Shade plopped down on a ground fruit mound, still shaking his spines. “What’s wrong?”
Moon perched on a trough of melon vines so they could be at eye level. “Do you know what’s wrong with Stone and Jade?”
Shade squinted up at the heavy branch arching overhead. He admitted reluctantly, “Probably, but I can’t tell you.”
