by Martha Wells
“I know you didn’t believe me.” Stone lifted Bitter out of his lap and told Moon, “They wanted to be with you, but we were afraid they would keep you awake or jostle you. The teachers have been taking care of them with the other clutches.”
Bitter crawled onto the pallet next to Moon and curled up against him. Moon automatically folded his good arm around him. He noticed someone had taken his admittedly filthy clothes away and replaced them with a soft, heavy robe, and the strap around his broken arm had been changed. He hadn’t had anyone take care of him since Sorrow had died, and it felt... odd. He wasn’t used to depending on anybody else, for anything.
“Bitter says we’re your clutch now,” Thorn said to Moon. “Even if you don’t have a queen.” Against Moon’s side, Bitter nodded confirmation.
Still half-asleep, Moon blinked at that one. He wasn’t sure the court was going to go for that idea. “Uh...”
“You found us,” Frost said, as if that settled the argument.
Moon decided to leave it be for now. He asked Stone, “Did they see what happened at their colony?”
“Yes.” Stone ruffled Thorn’s hair. “Bell said they come out with it at odd moments.” He added, “And we’re not calling that boy ‘Bitter.’”
“It’s his name,” Moon said, feeling on safer ground with this one. He told Bitter, “Your name is whatever you want it to be.”
Frost said, “His real name is Bitter Starshell. It’s a flower that only comes out at night.”
“We can call him Star,” Stone said, as if that settled it.
“I’m not going to argue with you.” Moon tried to make it a threat. There were more things he wanted to ask, but maybe not in front of the fledglings. Besides, it was still an effort to stay awake.
Stone took them away when Moon started to drift again. Moon spent most of the next two days unconscious, lulled by the gentle movement of the flying boat. Flower said it was the remnants of the healing sleep, but Moon couldn’t stay awake long enough to get more information. Every time he asked someone a question, he fell asleep before he could hear the answer.
But then he woke one night, to cool, damp air that smelled of fresh water and green plants, and he felt more awake than he had since Ranea tried to snap his wing off. It didn’t hurt to breathe, and his bones felt less mobile, more attached to each other; that had to be an improvement.
The glowing moss stuffed into the ship’s candle holder showed him a pile of cushions and blankets on the other side of the room, with at least three sleeping people. Squinting, he made out Flower, Chime, and Heart.
The opportunity for escape was too tempting to pass up. Moon disentangled his robe from the blankets, rolled onto his good arm, and levered himself up. Standing, with one hand on the wall to steady himself, he still felt delicate, and his joints ached.
He made it across the floor without waking anyone, and out the open door. A narrow hall led into the small maze below decks. Other doors opened off of it, and he could hear a lot of people breathing deeply in sleep, and further away, low voices. Above his head, the hatch to the deck was open, giving a view of a star-filled night sky and letting in the cool air. The stairway was steep but narrow enough to let him brace himself against the wall as he climbed. He made it up onto the deck with only a minimum of awkward, painful bumping.
The ship sailed serenely through the night, the nearly-full moon high in the sky. The fan-sail was closed, and the breeze was light, heavily laden with the scent of fresh water. There were sleeping bodies on deck, too, most in groundling form, all wrapped in blankets. Baskets and bundles were tied off to every available spot. Far up in the bow, under the lamp, an Arbora was on watch. Looking up at the watch post at the top of the mast, Moon could see a couple of Aeriat stationed there too. The other ship was a little ahead of them, just off their port bow. Moon picked his way to the starboard rail, and leaned on it to look down.
They were passing over a vast lake, perhaps fifty paces above it, the water gleaming silver in the moonlight. Trees with delicate, feathery leaves grew up out of the lake, some nearly tall enough to brush the bottom of the hull. The water was clear enough to see brightly-colored fish flickering through it.
Moon lifted his head, the breeze tugging at his hair and his robe. He could see the distant shore, heavily forested, featureless in the dark, except for the occasional spreading shade tree taller than the rest.
He heard a quiet step behind him and glanced back. It was Niran, making his way across the deck. He leaned against the rail next to Moon. Keeping his voice low, he said, “You are feeling better, then? They said you were gravely injured.”
“I was. We heal fast.” Moon looked out over the lake again. He had heard enough from the others to know they had some specific destination in mind, that they were headed to an old colony somewhere that Stone knew of. “Where are we?”
The question sounded a little desperate to his ears, but Niran didn’t seem to notice. “We’re going southwest. That’s all I can say.” He shook his head. “My family has never come this far inland before, and our maps are blank, except for my track of our progress.”
Moon tried to remember what Stone had said. Eleven days of fast flight, just to get out of the river valleys? “So we don’t know if there are cities out here.”
Niran shrugged. “Presumably there are. Somewhere.”
Moon sank against the railing, wincing as his arm and shoulder throbbed. He had no idea what his status with the court was, if they were angry because he had brought the Fell down on them, or willing to forgive him because he had found Frost and her brothers, or what Pearl’s attitude would be. He vaguely remembered asking Pearl to kill him, and her declining, but he wasn’t sure if anything had changed. He was fairly certain Jade didn’t want him dead, but there was a big difference between that and wanting him as her consort.
Niran cleared his throat. “Once we reach our destination, Stone has said that a winged group will accompany me back, so I may return with both ships at once.” He paused, watching Moon thoughtfully. “My family owes you a debt, and I know my grandfather would be pleased to see you again.”
“You don’t owe me a debt.” But having the option to return to the Golden Isles, and the extra time to recover, was a relief. A big relief. “But thank you. I’ll... keep it in mind.”
Niran went back to his post. Moon stayed by the railing, watching the reflections off the water, and listening to everyone sleep.
After a time, Chime wandered up out of the hatch, scratching his head. He spotted Moon at the railing and came over, saying with exasperated concern, “You’re not supposed to be up. If you get sick—”
Moon had remembered one of the questions he needed an answer to. “Do you know how Petal died?”
“Oh.”Chime hesitated. He stepped to the railing. “Yes, Bell told me.”He fidgeted uncertainly. “Do you want to go back down?”
“No, we’ll wake Flower and Heart. I want to stay up here.”
They sat down on baskets against the outside wall of the steering cabin because no one was sleeping there.
Chime told him that forty-seven Raksura had died in the attack on the colony, mostly soldiers, several Aeriat, and one teacher, Petal. Chime said miserably,“Bell said they were in the nurseries when the dakti broke in, and she just flung herself at them. She thought they were going to kill the clutches, and she was trying to give the other teachers a chance to carry them away. They did get some out of the nurseries, but the kethel had blocked the way outside, and they couldn’t shift, so they were trapped.”
Moon leaned against the cabin wall, not sure whether he was more sad or angry. Petal hadn’t had any reason to think that the dakti wouldn’t kill the clutches. And if she had known what plans the Fell had had for them, she might not have acted any differently.
“Do we know why the Fell left the bodies? Why they didn’t eat them?”
Chime looked troubled at the memory. “Not for certain, but Knell said the mentor-dakti was ang
ry that so many of the court were killed. Maybe it was punishing the dakti by not letting them touch the bodies.”
Ranea had said Erasus wanted to go to the colony even though it wasn’t safe. “Maybe he watched you all so long he thought he was part of you.”
“Ugh,” Chime said, succinctly.
Moon wasn’t happy with that thought either. He changed the subject. “What about Balm?”
Chime shook his head. “She’s been staying on the other ship. She thinks this is all her fault.”
That was ridiculous. “It’s not her fault. She’s not responsible for what the Fell did to her.”
“Yes, and...” Chime prompted.
Moon frowned at him. “What?”
“Neither are you. I know you feel that way. You keep telling everyone that the Fell came for you. You could barely talk, and you told us that.”
Moon looked out over the railing, at the slowly approaching shore. Glowing night bugs played around the tops of the water-trees, sparking in the dark. He had told them because he wanted them to know, because he didn’t want their sympathy when they should be condemning him. “Chime...”
Exasperated, Chime said, “So it’s your fault for being born a consort and being alone, and making a good target. It’s Balm’s fault for getting caught by the Fell, and Pearl’s fault for trying to fend them off on her own, and Flower and the other mentors’ fault for not finding out what was wrong with the colony, and Stone’s fault for not coming back sooner to make us move, and Jade’s fault for being too young to force Pearl to act. I can go on. Sky Copper’s fault for being taken by surprise, and destroyed, and not being there to help us when we needed it.”
Moon twitched uneasily, wincing when the motion pulled at his abused muscles. “All right, I see what you mean,” he admitted, still begrudging it.
Chime sighed. “There’s some that won’t see it that way. But I don’t think you should be one of them.”
A low warm voice said, “Neither do I.”
Moon tilted his head back, gingerly, to look up. Jade was perched on the edge of the cabin roof, looking down at them, blue and silver in the moonlight.
He was going to answer, and then he sneezed, and the jolt shot right through him. He would have fallen off the basket, but Chime lunged forward and caught him around the waist. “See, this is why we didn’t want you out here. We’re susceptible to lung-ailments.”
Jade hopped down from the cabin roof and scooped Moon up in her arms. “I can walk,” he protested, trying to make it a growl. Admittedly, it was a pitiful growl.
“I know. But you don’t have to,” Jade said, and carried him back down below deck.
Moon got a little more sleep that night, and did not catch a lung ailment and die immediately, despite Chime and Heart’s dire predictions. But the morning seemed to stretch on forever. The good thing about being semi-conscious was that it had kept him from being bored. Now that he was alert again, there was nothing to do but sit around and wait to get well enough to shift.
In the afternoon, Stone brought Frost, Thorn, and Bitter again, which was a welcome diversion. Bitter and Thorn play-stalked each other, growling in a way that made them sound like furious bees, while Frost sat aloof and Stone said things like, “Do not flap your wings in here. You’ll kill somebody.”
People had been moving around up on deck all day, and Moon had mostly ignored it. From what he could glimpse, it was a bright clear day and everyone would be out enjoying it. Then he felt the boat slow, the wood creaking and groaning in protest. Moon shoved himself up on his good arm. “What’s that?”
The fledglings must have heard the tension in his voice. They all froze, heads cocked to listen, but Stone looked unconcerned. “They’re slowing down and pulling over to the other boat, so the whole court can have a meeting.”
Reassured by Stone’s attitude, Frost settled her spines. The consorts went back to their game, Thorn rolling onto his back so Bitter could pounce on him. Moon frowned at the ceiling. He was missing everything down here. “A meeting about what?”
Stone tugged on Frost’s frills. Apparently feeling that her dignity was being abused, she ducked away and batted at his hand. Stone said, “About you, Moon.”
“About—oh.” Moon sank back into the cushions. He must have looked just as uneasy as he felt, because Frost came over and sat on the pallet next to him. Moon asked, “Why aren’t you up there?”
“Everybody already knows what I think,” Stone said. If Moon was supposed to know what that was, he had no idea. Stone wore his best unreadable expression. “Besides, Jade and Pearl are going to fight, and I don’t want them to postpone it on my account.”
“A fight?” Moon stared at him, incredulous and beginning to get mad. “And you’re not going to do anything about it?”
Stone snorted. “Moon, queens fight. It’s normal. And these two have a lot of disagreements to work out.” He shrugged. “It’ll be fine. The Arbora wouldn’t like it if they went too far, and they both know it.”
Moon looked at the ceiling again. He couldn’t hear anything but movement, and muffled voices. “It matters that much to them what the Arbora think?”
Stone leaned over to help Bitter pry his trapped claws out of a floorboard.
“I told you, the Arbora run the court. They find food, raise the clutches, help fight, make everything we need. They don’t like it if queens fight too much, or if consorts are unhappy.”
Moon’s shoulder was throbbing again and he made himself relax, leaning back on the cushions. “So if the Arbora wanted me to stay, Pearl couldn’t force me out?”
Stone sighed in exasperation. “Moon, Pearl wants you as her consort. That’s what they’re going to fight about.”
It was either a joke, or Stone actually was crazy. “Pearl hates me. A lot.”
“She hates you as a potential consort for Jade. As her consort, it would be different,” Stone explained, not patiently. “Whatever happens, you’ll be first consort, the consort that speaks for the others. First consorts don’t have to be mated to the reigning queen. It’s just the way it usually works out.” He shook his head, and admitted, “I didn’t expect Pearl to want you. But after all these turns of not taking much interest in anything, including running the court, she’s woken up and decided to be the reigning queen again. I guess she woke up and decided she wanted a consort, too. Jade is taking exception to that.”
Moon still had trouble imagining it. But after the attack on the colony, Flower had said something about Pearl wanting him. At best, he had thought Flower was badly misreading the situation. So maybe it was me badly misreading the situation. That was nothing new, and it put several things in a different light. It explained River’s increasing hostility. And Pearl telling Moon that Jade had lied about getting a clutch. She was angry, because you told her you slept with Jade. He had known Pearl was trying to divide them; he had just been wrong about why. Idiot.
Frost glared at Moon. “You need a queen. Otherwise you’ll just cause trouble.”
Stone said, “Trust me, this is a good thing. For a long time, Indigo Cloud didn’t have a real queen. Now we’ve got Pearl back, and Jade’s taking her rightful place as sister queen and heir.”
Noise rose and fell up on deck. Whatever was going on, everybody seemed to have an opinion about it. Disgruntled, Moon said, “What about what I want?”
“Eventually it’ll occur to them to check on that,” Stone said, with irony. “It’s not really about you. Like I said, they have a lot between them to work out.”
Time dragged, and Moon fidgeted and tried to watch the fledglings play and ignore the urge to question Stone. Finally, Jade came down the stairs and into the cabin. Her spines were ruffled but she didn’t look hurt.
“All settled?” Stone asked her.
“Yes.” Jade gave him a dark look. Apparently Moon wasn’t the only one half-convinced that this was somehow all Stone’s fault.
Then Frost stuck her claws in Moon’s sleeve and hissed at Jade
. “Mine.”
Jade crouched down to get eye level with her. After about three heartbeats, Frost let go of Moon and shifted to Arbora, then retreated to climb into Stone’s lap. From that safe vantage point, she hissed at Jade again. Stone patted her reassuringly, saying, “I think this one’s going to be a handful.”
“Yes, that’s all I need.” Jade sat beside Moon, her thigh warm against his side.
Torn between relief and annoyance, Moon said, “I’m not going to ask if you won. Apparently it’s none of my business.”
“You can tell he’s feeling better because he’s getting all mouthy again,” Stone told Jade.
Jade cocked her head at him. “Line-grandfather, could you take the clutch back to the teachers?”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Stone agreed. He gathered up Frost and Thorn, while Bitter climbed up to cling to his shoulder.
“You need to find queens for Thorn and Bitter, and a consort for me,” Frost ordered.
“We’ll worry about that a little later,” Stone told her as he carried them out of the cabin.
Jade settled in comfortably next to Moon. She said, “There was talk of renaming the court, since so much has changed. Some of the hunters suggested Jade Moon, and I could see Pearl didn’t like that. I, thinking I was being diplomatic, suggested Pearl Rain.” Moon remembered that Rain had been Pearl’s consort, who had died turns ago. He hadn’t realized the courts were named after pairs of queens and consorts, but it made sense. Jade finished, “Then Pearl suggested Pearl Moon.” Her spines twitched at the memory.
He wasn’t going to ask if the others were going to accept him; as Chime had said, some would and some wouldn’t, and that was on Moon’s head, not Jade’s.
“What was the final decision?” he asked.
“We decided to keep Indigo Cloud.” She looked down at him, her eyes warm and serious all at once. “I can offer you the protection of a court, and hopefully a comfortable home, once we get where we’re going.”
