With a few unlucky Ocean Winter warriors posted as sentries, everyone else settled in around the hearth, queens in the front, then Moon and Stone and the mentors, with Arbora and warriors gathered around them. Between the rain and the fresh air on the way here, Chime had revived somewhat, and now sat between Moon and Balm, huddled down and trying to be unobtrusive. Everyone except the two queens had shifted to groundling, another gesture to show that this was a friendly gathering.
Moon was caught between trying to be unobtrusive too and trying to look as much like a real consort as possible. With Flame and her warriors here, he had been extremely conscious that he was again doing something that consorts weren’t supposed to do. He had had Pearl’s permission, but she wasn’t here to take the blame. Fortunately Flame seemed to be too polite to refer to Moon’s part in the whole expedition, whatever she thought it was. The Ocean Winter warriors were staring at him like he had three heads, but that was nothing new.
Once tea had been handed around, Jade said to Flame, “Thank you for sending Violet. I understand if not for her, my warriors and I would still be trapped.”
Flame nodded, with the air of a Raksuran queen who could well afford to be gracious. Stone had told Moon that Flame already knew about Garnet being held hostage from Venture, and Moon was waiting tensely to see if she would mention it. But she only said, “Our warrior Venture, and your line-grandfather and your mentor, had told us some of what happened, but as to the rest …?”
Jade didn’t betray any relief, though when Moon had told her privately about what had happened back at Indigo Cloud, she had covered her eyes and growled. She sipped her tea and said to Flame, “They told you about Chime’s unique situation?”
Chime, leaning wearily on Moon’s shoulder, said, “It was my fault.”
Well aware that Jade needed to be the one to handle this, Moon hissed at him, and Balm poked him in the ribs. “Ow,” Chime muttered.
Everyone politely ignored him, and Flame said, “Merit explained.”
Jade said, “On our way to Ocean Winter, we camped overnight on an outer platform of the mountain-thorn. In the morning, Chime said he had been having strange dreams all during the night, and when we made ready to leave, we realized he was gone. We followed him through the canopy and to the ruin, where he had been drawn by the groundling sorcerer’s spell. I and two of my warriors went down the shaft after him, and I left two in the chamber above to go for help if necessary.” She turned to eye Root and Coil. “But apparently they chose to follow us down.”
Root sunk down a little, embarrassed, and Coil moved a little to take cover behind River.
Jade continued, “The rest Chime will have to explain.”
Moon elbowed Chime and he sat up a little. He said, “It was my fault.”
“We know,” Stone told him. “Now tell us what it was all about.”
Chime took a deep breath. “I didn’t really know, until Merit told me what he had seen and figured out. When I went down there … I thought I was seeing living groundlings, who were trapped. Part of the time, I thought the city was still occupied. I could see other groundlings, but none of them seemed to care that the city was being attacked, that these others were stuck down in this chamber …” He lifted a hand helplessly. “None of it made sense, I can see now.”
Violet, seated behind Flame and wrapped in a blanket, leaned forward. “It was an illusion, caused by the spell. You were seeing what the groundling sorcerer saw, in the moment when he made the spell and died.”
Chime nodded, an expression of relief crossing his face. With Merit still sleeping off the experience, it must be reassuring to have the understanding of the other mentor. “I was trying to convince the groundling sorcerer to let me help him, I thought I was talking to him. Maybe I was, I don’t know. Jade and Balm and Song came then, and really, the next thing I know I heard Merit in my head telling me to wake up and then Moon just appeared in front of me.”
Flame’s head was cocked with interest. “But what was the creature? We saw it enter the chamber as we arrived.”
Moon, along with everyone else, listened intently.
“It was a sorcerer too.” Chime frowned, as if trying to sort it out in his own mind. “I saw it, in the groundling sorcerer’s head. There was some sort of battle, and it attacked the city. It used its own body to crash down into that tower, rolled up like a boulder … The sorcerer was trying to stop it when he made the spell. It must have been caught in it too.”
Jade watched him, frowning a little as she thought. “We didn’t see it when we went down there after you.”
“When you walked into the spell, and opened it temporarily,” Violet told Chime, “it must have escaped. But it was so powerful, it was able to survive.” She lifted her brows. “Unlike the poor groundlings.”
Jade asked her, “Then why did it come back?”
Violet shrugged one shoulder. “It must have realized what had happened. That it was out of its time.”
Moon thought about what that must have been like, to one moment be waging war and the next to find yourself what must be thousands of turns out of your time. It must have spent all the days since Chime had accidentally released it exploring, trying to find out what had happened to it. Stone had seen it lift up and move through the air when it had returned to the shaft; perhaps it had been using its magic to travel over the Reaches, finding nothing of what it remembered of its own world.
Everyone was quiet, absorbing that thought.
Then Flame set her cup aside and smiled at Jade. “While you’re here, let’s speak about trade.”
Later, Moon sat with Jade, Chime, Stone, and Balm on Indigo Cloud’s side of the shelter. Some of the Arbora and warriors had already curled up to sleep, others were talking quietly. Floret had fallen asleep with her head on Briar’s shoulder; she must be as relieved as Moon to have this over with. Merit had woken just long enough for Bramble to make him eat something, and to prove he was still coherent, just exhausted, then had gone back to sleep. The rain was pattering softly against the roof, a damp breeze making its way between the gaps in the cloth walls. The Ocean Winter group was politely leaving them alone, though Violet had gone back to sleep near Merit.
Keeping his voice low, Moon told Jade, “We owe Merit a lot.” Doubting Merit at all had been a huge error in judgment; Moon felt he should have remembered that both Heart and Merit had been singled out by Flower as the best mentors in the court. “We owe Floret and Bramble, too.” Moon glanced over to make sure River and Drift were further down the length of the shelter, both asleep, before he added, almost not reluctantly, “And River.” He was going to have to make sure Pearl knew just how brave, and more importantly cooperative, all the warriors and Arbora had been.
Jade squeezed his wrist. “I owe you and Stone a lot.”
Stone shrugged and poured another cup of tea.
Chime still looked unhappy. He said, “So what are we going to do about me?”
Jade eyed him. “What about you?”
Chime waved his hands. “I almost got us … not killed, something much worse, as far as we can tell.”
“Chime …” Jade sighed. “It was like being attacked by a predator. It just happened.”
“But whatever has happened to me caused this—”
Stone snorted. “It also caused us to find the seed, remember that? Not directly, but it helped.”
“And to figure out what the Fell wanted with Shade,” Moon added.
“That’s twice it’s been so helpful it’s saved lives.” Jade ticked the incidents off on her fingers. “Plus more times than anyone has bothered to keep track of that it’s been useless but didn’t hurt anything, and only once that it was a liability.”
Stone said, “I wish Moon’s record was that good.”
It was Moon’s turn to sigh. Jade glared at Stone. “If you’re not going to help—”
Chime persisted, “It’s only been a liability once so far! What about the next time?”
Moon hissed at him. “Don’t wake Merit.”
Chime subsided. Balm propped her chin on her hand and asked, “What exactly do you want us to do to you?”
Chime grimaced at her, but Moon could tell he was losing the urge to be a martyr. Chime said, stubbornly, “This can’t go on.”
Moon said, patiently, “Chime, some day you’re going to find a book, or a mentor, or even a groundling like Delin, who knows what this is and why it happens and what you can do about it. Until then, you’re just going to have to put up with it.” He added, “You should talk to Violet. After all this, she might want to help you get into the mentors’ libraries at Ocean Winter.”
Chime perked up a little. “So you think I should keep looking?”
“Yes. I didn’t before, but—that was stupid. Obviously.” It seemed obvious now, anyway. Chime’s situation was unique, and just accepting it wasn’t going to be enough. Chime might never find the kind of answers he was looking for, but not looking for them didn’t mean the problem was going to go away.
Chime said, “No, I knew what you meant, but …” He reached over and squeezed Moon’s wrist. “I was just always afraid something like this would happen, that I’d have a vision and get some of you into trouble somehow. When it did happen—I didn’t know how to explain what I was experiencing, or what was happening …”
Balm pointed out, “If you had tried to tell us, we wouldn’t have understood.”
“Exactly,” Jade said, with an air of finality. “So in the future, Chime, when you tell us you’ve had strange dreams, or strange anything else, we’ll listen better.”
Later in the night, when everyone except the Ocean Winter warriors who were on watch had settled in to sleep, Moon was curled up with Jade on a blanket pallet. The others were gathered close around them, their mingled scents a reassuring counterpoint to the damp forest air. Keeping his voice low, he said, “So you don’t think that I—”
“No, I don’t think you should have stayed at home and left me and the others to die like a normal consort,” Jade said into his ear. “I doubt Flame thinks so either. Ocean Winter knows Pearl had no one else to send, and they know our situation is unique. Not many courts have a consort so experienced at travel, fighting, and strange circumstances.” She let her breath out. “I just don’t know what your mother is going to say about this.”
Moon frowned. “Malachite won’t find out.”
Jade obviously thought this was just wishful thinking. “Please. Ocean Winter may be understanding, but they will spread this story to every court they have contact with. It’s bound to get back to Opal Night.”
Moon turned that thought over. He wasn’t afraid of Malachite, though he didn’t entirely trust her. “So what would she do?”
Jade considered for a moment, giving the impression she was sorting through several awful possibilities. “I have no idea. That’s what worries me.”
On Moon’s other side, Stone made a noise that was half-groan and half-growl. “Quiet, you’re scaring the kids.”
Moon became aware that the others were listening intently. Jade retorted to Stone, “You be quiet,” but tugged Moon closer and subsided.
The prospect of gossiping courts getting Malachite’s attention was something to worry about in the future; for now, everything was as right as it could be. Moon settled his head on Jade’s shoulder and slept deeply for the first time in what felt like forever.
THE TALE OF INDIGO AND CLOUD
Cerise was on her way back from the colony’s lower levels and a visit to the nurseries when Streak stopped her. They were near the waterfall pool in the greeting hall, the heart of the colony tree, and so were guaranteed an audience.
“Are you busy?” Streak demanded.
It wasn’t the best way to speak to the reigning queen, but Streak was the chief of the Arbora soldiers’ caste, and had been old since Cerise was a fledgling. So Cerise said, “No, I’m about to go to my bower, where I’ll lounge around in idle dissipation. What do you want?”
Streak sighed to acknowledge the sarcasm, and gestured toward a group of male warriors standing with the Arbora soldiers who guarded the entrance to the colony. The greeting hall lay at the base of the massive central spiral of the colony tree’s trunk, where a tunnel through to the knothole allowed access to the outside. It was an important defensive point, though the hall itself was meant to impress visitors and was lined with stairways, balconies, and delicate pillars, all carved into intricate shapes by the Arbora artisans.
The warriors had obviously Done Something. As Cerise looked at them they all shifted to their groundling forms and guiltily avoided her gaze. Streak said, “I know the warriors think it’s a joke, but snatching the soldiers’ patrol off the outer terrace and—”
Cerise flicked her spines in annoyance, already contemplating possible punishments. Young male warriors were inclined to be boisterous and weren’t exactly experts at applying good judgment; keeping them from becoming so unruly they disturbed the rest of the court, especially when they were bored, was a constant occupation. And the court had been fairly boring lately, which was exactly how Cerise liked it. She drew breath to ask who the ringleader was, just as Wake slammed in through the entrance passage and dramatically skidded to a halt across the floor.
Cerise and Streak both stared at Wake, who stared back, wide-eyed and also guilty, like a fledgling caught stealing bread dough. What is wrong with the warriors today? Cerise wondered. Then she remembered that Wake was on patrol duty this afternoon, charged with guarding the outer perimeter of the colony tree’s canopy. Her voice level, Cerise said, “I take it it’s not good news?”
Wake took a deep breath. Her green scales were speckled with raindrops, or possibly spray from the outer waterfall near the entrance, and she had brought with her the strong green scent of the outdoor air. She settled her spines and folded her wings, obviously trying to regain her composure. “Indigo is back, they’re just coming into the clearing. Lapis told me to fly ahead and warn—tell you.”
Cerise exchanged a look with Streak, whose brow furrowed in consternation. Reigning queens didn’t normally need warnings that the youngest sister queen was returning from a perfectly ordinary trading trip to an ally. Cerise hissed to herself. If Indigo had somehow managed offend the touchy Emerald Twilight court …
The soldiers and guilty warriors had drawn closer to listen, along with other Arbora who had been passing through the hall. Someone said anxiously, “Is anyone hurt?”
“No.” Wake’s spines flicked uneasily. “No one’s hurt.”
Cerise felt her spines lifting, no matter how hard she tried to appear calm. She said, “What did Indigo do?”
Wake said, “She has a consort with her,” and winced in anticipation.
Cerise flicked her spines, baffled. They had been trying to get Indigo to take a consort for the past five turns, since her status had been lifted from daughter queen to sister queen, and Emerald Twilight’s bloodlines were well known to be excellent. But Indigo had only been there for seven days, her first long visit, so it must have been a short courtship…. but the expression on Wake’s face …
Streak said, confused, “But that’s good news. A consort offered by Emerald Twilight …” Her voice trailed off.
Cerise felt her spines flare and her gut clench. She can’t have. She can’t. She wouldn’t. Not Indigo. She said, “He was offered?”
Wake shook her head. “Lapis said Indigo stole him.”
There was a collective gasp from all the Arbora and warriors in earshot. That was when Indigo and her warriors entered the hall, coming out of the entrance passage in a jumbled rush of wings and spines.
Cerise was vaguely conscious of Streak turning to the nearest Arbora and saying quietly, “Get the first consort down here. Now, get him now.”
Indigo was the first and so far only queen Cerise had given birth to. Her first few clutches had been all male warriors and a few consorts, and Cerise had been worried that she might not have any q
ueens at all. Then Indigo and her warrior sisters had come, and they were strong and intelligent and sensible, when they weren’t being rash, silly, and brave to the point of blind idiocy. The warriors had all grown out of it; Indigo almost had, and she had become Cerise’s favorite child in the process. They even shared the same colors, both having dark blue scales overlaid with silver.
It was really too bad Cerise was going to have kill her.
Indigo landed on the floor of the greeting hall, the five warriors who had traveled with her settling some distance behind her. All stared at the ground except for Lapis, one of Indigo’s warrior clutchmates. She gazed at Cerise in mute appeal, either on her behalf or Indigo’s, or probably both. Indigo carried the consort, who was in his groundling form.
The trepidation in Indigo’s expression saved her. Her spines were flat and she looked like someone who was clearly not certain of her welcome. If she had seemed proud or defiant, Cerise might have lost the tattered shreds of what was left of her self-control.
Indigo said, “Cerise, I, uh …” and her voice came out a little uneven. She set the consort on his feet and he stepped away from her. She finished awkwardly, “I can explain.”
The consort was young and pretty in his groundling form, but certainly not pretty enough to destroy Umber Shadow’s reputation in the Reaches and possibly ignite a war among all their and Emerald Twilight’s allies. He was tall, not quite Indigo’s shifted height, with dark hair, dark eyes, and skin of a warm, dark shade of bronze. The dark colored pants and shirt he wore were a little mud stained around the hems, and his only jewelry was a gold armband and a few earrings. His sharp features and lean jawline didn’t immediately set off any sparks in Cerise’s memory, and his scent was unfamiliar. He wasn’t from any of the Emerald Twilight bloodlines that she knew well. But none of that mattered; another queen’s scent marker overlaid his own. He had been taken, and not by Indigo.