The day wore on toward evening, and the shadows grew deep enough that Chime went to light the bronze oil lamps that hung around the court. Not long after that, Moon had to tell the others that groundlings didn’t get stronger as they got older, and that Delin needed rest. Delin claimed that he was well able to continue as long as they wanted, then fell asleep in his chair.
Chime sat at Delin’s feet, paging through the book, while the others talked or curled up to nap. Moon just enjoyed the quiet.
Then Song said, “Moon, is it true you don’t know what court you came from? That you were alone until Stone found you?”
Moon lay on his back,watching the sky turn orange and violet with sunset. “I wasn’t alone. I lived with groundlings, off and on.”
Root stirred. “What was that like?”
Moon hesitated. He had no idea what to say. When I was too small to live in the forest without getting eaten, I went to a groundling town. It was terrifying. Or I had to teach myself their languages. I picked through garbage for food. I didn’t know how to fit in, what to do. That wasn’t the whole truth, though. I loved living with the Hassi, but the Fell came. I had friends, but I always had to leave them, before anyone found out.
Branch snorted, and from the sound, gave Root a shove to the head. “Idiot. Can you think of a harder question?”
“What?” Root demanded.
“What’s the wind like?” Chime said dryly.
“You mean, right now, or—” Root subsided, disgruntled. “All right, all right, I see.”
Balm walked into the court. One look at her expression, discouraged and angry, told Moon all he needed to know even before she spoke. “They said no.” She sat down on a chair, burying her face in her hands.
Chime stared. “What, just like that?”
“No, not just like that. That’s what we’ve been arguing about all day.” Balm rubbed her eyes. “If they do it, they think the Fell would take more cloud-walkers captive and send them out here. Or the boats will be destroyed along the way, when the Fell attack us.”
They could still move the court, but flying in stages or going on foot would take longer and leave them open to more Fell attacks. Moon hadn’t realized until this moment just how much he had counted on this trip being successful.
“What are we going to do?” Root asked uneasily.
“Go back,” Branch said. He sighed. “Think of something else. Or do it the hard way.”
Song got up, took Balm’s wrist and tugged her to her feet. “Come and get something to eat.”
Branch and Root trailed after her. Chime and Moon sat there for a moment in silence. Then Chime stood. Sounding resigned, he said, “I’m going in to light the lamps. I can’t think when it’s dark.”
Moon nodded. As Chime went inside, Moon got up to look for his shirt and found that someone had rinsed out the saltwater and moss and left it draped over a chair to dry. He pulled it on and went back to sit on the couch, depressed. He had counted on this working, counted on the court being able to move relatively quickly, so he would be free to leave them and the Fell and his own confusion behind.
A blue Arbora walked into the court. Moon stared, then realized it was Jade. This was the first time he had seen her other form. She was still tall and slim, and her scales had the same blue and gray pattern, but they looked softer, closer to groundling skin than Raksuran hide, though that might have been a trick of the shadow. Her wings were gone and her mane was smaller, not reaching much past her shoulders, and was more soft frills than spines. She hesitated, then said glumly, “I suppose Balm told you.”
He nodded, uncomfortable. “You did all you could. They still might not have agreed, even without the Fell.”
“I know.” She came over to sit on the end of the couch, adding with rueful sarcasm, “I pointed out that if we hadn’t been here when the Fell attacked, the damage would have been much worse. But I think they saw the flaw in my logic.”
Moon looked away, a wry twist to his mouth. “It’s just a little flaw.” He hesitated, absently rubbed at a spot on the cushion. “I wanted to thank you for pulling me out of the sea.”
He had meant it to be friendly, but Jade’s whole body stiffened. “I would have done it for any member of the court.”
Well, fine, Moon thought. He had been hoping for an actual conversation; he wasn’t even sure why. But he needed to make sure of one more thing. “Did she ask for anything? The Islander woman who helped us.” If Jade hadn’t followed through on that promise, Moon needed to find the woman and make good on it—and hope she didn’t ask for anything complicated so that he could fulfill the obligation before they had to leave.
But Jade said, “She didn’t ask, so I gave her one of the pearls, a small one. Endell-liani said it was enough for her to buy her own garden mats, and a new house for her family. I gave another one to the master of the flying boat, to sell and divide among the crew.”
So that was taken care of. Moon should just shut up now, but he said, “That was generous.”
Jade gave him a look he couldn’t read. “You’re a consort.”
If they were going to have a fight, they might as well get on with it. He said, tightly, “I’m a feral solitary with a bad bloodline.”
“Pearl said that, I didn’t. I—” She seemed to steel herself. “Would be honored to take you as consort, except, apparently, I have no idea how.”
Nonplussed, Moon stared at her. “Uh.”
Jade shook her head in frustration. “I know in theory. I tried the gifts; that’s what all the traditions say to do, but they didn’t say what to do if you didn’t accept them.” She waved her hands helplessly. “Look, even now, look what you’re doing—”
Moon realized he had been unconsciously edging down the couch away from her. “I don’t—” He knew he owed her an explanation, but it was hard to put his instinctive response into words. “The way I’ve lived, it’s not a good idea to accept gifts. In a strange situation, you don’t know what it’s obligating you to do. Especially anything relating to—” He discarded several different words and finally settled on, “—mating.”
Jade absorbed that in silence. Finally she said, “I know I should have waited. Stone told me that you’d never even heard of Raksura before he found you.” She sighed. “In a strong court, there would be clutches of consorts and sister queens, and we would all have been raised together. I’d know which one I wanted, and if he’d accept me. And I’d know what to do, even if I had to fight the other queens for him. And at least I’d have someone to go to for advice.” She shook her head, exasperated. “I haven’t been able to talk to Pearl about anything, for turns and turns.” With rueful resignation, she added, “Stone said I should just take you, fight it out, and get it over with.”
That was typical. “He gives me lousy advice, too.”
“Stone feels responsible. We lost too many warriors and consorts in the fighting, when the Gathen tried to take our territory, then the Sardis attacked the Sky Copper Court and we went to defend them. The consorts that were left... I was just a child, and Pearl didn’t want them because they had all belonged to Amber, so they went to other courts. Flower said things happened so gradually— sickness and dead clutches, and one thing going wrong after another, and they were so busy worrying about the latest disaster—that no one looked at the whole. Stone had left the court by that point, flying off alone, exploring. He didn’t come back until Rain, Pearl’s last consort, died, and after that, it was too late.” She looked at Moon for a long moment. “I know I haven’t made it sound particularly inviting, but... Do you want to join Indigo Cloud?”