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?”