“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.”
Moon flicked his tail impatiently, scattering the little flying lizards that were trying to settle on it. “‘Can’t?’”
“Uh, shouldn’t and won’t,” Shade clarified. “Not if they won’t talk about it.”
This was frustrating. “I’m your half-clutch-brother, you have to tell me.”
“Where did you get that idea?” Shade’s spines flicked in amusement. Moon glared at him. After a bemused moment, Shade said, “Are you trying to think of a way to make me tell you?”
Shade had been raised by Malachite, there was nothing Moon could do to intimidate him. He tried, “If I guess, will you tell me if I’m right?”
Shade snorted. “No.”
Moon let Shade return to the pond and tried Chime, who didn’t know anything but was at least more supportive.
Moon found him on a balcony that overlooked the greeting hall, with pens, ink stones, and paper spread out around him. He had said he was going to write up an account of their journey to share with Delin, and Delin was off somewhere writing up one to share with Chime. Moon had no idea why they needed two different versions but it seemed to be making both of them happy.
When Moon told Chime his suspicions about Stone and Jade, Chime waved his pen in exasperation. “I noticed that too. It keeps getting worse. I don’t know what it’s about. They didn’t tell you?”
Moon slumped in disappointment. “Stone wouldn’t.” He added, frustrated, “Shade knows, why don’t you know?”
Moon hadn’t meant it seriously. But Chime considered the question, then lifted his brows. “It had to be something that happened in the ruin, right? Lithe and I were in the steering cabin of the giant boat the whole time. But Shade left to help Rorra and the warriors get to Jade.”
He was right. Moon sat up straighter, feeling he was finally close to an answer. “Bramble didn’t know either, and she was on the wind-ship. River knew, but wouldn’t talk, and he was with Jade. So anyone who was with Jade might know.”
“That’s it.” Chime decisively wiped his pen and tucked it away in its case. “Root was with Jade.”
Moon smiled grimly. “Let’s find him.”
All the warriors who had gone on the trip had been told to rest and stay around the court for the next several days, so they knew Root wouldn’t be on patrol or out guarding the hunters. They found him in the third place they looked, hanging around with some of the younger warriors at the fringes of the teachers’ hall, watching the Arbora peel roots for the next meal.
Everyone was talking and busy, but Root saw them and immediately looked guilty, which told Moon they were on the right trail. Moon motioned for Root to come to them, and Root reluctantly pushed to his feet and went to the archway. Moon took Root’s arm and pulled him down the passage into a chamber currently being used to store baskets of root peelings. “We need to talk.”
Root said quickly, “I know I’ve been a bad warrior, and taking it out on everyone.”
It was good that Root had finally come to his senses a little. Maybe the ritual for Song had helped. “Good, but we need to talk to you about something else,” Moon said.
Chime asked, “What happened down in the ruin? After you got there with Shade and Rorra.”
Root seemed uneasy and surprised to be asked, but he said, “You know that Vendoin told them there was a stone plate down there and breaking it would stop the weapon.” Chime motioned impatiently for him to continue. “Rorra had the fire weapon and Jade was helping her point it down where the plate was. The Hians down there heard them, and they told Jade if she didn’t stop the fire weapon, they’d kill you. And she didn’t stop, and they killed you. Or we thought they did.”
Chime turned to Moon, aghast. “Is that what happened?”
“I didn’t make it up,” Root protested.
“We know, just be quiet,” Chime told him.
Moon leaned against the wall, trying to sort out his memories of those moments. Most of it was obscured by a haze of pain. He knew the Hians had been talking, but couldn’t remember the words. “I don’t remember. I was already burned when that happened. Kethel and I knocked the weapon out of the holder it was in, but it was still working.”
“So it was after that.” Chime watched him intently. “Did Lavinat use a fire weapon on you again?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure.” He was beginning to understand what had happened, or at least why Jade was acting the way she was. And Stone was right, it was complicated. “Did Stone try to stop Jade?” he asked Root.
“No, nobody did.” Root lifted his shoulders, uncertain. “We didn’t know what to do. It happened so fast, there was no time to think. I was mad because Song died, but the Hians were going to kill everyone in the Reaches and Jade had to let them kill you to stop them.” He met Moon’s gaze, worried. “Are you angry because we didn’t—”
“No.” On impulse, Moon pushed off the wall and pulled him into a hug. It turned out to be the right impulse, because Root wrapped himself around Moon and buried his face in Moon’s shoulder. This also explained the conversation with Malachite, Shade, and Lithe. Jade must have told Malachite, and Pearl, what had happened. Shade hadn’t wanted Malachite to interfere between Moon and Jade, and Malachite had given in to him, but had tried to let Moon know that if he wanted to leave Indigo Cloud, she would make that happen. It was an impressive display of restraint on her part. She must have been . . . And Jade must have been . . . Moon rested his chin on top of Root’s head. What Jade had gone through was terrible. Moon thought how he would feel if their positions were reversed, and his imagination just didn’t want to go there. He didn’t think he would have been strong enough to make the right choice. He said to Chime, “I wish I’d figured this out earlier.”