Kethel followed his gaze and said, “Your queens talk to each other a lot.”
Compared to progenitors, they probably did.
Floret dropped out of a window to land beside Moon. She peered at him. “Are you all right?” He had shifted back to his winged form and the healed burns had left ridges on his scales.
Moon saw Stone tense but he was too distracted to wonder at it. “I’m fine. So . . . Pearl and Malachite like each other.”
“It’s terrifying,” Floret confided, keeping her voice low. “But it’s also kind of . . . attractive.”
Stone muttered, “They could have gotten half the court killed.”
Moon looked for some sign of Jade again and spotted her perched atop the roof of the next tower with Sage and Serene. He frowned, wondering why she hadn’t come down yet.
Then Pearl and Malachite dropped abruptly to the pavement. Warriors scattered and Kalam stumbled into Moon. Kethel backed away immediately, but Pearl told him, “Tell Consolation to take the half-Fell and withdraw to the camp.”
Kethel jerked his chin, a gesture of acknowledgement, then said to Moon and Stone, “I’m telling the others your stories.” He turned, vaulted the balcony railing, and disappeared into the trees below.
Jade extended her wings to glide down from the tower. She landed neatly, glanced once at Moon, then reported to Pearl, “The wind-ship is with them.”
Moon turned as Stone hissed in startled relief. The first Kishan flying boat had just angled down toward the towers’ landing pier. As its bulk moved aside, he saw the Golden Islander wind-ship trailing behind.
Kalam waved wildly at it and Rorra clapped a hand to her head and swore in relief. She added, “It must have reached Kish-Karad not long after we left.”
The sight of those three sets of fanfolded sails was more than welcome. That was Diar standing in the bow signaling to whoever was in the steering cabin. And Chime and Lithe at the railing with the warriors and crew. Moon let out his own hiss of relief. The two craft appeared to be in perfect accord, as the wind-ship turned to pull alongside the Kishan boat and dropped its own anchor cables.
Chime and Lithe saw them and called out, pointing. Bramble bounced into view, waving back at Kalam. Niran appeared on the deck, helping a tall Janderan . . .
Kalam gasped, recognizing that figure an instant before Moon did. It was Callumkal.
Moon shifted, grabbed Kalam, and bounced into the air. As he landed on the wind-ship’s deck he realized a dozen Opal Night warriors had followed him, surrounding him like a fledgling taking its first flight. That’s going to get old quick, he thought grimly, as he set Kalam on his feet.
Callumkal didn’t look well and had to lean heavily on Niran. But it was a huge improvement over the half-dead body Moon had retrieved from the Hians’ flying boat. As Kalam flung himself at his father, Moon was immediately surrounded by a noisy group of Raksura and Golden Islanders.
Chime wrapped his arms around Moon. “We thought you were dead,” he said, his face buried in Moon’s neck, his voice harsh with emotion.
Everyone kept saying that. Moon hugged him back, just enjoying the familiar scents. Over Chime’s shoulder, he spotted Bramble and Merit, bouncing excitedly, and Root, who looked guilty. “I’m fine,” he told them all. Chime stepped back, still keeping hold of Moon’s wrist.
“You don’t look fine.” Shade turned Moon to face him and studied him intently. “We really thought you were dead.”
Lithe stepped between them so she could examine the burns on Moon’s scales. “What happened to you? Does this still hurt?”
Then Kalam called, “Moon! Please come speak to my father.”
Moon gently pried Chime off and stepped away from his half-clutchmates. He shifted to groundling and reluctantly went to Callumkal.
The others must have told him how the artifact had ended up on the sunsailer, and Moon was aware of a tight knot of guilt sitting in his stomach. They hadn’t meant for any of it to happen but it had, and there was nothing to be done about it now.
Callumkal stepped forward to wrap his arms around Moon in a hug. Moon returned the embrace, partly to make sure Callumkal didn’t fall. Callumkal felt even more boney than a Janderan should and his scent still had a trace of sickness. Callumkal said, “There is no way to thank you for everything you did.”
Moon fought down a lump of emotion that tried to close his throat. He managed, “You know about the . . .”
“I know everything.” Callumkal stepped back, still gripping Moon’s arms. “I was the one who trusted Vendoin, who shared all my work with her, who brought her on the expedition.”
Moon shook his head. “That was . . . Not something anybody could have guessed.”
Vine landed on the deck with Rorra then, and Callumkal smiled to see her. “Captain! It’s good to see you well!”
Moon stepped aside to give Rorra room. Delin appeared at his side to say, “Vendoin is alive, did they tell you? We found her while you were at the forerunner ruin.”
“Alive?” Moon growled the word. “Are you serious?”
“We left her in Kish-Karad under guard, with the Jandera speaker to the conclave.” Delin’s expression was grimly satisfied. “It gave the Hians there much to explain. They said they didn’t know about Vendoin and Lavinat’s plans, and Callumkal and the others said it would take some time to decide what to do, if the Jandera were going to accept that. But the important thing is that the other Kish believed us.” He waved a hand. “We will tell you everything you missed on the way back to the Reaches.”
“Back to the Reaches?” Niran had arrived just in time to hear this, and looked aghast. He protested, “Grandfather—”
Delin waved a hand. “We must go back. Our friends are surely too tired to fly all that way.”
Jade stood with Pearl and Malachite on the open balcony below the big tower. Heart was nearby, Ceilinel leaning heavily on her. Jandera in flying harnesses lifted off from the newly arrived boat and landed several paces away. After a moment’s consultation, the lead Jandera came forward and said in Kedaic, “We wish to speak with the Raksura leader.”
Malachite twitched a spine and said in Raksuran to Pearl, “This is pointless.”
“For once I agree with you,” Pearl said.
Jade felt her spines tilt but she controlled her annoyance. “We have a chance to make an alliance with these groundlings.” Pearl’s expression said she was clearly unmoved by that statement. “You can’t ignore them because you don’t like to talk.”
“I can.” There was nothing ironic in the angle of Pearl’s spines.
Jade took a deep breath, all too aware of Malachite. “Pearl, I want Vendoin and her people held responsible for this. For Song. For—” Her gaze flicked to the wind-ship where Moon was. “For the groundlings they killed who were under my protection. For what they meant to do to the Reaches. If we leave, they will lie about us, about what happened.”
Malachite stared down at her. Pearl looked away, growling under her breath, her spines flicking. But Jade knew the whole variety of Pearl’s growls, and that one was the I’m angry that your argument has swayed my opinion growl. Pearl said, “Well, what do you want to do, then?”
Jade said, “Stay and talk. Make sure they listen to Callumkal, and Kalam and Rorra.”
Pearl gave Malachite a considering glare, then said to Jade, “I’ll agree, if you send your consort back to the Reaches with an escort of warriors.”
Jade controlled an irritated twitch. She had intended to do that anyway. “Of course. He can go on the wind-ship. The Golden Islanders will want to return with us.”
Pearl hissed, “Of course they do. We’ll never get rid of all these groundlings.”