Jade pressed the point. “Then I have your permission to speak.”
Pearl flicked her spines and Jade turned to the Jandera, and said in Kedaic, “You can speak to us.”
Moon finally got a chance to sit down in the common room with the others when Heart came aboard with Serene, and the greetings started again. No one quieted down until Heart told them the full story of what had happened in the Reaches.
Stone hissed when Heart explained about the plan to kill a certain dominant progenitor. Bramble bounced with nerves as Heart described building the fake hill in the ruin, and what had happened after, and how the queens had seen the Fell die.
That was too close, Moon thought, and felt all the tension he hadn’t realized he was carrying suddenly unclench. The others seemed to feel the same relief. Bramble scrubbed her face and shook out her hair, and Chime muttered, “I need a nap.” Moon squeezed his wrist.
As Merit told Heart what had happened to them, Rise appeared in the doorway. She signaled to Lithe, who went to her, then returned to say to Moon and Shade, “Malachite wants to talk to us.”
Moon had figured that was coming. He pushed to his feet and followed Shade up to the deck.
Serene had said that Jade, Pearl, and the Jandera had gone into the emplacement to talk, so Moon wasn’t surprised to see Opal Night warriors still keeping watch atop the towers. A second boat had come in low near the big tower, and groundlings in flying packs hovered around the damaged Solkis boat, poking in the smoldering ruins of the steering cabin.
Malachite waited for them in the stern, seated on the deck, and Moon sat down while Shade and Lithe enthusiastically greeted her. His half-clutchmates and Celadon had a completely different relationship with his birthqueen than he did, or anyone else did, as far as Moon could tell, and it was still strange to watch. He guessed it was a little like his own clutch would experience later, growing up with Pearl as their beloved reigning queen and having no idea why the older generation viewed her with such a mix of emotions.
Once Shade and Lithe had settled down, Malachite said, “You are all well?”
The question shouldn’t be as fraught with intimidation as it seemed, with Shade tucked into her side and Lithe sitting beside her knee, but this was still Malachite. Moon said, “Yes.”
“We’re fine,” Shade told her. Then added, “Whatever you heard, it wasn’t as bad as it sounds.”
Lithe agreed readily. “It was frightening, but Jade and the warriors kept us safe.”
Malachite was trying to bore into Moon’s skull with sheer force of personality. He tightened his jaw in irritation and said, “Yes, I was captured by groundlings and taken to Kish-Karad. But they didn’t hurt me. It was my own fault.”
Malachite’s eyes narrowed.
“What?” Moon demanded.
Shade squeezed her wrist and stared up at her, his brow furrowed. Malachite met his gaze. His expression said he was making an entreaty, but Moon couldn’t guess what it was. Of the two of them, Shade’s behavior had been correct for a consort, except for leading the warriors into the ruin to help Jade. Maybe that’s what he’s worried about, Moon thought. He glanced at Lithe but she seemed confused, as if she didn’t quite understand what Shade was asking either.
Malachite’s gaze went to Moon again, and he was startled to read just a trace of hesitation there. She said, “If you wish my help with anything, you need only ask.”
Moon found himself wanting to squirm with discomfort. He would have preferred to be castigated for almost getting himself killed. He rubbed at a claw mark on the deck and said, “Sure, I will.”
Shade said, “Lithe was very brave. Lithe, tell her what you and Chime did to break up the ruin.”
Moon had only heard this secondhand from Stone, so it was enough of a distraction to get past his discomfort. He still had the feeling he was missing something though.
With everyone telling him he looked like he was half-dead, and Bramble and Merit demanding his clothes because the cloth smelled like unfriendly groundlings, Moon gave in and retreated to their cabin. Surrounded by the familiar comforting scents that clung to the blankets, he fell asleep almost at once. When he woke, Jade was sitting next to him, holding his wrist.
He yawned hugely, feeling the first stirring of hunger. Stone was nowhere to be seen, but Chime and Merit were curled on blankets not far away. Moon said, “Are we ready to leave?” He could tell it was twilight, from his sense of the sun’s position, and the scent of the air drifting down the corridor.
Keeping her voice low, Jade said, “I’m going to have to stay here with Pearl and Malachite. You’ll go back on the wind-ship with an escort of warriors. I want to make sure these Kish hear our side of what happened. I don’t think it’ll have as much weight if I just leave Rorra and Kalam to speak for us.”
Moon struggled to sit up, trying to wake up enough to make a good argument. “No, we’ll wait for you.”
Jade squeezed his wrist. She sounded calm but Moon could feel desperate intensity in her touch. “I was lucky to get Pearl and Malachite to agree to this much. We’ll catch up before you get home. I just want you out of here.”
Moon stared at her. He couldn’t fault her reason for staying. It was better to settle this now, and maybe she could even get the Kishan to stop confusing Raksura with Fell. “Balm isn’t here. You don’t have a female warrior.” It was frustrating that he couldn’t stay with her, but he knew it would still be days before he was in any shape for long flights.
“I’m taking Saffron.”
Moon settled back. It wasn’t a bad choice, except personality-wise. But he wished Balm was here. “That’ll be fun. You don’t want Stone to stay with you?”
Her expression and her spines went neutral. “The only way this makes sense is if Stone stays with you and Shade. I can’t leave two consorts with no one to protect them.”
“Yes, but it’s me and Shade,” Moon said. And the mentors, the warriors, and Bramble, plus a crew of Golden Islanders armed with Kishan fire weapons. He couldn’t be much safer anywhere outside the Reaches. “It’s better if Stone stays with you—”
“You and Shade need protection too, whether you know it or not.”
“I just . . .” He captured her wrist again. “I want you to be careful.”
“I can be careful more easily if I know you’re safe.”
Moon let go of her and sat up to give himself a chance to control his expression.
But he looked at the signs of strain in her face, the tight angle of her spines. This wasn’t an argument to have now, while they were still in unfriendly groundling territory. So he said, “Just be careful.”
Moon got up to say goodbye to Rorra and Kalam, who had come aboard to collect their belongings.
Kalam hugged him and said, “Bramble has said we can come to visit. My father and I want there to be a formal alliance with Kedmar and your court.”
Moon had no idea how that would work but it sounded like Pearl’s problem. “Sure,” he said. He told Rorra, “You visit, too.”
Rorra gave him the frown that he knew by now meant that she was trying to hide how pleased she was. “Are you sure the other Raksura wouldn’t be bothered by—” She waved a hand, and Moon knew she meant her communication scent.
He said, “Stone will tell them not to be bothered by it.”
There was no one else to be left behind, since the wind-ship had left Dranam the horticultural back in Kedmar. It surprised Moon that the Kish had let the Golden Islanders keep the fire weapons. He had always heard that the Kish guarded those jealously. “Not the weapons, so much,” Delin said, when asked. “It’s the moss itself. We have no way to grow it, and no horticulturals to manipulate it if we did, so the weapons will cease to work as soon as it runs out.” He scratched his beard thoughtfully. “If we encounter any remnants of Fell flights on the way home from the Reaches, they will certainly come in handy.”