“The seed?” Startled, Shadow listened as Moon took a lesson from Flower and told the story as briefly as possible, telling him about the damage to the tree, the dead groundlings near the outer door, and what little the Kek had seen. Shadow finally shook his head, saying, “These groundlings must have come from some distance. If they were native to these Reaches we, or the Kek, would have heard of them before. But then how did they know where the tree was, or that the seed was even there?”
“That’s what we thought. Our mentor thinks they wanted it for groundling magic.”
Shadow frowned as he thought it over. “It seems the only explanation.”
There was a faint commotion from the door into the consorts’ bowers, then Stone strolled out, as casually as if he had just happened to be in the area. The young consorts watched him warily as he crossed the balcony and took a seat near Moon and Shadow. Shadow greeted his arrival with a somewhat ironic nod. If he had said, You’re here and I can’t do anything about it, so I might as well accept it, it couldn’t have been any clearer. He said, “Are they talking yet?”
Stone regarded Shadow thoughtfully. “They’re getting there.”
“I told him about the seed,” Moon said, figuring if it was the wrong choice, they might as well get the consequences over with.
Apparently it wasn’t, because Stone just grunted an acknowledgment.
Shadow said, “I was just realizing how little I know about the seeds. No one has needed to create a new colony tree for uncounted turns, so there has been little reason to speak about them.”
Stone nodded. “Got any extras?”
“I’m sure we must have.”
They went further down inside the mountain-thorn’s trunk, a level or so below the consorts’ bowers, toward a chamber where Stone said the queens were gathered. Shadow stopped at the intersection of the passage that led to it, saying, “Go on. I must speak to Ice first.”
He took another doorway, and Moon and Stone started down the passage. Moon asked, low-voiced, “Is he going to help us?”
Stone shrugged. “He’s going to tell his queen what we told him. It all depends on her.” He added, apparently serious, “When we left you in the greeting hall, I thought this might happen.”
Moon threw him an exasperated look. “You did not.”
The way opened into a big round chamber and, like the upper passages, the walls were closely woven branches, allowing air and light to pass through. The floor was made of squares of different woods, all smoothed and polished to show the grain. It didn’t seem elaborate enough for this court, until Moon glanced up. Between the two wells that opened into the domed roof hung a giant circular sculpture of queens in midair battle. It wasn’t a particularly good omen for this encounter.
There were seating cushions scattered in the center of the room, and Jade, Flower, and the sister queen Tempest sat there, with three other queens. All four Emerald Twilight queens had consorts with them, all about Moon’s age, and from even a cursory glance he could tell that like the consorts up in the bowers, they were all better dressed and prettier than he was. At least Ash wasn’t present, which would save some embarrassment.
As Moon and Stone stepped out of the passage, all the queens and consorts turned to look. Moon froze for a heartbeat, pinned by those concentrated stares.
Jade touched an empty cushion next to her. Stone put a hand on Moon’s lower back and gave him a little push forward. Moon forced himself to move at an even pace, to walk to Jade and sit down. “Where were you?” she whispered.
Settling next to Flower, Stone answered for him. “He got in a fight with a daughter queen then ran off with the reigning queen’s consort.”
Jade stared at Stone. “What?”
Flower leaned around Stone to frown at Moon. “Where was this?”
Moon threw a glare at Stone. “I saw Shadow and he said—”
But Tempest cleared her throat, making it obvious they were being rude. Jade turned back to face her and the other queens, her jaw tense as if she suppressed a hiss. Moon sat back on the cushion and tried to hide his impatience.
Tempest formally introduced the other queens and consorts. Three of the other consorts had been born in different courts, Sky Cinnabar and Sunset Water. The way this was presented made it clear they represented very important alliances. Then it was Jade’s turn. She introduced Stone, and then said, “My consort, Moon of Indigo Cloud.”
There was a short expectant silence. Then one of the other queens tilted her head inquiringly. “Of a different bloodline within Indigo Cloud?”
Oh, here we go, Moon thought, gritting his teeth. They had to know the answer already, either from someone who had seen the confrontation with Ash in the greeting hall or who had heard him talking to Shadow in the bowers. If Flower’s sardonic expression was any indication, she thought so, too. Stone just looked bored.
Jade didn’t betray any irritation by so much as a single spine twitch. She said, “No. He’s the only survivor of a court that was destroyed almost forty turns ago.”
There was another silence, this one far more uncomfortable. There weren’t many replies the other queens could make without calling Jade a liar, or calling Moon a liar and Jade a fool for believing him. Tempest flicked her tail and gave the queen who had spoken a look of reproof. Moon couldn’t tell if the reproof was for being rude or for presenting Jade with the opportunity to be rude back.
Then a faint sound from above made everyone look up. Someone was climbing down the wall, and Moon didn’t need anyone to tell him that this was Ice, the reigning queen.
She was easily twice Pearl’s size, and her scales looked pale, barely tinted with yellow, but reflected warm gold as the light struck them. She was so old she had started to lose her color. Her frills had grown long and wispy, like frayed silk. When she partly extended her wings to balance, Moon could see the bones outlined through the near-translucent skin.
She had to be much older than Shadow, who was mature but hadn’t begun to show noticeable gray on his groundling skin. Moon wondered how many consorts she had outlived.
She reached the floor, then Shadow half-dropped, half-glided down after her. He shifted to groundling and they both moved to join the other queens. Ice sat down on the cushions that waited for her, Shadow taking a seat beside her.
If Tempest was supposed to make the formal introduction of Jade, Ice didn’t wait for it. She said, “Jade, sister queen of Indigo Cloud. You have a lovely young consort. May he come closer?”
Moon thought he was plenty close enough and had a moment to hope that this was another attempt to trick them into violating etiquette, that it was expected that Jade would refuse. Then Jade turned her head toward him, said in a breathless whisper, “Go on. Just sit in front of her, two paces away.”
Apparently she was serious. Moon managed to get up without fumbling or tripping over the cushion. He crossed over to Ice, his spine prickling with tension, and sank to the floor in front of her. His hand made a sweaty mark on the polished wood.
Ice regarded him. Her eyes were dark, with a faint rim of blue, and her gaze seemed to go right through him. She wore jeweled sheaths on her claws, the gems tiny sparks of blue and green. She said, “You remember nothing of your birthcourt?”
Shadow must have told her everything. At least Moon didn’t have to repeat the story in front of the other queens. He cleared his throat.
“No.”
Her brows arched. “Not what it was called, not the queen’s name?” Moon found her size daunting. He had to force himself not to lean back away from her. “Nothing.”