“Hmm.” She didn’t sound doubtful, just thoughtful. “And after so long alone, it was not difficult for you to… adjust, to living within a court?”
He should lie and say no, it wasn’t difficult at all. But her eyes were sharp, a wise old predator’s eyes, and he knew she wouldn’t believe him. He said, “Yes, it’s been… very strange.”
Ice smiled in dry acknowledgement. “I can imagine.” She lifted her hand, and the jewels on her claws glinted as she made a gesture of dismissal. “Go back to your queen.”
Relieved, Moon pushed to his feet and went to take his seat behind Jade again. He ignored the look Stone tried to give him. Jade touched his knee lightly, a reassurance.
Ice turned her attention to Jade. “This new knowledge of the Fell, and what they are capable of, is of import. I agree that it should be known as widely as possible and will send messengers to all the courts we are allied with.” Almost as an afterthought, she added, “Shadow has told me of the theft from your colony tree. Your mentor may speak to ours.”
Jade inclined her head to Ice. “I thank you.”
As Ice turned away to speak to Tempest, Jade gave Flower a meaningful glance. Flower got to her feet, murmuring, “Wish me luck.”
Moon felt a knot of tension evaporate from his spine. They’re going to help. They could get the seed and be gone by tonight.
Chapter Six
The sister queens made more pointed conversation, but mercifully none of it was about Moon’s lack of bloodline. They also talked about other courts in the Reaches, a subject which Moon found fascinating. Stone apparently didn’t think so, and after a while exercised his right as a line-grandfather to just get up and wander off without a word to anyone. Moon found himself trying to calculate how many turns it would be before he could get away with that.
Ice finally claimed to be fatigued so they could all escape, and an Arbora came to show them to the guest chambers.
Moon and Jade were in a passage that spiraled down away from the hall, when Jade asked, “What did Stone mean when he said you got into a fight with a queen?”
Their Arbora guide, in groundling form with dark curly hair and an amber-colored dress, politely quickened her steps to get out of earshot. Moon slid a sideways look at Jade. Her spines were still under rigid control from speaking to the other queens, but the scales on her brow were furrowed. He said, reluctantly, “There wasn’t a fight. A daughter queen called Ash said something to me in the greeting hall. I said something back. Then Shadow came and sent her away, and asked me to come to the consorts’ bowers with him.”
Jade hissed through her teeth. Feeling the hiss was aimed at him as well as Ash, he said, “I know, I should have ignored her.”
She was quiet for a long moment, then said, “Well. Maybe nothing will come of it.”
The guest quarters were lower down in the colony, big round chambers hanging around the outer ring of the mountain-thorn. Jade and Moon climbed steps that wound up through doorways in the curved walls woven through with faintly glowing vines and moss. The Arbora led them to a room with a tile-lined pool set into the center of the floor. Four hanging bower beds were stuffed with blankets and the wood beneath them spread with striped grasseater hides.
The warriors were already there, sitting near the edge of the pool. They all looked bored and worried, and Chime even jumped to his feet when he saw them. “Well?” he demanded.
Jade quelled him with a look and he sat down with a thump. She turned to the Arbora and thanked her formally, then waited for her to leave before she turned back to the others.
“How did it go?” Balm asked, too anxious to wait longer.
As Jade took a seat on the furs, she asked, “Are we alone here?” Moon settled next to her and glanced around. The woven walls didn’t provide much of a sound barrier; he could see through the gaps to the walkway.
Vine jerked his chin toward the far side of the chamber. “There’s a group visiting from a court further west, but they’re down at the other end.”
Jade kept her voice low. “Ice acknowledged us, and Flower went to speak to their mentors. We should know soon.”
Floret and Vine exchanged a look. There was definitely an undercurrent there, but Moon couldn’t tell if they thought Jade had done too well, or not well enough. Balm nodded thoughtfully, and Chime slumped in relief. Song blurted, “So we just wait?”
“Yes.” Balm gave her a stern look. “We wait.” Song subsided reluctantly.
It should have been a good time to nap, but everyone seemed too tense to settle down. Moon shifted and jumped up to the top of the chamber, and wrapped his tail around a strong vine to hang upside down. It was a position that helped him relax.
The others aimlessly wandered the chamber or pretended to rest. Jade and Balm had drawn together to talk quietly, which was probably a good sign. If they could get back their old relationship, from before the Fell had changed everything, it would be a relief for Moon.
Chime shifted and climbed up to join him, clinging with his claws to the vines. He whispered, “Does Jade know about that queen, in the greeting hall?”
“Yes.” Moon looked at him over the edge of his wing. “Why?”
“Nothing. If—” Chime shrugged and settled his spines. “I guess that’s going to be all right, then. We talked to some of their warriors. I can’t believe how big this court is.”
Chime had never been to another court before either, and wanted to talk about it. Fortunately he didn’t really need a response from Moon, who just listened and made thoughtful noises occasionally.
Sometime later they heard someone coming up the steps to the chamber, and everyone tensed in expectation, thinking it was Flower returning. But it was only another Arbora, come to tell them there was to be a formal dinner later in the day and that they were invited to attend. This seemed to please Vine and Floret and Song, at least, but it just made Moon more impatient. Does it really take that long to say “yes” and hand over a seed? Maybe it did, but if there was some lengthy process the mentors had to go through to get the seed ready, it seemed like Flower could have sent a message to tell them so.
Finally, they heard someone on the walkway again, and this time it was Flower and Stone.
As they came up the steps Moon dropped to the floor again and shifted back to groundling. He didn’t think the news was good. Flower’s expression was tense and thoughtful, and Stone didn’t look relieved. The others gathered anxiously around, and Jade pushed to her feet. “Well?”
Flower took a deep breath. “They can’t give us a seed.”
Moon hissed a frustrated breath and glanced at Jade. Her spines lifted and she asked dangerously, “Can’t or won’t?”
Stone answered, “Can’t.” With a weary groan, he sat down on one of the furs. “Their mentors thought that a new seed wouldn’t work on a mountain-tree that had already been implanted.”
Flower added, “Our tree would keep dying and the seed would be wasted. They’re looking back through their lore on the seeds to make certain.”
Her voice tight, Jade said, “So they can’t help us.”
“I didn’t say that.” Flower hesitated, as if not certain how much she wanted to explain. “They had a suggestion. This court has a number of mentors, with several elders. They think we can all augur for the location of our seed.”
Augur for it? Caught between disappointment and hope, Moon glanced at Stone, who just shrugged slightly. Moon took that to mean that Stone had no idea if this was possible and wasn’t going to give an opinion on it. Jade asked Flower, “And what do you think?”
Flower spread her hands. “I’ve never done anything like that before, but I think we have to try. We don’t have any other path to take at the moment.”