Vine said, “But what if whoever took the seed destroyed it?” Song nodded anxiously.
Flower betrayed some exasperation. “Then the augury won’t work.”
Watching Flower intently, Chime said, “Do they really think it’s still somewhere around here, and we can just go and get it?”
“They have no idea.” Flower’s voice was wry. “But we don’t know why the groundlings took it, and anything could be possible.” She looked around at them all. “They aren’t certain, but they think a colony tree would only be able to last two or three turns without its seed. It will rot from the inside out.”
And it’s already been gone a turn, at least. Moon folded his arms, trying to contain his impatience. They had to try this. The groundlings had been traveling on the forest floor, and that had to be dangerous. They might have been killed, the seed left to lie forgotten in the moss somewhere. If it hasn’t been eaten by a grasseater. If it hadn’t… How far could groundlings on foot travel in a turn, through hard country? Not nearly as far as we can.
“Of course you’ll have to try,” Jade said. “But will it be hard on you?”
“Yes,” Flower admitted. “But it’s not something I can leave to others.”
Jade nodded, acknowledging the necessity. “We’ll wait for word from you.”
As Flower left, Chime looked after her, his expression miserable. Then he shifted and jumped up to the ceiling of the chamber, and curled himself into a tight ball among the vines.
Floret snorted derisively. “What’s that about?”
“He wants to help,” Moon said it deliberately, keeping his tone just short of threat. He wasn’t in the mood to hear any garbage from the warriors, about Chime or anything else. “He can’t.”
Floret twitched uncomfortably. To her credit, she said, “I forgot.”
Song sighed. “I want to help too, but there’s nothing we can do but wait.”
“No.” Jade tapped her claws impatiently. “We have to go to this stupid dinner.”
Moon had never been to a formal meal in a court before. Usually eating meant either tearing apart a kill outside, or sitting around with everyone talking while they passed around food. This was a little different.
It was held in a well that wound up around the central trunk of the mountain-thorn, its walls ringed with wide platforms and crossed at intervals by bridges for the Arbora. The light emanated from living cascades of blue and purple flowers, growing from vines woven through the branches that supported the structure. Moon and Jade shared a balcony with Tempest, her three sister queens, and their consorts, everyone sitting on furs and cushions covered with rich fabrics. The younger unattached queens and consorts were confined to separate platforms across the chamber.
Ice and Shadow sat on another platform with the leaders of their Arbora. Stone had vanished again at some point on the way to the well. Most of the court, including Balm and Chime and the others, were seated on the platforms below. From what Moon could hear, it was a lot more lively down there. The only ones not present were Flower and the Emerald Twilight mentors.
Earlier, Moon had asked Jade why Emerald Twilight was putting itself out to entertain them. She had said, “They probably don’t get many sister queens and consorts as visitors. Usually it’s young daughter queens, or warriors acting as messengers or bringing Arbora to trade crafts.”
It explained Shadow’s curiosity about Moon. As reigning queen, Ice probably never left the colony, which meant Shadow never left either. He probably got few opportunities to talk to consorts he didn’t already live with.
Before the food was brought, the queens sat to one side of the platform to talk, with the consorts taking the other. On their side, Jade and Tempest and the others made pointedly polite and occasionally cutting remarks at each other until it was apparent that no one was going to be lured into an embarrassing outburst.
On the other side, the consorts stared at Moon, and he stared back. These were the consorts taken by the sister queens, the ones with important bloodlines who represented important alliances. Finally, one said, “They said you threatened Ash in the greeting hall.”
None of the queens had mentioned the incident. Moon was starting to suspect that if one of them brought it up, Jade might have to do something about it, like fight Ash. Which would be a stupid waste of a fight, considering how easily Shadow had dealt with it. He corrected, “She threatened me.”
“And you offered to fight her,” another consort said, his derision obvious. “That was foolish. What if she was hotheaded enough to accept?”
Moon looked away, knowing his expression was sardonic. “Then maybe next time she’d think twice.”
“You’d fight a queen?”
“If I had to.”
“They claimed he fought Fell.” This was said with deliberately provoking skepticism.
Moon turned his head just enough to eye the speaker. Apparently he was being asked to prove it. The trick was to do that without disrupting the dinner.
He was still young enough that his wounds had healed without scars. All except one. He pulled his shirt down his right shoulder and twisted around. At least two of them gasped.
Only the very top of the red ridge of scar tissue was visible, where it curved up along his shoulder blade. It marked the spot where Ranea had broken his wing joint in his other form. It hadn’t made an open wound, but when he had shifted to groundling, it had transformed into broken bones and this ridge of damaged skin. Flower had said it would probably fade a little over time, but it didn’t hurt often now and it wasn’t where he could see it, so it didn’t much concern him.
He pulled his shirt back up and turned around. They were all staring, this time with shock rather than disdain.
After that, the consorts talked to each other, but not to Moon.
Jade had said Indigo Cloud had had consorts fight to defend the colony, but Emerald Twilight was too secure to need defending. Moon had proved he was different from them. Too different. You are your own worst enemy, he told himself. Not that that was a new revelation; it was just that he was starting to notice it more.
Emerald Twilight warriors started to bring food, and the consorts got up to join the queens. Moon took his place next to Jade and settled on her cushion. She leaned against him, her scales a welcome warmth. Her voice pitched low, she asked, “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” He had thought he had his expression under control, but maybe not. “Do I look upset?”
“You look angry.”
That was funny, because all he felt was weary resignation. He looked away and she didn’t press the point.
The warriors who were probably clutchmates or lovers of the queens and consorts were invited to stay and eat with them, and the conversation became more cordial, but that was a mixed blessing. Moon had already been stared at enough. Now he had the warriors sneaking curious glances at him.
At least the food was good. There was meat, raw and fresh, cut into small pieces so you didn’t have to shift to chew it, and piles of cut and peeled fruit. There were also various roots, some raw and some spiced and baked in coals to soften them and bring out the flavor. There wasn’t any flatbread like the Arbora in Indigo Cloud made, but there was a pressed seedcake that was almost as good.
It had been a long, anxious day, and once Moon had a full stomach, it was hard to stay awake. He tried to find a position where he could lean against Jade’s shoulder and doze off without falling over, when she said, “Was that true, what you told Ice? That you don’t remember anything about your birthcourt?”
She kept her voice low. The others were still occupied in talking or eating. “You thought I was lying?” He had to admit, he did lie a lot. Turns and turns of lying his way into groundling settlements, lying about what he had done and where he had been and how he had gotten from here to there so fast, had made it second nature.