They all avoided the subject of what they would do if their quest failed. Before they had left Emerald Twilight, Flower and one of the other court’s mentors had shown them a mountain-thorn seed. It was a dead one, separated from the husk and used only to show young Raksura what they looked like, but Flower had explained that their seed would be very similar. It was about the size of a melon, a light brown color, with a hard ribbed shell like a nut.
Moon had lifted it, feeling the light weight. He could tell this one was dead; it felt empty on the inside, the rind dried away to nothing. He said, “How long can our seed stay disconnected from the tree before it dies?”
Chime and the other warriors had stared at him in horror. Apparently none of them had thought of that. Always more practical, Jade answered calmly, “I asked Stone that and he said he didn’t know.”
The Emerald Twilight mentor, a withered gray-white Arbora who looked older than the mountain-thorn, took the seed back from Moon and said ruefully, “No one knows. This has never happened before.”
The mentors had also been able to tell Flower the things that might need to be done to the seed to get it to attach to the tree again, once they found it. If they found it. It was all just speculation, since in the annals of seed-lore, this was a unique problem. But Flower had had Chime copy it all down, and sent it back to the court with Song and Floret.
Late afternoon of the seventh day, the forest ended abruptly, giving way to a field of lush green grass dotted with white and gold flowers, and then a vast blue body of water, stretching forever.
Moon landed on the shore and folded his wings. A light breeze came off the water, but he couldn’t smell salt. A short strip of sandy beach dropped away abruptly into the shallows, which were thick with reeds, cattails, and blue and purple lilies, their pads a good couple of paces across. Insects hummed and frogs sang. He stepped down to where the waves lapped the sand and crouched, scooping up a handful of water to make certain. It tasted fresh, so this could be anything from a large lake to a sweetwater sea. He stood and looked up and down the shore. The land curved out in a great arc, and there was no sign of any groundling inhabitants.
The others landed a little further up the bank, and Jade set Flower on her feet. Stone circled twice overheard, then dropped down to light near the others and shift to groundling. Moon joined the group, the grass releasing a sweet fragrance as his claws pressed it down.
Stone stretched, then winced and rubbed his neck. “I’ll scout for the island, the rest of you wait here.”
That was the only option. Flying over water was always problematic. Raksura could only go so far without rest and food, and they couldn’t get real rest without stopping to shift to groundling. And it was one thing to fly out over the shallow Yellow Sea, knowing the direction of the islands and that they lay less than a day’s flight for a warrior. It was another to fly out over an unknown body of water. But Stone had easily three times the range of even a young consort like Moon.
“You mean to start right away?” Jade looked out over the water. “You should rest and leave in the morning.”
Stone gave her a glare that Moon knew well. “I’m not wasting most of a day.”
“You should at least eat,” Moon told him. “It’s a bigger waste if you fall out of the sky and drown.”
This had the effect of transferring the glare to Moon. And Stone must be in a worse mood than it seemed, because he growled, a low rumble of threat.
Everyone twitched in nervous reaction, except for Moon, who was unimpressed, Jade, whose expression turned sardonic, and Flower, who yawned.
Stone was usually acerbic, but he didn’t growl often, especially in his groundling form. He had done a good job of hiding his impatience so far, but it was clear he hadn’t forgotten that it was his doing the court had come back to the colony tree. Moon figured that if someone was going to get slapped unconscious, it might as well be him. He said, “Good, let’s fight. That’ll save time too.”
Stone controlled a hiss, his jaw set. Then he flung his arms in the air. “Fine! Then get off your asses and hunt!”
As Stone stomped away, Chime, Balm, and Vine scattered toward the forest. “Hah,” Flower commented, and started back up the bank, wading through the tall grass.
Jade gave Moon a look, lifting a brow. He turned to stare out over the sea to avoid her gaze. Up to this point, the journey had been fairly straightforward. Now if the map was wrong, if they couldn’t find the island, they would have to turn around and go back to Indigo Cloud. And then figure out where to look for a new colony.
They made a camp on one of the broad lower branches of a small mountain-tree at the edge of the forest, only about a hundred or so paces above the ground. Jade kept watch over Flower and Stone while they napped, and Balm and Vine went hunting. Chime dug in the shallows, looking for roots, and found some sand melons and big white clams, while Moon wandered along the shore and made sure nothing tried to eat him.
Balm and Vine came back shortly with two hoppers out of a herd further back in the forest, one for Stone and one for the rest of them to share. After they had cleaned up in the lake, Balm flew back up to the tree to talk to Jade. Vine stayed on the beach, and Moon took the opportunity to ask him, “Why are you so anxious to help Jade now?”
“Do I look anxious?” Vine said, cleaning his claws in the grass at the water’s edge.
Moon didn’t react to the attempt at a joke, and Vine said, reluctantly, “I’m older than River, I’m bigger than River, and he doesn’t like me. And I’m not thrilled about having to defer to him. And that’s how it’s going to be, until Pearl gets tired of him.” He shrugged his spines. “It’s different for Floret. No male warrior is going to order the female warriors around. They’re too big, and they stick together.”
It had the ring of truth. Moon said, “So you think you’ll do better with Jade?”
Vine correctly interpreted the undertone of that question. “I think I don’t have to put up with River telling me what to do. Jade’s always been close to Balm; she was never interested in male warriors. And now you’re here, I’m guessing no male warrior is going to have much chance with her.”
Vine had that part right. Moon still didn’t entirely trust him, though his motives made sense.
After they ate, Stone said only, “Don’t wait up,” before he shifted and set off across the water.
They watched from the branch, through the screen of leaves, until Stone’s outline dwindled in the distance. Moon let out his breath, frustrated. He couldn’t just sit here and wait.
It was a good day for flying, the bright blue sky clear except for a few high clouds. He turned to Jade. “We could scout along the shoreline, maybe find some sign that groundlings were here.”
It was a relief that Jade didn’t ask why they should bother, or what good it would do if they did find evidence of groundlings, because Moon couldn’t answer either one of those questions. She looked at the warriors inquiringly. “Well? Scout or rest?”
“I’ll scout,” Balm said, sitting forward. She looked anxious for something to do as well.
Chime nodded. Vine said, “I’ll go with Balm.”
“No.” Jade looked down the shoreline. She was in her Arbora form, and her shorter mane of spines trembled as she tasted the air. “I’ll go with Balm. Vine will stay here with Flower.”
Vine gasped at the unfairness. “Why me?”