by Martha Wells
Moon fought down a lump of emotion that tried to close his throat. He managed, “You know about the . . .”
“I know everything.” Callumkal stepped back, still gripping Moon’s arms. “I was the one who trusted Vendoin, who shared all my work with her, who brought her on the expedition.”
Moon shook his head. “That was . . . Not something anybody could have guessed.”
Vine landed on the deck with Rorra then, and Callumkal smiled to see her. “Captain! It’s good to see you well!”
Moon stepped aside to give Rorra room. Delin appeared at his side to say, “Vendoin is alive, did they tell you? We found her while you were at the forerunner ruin.”
“Alive?” Moon growled the word. “Are you serious?”
“We left her in Kish-Karad under guard, with the Jandera speaker to the conclave.” Delin’s expression was grimly satisfied. “It gave the Hians there much to explain. They said they didn’t know about Vendoin and Lavinat’s plans, and Callumkal and the others said it would take some time to decide what to do, if the Jandera were going to accept that. But the important thing is that the other Kish believed us.” He waved a hand. “We will tell you everything you missed on the way back to the Reaches.”
“Back to the Reaches?” Niran had arrived just in time to hear this, and looked aghast. He protested, “Grandfather—”
Delin waved a hand. “We must go back. Our friends are surely too tired to fly all that way.”
Jade stood with Pearl and Malachite on the open balcony below the big tower. Heart was nearby, Ceilinel leaning heavily on her. Jandera in flying harnesses lifted off from the newly arrived boat and landed several paces away. After a moment’s consultation, the lead Jandera came forward and said in Kedaic, “We wish to speak with the Raksura leader.”
Malachite twitched a spine and said in Raksuran to Pearl, “This is pointless.”
“For once I agree with you,” Pearl said.
Jade felt her spines tilt but she controlled her annoyance. “We have a chance to make an alliance with these groundlings.” Pearl’s expression said she was clearly unmoved by that statement. “You can’t ignore them because you don’t like to talk.”
“I can.” There was nothing ironic in the angle of Pearl’s spines.
Jade took a deep breath, all too aware of Malachite. “Pearl, I want Vendoin and her people held responsible for this. For Song. For—” Her gaze flicked to the wind-ship where Moon was. “For the groundlings they killed who were under my protection. For what they meant to do to the Reaches. If we leave, they will lie about us, about what happened.”
Malachite stared down at her. Pearl looked away, growling under her breath, her spines flicking. But Jade knew the whole variety of Pearl’s growls, and that one was the I’m angry that your argument has swayed my opinion growl. Pearl said, “Well, what do you want to do, then?”
Jade said, “Stay and talk. Make sure they listen to Callumkal, and Kalam and Rorra.”
Pearl gave Malachite a considering glare, then said to Jade, “I’ll agree, if you send your consort back to the Reaches with an escort of warriors.”
Jade controlled an irritated twitch. She had intended to do that anyway. “Of course. He can go on the wind-ship. The Golden Islanders will want to return with us.”
Pearl hissed, “Of course they do. We’ll never get rid of all these groundlings.”
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.”
By the time Rorra and Kalam said their last goodbyes, it was full night. Moon sat up on the steering cabin with Chime as the wind-ship lifted away from the dark shapes of the towers and the Kish boats, and sailed away under the bright ocean of stars.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
After the next few days, Moon almost wished he could have spent the trip in a healing sleep. Waiting for Jade and the others to catch up made him edgy and there were too many things to worry about. And Stone was preoccupied, loitering in the stern, talking more to Delin or Diar than anyone else.
Once Moon convinced Chime that he was fully recovered, they started having sex late at night on top of the steering cabin. It was somewhat challenging, since they had to be quiet so Niran wouldn’t hear them and yell and bang on the ceiling. They were curled up together one night when Chime admitted, “I can’t stop thinking about the Reaches. If it got that far into Jandera territory, if Jade hadn’t stopped it in time . . .”
“But she did,” Moon said, and nipped his ear. He was pretending to be less affected by it than he actually was. Diar had managed to plot a rough map of the weapon’s effect, and how far it might have extended if it hadn’t been stopped. Stone had asked her not to show it to anyone else.
“I know, but—” Chime began, and Moon did something that distracted him from the topic for the rest of the night.
But by the next afternoon, Moon needed something else to think about, and he started to teach Shade how to fight like a groundling. Moon had been in many situations where he couldn’t risk revealing what he was by shifting but still had to defend himself. There was no reason to expect Shade ever would, but there was no point in not learning, either.
Shade was bemused at first and then increasingly interested. He had been taught the rudiments of fighting and hunting at Opal Night, but not how to use his strength in his groundling form. He was good at it; he was still built like a slender Aeriat but reaching maturity had added a lot of lean muscle.
They soon ended up with an audience of the warriors and everyone who wasn’t busy on the boat, with Delin sketching and taking notes. Bramble wanted to learn too, and Moon ended up teaching her, Lithe, and Merit. Chime got lessons too, though Bramble had to drag him down the deck. “I don’t need to learn,” Chime protested. “I’m never leaving the Reaches again!”
It helped pass the time and gave Moon something to think about besides Jade. He was worried about her for several different reasons, and wished they had had more of a chance to talk before the wind-ship departed.
She couldn’t be happy about the fact that he had left Chime, Shade, and Lithe to run off with a kethel and try to stop the Hians alone. It hadn’t worked, and he had almost gotten himself and Kethel killed, but since Moon hadn’t known if Jade and the others were trapped or dead, he didn’t see he had had much choice. But he was tired of worrying about it. They were on their way home, and he wanted everything to go back to the way it was. He figured if Jade was still angry when she got back, he could apologize and pretend convincingly to be sorry. He just wanted her to hurry up and get here so he could do it.
But they had come out of the jungles and crossed the grass plains, and were almost at the edge of the western wetlands before the queens and the rest of the warriors caught up with them.
When they were specks in the distance, Deft sighted them from the look-out post atop the mast. The larger group of Raksura continued on, but two specks broke off and flew toward the wind-ship. By the time they landed, everyone was on deck and Moon was trying not to vibrate with impatience.
“Are you all right?” he demanded as soon as Jade furled her wings.
“Yes.” She seemed startled to be asked. She looked tired and her scales were dusty. “We’re fine.”
“What happened?” Delin asked anxiously, proving Moon wasn’t the only one who had been worried. “Are our other friends well? Was there a resolution with the Kish?”
Jade said, “Yes. Pearl and Malachite are traveling with the half-Fell flight, so they’re going straight on to the Reaches.” Moon realized Malachite must not have wanted the Fellborn queen anywhere near him and Shade. Jade continued, “We have an agreement with the Kishan conclave, for what that’s worth.” She glanced at Saffron. “It was fairly boring.” Saffron twitched her spines in fervent agreement.
Jade’s spines were drooping a little and Moon thought she must be exhausted. He said, “You need to rest.”
That got Bramble moving, and she hustled Jade and Saffron below to where Flicker was already making tea.
Once they were sitting down, Jade still didn’t talk much, though Saffron gave more details. Stone sent River, Root, and Deft off to get a couple of grasseat
ers, then sat down on the edge of the group.
Moon, partly so Stone didn’t have to ask, said, “How was Rorra when you left?”
“She was ready to go back to Kedmar. So was Kalam.” Jade flicked a look at Stone, or at least in Stone’s direction. “I told her if Callumkal really does mean to visit us, she should come. She would be welcome.”
Stone didn’t say anything and the lack of response made for an awkward moment. That was when Moon added up all the hints and realized something was wrong between Jade and Stone. Diar asked a question about the Kishan conclave then and the talk went on.
Moon caught Jade alone in the sleeping room after she had eaten. She was leaning over, digging through her pack. He slid the light wooden door shut and said, “Did you want to talk about what happened?” He wasn’t sure what was wrong between her and Stone, but being angry with him probably couldn’t be helping. He wanted to give her a chance to yell at him in private before he apologized.
She glanced up at him. “With the conclave?”
Moon had been hoping not to have to spell it out. He felt badly enough about it as it was. “No, with Lavinat and the Hians, in the ruin.”
Jade burrowed deeper into the pack, not looking up at him. “I’d rather wait until we get back to the court.”
Moon hadn’t expected that. “You don’t want to talk.” He had rehearsed this moment and he just wanted to get it over with. Waiting would just make it worse; at least, it always had before.
Jade still didn’t look up. “No, not now.”
Moon set his jaw. “About anything?”
Frustrated, obviously trying to avoid having the conversation, Jade kept pretending to dig in the pack, which couldn’t have more than three things and a blanket in it. “Of course not. We can talk about something else.”
Moon folded his arms and tried to force down his irritation. “I told Bramble I’d have a clutch with her.”
Jade gave up on the pack and started pretending to arrange her blanket. “That’s fine. She’s a good choice.”