by Martha Wells
Moon nodded. He could hear a faint murmur of voices, Serene making polite stilted small talk with Muse, the Ocean Winter warrior. It was Serene’s first time to greet visitors from another court, and it must be even more nerve-racking to do it under these circumstances. Moon whispered, “Aren’t you going to tell me it’s nothing, that they’re fine? That one of the warriors got hurt, and it delayed them?”
“After twenty days?” Stone snorted derisively. “Not likely.” But he gave Moon’s shoulder a rough nudge. “Whatever happened, Jade can handle it.”
That was what was worrying Moon. That whatever it was, Jade hadn’t managed to deal with it and return yet.
Ember came down the steps into the passage. He had changed clothes too, though there had been nothing wrong with the ones he had been wearing. He said softly, “Pearl is about to come out.” Watching Moon with sympathy, he added, “I’m sure they’re fine.”
Moon took that in the spirit that it was meant and just nodded tightly. Stone didn’t acknowledge Ember at all, and Ember just eyed him warily and didn’t say anything. It wasn’t that Stone didn’t like Ember, so much as that he was completely indifferent to Ember’s existence.
They heard Pearl’s voice as she came out of her bower into the queens’ hall. Ember slipped past Moon, waited exactly long enough at the entrance, then stepped into the hall. Moon didn’t need to see to know Ember had arrived at the seating area at precisely the same moment as Pearl without appearing to hurry, and was now seated gracefully on a cushion behind her. Usually Moon got to witness this performance, since Jade as sister queen was supposed to greet visiting queens first, and Moon would have been out there with her.
Stone waited a moment to give Ember time to get seated, then started out. Moon followed.
Moon usually found it awkward and unnerving, even when Jade was here, to walk out into the hall under the scrutiny of a foreign queen. Now he was just impatient. One side of the queens’ hall looked out into the colony tree’s central well, with the open gallery of the consort level above it. There was a fountain against the inner wall that fell down to a shallow pool, and above it a huge sculpture of a queen with outspread wings stretched out across the walls to circle the entire chamber, meeting tip to tip. The queen’s scales, set with polished sunstones, glinted faintly in the soft light.
On the ring of cushions facing the Ocean Winter queen and her warriors were Pearl, Ember, and Heart, with several of Pearl’s favored warriors scattered behind her.
As Moon took one of the cushions behind Stone, he caught the Ocean Winter queen eyeing him surreptitiously. Moon set his jaw and didn’t snarl. He could hear faint sounds echoing up from below, the voices of the Arbora and warriors, louder than usual at this time because everyone had been called inside.
Pearl introduced him. “Moon of Opal Night, first consort to Jade, our sister queen.” She tilted her head to indicate the foreign queen. “Garnet, daughter queen of Ocean Winter.”
Garnet inclined her head, and betrayed a trace of nerves as she settled her spines. She said, “We came primarily to continue the talk of trade begun during the earlier visit by our sister queen. We heard from her that you were interested in trading for seedlings and grains. We have those in abundance, but we are a small court and lack—”
“Is that the only reason you came?” Pearl interrupted.
Garnet frowned, and her warriors tensed, startled. “We also want to formalize our alliance. We heard from other courts you were much interested in trading partners.”
“Which courts?”
“Sunset Water, to name one.” Garnet flattened her spines in an effort of self-control. “If that information was not meant to be shared, I apologize.” She hesitated, then admitted, “But we also wish to begin trade as soon as possible. We have more crops than we know what to do with but very little woven cloth.”
Pearl sat back, flicked a spine. “Why didn’t you bring a consort?”
Garnet’s spines stiffened in offense, but she kept her voice under control. “I haven’t taken one yet.” Her gaze went from Pearl to Stone and Moon, to Heart, as if she was realizing that there might be something to their attitude besides the usual structured rudeness of a strange court. “What is this? If you have changed your minds about an alliance between our courts—”
Calmly, Pearl said, “If you’re lying, I’ll rip you apart.”
Garnet surged to her feet and snarled, “Try it.”
Moon moved before he knew he meant to, shoved to his feet and shifted to his winged form in one motion. His spines flared, his wings half extended, his snarl echoed through the open well of the tree.
Heart, the warriors, and Ember flinched in startled reflex. Stone didn’t move, and neither did Pearl. Garnet’s spines shivered in reaction. Her gaze went from Moon to Pearl, now more shocked than angry. She said, “What is it? Lying about what?” Her voice was rough.
Moon growled low in his throat. She’s playacting. But deep in his heart, he knew a Raksuran queen that young could easily fake anger, but not the dismay and frustration of the unjustly insulted.
With the same lazy calm, Pearl said, “Moon, sit down and be quiet.”
Moon lashed his tail and sank down to sit again. After a moment he managed to shift to his groundling form. Garnet took a deep breath and sat down as well, her gaze still fixed on Pearl.
His expression completely opaque, Stone said, “Tell her.”
Beside Pearl, Heart said, “Yes. I don’t think she’s lying.”
One of Garnet’s warriors hissed, and Garnet quieted her with a look. She regarded Pearl again, no less angry but a great deal less confused. “What do you think we’ve done?”
Pearl said, “Twenty days ago our sister queen, Jade, left for Ocean Winter with five of her warriors to make arrangements for the trade alliance we had discussed when your sister queen visited two changes of the month previously.”
Garnet’s eyes narrowed. “Twenty days … We left six days ago and saw nothing of them. How do I know this is true …?” Her gaze went to Moon and the words trailed off.
Moon didn’t know what he looked like, but it must have convinced her. Garnet shook her head impatiently. “We haven’t seen your sister queen. She did not arrive at our court before we left. I don’t know what proof I can offer.”
Pearl tilted her head thoughtfully. “Perhaps you wish to leave immediately, to return to your court to ask if anyone has seen her.”
Garnet didn’t fall for that. She said, “I assume that would only confirm your suspicions. In your place, it would certainly confirm mine.” She hesitated, then said, “You can keep me here as hostage, and send someone to our court to search.”
Her largest female warrior hissed a protest again, and actually reached to touch Garnet’s arm. Garnet shook her off impatiently.
Pearl flexed her claws, their jeweled sheaths catching the light. But she said, “That is … wise of you.”
Moon stirred in frustration, wanting to object or argue. Even if we left for Ocean Winter now, they’ve had days to hide the evidence. But a reluctant part of him found Garnet’s sincerity convincing.
Garnet said, “All I can say is that Ocean Winter wants and needs alliances and trade. There is no advantage we could get from attacking you.” She flicked another look at Moon. “The regard your court is held in by Opal Night is well known. Ocean Winter has no desire to make enemies.”
Pearl eyed her for a long moment, and Garnet didn’t flinch. Then Pearl flicked her claws. “If you will leave the hall for a time, we will discuss our suspicions, and your generous offer.”
Pearl sent Garnet and her warriors to the guest quarters, with a guard of warriors and soldiers to watch them and make sure they stayed where they were put. Bone, Bell, and Knell had arrived at the queens’ level by that point, and joined the conference. Bone was the leader of the hunters’ caste, and his heavily muscled groundling form showed the signs of age and past desperate encounters. He had white hair and an ashy cast to hi
s dark bronze skin, and a ring of old scar tissue around his neck where something had once tried to bite his head off.
Bell was another of Knell and Chime’s clutchmates, and the leader of the Arbora teachers’ caste. He had the same dark hair and skin as Knell, and the same height, but was a bit slimmer.
They waited until Serene returned to report that the guests were safely ensconced and had seemed to settle in without protest.
Stone broke the uneasy silence. “The foreign daughter queen was right. There’s no reason for them to attack us.”
Moon had gotten to his feet to pace. He had managed to stay in his groundling form, but he had to move. Even though he wasn’t sure he believed it, he said, “They could take whatever they want instead of trading for it.”
“They don’t want the damn cloth.” Pearl’s voice was an annoyed growl. “That’s just their excuse. They want an alliance.”
Moon stopped to stare at her. “How do you know?”
Pearl flicked her claws at Ember, who said, “They’re a small court, and they’ve had setbacks. They’ve had trouble getting consorts. Indigo Cloud is small and new to the Reaches, but you already have two powerful allies.” He leaned forward. “It’s not what you have now that they’re interested in. It’s what you’ll have in the future: consorts from Emerald Twilight’s and Opal Night’s primary bloodlines.” Ember spread his hands. “It might be twenty turns before there are young Indigo Cloud consorts available, but the suit of a queen from a longtime ally is more likely to succeed. So they meant to become a longtime ally.”
Moon shook his head and walked to the edge of the hall, looking down into the central well. Spell-lights gleamed a warm yellow-white from balconies and doorways all the way down to the greeting hall. Cool air flowed up the well, laced with the scents of green plants and wet earth, clean water, bread baking, and a myriad of Raksura. Not enough to even come close to filling the huge colony tree, but there were a few more than there had been when they had first arrived here.
He wanted Ocean Winter to be guilty because then he would know exactly where Jade and the others were, and it would only be a matter of finding a way to get to them. If Ocean Winter was innocent, then it meant something had happened on the way there. And that meant the best chance was that there was nothing left to find but bone fragments.
Knell said, “We’ll know more when the patrols send word. If it’s really just the Ocean Winter Queen and her five warriors, then there isn’t much chance this is a trick.”
Moon stepped off the edge of the platform, shifted and snapped out his wings, and drifted all the way down.
Moon ended up in the bottom of the tree, below the Arbora’s work rooms and storage areas. The passages here were more cave-like, the walls rough wood with no carving, the floors knobby and uneven underfoot. He was sitting on a landing near the edge of an open channel that curved down a set of rough stairs. Water rushed down it, mostly obscured by curtains of moss, then dropped to vanish into an enclosed pipe which diverted waste water down into the roots. The water was drawn up naturally through the tree, then tapped at various points to use for drinking and bathing. Most of it left the tree through the waterfall that fell from the knothole, but some of it was diverted down here, for the lower level bathing rooms and for flushing the latrines. When the drains worked the way they were supposed to.
The channel was flowing fast and the smell wasn’t obtrusive, though it attracted gnats and beetles. There was no one else down here.
A faint scrape from above was his only warning. He looked up to see Stone’s big black winged formed snaking down the stairwell, his claws catching in nooks and crannies. Stone’s winged form was far larger than any other Raksura Moon had ever seen; tip to tip his wings were more than three times the size of Moon’s twenty pace span. Raksuran queens and consorts grew larger and stronger as they grew older, and as line grandfather to Indigo Cloud, Stone was very old. Stone sank down onto the stairs and shifted all in one motion, flowing into his groundling form.
Moon said, “Word from the patrols?”
“Not yet.” He sat down next to Moon. He was the closest thing Moon had ever had to a father, the one responsible for finding Moon in the wilds of the east and bringing him to Indigo Cloud.
“I should have gone with her,” Moon said. He figured that was what Stone had come down here to say, and he wanted to get it out there first.
But Stone said, “We won’t know that until we find them. Maybe you would have just been more of a hindrance than usual.”
Moon couldn’t handle optimism at the moment. And it didn’t sound as if Stone expected the patrols to find Ocean Winter warriors lurking in the outskirts of the clearing, either. “You mean if they’re dead, then it’s a good thing I’m still around to keep the alliance with Opal Night.” He didn’t even know if that was true. He had no idea what happened to consorts whose queens died before they made a clutch. It was the clutch that made a consort part of a court, not just being taken by a queen.
Stone hissed in more than his usual level of annoyance. “You’re good at feeling sorry for yourself, but I don’t want to hear it just now.”
Moon snarled and pushed to his feet. Stone caught his arm and yanked him back down. Stone said, “The question is, are you going to help me go after them?”
Moon’s heart thumped. “Will Pearl try to stop me from going?”
“Not this time. This isn’t a normal situation, and there’s no daughter queen to lead the search.” Moon knew his expression was dubious, and Stone gave him an exasperated look. “Pearl is Jade’s birthqueen, remember?”
Sometimes Moon didn’t remember it. It was hard to remember that Pearl and Jade had been disagreeing on things long before Moon had come along, that because they fought didn’t mean Pearl wanted Jade dead. His nomadic past had made him used to thinking of relationships as temporary and fragile. “Who should we take with us?”
Stone frowned, but when he spoke it was clear he had already been making plans. “I want to bring some hunters. Chances are whatever happened, it was when they camped for the night. Hunters will be better at picking up trails and traces on the platforms.”
Moon rubbed his eyes, trying to banish all the images of what that “whatever” might be. The warriors he trusted most, Chime, Balm, Song, and Root, were with Jade. “I want Floret and Vine.” They were experienced at travel away from the court, and good fighters.
Stone grunted agreement. “Keep thinking. We’ll need twice as many warriors as Arbora, so they can switch out carrying duties. And a mentor.”
A mentor to scry for them and help find the way, and for healing. And to keep us from falling into whatever trap caught Jade, Moon thought.
Moon was climbing the back stairway, on his way up to the queens’ hall, when River stepped out of a cross-passage.
Moon was in groundling form and had a moment to wonder if this was an ambush. It wouldn’t be the first time. When Moon had first arrived at the court, he and River would have been happy to see each other dead, and even though the dislike was no longer actively violent, they would never be friends. Before Moon’s bloodline had been traced to Opal Night, River had made it plain that he thought a feral solitary of a consort was bad for the court and a waste of Jade’s time. But it couldn’t be an ambush now; River was in groundling form too, tall and slim with coppery skin and dark hair, and he was alone.
Queens took warrior lovers all the time, but Pearl had turned River away because he had, for many turns, taken the place of a consort. Now that she had a real consort again, there was no place for River. He was still in Pearl’s faction, but he seemed to have lost much of his status in the court. The politics of status between warriors of different factions and alliances within the court was more difficult to navigate than interactions between any species Moon had ever encountered before, and he still didn’t completely understand it.
“What?” Moon demanded. River had clearly been lying in wait here for him, knowing Moon tended to tak
e this secluded stairwell that led up through the bowers when he wanted to avoid the central well.
River said, “I want to go with you. To look for Jade and the others.” As Moon stared, he added, “You know why.”
“I don’t know why. I don’t think about you, I don’t care about you, nobody does.”
That wasn’t meant to refer to the end of River’s time in Pearl’s bed, but River clearly took it that way. River’s voice tightened, and he said, “I have more experience than the others. I’m a better choice.”
Pearl had sent River to follow them to the freshwater sea, on the trip to recapture the colony tree’s seed, and he had come with them to the leviathan. They had been in a great deal of danger and all the warriors involved had proved themselves under pressure. Floret and Vine had gone on that trip too, which was why Moon wanted them now. Drift had been there as well, but Moon hated him worse than River. He said, “It’ll be a good chance to give the others some experience.”
River hissed in derision. “You’re going to trust Jade’s life to idiots who have never left the court before?”
“Better idiots than you,” Moon said, but River’s assumption that Jade was alive made his heart pound a little faster. It was stupid, since River knew no more about what had happened than anyone else, but it still made Moon feel better.
River snapped, “You know you can trust me to fight for the court. That’s all that should matter.” He hesitated, then set his jaw as if it took effort to get the next words out. “If I’m passed over, everyone will know that I’m nothing in this court.”
Moon rubbed the bridge of his nose, and managed not to say that was River’s own fault for trading so much on his relationship with Pearl that too many of the other warriors were happy to see him lose status. He hated River and River hated him, but they had fought together before, and River had argued, but never refused to obey Jade. And after their trip through the leviathan’s insides, Moon knew River wouldn’t break when confronted with the unexpected.