by Martha Wells
Everyone got up to hurry away, the Arbora to organize their precipitate harvest and to prepare to hunt, and the warriors to arrange to escort them. Indigo made her way over to Cerise and asked, “Are you going to greet the Emerald Twilight queens?”
Cerise eyed her. “Am I going out there to beg their indulgence again? No. We made an agreement to meet in thirty days for a judgment by our allied courts. They’re early, and they’ve forgone their right to special consideration. I will send Tranquil to offer them hospitality. They’ll refuse, of course, but we want them to think we’re naively continuing about our business until the Arbora are done with their preparations.”
Indigo still looked uneasy. “Maybe I should—”
“I told you no. Don’t make me repeat myself.” The last thing Indigo needed to do was go out there. If she did, Cerise wouldn’t be able to prevent a battle with Argent and all this would be for nothing. “You were right, we have to protect Argent from her own folly. What you should be doing is making up your mind.”
Indigo’s spines stiffened. “I have made up my mind. I don’t want him.”
Cerise was pointedly reminded of the time when Indigo was a fledgling and had had a mild lung fever, and refused to take the remedy from mentors, teachers, or Paragon, and Cerise had had to come down to the nurseries and negotiate with her herself. The memory softened her temper, so instead of growling she said mildly, “He’s given up pride to say he wants you, in front of me, Paragon, Fluff, and the warriors. If you’re still angry at him for misleading you—”
“I’m not still angry.” Indigo’s mouth set in a stubborn line. “I’m doing what I know is the right thing.”
“For the court?” Cerise said, still mild.
“Yes.”
Cerise lifted her spines and hardened her voice. “But you still want to fight Argent, for your pride’s sake? When you’re the reigning queen, you decide what’s right for the court. Until then, I do.”
Indigo lowered her stiff spines a little but didn’t drop her gaze. “That’s not what I mean. And you know it.”
“Leave the court to me and do what’s right for yourself,” Cerise said.
Unable to relax her spines, Indigo stalked away.
Tranquil went out to formally greet the Emerald Twilight party, and to offer them hospitality contingent on their entering the colony tree. They refused, and Tranquil and the two warriors with her returned to the court. In the meantime, the Arbora completed their brief harvest, managing to make their behavior look normal and not at all hurried, mostly by having far more people out working than would have been necessary had all the crops suddenly come in at once. By the evening a group of hunters had replenished the larder with a hunting trip in the lower part of the suspended forest. Once that meat ran out, they would risk the more dangerous territory of the forest floor.
It wasn’t until well after mid-morning the next day that the Emerald Twilight contingent realized that no Arbora were coming out to work, despite the clear weather, and that no warriors patrolled the clearing. Cerise, Streak, and Tranquil watched them from the consorts’ door high in the tree, and were rewarded with seeing Argent pace and flare her spines and wave her arms in anger and frustration while Beryl and Silver just stood there, radiating annoyance.
“Well, that’s one day down.” Streak glanced up at Cerise. “I hope we have equal good luck for all the others.”
Cerise just hoped their allies arrived early.
The next time Cerise was woken in the middle of the night, it was good news: Ruby was about to clutch.
It had been twelve long, dull days with the court confined to the colony tree and the Emerald Twilight party stewing outside, making the clutching an even more welcome event. The only good thing about the enforced idleness was that the Arbora had turned all their attention to making cloth, metalworking, and carving. By the time the other courts arrived, most of the court would have new clothes or new jewelry, several undecorated walls would have new elaborately carved murals, and several other rooms had new inlay.
And after the clutching was over, hopefully successfully, Cerise would have Ruby back.
When Cerise walked into Ruby’s bower, it was clear the moment was almost here. Ruby lay on the furs by the hearth, with Cinnabar and Fluff sitting near her. The only other Raksura in the room were the two female warriors closest to Ruby, her clutchmates. Cinnabar looked nervous but determined, Fluff serene, and the two warriors just nervous. It was Ruby’s first clutch, and queens tended to become unreasonably cranky during the period when they were confined to their Arbora form, when the clutch was near term, a condition that just got worse as the time drew closer. Usually only their consort and closest bloodline relatives could be present. Sometimes things even got tricky for the mentor who assisted with the birth, but Fluff was experienced enough that Cerise wasn’t worried. She said to Ruby, “Finally. You took long enough.”
Ruby snarled at her. Her frills were drooping from weariness, but her eyes were bright and her breathing clear. There was no sign of any potential difficulty. She said, “I am never doing this again!”
“Everyone says that.” All queens said that. Cerise was fairly certain even she had said that. The Arbora were more sensible about it.
Ruby bared her teeth. “Get out!”
Cerise left. She would come back for the birth itself, but there was no point in antagonizing Ruby now.
She came out into the queens’ hall and found Paragon, Bright, Sunrise, and Cloud already there, along with a few dozen sleepy Arbora, mostly teachers, and several of the older warriors. Everyone who wasn’t on guard at the knothole would be assembling in the teachers’ hall and the greeting hall to wait for news.
Cerise took a cushion beside Paragon. Several kettles already sat on the large hearth and someone had put on some bread to warm. Knowing Ruby might want something more substantial after the birth, Cerise sent a warrior down to the teachers’ hall to make sure some food would be ready.
With a reminiscent sigh, Paragon said, “This brings back pleasant memories.”
Cerise gave him an ironic look. “For you, maybe.”
Indigo and Lapis came in from the passage to the interior bowers, and settled nearby. Indigo ignored Cloud, and Cloud didn’t glance in her direction, but Cerise sensed they were highly aware of each other. Cerise hissed under her breath. Indigo was still avoiding Cloud for the most part, but their few interactions had been highly interesting.
A few days ago the Arbora had decided to replenish the meat supply and a hunting party had cautiously left the tree through a door down in the roots just above the forest floor. Whole different species of predators stalked the swamps, rock outcroppings, and the wooden ridges of the mountain-tree roots in the perpetual twilight, so the hunters had been accompanied by a number of warriors and Indigo for good measure. Somehow, Cloud had ended up going along, something that Cerise would have forbidden had she gotten any hint that it might happen.
After taking some advice from the Kek, the hunters had advanced out along the tall ridge of one of the roots to the far end of the swamp, and found a herd of large grasseaters feeding on the weeds in the shallows. They had taken several of them and had been in the process of hauling the carcasses back up onto the slope of the root with the warriors’ help, when something unfolded itself up out of the mud at the fringe of the swamp. It had made a leap for two Arbora who had lingered behind the others to wash the blood out of their claws. Cloud, who had been watching from the top of the root, had stooped on the predator with wings and spines flared, startling it long enough for the Arbora to scramble to safety. Indigo and the warriors had driven it away and Cloud had been matter-of-fact about the whole incident.
After Cerise had distributed censure and praise where it was due, and discussed the ramifications of allowing a consort who the court was only the temporary and highly disputed guardian of to risk himself doing a warrior’s duty, she spoke in private to Indigo. “I know, and I’m sorry!” Indigo said,
“But I didn’t think he’d really go with us on the hunting trip. And then he did, and I couldn’t back down.”
“Back down?” Cerise repeated, too angry to say anything else for the moment.
“He was there when the hunters came into the teachers’ hall to tell me about the hunt. He said he had never been below the suspended forest. I dared him to go along, sort of. He dared me to let him, and said I never would, and so I had to.” Indigo sighed at Cerise’s expression. “I know, we sound like fledglings.”
“That’s one way to put it.” Cerise shook her head helplessly. You wanted them to get closer, didn’t you? You wanted them to take a chance on each other. “Just don’t get him killed while you’re making your decision.”
Indigo tilted her head. “I have made my decision.”
Yes, that was why she so lost her mind around him as to try to antagonize him into either admitting fear or doing something foolhardy. Cloud, more confident in his abilities to defend himself than other consorts his age, had let her, or possibly, knowing him, provoked the entire thing deliberately. Cerise just waited. After a long moment, Indigo visibly steeled herself and said, “I won’t take him if it will cause the court trouble. That’s my decision.”
It was admirable, but Cerise couldn’t shake the gut feeling that it would be a very great shame if Indigo didn’t take Cloud. Cerise said, finally, “Well, Paragon will be disappointed if you don’t.”
Indigo looked wistful. “Will he?”
Paragon, far more confident of Cerise’s ability to bring about a happy outcome than Cerise was, had already been mulling over names for Indigo and Cloud’s first clutch. “Yes.”
Indigo’s expression had turned bleak and she had gone away.
Now, sitting here, surrounded by the closest members of the court and waiting for the new clutch, Cerise felt uneasy. The future was uncertain at best.
A few hours later, the Arbora and warriors were celebrating the successful birth, while the royal Aeriat visited the new babies in Ruby’s bower. Ruby had already stamped off with her clutchmates to devour a couple of grasseater haunches and regain her temper, while Cinnabar and Fluff and the other mentors minded the new babies.
Ruby and Cinnabar had done well, with three potential queens and two potential consorts. Only one of the males was smaller, which meant he had been conceived somewhat later than the others. Fluff had had to clear the tiny throat before he had started to breathe, but now the littlest one was flailing his arms and hissing like the others.
Cinnabar’s skin was flushed dark bronze and he was nearly giddy with relief. When one of the potential queens tried to roll off the nest of blankets, Cinnabar handed the smallest male off to Cloud, all the other arms around him being already occupied. Cloud curled around the baby and gently rubbed his tummy with one finger. The baby grabbed for his nose.
Across the room, Cerise saw Indigo staring at Cloud, and she knew that look. Somehow I am going to have to clear the way for them. Cerise waited until Indigo felt her gaze and looked up. Cerise lifted a brow and Indigo flicked her spines in embarrassed acknowledgment and looked away.
Later, Cerise found herself sitting near Cloud while the others were occupied on the far side of the hearth.
He was still holding one of the babies, and she watched him stroke its frills. She asked, “Why did you change your mind?”
His sideways glance at her was wary, and he didn’t speak. Making it clear she wanted her question answered, she added, “About Indigo.”
He looked down at the baby, letting its blunt claws wrap around his fingers. “I don’t know.”
Cerise wasn’t sure if that was true or he just didn’t want to tell her. She made her voice ironic. “Perhaps it was the wealth of our court that won you over.”
Cloud smiled a little, still focused on the baby. “This may not be a wealthy court compared to Emerald Twilight, but it’s much more … comfortable.”
Cerise waited. After a moment, Cloud said, “Everyone in my court told me that when I met the queen I’d want to be with, I’d know immediately.”
Cerise lifted a brow. “That’s terrible advice.”
He met her gaze for the first time. “I know that now.”
Cerise tilted her head in acknowledgement. “If you haven’t been raised in the same court, you have to get to know each other. Perhaps that’s hard for Raksura, because we’re all used to knowing each other from the moment we’re born.” She moved her spines in a gentle shrug. “We’re not accustomed to speaking to strangers. That’s one reason our greeting rituals are so elaborate. They tell us how to behave.”
Cloud considered that, as the little male tried out its baby teeth on his finger. “I didn’t trust Indigo at first.”
Cerise thought it must have been frightening for him, trusting himself to an unknown queen, in his bid to escape Emerald Twilight. There were queens who would have taken advantage of the situation; he was lucky he had chosen Indigo. “Well, you didn’t have reason to.”
“I do now.” He looked away. “She’s still angry at me.”
Cerise held out a hand and he let the baby crawl into it. She could tell this was honest emotion. Cloud really did regret lying to Indigo. “You could try courting her,” she found herself saying. Indigo had ignored that advice; maybe Cloud could do better.
A line of confusion appeared between Cloud’s brows. “Consorts aren’t supposed to court queens.”
“Oh, of all the things you’ve done that consorts aren’t supposed to do, you balk at that.” Cerise let a little mockery into her voice.
Cloud snorted, unwillingly amused at himself. “I could try, I guess.”
Ruby stamped back in at that point, recovered and ready to become acquainted with her clutch, and everyone’s attention turned to other things.
Finally, on the twenty-eighth day, the first of the other courts arrived. As the visiting group began to set up a camp on a platform of an adjacent mountain-tree, Umber Shadow breathed a collective sigh of relief and the Arbora went out to collect the ground fruit that had ripened over the past days. Emerald Twilight stayed in their own camp, and Cerise was certain she saw spines drooping dejectedly.
The first court was soon followed by two others, and at first it was exciting. Cerise was still hoping Sunset Water would appear, but as each group flew in and settled for a landing, that hope was disappointed. By the next day, it was clear far more courts were arriving than Cerise had anticipated. This dispute was obviously the most entertaining thing to happen in the Reaches for turns.
The ones who had the least far to travel came with only one or two queens and several warriors, while those who had made longer trips often brought along more warriors and sometimes a mentor or two.
Cerise, Tranquil, and Bloom watched them from the door in the consorts’ level. Her spines flicking grimly, Bloom said, “I worry about them hunting in our territory. I hope they have the courtesy to control their appetites.”
Usually no one minded a party hunting occasionally while they traveled through another court’s reserves. But if this many Raksura stayed for more than a few days, it could be a problem. Cerise told Bloom, “We’re going to have to organize a joint hunting party. It’s better to keep it under our control than let them do as they want.” Letting the Arbora and warriors out wouldn’t be a problem now, not with this many curious witnesses to anything Argent did.
At least the groups were all courteous enough to follow the first arrival’s example and avoid the garden and agricultural platforms attached to the colony tree. It was courteous, but it didn’t give Cerise an excuse to invite any of them in, and it made Emerald Twilight’s position even more pointed.
Cerise watched one of the larger groups of recent arrivals construct an elaborate camp on one of the adjacent mountain-tree platforms with the air of people who meant to settle in and enjoy the show. She squinted, trying to get a good look at the larger queen, and decided they were probably from Opal Night. Yes, she could see Beryl staring at t
hem in dismay. The most powerful court in the Reaches was here, and there was simply no way they would fail to assert their opinion on the situation. Cerise knew she hadn’t invited them, and she was fairly certain any connection with Emerald Twilight was a distant one. The word of the judgment must have spread far wider than Emerald Twilight had meant it to.
Tranquil leaned further out the door, squinting to see as another group flew into the clearing under the canopy. “There’s another one.”
Cerise said dryly, “Oh good, just in time. I’d hate for them to miss anything.” It was a smaller group, at least, with only one queen and five warriors.
But the new group flew past the other occupied platforms, circling toward the colony tree. Cerise thought for a moment they would join Emerald Twilight’s camp, but though they flew close by and certainly seemed to recognize each other, they didn’t stop. They came all the way in and landed on the platform to the side of the waterfall just below the knothole, the one where visitors usually chose to announce themselves.
“They want to greet us,” Tranquil said, startled.
There was no way it could be a misunderstanding. The new party had all but stooped on Emerald Twilight, and their progress through the other groups had been obviously deliberate.
Cerise leaned down, gripping the edge of the doorway, narrowing her eyes. The leader of the group was a young queen, and something in her body shape and conformation was familiar … she was part of Cloud’s bloodline. Cerise hissed. “I think that’s Sunset Water. Finally!”