Stone had been right from the beginning. The court belonged here. And Moon meant to belong here, too.
Late that night, when Moon and Jade were asleep in their bower on the teachers’ level, someone banged loudly on the hanging bed. Moon, closest to the bottom, started awake and Jade rolled off him with a growl. They both leaned over the edge to see Blossom looking up at them expectantly. She said, “It’s the seed! It’s ready!”
Moon realized he could hear a lot of movement and voices out in the passage. Jade gasped, vaulted out of the bed, and bolted out of the room with Blossom. Still half-asleep, Moon climbed out, got his clothes on, and joined the trickle of Arbora moving toward the nearest stairs. Moon passed Niran, half-dressed and bleary with sleep, his long hair wrapped up in a scarf for the night. “What is it?” Niran asked.
“They think the seed’s ready,” Moon said as he passed by. “They’re going to try to attach it to the tree.”
“Ahh! Good luck!” Niran called after him.
Moon followed the others all the way down to the lower level where the seed’s chamber lay. The corridors leading to it were already packed with Arbora and warriors, everyone whispering anxiously. Some had shifted and clung to vantage points on the low ceiling, though Moon didn’t think they would have much of a view up there, either. He was standing on tiptoes, trying to get an idea of what was happening, when Balm elbowed her way through the crowd, grabbed him by the wrist, and unceremoniously hauled him back with her through the passage and up to the door of the seed chamber.
Jade was there in a little group with Pearl, Stone, and Chime, and the leaders of the Arbora, Bone, Bell, and Knell. River and Pearl’s other warriors crammed into the corridor behind Pearl. Balm deposited Moon at Jade’s side, and Jade whispered, “What were you doing back there?”
“I didn’t know I was supposed to be up here.”
Pearl hissed at them to be quiet and Moon gave up on an explanation.
The door was open and the seed chamber softly lit. From here Moon could see the mentors all in the small room, standing back against the walls. Even Copper, the young mentor-to-be, had been brought from the nurseries. He stood next to Merit and clung to the older mentor’s leg. Heart knelt in the center of the room, holding the seed.
It was easy to see how they had known the seed was ready. The hard outer husk had softened and was now covered with soft white petals. Another female mentor crouched beside Heart, holding a sketch that they compared the seed to. “It looks right,” the other mentor muttered. “It should be sprouting.”
“I think I feel tendrils,” Heart said, gently lifting one of the petals. She looked back at Stone. “Should we try?”
Stone shrugged, not helpfully. Pearl said, “Just go ahead.”
Heart took a deep breath and set the seed carefully into the cradle in the center of the web of dried and broken tendrils. Moon realized he was holding his breath along with everyone else.
Heart said, “I think now we just have to wait. It’s bound to take time to— Everyone, out!”
As the mentors scrambled to get out of the room, Moon fell back with Jade and the others to make space for them in the foyer. As the last mentor hopped out of the chamber, Moon saw that the seed had sprouted new white tendrils. They snaked out and twined around the crumbling remnants of the dead tendrils to follow their path into the heartwood. The tension ran out of Moon’s body and he leaned back against the wall, letting his breath out. That’s it, he thought. The seed was alive and well and back in its place.
“It worked,” Chime said, his voice trembling, and the word passed through the crowded passages, a growing murmur of relief.
Stone pushed the chamber door closed, and said, “Well, we’re home now.”
Appendix I
The Court of Indigo Cloud and Associated Raksura Aeriat
Queens
Pearl—Reigning Queen
Jade—Sister Queen
Amber—former Sister Queen, now dead
Azure—the queen who took Stone, now dead
Frost—a fledgling queen of the court of Sky Copper, now adopted by Indigo Cloud
Consorts
Stone—line-grandfather
Rain—Pearl’s last consort, now dead
Moon—Jade’s consort
Thorn and Bitter—fledgling consorts of Sky Copper, now adopted by Indigo Cloud
Warriors
River—leader of Pearl’s faction of warriors. A product of one of Amber’s royal clutches.
Drift—River’s clutchmate
Branch—River and Drift’s clutchmate, killed in a Fell ambush
Root—young warrior from an Arbora clutch, a member of Jade’s faction