had joined the others there, all in groundling form, and settled into a pile of bedding on the other side of the chamber. Root, demonstrating a youthful lack of nerves, was already curled up asleep.
Sand had always been in Jade’s camp, but Moon had thought Vine and Floret were closer to Pearl. Either they had changed their allegiance or they were just here to help guard this side of the nurseries and the Arbora’s bowers. It made him a little edgy not to know.
Moon sat down on one side of the hearth. Stone took the other and settled into place with a groan. Flower dipped cups of tea out of the steaming pot for them, asking Stone, “Are you all right?”
He gave her a sour look. “I’m old.”
Flower smiled. “We’d noticed.”
Jade came in from the passage, and Chime asked her, “Are we settled for now?”
“Finally.” Jade shook out her head frills and shifted to Arbora. “Everyone is convinced that we need daylight to finish exploring, and we need rest before we make plans and argue about where to put everything.”
Song said, “Your consort got your bed ready.”
Lifting his cup, Moon froze, self-conscious. He had made the sleeping place without even thinking about it. When he and Jade had flown to the east together, they had quickly got into the habit of taking turns, one finding and preparing a place to sleep and the other hunting for food. Aboard the flying ship, he had been recovering from his injuries and staying in a cabin with the mentors and Chime, who had been taking care of him. He realized he had no idea how to live with Jade inside a colony, and he kept running into subtleties of Raksuran behavior that he had no idea how to react to. He knew the others were staring at him, and made himself take a sip of tea as if nothing was wrong.
Jade tilted her head to study Song thoughtfully. Song’s eyes widened and she said, “I was just teasing!”
“Hmm,” Jade commented. She went over to the baskets and opened one to dig through it.
Chime gave Song an exasperated look, then turned to the others, obviously changing the subject. “How much food do we have left?”
“Enough for several days, plus the fresh meat from the hunt this morning,” Rill answered. “We still have about half the dried meat, because the Aeriat were refusing to eat it. We’re getting low on dried fruit, sava flour, dried sava, and roots.”
Stone said, “There are a lot of plants in this area that we can eat. Since no one’s been eating them for who knows how many turns, there should be plenty around.”
Jade sat down next to Moon, then leaned over to put something on the floor in front of him. It gleamed red-gold against the wood, catching the light: it was the bracelet that Stone had taken to Star Aster, the token to be given to the new consort. Moon picked it up. Having seen more of the Arbora’s artwork, he could tell now that the fluid serpentine shapes etched into the band were two entwined Raksura. He looked up to see Jade watching him, the scales on her brow faintly creased with worry.
Moon put the bracelet on, just under the knobby bone in his wrist. Jade pulled his head down and her teeth grazed the skin behind his ear in a gentle nip.
Flower cleared her throat and smiled faintly. “At least there should be plenty of game around here, too.”
Stone set his cup down. “We’ll need to reestablish our territory. I should be able to find the old boundaries.”
Jade glanced up. “Our territory? I wouldn’t think we’d need to worry…” She eyed Stone more sharply. “Unless there’s another court in this area?”
“There are several. This is the home forest, where our bloodlines were first born. There used to be colonies everywhere through here. Too many.” Stone shrugged. “Now there’s plenty of room.”
Chapter Three
Moon woke buried in blankets, with Jade warm beside him. His inner sense of the sun told him it was still some time before dawn, and the storm had calmed to the point where the wind
was barely audible. He pulled a fold of fabric down, just enough to get a good taste of the air.
Nothing had changed since last night. The others in the hall breathed deeply in sleep, except for some of the warriors on the far side of the room. From the soft noises, they were enjoying each other’s company under the blankets.