was going to fumble the etiquette at some point. He just wanted to get it over with.
He had been lucky when he had been brought to Indigo Cloud by Stone. There was no etiquette for solitaries, even if they were consorts.
After a moment that stretched Moon’s nerves even further, Tempest gave in, and turned deliberately back to Jade. “We were aware another court had arrived in the Reaches. Our scouts reported that you came here in a strange way.” She managed to convey the fact that she was bringing up a delicate subject. She had to mean the flying boats.
Jade said, easily, “We had wounded, and the wind-ships were the best way to move them. We fought the Fell at our old colony. We defeated them, but…” She flicked her spines in a slight shrug. “It was impossible to remain there.”
Tempest tilted her head, suddenly genuinely interested. “The Fell attacked you?”
“We’re a small court. Our colony was vulnerable.” Jade’s face tightened, as if it cost her something to make that admission to another queen. “They destroyed our closest ally, Sky Copper, a small court in the grass plains to the east. Then they attacked us.” She hesitated, exchanged a glance with Flower, then continued, “This Fell flight had a scheme for interbreeding with Raksura. Apparently they had been carrying it out for some time.”
The Emerald Twilight warriors stared, openly appalled. Tempest dropped her formal pose, leaned forward, and said in shock, “How? I mean— Is that even possible?”
Jade tilted her head to Flower, who said dryly, “It caught us by surprise, too.”
Tempest and the others listened intently as Flower told the brief version of the story, of the Fell attack on the colony, the crossbreed mentordakti and their powers, the pursuit to the Dwei hive, and the crossbreed queen, Ranea. Flower left out any mention of how Moon had actually come to Indigo Cloud, and said only that the Fell poison had come from a groundling tribe in the far east. She did say that he had been badly wounded by the Fell after freeing the Arbora captives. Moon saw Tempest glance at him again, this time with a trace of sympathy. She was probably thinking, So that’s what’s wrong with him.
Then Flower pressed a hand to her lower back and winced. Jade said, in mild reproach, “We’ve come a long way.”
Tempest flicked her spines in annoyance. Moon thought they had just scored a point, either because Tempest had been lured into a breach of etiquette by keeping them standing out here, or that she had treated them like people by engaging in a real conversation, and now had to either continue it or be deliberately rude. Whichever it was, Tempest said, not too grudgingly, “Come into our queens’ hall. The others can wait over here, and be comfortable.”
That was what they had been hoping for. Tempest led Jade, Flower, and Stone on through the big archway, and Willow took Moon and the others over to the side of the hall, furnished with cushions and a little metal brazier shaped like a berryvine leaf. They dropped their packs and took seats, and Willow retreated a short distance, politely out of earshot.
Aeriat and a few Arbora, all mostly in groundling form, wandered through the hall, or appeared briefly on the balconies above to snatch curious glances. Moon felt the pressure of their stares, and forced himself not to twitch nervously. He had always hated being stared at; in most of the places he had traveled, being singled out for curiosity was never a good thing.
“The warriors aren’t coming to talk to us,” Floret said. She folded her arms and looked uncomfortable. “They did when we visited at Sky Copper.”
“Yes, but we’d known them for turns and turns,” Balm told her. She sounded more like her old self. Being out of the colony and having something important to do was obviously good for her. “We’ve just met these people.”
Song looked around, trying to be casual about it. “So you don’t think we’ll be invited to eat with the Arbora?”
“Be patient.” The taller Vine dropped an arm around Floret’s neck. “They haven’t even gotten through the queens’ greeting yet. It’s going to be a while.”
Then Balm murmured, “What’s this? The queens should all be inside.” Moon turned to look.
Another queen glided down from an upper balcony to land in the hall. Her scales were silver-gray, with a web-tracery of brilliant green. Moon expected to see her turn down one of the passages, but