to be fatigued so they could all escape, and an Arbora came to show them to the guest chambers.
Moon and Jade were in a passage that spiraled down away from the hall, when Jade asked, “What did Stone mean when he said you got into a fight with a queen?”
Their Arbora guide, in groundling form with dark curly hair and an amber-colored dress, politely quickened her steps to get out of earshot. Moon slid a sideways look at Jade. Her spines were still under rigid control from speaking to the other queens, but the scales on her brow were furrowed. He said, reluctantly, “There wasn’t a fight. A daughter queen called Ash said something to me in the greeting hall. I said something back. Then Shadow came and sent her away, and asked me to come to the consorts’ bowers with him.”
Jade hissed through her teeth. Feeling the hiss was aimed at him as well as Ash, he said, “I know, I should have ignored her.”
She was quiet for a long moment, then said, “Well. Maybe nothing will come of it.”
The guest quarters were lower down in the colony, big round chambers hanging around the outer ring of the mountain-thorn. Jade and Moon climbed steps that wound up through doorways in the curved walls woven through with faintly glowing vines and moss. The Arbora led them to a room with a tile-lined pool set into the center of the floor. Four hanging bower beds were stuffed with blankets and the wood beneath them spread with striped grasseater hides.
The warriors were already there, sitting near the edge of the pool. They all looked bored and worried, and Chime even jumped to his feet when he saw them. “Well?” he demanded.
Jade quelled him with a look and he sat down with a thump. She turned to the Arbora and thanked her formally, then waited for her to leave before she turned back to the others.
“How did it go?” Balm asked, too anxious to wait longer.
As Jade took a seat on the furs, she asked, “Are we alone here?” Moon settled next to her and glanced around. The woven walls didn’t provide much of a sound barrier; he could see through the gaps to the walkway.
Vine jerked his chin toward the far side of the chamber. “There’s a group visiting from a court further west, but they’re down at the other end.”
Jade kept her voice low. “Ice acknowledged us, and Flower went to speak to their mentors. We should know soon.”
Floret and Vine exchanged a look. There was definitely an undercurrent there, but Moon couldn’t tell if they thought Jade had done too well, or not well enough. Balm nodded thoughtfully, and Chime slumped in relief. Song blurted, “So we just wait?”
“Yes.” Balm gave her a stern look. “We wait.” Song subsided reluctantly.
It should have been a good time to nap, but everyone seemed too tense to settle down. Moon shifted and jumped up to the top of the chamber, and wrapped his tail around a strong vine to hang upside down. It was a position that helped him relax.
The others aimlessly wandered the chamber or pretended to rest. Jade and Balm had drawn together to talk quietly, which was probably a good sign. If they could get back their old relationship, from before the Fell had changed everything, it would be a relief for Moon.
Chime shifted and climbed up to join him, clinging with his claws to the vines. He whispered, “Does Jade know about that queen, in the greeting hall?”
“Yes.” Moon looked at him over the edge of his wing. “Why?”
“Nothing. If—” Chime shrugged and settled his spines. “I guess that’s going to be all right, then. We talked to some of their warriors. I can’t believe how big this court is.”
Chime had never been to another court before either, and wanted to talk about it. Fortunately he didn’t really need a response from Moon, who just listened and made thoughtful noises occasionally.
Sometime later they heard someone coming up the steps to the chamber, and everyone tensed in expectation, thinking it was Flower returning. But it was only another Arbora, come to tell them there was to be a formal dinner later in the day and that they were invited to attend. This seemed to please Vine and Floret and Song, at least, but it just made Moon more impatient. Does it really take that long to say “yes” and hand over a seed? Maybe it did, but if there was