some lengthy process the mentors had to go through to get the seed ready, it seemed like Flower could have sent a message to tell them so.
Finally, they heard someone on the walkway again, and this time it was Flower and Stone.
As they came up the steps Moon dropped to the floor again and shifted back to groundling. He didn’t think the news was good. Flower’s expression was tense and thoughtful, and Stone didn’t look relieved. The others gathered anxiously around, and Jade pushed to her feet. “Well?”
Flower took a deep breath. “They can’t give us a seed.”
Moon hissed a frustrated breath and glanced at Jade. Her spines lifted and she asked dangerously, “Can’t or won’t?”
Stone answered, “Can’t.” With a weary groan, he sat down on one of the furs. “Their mentors thought that a new seed wouldn’t work on a mountain-tree that had already been implanted.”
Flower added, “Our tree would keep dying and the seed would be wasted. They’re looking back through their lore on the seeds to make certain.”
Her voice tight, Jade said, “So they can’t help us.”
“I didn’t say that.” Flower hesitated, as if not certain how much she wanted to explain. “They had a suggestion. This court has a number of mentors, with several elders. They think we can all augur for the location of our seed.”
Augur for it? Caught between disappointment and hope, Moon glanced at Stone, who just shrugged slightly. Moon took that to mean that Stone had no idea if this was possible and wasn’t going to give an opinion on it. Jade asked Flower, “And what do you think?”
Flower spread her hands. “I’ve never done anything like that before, but I think we have to try. We don’t have any other path to take at the moment.”
Vine said, “But what if whoever took the seed destroyed it?” Song nodded anxiously.
Flower betrayed some exasperation. “Then the augury won’t work.”
Watching Flower intently, Chime said, “Do they really think it’s still somewhere around here, and we can just go and get it?”
“They have no idea.” Flower’s voice was wry. “But we don’t know why the groundlings took it, and anything could be possible.” She looked around at them all. “They aren’t certain, but they think a colony tree would only be able to last two or three turns without its seed. It will rot from the inside out.”
And it’s already been gone a turn, at least. Moon folded his arms, trying to contain his impatience. They had to try this. The groundlings had been traveling on the forest floor, and that had to be dangerous. They might have been killed, the seed left to lie forgotten in the moss somewhere. If it hasn’t been eaten by a grasseater. If it hadn’t… How far could groundlings on foot travel in a turn, through hard country? Not nearly as far as we can.
“Of course you’ll have to try,” Jade said. “But will it be hard on you?”
“Yes,” Flower admitted. “But it’s not something I can leave to others.”
Jade nodded, acknowledging the necessity. “We’ll wait for word from you.”
As Flower left, Chime looked after her, his expression miserable. Then he shifted and jumped up to the ceiling of the chamber, and curled himself into a tight ball among the vines.
Floret snorted derisively. “What’s that about?”
“He wants to help,” Moon said it deliberately, keeping his tone just short of threat. He wasn’t in the mood to hear any garbage from the warriors, about Chime or anything else. “He can’t.”
Floret twitched uncomfortably. To her credit, she said, “I forgot.”
Song sighed. “I want to help too, but there’s nothing we can do but wait.”
“No.” Jade tapped her claws impatiently. “We have to go to this stupid dinner.”
Moon had never been to a formal meal in a court before. Usually eating meant either tearing apart a kill outside, or sitting around with everyone talking while they passed around food. This was a little different.
It was held in a well that wound up around the central trunk of the mountain-thorn, its walls ringed with wide platforms and crossed at intervals by bridges for the Arbora. The light emanated from living cascades of blue and purple flowers, growing from vines woven through the branches that supported the structure. Moon and Jade shared a balcony with Tempest, her three sister queens, and their consorts, everyone sitting on furs and cushions covered with rich fabrics. The younger unattached queens and consorts were confined to separate platforms across the chamber.