Edge of Worlds

CHAPTER FOUR

It was nearing twilight and a light rain-mist was in the air when Moon went with Balm, Chime, and Floret to take Delin back to the groundlings’ boat. They landed with him on a mountain-tree branch, heavily screened by leaves but with a view of the flying boat in its clearing. The warriors who were keeping an eye on it waited there.

As Moon helped Delin find a secure seat on a knob of wood, Balm told the warriors, “Jade wants you to come back to the court with us. She doesn’t want anyone out here through the night.”

“Are you sure?” Coil asked. He was a male warrior of Pearl’s, though he had never been much involved in the infighting between the two factions. “We’re not worried.”

“She doesn’t think it’s worth the risk,” Balm said. It was quiet at the moment, with treelings calling, and night birds and flying lizards coming out to hunt the clouds of evening insects. But a night without shelter in the suspended forest was always dangerous, and more so near a shaft clearing. Moon agreed with Jade that there wouldn’t be much point in watching the boat when the warriors couldn’t see it. Balm added, “And Delin says they won’t move the boat tonight.”

“There are lights, as with our wind-ships,” Delin explained, wriggling to make sure he had a secure seat, “but they are not much use in deep forest like this.”

Balm sent Coil and the others off toward the colony tree, and Moon told Delin, “We won’t be far away. We’ll make sure they’ve got you before we leave.”

“I thank you for this,” Delin said, “and I will see you tomorrow at the place you showed me.”

“Just be careful,” Moon said. Before they had left the colony, they had talked with Delin about the idea that the Fell might have an unwilling, or even willing, spy among the groundlings.

Delin had just said, “That is one of the many things in this situation to be worried about.”

With Balm and Chime, Moon retired to a sheltered spot higher up in another mountain-tree, where they had a better view of the flying boat. Groundlings were moving around on the open deck now, the one divided by the wedge-shaped spine. Delin waited to give the Raksura enough time to get into concealment, then began to shout.

The groundlings heard him immediately and some ran through a doorway in the upper part of the boat. Worried, Chime said, “I hope they won’t do anything to him because he’s been with us.”

“He didn’t think they would.” Moon didn’t feel easy about it himself, but Delin had seemed confident. But then Delin always seemed confident. He was as bad as Stone that way.

A groundling came out onto the deck wearing a heavy backpack. He made some adjustment, tugged on something, then lifted smoothly off the deck into the air, with nothing to show how he had done it. “Some sort of spell?” Balm asked Chime.

He shrugged his spines. “Maybe. It’s hard to tell. If it’s the same thing that keeps the boat aloft, I wonder how they control it.”

Moon watched until the flying groundling disappeared into the canopy, then several moments later reappeared carrying Delin. They were too far away to see exactly how the groundling was doing it, but it made Moon uneasy to watch. He just didn’t trust groundlings to know how to carry someone while flying. But the pair landed safely on the flying boat’s deck. Balm said, “We should go.”

Moon flicked his spines in reluctant agreement. They turned away and dropped off the branch to fly back to the colony.

It had been a long day, and Balm and Chime were just as tired as Moon, so they all avoided the teachers’ hall where the Arbora and the warriors gathered, and headed for their various bowers.

Moon climbed straight up the central well and over the ledge into the big queens’ hall. It was all quiet now, except for the fall of water into the fountain. Pearl and Ember were probably in her bower, and Stone might be up in his bower or down with the Arbora or anywhere else in the colony. Moon went through the passage into the sister queen’s bower.

At first he didn’t think Jade was here, until he saw the pile of jewelry near the steaming bathing pool. The ready access to running water, and pools warmed by the mentors’ heating stones, was one of the things Moon liked best about the colony tree. The system that took the excess water the tree drew up through its roots and channeled it for fountains, irrigation, bathing, and sluicing the latrines was complex and hadn’t fared well during the long turns the colony had been empty. It had taken most of their time here to find all the blockages and get it working right again. Having lived most of his former life in places without that luxury, Moon never took it for granted.

He sat down on the cushions by the hearth. There was already a kettle on the warming stones and he found a cake of tea in the bowl and crumbled a few pieces off into the pot.

Jade rose up out of the pool, water dripping from her frills. “Everything all right?” She was in her softer, wingless Arbora form, and it was good to see her relaxed.

“Yes, the groundlings took Delin, and all the warriors are back.”

Jade stepped out of the pool, took a cloth from the pile, and started to dry her scales. She said, “Well, this turned into another interesting day.”

That was all too true. Moon turned back to the hearth. “I can’t believe we might have to fight for this place again.”

Jade sat on the fur blanket across from him. Her expression ironic, she said, “You mean it’s not fair that we have to fight for this place again.”

“Hah.” Fairness was a concept taught to fledglings and babies so they would share their toys and food and not shred each other over trifles. It wasn’t something that applied to real life, at least in Moon’s experience.

Watching him, Jade said, “If I follow the groundlings to the city, will you go with me?”

Moon took the pot and swirled it absently, just to have something to do with his hands. He knew what a compliment it was that Jade trusted him enough, and trusted his abilities, to ask him to do something like this, so outside a normal consort’s experience.

Being physically born a consort didn’t convey any instinctive knowledge of how to be one, and Moon had struggled with it since coming to the court. This past turn, raising the Sky Copper fledglings and his own first clutch, it had seemed like he might have finally gotten past pretending to be a consort and started to edge into actually being one. Nobody had called him a feral solitary to his face in months. Now . . . He didn’t want to leave his clutch while they were still so young. But he didn’t want Jade to go off without him, either. And Chime would have to go too, as the only other one who had seen the inside of the forerunner city. He said, “I don’t know yet. I know what I want to do. I want to stay here.”

Jade’s expression was hard to read. “I sometimes wonder if you’ve been bored. You’re the one who’s traveled all your life.”

“Traveling is overrated,” Moon said. Being hungry, cold, wet, lonely, stalked by predators, and hunted by groundlings hadn’t exactly been a good time, though he had seen a lot of interesting things.

Jade said, “Sometimes I’m a little bored.” She settled her spines and looked away.

Moon wasn’t surprised, but he hadn’t expected her to admit it. Jade had had more than a taste of travel herself, before the court had finally started to settle down. Because it was easier to make a joke, he said, “Queens aren’t supposed to get bored.”

Jade tilted her head. “Consorts aren’t supposed to accidentally drown in bathing pools but I’m told it happens.”

Moon tugged on one of her frills. If she wanted to drown him, he had given her much worse provocation than that. “Everyone’s always telling me what I’m supposed to feel.”

“Yes, and we both agreed how annoying that was.” Jade absently turned her empty teacup upside down. She said, “I can’t make the decision whether to go or not until after I speak to the groundlings.” She smiled a little dryly. “Or that’s when I’ll tell everyone I’ve made the decision.”

At least the court wouldn’t just sit here and do nothing. That was worse than the alternatives. “Do you think Pearl will let you go?”

Jade let her breath out, considering. “I don’t know. She didn’t see that thing in the underwater forerunner city. I’m not sure she understands how bad this could be. But she had the dream too, and since we got here she’s always been willing to do what was needed to protect the court.” She flicked her claws through the fur mat. “I mean, she always was before, at the old colony. Now she’s just willing to include the rest of us in her decisions. And listen to us.” Her mouth twisted. “I don’t want to ruin that.”

If someone had told Moon, back when he had first arrived at Indigo Cloud, that Pearl would become someone whose good opinion he was actually concerned about keeping, he would have thought they were out of their minds. Now he didn’t want to ruin the tentative progress he had made, either. He said, “You can talk to Pearl after we see what the groundlings have to say. There’s no point in worrying about it now.”

Jade made a derisive noise. “Just because there’s no point in worrying has never stopped you from it before.”

That was true. Moon leaned into her side and she wrapped an arm around his waist and tugged him closer. He said, “I thought of something we can do besides worrying.”

Jade nipped his ear. “I thought of that too.”

Afterward, Moon lay on the furs with Jade’s warm weight curled around him, her breathing deepening as she slid into sleep. It had been a long anxious day and the sex should have left him relaxed, but he couldn’t stop thinking, going over it all again until his head was about to split. Jade grumbled but didn’t wake as he eased out from under her. He pulled on his clothes again and left the bower.

He walked out to the edge of the queens’ hall to look down the central well. From what he could hear, the court was showing no signs of settling down the way it normally did at the end of the day. Every word that had been said during the conversation with Delin would have been repeated to everyone and would now be dissected by the Arbora, who would engage in increasingly fantastic speculation as the night wore on.

He turned back, shifted, and leapt up to the consorts’ level.

Moon scented an outdoor draft, cool and damp, and knew Stone was up here. There was no central consorts’ hall, but there were junctions between the bowers with hearth bowls set into the floor, meant as communal seating areas. The bowers in this section were just as finely decorated as the ones in the queens’ level below, but mostly untenanted. Eventually Thorn and Bitter, the consorts of the Sky Copper clutch, would leave the nurseries and move up here, and later Cloud and Rain, the consorts of Moon’s clutch. That would make the place livelier.

He found his way through the empty passages, to where a doorway in the outer trunk looked down on the garden platforms below. The door was open now, and Stone leaned in the opening, looking down.

Stone didn’t acknowledge Moon’s appearance, but Moon knew it hadn’t gone unnoticed. He wasn’t sure why he had sought Stone out, but found himself asking, “Would you go, if Pearl decides to let Jade follow the groundlings?”

Stone stepped away from the door, turning to face him. “I thought Jade already decided to go whether Pearl likes it or not.”

Moon bared his teeth briefly. “No, she didn’t decide that.” Maybe he had come up here to have an argument. “Answer the question.”

Stone’s brow furrowed, just a little, but with dangerous intent. Moon said, “Or we could have a fight. But I’ll still want you to answer the question.”

Stone eyed him, and then turned to the doorway and looked out again. The night insects were singing, in chorus and singly. They would reach a crescendo as the night wore on and then gradually subside. Moon was so used to it now he had to make himself notice it, though to a newcomer to the Reaches it would probably be a terrible din.

Stone said, “You think I’d stay here, and let Jade and a few warriors go to this place?”

It was a good way to make Moon feel bad for asking, which he was sure was intentional. He said, “I wouldn’t if this was last turn. But you’ve been gone so much.”

Stone turned with a grimace of exasperation. “I was bored.”

“Bored?” Moon stared. As a reason for Stone leaving the court, it seemed deeply inadequate. “I’m bored, Jade’s bored, and we stuck it out and stayed here doing what we’re supposed to do.”

“I’m not supposed to be doing anything,” Stone retorted. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m old.”

“That’s never stopped you before,” Moon countered. “We’d all be dead without you.”

Stone snapped, “And now you don’t need me.”

Moon pounced on that. “Hah, that’s it! You’re not bored, you’re just—Mad because you think we don’t appreciate you!”

Stone snarled, “That’s the most idiotic thing you’ve ever said, and we both know how tough the competition is.”

Moon snarled back. It might have escalated even further, but from the passage, Ember said, “What are you arguing about?”

Moon glanced back. Pearl’s young consort stood in the doorway, wrapped in a blanket, disheveled and beautiful and blinking like he had just woken up. Like Moon, Ember didn’t often spend the night in his own bower, but he might just have been napping. Moon snapped, “We’re arguing about—” He wasn’t sure anymore. The point of the argument had evolved dramatically.

Ember scratched a hand through his hair. “You’re arguing about whether Stone is bored or not?”

When you put it that way, it did sound stupid. He said, “Ember, why don’t you go see what Pearl is doing?”

“Just don’t hurt each other,” Ember grumbled, proving he did know exactly what the argument was about after all, and retreated back down the passage.

As Ember left, they stood there in silence. Moon said finally, “You know how the court feels about you. You’re—” These things were still horribly hard for him to say. He had spent most of his life watching every abortive attempt at a relationship fail. He knew how to start them and how to escape them, but he didn’t know anything about maintaining them. It was easier when the other person did all the work. And maybe he had taken Stone for granted. “I don’t want you to leave. Unless you’re leaving with Jade.”

Stone rubbed his face. “I am not leaving the court because I’m sulking over feeling unappreciated. That’s something one of our many idiot warriors would do, not something I would do.”

Moon shrugged. “Sure.”

Stone glared at him. “The court is settling down. I’m not ready to settle down yet.” He added, “And neither are you.”

“I’m not going, I’ve already decided.” Moon said it just to provoke Stone, but as soon as the words were out, he regretted it. He knew what a consort’s duty was in this situation: to stay with the court and his clutch. But that had never been his duty, and it had never been what was best for the court.

Stone stared at him, as if trying to see inside Moon’s skull. Stone finally said, “Because of the clutch? You think Blossom and the teachers won’t take care of them if you’re not here?”

Moon grimaced. Before he had become Jade’s consort, he remembered thinking that he would never want to father children in the court and then leave them, that they might suffer without him to protect them. Now, he knew that wouldn’t happen. That wasn’t how Raksura treated any offspring, especially royal Aeriat offspring. But in his head, leaving the clutch felt like abandoning them. As if leaving them in the protection of all of Indigo Cloud for a few months, in the safety of the colony tree, was the same as leaving them to fend for themselves in a forest forever. “Of course not.” He still didn’t want to die somewhere in the wilds of the Three Worlds and miss the important moments, like teaching the new clutch how to fly and hunt and fight, and the all-important task of making sure they ended up with the right mates, or at least the mates they actually wanted, whether they were right or not.

Then Stone said, “You think you can protect them if the Fell come here, if they’ve got help from some monstrosity imprisoned in a forerunner city, and this time it fulfills its part of the bargain?”

Moon snarled. “I know—I know that. I know it’s better to stop the Fell before they get anywhere near the Reaches—”

“If you know that, then why are you staying here?” Stone said. Then he turned and stepped out the doorway.

Moon let his breath out in a hiss. Now he knew why Stone was mad at him, at least. He went to the opening.

He heard one whoosh of big wings, and saw Stone’s shadow cut down toward the knothole and the court’s main entrance. He watched to make certain Stone was going in through the greeting hall entrance, then shoved the door shut and barred it.

The spot they had chosen for a meeting point was on the platform of a mountain-tree not far from where the flying ship was moored. It was a fairly large platform, with a pond and low mossy grass filled with the bright flicker of tiny flying lizards and the insects they fed on, and no heavy undergrowth or parasite trees that might provide cover for predators. The hunters used it occasionally as a resting spot during long trips. The dawn rain had ended and the green light filtering through the canopy was relatively bright; somewhere above the tree canopy, it was a clear day.

Moon and Stone accompanied Jade, who had also brought Chime, Balm, and Heart, as well as Root, Song, Floret, and Vine. Sage, with four other warriors, was positioned on an upper branch above them, in case anything went terribly wrong. They picked a patch of relatively clear ground near the pond, and the warriors took up positions around it. Root said, “Should we make a firepit? We didn’t bring any tea, I guess.”

“No.” Jade paced, flicking her spines in a preoccupied way. “This isn’t that kind of meeting.”

Song, who had taken a seat between Moon and Stone, leaned close to Moon and whispered, “We give Delin and the Golden Islanders tea when they visit.”

“They’re different,” Moon told her. “We know them.” Stone was doing the annoying thing where he was pretending they hadn’t had that conversation last night, so Moon was pretending too. He had the bad feeling he wasn’t as good at it as Stone.

Jade paced to where Heart sat near Balm. She asked, “Anything?”

“Not yet,” Heart told her. Sometimes mentors had visions at significant events, but it was rare.

The mentors had augured last night, but from what Moon had heard, nothing much had come of it. They usually had to be closer to the situation before they started to get genuinely useful visions. Merit was going to try while they were having this meeting, just to see if that influenced any answers. Hopefully the answers wouldn’t involve the Fell swarming the Reaches.

Jade nodded and paced away. Moon didn’t like to see her this edgy. But they were about to hear something that might make a huge difference to the fate of the court.

And their own fate. Moon shrugged uneasily, unconsciously settling his groundling form’s non-existent spines.

Floret, standing near the edge of the platform, reported, “They’re coming.”

The pointed bow of the flying boat came into view through the mountain-trees, moving with slow caution. The colors of it blended in well with the suspended forest; it made Moon wonder what it looked like in its native environment, if the groundlings who had constructed it used the moss for their homes and other buildings as well.

As the ship drew closer, Floret asked Jade, “Uh, do you want us to do anything or sit anywhere in particular?” She glanced at Moon. When formally greeting another Raksuran court, consorts sat behind queens, and everyone was introduced in a specific order. Violations of this etiquette when not forced by circumstance generally opened one up to mockery and disdain by other courts.

Jade tilted her spines in a negative. “Just stay where you are.”

The warriors looked at each other uncertainly, and Song crept back a discreet distance from Moon and Stone. Jade had told all the warriors except Chime to stay in their winged forms, though Moon, Heart, and Stone were in their groundling forms. Except for Stone, who didn’t make an effort for anybody, they had dressed like they would to greet another court, in their better clothes and jewelry. Moon was wearing pants and a shirt of a dark silky material, with a red patterned sash Rill had made for him, and his consort’s bracelet and the anklet that Jade had given him when the clutch was born. He should be wearing a lot more jewelry, but the groundlings wouldn’t know that. Well, Delin would, but he didn’t care.

Stone sighed. Jade glanced at him, brows lifted. “What?”

Stone said, “Nothing, that was me breathing. Why don’t you sit down?”

Jade bared her teeth at him but at least moved to stand near Moon.

The ship drifted to a halt about a hundred paces away from the platform. Groundlings of different sizes moved on the deck, then four lifted off into the air. Moon could see one was Callumkal, and that another groundling carried Delin. Again, it made his skin itch watching it. He had carried plenty of Arbora and groundlings, but seeing someone who was not a natural flyer do it was nerve-racking. He said, “If that one drops Delin—”

“I’ll catch him,” Vine said, reassuringly confident. Spines signaling alert attention, he watched Delin and the groundling who carried him. “I’m sure I can get him before he hits the mist.”

The packs that held the spell or device that allowed the groundlings to fly were bulky affairs, constructed of a rough brown material and attached to their wearers with harnesses. It explained the harness that Callumkal had worn under his clothing. The groundlings must rely on the packs a great deal if they wore the harnesses all the time. Moon didn’t know why that bothered him. Did they lack confidence in their flying boat?

The groundlings reached the platform without anybody plunging to their death and landed at the edge. Moon saw Delin had actually been in a harness too, an extra one that attached to the side of the flying pack-wearer. That was something of a relief, but it still looked like a risky method. One of the groundlings stayed near the edge of the platform, while Delin and the other three came forward.

Callumkal was in the lead, and the groundling beside him was shorter and slighter but otherwise looked almost identical to him, with the same tightly curled hair and pebbly dark skin. His open jacket and pants were of the same rich materials in browns and golds. The third groundling was a different species, wide and muscular, and had silvery gray skin that was studded with round and oblong patches of a rougher hide that looked almost like craggy rock. These patches stretched up its long legs and arms, up to its neck and face. Its skull was covered with one large patch like a helmet. Moon couldn’t tell if the patches were part of the groundling’s body or were an armor that had somehow been attached directly to its skin. Though if it was, it seemed inefficient to leave bare patches in between. The groundling’s eyes were wide and silver gray, and its nose was just a faint indentation above its mouth. It wore a light tunic and kilt of a soft material that seemed very at odds with the partially armored hide, and had a bag slung over its shoulder.

Before anyone else could speak, Delin stepped forward and said, “This is Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud Court.” He performed all the introductions, naming Moon, Stone, Heart, and all the warriors. He finished, “And this is Callumkal, Master Scholar of the Conclave of the Janderan.” He gestured toward the smaller version of Callumkal. “His offspring, Kalam.” He nodded to the silver armored person. “And Vendoin, she is Scholar of the Hia Iserae.”

Jade jerked her chin toward the groundling who had hung back on the edge of the platform. Delin had been speaking Altanic, and Jade used the same language as she said, “Tell your companion she won’t need that weapon.”

“Ah.” Delin turned to look, smiling a little. “That is Captain Rorra.”

Captain Rorra was female, very slender, with pale green skin and thick gray hair braided tightly back from her face. There was something about her tall body and the proportions of her arms and legs that made her look a little like the groundlings of Aventera. Her clothes were practical, pants and a shirt of some tough dark brown fabric, with belts and a strap across one shoulder to hold various items, and she wore heavy boots instead of sandals like the others. An oblong canister with a tube running along the top was cradled in her arms. It had a trigger, and the tube looked not unlike the Aventeran projectile weapons Moon had seen, and Delin’s device that was used to fire signal lights. He knew such weapons were more common in Kish. They shot a tiny projectile, coated with a substance that caused a stream of fire to shoot out of the weapon to strike whatever the projectile landed on. They were one of the reasons the Fell tended to avoid Kishan territories.

Delin added pointedly to Callumkal, “Captain Rorra should come and sit with us. She may have insights.”

“Captain Rorra prefers to keep her distance,” Callumkal said, with some irony in his voice. Moon got the impression that it had been decided ahead of time that Rorra would stay back and watch them with her weapon, and Delin clearly knew that and wanted to get it out in the open.

“Is she so afraid of us?” Jade asked.

Next to Moon, Stone breathed out, a near-silent hiss of annoyance. Moon didn’t know why Jade was pushing this, but he thought it had the potential to disrupt everything before the meeting even got started. If Rorra fired her weapon, she could only get one of them, and the warriors waiting above would reach her before she could fire again. That was why the weapons were best used in groups, all firing at once. Rorra had to know that, and Moon didn’t think Callumkal was a fool.

Callumkal hesitated. Kalam looked up at him, waiting, and Vendoin made a gesture with one hand, possibly signaling that it was Callumkal’s decision. Callumkal said, “Very well.” He turned. “Rorra, please join us.”

It was Rorra’s turn to hesitate, but then she walked forward, picking her way through the low grass. There was something tentative about the way she walked, as if her boots were awkward on the uneven ground. As she reached Callumkal, she said nothing, and just gave Delin a grimace. This close Moon could see her pale green skin was lightly scaled, her long-fingered hands had claws, though the tips had been filed down, and there were patches of loose skin on either side of her throat. She’s a sealing, Moon thought, or at least she had been at one time. Groundlings who had sealing in their ancestry didn’t tend to have the gills. Full-blooded sealings didn’t stay out of the water for long periods, or come this far inland. He glanced down at her feet, noticing now how her boots were oddly bulky at the bottom and might be built up to account for fins. She caught him looking and frowned.

Delin said, “Now, show them the artifact.”

Callumkal gave Delin a look that suggested he didn’t appreciate being given instructions, but gestured to Vendoin. She pulled the bag off her shoulder and carefully drew out something wrapped in coarse cloth. She knelt and unwrapped it, then tilted it up to show them. It was a cracked stone tile, stained and weathered, with a forerunner carved on it, clearly the original of Delin’s drawing.

Jade’s spines moved in reaction, and she nodded grimly to Delin. “I see.”

Vendoin glanced around, making sure everyone had gotten a look, then began to wrap it up again.

Callumkal said, “As Delin must have told you, some of us believe that the city this came from belonged to the species we call foundation builders, who lived in the Kishlands in the distant past. But some believe this object means it was a city of the people Delin calls forerunners. He told us you had discovered an ancient forerunner city, and that you had some words of caution.”

Rorra interposed, “I wondered if you had any proof of this experience.”

Delin gave Moon an ironic eyebrow lift and said in Raksuran, “Captain Rorra is very mistrustful. Apparently there are scholars who would have made the whole incident up, possibly with your help, for amusement or to gain attention.”

Moon hissed under his breath. This meeting was already going badly, and he had no idea why. At least nobody’s actually dead yet.

Chime made a derisive noise and said in Raksuran, “The incident wasn’t what I would call amusing.”

Annoyed, Heart added, “They don’t want anything to come between them and their goal. They have their ideas, they don’t want facts to bother them.”

Rorra said, “Speak in Altanic, please.”

Jade tilted her head, and said in Altanic, “We’ll speak how we like.”

Callumkal frowned, and said in Kedaic, “Captain, if this goes badly, you may need to return to the ship.”

No one said anything, and Delin’s expression remained pleasantly bland. The Kish obviously didn’t realize that the Raksura could speak Kedaic. It was a common trade language throughout Kish, made up of words from all the various languages of the species who lived there, but Moon had heard it used in the east and the west, far past the Reaches.

Rorra’s jaw went tight and she said nothing. Jade said, “We don’t have any evidence because the city flooded and was destroyed when we escaped it. It was designed to flood, to kill the creature inside if it managed to get free of its prison.”

Vendoin had tucked the tile away into the bag and stood, and now spoke for the first time. Her voice was light and high, and it made the Altanic words sound almost melodic. “Was there some outward sign that the city held this creature? Some warning?” She gestured with an open hand. “I’m thinking of trading flags, and other such devices used by long-distance travelers.”

That was a good question. Jade glanced at Moon to show she wanted him to answer. Jade apparently wanted to maintain an aggressive pose and leave the actual discussion to others. He wished he knew what had made her so angry all of a sudden. From Balm’s worried expression, he knew he wasn’t the only one wondering. He said, “If there was, we didn’t recognize it as a warning. There were symbols we thought were just decoration, but nothing that stood out.”

Vendoin and Callumkal seemed to absorb this information thoughtfully, while Kalam and Rorra both looked shocked that Moon could talk. Why do groundlings do that? Moon wondered, irritated.

Vendoin said, “You would think they would make it obvious that danger lay within, but there is no accounting for a strange species’ reasoning.” Her large eyes blinked, as she appeared to recall that the strange species was probably a Raksuran ancestor. She added, “No offense.”

Moon shared a look with Chime, and decided the best course was just not to respond to that.

Stone, clearly fed up with how everyone else was wasting time, said, “The Fell were the only ones who knew that thing was there, because it told them.”

Rorra said, “And they told you.”

“Oh, here we go,” Chime hissed under his breath in Raksuran. “This is like the Aventerans all over again.”

“It’s not an uncommon reaction,” Moon said.

Stone gave him a nudge with his shoulder. It was meant to be comforting, but Moon was still too irritated with Stone to receive it in the spirit it was meant.

His expression perplexed, Delin added, also in Raksuran, “I noticed this too, with the Aventerans. Are people simply that blind to detail? I look much like Vendoin, in that we both have two arms, two legs, one head, and so on, but all else is different. It does not seem a survival trait to ignore these facts.”

“What are you saying?” Rorra demanded.

Delin let a little impatience show, and answered in Kedaic, “We’re speaking of your willful ignorance in confusing Raksura with Fell.”

Also obviously nearing the end of her patience, Jade said, “This is entertaining, but you didn’t come here for words of caution. Delin’s given you those, and you’ve ignored them. And he’s already asked, and knows the answers to, all these questions. What do you really want from us?”