Jade left the warriors and turned to Chime, motioning Heart to draw near. She asked them, “You can make a copy of that map?”
Heart nodded and glanced at Chime. “We should each do one separately, and then compare them to make sure we’re accurate.”
“We’ll be accurate,” Chime said, perfectly confident.
“When you’re certain, make three copies,” Jade told them. Then she turned to Moon, “Now, I’m going to talk to Pearl. After that, I want you to write a letter to your mother.”
She didn’t stay for an answer, immediately leaping straight up to catch the edge of a balcony. Moon let out a breath in annoyance, watching her start the climb up the well toward the queens’ level.
Chime murmured, “I don’t know which of those things is more frightening.” Heart, apparently meaning to demonstrate how unfunny she found that remark, gave him a little punch in the ribs. Chime shied away from her and said, “Ow. Don’t hit when I’m in groundling form.”
Moon was betting on the encounter with Pearl being worse. He said, grimly, “I’ll tell you later.”
Chime and Heart started down to the lower level workrooms to make the maps. Knowing the talk with Pearl was going to take a while, Moon followed but turned off at the teachers’ hall to visit the nurseries.
Moon spent some time playing with his own fledglings, as well as all the others who were awake. He ended up stretched out on the floor, watching Sapphire, Fern, Solace, Cloud, and Rain roll around trying to kill each other and their companions.
Over by the nearest pool, the teachers Bark and Bead were discussing who they wanted to clutch with. This involved a detailed examination of the good and bad traits of various bloodlines, and who was related too closely to whom. Within the court, breeding was serious business but sex was easy and friendly and casual, a welcome change from some of the places Moon had lived in the past. Warriors were all infertile, and queens and female Arbora could control their fertility at will, so there was no possibility of unwanted babies. Royal Aeriat took warrior lovers, and consorts were expected to have clutches with Arbora to encourage mentor births. Moon hadn’t done that so far, mostly because Jade’s clutching had been so nerve-racking that he couldn’t bring himself to do another one yet.
Bitter and Thorn plopped down next to him, both in groundling form. The two consorts were a little too old now to play with quite such reckless abandon as the younger kids. Over the past season Moon had started to teach them and Frost the basics of fighting, and how to handle their claws, which was easier now that Bitter had actually admitted that he could fly. Moon said, “Where’s Frost?”
Bitter made an elaborate shrug, as if indifferent to Frost’s location. Thorn said, “The hunters are working on hides today and she wanted to watch.”
Moon frowned. “She wants to learn how to tan hides?” He approved, but found it a little odd that Frost was interested.
Bitter gave him a wry look, clearly sad at how naive Moon was. Thorn said, patiently, “No, she wants to hear all about everything that’s going on with the groundlings and the flying boat, and she knows that the hunters will be talking about it.”
That made a lot more sense. “Oh. You know about that?”
Bitter sighed and rolled his eyes, and Thorn said, “Everyone knows. Part of it, anyway. Frost will come and tell us the rest when she finds out.” Regarding Moon seriously, he said, “You’re going off to fight some Fell, before they get into an old groundling city and then come here to attack us, like in the dream everyone had.”
Moon shook his head. “I don’t know yet if I’m going.”
Thorn and Bitter stared. Then Bitter reached over and poked Moon in the head. Thorn said, “You have to go. What if something happens to Jade? Is Chime going?” Bitter leaned over and whispered in Thorn’s ear. Thorn translated, “Bitter says the last time you let them go somewhere without you, something terrible happened.”
Moon winced. “Thorn . . .” Thorn was gentle and perceptive and relentless, all good qualities for a consort, unless you didn’t want to talk about something he wanted you to talk about.
“Are you worried about leaving us and your other clutch?” Thorn continued. “They’re really too young to understand things like that yet. They’ll miss you, but when you come back they won’t be mad, and they won’t really remember how long you were gone. That’s how it was for us at that age.”
“That’s good to know,” Moon said. So if I get killed, it won’t bother them too much. That wasn’t exactly an encouraging thought.
Bitter leaned in to whisper a remark, and Thorn said, “Bitter thinks you’re worried about leaving us. We don’t like it when you go away. But it’s been a long time since you’ve had to go. So . . . I think it’s all right with us.”
Then Sapphire galloped over, flung a ragged doll at Bitter’s chest, and galloped off again. Cloud slammed in to retrieve the doll, and then Bitter and Thorn were enveloped in a mass of fledglings and Arbora babies.
After a while, Moon reluctantly decided enough time had passed that Jade would have finished talking to Pearl, and started up to the queens’ level.
He found Jade in her bower with the writing materials out, impatiently waiting for him. “How was Pearl?” he asked her, taking a seat by the hearth.
“Angry.” Jade’s expression indicated that she realized that was nothing new. “She didn’t give me an answer yet. Ember is in there with her, to nod and say reasonable things, so that’s the best we can hope for.”
Ember was good at nodding and saying reasonable things to queens. It was a large part of a consort’s duty, one Moon didn’t feel he was particularly good at. But speaking of which, he asked Jade, “Why were you so angry with that Captain Rorra? Do you hate sealings for some reason?”
“Of course not. I’ve never seen a live sealing before.” Jade bared her fangs briefly in exasperation. “I don’t know, exactly. Something was just . . . odd . . . about her. I wanted to slam her off that platform before she even said anything.”
Moon realized she was right, he had felt Rorra was aggressive and threatening before she had spoken. If he took the emotion out of it, all she had done at first was be cautious and watchful, which was presumably part of the job she did for Callumkal and the other scholars. “Huh.”
Jade waved off the topic. “Now we need to write these letters. I’m going to write to Emerald Twilight and Sunset Water, but you should write to Malachite.”
After a lot of practice, Moon could read Raksuran fairly well. But his handwriting was still terrible, so what Jade actually meant was that he would talk and she would write it down.
This was how Moon answered letters from Shade and his clutchmate Celadon, usually getting Chime to do the writing part. The letters were carried from court to court along the trade network, so it sometimes took them months to arrive. This letter would be taken directly to Opal Night by Indigo Cloud warriors. And for something this serious, Moon didn’t think he should be involved. This seemed more like a queen thing. He said, “She’s going to know you’re the one writing it. You should just write it and tell her it’s from you.”
Jade put the pen down in exasperation. She had the pressed paper spread out on the floor and a cake of ink in a small bowl, all ready. “How would Malachite know that?”
Moon lifted a brow. It was always best to assume that Malachite knew everything. It was the only way to cope with her.
Jade growled under her breath and picked up the pen. “You’re right, you’re right.”
He watched her write for a moment. “Are you telling her you’re going?”
She stopped and scratched the pen through the ink again. “Yes.”
“Without getting Pearl’s permission?”