All of Indigo Cloud had known about them, and heard the story of what had happened when Moon had been taken to Opal Night a couple of turns ago. But seeing half-Fell in the Indigo Cloud colony was something else altogether. Ember didn’t know what to think or feel about it and he was certain not many of the others did either.
“It’s wrong,” Rill muttered, moving forward to crouch beside Ember. “Pearl should welcome them, too. They’re part of our first consort’s bloodline. That little consort is Moon’s half clutch-brother.”
“Did you see what that little consort’s scaled form looks like?” Aura’s spines moved uneasily. Ember hadn’t seen it. He had been down in the nurseries when the Opal Night party had arrived. Then she admitted, “But when we traveled with them, he was fine. They both were. It just took a while to get used to the idea.”
Rill glanced at Ember, her expression deeply concerned. “Not letting them in is . . . wrong. If we don’t accept them, the other courts will take it as an excuse not to accept them either.”
“I don’t think they’re going to do much visiting—” Aura began.
“What if there are others?” Rill’s concern turned to borderline fury. “Lost out there, like Moon was, but part Fell, and not knowing what to do, except look for a court to belong to. And if they’re turned away, or worse, killed, because—”
Ember squeezed her wrist, and she subsided, saying, “I’m just . . . What happened to the consorts and Arbora who were forced to make them is not their fault. We owe it to them to help.”
Aura groaned. “All right, fine, but . . . Malachite should have sent someone ahead with us, so they could talk to Pearl first. So she would have time to think about it before they got here.”
Aura was dead right about that, Ember knew. Pearl hated surprises, hated having her hand forced. He also knew that he would have been the one to have that conversation, and he didn’t know if he felt the way Rill did. Maybe in principle, but in reality, he was afraid.
Opal Night had great power and influence, but other courts didn’t know about the half-Fell fledglings Malachite had taken in. When they learned of it, they would have to make a decision whether to accept it or not. If Indigo Cloud accepted it, it wouldn’t obligate any other court to follow suit, but it would be a powerful pull on all the interconnected strings of alliance.
Just one step. Somebody had to take it. Ember knew whose job it was, and it made his stomach sour with nerves. This is what consorts are for. He said, aloud, “I know what I should do.”
Rill looked at him, holding her breath.
Ember stared at the half-Fell consort with the oddly pale groundling skin. The tension in his shoulders was clearly fear. Conflicting impulses said he’s half-Fell and but he’s a consort. Then he’s not only a consort, he’s your first consort’s half clutch-brother, just think about it that way. Failing to welcome Moon’s half clutch-brother would be offensive, a clear violation of etiquette, a terrible insult. But against that was . . . fear. The only thing holding him back was fear.
It couldn’t be any worse than being dragged off to a strange court in turmoil where it had been immediately obvious that no one wanted him. “All right,” Ember muttered to himself. “So then.”
He stood. “Aura, please go up and get the seating area outside my bower ready to receive someone. Use my best tea set.”
“Uh.” Aura blinked, the implications hitting her. “Uh, yes, I’ll do that.”
She climbed down from the railing to head for the bower’s doorway. Rill followed her, saying, “I’ll help. You won’t do it right.”
“I will do it right,” Aura protested and they disappeared down the passage.
Ember took a deep breath, and before he could talk himself out of it, shifted and leapt down to the greeting hall floor.
He landed and furled his wings, and the hall fell silent, all murmuring and whispering ceasing instantly. He walked toward the group at the center, managing not to look at Pearl and Malachite.
It was second nature to make it look graceful, though with every eye in the court on him and his insides roiling, it wasn’t easy. Whether this was a good idea or not, he had no idea. But Shadow, the first consort of Emerald Twilight, had told him that Raksuran courts had strict rules of etiquette so they wouldn’t kill each other. Now it seemed doubly important to follow those rules.
Close-up, the consort looked even more like someone who had frozen in place in terror and self-consciousness. Ember reached him, shifted to his groundling form, and said, “I’m Ember, consort to Pearl, the reigning queen.”
The consort stared, wide-eyed. The fact that he was just as afraid as Ember somehow made the situation easier. Ember prompted gently, “This is where you tell me your name.”
“Uh, yes,” the consort whispered. “I’m Shade, of Opal Night.”
Ember nodded. “Would you like to come up to the consorts’ quarters?”
In a bare whisper, Shade managed, “Yes.”
“Good.” Ember took a breath to steady his pounding heart. “Follow me.”
Shade said, “But I’ll have to shift.”
Ember hesitated. He didn’t have time to consider all the implications, and found himself falling back again on common politeness. Suggesting that anything about Shade was out of the ordinary or unwelcome would be something only done to challenge or deliberately offend another court. Against a court that was not only an ally but whose bloodline was now mingled with Indigo Cloud’s royal Aeriat, it was unthinkable. He said, “Yes, you’ll have to shift. But it’s all right.”
Shade met his gaze, clearly forced his shoulders to relax, and shifted in time with Ember.
Ember blinked. He had heard the descriptions, but it was still a shock to see the reality. Shade’s shifted form was big and muscular, though the proportions were clearly a consort’s. His scales were a reflective black, with no contrasting color undersheen and no banding on his claws. He had a smaller, less prominent Fell ruler’s armored crest and a mane of spines and frills sprouting from the base. He did look like the drawing of the forerunner from the ancient city that Delin had brought to show them. Heart had made a copy of it for the mentors’ library and most of the court had studied it curiously. Ember managed to say, “Follow me,” and he and Shade leapt up to the nearest balcony.
Ember took them far enough up the central well to make the point, then swung over a balcony and into a passage that led to a back stairwell. He shifted to his groundling form and explained, “I want to give them time to get the seating area ready.”
Shade shifted as well. “Oh, right.” Following Ember up the steps, he added, “I’ve never been to another court before.”
“I hadn’t either, before I came here,” Ember told him. “I’m from Emerald Twilight.”
“Oh.” Shade hesitated again, then asked, “The warriors said Moon and the others went off with groundlings because your mentors think Fell will come here.”
“Yes, that’s what happened.” They reached the top of the landing, the one with the life-sized carving of warriors in flight, twisting up the wall to the next level, but Ember was too distracted to point it out. “Aura said your mentors saw the same thing, Fell attacking the Reaches?”