It was such an innocuous question, it took several moments for Moon to realize no one had answered it. He sat up on one elbow and looked down.
River lay a short distance from Balm and Briar. All three were in groundling form, the sun bringing out bronze and copper highlights in the brown of their skin, glinting off the bright colors of their clothes. They had all been bathing and washing clothing in the sea to save the boat’s stored water, with Stone to make sure no predators swam near, so they all still looked fairly presentable. River said, “Is it a secret, then?”
Still no response. Then River snarled to himself, flung himself to his feet, and stamped off down the deck.
Groaning under his breath, Moon rolled off the ridge and landed on the deck. Balm and Briar both twitched around to stare at him. Moon said, “Balm, can I talk to you?”
Balm exchanged a puzzled look with Briar, but got to her feet. Moon stepped back behind the cistern fastened to the side of the ridge, out of Briar’s earshot. He said, “What was that about with River?”
Balm sighed. She would obviously have preferred to say it was none of Moon’s business, but since he was the first consort, theoretically everything in the court was his business up until Pearl or Jade said it wasn’t. She said, “I don’t speak to River. He knows that.”
Moon frowned. “When did you stop speaking to him?”
“Since the Fell made me almost get everyone killed.” Balm’s brow furrowed, and she looked away. It was obviously still a painful memory. Especially since all Balm had ever been able to recall properly was the moment when Flower had discovered the Fell influence on her. She had never been sure when or where it had happened. “Since before we came to the Reaches.”
“Balm—” Moon tried to remember if he had ever seen Balm speak directly to River in a way that wasn’t hostile, or not a general command to a group of warriors. “Does Jade know this?”
Balm bit her lip, considering it. “Probably . . . not.”
Moon controlled an exasperated hiss. “Why didn’t I know this?”
Balm’s expression said the answer was obvious. “Because you’d do this, talk to me about it. Or get angry. You’re just as bad as Stone, except you still care what we do.”
“I have to care because the others are following your lead.”
Balm bared her teeth briefly in frustration.
Bramble came down the deck, spotted them, and leaned in around the cistern, brows lifted in curiosity. “What are you doing?”
Hoping for rational help, Moon asked her, “Did you know Balm hasn’t spoken to River since before we got to the Reaches?”
Bramble regarded Balm in surprise, then rolled her eyes. “Warriors,” she said in disgust, and unhelpfully withdrew.
“Balm—” Moon wanted to say, you’re supposed to be the sensible one, but it didn’t seem entirely fair. Balm was the sensible one, but she was also entitled to her feelings about River. There was a reason so many warriors in the court had turned against him when Pearl had rejected him. River had even bullied Chime once, which Moon had dealt with by beating River nearly unconscious. After that River’s conflicts with Chime had all been verbal, and Chime usually won. “If you want to play those games in the court, I can’t stop you.” Moon could, probably, but it would start far more trouble than it would stop. “But you can’t do it here.”
“I’m not a fledgling, I know we can’t fight while we’re doing this.” She folded her arms uncomfortably. “I’ll be more polite.” At Moon’s expression, she added, “It’s not like I’m going to let him die, or anything.”
It was grudging, but Moon suspected that was as much as he was going to get. “I’d appreciate that.”
Balm hesitated. “Are you going to tell Jade?”
“Jade doesn’t want to know this.” Moon was pretty certain Jade already had enough to worry about. And if Jade had noticed and hadn’t already talked to Balm about it herself, it meant she didn’t want to discuss it and was hoping no one else had noticed. “I’ll ask Bramble not to say anything.”
Balm smiled a little. “Bramble won’t. She knows how we are.”
As Balm went back to Briar, Moon rubbed his face and sighed.
Chime climbed down from the ridge above, asking softly, “What happened?”
“Nothing,” Moon told him. “Warriors being warriors.”
“I know,” Chime said with a groan. “We’re irrational. It’s so exasperating. It’s one of the things I hate most about changing.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Niran lay in his narrow bunk in the steering cabin of the Koltera, face buried in a too-thin pillow, and was not much amused when Tlar opened the door and stood over him. “What is it?” he groaned. He had taken the last night watch and it was Diar’s turn for the morning. They were passing over wetlands and the dampness in the air clung to the bedding and made sleeping uncomfortable, but he was determined to do it.
“Some Raksura arrived,” Tlar said.
“Raksura?” Niran heaved himself up on one elbow and squinted blearily up at Tlar. “From Indigo Cloud?” If they had heard from Delin, received some message . . .
Niran was furious with Delin. He was well acquainted with the fact that his grandfather did as he pleased, indifferent to danger. Delin was a scholar and an explorer, and it didn’t matter how many others had died while pursuing his vocation, he was determined to continue it. “We’re lucky he didn’t choose to study the Fell,” Diar had said once, unsympathetically. His sister was always unsympathetic toward Niran’s attempts to keep grandfather close to home; she felt that if they allowed Delin to do as he pleased he would include them in his plans and make it easier to watch over him.
This had not worked in the Kish-Jandera city, when they had come back from a day of trade meetings to find a note saying Delin was not at the library of Kedmar but had left for the Reaches with an expedition of Kishan scholars.
“Did he say he was kidnapped?” Diar had asked Blossom and Heart and Bell and the others who had received them at the Indigo Cloud colony. “We couldn’t tell from his note, but he left most of his things behind, as if he was given no time to pack.”
“Or did he trick them into taking him?” Niran had added. “You know what he’s like.”
The Arbora had all demurred, until Blossom reluctantly admitted, “I don’t think he ever said.”
Niran knew Blossom well from his own long journey with the court, and he couldn’t fault her for refusing to betray the old man. But the Raksura did not age as the Islanders did, and had little idea how fragile a man grandfather’s age could be.
Now Tlar said, “No, from the other settlement, the one further west that grandfather wrote about. The queen is here. She’s . . . large.” She made an expansive gesture. “And she brought the consort and the mentor who are partly Fell.”
“I’ll be right there.” Considerably more awake, Niran flung off the blanket. Tlar stepped out of the cabin as he hurriedly dressed.
He stepped outside to see Diar seated on the deck, facing a Raksuran queen even larger than the intimidating Pearl. Delin had described Malachite of Opal Night, but seeing her with one’s own eyes was a whole different experience. Even this crew, used to Raksura enough to be at ease with them, stared uneasily.
Belin was serving a pot of grain water with slightly trembling hands, but Diar had the map spread out and appeared to be explaining their route as if nothing was out of the ordinary. A dozen brightly-colored warriors were perched around on the railing, as well as one dark creature with an armored crest that after a startled moment Niran identified as the half-Fell consort.