Jade bared her teeth in frustration. “I didn’t, I’m just going. As a queen, I have every right to help defend the Reaches. If she tries to stop me, it’ll cause more trouble than it’s worth to her.” She hissed. “Of course, it’s hard to tell if she knows I’m going or not because she’s pretending I don’t exist.” She squeezed his wrist and said, “Are you really staying behind?”
There had been some discussion over whether Moon was well enough to go on the flying boat to Aventera or not, or if he should stay here. Moon was handling it by waiting until everyone with the authority or physical prowess to stop him had left to set the ambush, then he was going to join Delin and the others on the boat. This seemed to be the best way to avoid loud, emotionally-charged arguments. He had had too many of those lately.
“Probably… not,” Moon admitted reluctantly.
Jade twitched her spines, but didn’t object. Possibly she didn’t feel she had much right to argue with him, considering how she had inserted herself and Balm into the ambush portion of the plan. “Just be careful around those groundlings. You don’t know what the Fell have made them believe about us. And remember that Lithe is the bait, not you.”
It meant a great deal at that moment that she hadn’t tried to order him to stay behind or to talk him out of it. He managed to say, “You be careful, too. And Balm.”
Jade said, “We’ll be fine.” She pulled him close, nipped his neck gently, then slipped away.
Moon waited until Stone and the queens left, then went to the flying boat.
Delin’s crew of twelve young Islanders, most related to him, were not keen on the idea of letting him sail to Aventera alone, even with the help of friendly Raksura. Moon wasn’t sure how Delin convinced them or forced them, but they were reluctantly leaving the boat by climbing down a long rope ladder to the platform in front of the colony’s main entrance. Most of them carried small bags of belongings.
Feather and a few other Arbora waited for them down on the platform. Moon asked her, “Have you ever spent time with groundlings before?” He had suggested Feather be the one to take charge of Delin’s crew while they were here, to make sure they were comfortable and had access to food they could eat. Moon had chosen her because she was the only Arbora he felt he knew here. It also helped that she spoke enough Altanic to be able to communicate with them.
“No.” She smiled a little, glancing up at him. “It’ll be a good distraction, while we’re waiting.”
She meant waiting to see what the Fell would do. The court knew Malachite was acting on some sort of plan, but not the details. He said, “Hopefully it won’t be long.”
He shifted, and sprang up to catch hold of the boat’s railing. Below, Feather called out, “Be careful! We’ll see you in a few days!”
Moon swung down onto the deck and found himself facing Chime. “You’re going?” Chime stared. “I thought you were staying behind because you still needed to recover.”
“That’s what everybody thought,” Moon told him, and changed the subject before Chime could argue. “Where’s Celadon?”
Chime swallowed his objections with effort, and said, “Down in the hull.”
Moon went down the steps and found Celadon in the large common room with Delin. They had a piece of the pressed reed the Islanders used as paper spread out on the table, and Delin was drawing a rough map to Aventera from Celadon’s directions.
As Moon walked in, Celadon glanced up, surprised to see him. Then she frowned. “We should be leaving soon. Did you come to see us off?”
“I changed my mind,” he said. “I’m coming with you.”
Making a notation on the map, Delin raised a brow. “There was a question? I assumed you had always intended to accompany us.”
Celadon eyed Moon a moment, then sighed. “I’d argue with you, but I know that’s like arguing with a rock and I have to save what’s left of my patience for the Aventerans. At least, unlike the warriors, I know you’re not afraid to fight Fell.” She ruined it by adding dryly, “And if you collapse, we’ve got Lithe with us.”
Moon decided not to succumb to the urge to protest his health. He sat on the edge of the table and studied the map. “Did someone come up with a story for the court about where Malachite and the others were going?”
“We said they were going to plan the attack on the Fell.” Celadon didn’t look particularly satisfied with the explanation.
“It’s not as if anyone in the court is going to believe anything else,” Moon pointed out. “Simple lies are always better.”
Celadon lifted her brows, possibly at this evidence that Moon knew a lot about the best way to lie convincingly. “I see.”
Fortunately, footsteps came down the stairs at that point and Lithe stepped into the doorway. She had her satchel slung over her shoulder and wore an extra shawl over her work clothes. She looked around the room, curious and a little uneasy. Moon realized this must be her first time to leave the area around the colony, let alone to be on a flying boat. He didn’t know what to say to make her feel more comfortable, so he just asked, “Ready to go?”
“Yes.” Lithe took a deep breath and managed a wan smile. Above their heads the deck creaked as more Raksura landed. Moon assumed it was Celadon’s warriors. Lithe started a little at the unaccustomed sound of people walking on the thin wood above her head, and said, “I didn’t expect it would be so… odd, to think of leaving the colony, even for a few days.”
Celadon told her, “It’s brave of you. And if it works the way we hope, we’ll know what brought the Fell here.”
If it works the way we hope, Moon thought, and tried to suppress the urge to again mentally list everything that could go wrong.
Then someone dropped down the stairs and stepped into the doorway. It was a young queen about Celadon’s size, with a slender build. Her scales were a light gold webbed with copper. She saw Moon first, and acknowledged him with a tilt of her head and an opaque expression. Moon thought at first he had never met her before, then realized he had seen her with Onyx. She must be one of the other Opal Night bloodline’s daughter queens.
“Ivory,” Celadon said, sounding suspiciously neutral. “We’ll be leaving in a moment. Are your warriors aboard?”
“Yes. It’s a very strange craft.” She nodded politely to Delin. “This should be an interesting trip.”
Ivory, Moon thought. The queen that Onyx had gotten Umber to suggest as a possible match for Moon. Of all the things that could go wrong, that hadn’t even occurred to him as a possibility.
Under Delin’s direction, the warriors helped the flying boat cast off, while the Islander crew watched worriedly from the colony’s landing platform.
As the ship lifted above the ridge surrounding the split colony tree, Moon managed to catch Celadon alone in the bow, out of earshot of the others. Before he could speak, she said, “We thought it was better to have two queens aboard, in case the Fell struck before we reached the others. I didn’t know you planned to come. This is not my fault.”
That invalidated most of what Moon had been about to say. He fell back on, “Does she know I turned her down?”
“Yes. And more importantly, she knows Malachite does not approve of her offer.” Celadon hissed impatiently, then turned to wave to Delin in the steering cabin, indicating he should turn to the right more to avoid the branches of the standing portion of the tree. “You can’t be afraid of her. You saw Malachite’s reaction to Jade, the queen you want. What do you think she’d do to one who tried to touch you against your will? And besides that, I’m your clutchmate and I’m right here.”