56. Visitors at Indigo Cloud

The Kek had sent up one of their air-filled bladders with a small bundle of flowers tied to it. Weave, who had set herself to learn the Kek's system of signals, interpreted the combination of blossoms and grasses as meaning that strangers were present in the Kek settlement. "Strangers, not attackers?" Moon asked her.

Sitting on her heels, looking over the deconstructed bouquet, Weave admitted, "I think it's strangers? Maybe?" 

So Moon had found Stone and Chime and a few spare warriors lying around and they took to the air, spiraling down the trunk of the colony tree to the permanent twilight below the suspended forest. Whether it was strangers or attackers, the air bladder made it clear that the Kek wanted the Raksura to see it.

The long ride down the draft gave Moon time to let his vision adjust to the dim filtered green light. As they landed on one of the towering roots near the settlement, a group of the Kek appeared out of the brush immediately, gesturing welcome at them.

Chime landed beside him and said, "I'll never get used to this place."

It wasn't Moon's favorite spot either, with the constant dark, the concentration of scents, the drifting ground mist, and the completely different array of insects, predators and other fauna to worry about. Though the Kek were always helpful and welcoming. "It might be nothing," he told Chime. Chime's dubious expression said he didn't believe that, either.

Moon dropped down onto the muddy ground, folding his wings. Stone had shifted to groundling and squelched through the mud to where the Kek were all talking and pointing. They were speaking their own language and a rapid version of the Kek-Raksuran pidgin. The structure of their throats made it almost impossible for them to speak Raksuran, so communication was always difficult. "What are they saying?" Moon asked Stone. 

"Weave isn't wrong, there's definitely someone new down here." Stone followed the Kek through the reeds. 

"Consort, do you want us to follow?" Serene whispered from the top of the root. The other warriors were spread out along it, spines flicking in curiosity. 

"Wait here for now," Moon told them. The Kek didn't seem afraid, so it might just be a new group of traders from one of the swampling communities deep in the Reaches. Chime hesitated and Moon flicked a spine to tell him to follow as he started after Stone and the Kek. 

"I hope it's traders," Chime said as they ducked under dripping leaves.

"Really?" Moon had never thought the swamplings traded anything interesting. They were mostly after strange plants and rocks and weird smelly things from the deeps of the Reaches. 

"As opposed to predators. And sometimes the plants they have are-- Oh, look! They've got one of those flying cart things." 

They came out into a clearing near the Kek town, where one of the colony-tree's looming roots curved around a shallow pond. The flying cart floated on the far side of the water, lit by shaded lamps. The light was steady and white, meaning it was either magical or maybe some kind of glowing moss. The cart was close to the size of a small flying boat, maybe forty paces long, but square at both ends and covered by a dome of paned glass. Moon could just make out moving shapes inside, and piles that were probably stored supplies.

Moon went over to the edge of the pond, where Stone stood with the Kek. Stone grumbled, "Flying cart people are always trouble."

The traders didn't look like trouble. Three of them stood on the mossy ground near the front of the cart, speaking to Kof and a small group of Kek elders. They were shorter than the Kek, with wide muscular builds, their skin gray in the dim light. But Moon could tell they wore protective clothing: heavy boots, coats and wraps of a slick material to protect them from the damp and the insects. One of them even wore a helmet-looking headpiece. "Those aren't swamplings. Those are groundlings."

Stone sighed in exasperation. "That's even worse."

Chime twitched his spines in amazement. "I think you're right. How did they get here? I mean, obviously on the floating cart. But how are they still alive?"

Then a big figure stepped out from behind the cart. It was taller than Moon, and wider, and strangely familiar. Moon tasted the air but all the he could scent was mud and green plants...

Then Stone growled. "Oh, this has to be a joke."

Moon's jaw dropped. "Kethel?"

Chime ducked reflexively, looking up. "What kethel? Where?"

"There." Moon raised his voice to carry, "Kethel? What are you doing here?" They hadn't seen Kethel since the half-Fell flight had settled in its colony tree in Opal Night territory.

Kethel waved, turned his head to speak to the groundling traders. Then he waded through the muddy snail pond to reach them. He stopped a few paces away and said, "It's not what it looks like."

"What does it look like?" Moon asked. He really had no idea.

Neither did Kethel, because after a moment of thought, he gestured back toward the traders. "We found them in our territory. They explore, draw things, take bits of plants. We told them go back, but they won't. So she sends me with them to make sure they don't die."

"She" was obviously Consolation, the Fell queen.

"Do they know you're a Fell?" Chime asked, fascinated. "Or half-Fell or--"

"I don't know," Kethel admitted. "I tell them stories, but it doesn't help."

Moon looked at the oblivious traders. They had seen the Raksura and were pointing and talking. Groundlings who could make it this far into the Reaches had to be unusual, at best. The last group to manage it had stolen Indigo Cloud's seed, but then maybe preventing that kind of thing was one of the reasons Consolation had sent Kethel with them. "Maybe they don't understand the stories are real?"

Kethel made a helpless "your guess is as good as mine" gesture.

Stone buried his face in his hands. Moon was too boggled to stop asking questions. "You've traveled with them all the way here from your tree? On the ground?"

"All the way. She and some of the others come to visit me along the way." Kethel scratched his muddy hair absently. "I like seeing new things. That's why she sends me."

"But why bring them here?" Chime asked.

"They want to see things further into the Reaches, this was nearest safe place." 

Stone let out his breath. "You couldn't take them to Opal Night?"

"She asks, but the big queen said no."

"Does Malachite have any idea--" Stone began, them gave up. "You know, never mind."

Chime asked, "What are you going to do with them now?"

Kethel looked hopeful. "They need to go home, but they don't know that yet."

Now Moon knew the real reason Kethel had led them to Indigo Cloud. "You want help convincing them to leave."

Moon and Chime turned to Stone. Stone groaned under his breath.