41. The Fringe of the Reaches

First a note:  I live very close to Houston, which has been affected terribly by Hurricane Harvey, along with Rockdale, Port Aransas and other towns and cities along the coast.  We're okay where we are, but a lot of people we know aren't.

Here's a link with a list of places to donate: https://www.patreon.com/posts/14076152 

Personally I've donated to the Houston Food Bank http://www.houstonfoodbank.org/donate/donate-money/  and the Houston SPCA http://www.houstonspca.org/ and the Global Giving Relief Fund https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/hurricane-harvey-relief-fund/

The fringe of the Reaches often had short wind-storms at the end of the rainy season, and Moon could tell from the change in the air that one was coming. So could everybody else, and Jade had already turned them back away from open country toward the shelter of the mountain-trees. They were flying parallel to the fringe, where the mountain-trees grew in isolated clusters, with other trees and foliage flourishing between them. 

Moon had recognized the band of green they had passed over earlier as link-trees, but he hadn't thought of stopping. But as they circled back, Snow slipped sideways and fouled a wing.

Balm was closer and swooped in and caught Snow before Moon could. Jade signaled a landing and they dropped down onto the bare branch of an old and stunted mountain-tree. 

Moon climbed up the branch to check on Snow, the rising wing pulling at his frills. Chime was already there with Balm, checking over the wing joint. Jade, who had landed further out on the branch, signaled two warriors to take up guard positions above them.  When Moon reached them, Snow was in a sad huddle between Balm and Chime, wincing at the pain.  "I'm sorry, consort," he said. 

Moon said, "Don't be sorry. It was a bad gust." It was also a good lesson in why warriors shouldn't fly alone, something Snow wasn't likely to forget now. Snow's clutchmate Spring clung to the branch below, watching worriedly, and Moon flicked spines at her in reassurance.

Chime felt along the joins in Snow's wing. "Nothing broken," he reported. "You don't feel sick, do you?"

"No, I'm fine, I can keep going," Snow assured them.

Balm snorted. "It's not like there's something chasing us. We're going to have to wait out this squall, anyway."

"Balm's right," Moon said. Snow had always seemed a little anxious, but he and his clutchmate had still been fledglings during the Fell attack on the old colony, and old enough to understand what was happening. "We need to stop here for a while. I wanted to see these trees, anyway."

"Trees?" Chime asked, as Moon turned to climb down the branch.

Moon glanced back to see Balm's spines angled in curiosity, and even Snow looked interested. He just said, "They have them in the east, too."

Moon hopped down to the lower branch where Jade was, where there was a better view of the link-forest. "Snow all right?" Jade asked.

"He's fine, just needs to rest," Moon told her.

A gust blew a scatter of leaves over them, and she winced away from the dust in the air. "It's better to wait this out, anyway."

Moon climbed down a little further. From this angle, he could see in under the upper layer of the canopy. 

The link-trees were like the Reaches in miniature, a comparison Moon hadn't been able to make until now. The heavy, almost unbreakable vine-branches at the top of the trees looped around and through each other, forming natural bridges and platforms.  The Hassi had cultivated hanging plants and used the lower, more malleable branches to weave into homes. The canopy above them was thick, the leaves weaving together, and despite the rising wind, they weren't moving much. Moon took a deep breath to taste the air. This link-forest was far from the Abascene peninsula but the scent was the same, a sharp astringent blend.

Chime climbed down beside him. "Oh, I see. These are unusual," he said. "I wonder if these would grow on one of the platforms."

"It would make it awfully dark and crowded," Vine said, climbing down behind them.

"Well, yes, but if we trained them to grow further apart we could use them as supports for vine fruit." Chime's spines ruffled self-consciously. "I mean the Arbora, obviously."

Moon hesitated, but he suddenly found he actually wanted to talk. "I lived in a place like this."

Chime turned to look at him, spines tilted in surprise. "With groundlings?"

"The Hassi. A little like groundlings, a little like treelings."

"Were they terrible people?" Vine asked.

Moon controlled a spine flick of irritation. In Vine's defense, most of Moon's stories of the places he had lived before the Reaches involved terrible people. "No, no. They were... It was a good place to live."

He had Jade's attention now too. She was still watching Balm and Snow, but some of her spines had swiveled to point in his direction.

"Why did you leave?" Chime asked. "Oh, did something terrible happen?"

"The Fell came through the area, so they went to ground. I left, then." 

Chime leaned out to grip one of the curving branches, testing the strength. "How did they live in here?"

The scent of the link-trees was bringing the memories back. Moon realized with a shock that they were all good memories. "Woven platforms and baskets. Big baskets. They grew gardens in baskets."

Chime turned to stare at him. "How did they get the water to the baskets? By carrying buckets?"

Distracted, Moon said, "No, they used pipes." He hadn't thought about the Hassi in a long time. It was strange how those good days, listening to the elders' stories, helping bring in the harvests, playing with the kids in the branches, had gotten buried under a mound of bad days.  At the time, it had seemed better not to think about them, knowing he would never see them again. Moon wasn't so sure now. Maybe it had just let them get lost in the sea of bad memories.  

Chime waved a hand. "What-- How-- What were they made of? How did it work?"

Moon shrugged his spines. "I don't know, it just did?"

"Can you describe it?"

Vine was baffled, too. "We've got pipes. That's what's running into the drains."

Chime began, "Yes, but--" He stopped as the next gust rattled the branch underfoot.  "It's really getting bad out here."

Above them, Jade called, "Balm, bring Snow! We're going into these trees!"

***

After a few moments of climbing, Snow was tucked into a natural basket in the link-trees with Spring to keep an eye on him and Chime nearby. The other warriors were scattered around on the looping branches, either resting or on watch. Moon sat with Jade above Snow's basket, leaning against the deceptively strong trunk. The rush of the wind was loud but the heavy canopy blocked most of it, and the feeling of cozy protection was almost the same as being inside a mountain-tree. 

"Did you like them, the people who lived in these kinds of trees?" Jade asked.

"Yes."  That seemed inadequate, so Moon added, "They were good people."

She sighed and leaned against him. "Did they know you were a Raksura?"

"No." He admitted, "Sometimes I wondered." Maybe it hadn't made a lot of sense for the Hassi to let an apparent groundling work with the other gatherers up in the high canopies. It made perfect sense, of course, if you knew that groundling was actually a shapeshifter who could fly. 

"Maybe someday we'll need to visit the east, and you can ask them," Jade said, teasing.

Moon was startled to discover that it didn't sound like a bad idea at all.