24. The Hidden Colony, Part II

     Of course the Arbora wanted to see the ruin of the old colony.  Moon could tell Jade was reluctant to agree, but also reluctant to tell the Arbora no just because of her own feelings.  She also hadn't been exactly thrilled to hear that Moon had been the one to go after Fair, and had told him so once they were alone in her bower. 

     Moon felt he had way too much experience at this point going into strange and likely dangerous places filled with weird things; it made sense for him to go rather than one of the less experienced warriors.  He told her, "We threw some moss bundles down there to make sure there was no magic."

     Her tail lashed.  "So you made sure there was no magic like the one trap we found but there very well could have been some other sort of trap."

     "Who was the last one who went after Fair when he got stuck somewhere stupid?" Moon had asked.

     Jade glared at him, but grumbled, "Pearl is never going to agree to this."

     Moon didn't laugh but had to say, "We both know that Pearl will agree to a lot of things just to get people to stop talking to her."

     Jade clearly couldn't argue with that.  She sighed in annoyance.  "Did you talk to Ember already?"

     Moon pretended the tea steeping in the pot needed attention.  "I talk to Ember all the time."  Ember had, of course, wanted to hear the story of what had happened, and Moon had been sure to mention how much the Arbora wanted to explore further.  If Ember chose to nudge Pearl in the right direction while he was being sympathetic to her frustration, that was Ember's decision.

***

     After hearing the Arbora out, Pearl said, "After what happened last time?" They were sitting in the queens' hall, Moon and Jade facing Pearl across the bowl hearth, surrounded by eager Arbora and dubious warriors.

     "Which last time?" Merit asked,which didn't help. Thistle reached over and pinched him.  He hissed at her, then stopped abruptly when Pearl flicked a spine.

     In the moment of distraction, Chime and Heart stared hopefully at Jade, who sighed and said, "Not every hidden place we stumble across is going to be some sort of trap."

     Pearl's expression was dry.  "Isn't it?  Past experience would suggest otherwise."

     Chime poked Moon in the side.  Moon didn't think Pearl would put much weight into any counterargument that came from him. Their relationship was much better than it had been, but it wasn't like she enjoyed listening to him talk.  He nudged Jade, instead.

     Jade flicked a spine at him, but said, "We know to be cautious now, and the mentors haven't scryed any danger."

     Pearl looked around at all the hopeful Arbora faces, and hissed in irritation. 

***

     Later, Moon ended up down in the teachers' hall while the Arbora made plans and the warriors who had been chosen to accompany the group tomorrow had mostly all gone to nap.  Chime was clearly forcing himself to stay awake, trying to question Stone.  Moon could use a nap, too, but he wanted to hear all the plans first.

     Chime asked Stone, "You can't remember anyone in the old court talking about it?"

     Stone gave him a look.  "If I had, I would have said."

     "What about older courts, that died out or left?" Moon asked.

     "There's plenty of those," Stone admitted, "But none of them that I know of built like that.  Too much trouble, hauling rock up from the forest floor to make walls, when you've got wood."

     "Maybe their tree started to collapse and they were trying to fix it," Merry said as she carried a pile of packs past.

     Chime shook his head.  "That wouldn't work.  The foundations would still be collapsing--"

     "But they might have wanted to test it for themselves," Blossom pointed out from across the room.  "If they had some method to bind the rock to the wood--"

     "They did that at Opal Night, didn't they?" Moon asked.

     Distracted from trying to argue with three different Arbora at once, Chime turned to him. "No, I looked at that when we were there.  The wood was growing around an existing wall, not bonded to it--"

     Then Copper asked, "Moon, why are you so interested in the ruin?"

     The question took Moon by surprise.  It would have been annoying if it had come from a warrior, but he wasn't sure what it meant coming from an Arbora, much less a mentor.  Even more annoyingly, the hall had gone silent.  He said, "Because I'm interested in things."

     "No, not normally," Copper said earnestly.  Chime made a huffing noise like a strangled growl. The other Arbora stared at Copper incredulously.  Copper hastily tried to clarify, "I mean, you've been making sure we get to go see it.  It's subtle, but you convinced Jade it would be a good idea, even though she was worried about it, and you got Ember to talk to Pearl and soften her up, and..."

     Rill shook her head in dismay and Bramble muttered, "Merit, do something, he's going to ruin it."

     Merit whispered, "What?"

     "I don't know, hit him."

     Moon said, "Isn't that what consorts are supposed to do?"  It came out sharper than he intended.  He knew what Copper meant, he just didn't want to explain his reasons.

     "It is, it absolutely is," Chime said.  "Copper, go find something to do in another part of the tree. A part far from here."

     "But I didn't--"

     Bramble and Rill started to get up.  Moon said, "No, it's fine."  He knew Copper was old enough by Raksuran standards to leave the nurseries and was considered an adult Arbora, but he still looked like a kid to Moon.  Maybe that was another realization about life as a royal Aeriat - the fledglings and babies Moon had watched over in the nurseries would never seem entirely grownup to him.

     Everyone settled back into their seats, and stared at him expectantly.  Moon added, "That doesn't mean I'm going to answer the question."

***