20. Niran, in the Last Days of Indigo Cloud's Eastern Colony

(This is part one of this Niran story.  I also have two videos of my reading at WorldCon to upload, hopefully this week. (I had to get someone's help to shrink them down enough to post.) 

   In his heart of hearts, Niran had expected to have been eaten by now.  If not by theRaksura, then by something else roving the deep jungle.

     But on the first day in hiding, under the heavy screen of trees, a warrior whose name he would later learn was Drift, had made a joke about eating the groundling. It had been made in Altanic, so Niran could understand it.

     Niran had stood there, uncertain how to react, when the warrior suddenly jerked backward.  Blossom, an Arbora woman, stood beside him.  She had a firm grip on the mane of sharp pointy things and softer, hair-like tendrils that extended from the back of the warrior's head.  She said, in a voice that tolerated no resistance, "Say that again."  She was small beside the warriors, though she was heavily built and sturdy, and her arms and shoulders showed muscle. She hadn't even bothered to change into her scaled form, but the sharp points in the warrior's mane didn't appear to be hurting her hand.

     The warrior said, thickly, "It was just a joke."

     Another Arbora, Rill, stepped forward. "Then why aren't we laughing."  She was smaller than Blossom, and if Niran had seen her step off a ship in the seaport below the Golden Isles, he would have thought her just another sailor from the ports of the Crescent Sea.

     Another warrior dropped out of the tree canopy and landed on the mossy ground with a thump that vibrated through Niran's sandals.  Niran managed to control his flinch enough to make it a minor movement, though his legs trembled with the effort of not running away.  The warrior growled something in the Raksuran language.

     Blossom turned toward him, dragging the other warrior with her, apparently effortlessly.  She said, in pointed Altanic so Niran could understand, "I'm upset about Branch, too.  I'm upset about a lot of things.  I'm upset that most of the court, all our clutchmates and fledglings and the rest of our bloodlines are probably dead or are going to be eaten by Fell.  I'm upset that Fell have destroyed our colony. I'm upset that our line-grandfather nearly died fighting kethel. But if you think you are going to continue to behave as you want, as if there are no consequences to the Arbora, you are mistaken.  Go get Pearl, if that's what it takes, and I'll say the same to her.  But she has more important things to deal with and not much patience to be tried."

     The warrior made a sharp gesture, but the mane of pointed spines behind his head was starting to droop. He spoke again in Raksuran.

     Blossom stepped forward, still dragging her hapless captive.  "I say you and your companions will treat this groundling courteously and there is no other option.  And I held you as a fledgling but if you press me I tell you that you will regret it."

     The warrior hesitated for a long moment.  Then he stepped back.  His spines moved in some pattern Niran couldn't read, but was startled to realize was actually communication.

     Blossom released the warrior Drift, who staggered and then bolted away.  Theother warrior followed more decorously.

     Blossom turned to Niran, and said, "Sorry about that."  She sounded no more annoyed as if she had had to scold a child. She drew him with her as she moved away, stepping carefully on the mossy ground.  "Come help us get some reeds."

     Niran managed, "No need to apologize.  I appreciate your intervention."

     Rill moved up beside him.  "They aren't normally like that." She jerked her head after the departing warriors. "Nothing's been normal with us for a long time."

     Niran was torn between not wanting to be rude to two people who seemed determined to be friendly, and a general belief that violent behavior must be normal for a species of winged predators.  "Of course," he said finally.  He didn't know what he meant by it and saw no reason why the two Arbora should, but they didn't seem to find it odd.

     As they reached the stream, Rill said, "What's it like where you come from?  Where does your court live?"

     That explanation took the rest of the afternoon, as they had little idea of any other way of life but their own, but were extremely curious to hear about it in detail.

     Niran had had no trouble with the warriors after that.  He had realized later that Blossom's action had signaled that Niran was now considered an Arbora and that the warriors had to treat him as one, or face the displeasure of the other Arbora.

     He had also realized that his assumption that the Arbora were some sort of servant class was as wrong as it was possible to be.  But what the case actually was,he had no idea.  Watching them build the blind, he would have said Blossom was in charge, but that wasn't quite right either.  It was more like there had been some sort of nearly nonverbal discussion and consensus on how best to construct the shelter which had included selecting Blossom as the one to implement it.  His grandfather would have given anything to be here, so Niran did his best to make mental notes.

     He thought at first they were all afraid of the queen Pearl.  Then he saw the smallest hunter, Strike, go and lean against Pearl's side, as if taking simple comfort in her presence.  That situation was also too complicated to pin down.