19. Chime and Flower: In the Time of Indigo Cloud's Eastern Colony

     "He really didn't know he was a consort," Chime said to Flower. They were in the back of her bower, sitting on the furs, the storage baskets stacked around them providing a little protection against prying ears.  "He really didn't know what a Raksura was."

     "It's a strange thing to consider, but it's perfectly possible."  Her expression was distracted, and she hadn't touched the cup of tea she held.  She had warmed the heavy ceramic pot with a touch, something Chime hadn't been good at even when he had still had his mentor abilities.  "It's going to make this whole thing a lot more...interesting."

     "That's one word for it."  Chime had heard the rumor, racing through the court as fast as warriors could fly, that Stone had brought a feral solitary to the court.  He had thought it was just idiot warriors were overreacting again. Not even Stone, who had been eccentric and odd since Chime could remember, would do that. Not when the future of the court had been riding on his trip to Star Aster.

      When Chime had burst out into the room to see the newcomer confronted by those two overzealous idiots Shell and Grain, he had been certain the rumor was wrong.  The stranger was so beautiful.  He had to be from Star Aster, sent with Stone as a messenger.

     The dirt he was covered with was from traveling obviously, but his clothes were ragged.  The cut was wrong, the weave too coarse, the dye faded and inexpert, and there was no decoration at all.  They hadn't been produced by Arbora.  And courts didn't send lone warriors as messengers, and certainly not for something as important as a negotiation for a consort. 

     Chime had intervened anyway, because if Stone had brought him, then there had be a reason. And that ass River might have told Shell and Grain to throw him out, because River thought he was doing what Pearl wanted.  Chime thought nobody knew what Pearl wanted right now, including Pearl.  Maybe especially Pearl.

     But Moon was a consort, a feral solitary only because of a terrible disaster.

     Chime realized both he and Flower had been staring at the walls of the bower, lost in thought. Chime missed Rain, like everyone did, and Dust and Burn and the older consorts who had died and the younger ones sent away to queens in other courts.  Maybe Chime just wasn't used to seeing a young consort; for so long, it had just been Stone, and only infrequently, when he wasn't flying off on his own.  He meant to say something like that, to try to explain why seeing a ragged courtless consort had stunned him so. But what came out was, "What do you think he thought of me?"

     Flower's brow furrowed and she turned slowly to regard him.  "What Moon thought of you."

     Chime would have loved to take the words back. He tried to cover with, "I mean, normally a consort would be insulted, being mistaken for a warrior, though in those conditions, the way he was dressed, it would be easy not to realize... But since he didn't know he was a consort, it wouldn't seem insulting, I guess." Flower's expression had gone from incredulity to amusement.  Chime demanded, "What?"

     She smiled. "He's very beautiful."

     "Well, sure, I suppose so."  Chime frantically scrambled for something to add.  "That's good.  For Jade. And the court."  Cleaned up,with the Arbora given a chance to dress him properly, no one would be able to tell Moon hadn't seen the inside of a colony for thirty-five turns.  Not until they started to talk to him,anyway, Chime reflected.  That could be a problem.

     Flower nodded. "He's a strong flyer,too."

     Chime felt his skin heat at the memory.  He took a sip of tea to cover his reaction and managed, "I knew consorts were faster than warriors, but I never realized how much faster."  He was used to Stone, but he somehow hadn't expected that queen-like display of speed and power from a young consort as Moon had shot down the river away from colony.

     Flower shook her head, still smiling, and set her cup aside.  "I just hope Jade feels the same way."