16. Stone and Cloud: In the Time of Indigo Cloud's Eastern Colony

(Note: this is the first part of a multi-part Stone and Azure story I'll continue in the next couple of Patreon posts, depending on how long it turns out.)

Most of the time, Stone didn't remember there had been a time without Azure.

She had come to Indigo Cloud as a fledgling, from another failing court in the Reaches, not long before they had left for the east. At the time it had seemed like so much fun, these new fledglings and baby Arbora coming into the nurseries, right before the grand adventure of leaving the colony tree for new territory.

It was a tribute to the management of Indigo and the Arbora teachers that it had been a few turns later before any of them figured out that Azure and the other new fledglings had been sent to them to from a court that knew it was dying. A court that knew it was too weak to escape, and hoped to save a few lives and preserve its bloodline by melding it with Indigo Cloud.

Now Indigo Cloud was here in the east, stopping for a season or two to rest at a groundling ruin built atop a shallow river in a wide valley, and Azure might leave them.

"What's wrong with you?" Cloud asked. He was digging through one of the baskets, turning out their small store of jewelry and good clothes. They were in the section of the old temple that had been set aside for consorts' quarters. It was a collection of partially walled platforms looking into an open central shaft where the Arbora were trying to get hanging fruit plants to grow. "Don't you want to meet our new

allies?"

Stone snorted.  "No."  Nobody was coming to meet him, and even if they were, he wouldn't be interested. And he was aware exactly how whiney and self-centered that sounded in his head, he didn't need to say it aloud for Cloud to comment on.

Cloud sat back and gave him an exasperated look. "I know how you feel about her. But none of you have had a chance to meet anyone new in turns. You have to remember what it used to be like in the Reaches. Give the other courts a chance."  

Stone's lip curled.  "No, I don't have to." Consorts weren't allowed to fight each other for a queen's attention, but there were ways. Unfortunately, when the rival consort was in another court, the ways were pretty pointless.

Stone wouldn't know which consort he wanted to kill until he was chosen by Azure and then it would be far too late. And if Stone did kill his rival, then Azure would kill Stone and Indigo would have to kill Azure and the whole colony would collapse. Stone made the mistake of explaining this train of thought to Cloud.

"I could kill you now, and that would head the whole thing off," Cloud pointed out. "Or maybe just hit you really hard."

Stone barred his teeth briefly and looked away. Arbora voices drifted up the shaft, calling to each other excitedly as they got ready for the visit. Considering the other places they had stopped at on the way here, these quarters were comfortable and lavish. But Stone wouldn't be sorry to leave it eventually, after the harvest when the court was well rested.  This place would always be the place where he lost whatever small chance he had had to be taken by Azure as her first consort. The most he could hope for after this was to be taken as her second consort, out of pity, because no one else would ever want him. He told Cloud, "You can hit me, that's fine."

Cloud sighed.  "Have you ever considered talking to her?"

Stone spared him a glare.  "I talk to her all the time."

Cloud ignored the glare.  "About this."

Of course Stone had never talked to her about it. The court wasn't actively dying off anymore, but they needed Azure to bring a new consort from one of these eastern courts, to seal the alliance and bring in a new bloodline. It was all very well for Cloud, who was so beautiful he had tricked Indigo into stealing him and almost plunged half the Reaches into disaster. No one was going to steal Stone, or even want him. He couldn't be given to a queen from another court. And when it came down to it, he knew he couldn't ruin Azure's chances.

Stone had assumed his bad eye would get better as he got older. The mentors had said it had nothing to do with his bloodline, that it was probably caused by an injury in the womb. But instead of the bad spot getting smaller the way the mentors had hoped, it had gotten bigger, until it appeared to cover the whole eye. It didn't affect his flying or anything else.  He had grown up compensating for it and if it was suddenly cured he would probably fly into cliffs and walk into walls for a turn before he got used to it. But it was a defect, and the other eastern courts they had met briefly along the way here had made it plain that they weren't interested in a marred consort.

And right now the only thing the court had of any value was its bloodline.

Cloud's eyes narrowed, as if he knew what Stone was thinking. He said, "They like their consorts strong, out here. Pretty and delicate is for the Reaches."

Spending his main growing years on the wing had given Stone an excess of lean muscle and broad shoulders. Stone thought Cloud, who was strong as well as pretty and delicate, was supremely unqualified to give his opinion on this point. "Right," Stone said, "I'll hold my breath while the queens from Wind Sun and Mist Silver line up to fight over me." He pushed to his feet, shifted, and dropped down the shaft before Cloud could reply.