7. Bramble and Rill: In the Time of Indigo Cloud's Return to the Reaches

"Rill, are you down there?" Bramble called. She stood in one of the large curving wells in the bottom of the tree, below the work areas and store rooms. The walls here had no carving, the wood left rough, and the floors hadn't been smoothed. But the combination of artistry and utility was obvious in the open channel that curved alongside the set of stairs. Moss curtained it, but Bramble could tell it had been planted there intentionally, though now it was overgrown. The water rushing down the channel was part of the tree's overflow, the excess that was drawn up through the roots and then expelled. It had been tapped at various points to use for drinking and bathing and ornamental channels.

For a moment there was no answer.  Then Rill's head poked out from below the bend a level or so down. "Yes, we're here!"

Bramble hissed with relief.  No matter how fascinating it was to explore, this new/old colony was still so strange that she wasn't quite comfortable being alone in the empty sections. She climbed down the stairs, noticing again that the wood was so hard here her claws didn't scratch it. "Isn't this place incredible?" she said.

"I know, I can't believe we're here!" Rill twirled on the landing as Bramble reached her, frills and spines flared. "It's perfect!"

"Did you see the size of the chamber for working hides?" Bramble said. "There's a water channel running through it, and pottery tubs built into the floor, and an air flow, and everything."

Rill plopped down on the landing and stretched out full length. "Did you see the carving in the pottery work room? It's beautiful."

Bramble dropped down and stretched out beside her. There was a view up the lower well here, perfect for admiring the curves and bends, and the angle of the stairs. The wood felt comfortably scratchy against her scales. She sighed. "I can't believe we're finally here."

They admired the view in contented silence for a while, until Rill said, "It makes me sad, though."

Bramble knew she wasn't talking about the carvings anymore. "Because it's empty?" It was so odd to see a colony like this, every pace of it designed for and by Raksura. Looking up at the shape of the well above, she could recognize those curves and angles. There was something about them that she couldn't articulate, but that told her they had been designed by Raksura.

Bramble had never seen anything like it before, though she had heard how the Sky Copper Court had built their own desert mound, and that Star Aster's colony was thought to be very fine. With a chill she remembered that Sky Copper was dead now, all except for their last royal clutch. And with the seed missing and Jade, her new consort, Flower, Stone and the others gone to Emerald Twilight to look for another one, maybe this wasn't a good time to talk about empty colonies.

But Rill said, "Because we don't know how to do this anymore."

"You mean, make trees do this?" Bramble didn't think that was quite fair. "We didn't have any chance to learn things like this at the old colony."

"Yes, but we didn't achieve anything at the old colony either. We didn't make anything new."

Bramble drew breath to protest, then let it out without speaking. Rill didn't mean new jewelry designs, or new glazes for pottery.

Rill continued, "When the court found it, it was just a big stone ruin. We moved our things in, and that was it."

"We planted the gardens," Bramble pointed out. "Or they did, I mean.  The Arbora who were alive then."  Though she knew their old gardens didn't seem like much compared to those on the platforms outside. 

"They were nice gardens, but... I wonder sometimes if there was something wrong with the place from the beginning, if it wasn't just the Fell influence that started all the bad things happening." Rill sat up on her elbows, warming to her theory. "Mist Silver never had the kind of problems we did, and neither did Wind Sun or Sky Copper."

Bramble thought it over.  It stirred a dim memory. "I heard once --from Sprig, not long before she died -- that we weren't meant to stay there permanently. When she was young there were still very old Arbora who remembered the journey, and they said the court was in bad shape when they found the colony. That everyone was sick and starving, and they only meant to stay there a month or so and then move on further east, down toward where Star Aster and the others were. But so many things had happened on the journey, so many died, that once they were there, the idea of leaving again and pushing on was just too much, so they decided to stay."

Rill said slowly, "I wonder how things would have turned out if we had moved on eastward."

Bramble shrugged, the wood scraping her shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe better." But maybe not.

"But maybe we wouldn't be here now," Rill said. "It's good we're here."

It was different, but Bramble had a good feeling about this place. Being here gave her the same feeling as fitting two pieces of wood together perfectly. The court fit here.  "I think it's good, too."

A level or so above, Snap leaned out over the well. He regarded them a moment, then said, "You two know this is a waste water sluice for the latrines, right?"

Rill frowned.  "We know.  You're ruining our moment, Snap."

Snap snorted.  "That's my job.  Now come and help me clear this drain."

end