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I can't wait until I'm big enough to go off to rescue everyone. Then you won't have to do it.
Hopefully when you're big enough, everyone won't need rescuing so often.
-Martha Wells, The Falling World
Frost waited, concealed among the leaves so as not to alert her prey. This papua tree was perfect for her purposes, the color of the foliage exactly matching her yellow-traced green scales. She would most likely only have the one shot at this and she didn't want to-
“What are you up to?”
She tried to hide her shock, but a betraying jerk of surprise set the branch they rested on to swaying. Thorn rose up on his haunches, unfurling his wings slightly to catch the air and reduce his contribution to the branch's load.
“How did you find me?” Frost hissed, watching her prey vanish in a flutter of fur and wings.
“Superior intellect,” Thorn answered loftily, settling back on the branch. She glared. “Okay, I've been checking every papua tree in the area all afternoon. The Arbora were doing that thing where they rush around searching for you without looking like it, so Moon won't notice.”
Frost let out a snort. “Moon. He hasn't let us do anything fun in ages.”
Her clutchmate rolled his eyes, examining his scaled hands carefully. “True,” he agreed, nibbling delicately at one sharp claw. “Not since you set the seedling nursery on fire.”
She blushed furiously, which produced an interesting effect on her green cheeks. “How was I supposed to know that stuff was flammable?”
Thorn cocked one eyebrow at her in a perfect imitation of Moon.
“Because it had 'flammable' written on it and I should have checked,” she admitted grudgingly. She crouched, pulling her wings in tight and preparing to leap from the branch. “Come on, last one back has to explain our absence to Bell!”
She launched straight downwards, snapping her wings open as she cleared the worst of the branches, Thorn's doubtful “Hah!” echoing in her ears.
Frost arrived back at the colony before Thorn by a comfortable margin, grinning smugly to herself as she landed on one of the lesser-used platforms. It would be better if she approached the entrance from a direction that didn't give away the fact that she had been off in the forest by herself all day.
“Frost!”
She winced as the first high-pitched, piping voice reached her ears. Sometimes she almost preferred the days when the fledglings had been half-scared of her, at the very least it had made sneaking around easier.
“Frost Frost Frost!”
Two small winged forms impacted against her body, staggering her. Frost grimaced, shifting to her Arbora form, then plastered on a big smile as Thorn landed. “Garnet! Storm! What are you two doing down here? Are you supposed to be out of the nursery by yourselves? Did you escape?”
The two fledgling Aeriat released her to exchange eye-rolls. The little queen tossed her head, sending her spines to quivering. “No, Frost, we were looking for you!”
Storm grinned at her clutchmate. “And we're not 'by ourselves',” she added, pointing upwards.
Frost followed her finger with a sigh, knowing what she was going to see. Sure enough, Chime was coming in for a graceful landing, carrying two small forms, a tiny fledgling consort and a young Arbora. Frost recognized Ink, from Moon and Jade's most recent clutch, and Brook, a young mentor out of Moon's clutch with Plum, a hunter. Ink launched himself at Thorn, who caught him readily and set him on his shoulders.
“Chime,” Frost said, resigned. “How much trouble am I in?”
The older warrior shrugged. “Less than you think. Mo-”
“Mother and Father are looking for you!” Garnet broke in. Chime heaved a long-suffering sigh.
“...they are indeed,” he agreed. “You haven't been missed quite yet, but I suggest you get up to the queen's level before somebody admits nobody's seen you since breakfast.”
“So I'm not in trouble?” Frost persisted, starting to climb the main trunk towards the entrance to the tree, trailed by a chattering Garnet, Storm, and Brook.
“It was a busy morning,” Chime shrugged. “There were any number of places you could have been.”
“And you're not going to tell Jade and Moon?” she frowned at him.
“No,” the warrior caught Brook up in his arms as they approached an area that was more easily flown than climbed over. He glanced back to make sure Thorn had Ink. “Thorn and I are just going to hold it over your head the next time you're planning something stupid, aren't we Thorn?”
Thorn just grinned.
Feeling very put upon, Frost landed in the main entrance area. Normally deserted at this time of day with everyone working outside or in their respective halls, the group had to fight their way through a stream of nursery-aged children, shrieking cheerfully about going berry-picking and shepherded by a team of teachers. The older children left Frost and Chime to join their clutchmates, while Thorn promised Bell that he would take Ink back to the nursery for his afternoon nap.
Frost gave several flaps of her wings to get free of the crowd, noticing that Chime merely waved her off with a grin. Great, she thought, alone into the predator's den. She circled the central well of the tree, gaining height as she approached the large queen's hall, with the consort's level above it. Once she landed, she headed to where she could hear voices from Jade's bower, briefly considering stopping in her own bower to freshen up before discarding the idea.
She had been given the chamber two turns ago, though she had rarely slept in it until Thorn and Bitter had joined Moon and Ember on the consort's level the previous winter. Even now, she never slept in her bower-bed alone, preferring the company of at least one of her clutchmates as well as several of her friends among the younger warriors and Arbora.
She took a moment to be sure her spines were in order before clearing her throat to announce her presence and stepping into Jade's bower. “You were looking for me?” To her surprise, it was Jade and Pearl waiting for her, rather than Jade and Moon. She said, “Where's Moon?”
Jade looked slightly peeved, but not angry. “Waylaid by berry-pickers, I believe. But he's already agreed that this approach would be best.”
Pearl snorted. “He agreed that it sounded like the least likely plan to go sour on us.”
Jade didn't even blink. “Frost, we've been discussing your future here at Indigo Cloud.”
Frost felt her heart soar and worked to keep her spines from showing her suddenly roiling emotions. Balm had hinted the night before that Jade and Moon had been talking about Frost's future as a queen of the colony, but she hadn't expected to learn the details so soon.
“You're no longer a fledgling,” Jade continued. “And you're nearing maturity. Moon and I feel that it would be best for you to start to assume some of the responsibilities as sister-queen now, to grow accustomed to them.”
“Preferably in some way that doesn't involve setting the colony on fire,” Pearl pointed out.
“By responsibilities,” Frost said, letting the jab go, though she knew she was probably bristling. “You don't just mean being allowed to go places on my own, do you?”
“We were thinking more along the lines of a taking a trading party to Sunset Water,” Jade explained.
Frost let out a happy whoop.
“It's only two days travel from here,” Jade continued as if she hadn't heard, though a smile tugged at her lips. “And the Arbora have been hinting that they'd like to go.”
Pearl snorted. From various eavesdropping opportunities, Frost knew that Pearl was somewhat pleased that the Arbora had relaxed enough in recent years to become demanding. That didn't stop the golden queen from sharpening her tongue on whoever she chose.
“Can I pick the warriors?” Frost asked eagerly.
“You'll need at least one experienced female warrior,” Pearl pointed out.
“Make a list, we'll look it over and approve it,” Jade conceded.
“When do we leave?”
“In a week,” Jade waved to a low table where there was tea already waiting. “Why don't you sit and we'll go over some details you may want to take into account.”
Frost did so, trying to restrain her emotions more. Jade had been tolerant of her excitement so far, but she would need to start acting like the mature queen Jade was treating her as if she didn't want the older queens to lose their confidence in letting her take this trip.
“Now,” Jade said, after the tea was poured. “How about you tell me what you already know of Sunset Water?”
**
Chime found Moon in the nursery, reading to a clutch of fledglings that included the other queen from Storm and Garnet's clutch and the rest of Brook's. It was the quiet time before sleep in the teacher's hall when any who wished to could come and play quietly or read to the children before they were put to bed. Around the large room, Arbora and warriors were reading to fledglings, or singing quietly. Storm, Garnet, and Brook were playing a game with brightly colored cards that had them giggling loudly enough that Bell gave them a sharp, quelling look.
Stepping quietly around Ember, who was dozing in a large chair blanketed by a snuffling Ink and his clutchmates, Chime leaned in to see what story Moon was reading and had to bite his lip. Stone and the Cloud-walker, of course. Several turns ago one of the teachers, Dream, had been caught sneakily writing and illustrating some of their line-grandfather's (mis)adventures. Though Dream had never intended for his writings to come to light, they had proven extremely popular with the fledglings, much to Stone's chagrin.
Stone and the Cloud-walker was a popular short tale about the line-grandfather's encounter with one of the high-altitude skylings. Chime reflected that it certainly made for better fledgling reading than his and Moon's own encounter with a Fell-infested cloud-walker. He waited until Moon finished the story and stood, shaking off fledglings and pleas for just one more story.
Eventually the teachers pried their charges away, leaving Moon free to make his way leisurely to the consort's level, Chime on his heels.
“I assume you've heard Jade's plan?” Moon asked as they stepped into his bower. Bitter was already there, taking advantage of Moon's larger bath. Moon and Chime immediately shifted before peeling off their clothes and joining him. “And thank you, Bitter, for readying a bath.”
Bitter grinned, tossing him a small scrubbing brush. “I heard you went berry-picking today.”
“Berry-flinging more like,” Moon grumbled, tackling some of the dark stains visible on his hands and arms now that he was in his groundling form. He fixed Chime with a sharp look. “Well, have you heard?”
“I have,” Chime replied, submerged to his chin in the hot water. “I take it you weren't entirely in favor?”
Moon shrugged, still scrubbing. “I make things awkward for the colony, not knowing how to act, what to say. I worry that Frost will find herself in a similar fix.”
“Frost will do fine,” Chime started ticking items off on his fingers. “She was raised in the colony with all of the education a queen should have--”
“She hasn't set anything on fire in months,” Bitter interjected, grinning wickedly.
Chime glared at him, continuing his list. “Jade and Pearl haven't gone easy on her with regards to learning etiquette and diplomacy.”
“She's stopped trying to frighten the fledglings with scary stories,” Bitter added.
“Only because Thorn got mad and stopped talking to her,” Chime clarified.
Moon sighed, raising his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, I hear you. She's ready for the responsibility and this is a good opportunity for her to prove herself.”
“Who do you think she'll ask to go with her?” Bitter asked, leaning back against the side of the basin.
“The Arbora will decide for themselves, but she'll need at least four warriors,” Chime pointed out. “Why, you want to go?”
Bitter shrugged. “Maybe. I was going to point out that she'll might pick you. Of the older warriors, she's closest with you and Balm.”
Chime had opened his mouth to protest when he saw Moon's hopeful face. He sighed. Of course Moon would want him to go along if he couldn't go himself. “Yeah, I was afraid of that.”
**
“So who has she chosen?” Pearl said, bracing herself against the large table that was the centerpiece of the common area on the queen's level. Jade and Gold, an Arbora artisan, were spaced out evenly around the table, while Moon leaned against the door-frame.
Jade frowned in thought. “Chime, Spring, Snow, Briar, and Floret.”
Pearl looked disgruntled. Floret was technically part of her faction, something which mattered less and less with each passing turn. Frost choosing her to be the oldest female warrior in the group made it difficult for Pearl to challenge the younger queen's choices, though Jade knew she would anyway, given a moment to think. Having used Frost's technique herself, she felt confident she could turn aside Pearl's protests. To her surprise, Moon spoke up first.
“Snow can't go, he's sick,” he pointed out. “He's got that cough that's making the Arbora nervous.”
“The one that's going around the younger warriors?” Pearl asked, diverted from her goal.
“Not just the warriors,” Gold said, speaking up for the first time. She'd come prepared with a list of Arbora who wanted to visit and trade with Sunset Water. “Merry's going to have to stay behind, he's too sick to travel.”
Jade sat up at that. Merry was one of Gold's apprentices, he didn't mingle much with the warriors. “How many are sick, among the warriors and the Arbora? Are any fledglings sick?”
The others glanced at each other, doing mental tallies. Moon answered slowly, “I didn't know any of the Arbora were sick, but more warriors were feeling ill this morning. Including Snow, there's Aura and Fair, and a couple of others.”
Gold shook her head. “I'm not sure. Merry started feeling ill this afternoon, but I think I heard some of the others coughing.”
“About thirty are sick or coming down with it, whatever it is,” Thistle's voice came from the doorway behind Moon, who moved aside to let him enter. “Including Merit. Heart's starting to round up everyone with a cough, but it seems like at least ten warriors and twice that many Arbora are affected.”
Jade stood, waving the mentor closer to the table. “We need to get them quarantined and check over everyone else as soon as possible.”
“Teacher apprentices are making the announcements down in the halls and I've got Trill digging through the archives,” Thistle agreed. “We've closed off the nurseries, but...”
After a moment, Moon prompted him. “You don't think it was caught it time.”
Thistle grimaced. “Ink's definitely got it, and his whole clutch doesn't look so good.”
Jade glanced quickly at Moon, who looked stricken. Ink's clutch was the first of theirs to include consorts, three in all. Moon loved all of the children in the nursery, but Jade knew he had a particular fondness for Ink’s clutch. He gestured to the door and she nodded, watching him duck out of the room.
Gold glanced about the now somber table. “So, I take it the trip...?”
“It'll have to wait,” Jade said with a sigh, not looking forward to informing Frost.
**
Their meeting the following morning was decidedly more tense. Pearl was missing – Ember was sick and while she was known to be a particularly annoying and ineffective nursemaid, she had quieted herself to the point that the Arbora were happy to let her stay by his side. In her place was Stone, recently arrived back from a trip to who knew where. He'd shown up the night before with a barely visible tan and a handful of uncut black diamonds that had Merry trying to escape his sickbed.
Jade and Moon were exhausted, Jade from coordinating the quarantine with the mentors and teachers, Moon from helping Heart to examine the healthy Arbora and Aeriat for any sign of impending illness. Also in the room were the Arbora caste leaders, as well as a pair of healthy mentor apprentices and a teacher apprentice, burdened with medical books and chronicles.
“Alright,” Jade started. “Where are we? Do we have this contained? Don't get me wrong, I can't believe how many are sick, but it doesn't seem like a very debilitating illness except in the fledglings.”
Stone grumbled, and Heart stepped in quickly. “It's something we haven't seen before, but yes, so far we've been able to keep everyone comfortable. Stone also gave us some guidance on where we might find possible treatments for it, now that we're back in the Reaches. Trill?”
The teacher's apprentice stumbled to his feet, just keeping a pile of loose papers from sliding to the floor. “There's a cure, or rather, a therapy. It's time consuming but fully effective. Only it requires an herb we don't grow,” he looked up at Heart, his tone taking on a questioning note. “...and I've never seen before.”
Heart shook her head, clarifying for the others. “None of the mentors have heard of it, and the Arbora who work in the gardens and the hunters haven't seen it before, either here in the colony or out in the forest.”
Stone grumbled again. “Because it doesn't grow here. It's found north of here, in the meadows of the limestone hills near the mountains.”
Heart glanced at him hopefully. “Do you know where exactly? Trill and the other apprentices were able to dig up a description in the archives, but we couldn't find anything about growing conditions or where it can be found.”
“I haven't been, but I know the route. It's not a long trip,” Stone elaborated. “A queen or a consort could be there and back within four days.”
Jade nodded to herself. “Heart, I know you should stay here, but Trill...” The apprentice looked up from where he'd taken his seat again, blinking nervously. “You can identify this herb?”
He nodded eagerly. “The chronicles call it 'Aet'. I believe the description available in the chronicles will allow us to gather the correct plant.”
“When I was young,” Stone interrupted. “Some of the older queens and consorts would go to collect what we need. The illness requires a large amount of the herb to be treated effectively.”
“Then Moon and I will go with you, along with Trill,” Jade decided, checking Moon's reaction briefly. He nodded slightly. Being apart from the sick fledglings would be hard, but he'd rather be doing something to help than waiting around the colony for Jade to come back. “We'll bring along a few warriors so that more people will know the way.”
Stone shook his head. “Better if it's just the three of us and the kid. The sooner we get there and back, the sooner everyone will be feeling better.”
Jade shrugged. “Alright then,” she turned to the other Arbora caste leaders, who straightened in their seats. “How are we otherwise?”
**
Frost grumbled as her bower-bed rocked with the movement of someone else climbing in. She'd been dragged from sleep not long after entering it to help Moon and Heart check over the entire population of the colony for signs of the illness and was still exhausted. She'd only gotten back to her bower late in the morning after a busy night and had been looking forward to an uninterrupted rest.
“What?” she murmured, poking her head out from under the fur she had pulled over her eyes to block out the afternoon sun. To her disappointment the bed had been empty when she'd fallen asleep, but she noted that Spring had joined her, curled in a ball against her side. She sighed; seeing Spring reminded her of the small nub of disappointment she still felt over the indefinite postponement of their trip to Sunset Water.
Bitter pulled his other leg in and flopped down next to her, looking as exhausted as she felt. “Moon's sick.”
She jerked upright onto her elbows, drawing a whine from Spring. “What?”
He nodded, covering his eyes with one arm. “Stone and Jade just brought him up to the consorts' level.”
Frost bit her lip. Moon, sick. She wouldn't have thought it possible. She and her clutchmates used to have nightmares about him being injured, but it had been years. “If he's sick, Jade's not going to want to leave on that trip they're planning. Weren't they going to leave after resting this afternoon?”
Bitter shrugged. “They might have to postpone it. The sick fledglings--”
He was interrupted by the entrance of Stone, who stalked into Frost's bower in his groundling form. Frost flipped over and sat up fully; she didn't think Stone had ever entered her bower before, in fact, except for rare pearls of advice, he barely spoke to her, something she had been annoyed over until Thorn had pointed out that he didn't really speak to anyone. Bitter and Spring sat up as well; Bitter's face was befuddled, he certainly didn't seem to have expected Stone to follow him down here.
“You rested?” Stone asked flatly.
Frost nodded automatically, sticking her feet over the side of the bed. “Yes. Why--”
“I need you to come with me up north,” he said. “Pack a bag.”
She gaped, hopping out of the bed as he turned to leave. “Wait? What?”
Stone turned back to her. “Your sister-queens' consorts are sick, your colony's fledglings are sick, and I need help in order to pick a sufficient quantity of the herb. Pack a bag and be ready to leave within the hour.”
He moved to leave again and she sprang after him, still trying to process this turn of events. “I thought the illness wasn't that serious?”
Stone hesitated at the door, glancing over her head at Bitter and Spring, both watching from the bed. “Just...do as I say,” he said finally, before exiting abruptly.
Frost bristled at the command but glanced back at her bedmates and went to the chest she kept her belongings in. Drawing out an empty bag, she began to fill it automatically with the items she usually brought on her camping trips with Moon and her clutchmates. She thought furiously, half-annoyed with Stone's high-handedness, half-worried. Why the sudden need to get the herb and get back as soon as possible? Surely Stone could take along plenty of warriors to do the picking. If he needed a barely-mature queen...
“He wants to get there and back as quickly as possible,” Bitter said from the bower-bed, echoing her thoughts.
She nodded. “He's worried for some reason, but he doesn't want to say.”
“Moon and Ember are both sick,” Spring pointed out. “And the fledglings. Maybe he just wants to get ahead of things.”
Frost stood, eye-level to the bower-bed, and met Bitter and Spring's worried looks. “That's probably it. You two stay out of trouble while I'm gone?”
Spring snorted. “Of course. We wouldn't have fun without you.”
Bitter leaned out of the bed to half-hug her, arms wrapping around her head and neck. “Be careful. Don't crash because you flew past exhaustion.”
Frost scowled at him, but nodded before scampering out of the room. Shifting to her winged form to fly down to the main entrance hall, she almost ran smack into Chime, just landing on the queens' level. They both managed to dodge nimbly, both settling to the floor. Frost noted with surprise that the warrior also had a satchel with him.
“Did Stone come this way?” he asked, looking grim. “I need to speak with him.”
“He just left,” she said, making her way to the railing once more. “We're leaving immediately to collect the herb for the mentors.”
“Wait, what?” Chime went from grim to bewildered, shifting and following her down to the main hall. “He told--he asked you to come along?”
Frost looked back at him, suspicious. “Ordered, more like,” she waved at his bag. “You coming too? We're probably going to be sleeping rough.”
He nodded as they landed. “Moon's sick. I can live with sleeping outside. And I think Stone's right to leave immediately – everyone’s okay, but nobody's improving.”
Frost shrugged, basically agreeing with what he'd said. Ten minutes ago, she'd been mourning the loss of her promised trip and the attendant elevation in responsibility, so she was certainly willing to go if her line-grandfather thought they needed to do this to help the colony. Except for the cause, in some ways it was almost better – they would be moving faster, dependent on what they could hunt and forage on the go.
“Wait,” she frowned. “How are you going to keep up with us?”
“Stone can carry me,” he said, gesturing upwards, where she could see the line-grandfather descending from the top of the tree well. “And you can carry Trill.”
Frost groaned. Perfect.
**
The trip was long and trying, but not particularly taxing on Frost since it turned out Stone could handle both Chime and Trill. Frost only had to handle the teacher when Stone left them to fly on ahead, to check for problems and make sure they were heading in the right direction. Still, she was thankful that Trill was relatively slim for an Arbora, though her arms always felt stretched past endurance when she returned him to Stone.
Trill was good company at least, giving a running commentary about what he could see on the ground while Frost did her best to follow the course Stone had set without flying into branches or getting lost. Chime and Stone weren't interested in talking. She welcomed the distraction – it was a relief to have a travel partner as excited to get out of the colony as she was.
The air grew steadily chillier as they flew north, and everyone was grateful for the fire at night. Trill was concerned that the herb would be out of season, with winter coming on, but Stone assured him that it was a hardy plant that grew almost year round. He and Chime were reticent when they stopped to rest, causing the knot of worry in Frost's chest to grow. Chime would answer Trill's persistent questions about flora and fauna alike, but Stone paced their campsite, looking out into the darkness. She kept half-expecting to wake and find him gone.
Finally, on the morning of their fifth day of travel, Stone came back from scouting ahead to tell them that he'd spotted a good area for them to gather the plant. Frost sighed in relief as the group sank lower, anticipating landing soon. Stone hadn't been able to say exactly where they would find the herb, and flying on, hour after hour, unsure of when they would be stopping, had been difficult.
They'd been flying above low clouds for most of the morning, the scenery occasionally interrupted by grass-covered limestone hills and the rare tall tree. As they dipped below the clouds, a misty landscape of craggy hills topped with meadows came into view. They were at the foothills of a large range of mountains, deep valleys cutting their way well into the heights.
“Look down there,” Trill said suddenly. “Are those ruins?”
Frost risked a look. They were coming in over a small valley, dotted here and there with snow in the shady areas. Sure enough, there appeared to be the remains of a small town, with one long straight road cutting through the bottom of the valley. Stone buildings lined either side of the road, though many were missing or collapsed, either partly or entirely.
“I wonder if there was a groundling city here,” Trill mused. “It's pretty big.”
Frost shrugged, ignoring Trill's yelp at the sudden movement. She was tired from days of flying and having to carry him most of the morning. Frankly, she just wanted to land and make sure her arms were still attached. “I don't know. Maybe you can ask Stone.”
Trill let out a sigh. “Maybe we'll get a chance to explore.”
Frost snorted as she followed Stone in to land on a green hillside away from the ruined town, dotted here and there with white stone boulders. While Frost and Chime stretched, drinking water from a nearby spring, Stone and Trill consulted the chronicles and Stone's memory. They confirmed that the Aet was the leaves growing on the large green bushes that tracked the flow from the spring down towards the valley. Trill showed the other two the palm-sized clusters of leaves that they needed to collect, while Stone got out the large, fine piece of netting the Arbora who worked in the gardens had prepared.
Stone threw himself down on the grass to rest for the journey back while the other three got to harvesting. Trill eyed the large net doubtfully as he emptied his first full satchel of Aet into the center. “He's really going to carry it all back?”
Frost, who was working nearby even as she tried to get closer to Stone, answered. “Stone and I discussed this last night. When we're done, he'll take all of it back at once, to get it to the colony as fast as possible. We'll have to follow at a slower pace, but he'll be able to carry the full net.”
“You'll have to carry me all the way back,” Trill pointed out with a frown.
Frost turned to keep him from seeing her scowl. “I'll manage.”
Grateful for the lack of further questioning, she continued to pick Aet, working her way towards Stone. She noticed Trill was doing the same thing. Stone was resting in groundling form in the short, scrubby grass, eyes shut.
“Stone?” Trill asked tentatively, still busily plucking leaves from the nearest bush. “Do you know anything about that city we flew over? Have you been here before? Was it occupied when Indigo Cloud last lived in the Reaches?”
There was a long pause and Frost thought Stone might really be sound asleep. Then, “Will you ever learn to ask just one question at a time?”
Trill considered this. “Maybe?”
Stone sighed and sat up, catching sight of Frost. “It wasn't here when I was last in the area.”
With that, he shifted and launched into the air, heading for a nearby hillside populated with small grass-eaters that had been watching the group with unworried interest. Frost grinned as Stone stooped on one of the largest, putting an end to that.
“Do you think we'll be able to go check it out?” Trill asked her as they both walked back to empty their full bags onto the first section of netting.
Frost shook her head, think of Stone and Chime's behavior. “Not on this trip. After we're done collecting the Aet, we need to get back to the colony as soon as possible to help out.”
Trill sighed, but moved off down the line of Aet bushes. The ones nearest the net were already looking rather denuded with the top layer of leaves removed. Frost watched him go, then started to work her way toward Chime since she hadn't been able to corner Stone.
She considered several possible approaches as Chime watched her, his hands busy filling his satchel, but decided to go with bluntness. “What are you and Stone so worried about? Is Moon really sick? Is it because both mature consorts are sick?”
Chime hesitated and she pressed, “We're not in the colony, there aren't any Arbora or silly young warriors here to worry, I should be told. Am I a queen or not?”
He chuckled at that. “There's no doubt about that, Frost.”
“So, what is it? Is it Moon?”
“No, not precisely,” Chime sighed. “The illness in the colony...I think I recognize it from something I read in the old colony, before we moved to the Reaches. The specific chronicle seems to have been lost in the move here, but I'm almost certain.”
Frost thought about that. She knew Chime had been a mentor and that even though he was a warrior now, that caste still considered him particularly knowledgeable about the various illnesses that Raksura were susceptible to. “It's not just something mild, is it?”
He shook his head, lips tightening. “If I'm right, the cough could be permanent in many of those affected. Others can have lingering respiratory difficulties, to the point that they have difficulty flying or climbing more than short distances. Fledglings can be weakened permanently and often die if they catch something else.”
She stopped short, even as he moved off to empty his satchel onto the net, horrified. “But...” she looked at the Aet in her hands. “Then, can this stuff even...”
Chime shrugged. “I think so. I hope so. I think Stone's just kept quiet to keep from panicking everyone,” the warrior looked to where their line-grandfather was stooping on another grass-eater. “I think he'd tell us if this wasn't going to avert disaster.”
The trio worked until they couldn't see the Aet well enough to gather it, stopping only briefly for water or when Stone brought back a few of the grass-eaters that hadn't fled the hillside. Stone, who had been otherwise resting all day in anticipation, gathered up the carefully tied net bags of Aet in his shifted form, departing for the colony as the sun dipped low in the sky.
Chime and Trill flopped gratefully to the grass, worn out by a day of finicky, hunch-backed work, but Frost watched until Stone was out of sight. He'd be able to make the journey in half of the time they had taken on the journey north, getting the treatment started that much faster. She crossed her arms against the evening chill, biting her lip. She was worried about the colony, but now she needed to think about safely shepherding Chime and Trill back. They weren't going to be able to count on Stone's natural ability to frighten off predators.
Chime clapped a hand on her shoulder, catching her by surprise. “Come, fearless leader. You'll need your rest if you're going to carry Trill and all of his chatter back to the colony.”
Frost grinned, but winced inwardly. She'd be lucky to still have sensation in her shoulders when they got back. Following Chime to a cranny they'd found between two sun-warmed boulders, she shifted to her Arbora form, wiggling into a warm gap between Chime and Trill and drifting off to sleep to the sound of the wind.
Chime shook her awake. “Trill's missing.”
She blinked at him, then groaned. “Of course he is.”
“His satchel is gone too,” Chime added. “Why would he have taken off alone?”
Frost rolled to her feet, realizing that Chime must have missed Trill's curiosity the day before. “He wanted to check out that groundling city. Probably figured he could poke around for a few hours and be back before we missed him.”
Chime considered this. “So the fact that he hasn't returned on his own...”
“Is probably bad, yes,” she shifted and launched from the cliff, angling towards the city, Chime on her heels.
A fly-over of the city revealed no Trill wandering the streets or in any of the open spots visible from the air. Reluctantly, they landed to search the streets on foot, always keeping each other in sight.
“I am never wandering off without telling anyone ever again,” Frost said sourly. This was awful.
Chime made a choking noise and she turned, abruptly realizing that he was leaning against a pillar to support himself while he laughed. Eyeing him in annoyance, she crossed her arms over her chest.
The city was completely abandoned, to the point that there weren't even furnishings in the rooms that Frost peeked into. Occasionally she'd find a piece of broken pottery or a shiny bead, but not often.
“Frost,” Chime called. “Look over here, the dust has been disturbed in this building. Maybe Trill was here earlier?”
Frost started back towards him but froze as something caught her eye down a side street. She shifted to her winged form, leaping forward and launching herself at Chime, shoving the older Aeriat behind the still intact door of the building he'd indicated.
“What--”
“Shh!” she gestured for them to huddle down, as a large furred beast, tall enough that it could easily sniff at the second story windows began meandering down the street they had been exploring.
Chime, who had been peeking around the door, immediately shifted and flattened himself against its surface, covering Frost with one wing. They held their breath, hoping that the creature didn't have a particularly excellent sense of smell. They could hear it snuffling on the other side of the door, its long tail sweeping the street and brushing against buildings on both sides. Unfortunately, it didn't seem willing to move along, sniffing in interest at each window in every building and at every stone it passed.
“We have to get out of here,” Chime muttered. “Did you see those claws? If it reaches in here...”
Frost nodded in agreement; this wasn't some grass-eater. She regretted shoving them into the building, but at the time it had seemed best that that the beast not catch sight of them at all.
“Frost? Chime? Is that you?”
Both of their heads shot up, spotting Trill further inside the building. He was in his Arbora form and holding his right arm awkwardly in his left, but seemed otherwise unhurt. Chime heaved a sigh of relief as Frost gestured for the teacher to conceal himself a little better.
That was, of course, when the beast poked its head into the empty space left by a broken column directly to their left, maw opened wide.
“Grab him,” Frost said tightly, heart in her throat, shoving Chime at Trill and diving to her right, out from under the building. She saw him stumble a little, but continued on her path, angling right again and raking the beast's back with her sharp claws, desperately trying to draw its attention from Chime and Trill. The fur was too dense for her to do damage, but it had the desired effect – the beast roared in surprise, jerking its head out of the archway.
Frost flapped frantically for height, grasping for her next tactic with the beast's attention now on her. Its reflexes were cat-quick, even as she soared to the height of the buildings it rose up on its hind legs and smacked at her with one large paw. She gasped, shifting to protect her wings as she was buffeted into a building, hitting the ground winded with pain and surprise.
Some survival instinct kept her moving; she scrambled to her feet and shot through a window as the beast pounced. There was a thump, but the wall held. She panted, taking advantage of the pause to consider her next movements. She glanced out the window, trying to see the building the others were hidden in. They could get away now, if Trill wasn't too injured, if Chime could carry him. But the creature was so fast, she needed to keep its attention, to give them as much time as possible.
The wall jerked as the creature scrabbled at the masonry around the window, quickly clawing a larger hole as she fled further inside, wishing she could have more than thirty seconds to think. Thankfully the first room led to a second which led to a third, which had a doorway that led to the outside, facing the hill where they had spent the night. She fled up it gratefully, her heart thudding in her ears.
Still able to hear the beast's determined destruction of the building she launched herself into the air, gaining altitude quickly. To her relief, her wings hadn't suffered any damage in the pursuit. Looking down, she realized that her fear had driven her higher than the beast could ever reach, high enough that she could see most of the town. She swore, soaring down over the street where the beast was, dismayed to see that it had given up looking for her while she was catching her breath and turned back to the building where Chime and Trill were still hiding. It sniffed at the archways, easily knocking aside a few columns so that it could more easily peer inside.
Frost hovered, considering her options, trying to control her panic. The building her friends were in had no windows on its sides that they could use to escape and unlike the building she had run through, it wasn't open at the back. She ghosted in to land on the building directly across the street from the beast, angry at not using her advantage earlier to lure the beast further away. She had to make up for that failure now, distract the creature somehow, get it far enough away so that Chime and Trill could get out.
Casting about frantically, she found a large brick on the roof and flung it as far as she could down the street. The beast withdrew its head and looked, but didn't move to investigate. “Hey, you!” she tried, leaping to her feet and waving her arms. “Hey, over here!”
It gazed over its shoulder at her for a long moment, but returned to digging at the building's facade. Frost almost screamed in frustration, at this rate she wouldn't have to worry about them being eaten, the collapsing structure would crush them first. She plopped herself down on the roof, and tore open her satchel – there had to be something. Glancing over the contents, she didn't see anything obvious – just her lucky necklace, a half-empty canteen, a cloak, a packet of dried fruit, matches, a flint and steel, a knife, and a bag of the prepared mix the Arbora used to make flatcakes. Nothing that screamed 'use this to distract or injure large beasts with a taste for Raksura'. She flung the satchel down, almost sobbing. There was nothing, nothing that could help, nothing she could do to save Chime and Trill.
Or was there? She weighed the flatcake mix in her hand, remembering Thorn needling her about the fire in the seedling nursery, about the teacher's blistering lecture all those months ago about just assuming something wasn't dangerous. The Arbora had had a long list of illustrative examples. Thinking quickly, hands shaking, she ripped a strip out of the lining of the cloak and twisted it into a wick. Taking it, the flatcake mix, another brick, and her flint and steel, she leapt into the air once more, gaining height over the beast. Screwing up her courage, she dropped the brick on the beast's back, which was enough to get it to pull its head out once more, though it didn't back away from the hole. She dropped lower, even as her instincts screamed that she should stay away.
“That's right, just keep looking at me,” Frost muttered, frantically juggling the items in her hands. As quickly as she could, she emptied the bag of flatcake mix, grateful that there wasn't too much wind. She had no idea if this would work, if she had missed something from the teacher's description...the powdery mix dispersed in a cloud over the beast, causing it to sniff curiously, then snort in annoyance. Frost clenched the cloth wick between her teeth, struggling to keep her hands steady enough to light the end with the flint and steel. Once lit, she dropped it as quickly as possible and shot upwards, praying frantically that it would work, that it would have some effect.
She was expecting fire, hoping for it, counting on it. What she got was an explosion that sent her tumbling, knocked the beast to its side, and echoed down the street of the abandoned groundling city. She regained her balance in the air, stunned. For a moment she was afraid that she'd made things worse, angered the beast into a rage or collapsed the building. But the beast didn't look injured, though its fur was burnt and singed along one side and its roar held a note of bewilderment. To her relief, the building was still standing.
Thankfully, Chime and Trill were not stunned into inaction, racing from the now unguarded front of the building. Frost swooped to join them, helping Chime boost Trill into the air and the three of them out of the beast's reach.
“You alright?” Chime asked as they soared away from the city. “We saw...”
“I'll be fine,” Frost replied, glaring down at Trill. “You, however...”
He gulped, his expression just visible in the setting sun. She wouldn't let him know she was more relieved that they were all alive than angry until they'd settled for the night. In the meantime, she wanted to get as far from the city as possible, which meant she'd have plenty of time to blister Trill's ears about wandering off alone.
They arrived back in the colony in four days, twice as long as it had taken them to get there. It was late and she was exhausted, but she still felt her heart pound in her throat as she and Chime escorted Trill down to the temporary infirmary that had been set up at the onset of the illness. It was quiet in the lower tunnels and Frost found herself pausing apprehensively at the entrance to the mentors' hall.
“I'm almost afraid to look,” Chime confessed, echoing her thoughts. He was carrying a sleeping Trill in his arms, trying to not jostle the teacher's injury.
“I know-” Frost was interrupted by the approach of an Arbora carrying a small hand lamp.
“Is that Chime? And Frost?” the Arbora came close enough to be identified as Copper, a trainee mentor. “Hey, Frost and the others are back!”
More lights came on and more mentors appeared, including Thistle, who took Trill from Chime, exclaiming over his arm. Chairs were found and tea made, and Jade appeared seemingly from thin air while Frost and Chime were trying to figure out how to juggle teacups, bowls of soup, and fruit. Jade took the fruit from them before they could drop something, glancing at Trill in concern. “Is he alright? Stone said you were all fine when he left you.”
“Dislocated shoulder,” Frost said between sips of soup. “Chime treated it, said he'll be fine, just achy for a while.” She glanced back into the dark infirmary area. “Is...are there any...did Stone come back in time?”
Jade's lips tightened slightly and Frost felt her heart skip a beat. Jade must have seen it in her face, because she rested a comforting hand on the younger queen's shoulder. “No, Frost, everyone's fine. We just didn't realize how much of a disaster we were trying to avoid.”
“Everyone?” Chime sighed in relief. “Moon? The fledglings? The babies?”
“Everyone,” Jade said firmly. “We spent all of yesterday and today making endless rounds of Aet tea, but everybody is showing improvement after the first dose.”
Frost felt a lot of the tension run out of her as Jade went to consult with the mentors. Stone had made it in time. She'd brought Trill and Chime back safely. The colony was going to be fine. She jerked in surprise at Chime stood up abruptly – she was half-asleep.
“Come on,” Chime said, tugging her up as well. “I just heard Heart mention that the quarantine has been lifted. I'm not sleeping out here.”
Moon was sleeping in an improvised nest inside the infirmary proper, curled together with Thorn and Ink. Frost could just make out other nests in the room, full of sleeping Arbora and Aeriat, some coughing lightly but without the strong hacking sound that had filled the colony days ago. Stone was sleeping in a pile of fledglings, Pearl with Ember...her thoughts derailed as Chime tugged her down into the nest to curl up on Moon's other side.
“Hey,” Moon said, half-awake. “You're back.”
Frost nodded against his chest, blocking out the noises of the still busy mentors in favor of Moon's heart beat, of Thorn and Chime and Ink's breathing, as she slipped deeply into sleep.