They also talked about other courts in the Reaches, a subject which Moon found fascinating. Stone apparently didn’t think so, and after a while exercised his right as a line-grandfather to just get up and wander off without a word to anyone. Moon found himself trying to calculate how many turns it would be before he could get away with that. Ice finally claimed to be fatigued so they could all escape, and an Arbora came to show them to the guest chambers. Moon and Jade were in a passage that spiraled down away from the hall, when Jade asked, “What did Stone mean when he said you got into a fight with a queen?” Their Arbora guide, in groundling form with dark curly hair and an amber-colored dress, politely quickened her steps to get out of earshot. Moon slid a sideways look at Jade. Her spines were still under rigid control from speaking to the other queens, but the scales on her brow were furrowed. He said, reluctantly, “There wasn’t a fight.
