"I know they look to me, that I need to have answers -- or at least know how to find answers -- but it's hard when all I have is the old consort's stories to say what's good and what the flight was like under the progenitor to say what's bad," Consolation said, kicking furrows in the rough bark of a mountain thorn's branch with her disemboweling claw.

"You've learned to ask instead of just taking," Jade said, all her spines held carefully neutral; "That's a good first step, and I'm sure your flight can feel that you care and want them to be safe and happy."

"Asking only helps if someone answers," Consolation said, kicking free another slab of bark, and it struck Jade suddenly that this must be an echo of how Pearl had felt when Jade was young and first stretching her wings into her role as daughter-queen, though at least she'd never tried to steal anyone else's consort; she flicked one spine in acknowledgment and said, "You're right; so ask me, and today I'll do what I can."