Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 310
"It looks like it’s waiting for something." The skin on the
back of his neck prickled. Could it be waiting for
reinforcements? No, that was silly. Jordan was no threat to
this behemoth. It didn’t know he was here; he kept telling
himself that, even as he fought to slow his racing heart.
"Uncle said he heard the one that attacked the Boros
household was looking for someone," said Tamsin.
"Really?" Jordan felt his face grow hot. "I hadn’t heard
that."
The rising sun slanted into the interior of the vagabond
moon, and the entire shape seemed to catch fire. From a
diffuse amber center, colors and intricate crosshatched shadows
spread to a perimeter of gaudy rainbow highlights that glittered
like jewelry on the moon’s skin. That was ice, Jordan realized,
frosted on the upper canopy so high above. It must be cold up
there.
A faint cracking sound reached his ears. At the same
time, he saw a tiny cascade of white tumble from the sunlit side
of its hull. The falling cloud grew quickly into a torrent of ice
and snow that struck the water with a sound like distant
applause.
"Maybe we should leave," said Tamsin.
He nodded. He was afraid, but he wished he didn’t have
to be. The vagabond moon was so achingly beautiful, the way
wolves and other wild things were. How he wanted to make
peace with such beautiful, dangerous creatures.
I could speak to it, he realized. A mad idea; its wrath
would descend on him for sure then.
"Let’s go." Tamsin took his hand.
"Wait." He shook himself, stumbling over the words he
wanted to say, to express what he was feeling. Then he
thought about what Calandria had told him about the Winds,