CHAPTER
11
Where the Pillar Stands
The ZT Valor pulled over to the side of the curving boulevard and let Anden out in front of the wide green space next to the handicraft market plaza in the Temple District. As soon as Anden stepped out of the car, he saw his cousin Hilo waiting for him, a posse of men behind him. Hilo’s face was flushed with relief and murderous intent, and for one ridiculous second, Anden was afraid for Gont’s driver. He shut the back door of the vehicle quickly and the ZT Valor took off at once, losing itself in traffic as it sped back across territorial lines.
Hilo strode up, seized Anden by the back of the neck, and shook him roughly. “I ought to give you another beating. What the fuck were you doing in Summer Park? You’re going to be green in less than a year; you have to pay attention every fucking second because I can’t always be there if there’s trouble, understand?” Anden nodded, shamefaced. Hilo grasped the younger man’s chin in his hand, eyes narrowing dangerously at the swollen bruise on Anden’s cheek that the trio of Wie Lon boys had given him as a souvenir of his careless wandering. “They do this to you?” he asked. “Gont or his men knock you around at all?”
“No, no, it wasn’t them,” Anden said hastily. “That was just a stupid thing that happened with some Wie Lon guys earlier. Gont’s people didn’t touch me.”
Hilo searched the teenager’s face for sincerity, then, finally relaxing,
embraced Anden with a warmth that melted the last of the tension. “Am I ever glad to see you, cousin.” With one hand resting protectively between Anden’s shoulder blades, he walked them over to the Duchesse, which was parked quite prominently in the plaza’s loading zone along with two other No Peak vehicles. Maik Tar was leaning restlessly against the trunk, but straightened up to open the car door for them. “I need to talk to Lan,” Anden said a bit weakly as they got in. Now that he was safe, the low level of adrenaline that had been flowing through him for the past few hours was draining out like gutter runoff after a heavy rain, leaving him shaky.
“Lan’s in the Weather Man’s office,” Hilo said.
It took only ten minutes to get to Ship Street. When they arrived, Hilo gave some brief instructions to his men: “Go tell the guys in Little Hammer to clear off.” Then he and Tar walked with Anden straight through the lobby without bothering to check in at the reception desk.
Anden had never been in the Weather Man’s building before. This was a side of the clan he knew little about, and he was intimidated by all the Luckbringers in pressed suits, carrying briefcases and file folders. Hilo and Tar, with their sleeves and collars loose and sweaty from waiting in the sun, moon blades still slung over their shoulders and talon knives sheathed at their waists, seemed out of place here. People paused and looked over as they passed, some saluting shallowly.
They took the elevator up to the top floor. Lan was waiting for them, his expression no less calm than Anden was accustomed to, but he too embraced Anden joyfully. “Come in here and sit down,” he said, leading Anden to his own office.
“They brought me to meet with Ayt Mada,” Anden said. “Lan-jen … she wanted me to talk to you right away.” He placed slightly heavier emphasis on you.
Lan understood. When they got to his office, the Pillar turned to Hilo and said, “I want to talk to Anden alone first. Find Doru and wait out here for me.” Hilo looked piqued but not surprised, and quirking his mouth at Anden to show that he was not really sour about it, he jerked his head at Tar and the two of them moved off as Lan shut his office door.
Anden sat down in the nearest chair, gratefully accepting the bottle of lemon soda water that the Pillar took from the mini-fridge and handed to him.
“I won’t lie; you had us all a little worried today,” Lan said. Watching Anden
gulp the soda, he said, “Take your time. Then tell me what the Mountain wants.”
When his cousin was done, Lan was quiet at first. Then he said, “You did well, Anden. You kept your cool and did exactly what you were supposed to.
I’m sorry it ruined your Boat Day, and you ought to be more careful in the future. I’m sure Hilo’s already told you that. But you ended up doing a brave thing for the clan.”
“I’m sorry to have caused trouble, Lan-jen.”
Lan smiled. The boy—the young man, Lan reminded himself—was always like this: a little anxious, a bit overly formal. When he was in the Kaul home, he still acted like a guest, waiting for subtle permission to sit or eat or voice opinions, even though he’d lived in the house since he was a child and resided there still during the Academy’s holiday breaks. “You’re never any trouble, Anden,” Lan told him. “I think the Mountain has been planning to give us a shake like this. You just happened to give Gont a way to do it.” He stood up, and Anden stood with him.
“What are you going to do?” Anden asked. “About Ayt’s proposal?”
“I’ll discuss it with the Horn and the Weather Man,” Lan said. “That’s not something you need to worry about. You just focus on school and preparing for Trials this year. Are you still on track to graduate Rank One?”
“I think so. I’ll try my best,” Anden promised, and Lan felt a surge of pride. Anden was a good kid; he’d come from a tragic family situation, but he’d grown up well. Not a day went by that Lan didn’t feel thankful he’d convinced his grandfather to take Anden in and make him a Kaul.
Lan took his cousin out to the chairs in the elevator lobby where Doru, Hilo, and Maik Tar were waiting. Tar took Anden back to the Academy while Lan returned to his office with the Horn and the Weather Man. He poured all three of them a generous splash of hoji over ice and said, “Take these; we’re going to need them.” He swallowed his own drink and regarded the two other men: Doru sitting in one of the chairs with his long legs crossed, patient curiosity on his face; Hilo leaning against the wall, his gaze sharp and expectant. Their jade auras hummed steadily in Lan’s awareness: cool and murky on one side, smooth and hot on the other.
Lan said, “The Mountain has a plan to produce and sell SN1 in Ygutan. It could make them a lot of money, and Ayt proposes we join in with them on it.”
After Lan had explained what he’d learned from Anden, Hilo straightened up from the wall. “What does Ayt take us for?” His expression was angry, but his voice was more perplexed than anything else. “The Mountain’s been digging at us for months, and today Gont grabs Andy off the street. Just about starts the war right there. And they think we’re going to get into bed with them after that? If Ayt really wanted to talk business, she would’ve come to you properly, with respect. This proposal isn’t serious. It’s an insult.”
Hilo was right; the Mountain sending a message to No Peak in such a vaguely threatening way was a blatant slight, but at least Lan knew from Anden what Ayt’s purported reason was. I would welcome a discussion with Kaul Lan, but how is that possible, when his Horn keeps giving offense against us? The other Pillar was letting it be known that she would not deign to negotiate directly with Kaul Lan until he reined in or removed his brother from his position as Horn.
It was an outrageous demand. Was it even possible to attempt any discussion under such flagrantly disrespectful terms as one Pillar stipulating the other’s choice of his Horn? Lan had no doubt Hilo and his men made life difficult for the Mountain, but his brother maintained that it was all in response to the Mountain’s escalating overreach. Was Hilo truly the aggressor standing in the way of peace, or was he simply too good at his job, someone Ayt wanted out of the way so she could more easily dominate No Peak, or even seize it outright?
Ceding the clan’s military position was out of the question, but perhaps the Horn did need to be reminded that he was not blameless for bad relations between the clans. Lan kept his eyes on his brother and said, “Ayt says she’ll talk in person if we put an end to street skirmishing and show we’re interested in getting in on the business side.” He caught a glimpse of Doru nodding and suspected the old advisor had inferred the more specific demand precisely.
“So she’ll talk if we lie down and let the Mountain walk over us?” Hilo’s nostrils flared. “I know you think I’m touchy about things sometimes, that I get angry and take things personal, but trust me Lan, I know what’s going on out there. Gont looks like a meathead, but he’s crafty. Every time I’m not
looking, he takes a bit more from us. Little by little but never enough to provoke an outright war. I’ll find out two of our Lantern Men are now paying tribute to his Fists. Or that somehow the lease on a building that housed our businesses went sour, and the landlord sold it to a cousin in the Mountain.
They can’t swallow us whole like they did the Three Run clan, so they’re picking and picking at us instead.”
Lan turned to his Weather Man. “What do you think, Doru?”
Doru took his time responding. A little too much time, Lan thought, as if he was deliberately trying not to come off as being too ready with an answer.
“I think Ayt-jen’s proposal has merit. The Fists of both clans can only see as far as they can swing their blades; whatever petty disagreements they have over territory are not terribly important in the larger scheme of things and shouldn’t influence our decision when it comes to big business.” A criticism of the Horn’s side of the clan, discernible in his gravelly voice. “Ayt-jen is right about how the foreigners all want SN1, how there’s a great deal of money to be made in establishing a reliable supply that we Green Bones control. Since the operations would be offshore in Ygutan, there’s no danger of it polluting our own country. Green Bones have always been strongest when united; instead of trying to divide Kekon between us, we could strike an alliance with the Mountain to increase the gain for us all.”
Hilo’s lips were drawn back. “There’s no such thing as an alliance with the Mountain. Three Run found that out the hard way. At the end, we’ll be two clans with two Pillars, or one clan with one Pillar.” Hilo tipped back an ice cube from his glass and crunched it, his face set in a sure scowl. “If we show interest in this, if we agree to work with them, they’ll only use the opportunity to control us. I don’t believe for a second that Ayt is serious about sharing power. She’s not the type. She hasn’t even made it clear what she wants from us. Financing? Manpower?”
“For a start, it seems she wants our assurance that if nothing else, we won’t stand against them,” Doru said. “It makes perfect sense; why else make a play for Anden? When the boy graduates, we can send him to work for the Mountain in their new Ygutanian operations. It’s a good job, like Ayt-jen said, full of responsibility. Through him, we would know everything about the Mountain’s operations there, and for their part, they would be certain we were invested in keeping the peace, not undermining them or going to the Espenians. So there’d be trust on both sides.”
“Send Andy over to the enemy?” Hilo’s eyes bulged with disbelief; his aura was becoming uncomfortable to Perceive.
Doru said, “During the Three Crowns era, royal houses often exchanged children so both sides were motivated to maintain good relations.”
“You mean offer Andy as a hostage.” Hilo spun toward Lan with a snarl.
“Never. Not a fucking chance!”
Doru sniffed. “Sometimes, the old ways are not without wisdom.”
Lan held up a hand to forestall Doru saying anything more, and looking into Hilo’s flushed face, he said quietly, “Calm down. Anden’s not a pawn, and we’re not sending him anywhere he doesn’t want to go.” Lan had been swirling the melting ice cubes in his glass as he listened and pondered, and now he set his glass down on the table, having come to an inescapable conclusion about what his response to the Mountain had to be. Hilo had a tendency to react personally, while Doru evaluated options with cold- blooded, strategic pragmatism, but there was a third angle that neither of them had voiced, that was, for Lan, the deciding factor.
Lan turned to Doru. “I’m going to prepare a reply to the Mountain, and I want you to send it through their Weather Man’s office, the way it ought to be done in business matters like this. We don’t have to act improperly just because they do. I’m going to decline any alliance or partnership with the Mountain when it comes to the production of shine. However, we won’t stand in their way either. They’re free to pursue their venture, so long as it doesn’t threaten any of No Peak’s businesses or territories.” He paused, then added, “Make no mention of Anden; he’s not part of this. If Ayt wants assurance of our neutrality, she’ll have to take our word for it.”
Doru inclined his head, but it was easy to see from both his tight expression and the prickly change in his aura the disappointment he felt in the matter. “If I might ask, what is your rationale for deciding on this important matter so quickly?”
Lan didn’t really want to hear whatever counterarguments he knew Doru was sure to provide but he owed his highest advisors an explanation. “It takes us down a dangerous path. If more foreigners have access to shine, demand for jade will rise as well. There’ll be pressure on the Kekon Jade Alliance to increase mining and to reform export quotas to sell not just to the Espenians, but to the Ygutanians and others as well, or risk the black market filling that demand with smuggled jade.”
Lan could not condone that; he had just voted against an increase in jade exports at the last KJA meeting. Jade was Kekon’s most precious natural resource. It was the birthright of the Kekonese people and lay at the center of the Green Bone culture and way of life. Selling it as a militarily useful substance to foreigners, to people who had no jade warrior training or upbringing, who did not understand aisho and could not appreciate what it meant to be green … it sat uneasily with him. Yes, the export of jade maintained the alliance with the Espenians and enriched the national coffers, but it had to be strictly limited. That was why the Green Bone clans held authority over the Kekon Jade Alliance in the first place. Now one of the major clans was proposing something that was sure to undermine the power of the KJA in the long run, and that disturbed him greatly.
“Forgive me, Lan-se,” Doru argued with more forcefulness than usual, “but surely the KJA is an example that our two clans are capable of existing in partnership. Any future mining and export decisions will have to be made jointly between us and the Mountain. It seems premature to worry about them now.”
Lan glanced at the Weather Man in mild surprise. He would not personally have held up the Kekon Jade Alliance as a shining example of clan partnership. The tiers of accountability and stakeholder voting requirements seemed to ensure that no KJA decisions were ever made in less than six months. “You obviously have a more optimistic view of the KJA than I do,”
Lan replied. “But there are other reasons not to get involved.”
“Such as the fact that Ayt’s whole proposal is a setup,” Hilo insisted. “A way for the Mountain to appear reasonable while gaining an advantage over us.”
Lan was inclined to agree with Hilo’s suspicions but did not voice this out loud. “Shine is a poison,” he said firmly. “It erodes the natural order of society. It encourages people who shouldn’t have anything to do with jade.
Like those boys, the thieves that Hilo caught at the Twice Lucky last month.”
Lan set his jaw. “If we get involved in producing shine in any way, we’ll be contributing to the trafficking and unsanctioned use of jade. I won’t judge another Pillar’s opinions, but to my thinking, doing this would be a violation of aisho.”
“Is it not the highest level of aisho that Green Bones protect the country?”
Doru asked. “Working together to control SN1 will make the clans stronger.
That will make Kekon stronger, less vulnerable to foreigners.”
“And what if the Espenians find out that Green Bone clans are selling drugs to the Ygutanians for military use? Ygutan will blame the SN1 factories on Kekon and deny any official involvement. The Mountain is courting conflict, and I don’t want No Peak involved.” Lan cut off Doru’s attempt to say anything further. “Doru-jen, my decision on this is final. Are you going to fulfill your responsibilities as Weather Man and handle this the way I’ve asked?”
The old advisor’s tapered chin dipped in unenthusiastic acknowledgment.
In a final attempt to argue his position, he said with clever mildness, “Of course I will, Lan-se, but perhaps we should talk to Kaul-jen before making a final decision.”
Lan had had enough. “You’re talking to Kaul-jen now,” he said, so coldly that the startled Doru fell silent. Hilo smiled.
Despite having made what he thought was the right decision, Lan was disheartened. Gods in Heaven, it was difficult to be Pillar with his impetuous younger brother on one side and his grandfather’s cagey old crony on the other. It wasn’t hopeless, however. Hilo had kept his head this afternoon, and Doru was, however reluctantly, falling into line. Now that the hard talk was over, Lan spoke in a more conciliatory tone. “I think our nerves are a little frayed. You should know, both of you, that I value your opinions.”
“So now what?” Hilo asked. “We wait to see how Ayt responds?”
“Not quite. I said we won’t interfere with the Mountain, but knowing what they’re up to, we need to be more careful. Doru, I want you to set up a meeting for me with Chancellor Son.” Having been so strongly put in his place a minute earlier, the Weather Man nodded without complaint.
Lan turned to his brother. “Hilo, what I told you about the Armpit now applies to Sogen and all our border territories as well. Bolster defenses where you have to, but no bloodshed without family approval. No retaliation for them taking Anden either. Maybe they spat in our eye, but he’s back with no harm done, and we’re denying them the alliance they want, so best not to create more hard feelings for a while.”
Hilo crossed his arms and shrugged. “If you say so.”
“One other thing,” Lan said. “I want to make sure Shae is protected. Her apartment is in North Sotto, so there shouldn’t be any trouble, but I’m talking about when she’s going around in Janloon. Have one or two of your people
keep an eye on her.”
Now Hilo looked displeased; he made a face that Lan thought was childish, as if he were eight years old and being upbraided to be nice to his sister. “Shae’s plenty able to look after herself.”
Lan said, exasperated, “You know she’s not wearing jade. She’s not part of the clan business, but maybe the Mountain doesn’t know that. After what happened to Anden today, we should take precautions.”
“If she wore her jade, she’d be plenty able to look after herself,” Hilo amended, clearly still grumpy about it, but not disagreeing. Lan let it go. He was glad to have Shae back, with or without her jade, but saying so would only make Hilo sulk. Lan had concluded long ago that there was little he could say or do if his younger siblings were determined to be cruel to each other.