CHAPTER
9
Skirting Aisho
Lan was in a meeting with Doru and two prominent Lantern Men when Doru’s secretary interrupted them, knocking apologetically and squeaking, “I’m so sorry, but, Kaul-jen? There’s a man on the phone asking for you. He says it’s urgent.”
The Pillar frowned; perhaps it was someone from the Espenian ambassador’s office again, expecting to sweet-talk or bribe him into shifting his stance on the jade export quotas. He excused himself and stepped out of the door that Doru’s secretary held open for him. She smiled shyly at him.
Lan did not know her name. The Weather Man seemed to go through secretaries quickly. This one was especially girlish, wearing an almost transparent pink blouse through which Lan could see her black bra. She hurried ahead of him to her desk and transferred the waiting call to his office.
Lan did not really think of it as his office, though it was reserved for his use whenever he wished to conduct business out of it. It sat unoccupied the rest of the time. The top floor of the No Peak–owned office tower on Ship Street in Janloon’s Financial District boasted an incomparable view, but it was the Weather Man’s domain. Lan preferred his study in the Kaul house.
He picked up the phone and took the call off hold. “Kaul-jen,” said a deep and unhurried man’s voice. “We have your young friend, Anden. We crossed paths with him at the Boat Day festivities. No rules have been broken. We’re just having a talk with him, a very cordial and civilized talk. In three hours,
he’ll be released in the Temple District, near the traffic roundabout. You have no need to be concerned for his safety … so long as no one in No Peak overreacts. I am referring to your Horn.”
Lan said, “I understand.” He knew he was speaking to a member of the Mountain clan; no one else would dare this. He suspected the man on the line was Gont Asch, though he could not be certain. Lan steadied himself against the desk and made his voice iron in its calm. “Trust me on this: I will hold you to your assurances.”
“Don’t worry about Anden. He’s been most respectful and polite. Worry about your brother turning this into a bad situation.” The caller hung up.
Lan depressed the receiver cradle on the phone and looked at his jade- backed wristwatch, making a note of the exact time. Then he released the phone switch and immediately dialed his brother’s house, knowing it was highly unlikely he would find Hilo there. As expected, he received no answer. He phoned the main house and told Kyanla to have Hilo call him at once in his Ship Street office if she heard from him. Lan hung up and permitted himself a few seconds to calm down.
The Mountain’s sheer nerve astounded and angered him. If Ayt Madashi had a message for No Peak, she could have arranged a meeting with Lan through the clans’ Weather Men. Or she could have shown respect by sending a member of her own clan to deliver a proposal. Either would have been proper. Abducting Anden, the only jadeless member of the immediate Kaul family, and using him as a go-between skirted disturbingly close to breaking aisho. It put the onus unfairly on Lan to prevent violence. The caller was right; now he had to worry about his Horn. If Hilo found out Anden had been taken by the Mountain, his rage would be unpredictable.
Lan took out his address book and found the number for Maik Wen’s apartment. Receiving no answer there either, he phoned both of the Maik brothers without success until he remembered that it was Boat Day and Hilo’s people were bound to be patrolling the waterfront and its establishments. He called the Twice Lucky and asked the owner, Mr. Une, to put him on the phone with the highest-ranked Green Bone he could find in or around his restaurant. A few minutes later, a man’s voice came on the line.
“Who is this?” Lan asked.
“Juen Nu.” One of Maik Kehn’s men.
“Juen-jen,” said Lan, “this is the Pillar. I need to find the Horn
immediately. Call either of the Maiks if you know where they are and send any Fingers you have with you out running. Have my brother phone me at the Weather Man’s office as soon as he gets the message. Don’t start a panic, but do it at once.”
“Right away, Kaul-jen,” said Juen, sounding worried, then hung up.
Lan walked back to Doru’s office. He apologized to the two Lantern Men —real estate developers seeking clan approval, financial support, and help with expediting permits for a new condominium complex—and sat back down, no longer paying much attention to the meeting. He was worried about Anden. The young man was like a true nephew to him, and Lan felt a great deal of responsibility for him. He still remembered holding Anden’s hand, comforting the grieving boy, bringing him into the Kaul house and telling him that this was his home now. Lan believed Gont had been sincere about not harming Anden, but things might change. The Mountain might hold him hostage if something went wrong. Where the hell was Hilo?
Doru would have to lack all sense of Perception to not notice the aggravation that had come into Lan’s jade aura. Sure enough, the Weather Man wrapped up the meeting as quickly as possible without appearing openly rude. He promised the petitioners that the clan would take care of their business needs with, naturally, an expectation that the Lantern Men’s tributes to No Peak in the future would reflect such patronage. The Lantern Men gathered their papers, saluted to Lan while gratefully reiterating their allegiance, and left the room.
“What has happened, Lan-se?” Doru asked.
“The Mountain has Anden,” Lan said. When he explained the situation, Doru blinked and made a skeptical smacking noise with his lips. “They can’t have planned this. The boy is always in the Academy, out of reach. This is an aggressive and opportunistic move on Gont’s part, but if they meant insult or harm, they wouldn’t have phoned to alert you. They must be sincere in wanting you to hold back Hilo.”
“Are they truly?” Lan said, remembering something else. Last year, business dealings between the Mountain and a minor clan called Three Run had gone sour and turned violent, resulting in the Mountain annexing the smaller clan. The story was that two Mountain men had picked up the fiancée of the Three Run Pillar’s son, driven her two hours outside of Janloon, and left her by the side of the road to walk back in the dark without shoes. The
enraged heir of Three Run had led his clan in an attack against Gont. It had ended badly for him and his family.
Hilo often complained vociferously about things the Mountain was doing —skirmishes and territorial disputes that Lan left mostly to his brother’s attention—but now Lan considered the possibility that Gont snatching Anden might be just like what the Mountain had done to Three Run. Not breaking aisho explicitly but baiting their rivals into violence, then sweeping down in retaliation while claiming grievance.
The phone rang and Lan picked it up at once. Hilo said, “It’s me.”
“Where are you?” Lan asked.
“I’m in a phone booth outside of Gont’s nephew’s apartment building in Little Hammer, and I’ve got twenty guys with me.” Hilo’s voice was low, but Lan could hear the barely contained fury. “Gont’s got Andy. An informer in Summer Park saw a scuffle break out and said that dogfucking bastard drove off with my kid cousin in his car.”
“Calm down,” Lan said. “I know about it. Gont called me. They’ll release Anden on the Temple District side of the traffic circle in about two hours.”
He was almost afraid to ask. “Have you done anything that might change that?”
A pause before Hilo said, “No. I have this godsdamned building surrounded though and it’s going to stay fucking surrounded until I get Andy back without so much as one of his hairs out of place. Gont’s gone too fucking far. My own little cousin!”
Lan breathed out in silent relief. “He’s my cousin too, Hilo, and whatever game the Mountain’s playing, we can’t give them any excuse to break aisho.
Keep our guys under control and get over to the place they’re supposed to drop him. The important thing now is that we get Anden back.”
Hilo breathed into the receiver harshly. “I know that,” he snapped, and hung up.
Doru laced his thin fingers around one bony knee and said with a stiff- lipped smile, “I take it our Horn has not yet started a war, gods be thanked. If the Mountain is indeed trying to provoke us, Hilo would play directly into their intentions. You’re quite right to keep a cool head.”
The Pillar did not reply; although he agreed with Doru’s words, he found the man’s tone faintly condescending. Cold, careful judgment was the mark of a good Weather Man, but perhaps Doru’s commitment to peace between
the clans was blinding him. Hilo might be impetuous, but at least Lan could trust that his first concern was also for Anden’s safety. Doru on the other hand had never formed any meaningful relationship with the adopted boy and seemed to be treating today’s events like a very interesting business negotiation, instead of what Lan knew it to be: flagrant intimidation. The Mountain showing that it could reach into the Kaul family.
Lan considered going over to the Temple District to join Hilo but decided it was more important to stay put in case the Mountain attempted to make contact again. “Cancel the rest of the day’s meetings. I’ll be in my office,” he told Doru, then left to wait alone for news from the Horn.