Jade War

“Because they want it all to themselves,” Woon said. “You have to be careful, Shae-jen. Working with the Espenians is like sleeping next to a tiger—it seems like a good idea until the tiger gets hungry, and the Espenians aren’t a subtle people. There’s over a hundred thousand of them on Euman Island now, and we’re fielding complaints from Lantern Men about Espenian soldiers on shore leave in Janloon causing problems in casinos and brothels. The news is reporting rising civilian casualty figures in Oortoko, and the world is blaming it on Espenian involvement. Given public opinion these days, we don’t want No Peak to seem too cozy with the foreigners.”

Shae couldn’t disagree, especially since she knew some people, inside and outside of the clan, already viewed her as an Espenophile for her foreign education. Meanwhile, Ayt Mada was capitalizing on the Oortokon War, excoriating foreigners in general and Espenians in particular, raising her own public profile and popularity.

Shae could understand people’s temptation to buy into Ayt’s bellicose arguments, but she couldn’t agree with it. Ayt’s calculated sentiments led down a well-worn path toward ethnocentric isolationism. Kekon had come from that centuries ago but could never return to it, not with modern technology and global trade and people such as Maro. “You’re right to be cautious, Papi-jen,” Shae said to her aide, “but you encouraged me to open more doors for our Lantern Men, and Espenia is where we can do that.”

“What you say makes sense,” Woon said slowly, “but the more ties we have with that country, the more leverage they’ll have over us as well. They may use that in the future, in ways that we don’t know about yet and that might be costly to us. And how do you know the foreigners will even come through? Mendoff and Deiller haven’t yet delivered on anything you asked for in the White Lantern Club.”

“Which is why I’m doubling down,” Shae said. “The Espenians treasure their reputation as direct and honest businesspeople, and they view indebtedness and poverty as moral failings. Providing them another gift before they’ve repaid me for the first will make them uncomfortable. They’ll be motivated to fix that imbalance soon.”

Woon stood and took his leave. “I’ll arrange the meeting as you requested, Shae-jen, but I’ll keep it quiet. Not everyone in the clan agrees with us.”

* * *

That evening, Shae had Maro, Hilo, and Wen over for dinner at her house. She’d considered inviting Maro to a family meal at the main Kaul house, but perhaps meeting the entire family, including the children and the Maiks, would be too much at once. Besides, the main house was the Pillar’s residence, and she thought that might send the wrong signal as to the nature of this get together. She ruled out meeting at a restaurant where people might see them and start speculating about when the Torch’s granddaughter would be getting married and having children.

Shae had never seriously taken to cooking, but with Kyanla’s help, she put together what she thought was a presentable meal of pickled radish salad, ginger egg soup, and baked red chicken glazed with chili sauce. She’d instructed Hilo to show up fifteen minutes before Maro, because she wanted to talk with him first and make a few things clear.

“I’m not bringing my boyfriend home for your inspection,” she told her brother, when he and Wen arrived and Wen went into the dining room to help Kyanla set out plates. “Maro seems to think that because he doesn’t wear much jade and isn’t a member of the clan, I’m reluctant for him to meet my family. That’s not true; I meant to do this much earlier, but with all our schedules—he’s been traveling, we’ve been busy, and now with Niko and Ru to take care of—there hasn’t been any time. So we’re finally getting a chance, but it’s just dinner

.”

“What are you so nervous about?” Hilo said, with a teasing smile that irritated her because she was not nervous, she simply wanted to set expectations. “You think I’m going to interrogate him? Make him fight me? Wen and I are just glad to have an excuse to get away from the kids for a few hours.”

The Fingers who guarded the gates of the Kaul estate had been told to admit Shae’s boyfriend when he arrived. Maro showed up wearing a new shirt under his suede jacket and bearing an expensive bottle of premium hoji. He kissed Shae chastely on the cheek and saluted Hilo deeply to show proper respect. “Kaul-jen.”

It bothered Shae more than she thought it would, to see Maro acting deferential toward her brother. “Shae tells me that you’re a professor, so I ought to call you Dr. Tau,” Hilo said with a smile, “but we’re all friends here, so I’ll drop the formality if you do.” He accepted and admired the gift (tactfully neglecting to mention that the Cursed Beauty distillery was owned by his former Fist and thus the Kaul family could get as much of this hoji as it could want) and, putting a hand on Maro’s shoulder, led him inside to introduce him to Wen.