Jade War

Hilo spread his hands unapologetically. “I want to be on good terms with whoever leads the Mountain after Ayt Madashi. Our clans declared peace, but I don’t trust Ayt to keep it. I’m thinking of my own family, of course. Ayt whispered my name and is the reason my brother is dead, so I won’t sleep well until she’s stepped down or been moved aside by a deserving successor.”

Ven sat forward. “That’s the whole problem right there,” he said, with conspiratorial vehemence. “Ayt has no succession plan. She became the Pillar by killing the rightful male heir, and now she’s too old to have children even if she could find a man who would dare to marry her.” Ven’s voice gained heat. “The Mountain wouldn’t be facing this problem if our Pillar was a man with a wife who could give him sons. The clan needs a strong Green Bone family bloodline that can be trusted for generations.” He gestured to Hilo. “You have that in No Peak, to your credit. We don’t. We’re being led by a childless woman pursuing her own ambitions—that’s how low the once great clan of the Spear of Kekon has fallen.”

Shae was astounded. Even Hilo’s eyes widened slightly. Ayt Mada was their enemy, and Shae would not have hesitated to describe her as power-hungry, but they had not expected to hear Ven speak of his own Pillar in such an openly disrespectful manner. Shae’s first reaction was suspicion; was Ven trying to ingratiate himself with them? Or was he truly so guileless?

Ven held up his hands as if to check his own tirade. “Don’t misunderstand me,” he said hastily, glancing at Shae sideways before returning his attention to Hilo. “I don’t have anything against women being Green Bones and holding positions of responsibility in valuable supporting roles. But the Pillar is different. The spine of the body, as we all say. Ayt has made misstep after misstep: allowing jade and shine to be used by common criminals, inviting public scandal upon us, and getting us into a costly street war that, if you’ll forgive me for saying so, most people in the Mountain thought we should’ve easily won.” Ven puckered his mouth. “When I raise valid criticisms—unselfishly, I might add—she stubbornly refuses to address them. My very life might be in danger if that woman knew I was conversing with you.” Despite this statement, Ven did not seem fearful to be voicing opposition. Shae suspected that K-Star Freight was too big and important to the Mountain, and the Ven family too well known and powerful, for Ayt Mada to simply whisper their names and make them disappear, no matter how condemnatory Ven was.

“I’m glad we’re having this meeting, Ven-jen. You’re obviously the right person for me to be talking to.” Hilo leaned back in his deck chair, angling himself more directly toward the Vens with a subtle shift of his body. He seemed to expand and relax, as if he’d occupied this very seat on the boat countless times in the past, and his voice took on the quality of contented camaraderie established at once between new friends who’ve discovered they grew up on the same street corner. The change occurred so smoothly and naturally that Shae found herself feeling as if she had suddenly become an uninvited guest sitting uncomfortably apart from the three men, who now possessed a familiarity they had not shared mere seconds ago.

Hilo’s voice lowered. “I’m glad to learn there are people in the Mountain who want change as much as you and me, Ven-jen, but speaking as an outsider, it seems to me the Koben family doesn’t have any strong leaders, just a little boy. I’m not patient enough to wait twenty years for things to improve, and I can tell you’re not a complacent person yourself. Naturally, I was curious about the new Weather Man, but from asking around, I hear the Iwes follow Ayt Mada blindly.”

Ven snorted. “That’s true, and also there’s too much thin blood in that family.”

“In these uncertain times,” Hilo said somberly, “cooperation between the clans is important to the country. That’s why I wanted to meet with you in private, to see if we could help each other. The Ven family is known and respected by everyone, on the business side and on the streets. That old saying, ‘Gold and jade, never together’—it sounds nice, but who can argue that we don’t need both for our families to be truly strong?” Hilo fixed the overweight businessman with a stare of strict confidence. “You’re obviously a man of principle, and maybe it’s not your wish to take on so much responsibility, but since this issue in the Mountain clan affects not just my own family but all of Kekon, I feel that I have to be honest. No Peak would gladly recognize the leadership of the Ven family. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather see succeed Ayt Mada.”