Jade War

“Hilo-jen,” Kehn said, scowling, “she’s trying to make you doubt yourself. Just because you’re not the Torch, or because you’re different from Lan-jen—let the gods recognize them—doesn’t mean you can’t be a strong Pillar, or an even better one. For myself, I can’t be the Horn that you were; I can only be my own sort.” Everyone looked at Kehn, a little surprised by his honesty and thoughtfulness.

“I wouldn’t have made you Horn if I didn’t think you could do a good job,” Hilo said. “So there’s a difference. I never had either Grandda’s or Lan’s blessing.”

Wen placed her hand on Hilo’s leg. “You have us.”

Hilo nodded. “That’s true, and maybe that’s the one thing I have that Ayt doesn’t. We’re all family at this table, so I’m not ashamed to admit that I need the help of every one of you. For my part, I promise to listen to what you have to say, even when I don’t agree or if I make a different decision. And when I do, it’s the word of the Pillar, and you have to respect that.” This last part was directed at his Weather Man, who glanced at him sideways with an appropriate amount of grudging guilt for the sarcastic way she’d spoken earlier.

“So,” Tar said, cleaning his teeth with a toothpick, “are you going to tell us the real plan now?”

“What we agreed to in Gohei is the real plan,” Hilo said firmly, “to everyone in the clan except those at this table. I want you to make it clear all the way down the ranks. We’ll hold to the borders we’ve agreed to. No more raids or attacks on their territory, no more taking Mountain blood or jade without family approval.” Gods in Heaven, I sound just like Lan, Hilo thought unhappily.

“We’ll stick to our part of the bargain,” Hilo said, in response to Tar’s skeptical face, “because we need the Mountain to do their part in going after the smuggling. One clan can’t protect the country’s mine sites and coastline. So we have to do this; we have to make peace for now. Because it’s obvious from what happened on Tialuhiya that Zapunyo has every intention of reaching into Kekon, and that uwie midget is ambitious enough to think he can take on Green Bones. He’ll hide inside his mansion and use others—cops, crooks, addicts, anyone he can pay or intimidate—to do his work. That means he’ll have rats all over Janloon, if he doesn’t already.”

“We’ve got rats of our own,” Tar reminded the Pillar.

“Not enough of them.” Hilo directed his words to both of the Maik brothers. “We need White Rats wherever our enemies are, and that’s not just on the streets here in Janloon. We have to be watching every which way for the Mountain’s next move—Ayt will try something clever, come after us in some way we don’t expect and that doesn’t make her look bad for sitting next to me, smiling on camera. And we need people we trust or own in the Uwiwa Islands, close to or inside Ti Pasuiga, feeding us information about Zapunyo’s business so we can take it apart.”

The Maik brothers nodded. Shae said, “Zapunyo’s hardly the only one who’s interested in the country’s jade mines. And some of the other interested parties have armies. We ought to be more worried about the Ygutanians and the Espenians than about Zapunyo.”

Kehn leaned his crossed arms on the table. “The Ygutanians wouldn’t dare come after Kekon, not with the Espenians camped out on Euman Island.”

“That’s not stopping them from buying jade off the black market from dealers like Zapunyo, or under the table from Ayt Mada, who’s already established shine factories inside Ygutan to support her secret contracts,” Shae pointed out. “The Espenians think of Kekon as their jade source, and it’ll be a problem for us if they decide their wartime supplier isn’t secure or reliable enough.”

“The Espenians are full of shit,” Tar exclaimed. “They can’t handle the jade they already have. Look at what’s going on over there. They’re going to ban jade outside of military use. Even the ROE special ops guys aren’t allowed to wear it for more than three years of service, because of what being addicted to shine does to you—fucks you up, gives you cancer or something, I don’t know. There’s more jade around this dinner table than in one of their platoons.” Tar began to pull out a cigarette, but Hilo took it from him. He wanted to have one too, but Wen said smoky air wasn’t good for the baby. He poured Tar a glass of hoji instead.

“Anyway,” Tar said, grudgingly accepting the drink, “if those thin bloods tried to occupy Kekon, they’d never hold it. It’d be too costly for them, and the spennies are all about money.”

“They’re our largest trading partner and military ally,” Shae said. “If we intend to grow the business side of the clan, we need access to that market. There’re ways they can pressure or control us without resorting to invasion. They’re already trying.”

“Then it’s a good thing I have a Weather Man who speaks Espenian and stays on top of it,” Hilo said. “The Espenians can be placated or bought, like what you did last year.”