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.”
Ven’s jade aura gave a perceptible pulse of gratification, but he let out a dramatic sigh and waved a hand vaguely over his shoulder, dismissing the idea as if he’d been told it so many times already that he was tired of having to disappoint people. The gesture struck Shae as so contrived and self-important that she was forced to mask a stab of deep dislike. Ven said, “I’m flattered, Kaul-jen, I truly am, but I have a company to run, and besides, I’m getting to be an old man, nearly retired. People always expect the Pillar to be green.” The only jade Ven wore was a heavy gold watch with a jeweled case. “Wearing so much jade—that’s for young men. It would suit the clan best to have a leader who’s in his prime, who has the right image but also the backing of family resources and social capital. Myself, I’m content to simply be the voice of age and wisdom in the background.”
Shae looked past Ven Sando to his son. She saw Hilo’s eyes shift in that direction as well. Ven Haku was about the same age as they were; he was said to be a reasonably good Fist and popular among his peers and subordinates, in no small part because he was not shy about flaunting his family’s wealth by throwing parties and rewarding those under him. He wore his hair gelled back and his jade studded on a bold black leather choker around his neck, like a gem-encrusted dog collar. He sat partly slouched, with an alert but slightly scornful expression on his face, and even the low, steady buzz of his jade aura seemed to emanate privilege and insolence. For a strange, disconcerting moment, looking at Ven Haku and his perfectly unlined face, Shae was reminded of the Hilo she’d known six or seven years ago.
Ven Sando intended to install his son as Pillar after Ayt Mada was gone. Hilo looked between the elder and younger Ven and inclined his head with a half-concealed smile. “A dutiful son and supportive father working together? I’m not sure any clan has ever been so fortunate.” Hilo’s jade aura, normally so bright and expressive, hummed as smoothly as a wide river, betraying almost nothing. “I’d like to help bring about such a change. But Ayt Mada and I sat together in front of both our clans and the public and declared truce. I don’t break my promises, not even to my enemies. I have to make that clear before we talk further.”
Ven Sando gave Hilo a shrewd look. “No one wants another street war between the clans. But you wouldn’t have asked to meet unless you had something to give besides encouragement.”
Hilo’s manner hardened a touch, into formality, and he spoke more slowly. “Ayt Mada will never step down willingly. She’ll have to be forced out. When you move against her, No Peak will offer you our friendship and complete support, against those who might be resistant or who would take advantage of the transition when it comes about, and there are always those people. That’s not a small thing and I don’t promise it lightly. There are also the people who need to have practical reasons to accept a new leader. There are things that my Weather Man can do to help you persuade them.”
The prompt caught Shae off guard for an instant; she’d begun to think with some annoyance that Hilo had forgotten she was even there. “K-Star Freight is one of Kekon’s largest and most profitable companies, so I imagine you already hold a great deal of sway in the Mountain,” she said to Ven, laying the flattery on a little thick. “Even so, some of your potential supporters might be encouraged if they knew there were financial incentives involved. No Peak’s influence in certain industries might be of interest to those who can’t normally take advantage of it. There are even parts of our business where we would be open to discussing purchase offers or partnerships… if the clans were on friendlier terms. Naturally, that’s information we expect you would share judiciously.”
Ven appeared to consider all of these assurances before blowing out a heavy breath, as if coming to a difficult but inevitable decision. “What we’re talking about would not be easy to accomplish. Ayt carries a great deal of jade and surrounds herself with those who are loyal to her. It would take time and planning to bring about the sort of change we want to see. But knowing that I have the promise of your friendship, Kaul-jen—it fills me with determination to fix what’s wrong with the Mountain, and to put things right between our clans.”
So there it was: Ven would secretly garner the support for a coup within the Mountain clan. If successful, such a thing would almost certainly end in the death of Ayt Mada and her inner circle. No Peak would quietly back the usurpers with bribes, payouts, and financial concessions in addition to, when the time came, the might of their Fists and Fingers to help put down Ayt’s supporters. Afterward, the Ven family would control the Mountain, and there would be true and lasting friendship between the clans, not merely the cynical truce that currently existed.