Hilo said nothing at first, waiting for his Weather Man to continue. “Our growth in Espenia has slowed,” Shae explained. “The real estate market there is contracting and the economy’s going to be weak for a while. Years of ad campaigns and political lobbying have paid off in some significant ways—we’ve prevented the Espenian government from criminalizing clan operations and we’ve gotten existing penalties on civilian ownership of jade reduced. But there’s still no sign that jade will be fully legalized.”
Hilo drew a hand over his brow and exhaled in resignation. Less, Shae suspected, because of what she’d said than the realization he was not going to be able to enjoy the rest of the evening without discussing clan matters.
Shae went on. “In Kekon, we took over the Jo Sun clan and have Toshon now, but the Mountain added the Black Tail clan so they have Gohei, plus they still have the upper hand in Lukang. There’s no room for either of us to pull ahead. We need other markets.”
“Hami established an office in Tun,” Hilo pointed out. “You can speed up the growth there.”
“We’ve been trying for years, but Tun is a difficult place to do business. It’s politically unstable and on the brink of currency collapse. The infrastructure is poor, the language is hard to learn, the laws and financial markets are underdeveloped.” She’d already spent countless hours considering all possible avenues. “Ygutan is obviously not an option for us. There’s still an active embargo on the Uwiwa Islands. That leaves Shotar.”
Hilo drummed his fingers on the arm of the sofa. “Hami thinks it’s a bad idea.”
Shae had over the years stopped being surprised when Hilo knew something about the business side of the clan that she didn’t expect him to. He still couldn’t find his way through a financial report without her help, but he knew who he needed to know. He possessed a complete mental map of the clan’s Lantern Men by wealth, influence, and loyalty. He knew who among Shae’s subordinates in the Weather Man’s office held particular expertise or ability, and he would speak directly with them whenever it suited him. Of course, that was his prerogative as Pillar, but sometimes it irked her. It made her suspect that even after all these years, he did not entirely trust her not to act behind his back.
She admitted with a frown, “Hami’s convinced the Mountain has an unsurpassable advantage there because of Ayt Mada’s alliance with the Matyos. Iyilo was one of the Matyos before he took Ti Pasuiga from Zapunyo, and most of the barukan refugees who Ayt brought over from Oortoko were Matyos. They’re the largest of the barukan gangs. They control powerful labor unions and have influence in several industries.”
“So going into Shotar would be as hard for us as it was for the Mountain to break into Resville. Your Rainmaker’s reasoning seems solid to me,” Hilo said, but she could tell from the texture of his jade aura that he was still undecided.
“The big difference is that we have a weapon in Shotar that the Mountain didn’t have in Espenia, thanks to your chess master of a former Horn. Juen built a network of White Rats in that country that we can use to pry ourselves an opening.”
After she’d laid out her plan, Hilo finished the hoji in his glass. “I’ll give my permission to do this if Lott agrees to use his White Rats in the way you suggest, and you can get Hami to come around to your thinking. This will work only if we can protect our assets without sending over many Fists and Fingers. Between Janloon, Lukang, and now Toshon, we’re already stretched on the greener side of the clan, and the Mountain still has the advantage of numbers over us.” The grudge in Hilo’s voice was plain. Still. After all these years, they were still locked into the same infuriating stalemate. Every step that No Peak took, the Mountain took another.
“They haven’t tried to come at us lately,” Shae pointed out. The past six years had been spent in a state of necessary collusion with their rivals, focusing on crushing the Clanless Future Movement and consolidating power among the weakened minor clans and in secondary cities. Both clans were also struggling with internal issues. Shae suspected that Ayt Mada had her hands full holding together the extremes of her clan, from the traditionalist Kobens on one end to the barukan elements on the other. In No Peak, Niko’s departure had created a public scandal and thrown the question of succession wide open.
The only upside of all the turmoil was that the Mountain hadn’t recently tried to send anyone from the Kaul family to the grave.