Hilo fell into an armchair and longed for another cigarette. Woon Papidonwa was sitting in the chair across from him with his head in his hands, looking wretched. Hilo wished the man would go back to his own house, as there wasn’t anything Woon could do here, but he wasn’t cruel enough to send Shae’s husband out of the room.
“I should’ve gone with her,” Woon lamented in a whisper.
Hilo berated him more harshly than he deserved. “If you had, Tia would be in danger of losing both parents instead of one. You think you could’ve changed anything?” Nevertheless, Hilo understood deeply how difficult it was for a jade warrior to accept that there came a time when he couldn’t fight his own battles anymore, couldn’t with his own strength and abilities protect those he loved. “Shae is smart enough to stay alive until we figure out a way to get her and Wen back, and we’re already doing everything we can,” he told Woon more gently.
“What can I do to help, Kaul-jen?” his brother-in-law begged.
“You can take care of your daughter,” Hilo replied, stalking back out. Tia was clearly aware that something was wrong. As Woon would not leave the war room, Anden had driven the girl to school that morning and picked her up again in the afternoon. Now Tia was worriedly tugging on her father’s arm every few minutes to ask when they were going home, and why there were so many people in Uncle Hilo’s house.
Woon hugged his daughter but couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth. He said, “Why don’t you finish your snack and then go over to your grandma’s house.”
Tia ran out of the room after her uncle. “Something bad has happened, hasn’t it?”
Hilo squatted down next to his niece but hesitated to answer. He didn’t believe in lying to children and had never shielded his own from reality. But Tia was different. “Yes,” he said. “We’re going to fix it, so I don’t want you to be frightened.”
“Is it about my ma?” When Hilo nodded, Tia’s eyes welled with fear. “I want to know.”
“Some very bad people took your ma, and your aunt Wen, and two of our Fists while they were on their trip to Leyolo City. They want some things from our clan—jade, money, other important things—before they’ll give them back.”
Tears spilled down Tia’s face as she clutched Hilo’s arm. “Uncle Hilo, you have to get my ma back, no matter what. Just give them whatever they want!”
“I’ll do everything I can, Tia-se, I swear it,” Hilo promised. “But our family has terrible enemies, and sometimes what they want most of all is to hurt us.”
“Why would anyone hate us so much?” Tia wept. “None of this makes sense!”
Ru had walked through the door only a few minutes earlier, having skipped the day’s classes to rush back home. Everyone could hear Koko leaping about and barking with excitement despite his age. Ru came over and crouched down. “Tia, all the grown-ups are busy right now and we shouldn’t distract them. Your ma would want you to be strong and to let everyone work so they can find her and bring her home.” As frightened as he was for his own mother, Ru spoke to his little cousin as if everything would be fine. “Why don’t the two of us go into the other room and play video games? I’ll show you a new one I got last week.” He took the girl’s hand in his own.
“Thank you, son.” Hilo put a hand on Ru’s shoulder, grateful to have one of his children near home who he could count on. Since going to college, Ru had become even more expressive and opinionated. He’d dyed copper highlights into his hair and was wearing a T-shirt that read I’m Nonreactive to Bullshit. He was often bringing up this or that charity or social cause that he thought No Peak should be supporting, but he was also a great help to his parents.
The afternoon light was starting to wane, and Hilo hadn’t slept since the night before last. Wen and Shae had been in barukan hands for eighteen hours. Two million thalirs in cash had been procured from the clan’s accounts and forty kilograms of jade taken from its vaults. Locked in four steel briefcases, they were now being loaded onto a chartered plane. In three and a half hours, a small team of the clan’s most trusted Fists would arrive in Leyolo City with the money and jade. In eight hours, they would make the planned handover with the Faltas.
Eight hours. They would be the longest of his life. In eight hours, Wen might be safe, or he might be searching for her body.
Hilo did not share Shae’s stalwart belief in the gods, but he was not above praying. All his power as Pillar of a great Green Bone clan could not guarantee him anything in this moment other than the promise of vengeance, and that was far less comfort to him than it had once been.