Hilo scratched his jaw and considered this, feeling a little hurt by the dismissal. True, he and Lan were not close in the manner of siblings who were similar in age. They had not grown up as rivals or confidants. Nevertheless, there was an unspoken understanding between them, because one day Lan would be the Pillar and Hilo would be his Horn. He would swear oaths to his older brother, to obey him, to kill and die for him if necessary. So he felt it was only fair that Lan trust him enough to explain why he was ruining a perfectly good breakfast with his melancholy. “Is it something to do with that meeting Grandda had last week?”
Lan’s left eye narrowed into a squint. “How do you know about that?”
Hilo shrugged. “Is it or isn’t it?”
Lan exhaled through his nose, as if giving in, but he relaxed slightly, apparently relieved to finally talk about what was troubling him. “You know that Grandda and Uncle Doru are worried about who will succeed Ayt Yu as Pillar of the Mountain.”
“Ayt’s not that old,” Hilo said. “He could be Pillar for another ten years.”
“The rumor is that he’s taken off some of his jade because of high blood pressure. The Spear of Kekon might be a living legend, but if his jade tolerance is starting to go, it won’t be long before he has to retire. Maybe five years, maybe less. Ayt Eodo is his son by adoption, not blood, and Eodo’s a joke, not respected as a Green Bone.”
Hilo broke apart one of the nut pastries. “His daughter is the Weather Man.”
“A woman Pillar?” Lan shook his head. “Ayt won’t go that far. So the door is open for some other family in the Mountain clan to rise into the leadership.”
“Why’s any of this our problem?” Hilo asked. “The Mountain can sort out its own shit.” As a junior Fist, he had no love for the Mountain clan. He and his peers had skirmished violently with them for territory and business, particularly in disputed districts, and some of those confrontations had left hard feelings on both sides.
“Grandda and Uncle Doru had a meeting last week with Tanku Ushijan,” Lan said. “The Horn of the Mountain proposed that we unite our families through marriage.”
Hilo stopped in mid-chew. The thought of Wen flashed through his mind. He was not one to keep secrets, but he hadn’t yet told his grandfather or his brother that he was in love with a girl in the Maik family, a stone-eye. His face or his jade aura must’ve given away his sudden panic because Lan said, with a dry smile, “I don’t think I’ve ever been able to scare you like that before. Is the idea of settling down really that frightening? Anyway, you’re safe. Tanku’s son, Din, is a first-rank Fist. People are saying he could follow in his father’s footsteps and become Horn. A marriage between Shae and Tanku Din would tie the leadership of both clans together.”
Relief washed over Hilo and he began breathing again. He finished chewing and swallowing. “Grandda won’t go for it,” he said with confidence. “Shae’s his favorite.”
Lan didn’t reply at first, but the texture of his jade aura grew scratchy as he pushed at the food on his plate. “When it comes to decisions about what’s best for the clan, sometimes there’s no room for personal feelings, not even for the Pillar. Doru thinks it’s a good idea, and you know how much sway he has with Grandda.”
Hilo grimaced. “Doru should go back to the Three Crowns era where he came from.” The creaky old Weather Man would’ve been one of those scheming palace courtiers.
Lan looked at his younger brother with a resignation that Hilo would not understand for many more years, not until he was Pillar himself. “Grandda and Ayt Yu have had their differences over the years, but now that they’re both getting older, they want to ensure there’s still respect between the clans after they’re gone. That’s getting harder to do when we have different businesses, different territories, different schools.” Lan tugged absently at the jade-studded cuffs on his forearms, uncertainty written on his face. “The Tanku family says that if we ally with them, Ayt Yu will pass over that playboy Eodo and name Tanku Ushi as the next Pillar of the Mountain. It would prevent infighting over the succession and assure everyone of peaceful relations. Shae would be daughter-in-law to their Pillar, and if the younger Tanku is promoted, we would be brothers-in-law to their Horn.”
Hilo was liking this vision of the future less and less the more he heard. He had no personal grudge against the Tankus, but he certainly didn’t want them as in-laws. The elder Tanku was in his fifties; his son was two years older than Lan. If the families merged, the Tankus would be dominant. How was Lan supposed to maintain his own standing as Pillar against a man who was essentially his father-in-law? And if Hilo became the Horn of No Peak, he would surely have to face his own brother-in-law as a rival and be forced to back down to protect his sister’s marriage. A union might preserve the peace for the foreseeable future, but in the long run, surely No Peak would be diminished. It might even become a tributary of the Mountain.