Shae nodded, pleased with his astute answer. “I see you’ve been keeping up with the news.” Niko had applied himself to learning the workings of the clan with a dedication that had surprised everyone. She suspected that he grieved for Ru by occupying himself with work during every waking hour. She wasn’t sure it was healthy for him, but she also couldn’t begrudge his accomplishments.
The Espenian embassy was a modern, gleaming glass cube of a building flying a dozen ROE flags from the top of its steel gate and deliberately overshadowing the other, more modest foreign diplomatic offices in the Monument District. Upon being admitted past security, Shae and Niko were led into the ambassador’s private sitting room, a sunny but formal chamber with high-backed cushioned chairs and portraits of famous Espenian premiers on the walls.
Ambassador Lonard greeted them and introduced Colonel Jorgen Basso, the newly installed commanding officer of Euman Naval Base. In the years that Shae had been Weather Man, she’d dealt with seven different ROE ambassadors and three military commanders. She remembered how nervous she’d been the first time she’d sat down with Ambassador Gregor Mendoff and Colonel Leland Deiller in the White Lantern Club, the outright skepticism they’d shown toward her as a young woman and an inexperienced Weather Man. Both men were long gone, retired to their home country.
Lonard and Basso saluted the longtime Weather Man in the proper Kekonese manner, then shook her hand, thanking her for coming to meet with them. Shae did not introduce Niko, as she’d brought him as an observer. He positioned his chair behind and to the left of Shae’s seat.
Ambassador Lonard was a long-faced woman with thin lips and straight, dark eyebrows over unsmiling eyes. She was at least a decade younger than Shae but carried herself with the unpretentious confidence of an old political hawk. She perched straight-backed in her chair and folded her hands over her knee. “Ms. Kaul,” she said, “I was hoping your Pillar would join us as well.”
“My brother is busy today,” Shae said. Hilo still hated diplomatic bullshit. “Your predecessor ought to have explained to you that as Weather Man, I speak on the Pillar’s behalf.” She gave the foreigners a polite, expectant smile. “What can the No Peak clan do for our Espenian friends?”
The ambassador motioned for an aide to close the door to the sitting room. It swung shut on silent hinges. “I assume you’re aware of the situation that’s been developing on Euman Island.”
“If you’re referring to the protest camp, yes, I’m aware of it,” Shae said.
Colonel Basso, a large, bald, brown-skinned man with spectacles, perhaps Tomascian in ancestry, said with gruff indignation, “There are over two thousand civilians camped within two kilometers of an ROE military base, with more joining every day for the past month. They pose an unacceptable security risk.”
“They’re not on your property,” Shae replied calmly. “That part of Euman Island is historically an indigenous area. Last year, the Royal Council passed a bill to restore it to Abukei governance. The people who’ve gathered there are doing so with the permission of tribal leaders, as protest against the offshore jade mining that’s continued despite years of national opposition.”
Ambassador Lonard’s thin lips all but disappeared when she tightened them. “An unruly mob is not the best way to address a complicated issue.”
Shae raised her eyebrows. “There’s nothing complicated about it. The issue persists because the Espenian government continues to support Anorco’s exploitative business operations.”
Over the course of a dozen years, neither the diplomatic efforts on the part of the Kekonese government nor repeated attempts by the clans to destroy the mining ships had been successful. The local Abukei tribes, fed up with the ongoing environmental destruction of their fishing grounds, had mounted a protest that had rapidly garnered widespread public support.
Ambassador Lonard adeptly refused to be drawn further into the underlying argument. “My immediate concern is for the safety of the Espenian and Kekonese citizens who could be endangered if this intentionally provocative gathering turns violent.”
Shae didn’t bother to point out that the ambassador was likely more concerned about the ongoing press coverage of the Euman Standoff, as it was being called by the media. The Espenians preferred not to draw public attention to the fact that they still had such a large military presence in the country, despite promises to the Kekonese government that they would reduce their forces as part of the international effort to bring the Slow War to an end.