Shae stuffed papers into her bag. She could hear Koben Yiro’s deep voice chatting amicably with the Mountain clan’s tributary allies as she got up and hurried out of the room. Catching up to Hilo alone in hallway, she grabbed his elbow, forcing him to stop and face her. “I told you not to refuse outright,” she hissed. “You did so without giving us the time to come up with a counterproposal. The Mountain is going to spin this against us badly. They’ll make sure we get killed in the press.”
Hilo’s face twisted into a glare. “I’d rather be killed by the press than actually killed when all of Ayt’s schemes finally pay off.” He glanced at the people coming out into the hallway behind them and leaned close to snarl a whisper near her ear. “You want to do this now, in front of our enemies? I’m fighting every fire they set, Shae, and you’re fighting me. The Pillar’s word is final—but you’re not good at remembering that, are you?” Hilo pulled out of her grasp and headed for the stairwell, avoiding the possibility of elevator lobby conversation with anyone else. Shae’s shoulders knotted with frustration as she once again watched him go.
“Kaul-jen,” said a voice behind her. Shae turned to see a tall Green Bone with wire-rimmed glasses, whom she recognized as the Weather Man of the Six Hands Unity clan. He’d been sitting two seats to the left of Ayt Mada in the meeting.
Shae took a covert calming breath to smooth the agitation out of her jade aura as she nodded toward the man politely, searching her memory for his name. He pushed the down button for the elevator. “That was an unusually lively KJA meeting, wasn’t it? Very different from the usual budget discussions,” he said conversationally. “The country may be caught between two tigers, as General Ronu put it, but the Mountain and No Peak are the two tigers of Kekon. Whenever you roar, we smaller creatures run back and forth, trying to decide who’s less likely to eat us.”
The elevator arrived and the doors opened. The Weather Man of Six Hands Unity motioned considerately for Shae to enter first. She eyed him warily as she did so. She Perceived no hostile intent and had no reason to consider the man a personal enemy, but he was, after all, an ally of the Mountain.
The man entered after her and immediately hit the button to close the doors before anyone else exiting the KJA meeting could get onto the same elevator. Shae tensed. Alone in the close quarters of the elevator, her sense of Perception flared. The man’s pulse had gone up. He was nervous, but it didn’t show on his face as he stood beside her and calmly pressed the button for the ground floor.
“Where’s your Pillar?” Shae asked. “Aren’t you leaving together?”
“He’ll be along shortly, after he’s done with his conversations,” said the Green Bone. “We’re returning to Lukang tomorrow morning.” Six Hands Unity was based in the second-largest city in Kekon, on the island’s southern coast. A single drop of sweat made its way down the side of the man’s forehead. “Have you been to Lukang before, Kaul-jen?”
“Yes, though not recently,” Shae said.
“I think you’d be impressed by how it’s grown. You should come visit, when you have the time.” The man extracted a business card from his breast pocket and handed it to her. On one side of the white card was the man’s name, Tyne Retubin, and his contact information. The other side bore the stamped red insignia of his clan, a mark that carried the authority of his Pillar.
“The Six Hands Unity clan would be honored to host you,” Tyne said. “You can call me directly, as one Weather Man to another.”
The elevator came to a stop. The doors opened and Tyne walked out without another glance or word. Shae hung back, so they would not be seen together. She understood that Tyne Retu had accomplished a dangerous task given to him by his Pillar.
Shae slipped the business card into her pocket, fingering the edge of it as if testing the sharpness of a blade. She kept her hand on it as she walked the five blocks to Ship Street with her mind racing. The rectangle of stiff paper might be another trap by the Mountain. Or it might be a reversal of fortune, an answer from the gods that could solve No Peak’s most pressing problems and vault it ahead of its enemies. Six Hands Unity, the largest tributary clan of the Mountain, was interested in changing allegiance.
_______
Woon’s going-away celebration was a casual affair held after work that evening in a private room at the Drunk Duck hoji bar. Many of the clan’s Luckbringers came by to enjoy the food and drink and wish Woon well, but they didn’t linger for long. Woon Papidonwa was respected in the office, but he didn’t have many close personal friends on Ship Street. There was a price to be paid for being the Weather Man’s deputy, a man answering daily to a younger woman, even if she was a Kaul.