“Let the gods recognize him,” Anden added.
“I didn’t know him,” Remi said with a shrug, switching back to speaking in Espenian. “I was only a kid, and Port Massy is fucking far away from Resville. Just heard about him, like he was some kind of an urban legend. Greenest man in the country, they said. Went out in a bad way, though. Fucking Crews.”
Anden said, “It’s true that he was the greenest man in the country.”
“And how’s old man Dauk doing these days?” Remi asked. “Still cheating the grave, that one?”
Even though Dauk Losun was not truly a clan Pillar, Anden was not accustomed to hearing anyone speak of the aging Green Bone leader, the most influential in Port Massy and indeed all of Espenia, with such flippancy. Jon Remi, Anden had been told, was an ally of the Dauks and the man to speak to in Resville about all Green Bone matters. Espenians were more casual, and Remi had been born in this country, so perhaps there was no disrespect intended. Still, Anden answered guardedly now, following Remi back into Espenian, as that seemed to be what the man preferred. “I haven’t had a chance to see Dauk-jen in person during this trip, but I hear he’s doing well and has a fifth grandchild now, a boy.”
“Good for him, good for him,” said Remi, somewhat distractedly. The two Green Bones in the prop-strewn ring were stepping out through a pulled-back flap in the mesh barrier. “You see that man, the one with the longer hair?” Remi said, changing the subject as he pointed across the floor at the fighters. “Danny,” he hollered, “you’re a fucking jade animal, you’re gonna kill everyone in the auditions, crumb.” The other Green Bone waved in thanks, and Remi said with pride, “That’s Danny Sinjo, he’s been fighting in the shows in Marcucuo for two years, already got an 8–1 record and now he’s been scouted for a role in a gangster flick by a Shotarian movie studio. Just remember, when you see him on the big screen in a few years, you can say you met him in Resville before he got famous, right here in Jon Remi’s club.”
Anden was not familiar with half of what Remi had said, but he took a long look at Sinjo and even from a distance agreed that he could be movie star material, at least when it came to physical appeal. Although, Anden admitted to himself glumly, his standards for attractiveness might be growing more generous. He winced inwardly, thinking of Lott Jin. What had he been expecting, reaching for a shallow teenage infatuation?
Rejection wouldn’t sting so badly if he had other options, but it had been a long time since he’d had anything he might describe as romantic prospects. Part of the difficulty was that he’d spent his twenties in medical school and starting his career as a physician, but the larger problem was that he had no real idea how to meet suitable partners in Janloon. He had no interest in going to some of the places where men typically went to meet each other for casual encounters. He was too well known as a member of the Kaul family and didn’t want to be seen in places and situations that would reflect poorly on him.
“I didn’t think a Shotarian movie studio would hire a Kekonese Green Bone,” he said to Remi.
“Sure they would. Danny’s going for the role of the main villain, the barukan gang boss who kills the cop’s wife and kids. They’re popular, you know, the Shotarian crime dramas. All over the world. Big money in movies.” Remi led the way across the floor of the warehouse, around the perimeter of the fighting ring, to an area with a pool table and several cracked leather sectional sofas. He flopped down on one of them and gestured grandly. “So, what do you think? As good as the gyms in Janloon?”
Anden did not want to say no, but he suspected Remi was asking the question merely to goad him into polite lying, which would be embarrassingly apparent to someone who could Perceive it. Instead he said, “I didn’t expect there to be a place like this in Espenia. Aren’t you worried about the police?”
Remi showed his teeth in a smile, as if he’d been expecting Anden to ask the question. “Resville is a Crew town, crumb. We’re less than a third the size of Port Massy, but we’ve got at least six Crews jostling for a piece of the action. And on top of that, the drug cartels from Tomascio. The police, they don’t pay attention to a few kecks with jade.” There was scorn, even resentment, in Remi’s voice. “Resville’s different from the rest of the country. Let’s just say rules here are more . . . relaxed.”
No wonder, then, that this was where the Mountain had chosen to make a major entry into the country. Located only fifty kilometers from the border with Tomascio, Resville possessed year-round good weather, warm beaches, and copious entertainments that made it one of the country’s top tourist locations. Anden sat down on the sofa across from Remi and said, “So you own this place?”