“Kaul-jens,” Juen said, saluting informally before joining them.
“Juen-jen, there’s still steamed egg and nut pastries but only two crispy squid balls left,” said Wen, filling his teacup. “We can order some more food if you’re feeling hungry.”
“This is more than enough,” Juen assured her. With the Pillar’s permission, he preferred to have an early breakfast with his wife and children and spend the morning with them, arriving late to the Twice Lucky and eating only lightly before clan discussion began. Even though he was the Horn and his family lived on the Kaul estate （a decision his wife had supported for the sake of convenience and security）， Juen did his best to maintain some personal boundaries. He had no desire to follow the fate of the tragic Maiks and see his own family subsumed into the Kauls. Despite all their strength, the Kauls were unlucky—with not one, but two stone-eyes, as well as an adopted cousin who was mixed race and queer. Juen liked the Kauls well enough, even the unlucky ones, and he would follow Hilo-jen no matter what, but he very much hoped to preserve the luck of his own family, beat the odds of occupying his dangerous position, and live to see retirement and grandchildren.
Taking Juen’s arrival as a cue that the leaders were about to begin discussing clan issues, Anden put down his napkin and pushed back from the table to leave. Hilo said, “Do you have anywhere else you need to be, Andy? If not, stay.” The suggestion was made casually, but Anden and everyone else at the table understood it to be an order. Anden hesitated, glancing around the table uncertainly, then sat back down.
Juen sighed inwardly. The Pillar had already made his unlucky wife his Pillarman, and now he was bringing his unlucky cousin, who held no official rank in the clan, into the inner circle of the leadership, no doubt because the doctor had recently accomplished so much in Espenia on the clan’s behalf. Juen was not going to question the Pillar’s decisions in areas beyond the Horn’s purview, but he couldn’t help but wonder if so much ill fortune concentrated near the top was a handicap on the entire clan that made his job as Horn more fraught in some invisible way.
Hilo turned to Juen. “How was your trip?”
“About what I expected.” Juen had recently returned to Janloon after three days in Lukang. The stalemate there had persisted for years and was unlikely to change so long as Jio Somu remained the Pillar of Six Hands Unity. No Peak continued to support Jio’s opponents, who would not rest in their goal to avenge the old Pillar and Weather Man and take back rightful control of the clan. “They want to send that kin killer to feed the worms, and weren’t happy that I wouldn’t commit more help to making that happen.”
Juen was a pragmatic man and thought the odds of whispering Jio’s name were low. The traitor kept guards around himself at all times and was so paranoid about assassination attempts that he rarely left his fortified residence. As far as Juen was concerned, killing Jio was not a high priority for No Peak. It was more important to consolidate and defend their existing holdings, and to tamp down the worrisome rise in activity from barukan gangs and anti-clan anarchists in Janloon.
When he said this, Hilo agreed. “We’ve been supporting our allies in Lukang for long enough. Give them three months to decide whether they want to form their own minor tributary clan, or take oaths to No Peak.”
Juen gave a nod and helped himself to a nut pastry. “As for the anarchists, there’s still confusion over whether Green Bones or the police should be in charge of dealing with them.”
Anti-clan extremism was a low-level but persistent and spreading concern, like a stubborn fungal infection. Some misdeeds by the so-called clanless were disorderly, such as distributing pamphlets of their manifesto and spray-painting graffiti on public property, but some were more serious. Recently, a jade setter’s shop had been set on fire, and although the shop was saved and the arsonists caught and punished, Juen pointed out the larger problem: “These extremists aren’t anything like a clan, or even a street gang. They’re opportunistic and loosely organized, and their goal isn’t to control territory or businesses, or to steal jade or money. They just want to drum up discontent and create ugly attention so they can spread their poisonous ideas.”
Anden said, with a confused frown, “There are always fanatics on the fringes of society. Why do there seem to be more of them now, and why are they so much bolder?”
Woon answered him. “Because now they can look to outsiders for sympathy and money. The Slow War has put Kekon on the map and jade on everyone’s mind. There are foreign governments and organizations that encourage the anti-clan views.”