“Where do you want to go?” Hilo asked. “Marenia? Toshon?”
“I was thinking somewhere farther,” Wen said. “Marcucuo.”
“Marcucuo?” Hilo raised an eyebrow and asked slowly, “Why Marcucuo?”
“We hear about it all the time,” Wen said. “Why not go and see for ourselves what it’s like?” The tiny city-state island of Marcucuo, off the east coast of Alusius, possessed an official population of only eight hundred thousand people but five times that number of visitors, seasonal residents, and foreign workers.
Marcucuo was a tax haven for the rich and famous, a tropical tourist mecca with every form of entertainment and gambling. Green Bones spoke of Marcucuo in a tone of disdainful fascination, because it was the one place where jade was openly used for sport and entertainment, in one-on-one matches, staged stunts, and televised obstacle course challenges. Many of the competitors were of Kekonese ancestry—Keko-Shotarians and Keko-Espenians, primarily. Others were shine-using foreigners, self-taught or ex-military. And some, to the disgrace of proper Green Bones, were Kekonese—people who’d gotten their jade from families or schooling but had chosen not to take clan oaths, nor enter one of the noble professions.
Wen knew Hilo’s opinion on the entire industry. “A waste to put jade on circus monkeys,” he said. “Why give our money to that place?”
“Whatever we may think of it, people in other parts of the world are going to use jade differently than we do, and some Kekonese are going to be attracted to those foreign ways. We’ve fought the Mountain, and Ti Pasuiga, and the Matyos barukan, and the Espenian Crews—all of them have done things to corrupt the meaning of jade. But maybe we haven’t thought enough about how we can shape that meaning ourselves and use modern-day culture to our own advantage.”
Hilo gave her a long look. “This isn’t really a vacation, is it?”
“Of course it’s a vacation,” Wen said, giving her husband a hurt look. “There are lots of things to see and do in Marcucuo, and the weather’s nice. We can go to the beach, and I want to do some shopping, too. If we also happen to learn a few things or talk to a few people that could be useful to the clan, then so much the better.”
She was pleasantly surprised when her husband agreed to the trip without pressing for more details. Hilo was a direct personality; Wen had heard him speak sharply to his men, demanding specifics if they made the mistake of giving him generalities or possibilities. But Wen held ideas close and quiet until they were nearer to reality. At times, she envied the apparent ease of Shae and Woon’s working relationship, which she did not yet have with her own husband. Despite the relief of being able to talk openly about clan issues, she could tell Hilo chafed at how her role as Pillarman ate into their time together. It was easier to discuss things when they were contented as husband and wife first.
So it was only after they woke and made love and were lying spent and sweaty in bed on their second morning in the Golden Spire Hotel & Casino overlooking Grace Square in Marcucuo that Wen said, “We’re going to a party tonight. It’s at the mansion of Sel Lucanito. He’s the Tomascian media and gaming tycoon who owns Spectacle One, the largest of the jadesports promotion companies.”
Hilo rolled over and sat up. “All right,” he said firmly. “You’ve been cagey for long enough about what we might gain from being here. Tell your Pillar why he should care about going to this party.”
Wen looked up at him, noticing the way the tropical sunlight streaming in from the windows lit the jade on his body. “Do you remember I talked to you and Shae about No Peak investing in Cinema Shore and the Kekon film industry?”
“What about it?”
“The public relations campaign Shae’s begun in Espenia has made me think about how there’s a different kind of war going on these days. A war for people’s thoughts and feelings. The Kobens already know it.” She was still galled by how easily Koben Yiro had upstaged her with his zealous rhetoric. “So does the Clanless Future Movement, when they paint the clans and jade as outdated and evil. That’s what some people are led to believe, when they see news about jade used in foreign wars, or watch movies with barukan villains.” Wen got up and walked naked to the dresser, pinning up her hair. “We can change that.”
Hilo lit a cigarette. She turned to give him a sour look—she was trying to encourage him to quit—but they were on vacation after all. “We’re not getting into the jadesports business,” Hilo said with finality.