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When the last of the gang members are dead or have fled, Gont Asch gathers the jade from the bodies and staggers out into the street. People watch from windows and doors, but thankfully no one approaches him. There’s a phone booth at the end of the block and he uses it to call backup.
By the time several cars from the One Mountain Society pull up half an hour later, Asch has raided the gang’s first aid supplies and staunched the worst of his bleeding. His body is a patchwork of shallow cuts, each a souvenir from a killing blow halted by Steel. He is pretty sure that is something he should feel proud of, probably he will feel proud of it someday, but right now he just hurts.
Asch meets Rotan Teo in the entryway to the building and the older Green Bone raises his eyebrows at all the blood and bandages. “What happened to you?” he asks in a tone of voice that says he finds the possibility that Asch made a good showing of himself highly dubious.
“I was captured by the gang and brought before their leader,” he reports, trying to stifle any defensiveness Rotan might be able to Perceive. “They were going to execute me, so I appealed on their delusions of being Green Bones and demanded my right to a death of consequence,” he spreads his hands. “They’re all dead now and I’m not.”
Rotan looks at Asch again with a less dismissive eye. “All of them?”
“Some of the jadeless ones fled when it became obvious I was going to win,” he says. “But I’m confident I got all the ones who were wearing jade.” Then he realizes that might be a bit too close to boasting and adds modestly, “They were untrained and most were half mad from the Itches.”
Rotan waves off the modesty. “A person mad with the Itches is nothing to be dismissed, even if they are untrained. Get in the car, Gont-jen, I’ll have you give your report to the Torch and the Spear personally.”
Asch isn’t sure which is more thrilling, the knowledge that he’s going to get to meet Kaul Sen and Ayt Yu, or the fact that this man of a much higher status than him just addressed him as a Green Bone.
~~~~
Kaul Hilo regains consciousness trying to get up again. He struggles against the hands and straps holding him down. He needs to get back up. If there’s going to be even a little chance that he’s going to survive this crazy, fucked up plan he needs to get back up. As long as he’s on his feet there’s a chance, as soon as he goes down the Mountain Fists will swarm over him and it will be over. He needs to get back up.
The Mountain Green Bones are all around him, trying to hold him down and talking, talking, talking. They sound far away. Hilo tries to get his eyes open. He needs to be able to see if he’s going to fight. He tries to lash out with Deflection to buy himself some space, but can’t summon the jade energy. His jade is gone. Where is it? How did the Mountain get it off him? He’d tested the tape he’d used to affix it to his arm and it had seemed secure. It should have stayed until Anden grabbed it. What has gone wrong that it hasn’t?
“Hilo-jen,” someone takes his hand and squeezes it, firmly but gently. This confuses him. This isn’t the move of an attacker. The person is still talking but it’s hard to hear him. Everything is far too quiet, like someone turned down the volume on a radio only the radio is the whole world. The voice is vaguely familiar, though. “Hilo-jen, it’s okay. You’re safe. Stop fighting us,” Then to someone else, “Isn’t there anything you can do? He’s obviously in a fuck-ton of pain.”
Hilo finally succeeds in getting his eyes open. The ceiling of the small space they’re in swims before him. It’s so dark. He can barely see. There pretty clearly aren’t any Mountain Green Bones in the area, though, only Tar and some paramedics.
Tar looks down and sees that Hilo’s eyes were open. “Hey, Hilo-jen,” he says, leaning forwards a bit. His voice still sounds so far away. “Do you remember where we are?”
“Tar,” Hilo gets out. “It’s so—” he can’t come up with the right word to get across what he means.
“We’re in an ambulance,” Tar explains, he’s holding Hilo’s hand in both his now and rubbing soothing circles into the back of it. This is a gentleness that most people will probably never see from Tar, but Hilo is intimately familiar with it. “You won the duel, but you’re hurt and in jade withdrawal. We’re going to the hospital. They’ll get you patched up.”
Tar’s words jog his memory somewhat and he begins to be able to piece together what happened to get him here. The last thing he remembers clearly is making a show of loosening the collar of his shirt and showing off the handful of jade studs he’d left in his collarbone to hide the subterfuge he’d been engaged in with the majority of his jade. After that it had been a meaningless blur of bodies and talon knives with only random moments standing out. He remembers trying to use Lightness to leap out of the way, only to be grabbed by his clothes and hauled back down. He remembers getting up again and again and enraging Gont Asch. He vaguely remembers shouting for Andy, of the jolt of pain as his cousin landed on top of him in the brief instant before his jade was ripped away and everything went black.
“Andy,” he gasps. He can’t believe he’d forgotten that part of the plan had happened. “Where’s Andy? What happened to Gont?”
“Gont’s dead,” Tar snorts. “It seems he couldn’t survive a death of consequence where he was supposed to be the one doing the killing. Your cousin’s in another ambulance.”
That wasn’t supposed to happen. If all had gone well, Anden should have been able to take Gont by surprise and end things without much physical danger. “How badly is he hurt?” Hilo gets out. The ambulance goes over a bump and he grunts in pain, fingers closing around Tar’s with in a crushing grip.
“Not sure,” Tar shrugs, proving yet again that Maik Tar is the last person to ask for important information about people he doesn’t care about. “There didn’t seem to be a mark on him, but the paramedics said something about jade overexposure. You should worry about yourself, though. The paramedics talked to Mr. Une. He says you had a seizure when Anden pulled your jade off you. That’s not a normal reaction to a jade crash.”
It isn’t that Hilo doesn’t care about what Tar’s saying but he’s still more focused on Anden. “How could it be jade overexposure?” he asks. “It was just—”
“Your jade?” Tar finishes. “You wear a lot of jade, Hilo-jen, and you’ve said yourself that Anden is more sensitive than usual. Maybe it was just too much.” He shrugs casually. “The paramedics said something about giving him shine once they got him to the hospital. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
Hilo has a million questions but he can’t get his thoughts to line up well enough to figure out how to phrase them. Plus it seems like Tar was barely paying attention to whatever the paramedics told him about Andy. Trying to think about it makes his head hurt worse and his darkened vision swirls alarmingly. Panic spikes and he tries to grip Tar’s hand more tightly for something to hang on to, but he loses consciousness again before he can tell if he’s succeeded.
~~~~
Rotan Teo takes Asch across town to one of the new buildings on Ship Street. The door is guarded by Green Bones from the One Mountain Society who obviously recognize Rotan and let him and Asch by without question. They climb the stairs to the top floor and Rotan lets Asch into a board room and suddenly he’s standing before the two most famous Green Bones on Kekon. Kaul Sen and Ayt Yu are somehow both more human and more distant than he’d expected and that makes them more intimidating.
Rotan Teo must have called someone before going to pick Asch up because they already know something about the situation. They ask for Asch’s report and after he gives it, they grill him about a million details he would never have thought to include.
“You are the only man I’ve ever known to survive a death of consequence,” Ayt Yu says, meditatively, when Asch has filled them in to his satisfaction. “You must be feel very proud.”
Actually, what Asch increasingly feels is faint and queasy from blood loss, but he would never dare say that to the Spear of Kekon. “Of course, Ayt-jen,” he says. “Though I’m sure the outcome would have been different if they’d been real Green Bones.”
“Get all that jade you took off those dogs reset and wear it,” Kaul Sen says. “I know they weren’t real Green Bones, but you won it fairly. Let all the other gangs in the city see you wearing it and fear your wrath and by extension the wrath of the whole One Mountain Society.”
Asch raises his hands in salute. “Of course, Kaul-jen. Thank you.”
After being dismissed by the Torch and the Spear, Asch makes his way to the staircase. He has half a mind to take a cab home, but he doesn’t get that far. Nau Suen finds him sitting halfway down the staircase with his head between his knees.
“You’re bleeding through your bandages,” Nau observes. “Come on, get up. I’ll take you to the hospital. Rotan should have done this himself, but gods know that man’s never been known for noticing such things.”
“I’m fine,” Asch protests, more out of pride than anything else. If the fact that he is unable to make it down the stairs is any indication, he really isn’t okay and probably should go the hospital.
“Gont Asch, since the events of today imply that you’re going to go far in the clan, let me give you some advice,” Nau says completely unconcerned. “I have better Perception than literally every other Green Bone you’ve ever met or are likely to ever meet. Do not lie to me. I can tell.” When Asch can’t think of a response to that Nau’s lips twist into something like a smile and he holds out a hand. “Come on then. My car’s parked outside. Can you walk once you get up or will you need my help?”
~~~~
The next time Hilo wakes up, he does not immediately try to get up. What he does do is go for the bare skin on his chest and collarbone, picking at the places where his jade is supposed to be.
“That’s not going to help,” Shae says.
He pries his eyes open. He’s in a hospital bed at Janloon General Hospital and his sister is sitting in a chair next to it. The light from the bedside lamp hurts his eyes, but overall the room feels too dark, like he’s trying to see through a thick fog.
“Where is my jade?” he asks. There are more important questions to be asking, but the lack of it has filling up his entire mind and he cannot think of anything else.
“In the safe back at the house,” Shae says. “Kehn picked it up along with the jade you and Anden both won. We locked it up for safekeeping. It’s going to be a while until either of you are well enough to wear it, probably.”
He grits his teeth against a growl of frustration before the rest of what she’d said filters into his brain. “How is Andy?” he asks. “In the ambulance, Tar said that…” he trains off and frowns even deeper when the memory of the ambulance refuses to come all the way back. “I don’t remember what Tar said about Andy,” he admits.
He half expects Shae to mock him about that. As little as six months ago she might have like they were still children, but now she just shifts in her chair. “That’s the concussion probably,” she says. Hilo does not remember being hit on the head, but given what he does remember of the duel it’s probably not surprising that it happened at some point.
“Anden’s alive,” Shae goes on, “but unconscious. Wen just went to see if they’ll let her in to sit with him for a while so he’s not alone.”
That is confusing and not just because he has a concussion and is in jade withdrawal. Wen and Anden have obviously met a few times and Wen’s caring is one of the things he loves about her, but he wouldn’t have thought she would be the one to want to sit with Andy in this situation.
“They’re not letting anyone who wears jade near him,” Shae explains and his sudden horror must show on his face because she goes on quickly, “Don’t panic, it’s just a precaution. They don’t think he actually has the Itches, but apparently it’s hard to make a conclusive differential diagnosis when the person isn’t conscious. They’re just being safe until they’re sure. They’re dosing him with SN1 and it’s going to be fine.”
Shine won’t do shit if Anden really does have the Itches but Hilo assumes Shae knows that and if she would rather it be left unsaid. He decides he wants it unsaid too.
Shae shifts a little. “I should probably tell Tar that you’re awake, though,” she says. “Wen wanted to be told as soon as you woke up.”
“What’s going on with the war?” Hilo asks, less because he doesn’t want to see Wen right away and more because if he doesn’t ask now he’s not sure he’ll remember to ask at all. Already he’s getting tired again and he’s obviously on a lot more painkillers than he was in the ambulance. He hopes he’ll at least able to remember what he’s been told this time.
“Gont’s dead, as are a number of his high-ranking Fists,” Shae says. “Unfortunately, the First Fist was not among them, so he’s acting Horn.” Hilo makes a face. That’s a failing on his part. Taking out the First Fist of the Mountain to fuck up that clan’s emergency hierarchy after Andy killed Gont had been one of Hilo’s goals. He can’t remember the duel well enough to recall whether he failed because he couldn’t kill the man when it counted or if Waun Balu hadn’t attacked him at all to avoid the possibility that Hilo might manage to kill someone important before being overcome. He really hopes it’s the latter not the former. “Fortunately, literally everyone knows Gont offered you a death of consequence and that you survived not him—it’s on the fucking news, Hilo, I’m not even sure how that happened—so the Mountain is still in disarray. Kehn’s pushing the advantage before they have the chance to recover. It looks like you’ve succeeded in giving me your military victory, and you’ve survived a death of consequence. Congratulations.”
He blinks tiredly, and tries to get everything she just said to slot into the correct places in his brain. “Thanks.”
“Also, now that you’re awake the doctors are probably going to do an EKG on you,” Shae goes on. “They did one while you were unconscious but want to do another when you’re awake. They’re trying to figure out why you had that seizure. Since you’ve always had a high jade tolerance and didn’t have problems withdrawing when we were at the Academy, they think it’s probably just an unfortunate reaction from the concussion and the suddenness of the crash combined with the fact you don’t normally remove your jade, but they want to be sure.” She glances to the door as if to check it’s closed and that they’re alone and then leans forwards, “Between you and me, I think Dr. Truw is spooked from what happened to Lan. It’s likely going to be a while before he gives the all-clear for you to put your jade back on.”
Hilo sighs. “Great,” he says. “That sounds like a blast.”
The door opens and Tar sticks his head inside. His eyes widen at the sight of Hilo. “I was just about to tell you he was awake,” Shae says. “Wen said she wanted us to let her know.”
“I’ll go get her,” Tar says. “There’s other people from the clan here to stand guard now, Hilo-jen.” He vanishes quickly, thankfully without waiting for Hilo get to his thoughts to line up enough to come up with a response.
Hilo blinks a couple times at the ceiling. His eyes are getting heavy and it’s becoming increasingly hard to think. He wants to tell Shae to turn off the lamp because it’s giving him a headache but he’s afraid that he won’t be able to see at all with it off, so he closes his eyes instead. “Wake me?” he asks. “If I fall asleep before Tar gets back with Wen?”
“You know she won’t mind if you’re tired,” Shae says in a tone he’s too tired and foggy to parse.
“I know,” he says even as he drifts off to sleep. “But wake me anyway.”