After Lan and Hilo leave for the confrontation with the Mountain, Shae stays with Kaul Sen in the quiet family house. Sen seems diminished and resigned, though still powerful, and he questions why Shae lives in Janloon apart from her family. He insists that Lan needs Shae’s help and laments that Shae no longer seems to know who she is.

As Shae waits anxiously for her brothers’ return, Shae reflects on her childhood ambition and rivalry with Hilo at the Academy. Shae had once worked obsessively to outperform Hilo and expected to become Weather Man while Lan became Pillar and Hilo became Horn. Shae recognizes that leaving Kekon and refusing that expected role made Shae the broken part of the family structure, and Shae doubts Hilo has truly forgiven her.

Sen bitterly compares the old war against Shotar to the present, condemning Espenian influence and Green Bones fighting each other. When Lan and Hilo return alive, Shae is overwhelmed with relief. Lan and Hilo take Shae into Lan’s study while excluding both Sen and Doru, signaling a major shift in clan authority and unexpectedly placing Shae inside a family decision.

In the study, Hilo explains that No Peak killed two Mountain men, won the Armpit, and publicly looks triumphant. Privately, however, Hilo and Lan understand that the Mountain came dangerously close to striking at the clan’s leadership, first by ambushing Hilo and then by forcing Lan into a damaging duel. Lan, visibly injured and holding newly won jade, asks Shae what Shae discovered at the Treasury.

Shae reports that Mountain mine production has risen sharply, but official records do not show corresponding increases in foreign sales, legal allocations, or Treasury inventory. The extra jade is disappearing somewhere between the mines and the vault. Hilo immediately suspects Doru of helping Ayt smuggle jade and conceal the discrepancy, while Lan struggles to believe that Doru would betray the Kauls after decades of loyalty.

Shae suggests Doru may be ignorant rather than treacherous, but concludes Doru must be removed either way if Doru’s office allowed the deception. Lan decides to keep the discovery secret for now, orders Shae to document the proof and send it only to Woon, and thanks Shae before dismissing her. Outside the study, Shae feels hurt by being excluded again despite not wanting involvement, and admits that Sen may be right: Shae no longer knows who she is.