Lan is meeting with Doru and two Lantern Men when Doru’s secretary interrupts with an urgent phone call. The caller, a Mountain clan man whom Lan suspects is Gont Asch, says the Mountain has Anden after encountering him at Boat Day. The caller insists no rules have been broken, promises Anden will be released near the Temple District traffic roundabout in three hours, and warns Lan to keep Hilo from overreacting.

Lan records the time and immediately tries to reach Hilo, but cannot find him at home, the main Kaul house, Maik Wen’s apartment, or through the Maik brothers. Because Hilo’s people are likely patrolling the waterfront for Boat Day, Lan calls the Twice Lucky and orders Juen Nu to discreetly spread the message that Hilo must call him at once.

Returning to the meeting, Lan is too worried to focus. He thinks of Anden as family and feels responsible for protecting him. Doru senses Lan’s agitation, ends the meeting quickly, and hears Lan’s explanation. Doru argues that the Mountain probably did not plan the abduction and likely wants only to prevent Hilo from reacting violently.

Lan is not reassured. He remembers how the Mountain provoked the smaller Three Run clan into violence and then destroyed and annexed it. Lan begins to suspect that taking Anden may be a similar tactic: technically skirting aisho while baiting No Peak into giving the Mountain a justification for retaliation.

Hilo finally calls from a phone booth outside Gont’s nephew’s apartment building in Little Hammer, where he has surrounded the place with twenty men. Furious over Anden’s abduction, Hilo has not yet attacked. Lan tells Hilo that Gont called, that Anden is supposed to be released soon, and that No Peak cannot give the Mountain an excuse to break aisho. Hilo snaps that he knows and hangs up.

Doru is relieved that Hilo has not started a war and praises Lan’s restraint, but Lan finds Doru’s tone detached. Lan trusts Hilo’s concern for Anden more than Doru’s political coolness, even though Hilo is volatile. Rather than go to the Temple District, Lan cancels the rest of his meetings and waits in his office in case the Mountain contacts him again.