On New Year’s Eve morning, Janloon’s usual celebrations are subdued because the clan war has left the city fearful and divided. Shae and Hilo sit exhausted in the Kaul courtyard after talking through the night. Shae expects that if Hilo’s coming gamble fails, Shae may briefly become Pillar only to arrange Hilo’s burial, protect the family, manage surrender, and face her own honorable death.

Hilo thanks Shae for giving Wen a new official job with the Weather Man’s office, which covers Wen’s travel and supports the secret jade-smuggling arrangement. Hilo also acknowledges that Shae’s Espenian connections have given No Peak the money it needs, though the clan still needs a military victory. Shae knows Hilo’s plan is dangerous, but she has no better alternative and accepts that No Peak may have no choice.

Hilo reveals that he guessed Ayt Mada had contacted Shae and tried to persuade Shae to betray Hilo. Shae is startled and asks whether Hilo has been spying on her, but Hilo says Caun Yu is dead, killed when Gont’s men took the Twice Lucky. Hilo says he never worried because, if Shae truly chose to betray him, no precaution could matter; he would rather trust his own sister.

Shae and Hilo walk through the Kaul garden, sharing an unusually peaceful silence. Hilo suggests that if Shae handled matters carefully, Ayt might spare Shae with exile, but Shae rejects that possibility. Shae reflects that she has given up the chance of another life and has chosen family, country, and aisho, even if that choice leads to death.

Shae then asks Hilo about Ayt’s claim that Ayt did not order Lan’s death and that no Mountain Green Bone claimed responsibility. When Shae asks where Lan’s jade is, Hilo says he buried Lan with it. Shae realizes that no Green Bone enemy would have left jade behind and concludes, in anguish, that Lan’s death was not the clean enemy killing she had believed.

Hilo angrily insists the Mountain still caused Lan’s death. Hilo says there were machine guns, a dead teenager, and another attacker who escaped; Hilo also reveals that Lan had been weakened by the Factory duel with Gam, was carrying too much jade, and had too much shine in his blood despite hating the drug. Shae accuses Hilo of misleading her before the attack on Poor Man’s Road, but Hilo denies it and maintains that the Mountain broke Lan down and that Green Bones are never innocent of death.