The Green Bone Saga, #1
Jade City
by Fonda Lee
Contents
CHAPTER 8: Boat Day Encounter
Overview
On Boat Day, Anden accidentally wanders into Mountain territory and is attacked by Wie Lon School students for wearing Kaul Academy colors and for his mixed heritage. The fight brings him face-to-face with Gont Aschentu, the Mountain’s Horn, who recognizes Anden’s value as both a gifted student and a Kaul family adoptee.
Gont turns the chance encounter into an opportunity to unsettle Anden’s loyalty, invoking the Aun family’s divided past and hinting that Anden’s future need not belong to No Peak. The chapter raises the stakes around Anden’s identity, vulnerability, and political usefulness as clan tensions sharpen.
Summary
Boat Day opens Kekon’s typhoon season with public destruction meant to appease the storm god Yofo. Anden goes to the Janloon waterfront with Ton, Lott, Heike, and Dudo, where the Academy students take advantage of the holiday by eating, drinking, and wandering among the crowds before the harbor spectacle.
After too much soda and hoji, Anden leaves the group alone to find a restroom. In his urgency, Anden crosses from the Docks into Summer Park, a Mountain district, while wearing Kaul Dushuron Academy colors. Outside the Hot Hut, three Wie Lon School teenagers confront Anden, mock his mixed blood, and demand that he surrender his shirt and insult his school.
Anden understands that as an unjaded student he is vulnerable to rival schoolboys who are not bound by Green Bone restrictions, but running would shame his school and Hilo. Anden attacks first and fights well, quickly dropping one opponent and using the attackers against each other, but the larger boy and the leader bring Anden down and begin beating him.
The fight is interrupted by Gam, a Mountain Green Bone, and then by Gont Aschentu, the Horn of the Mountain. Gont rebukes the Wie Lon students for causing a public scene, recognizes Anden as Aun Uremayada’s son and a Kaul adoptee, and becomes especially interested in Anden’s connection to Hilo. Gont insists on speaking with Anden and orders Gam to bring the car, leaving Anden too intimidated to refuse.
Inside Gont’s car, Anden is driven through Mountain territory and reflects uneasily on Gont’s fearsome reputation, particularly the scars from his legendary “death of consequence.” Gont speaks calmly about knowing Anden’s grandfather and mother, emphasizing the divided loyalties of the Aun family and suggesting that Anden might have belonged to the Mountain if his mother had lived.
Gont then presses the idea that Anden’s debt to Kaul Sen should not bind him to becoming Hilo’s underling, revealing disdain for the No Peak Horn. When Anden asks where he is being taken, Gont answers that they are going “to the top of the Mountain,” turning the accidental encounter into a serious political threat and possible recruitment attempt.
Who Appears
- Anden EmeryNo Peak Academy student; accidentally enters Mountain territory, fights attackers, and faces Gont’s pressure.
- Gont AschentuHorn of the Mountain; rescues, intimidates, and politically probes Anden’s loyalties.
- GamMountain Fist; stops the street fight and assists Gont during Anden’s encounter.
- TonAnden’s classmate; joins the Boat Day outing but is absent during the confrontation.
- Lott JinAnden’s classmate; draws Anden’s attention during the waterfront outing.
- HeikeAnden’s classmate; argues about relayball during the Boat Day festivities.
- DudoAnden’s classmate; becomes sick from holiday overindulgence at the waterfront.
- Wie Lon School leaderRival student who insults Anden, demands his shirt, and attacks him.
- Aun UremayadaAnden’s deceased mother; invoked by Gont to question Anden’s expected clan loyalty.
- Kaul HiloNo Peak Horn; absent but central to Gont’s interest in Anden.