Shae arrives early at the Deitist temple for a private meeting with Ayt Mada. Now that Shae wears jade again, the sanctum feels charged with powerful spiritual energy, especially from the silent penitents. Shae prays briefly for Lan, but cuts her mourning short because she must stay alert for a dangerous enemy.

Ayt joins Shae without observing religious custom and immediately says she did not order Kaul Lan's death. Shae challenges her with the evidence from Lan's ambush, but Ayt explains that although Mountain men caused Lan's death, Ayt's intended target was Hilo. Ayt had meant to frighten Lan into avoiding war by killing his Horn; instead, the plan went wrong and helped ignite the conflict.

Ayt argues that the war and No Peak's public audit of the Kekon Jade Alliance are damaging all Green Bones by inviting political, press, and foreign scrutiny. Shae accuses the Mountain of breaking KJA rules with Doru's help. Ayt does not deny her larger goal: she believes one united clan is necessary to protect Kekon from foreign powers that covet jade.

Ayt reveals the Mountain has been selling stolen jade to Ygutan through a secret contract while also producing cheap SN1 shine for foreign use. Ayt frames the scheme as a way to crush smuggling, profit from both sides of an approaching international conflict, and give Kekon leverage over jade-dependent foreign governments. Shae recognizes the plan as visionary but dangerous: a future in which the Mountain controls a global jade-and-shine empire.

Ayt then tries to recruit Shae by appealing to Shae's ambition, outsider status, and frustration with Hilo. Ayt offers to make Shae Weather Man of a united clan if Shae helps arrange Hilo's honorable-looking death in battle. Shae understands the proposal as another assassination plot, but refuses, saying she will not betray one dead brother's memory or sell another brother's life for power.

Ayt responds with controlled menace, revealing that her own rise required killing her father's comrades after Ayt Yugontin failed to name her heir. Ayt warns Shae that Hilo's jade will be torn from his body and No Peak will be destroyed, and says Shae will remember that she could have prevented it. After Ayt leaves, Shae breaks down under the strain and silently prays for help for her clan, Green Bones, and Kekon.