Lan considers the structure of his personal staff and the future of No Peak leadership. Because Lan wants to retire Yun Doru and appoint a Weather Man he trusts, Lan begins testing Woon Papidonwa, his loyal Pillarman and longtime Academy friend, as a possible replacement despite doubts about Woon’s political cleverness.

Lan takes Woon to Wisdom Hall to meet Chancellor Son Tomarho, the highest-ranking No Peak-affiliated politician in the Royal Council. On the way in, Lan reflects on the Warrior’s Memorial, Kekon’s history of resistance against Shotarian rule, and the way Green Bones have moved from outlaw freedom fighters to an openly powerful class tied to government and business.

The chapter shifts into Lan’s childhood memory of his father, Kaul Du, during the war. Kaul Du explains the saying gold and jade, never together: rulers should not wear jade, and jade warriors should not govern, because combining political power with jade risks corruption and catastrophe. Kaul Du also tells Lan that after the war, Lan will have to become a different kind of Green Bone than his father.

Back in the present, Lan asks Chancellor Son to pass a law preventing any single clan from gaining majority control of the Kekon Jade Alliance. Lan frames the measure as a national safeguard against the Mountain consolidating jade power through conquest or intermediaries. Son questions whether Lan is acting for No Peak rather than the country, but Lan argues that the law would apply equally to all clans and protect Kekon’s central resource.

Son agrees in principle but signals that passing the law will require political support and a price. Son asks for a visible public-interest concession from No Peak, especially help for port-related business interests hurt by a dockworkers’ strike. Lan refuses to override Hilo’s earlier decision not to intimidate No Peak workers, but allows Woon to propose a clan-enforced tariff on imported foreign textiles, which would aid Son’s family business while benefiting the clan.

The bargain is effectively made: Son will work to support Lan’s proposed KJA law, and No Peak will provide the tariff concession. Lan is pleased that Woon handled the negotiation well. As Lan leaves, Son asks after Kaul Sen, probing whether Lan truly has final authority in No Peak; Lan answers carefully that Sen is retired but still well.