Chapter 28: Make Your Choice

Anden, summoned by Shae, finds her supporting a critically wounded Ayt Mada outside the Temple of Divine Return. Despite revulsion and shock, Anden helps conceal Ayt in his car and brings her to his Old Town apartment, where he begins lifesaving treatment while Shae argues that Kekon cannot bear Mountain clan collapse now.

Anden stabilizes Ayt with Channeling, cleaning and suturing a stab wound and planning IV fluids and antibiotics from his clinic. News reports identify CFM leaders Guriho and Otonyo dead after a dockside shootout, note citywide unrest, and broadcast a swift Mountain statement from Ayt Ato asserting leadership. Shae departs to check on family and avoid exposing Ayt’s location to No Peak perception.

After Anden returns with supplies and starts an IV, footage shows Juen coordinating desperate rescue efforts at the KJA ruins. Shae later arrives with the retired Mountain Horn, Nau Suen. Ayt confirms Ven Sando’s daughter stabbed her amid the KJA catastrophe. Nau lifts Ayt to take her home; Anden insists on wound care and antibiotics.

A sudden call and broadcast announce Hilo and Sealgiver Tar are alive. The revelation transforms the stakes: with No Peak’s Pillar surviving, killing a helpless Ayt would decisively hobble the Mountain. Nau, prepared to die defending his Pillar, faces Anden in a taut standoff.

Torn between his oath not to kill with jade and the chance to end the feud, Anden chooses not to strike. He opens the door and lets Nau escort Ayt away. Afterward, Anden and Shae, uncertain of the consequences, question whether they chose correctly.