The Poppy War, #2
The Dragon Republic
by R. F. Kuang
Contents
Chapter 4
Overview
Rin forces an audience with Pirate Queen Moag, who refuses payment for Yang and instead demands Rin secretly sink the embezzling skimmer Heron in exchange for weapons and a ship. Rin also locates Kitay under Moag’s watch; their fraught reunion exposes Kitay’s trauma and his refusal to aid Rin’s crusade.
The deal binds Rin further to Moag while alienating her from Kitay, sharpening both her dependence on Ankhiluun and the isolation of her revenge mission.
Summary
Rin and the remaining Cike navigate Ankhiluun, where Rin, shaky from minimal opium, resents the city’s instability and its tempting abundance of drugs. To reach Pirate Queen Moag, they board the Black Orchid. When a new Lily blocks them, Rin violently threatens Sarana until Sarana relents and escorts Rin, blindfolded, to Moag’s hidden office.
Facing Moag, Rin demands payment for Yang’s assassination, but Moag dismisses any obligation and notes Rin’s rising bounty. Moag questions Rin’s fixation on killing Daji, then offers a compromise: sink the opium skimmer Heron for embezzlement, and Moag will provide weapons and let Rin keep a skimmer. Rin, lacking leverage and hating naval fights, accepts.
Rin also extracts Kitay’s location from Moag. She travels to the abandoned foreign district and finds Kitay under loose guard, surrounded by ledgers he is reorganizing for Moag’s criminal “tax” system. Their reunion quickly sour as Kitay condemns Moag and rejects Rin’s accusations against the Empress.
The argument escalates: Rin appeals to Golyn Niis and demands outrage; Kitay clings to Sinegard’s loyalty and refuses to help her vendetta. In a traumatized experiment, Kitay forcibly burns Rin’s hand to feel what her victims felt, accidentally flaring a small fire before smothering it.
Shaken and in pain, Rin hears Kitay’s confession of obsession with understanding the final moments of those burned. She coldly describes death by fire as suffocation, underscoring the gulf between them as she leaves bound to Moag’s task and further isolated.
Who Appears
- Fang Runin (Rin)Protagonist; opium-dependent, bullies past Lilies to reach Moag, accepts mission to sink the Heron, and clashes painfully with Kitay.
- Chiang MoagPirate Queen; refuses payment, manipulates Rin into a new job—sinking the embezzling Heron—in exchange for arms and a ship.
- SaranaSenior Black Lily; taunts Rin, is physically threatened, then escorts her to Moag and oversees tense negotiations.
- KitayUnder house arrest; auditing Moag’s ledgers, rejects Rin’s anti-Empress claims, and, traumatized, burns her hand seeking victims’ perspective.
- RamsaCike demolitions expert; guides the team through Ankhiluun and provides commentary on the city’s instability.
- BajiCike member; supports Rin en route to the Black Orchid and banters with the Lilies.
- SuniCike fighter; present with the group in Ankhiluun though uninvolved in negotiations.