It took all of Karch's willpower not to rush off the dais and command the Merchant Guild guards to hunt down Ralan and toss him in the dungeons, but Larsen snapped at him to stand still and be quiet when Karch brought up the idea. So he clenched and unclenched his fists behind his back as he stood at attention, staring at the back of Larsen's head, the banquet progressing with awkward silences between courses and the various votes on lesser guild business.

Karch knew that Larsen could barely restrain his fury. Polo, the old Guildmaster Harvest, took every opportunity to mock the result of the vote, commenting at one point after agreeing to a vote on a minor issue, "We don't need the wisdom of the Guildmaster Thief to do the right thing here!" While Polo laughed, Larsen was punching his own leg under the table. Karch just gritted his teeth.

Halfway through the meal, he couldn't wait any longer. He leaned forward and whispered into Larsen's ear. "Sir, don't you think we should grab your brother before he can cause any more mischief?"

Larsen turned, a scowl on his face. "And what, pray tell, would that mischief entail, Karch? He's already ruined the plan I had been working on for over a year." Larsen's eyes narrowed, "Or should I say you have ruined the plan I had been working on for over a year, as this was your idea."

Karch considered his words before he spoke them. He had to be careful. Larsen was obviously still livid and not thinking straight. That he was blaming Karch for the failure was obviously wrong, but perhaps not surprising. As ruthless as Larsen could be, perhaps he still had a soft spot and couldn't blame his brother. "Sir, I don't know what you are implying, but how could we predict this outcome?"

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"That we could not predict this is entirely the problem, Karch," Larsen hissed. "Now shut up and take your position."

It was hard to parse Larsen's intentions, Karch thought, as he stepped back and stood straight. On the one hand, he was expressing nothing but anger and resignation, but Karch knew him well enough to consider that if there was some alternative solution, Larsen would jump at it.

The dinner progressed and Karch thought over their options. They could hold another vote. While the tradition was to hold the votes at the Founder's Day Banquet, the Council could vote at any time. With Polo and Saxe, they had the support to call a special vote. All they needed was to get rid of Ralan.

Ralan. Karch's brilliant solution to two of their problems turned out to be the biggest problem of all. But he could fix things. There were ways to change someone's mind, and Karch was quite effective at many of them. And if he couldn't change that someone's mind, he could remove them.

He looked down at Larsen. He was unimaginative, a trait that stopped him from solving the thicket of complications in consolidating his power. He had Karch for that, and he had done so, efficiently and well. So why should this be any different? Yes, Karch thought, he would solve the problem. One way or another.

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