Larsen was on one of his tiresome trips to meet with Orion, the Guildmaster Craft. Larsen never could understand how Orion got named Guildmaster. The man was as dumb as the wood his guild carved. Of course, Orion's stupidity, while annoying, also provided Larsen with opportunities to enrich his guild at the expense of the Craftsmen.

To make matters even better, as the two most important guilds in Ness—one that handled the goods, and the other that handled commerce—Larsen did a lot of business with Orion, providing Larsen with plenty of opportunities to cheat his fellow guildmaster. He expected this visit to be no different.

The current visit was to discuss how thieves had stolen a large shipment of expensive armor from a shop in the Upper Triangle. The agreement between the guilds was that the cost of theft came from the Merchant Guild once the goods were physically inside a Merchant shop. If the goods were en route the cost would be borne by the Craft guild. Larsen was going to convince Orion that the Craft Guild should assume the cost of the loss, even though it occurred within a Merchant shop.

Orion was all smiles as he met Larsen in his study at the top of Craft Tower. It stood not far from Merchant Tower, with brick-lined Merchant Avenue stretching between the two. Larsen found the short trip intolerable, reminding him as it did of the Founders Day parade that ran the same route—the parade that ushered in his brother as the Guildmaster Thief.

"Larsen, what a pleasant surprise," Orion said, walking over and shaking Larsen's hand.

"I apologize for the suddenness, Orion, but I wanted to address an important issue with you before it became a bigger problem."

Orion's brow furrowed. "Problem? You know how much I hate problems, Larsen." Orion slapped Larsen on the shoulder. "I count on you to take care of problems!"

"Ah, then you will be glad of my visit." Larsen smiled. "We had a burglary."

Orion frowned and spat out "Thieves!" through gritted teeth. "There must be a way to destroy them, Larsen! Why have you and Saxe not taken up my recommendation to burn the Wretched Quarter to the ground?"

Larsen sighed. "We both have guild members who live in the Wretched Quarter, Orion. Who do you think scrapes the manure from the stables or cleans our toilets and wash houses? Yes, the thieves live there, but they are a small number. We will eventually root them out."

"And how many times have you sent men into the Wretched Quarter?" Larsen stared at Orion. He was normally not this aggressive over anything, although Larsen did know of his hatred of thieves.

"It is dangerous, Orion. You know that. There are thousands that live there, and without heavy forces, we need to take care. It will be easy for any force to be overrun or to hurt innocents."

"Innocents? They eat from the Ash Fields, Larsen. Death would be a mercy." Larsen was about to reply, but Orion held up his hand. "Don't bother. I know what you'll say. They are guild members. Citizens of Ness. Fine. So I ask you: Do we just let the thieves win?" The disgust in Orion's voice was clear.

Larsen looked around. "May we sit down?"

"Oh, of course," Orion replied, walking Larsen over to a small table on the side of the room. It was framed by two chairs. Orion sat in one and poured water into two glasses. Larsen sat down, and Orion added, "Don't use this as an opportunity to change the subject. I still want to know what you are going to do to address the thief problem."

"We won't let them win, Orion. It just takes organization and time. We are making progress." Orion nodded, but looked unconvinced. Larsen decided to move the conversation to the reason for his visit. "In fact, my guards are close to arresting the thieves who burglarized a shop in the Upper Triangle."

"The Upper Triangle you say?" Orion put his glass down. "What are we to do when even the Upper Triangle isn't safe from thieves, Larsen?"

"Well, as I said, we are close to arresting them." Larsen quickly added, "This was an aberration." Orion's hatred for thieves had disrupted Larsen's plan. He once again tried to get it back on track. "With that in mind, I am here to ask if your guild would compensate the shop owner."

Orion was mid-drink but stopped and stared at Larsen. Slowly lowering the glass, Orion replied, "I'm afraid that the responsibility is yours, Larsen. I would love to help, but my guild's interest ended the moment the goods passed through the front door."

Larsen cursed under his breath. As stupid as Orion was, even he knew this most basic of guild rules. "Ah, that is true, but this was a particularly expensive shipment of custom armor. As your guild is much wealthier than mine, I thought you could—just this instance, mind you—assume the responsibility." Larsen bowed his head. "Consider it a debt between us that I will repay later."

Larsen hoped that appealing to Orion's vanity would get him to agree to the terms. The truth was that the shipment was very expensive—five suits of custom armor with matching swords—and with all of the operations to unite Ness under his leadership currently in the field, the guild's coffers were in tenuous shape. Bribes weren't cheap.

Staring at his feet, it looked like Orion was actually considering paying the money. Larsen couldn't believe how simple-minded Orion was if making him feel important was all it took to have him accept Larsen's request. Looking up, Orion had a glint in his eye. "I'll absorb the cost, but I need you to do a favor for my nephew."

This surprised Larsen—Orion had never really asked for anything before. Larsen had made nebulous promises about the combined power of their guilds and future riches, but he hadn't actually heard Orion question them or ask for anything practical or specific.

Until now.

"Sure, Orion. Anything for a guildmaster of your eminence that is doing me a favor."

Smiling, Orion replied, "I would like you to make my nephew your Deputy."

Larsen almost spat out his water. No one made such brazen requests of him. Sure, everyone wanted special jobs and favors in return for helping the guild, but everyone feared Larsen so much that they knew where to draw the line. Orion had just leaped over it.

"I'm sorry, are you saying that you would like your nephew to replace Deputy Karch?" Larsen still couldn't quite believe it. That the request was coming from Orion, who appeared to barely have any interest in his own guild, let alone Larsen's, made it all the more shocking.

Orion frowned. "Yes. Find some other job for Karch." Larsen took a breath. Orion was not just stupid, he was naive, as well. He was so oblivious of guild politics that he felt no qualm about making this absurd request.

"I'm afraid that is impossible, Orion. Karch's duties took him years to master and understand. Also, what would it look like to the guild members if I promoted someone without any merit or experience?"

Orion stared at Larsen, and Larsen had the unnerving thought that Orion actually knew exactly what he was doing and that he was measuring Larsen's resolve, but the thought was replaced by relief as Orion smiled. "Well, goodness, Larsen. I didn't know all that!" Orion scratched his chin. "How about you invent some job for him then? Make him Karch's assistant." Orion's eyes lit up. "Yes, do that! Make him your Assistant Deputy! He could learn from Karch. I always liked Karch."

Larsen had to forcefully stop himself from rolling his eyes. First of all, no one liked Karch. Secondly, the whole idea of an assistant deputy was absurd. Karch already had an apprentice deputy who helped him, and Karch himself would hate the idea to such a degree that he would cause political problems for Larsen by abusing Orion's nephew. Larsen had to contain this nephew of Orion's himself.

"I have a better idea," Larsen replied.

"Oh? What might that be?"

"Why don't I take your nephew on as my apprentice. We could call him the Apprentice Guildmaster." As soon as he said it, Larsen regretted it. He had no problem giving Orion's nephew minor jobs to do and a salary, but the title? What was I thinking, Larsen thought to himself.

"Wonderful! I love the idea. I will have him report to your guild on the morrow." Orion went to refill Larsen's glass, but Larsen held up his hand.

"I should be going. Our guilds don't run themselves." Larsen pushed his chair back and stood up.

"Indeed. Have your shopkeeper send me the bill of goods, and I'll take care of it." Orion stood up and started walking to the door of his study, Larsen next to him. "And don't think I've forgotten about the thieves, Larsen. This has only made me more resolute. We must do something about them."

Larsen muttered a vague promise and said goodbye. With each step down the stairs to his coach, his mood lightened. He had avoided the financial loss from the armor theft, and all it cost him was babysitting Orion's nephew. He'd give the boy the Apprentice Guildmaster title, but what did it mean, really? Nothing.