Katarina sat alone in the study the morning after Samara's report and went over the whole board again in her head.
Going over the pieces wouldn't change things too much, especially with the kind of memory she had, but it was helpful to... sort things out into different, neat little boxes.
So, taking a deep breath and expanding her scope, she started at the top and worked down.
Drava sat at the top. Her empire came down to one single thing: everyone agreed that a Drava seal was good. A merchant took Drava's paper because the next merchant would take it too, no questions, forever. That agreement was the floor under everything. It was also the whole weakness. An agreement is only worth something as long as nobody questions it.
[So you make a standard they can't pass.]
Then it hit her, and she almost laughed out loud in the empty study.
She'd already done it.
