The Councilors and members of the Council were hardly kindly souls. The moment the Drathir Family showed any sign of trouble, great families such as Dawnstar and Morningwalker would surely do everything possible to obstruct them and pocket the Drathir Family's entire share. Dar'Khan could do nothing about this; he could only preserve as much of his strength as possible before his enemies made their move, with an eye toward future development.
Mercy had never had a place in the Council's internal struggles. Merely refraining from kicking someone when they were down already counted as uncommon benevolence. Most of the time, they would join forces to suppress a Council member who had suffered a setback. Even the Sunwing Family, to which the Drathir Family owed allegiance, had begun entertaining such thoughts. The other families would surely use even more ruthless methods, leaving Dar'Khan no chance at all.
One needed only to consider the Cabrolon family to understand this. As Patrick Cabrolon rose to a high position, the existing Councilors felt a profound sense of crisis. They tried everything to bring Patrick aboard their own ship, then slowly assimilate him into a force serving their own families. Who could have known that Patrick would simply ignore those Councilors and instead take the initiative to move his family's businesses elsewhere?
At the time, the Councilors congratulated one another, believing Patrick had backed down and chosen to move out of Silvermoon City because he knew his own forces were nowhere near strong enough to contend with the Council. What they had not expected was that Patrick would thrive at the Sun Temple and even build a floating city. Yet the Councilors could hardly ask Patrick for the principles behind its design, and after all the "good deeds" they had done in secret, he