The conversation that followed Elena's display of legal authority fundamentally changed the dynamics of Dust's reform efforts. Marcus Garrett wasn't just interested in their approach—he was eager to explore how his organization might transition from criminal enterprises to legitimate businesses.
"The problem I've always faced," Garrett explained over dinner that evening, "is that going legitimate meant giving up competitive advantages to people who weren't constrained by laws or ethics. Your approach suggests ways to compete legitimately without surrendering market position."
"It's more complex than simply changing business models," Elena warned. "Legitimate business requires regulatory compliance, tax obligations, and transparency that criminal enterprises avoid. Those aren't just restrictions—they're costs that have to be factored into profitability calculations."
"But they're also protections," Dust added. "Legal businesses can seek redress through courts, obtain insurance, form partnerships with other legitimate enterprises, and plan for long-term growth without worrying about law enforcement disruption."
Garrett listened carefully as they outlined the framework they'd developed for creating legitimate alternatives to criminal services. Security companies instead of protection rackets, licensed lending instead of loan sharking, commercial arbitration instead of underground justice.
"The transition would take time," Garrett said thoughtfully. "Years, probably. And it would require significant upfront investment in licensing, training, legal compliance—all costs that don't generate immediate returns."
"Which is why we're proposing partnership rather than competition," Elena said. "Your organization has market knowledge, established relationships, and operational capabilities. We have legal expertise, regulatory access, and capital resources. Together, we can create something neither of us could build alone."
The proposition they developed over the following days was audacious in its scope. Instead of trying to reform Lower Ashmark's existing institutions, they would create parallel systems that provided better services through legitimate means. Garrett's organization would gradually transition from criminal enterprises to legal businesses, while the Brightwater Institute would provide the resources and expertise needed to navigate regulatory requirements.
"It's not amnesty," Elena made clear during one of their planning sessions. "We can't erase past criminal activities or guarantee immunity from prosecution. But we can create pathways for people to build legitimate futures without being forever trapped by their histories."
"Fair enough," Garrett replied. "Most of my people would jump at the chance to go straight if they thought it was actually possible. The problem has always been that legitimate work doesn't pay enough to support families when you're competing against people who don't follow the rules."
The first practical test of their partnership came when one of Garrett's lieutenants, a man named Carlos who'd been running an illegal gambling operation, asked for help transitioning to legitimate entertainment business.
"I know how to provide what people want," Carlos explained during a meeting at their temporary headquarters. "Games, drinks, company, a place to relax after a hard day's work. But every time I try to get proper licenses, I run into officials who want bribes I can't afford or regulations that make no sense."
Elena spent a week helping Carlos navigate the licensing process using her legal connections and royal charter authorities. The result was Lower Ashmark's first legitimate entertainment establishment in years—a gaming house that operated under proper licenses, paid appropriate taxes, and provided safe, honest recreation for working people.
"The profit margins are smaller than what I made illegally," Carlos admitted after his first month of operation. "But the money's mine to keep, I don't have to worry about raids or rival gangs, and I can actually plan for the future instead of just surviving day to day."
The success of Carlos's gaming house created a demonstration effect that attracted attention from other members of Garrett's organization. Within weeks, they had applications for help with transitioning loan sharking operations into licensed lending, protection rackets into security services, and smuggling networks into legitimate transportation businesses.
But their growing success also attracted opposition from sources they hadn't fully anticipated.
"We have a problem," Vincent told Dust during an urgent meeting one evening. "Some of the city officials are getting nervous about our reform efforts. They're starting to see legitimate businesses as a threat to the corruption they profit from."
The opposition took the form of increased harassment of businesses associated with their reform efforts. "Surprise" inspections that disrupted operations, new regulatory requirements that seemed designed to create compliance problems, and what appeared to be coordinated efforts to drive their clients out of business.
"They're trying to prove that legitimate business can't succeed in Lower Ashmark," Elena observed after reviewing reports of the harassment. "If they can destroy our early successes, they can maintain the argument that corruption is the only practical way to operate."
Dust found himself facing the same kind of systematic resistance that had defeated previous reform efforts. But his Academy training provided him with analytical frameworks for understanding the opposition's strategy and developing countermeasures.
"The key insight," he explained to Elena and Garrett during a strategy session, "is that we're not just competing with criminal enterprises—we're threatening an entire ecosystem that benefits from chaos and dysfunction. Officials who profit from selling exemptions, criminals who exploit the lack of legitimate alternatives, and legitimate businessmen who've learned to profit from the corrupt system."
"So what do we do?" Garrett asked.
"We expand faster than they can react," Dust replied. "Every legitimate business we establish makes it harder for them to maintain the fiction that corruption is necessary. But we need to reach a critical mass where legitimate business becomes self-sustaining before they can organize effective opposition."
The solution required resources beyond what Elena's family connections could provide alone. But the Brightwater Institute had been designed for exactly this kind of challenge—systematic reform that required coordinated action across multiple fronts.
Elena's next letter to her partners brought a response that exceeded their most optimistic expectations. Not only were additional resources available, but the Institute had identified Lower Ashmark as a test case for reform methodologies that could be applied throughout the kingdom.
"You're not just trying to fix one corrupt city," Elena told Dust when the response arrived. "You're developing models for addressing systematic corruption wherever it exists. The stakes are higher than we realized, but so is the potential impact."
The expanded resources allowed them to accelerate their timeline significantly. Instead of transitioning Garrett's organization gradually over years, they could now move quickly enough to stay ahead of organized opposition. Security companies, lending cooperatives, arbitration services, and legitimate entertainment businesses opened throughout Lower Ashmark within weeks of each other.
"It's working," Sarah Millwright told Dust when he visited her neighborhood to assess their progress. "People are starting to believe that things can actually get better. That's something I never thought I'd see."
But their success also brought new challenges. As legitimate businesses began to prosper, they attracted attention from outside Lower Ashmark—both positive interest from investors and reformers, and negative attention from criminal organizations that saw their expansion as a threat to their own operations.
"We're approaching a critical decision point," Dust wrote to Master Blackthorne in his monthly report. "Our reform efforts are succeeding beyond initial expectations, but success is creating complications we didn't anticipate. We need to decide whether to consolidate our gains in Lower Ashmark or expand to address the broader systematic problems that our success is revealing."
The answer came sooner than expected, in the form of a visit from Master Blackthorne himself.