Mark looked at the two young dragons. They were completely exhausted and yet so peaceful. Like a real family. He wasn't the only one looking, both the dragon-queen and Merlin, he wondered if he was THAT Merlin, were watching Morgan and Rhiannon. Clearly worried.

'We should just take them home to recover properly before being presented to those scavengers.' Miriam scoffed as she put a blanket over the now sleeping couple.

'Even though I perfectly agree with you out of my emotional perspective, as a strategist I have to tell you that that would be unwise. Their tired looks are helping us to reach the goal they wanted to achieve. To save the other young one here. Ethan. It would be detrimental to our negotiation position not to show the council our vulnerability. You know the leeches are painting us as emotionless juggernauts who would never help others if it does not help ourselves.' Merlin sighed and looked dead-tired as he ran his hand over his eyes. His worried gaze never left his protegees, though. 'You know sometimes you just have to be strong and fight your very instinct to protect those you love...' he added in a low voice, that told Mark, that this man had already failed in his objective to protect, at least once.

'I know. I guess you are right. It's just my dragon-blood screams to take them home. Not to show any weaknesses, but I guess sometimes hiding your weaknesses just hollows your position instead of strengthening it. I will follow your lead, but maybe just showing them and asking them only a few questions is enough this time. Leaving the real ordeal for later when they've got the strength to stand it.' the dragon-queen argued, looking at her counsellor.

' That is something that arrogant feather-brain will never understand. He is much too rigid in his political decisions. No flexibility. I just hope his fall won't make all of us suffer. No offence, young-one, your father-in-law was once a student of mine. Couldn't get this one-track-mind more flexible, I tried everything.' he nodded into Mark's direction clearly showing they were aware of his presence. Which he had started to doubt, whilst hearing those clearly unofficial statements. But it seemed they simply didn't mind his presence. But even though, by addressing him right now, they made him feel trustworthy not inconsequential. 'None taken.' Mark answered and Merlin nodded before turning to Miriam again.

'Your idea of cutting the meeting short is a good strategy and underlines the statement we intend to send. WE DO CARE. And it saves us all including our exhausted young-ones from being forced into pointless debates. We can actually argue that we have to take Ethan home to ensure his safety in this very sensitive moment of transformation, which is actually true, since none of us really wants to be witness when his bones reform. Not even those morbid desert-cats.' Merlin added seemingly convinced by his own scheming.

'Couldn't be truer. I actually see it as blasphemous that there will be witnesses to his first stages of change. The whole process is a very private moment, luckily he is unconscious right now.' Miriam stated and shot a gaze at Ethan, who did not look as pale as before. Not the pale dead-warmed-up-look that had given Mark the creeps any more. He could actually see the changes happening. Blood-red scales had appeared around the needle forming a line along his veins towards his heart. Just like the line he had seen when his father got a blood-poisoning from being stung by some insect. It seemed the transformation travelled the same routes as an infection would, inducing mutations instead of inflammations. It was rather fascinating in a morbid way.

A few moments later three portals opened at the same time. The council-members had arrived.

Mark immediately recognized and greeted Jordan and John who on the other hand ignored him to greet the others. Even after greeting them, they did not show any sign of recognizing their clan-member in presence. It gave Mark another reason to envy Rhiannon, who seemed to get the lucky straw with her clan. He was happy for her, though.

He had seen pictures of all clan-heads and their close family at the Familia-unit, so he recognized the other representatives, too.

The vampires' delegation consisted of Lorenzo Tepez, the reigning vampire-king and his daughter Ann-Sophie. Both pale and beautiful with dark hair and eyes, which contained a tinge of ruby. They greeted everyone present including Mark and the now awake Morgan and Rhiannon in a very polite manner, before standing there in an awfully silent way, that gave Mark the creeps. His phoenix-side screamed 'DEAD' when he caught their scent and an icy feeling ran down his spine.

The last delegation, the sphinxes, gave off a completely different vibe. They had an Arabic look. Both Math and Farid Ghabar wore long flowing clothes in a natural shade of white. Both had a slightly darker skin and golden cat eyes. Looking at them felt like being transferred into an old desert-film like Lawrence of Arabia. A warm current of air seemed to surround them.

'Your young-ones seem to be exhausted. It is indeed quite a laudable feat to keep this human boy alive for one that young, barely through merging. An impressive son you have, Miriam. Interesting. But even more interesting is the young hatchling beside him, your youngest addition to your clan I believe? Being able to create a space portal before concluding the merging, is more than impressive. I applaud the teacher, Merlin, indeed impressive, as expected of the greatest mage of all times.' Math, the sphinx-king, stated in a calm way that perfectly hid his emotions.

'Thank you for your praise, Math, I've heard the feats of your son and daughter-in-law are not less impressive. Subjugating a rebellion single-handedly. Impressive indeed.' Miriam stated with a slight bow towards the sphinx-king, who reciprocated in the same way. This was the infamous play of intrigues at the council’s court. Mighty predators playing kittens whilst hiding their claws. All friendly indeed. Scavengers. Waiting to take opportunity of another's weaknesses.

'Even though it is always a pleasure to meet you, my dear fellow council-members, I think we have a more pressing topic, than discussing our promising offspring, at hand.' Miriam added. The other council-members nodded and shot a glance at the transforming Ethan.

'As you can see an old enemy has resurfaced. The curse of the seven is taking its toll again. Young Ethan is but the latest victim. As you all know the young serene was the first. Both of them wear the tell-tale rings.' the dragon-queen furthered pointing at the young man, whose bones now gave off cracking sounds as his skeleton began to mutate.

'But how? Didn't the clan-curse integrate the members of the fifth' into ours?' John wanted to know 'didn't we just take in another druid-blood to keep this from happening?' Jordan asked.

'All of us did.' Merlin stated and looked into the eyes of every person present. 'But we didn't simply do so in order to keep the order from resurfacing, but to create a peace unprecedented in its duration. The Sidhe, the old gods told us to do so. And it worked 400 years without a clan-war. But the problem at hand isn't a Druidic one this time. The fifth clan didn't resurface but the ideas that lead to its fall didn't die with it. They were buried into the hearts of some of our more traditional members and there they bloomed and festered. This time there is no clear enemy but a diffuse danger from within. We have to really look into it to root it thoroughly.' he furthered.

'How do we know you are not making it up, Merlin? Weren't you the teacher of their mysteriously disappeared leader Rowan, the Great? Hasn't he been your best student at one time? How do we know you are not secretly helping them? Trying to spread unrest in our clans.' Lorenzo Tepez asked in a very accusative tone.

Miriam seemed to want to counter with a harsh rebuke, but Merlin shook his head simply smiled and said 'One can never especially not in this council where every single member is more than adapt in mind-magic. But I assure you I have no intention to help murderers, Lorenzo, if you understand what I am saying.'

The fuming vampire only nodded biting his tongue as he was outmanoeuvred. Mark was eternally thankful not to be involved in this war of rhetorical proficiency, where every word was weighed carefully.

'Okay. I guess it is detrimental to fight amongst ourselves if we have a problem like this at hand. Let's move on and plan our next actions.' Farid Ghabar offered. His father approved his son’s entry with a nod.

'Yes, that would be good. We have to transport Ethan to the mountain before the later stages begin. I don't have to tell you what a disorientated dragon in here would mean, do I?' Miriam asked and the assembled shook their heads in unison.

'I say we leave it to our young-ones. Mark Stern-Teine of the Teine-clan, Morgan Long-Drake and Rhiannon Marrow of the Long-Drake-Clan are already registered at the university. And the Familia-unit is investigating. I say we send each one or two members of our young-generation to the university, to investigate. This measure won't disturb the culprits and will give us direct access to the case. It will also strengthen the bonds between our future-heads. We will of course stay in touch to help if the need occurs.' Math Ghabar proposed.

All other members nodded in agreement, even the vampires did so begrudgingly. Mark wondered whether they were simply bad mannered or suspicious. His instincts told him to be wary of them.

The next part was pretty fast going. As the council-members had come to a decision they called Lisa over and told her how to operate. She was to answer the young-generation-members. Mark felt rather uncomfortable to be her boss now, but she didn't seem to mind. As if she had suspected it to turn out this way. The other clans would send Xenia, Farid and Noah Ghabar as representatives for the sphinxes and Ann-Sophie Tepez for the vampires. He would be regarded as the phoenix-representative and Morgan and Rhiannon were elected to stay here for the dragons. Never change a running system.

Mark really didn't know how that many amateurs could possibly speed up the investigations but maybe their special powers would be helpful. He couldn't deny he would have been blasted without the two young dragons today. Either-way this was going to be a whole new experience for him. His first real supernatural case. He would have to ask Lisa about that curse of the seven, though. It seemed like it was common-knowledge in the clan's world. His new world.