Dorian reached out his hand, and Zandra gave him the telepathic mark containing the message. He beckoned Selina and Howard closer so that they could all listen to the message at the same time. Howard wasn’t sure what to expect, but the message still surprised him as Veda’s voice filled his mind.

{Greetings, Concordia. The Colony of Veda and her allies have discussed the information you have provided us at great length. Firstly, concerning those who have dared to threaten our precious peace with blackmail and greed, they have all been disbanded and the fountain of their colony destroyed. The innocents have been relocated to safer colonies, and the Sage is on trial for several unforgivable crimes.}

Howard took a deep breath. Something told him he didn’t want to know what kind of punishment awaited that Sage.

{Other colonies seem to have followed their example, so we would like to propose the Concordia Alliance. It will be an alliance with Concordia and Veda at its head who stand against such corruption. We hope you will accept it, as it is also our thanks for the priceless information about the three types of magic and Dream.}

An Alliance? With them as the leaders? Howard was concerned but the message was not over yet.

{Regrettably, change is difficult for us. It may be impossible to accept those with Dream as red eyes have always been a cursed sign. If you have any solutions make sure to let us know. We seek a world that will remain peaceful far into the future.

As our final request, we wish for permission to teach this long-distance communication magic to all those who wish to learn. It will end the distance and isolation between colonies and help prevent further corruption. As colonies, we are all of equal status, but that does not mean we should not keep each other in check.}

All of equal status? But weren’t they putting Concordia more or less in charge? Then again, that could have been a warning not to overstep their boundaries. It seemed the message was over so Howard examined the other to gauge their expressions.

Selina was relieved, but Dorian seemed torn.

{We don’t have to worry about preparing for war anymore,} Selina proclaimed, {Thank goodness!}

{Perhaps not but we have a lot of things to consider,} Dorian pointed out, {I can think of plenty of reasons why it would be dangerous to spread the knowledge of long-distance communication, but at this point, it is already too late to take it back. Limiting it only to those in power would be even worse. We also have to inform them that we have changed the sign of Dream, or that we can cure the red eyes. Either way, it will bring us a lot of attention.}

{I didn’t think about that,} Selina admitted and looked at Zandra, {What do you think we should do?}

{Let them come,} she replied, {You have us with you now. This is no longer a small, budding colony. If we prepare we can handle the flood of guests who are sure to come to see us. I was right to join this colony. It seems we will be busy for a while.}

{We need to learn that power sharing technique and system from Jonathan,} Howard brought up, {It would be a lot easier if we could allow more people to be able to change the sign of Dream. At least one of us Sages must be free to take care of all of the normal things when the influx comes.}

{True,} Dorian agreed.

{Excuse me,} Zandra broke in, {If you are talking about adding a system that allows all kinds of magic to be traded, you don’t need to learn it from this Jonathan person. As your new apprentice, I should be able to add my system here.}

That was unexpectedly convenient. Zandra seemed determined to prove her worth.

{Then let’s go to the meeting room so we can discuss future plans and send a message to Veda,} Dorian replied, {We will have a lot to discuss before we make any official announcements. We also need to be careful with what we will and won’t announce.}

They headed back to the meeting room with Zandra and carefully constructed their message for Veda before moving right into discussion on what to do with the current situation. From the new system, to security, to Zandra’s colony joining theirs. The last two were the longest discussions due to being hand in hand.

Giving all control of security to Zandra’s people could cause a war from the inside and they would be outnumbered. Not to mention Jonathan might cause unknown troubles in the future. However, Concordia didn’t have enough people to form a security team. They compromised on having James lead security from then on, but that meant they would need new hunters.

In a normal colony security was divided between the Sage and the Hunters, but Zandra had separated security from the Sage entirely, except as an overseer. Koko was the one in charge of security in the Crimson Colony. Howard also wanted security to be separated from the hunters. Their job was to fight beasts, not people. They needed to hunt for food and help in a crisis.

With Zandra’s help they were able to organize jobs for all of the people. Now they just needed everyone to accept. Considering his past, Howard was not sure how James would feel about being in charge of security, but James agreed with no hesitation.

The real problem came when Denewulf heard about Zandra being accepted as an apprentice.

{I thought you weren’t accepting any apprentices!} Denewulf accused.

{The situation is a bit unique. Besides, we haven’t even announced anything yet,} Dorian explained, {How did you find out so quickly?} His eyes narrowed in suspicion for a moment.

{I felt the magic,} Denewulf answered, {I have been an apprentice enough times to recognize it.}

{Why are you upset about us taking an apprentice?} Selina asked.

Denewulf seemed conflicted for a few moments. {I always thought I would be your first apprentice,} he admitted.

Selina frowned and glanced at Howard and Dorian. {It’s not that we were against it, but we were under the impression that the last thing you wanted to be was an apprentice.}

{If you were like those other colonies, then that would be true,} Denewulf told them, {but you are different from them. I want to be able to help you. I want to learn how to be a Sage like you. This is the first time I have ever wanted to be an apprentice.}

{Then how about you be my apprentice?} Howard offered, {Zandra is our apprentice because of a deal we made to join our colonies. You would be my first apprentice.}

{Are you sure?} Denewulf asked, {You didn’t seem interested before.}

{After all of that time you spent being chased by greedy Sages, I wasn’t going to force you into a position like that. It is not something easy to refuse. I had no intention of becoming Veda’s apprentice at first either.}

Denewulf smiled. {By the way, what announcement were you guys talking about?}

{A lot of things happened,} Dorian answered, {Things we need to inform everyone about.}