Caldwyn watched his charges for awhile in silence while they continued stretching their power to their limits, but he could tell from Cyne's tone that he felt similarly as the vampire queen did in regards to trying to pair the magically-influenced humans together, trying to expose them to one another frequently enough to build bonds for them, but in the very least, the young ones had a choice. Nobles didn't always have a choice in the mortal realm in who they married or made children with, but he wouldn't force them to breed with who they were working with if they didn't want to pair with their partner or even to pair at all. Some beings just chose to make it through life alone. "I have been trying to teach this particular generation for the past decade, we start training them young, the very year that they show sparks of power, they begin learning, Cyne. But I've been teaching as many as I possibly can for the past five centuries. I have refused Ava over and over again to give her war-mages to use, and nearly lost my neck over it a few times. I only recently returned to court with Elara's favor when she became Ava's general."<br/><br/>The half-breed stepped forward to his students and clapped his hands to call their attention to himself. "Excellent start, young ones! Now, if you haven't noticed already, we have a special guest with us today, and if we're lucky, we may get him more often than just today." Caldwyn turned and beckoned Cyne to step forward beside him and patted the young man's shoulder. "This is Cyne, young ones, and he is a<i>guest</i>of the Queen's, so treat him with respect and give him your full attention. I'm sure he has plenty to tell us about how magic works in his realm. Yes, he is from the other realm you've all heard so much about. Cyne, if you don't mind being put on the spot, I think these young ones would benefit hearing from someone they don't consider an old cranky codger."<br/><br/>***<br/><br/>Elara entered the council room and found herself faced with a gathered assembly of vampires her father's age and older, two-thirds of them male, and the females so aged that she doubted they had even known power had transitioned from Ava's hands to hers. "Good morning, Council. As you know, I don't have a lot of patience and the realm is in dire need of governing, so if we could get this under way..."<br/><br/>A hand rose across the room from her and she turned her head to look at the owner. "Yes, Councilman Kelton?" Elara stated respectfully, despite clenching her jaw at the interruption as she rested her fingers on the tabletop before her.<br/><br/>"We've heard rumors that there was a second pulse at the portal, my queen. Another crossed over from the other side last night." The older vampire stated, looking bored almost as he said it, reading from a paper before him. Then he lifted his gaze up to Elara's face and a pleased sort of smile crossed his expression. "Obviously, the mortal king does not intend to keep his bargain struck with the transfer of his son. This is obviously some scout sent to find our weaknesses before an attack, so you can send the king his boy's head and we can return to our war - "<br/><br/>"No." Elara said simply, raising her eyebrows with her command as her voice rang through the room and silenced anyone else daring to speak. "If the king did indeed send a scout to start a second war with us, we will react accordingly, but just because the portal pulsed does not necessarily mean that is what has happened. Mortals have stumbled into our realm on accident before. If they didn't, we would have no one able to work with the magic that is embedded in our own realm, despite the Sundering."