(Author's note: I found some time to write a little bit more)

The court was adjourned. Callum, Rayla and Sol Regem withdrew to the space they occupied before. Although there were no walls, and thus the space could not be called a room, there were enough pillars, shards, bookshelfs, objects which Callum could only assume were magical, that their view was limited to their space only. Rayla could see shadows moving in the distance keeping an eye on them. Sol Regem saw them too, but made no mention of them.

"How do you think the Queen will respond?" Callum asked Sol Regem.

"They will certainly want the methods to connect to the primal sources from you. The rest...," he paused, "I am not sure how they will respond," the dragon said. He could somewhat predict what they were thinking but couldn't be certain. He decided to take this moment to ask Callum something he'd wanted to ask since the beginning, "While we have this time, would you tell me about how you came to learn magic?" He hadn't asked all this time because he wasn't sure if Callum completely trusted him. He hoped through his actions he'd been able to show that he had been sincere.

Callum reflected. He couldn't say that he really understood how he came to make the connection or if he could even teach someone else. Callum described his experience as well as he could. As Sol Regem listened, Rayla seemed to get the impression that Sol Regem already expected what Callum was going to say. Afterwards Sol Regem spent a long while in silence, pondering on it.

"Sol Regem, there's something I've been wondering about for a while," Rayla began after a long silence, "You seem to believe there is a way for Callum to do magic safely. Do you have some kind of plan?"

Sol Regem looked at the elf a moment and said, "Oh, I wish I could tell you I have it all figured out. I don't really have a plan, more of a hunch. Or maybe a belief. I think it will work out," the dragon replied as if it was natural.

Rayla was shocked at how casual Sol Regem was about it. She suspected he definitely had a plan but wasn't willing to divulge it. Callum reflected on the gravity of the situation and realised how much was depending on him. Whether Sol Regem had a plan or not, there couldn't be a guarantee it would work. He would have to play his part. He didn't know if he would succeed.

"Do you think they will agree?" Rayla asked.

"I hope so," the dragon sighed.

While they waited Callum took the time to draw the things he'd seen. The Dragon Queen, the Sunfire elf, the audience, the strange objects, the sharding roof. There was so much here, he spent a long time drawing it all before it escaped his memory.

_

"Its the most preposterous thing I've ever heard," began Stora in the Queen's private chamber, who was the Sunfire elf who had been on the court arguing with Callum, "Teach our enemy. What is Sol Regem thinking? Is he even thinking?" she felt incredulous. "The whole thing is highly suspect. Its possible Sol Regem is not in his right mind," the implication shook her. "My Queen, we should inspect Sol Regem for dark magic. It is my belief that he has been corrupted by human mages." Many of the advisors present seemed to be silently agreeing. If the implications were true, it meant human dark mages had advanced by leaps and bounds in the time they spent isolated. Now they could even manipulate the mind of a high dragon like Sol Regem and compel him to pledge 'willingly'.

"It is not possible," the Queen stated simply.

Stora wanted to argue, but thought better of it. She wanted to know how the Queen was so certain, but if the Queen didn't want to reveal it, it wasn't her place to pry.

"Even if Sol Regem is sane, to suggest we help our enemy is insanity," she concluded. Everyone seemed to agree on this point.

"However, it goes without saying that, we do need to understand how the human managed to connect to magic all on his own, and still be alive," noted an elderly Startouched elf called Luren, "We had heard of this rare phenomena, but so far as I'm aware no one in Xadia has ever studied it," he looked around to see that no one else in the audience had ever seen such a record.

"We don't need him to connect to magic. We are already connected to magic. We just didn't believe it was possible, which is why we never sought to connect to other primal sources after the initial failures," retorted a Skywing elf called Haish.

"You underestimate his bridge," Luren disagreed. "If it was so easy to connect to another source, we would have naturally stumbled on to it in our long history. I suspect the reason we were never able to do it has to do with our arcanum". Luren was highly respected in the study of magic. As he spoke, the audience listened intently. He continued, "We are born with an arcanum, or a natural inclination towards a particular primal source. Perhaps, inclination is to weak a word. It is perhaps more accurate to say that each magic creature is intertwined with the magic they are born with. We cannot comprehend living without our inborn primal magic no more than a fish can understand living without water."

"Are you saying it's impossible?" asked Stora.

"No," Luren replied, "But I do believe it will be far harder for us. It's like a fish accustomed to water trying to live on land, metaphorically speaking. The fish would have to find a new way to breathe. This is not a field that has received much attention, and all of this is just my speculation, but I believe because humans have no natural born inclination, they are the perfect species to form bridges. To create a work of art it is better to start with a blank canvas, than one where someone has already painted something," he explained.

"Wait, are you saying humans are more capable than us in this regard?" Stora asked.

"We cannot say that for certain. While humans might have an advantage in this realm, I do not believes elves, dwarfs and dragons will be too disadvataged. We already have some experience with one form of magic, we understand how to control magic innately. Humans will have to learn. They might also have different talents. The human we saw, didn't look too old. He might have been quite talented. I imagine it took him a few years of study to create a connection," Luren hypothesised.

They all spent some time considering Luren's words.

"This is quite a predicament Sol Regem has presented to us. We cannot keep him here and we cannot let him go either," commented Ma'ajhor, who was a Moonshadow elf.

"Of course we can keep him here," argued Stora, "we won't harm him. He will have a good life in Xadia. He is too dangerous to be sent back to the human realms"

"I imagine to keep him here we would have to go through Sol Regem's corpse," commented Sol Tae, the Igni dragon who had been attacked by Soren and Claudia.

"With all due respect, it is naive to take Sol Regem at his word. I do not believe his pledge was anything so drastic," Stora replied, "He most likely worded his pledge very carefully. I imagine it was something along the lines of 'I will do everything in my power to protect you'. So long as he tries his best to protect the human he would be keeping his promise. Moreover, we're not even going to hurt the human, we'll just keep him here." Stora explained.

"I wasn't talking about his pledge," replied Sol Tae. "Sol Regem has carefully thought through how we'll react. He is not one to start anything without carefully thinking things through. He wants the humans to learn to control magic. He believes that is the solution to our current situation. If we try to keep the human here he will fight us to his death, whether he has pledged or not. The pledge simply let us know beforehand of his resolve."

They all knew the kind of being Sol Regem was. They could see that the only way to stop Sol Regem would be to convince him that he was wrong.

"Whether we keep the human here, does not really matter," said Lilia, a Skywing elf. "Eventually humans will figure out how to connect to magic safely. They might even use dark magic to do it, no it is most likely it will be with dark magic. It is inevitable."

"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Stora.

"I do not think this human is unique," continued Lilia. "If he can do it so can others. Eventually a dark mage may make a connection to primal sources or meet someone who has made a connection and with their dark magic may find some twisted way to channel magic without harming themselves. That would be a danger the likes of which Xadia has never faced." Those in the audience were momentarily disgusted and filled with horror.

"These vile humans, there is no depth they will not sink to. This is another reason we should proceed with war and teach these humans about right and wrong," argued Stora.

"We cannot treat all humans as the same. This was our previous mistake. The past thousand years have taught us that we were no better. Let us not forget Aaravos," countered Ma'ajhor.

"I am not forgetting Aaravos," said Stora with gritted teeth. When she spoke the name, a hatred seethed out of her that seemed to suck the temperature from the room. "I do not wish to see another Aaravos emerge among the humans, which is why we must act fast. He is most likely loose among them. We must retrieve that mirror as quickly as possible."

"We still have time," answered Ma'ajhor, "the mirror is not so easily beaten. It would be a mistake to rush in, and reveal our hand to Aaravos. We won't be able to find the mirror easily, we will need the humans' help. A war would make it harder to locate the mirror."

"Fear is not a very good deterrant, either. The best motivator is self interest. The ideal situation would be if humans intrisically had a reason to reject dark magic," said Sol Tae.

"Wait, are you actually suggesting we help humans control magic?" Stora couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Yes," said Sol Tae.

Everyone in the room were shocked to hear Sol Tae of all people suggest this and so directly.

"I agree with Sol Regem. If humans could use primal magic they would shun dark magic," said Sol Tae.

"Humans attacked you, they cut off your horn," pressed Stora. "How can you trust them?"

"Humans also saved me. That human was part of the effort to free me and I saw the dragon prince then. I was hurt and had to retreat to recover. I tracked them down later. I watched them escort the dragon prince to Xadia and saw them climb aboard Sol Regem. I don't think we should treat all humans as the same. They are like us. I think what Sol Regem is suggesting is that if we were powerless some us would succumb to the power of dark magic. Humans aren't innately despicable, their situation forces them to do things. If we press war, more dark mages will emerge from them. War would have the opposite effect of what we want. We should look for other solutions and Sol Regem's solution is the best one right now" Sol Tae said.

"We can't just naively teach them magic. Even if I agree with everything you said, its still suicidal to give weapons to our enemies" retorted Stora.

"Then we simply have to be not enemies," Sol Tae concluded.

Stora couldn't help but massage her temples. Dragon logic was just too strange for her to deal with. Lilia decided to chime in, "I think Sol Tae is suggesting there are ways for us introduce magic to humans without it harming us. If we spent some time thinking about it we should be able to come up with solutions. In the worst case where we cannot be certain whether humans will be friendly to us, we can act appropriately at that time. I believe, Sol Regem will not stand in our way if humans prove they are unable to reject dark magic," she concluded.

"Before we proceed however we have one thing we must determine. Whether humans can actually learn to use magic safely, that is still uncertain," pointed out Luren. They all nodded in agreement.

"My Queen, we have presented our views, the final decision rests upon you," Lilia pressed her hand to her heart.

"I agree. We will help the human find a way to control magic. If he succeeds we will consider things further. If he does not, then... we will need to continue with our previous plans," the Queen consented.