"How risky it is depends on how big a thing it is you're trying to do and how much magic you have left," she says, didactic despite herself. "Small things have small, mostly random effects. Big things have big, mostly random effects, which usually means—"

Explosion sounds again.

"So your grandfather was right. Still weird you never tried, but I guess he must've put the fear of the devil in your family."

"That's Gerard. If what you're worried about is lack of tradition, we can share that. There has to be room for outreach, for some kind of education process. If you think we've been too reckless, then give us an alternative."

"Alistair, be reasonable. The alternative is to keep to ourselves. You can't tell me you trust the average person with the kind of power we have. Any kind of education would need serious vetting procedures, and I wouldn't trust just anyone with that authority."

"So you also think people shouldn't teach quantum physics to AP students? 'Cause you could build a nuclear bomb with that, you know."

"Not without a lot more money than most people have."

"Knowledge is power, and power corrupts. Why were you sent to speak to us if you aren't interested in keeping this secret?"

"The amount of good we can do outweighs a lot of other things. Does it get as bad as nukes?"

"I'm interested."

"I'm not but I didn't know I wouldn't be when I got sent," Megan shrugs, then looks at Alistair. "No, not as bad as nukes. Usually. You'd have to be pretty creative to get as bad as nukes and want to do something really big? And even then I guess nukes are very big. Not as bad as nukes."

"If you're interested in sending conflicting messages, by all means, continue. I'll be upstairs."

And she goes.

He watches her go.

"If you want to help make everything go smoothly, I would really appreciate the help."

"What is your clan's position on this?" Nica asks Megan.

She shrugs. "They gave me permission to make this judgment call."

"I am surprised and unimpressed." She looks at Alistair. "With the understanding that this was a rogue action and not one taken with the full consent and understanding of your clan, we will not impose immediate sanctions. Further such actions will however be treated as hostile to the status quo."

"The status quo is boring, if Clow Reed is real and as powerful as it seems he was he probably was onto something here and we might as well get in on ground zero. You can count on the Eoh clan to help."

"I'll keep that in mind. Is there any way for me to contact your clans? Obviously, I haven't been educated very well."

"I have email!"

"Email works, yes."

He gives them his email.

"If that's all for now, I think I need to answer for my choices with my clan."

Then they can get up and excuse themselves.

Alistair has a very long, very fraught conversation with his parents.

It doesn't go well.

He goes to his room, and calls Sadde.

"Hello?"

"We had some visitors from another sorcerer clan. Two representatives, from different clans. One of them, Megan, seemed interested in the radical ideas we're promoting; the other one decided that since my parents didn't approve of what we did, it wasn't worth imposing sanctions. They gave me their emails."

He shares those, and looks at his cards.

"...well, we did know we'd ruffle feathers. What kind of sanctions, though?"