"Fiona did the best she could with the situation," he agrees quietly. The reminder of children is unfortunately sobering. People can't find it in their hearts to feel for mage children. They have such a climb ahead of them.

Anders rests his forehead in a hand and stares at his mug.

"We need," he starts slowly, "a few leaders at the top. Two, three. More than one, no more than five or decision making gets dragged out too much. This way we can have a commander, we can have a caretaker, we can have a quartermaster, and a diplomat." That makes four. An odd number would be easier for coming to decisions, but they need to keep things streamlined too. He'd like to be caretaker, he could be quartermaster, but he knows he's not suited for the other two roles.

"And we need a clear idea of what we're trying to make, a unified idea. What our end goal is. Something to inspire mages and maybe somehow ease a portion of the fears of the non-mages. Somehow."

That word deserves an echo because he doesn't know how to achieve that. He's been in over his head for years now.