Like many groups, we elected to reconvene in the morning. I spent the time grabbing a bite to eat and resting. Older vampires have stamina to go without pause for weeks at a time.

I am not an older vampire, that much has become clear. So I listen to both Remus and Damian's—I mean Elder Loki's—suggestions to rest. I needed it more than I thought. I spend then night drifting in and out of consciousness. I must have been close to collapse to actually sleep.

Despite my exhaustion, I still manage to be in the room we are using for our subcommittee at 5:50 in the morning. As the first there, I spend the time setting up the room and making sure we have refreshments ready. Today already looks like it is going to be a long day. Hopefully, I will get another opportunity to rest soon.

Oberon is the next to arrive, followed by Lilith and Luci. Thor arrives with a large pot of fresh coffee that he boasts of making himself.

The other elders are extremely excited about dwarven made coffee. Apparently dwarves seek to perfect every art and craft and dwarven coffee is on another level. Oberon offers to charm it to increase focus and creativity, and Thor hands the pot over.

Amphitrite glides in as they are passing around the coffee. Her grace rivels Isis's and I wonder if I will ever achieve that level of coordination and grace.

I'm distracted by Amphitrite, so I don't notice Oberon until he plunks a mug of coffee in front of me. I startle and look up at him. "I'm sorry, but I'm not really able to metabolize coffee yet," I say.

"You are Loki's pet child, right? I charmed your coffee so you can metabolize it. It wouldn't be fair for everyone else to get a mental boost only for you to be left behind."

I take the coffee and cradle it to my chest with both hands. "Thank you," I take a sip and just melt, "oh my god, this is just… I don't have words."

Thor smiles at me from across the table, "It's good to see someone so young appreciate the finer things."

"Is this everyone?" Luci asks just as Remus and Stata walk in.

"Hello everyone, sorry for being late," Stata says.

Oberon gets up, pours another mug of coffee, and hands it to her. "We were just getting started."

"Terribly sorry for your loss," Lilith offers. "No one could have guessed Vulcan would stray so far from us."

"Thank you," Stata replies sincerely before turning to Remus, "thank you for bringing me here. I know you have a lot of work to do, so I will let you get to it."

He nods, "I brought her up to date. Good luck!" He gives Stata a quick one armed hug before leaving for his meeting.

Stata walks around the table with her cup of coffee, "my understanding is we are to figure out a way to terraform mars?"

"That's the plan," Luci says while scowling into the depths of her cup before reaching across the table for the pot of coffee and refilling it. Then she takes a deep drag and sighs, "that's the stuff."

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Perhaps we should start with what mars's current climate is?"

I open my computer and look up the current martian climate. "Temperatures vary from -220 degrees fahrenheit to 70 degrees in the summer at the equator. The atmosphere is thin, but does contain water vapor. Otherwise the planet looks like one big desert."

"If we can make the atmosphere thicker, the planet should warm," Lilith suggests.

"If the atmosphere already has water vapor, making it thicker could start the water cycle." Amphitrite agrees, "we should probably start there."

"To make the atmosphere thicker, we need to start with trees, but most trees won't grow in those temperature ranges." Stata points out.

"My dwarves can make heat stones for the area," Thor suggests, "they can keep an area at a desired temperature. If we tie them to the ley line, they should work for a few centuries before they lose their power."

"That would also extend the power of the ley line to include mars," Oberon points out, "Once the ley line extends to mars, we will need a minimum number of elders and people with magic on the planet to anchor the ley line's power."

"The atmosphere on mars is 95.3% carbon dioxide, so the plants should grow fairly quickly," I add.

"The elves can help them along as well. They can sing the plants into maturity." Lilith points out, and I add that to my notes about building the atmosphere.

"Will we need ward stones to secure the ley line?" Stata directs the question at Thor.

Thor thinks for a moment while pouring himself another cup of coffee. "It may already have ward stones that we will just need to activate. But we should bring some along just in case those ward stones are damaged or gone." He starts adding to to his notes, presumably about making new ward stones.

"What are ward stones?" I ask. I feel dumb doing it, but I need to fully understand what we are talking about if I am going to continue contributing.

Thor smiles at me, and no one seems particular put out by the question. "A ward stone is a stone designed to attach magic to it for long term use. The heat stones are a type of ward stone that produces magic heat to maintain the environment within the range of a stone at the optimum temperature. If you set a perimeter of heat stone, then the area within the perimeter will be affected by the heat produced by the stone."

"Okay, so you could create a light producing ward stone, or a ward stone that creates a protective barrier?"

Thor's smiles brightens, which I didn't know was possible. "Correct! Each life supporting planet has a ward stone that ties the life giving magic of the intergalactic ley lines to it, which helps foster a balanced ecosystem. The ward stone for this planet is contained within the molten core of the planet. In fact, I believe the humans just discovered the solid core inside what they thought was an entirely molten core."

I nod, "Is the ward stone for mars also in it's core?"

"That is usually where they are stored so the weather on the surface doesn't wear them down over the eons," Thor agrees. "Though the ward stone on mars is at the very least deactivated. If it were active, there would be a whole lot more life on the planet."

"Mars doesn't have much sun, will we need to use some kind of sun stones to keep the plants happy?" I ask. Mars is much darker than earth.

The elders pause to think. "I think that is a good question for one of the elves and a forest dragon. I can send it along, but the forest dragons are the ones with the seed vaults. Their magic and the elven magic is what we will use to make the trees grow. I don't know if we will need sun stones or focusing stones to just focus the sunlight better on the planet."

Thor is furiously adding to his notes, "We can make both and have them on hand, though we can't deploy them into the atmosphere, we can design them to stay there once they are up."

"The fey can deploy them. So could the phoenixes." Oberon offers. "It would be best to have one of each on the initial team anyway." He adds to his notes, "I have some ideas on who we can send for that."

"We should leave what plants in particular to the dragons," Luci points out, "and probably what bugs too. Can we trust your dragons to build a balanced ecosystem?"

"Of course, and we will devote all of our hoards to this endeavor. I have already ordered everyone to start packing up their hoards, so we should be ready to deploy soon."

"What happens when the ice melts, things flood, and the water cycle starts?" I ask. "We don't know how much water is actually on the surface, so how do we pick a point to begin terraforming so we don't drown?"