At breakfast the next morning, Selina brought up the strange conversations they had with the Oracle of Feroz. Hers had been about the duties of the ancestors which was to spread power and nurture those who had the talent to purify Evil. Dorian had apparently gotten into an argument with the Oracle when they wouldn’t tell him the origin of Wisdom. However, when they got to what Howard had discussed about Wisdom, Dream, and Evil, the gathering dissolved into chaos.

{You mean that I am not cursed with the Bloodcry?} Azul asked in shock, {What is Dream?}

{How do we know we can trust this oracle?} James asked with a deep frown.

{I really don’t like the sounds of this Evil, even if it can be purified,} Dov put in, looking grave.

{The real Bloodcry is a sign that someone is becoming evil,} Natalie considered, {Were you told how to test it.}

{Not really. I got the same answer as always; that it would show itself in the water of the fountain.}

{The people here really are obsessed with their fountains,} Miranda said with exasperation, {I also agree with James. That Oracle or whatever they claim to be is suspicious. Are you certain they said the last time they contacted someone was the last time Evil showed up?}

{They didn’t say it like that, but yes,} Howard confirmed, {and the people they contacted were the Heroes who won against Evil.}

{That seems awfully convenient.}

{It almost sounds like a game,} Sanders mused, {Or a play.}

Selina shuddered. {Please don’t say things like that. It makes me think I am destined to be some sort of puppet.}

{It doesn’t seem like the Oracle can actually make us do anything,} Howard said, {I might be wrong, but they can barely even talk to us. Even them talking to us seems to require all of our other senses to be cut off. There is also the chance that none of us were talking to the same Oracle and that is why our conversations were so different.}

{More than one?} Dorian asked, {Now that you mentioned it, other than being strong the voice had no uniqueness to it as all mind voices do. If the Oracles all erased their voice it would be easy to fool people.}

{It sounds better than the possibility of being able to carry on three conversations at once,} Leon pointed out with a scowl, {You all thought you were hearing the same things until it ended so none of you noticed any distraction.}

{So we have to decide how seriously we are taking the answers the Oracle gave you,} Sanders concluded, {I think for now we should trust this Oracle or those Oracles. Not blind trust, though. Make sure to confirm before you do anything too drastic or you may regret it later. Remember, the only remembered hero vanishes at the end of the story.}

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{I wonder if there was something that made everyone forget,} Azul said, {and those with red eyes are immune to it.}

{We won’t get anything done just thinking about it,} Natalie decided, {Let’s get to work. We still have to make our houses, hide that suspicious lab of Jonathan’s, and discuss more important things. The Oracle gave us a name, but what do we do with it? How will we run this colony? We need to get things in working order quickly.}

{That’s true,} Howard agreed, {I have yet to set up any defenses, and while we have plenty of water we are back to having no food. Azul might be able to help us with any animals that attack, but there are still plenty of points that put our lives in danger.}

{I can help grow food,} Sanders suggested, {Howard can use his Wisdom to help. I think since Howard and Selina are both Sages here the food might end up being more normal.}

{You think we will somehow be able to grow plants from Earth?} Selina asked.

{Howard’s house was an artichoke,} Miranda realized, {and right now we are in a redwood tree with green needles, not blue.}

{And both Howard and I can hunt,} James added, {It will take us a while for things to become smooth, but I doubt we will have trouble surviving until then.}

Everyone seemed satisfied and they started with houses. It turned out that when Howard had grown the giant redwood he had set the theme of the colony. Every house grown was a tree, just like every house in Veda’s colony had been flowers.

Howard’s theory about extending the cave around the shuttle was also successful, and Miranda was surprisingly good at the majority of crafts. Sanders ‘cheated’ as he called it, and brought some seedlings over of things that could be harvested constantly including herbs, berries, and lettuces. His house was a fruit tree with a remarkable number of different kinds of fruit, so they were fine there as well.

A few days passed like this, and everything was doing well, but Natalie charged into the Concordia Redwood looking seriously frustrated.

{This won’t work,} she complained, too furious to control the level of her telepathy, but calm enough to keep herself from shouting out loud, {There is no way we can use the monetary system from Veda’s colony. We all have more than enough Wisdom or Dream to want to take it as trade, and a society where everyone is endlessly rich does not work. We need a new money system!}

{You’re not wrong, but maybe calm down a little?} Selina suggested, {Honestly, I noticed that myself. Now that everyone has a job we should be starting a trade with each other, but there are two main issues. Veda was never paid because she had more than enough Wisdom, so if we abolish using Wisdom as money we will have to come up with some sort of tax. Secondly, making money is hard. Miranda already has her hands full making other things.}

{We could just go to a completely trade-based society but we are all used to using money,} James agreed. He had come to drop off some meat for them. {I think Howard should get paid for the food and the defenses, but perhaps Dorian and Selina should find other jobs as well, and charge money for the services they do.}

{If we establish a money system we will also have to establish new laws to go with it,} Natalie continued, {We need to consider carefully before we do anything.}

{I wish money grew on trees,} Selina groaned, {Hold on, could it?} She looked over at Howard hopefully.

{Wouldn’t that cause problems of its own and make it too easy to steal?} Howard asked, {That is if I could even pull it off.}

{It doesn’t actually have to grow money,} Natlie pointed out, {It just has to grow something that could be used as money, and if the tree belonged to the Sages we wouldn’t have to worry about taxes and only the Sages would have an endless amount of money like it is everywhere else.}

{So it is something else we would have to hide,} Howard said.

{I suppose it doesn’t necessarily have to be a tree either, but in this colony, trees would probably be easiest,} Selina considered, {Maybe something with leaves or flowers that don’t wither when picked, or at least not for a while. And it would have to keep its money year-round.}

{Evergreens?}

{I don’t know about using needles for money}

{Pinecones, then?}

{Aren’t pinecones seasonal?}

Natalie and Selina quickly got into an argument over trees that were full all year round and had leaves, needles, or flowers that did not decay.

Needles were the only things Howard could think of either, especially those on pines since they would fall occasionally on their own, but they were sharp and didn’t seem the most convenient to save up. Perhaps there was something in Sander’s world that would work better. Howard decided to ask him as the ladies continued their argument.