[center]
  [i]Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.[/i]
  [b][i]Swinston Churchill[/i][/b]
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[center]**********************[/center]

Zootopia was a city that busted with mammals, and these mammals all wanted to follow the news of what was going on.

Some of them wanted to know the latest developments of the recent craze that was going on about mages. Some of them wanted to know the latest information about the dealings of Paw Street. Some simply wanted to be on pair of all that was happening. But all of them wanted to know the news, and for that, Zootopia counted with its own source of information: the ZNN.

The ZNN was the Zootopia News Network. They were the main news channel of Zootopia, with news around the clock, special editions in the noble hours, and with their own websites that relayed all their programming and the things that they transmitted to the public. They truly were the main source of information of the public of Zootopia and even of other places and other states, once they were famous for their access to information, for their credibility, and for their efficiency in presenting the stories to the public.

From the trivial information of the day to the truly important happenings, the ZNN covered everything. Sometimes it even surprised its viewers with special news reports about truly remarkable news.

As it was intent on doing on that day.

On that day, a special story had been deliver by one of the reporters of the ZNN. A story that was deliver in secrecy, and was intent on being kept in secrecy until it was to be show on the noble hours of the same day.

It was a really good story, and only a few inside of the ZNN even knew that it existed, the reporter's boss, who had seen the story himself, and was… surprised, to say the very least.

He was quick to want to work to get the video on air yet on that day, and the reporter was fully supportive on it. He gathered some mammals, and let them know that there would be a special report on the place of the usual news report of that night. Of course, he made sure to keep the thing as hush-hush as possible, even from the other workers of the ZNN.

"Something like that should be a surprise." He said to them, and all of them agreed with him.

The ones who had direct access to the video also knew what it was about, and they were surprised as well, just like the two anchors that would be presenting the special news report. The other were left in the dark, as they were only told to be prepared for the news report.

The information was kept as secret as possible, and it only was revealed what it was about around one hour before the special report was to air, when a preview of the later news revealed that there was going to be a special news report, as well as the subject that it would be showing.

Once it came out, everyone was surprised.

The information of the special report and what it was about spread like fire through dry woods. Mammals kept sharing and re-sharing the information on said special report. They talked about it to each other via mouth-to-mouth, shared on MuzzleBook and other social medias, and overall shared the information within each other, causing everyone to look forward to the news.

Some of them even wondered if it was something real, once it was something that they surely were not expecting. Some even wondered if it was some kind of joke, or maybe some fake news. Some looked forward to it, wanting to see the news, while others seemed to be feeling outraged for such a thing going into the news.

However, what was sure was that, practically everyone in and out of Zootopia would be tuning on the ZNN to see it this was really all of that.

Effectively, at the time of the usual nightly report, around six pm, practically every one of the city was tuning in to watch that special news report.

One that would show a very special interview…

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As the music of the opening came, the area was illuminate, and two mammals stood in there.

Fabienne Growley and Peter Moosebridge were not on their usual scenery, sitting on their desk with a screen behind them. Instead, they were standing into what seemed to be a circular room, with a huge screen behind them. That scenery was reserve to the really important and urgent news reports. This was surely an important one, and the two mammals knew it full well, as they both stood in there with neutral expressions and their best clothes to present the news to who was seeing.

"Good night." Moosebridge said. "Tonight, instead of the usual news report, we will be presenting a story that has come into knowledge the ZNN earlier this day."

As he spoke, the camera shifted to Growley, who was with a serious expression in her face. "In the past months, Zootopia and the world have been facing a sudden change in their reality, as a website spread out videos that were said to reveal the existence of mages." She spoke to the camera. "These videos have gathered all kinds of reactions from mammals all around the world, which varied from interest to fear, and have led to many events sprouting from the information of these videos."

"Such reactions have mostly been stimulated by misinformation regarding the matter." Moosebridge said, as the camera shifted to him once more. "The insecurity and unsureness generated by the lack of clear information has stimulated the fear of mammals, inducing them to act based on said fear, once they didn't knew what to be sure of."

"Tonight, an information came into power of the ZNN, which has direct connection to all that is happening. An information that was brought to us by Victoria Vulpen, reporter of the ZNN."

"Such information is, in fact, an interview." Moosebridge said. "An interview with no other than a mage. This news report is dedicate to showing to Zootopia and the world this interview. Brought to you, straight by the ZNN."

As they said it, the two mammals turned to look at the great screen that was behind them. As they did, the image of that screen took hold of the screens of everyone who was seeing it...

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"Okay, everyone ready?" Vicky asked, looking to her friends, and to the one she would be interviewing. Everyone was truly ready, and once it was, there was the countdown, as Vicky took a deep breath, and she steeled herself, readying to present the news that could possibly change her life and everyone else's.

[i]Okay… show time.[/i]

As soon as the camera was focus on her, she started to talk.

"Here is Victoria Vulpen, of the ZNN, on with an interesting interview brought to you by the Zootopia News Network." She said, and she stood right by the side of a familiar female ferret. "I'm here right now with a mage. Yes, a mage, believe it or not."

She turned to the ferret, and was now addressing her directly.

[center]**********************[/center]

Even the ZPD seemed that they have stopped to see the news.

All of the officers had either excused themselves form their duties for the moment, or have found a way to go back to the station.

Even the most dedicated and workaholic of the officers had found themselves wanting to go to the station and find their ways to the recreation room, where there was a television, and look into the ZNN to see the "interview with a mage", as it had been announced an hour earlier.

Soon, there was a good number of officers into the room, looking at the television anxiously, wanting to see if the news were all that they were saying. Among them, there were two familiar bunny and fox cops, who looked as anxious to this as everyone else did.

Even Judy had somehow excused herself from work to see the news, and see that for herself. Nick felt somehow glad to have an excuse to drop out from writing reports, and he was now watching, along with his partner, to the groundbreaking news.

As they saw the one how was being interviewed, their eyes grew wide, as they recognized the ferret.

"[i]So, what is your name?[/i]" The vixen asked, and the ferret answered:

"[i]Zillah Ferron, of the Ferron clan.[/i]"

"[i]How old are you?[/i]"

"[i]Nineteen.[/i]"

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"So, Ms. Ferron, are you really a mage?" Vicky asked, and the ferret looked back at her.

Soon, the ferret was reaching into her pocket for her lighter, and Vicky had a feeling that she knew what was coming now.

Zillah lighted the thing, producing a flame, and she moved a glowing paw near it.

She was chanting something as she moved her paw over the flame, causing it to move. Soon, the flames were around her paw, but not burning her. Her paw left the lighter, the flame still in it, and she still chanted the lines of whatever spell it was.

Soon, the flames in her paw were moving, and they formed the shape of a bird. Her flaming paw now had a bird of flames in it, flapping its wings and letting out sparks and smoke as it did.

Soon, the ferret was closing her paw, and as she did, the flames all were snuff out and the bird that had formed in her paw disappeared in a puff of sparks and smoke.

"Does this serves as answer?" Zillah asked to Vicky, who knew that it was rhetoric question.

Vicky herself could barely contain her amazement on what she had just saw, and she could only imagine what the ones seeing it would think…

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"She [i]is[/i] a mage!" Bucky said, looking amazed at the screen. By his side, his husband was sitting and watching the news with him. Pronk had managed to get out of his work earlier, and he could come back home in time to see that special news report with Bucky.

"You don't know." He said, careful, "I mean, it could be fake?"

"What, like the videos from website?" Bucky asked, "Because I'm pretty sure these are legitimate, you said that yourself."

"Yeah, but this is different."

"Different how!?" Bucky said, "It is the ZNN, they would not joke over anything, especially over something like that!"

"Yeah, but they could be mistaken!" Pronk said, "I'm just saying that we can't believe in everything we see in tv! We are adults!"

"Oh, shut up!"

"No, [i]you[/i] shut up!"

"No, seriously, shut up! The news are still going!"

With this, the two ended their altercation were, once more, focused in the television and the news.
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"So, Ms. Ferron…" Vicky said.

"Call me Zillah." The ferret said, and Vicky nodded at her.

"So, Zillah, as a mage, you certainly can give many answers to what is happening around, and to many doubts that mammals are having at the moment. Perhaps you could give us some of these answers."

"I'll give the answers that I can." Zillah said, "There is a lot of things that the world of mages have in it, and while I cannot tell you everything, I'll tell you what I can. But, bear in mind that I am still a mage myself, and as a mage, I am an individual who has secrets. There are questions that I won't answer, but I'll do my best to tell you what I can, as a mage."

Vicky nodded at it, doing her best to remain neutral and to focus on doing the interview.

"So, as for a question I have now… what is a mage?" Vicky asked, and this caused Zillah to look back at her. "I mean, we know that mages can do things like what you just did, but what truly is a mage? You just said that mages are beings of secrets. However, what does exactly it means to be a mage?"

Zillah spent a few moments looking at the vixen. As she did, she could not help but be amazed on how smart the vixen was for making a question like that. Well, since she made a question like this, Zillah needed to give an answer that was up to it, so she spend a few more moments thinking, and she chose her words carefully.

"To be a mage, means a lot of things." Zillah said to the fox, and to the camera that was recording her, held by the beagle. She could feel all the eyes of the five mammals in there, on her, and she knew that soon millions of other eyes would be on her, once the interview was show on television.

"More than being a practitioner of the mystic arts. More than being an individual who delves in the depths of mystery. Being a mage, means to adopt a set of beliefs and lifestyle." Zillah explained to her. "In order to be a mage, you have to act as a mage, which includes working into improving yourself, and refining and evolving your own studies of the mystic arts, treating them as an art that should be improved and perfected for the sake of doing so."

She looked at Vicky as she said that. "Being a mage means adopting these beliefs, and living by them, as to be a proper mage, an individual who can stand with pride and claim truly to be a proper scholar of the mystic arts. Otherwise, you are no mage, but a [b]spellcaster[/b]."

Vicky looked at her.

"So, there is a difference between a mage and a spellcaster?" She asked, and she knew it was obvious, but it was something that was worth going into further detail for the public.

"A mage treats our craft with the proper respect, and they work into evolving it for the sake of itself, and they are individuals who devote the hours of their days, days of their years, and years of their lives into perfecting this art to its supreme form." Zillah explained to her. "A spellcaster is an individual who, even though has the same capacities as a mage, do not act as a proper mage. They don't have the right to be called mages. They have no interest in improving themselves or their craft, and they see it as nothing more than a useful tool to reach their goals. Many freelancers are classified as this."

"I'm sorry, 'freelancers'?" Vicky asked, and Zillah soon was filling her in.

"Another fact about mages is that we are loyal to our own lineages." She spoke to them. "One thing that mages do is preserving tradition, and this means that we value our family. In many points, we can be compared to the old and traditional families of the non-mages, what some people call 'posh' families, these royalties and noble lineages."

"A proper mage is someone who is loyal and dedicated to their family. Their loyalty belongs to the family above all else, and they carry on the legacy of their parents and pass this legacy down to their kits. The oldest or most talented one is in charge of carrying the legacy of the family, while the others are strategically married into other families, in order to bring advantages to the family in the long run, in political contracts and arrangements that will benefit the two parts. We are pretty old-fashioned in this. In many aspects, actually." Zillah said, and Vicky did notice a change in her expression, and she could not help but wonder if this subject that was just tackled was one that was sensitive to her. The ferret, however, did not allowed her to delve in this, and she, instead, continued with her explanation.

"A [b]freelancer[/b] is someone who is looked down on the mage community, for many of them have turned their backs on their lineages, and instead, they have turned to money." She said, and she continued in it:

"Freelancers are individuals who are not fully affiliated to anyone, and they work to whoever pays them. Yes, they are [i]mercenaries[/i], selling their skills and their loyalty to whoever offers them money." Zillah said as she talked. "Freelancers are getting more common nowadays, as some families have been falling and losing their influence. This causes the mages who have either lost everything or willingly left everything behind to resort into working for others in return for their money."

"There are many subclasses to freelancers, just like there are to the mercenaries." Zillah continued to explain to the vixen. "There are these who work as soldiers in exchange for money, using the mystic art to fight. There are some who work as bodyguards, protecting their employers from harm, and even going so far as to eliminate those who try to harm them. And, of course, there are those who resort to killing for money, hitmammals that use supernatural means to eliminate targets in exchange for payment. These last ones are particularly feared and looked down upon by the Association and by the mage community at large."

[center]**********************[/center]

The news were not only being transmitted through the live television, but they had also been made available through the internet. It was possible to watch it in real time from anywhere in the world with any equipment that could access internet, as some individuals were doing.

They were all dressing military-style clothing, including protective vests and some of them even had weapons in them, like actual guns and blades. One of them, in particular, a bulky rhino with a scar on the side of his face, was playing with a military knife as he looked at the image of the iPaw that was being held by another mammal. This one was a bulky wolf with dark-gray fur on his body, with lighter gray on his muzzle, down his neck and chest. His arms were thick with muscle, but he had a prominent muscle-gut, being quite big a wolf. He was wearing a green military vest (barely big enough to cover his prominent belly), a pair of camouflage pants, and even a pair of military boots, the kind used by the military due to the greater hazards that the military life. He was smoking a cigar as his silvery eyes were focused on the screen of the iPaw as he puffed out clouds of cigar smoke.

"Wow! They have mercenaries as well!" Said a big horse who was near.

"Yeah, I guess we can all agree that we are not the only idiots who will do things like that for money." The wolf said, tapping out the excess ash from his cigar as he had a smirk. "Guess it truly is an universal thing."

"How have we never heard of something like that?" The rhino asked. "I mean, we have been around a while and we have got into some pretty nasty jobs, how we have never crossed paths with one of these 'freelancers' before?"

"Maybe they are careful?" Said a bear.

"Maybe they only work for other mages, and in subjects that only interest mages." Said a lion in camouflage jacket. "They probably have no need to get involved into the needs of mere mortals like us."

Many actually agreed with this, and the wolf who was holding the iPaw could only chuckle. He could not help but wonder just how interesting the world seemed to have been turning in the past months…

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"So, being a mage involves a whole set of beliefs and morals, it seems." Vick said.

"Yeah, you could say so." Zillah said, "Mages have this thing of being conservative. While the world around us changes, we try to keep up with it, but we also work hard into preserving our own values and traditions." She paused for a while, and she let out a small chuckle. "I mean, it is the reason why we don't like technology."

"Oh?" Vicky said, and the ferret turned back to her.

"Technology is a product of the modern world." She explained to her. "Something that comes forward in attempts to replace the mystery by something that can be understood and used by the non-mages." She spoke, almost as if she was saying something that she got from a memorized speech.

"What can be achieved through mundane means is merely an imitation of something that has been made by supernatural means for a long time. It is something that merely hopes to imitate our means, and all of it will always be inferior to our craft." Zillah said, and once she finished, she once more looked at Vicky.

"This is something that I heard my father say a lot of times, and my father was an 'example of a proper mage', so to speak." She said to her. "He was very attached to traditions, like mages are supposed to, and this included looking down on all modern technology."

"So, mages have a natural disliking for technology?"

"Yeah, it's a cultural thing." She admitted to her. "I guess it is more of our own ego, that prevents the oldest mages of accepting the idea that technology could replace the supernatural so readily. As a result, most mages refuse to learn about technology unless it is absolutely necessary. While my father was alive, technology was strictly forbidden inside our home, even the servants could not bring anything." She admitted. "I was a teenager who never had a computer or a cellphone, can you believe it?"

Indeed, it sounded hard to believe, in today's society, that someone would be a teenager and grow up without a cellphone, and without any technology whatsoever. It seemed that mages had a disliking for modern things, from all that she was hearing right now.

"So, most mages avoid technology, if possible? Is that what you are saying?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Zillah said, "More because of pride and stubbornness than anything else, if you ask me. They don't have televisions, they don't own cellphones, they don't use coffee machines or fax machines. They just to learn how to operate them unless they absolutely have to, and when they have to use them for the first time they cannot operate them properly…"

She stopped talking for a few moments, and she let out a chuckle. "I guess that could actually be a way of helping identify a mage… see if they have problem to deal with technology…"

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As the special news report continued to be transmitted live for everyone into the city and in other places, it was transmitted in virtually all of the televisions of the city, including the televisions available at the local BugBurga fast-food establishments. In one on particular, a lot of mammals had stopped to look at the television.

The mammals all had their eyes turned to the television on the side of the place. Someone even had upped the volume for them to better listen what was being said.

Many mammals were still eating, but the attention was mostly focus on the television. Some trails with food and cups were left forgotten, some of them even had fallen to the ground, but no one seemed like they had noticed, as both the patrons and employees of the place had seemingly forgotten everything as they watched, until the point when the weasel made that comment…

"Damnit!" This cry called their attention, making them look at its source: a donkey who had just walked in and was trying to use his cellphone, and seemingly having problems with it.

"No. No! You worthless thing!" He said, as he tapped (actually, almost punched) the screen of the phone, threatening to break it, before he got really mad.

"Stupid technology!" He said as she tossed the thing in the trash, turning back into the establishment, only to find that now everyone in there was staring at him as if he's got three heads.

The donkey looked around, at all those eyes staring right at him.

"What?"

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"Well, it does sound interesting…" Vicky said, "And, sorry, I could not help but notice that you talked about 'servants'. So, mages often have servants working for them? As butlers and cooks?" She asked, and once more Zillah was amazed with her attention to the details, the vixen seemed like she let nothing slide past her.

"Another trait of mages, is that we dedicate ourselves to our craft from body and soul." She spoke to the vixen, making sure that her words would come out clear and not be misinterpreted. Anything misunderstanding could easily be catastrophic in a situation like that.

"Like I said, we dedicate hours of our days into our craft, most of it is done in research and studies." She explained to her. "In order to perfect and improve our art, we need to dedicate ourselves to it fully, it is a time consuming process that will demand our full attention, and it will eventually prevent us from performing other trivial tasks, like cleaning and cooking, sometimes mages even neglect their basic survival needs in order to continue with their researches."

"So, in order to fully focus in their own work, and to not have to worry themselves with 'menial tasks', mages will often have someone else perform these for them." She said, and she made a gesture to someone outside of the camera, soon, a creature readily asked to her call, as a big Kori bustard bird walked in view of the camera.

"Some have familiars, like I have Cory, here." She said, as she petted the head of the bird. "They are creatures that we either create or modify with mystic arts in order to cause them to become our loyal and devoted servants. They perform tasks for us, like cleaning and bringing us food. Some mages even summon creatures to be familiars and do things for them." She said to the camera. "However, sometimes they don't have familiars, as some mages chose either to arrange non-mages as their subordinates in order to take care of the places, or either do it themselves."

"Oh, so mage don't have other mages as their servants?"

"Yeah, right." Zillah scoffed, but she quickly recomposed herself, not wanting to risk passing the wrong impression to the camera. "Mages don't willingly submit themselves to other mages. We are far too prideful for this. Of course, many mage families make deals with each other, but only if these are mutually beneficial, sometimes they even agree to work for each other in exchange of payment, but a mage family would never submit themselves so deeply to another family to the point of being their servants. That is seen as disgraceful in our society, and most families would never become desperate enough to do such a thing."

"But, hiring non-mages to work for us as our servants, well that's another thing." Zillah said, continuing her explanations. "As a matter of fact, ever since I was a kit, my family always had a few servants working for us."

"Oh, I see." Vicky said, "They were well treated, right?"

Zillah got a little tense at this, but she could suppress it. Now was not the time of letting her expression falter.

"Well, they received all of the benefits that jobs usually held. They had vacation time, they got paid good salaries, and they even received some money for when they were on sick leave… but, well, my father was not exactly a good boss for them."

There was a silence, and Zillah continued. "I have been trying to be very different from my father. I do treat our servants a lot better than he did, and I'm pretty sure that they think like that too. After all, I never truly listened to the stupid things my father used to say." She said, sounding a bit resentful.

"'We don't need to be nice to those mundanes, they should be honored of serving a mage family'." She spoke, obviously quoting someone else. Obviously, her father. "Like I would listen to this…"

There was a brief silence, and Vicky couldn't help but ask:

"This term you just used… 'mundanes'… is it a way that mages refer to non-mages?"

There was a long silence, and this time it was easy to say by Zillah's expression that she did not liked that theme in particular. Still, the ferret soon was speaking, wanting to clear off any possible misunderstanding.

"It is a slang, so to say." She spoke to her. "It became quite popular during the time my grandfather was a kit. It is actually a derogatory term."

She looked at Vicky as she continued to explain.

"It is a form of referring to those who don't practice our art, the non-mages. I never liked it, it is disrespectful and of poor taste. Calling a non-mage a 'mundane' would be… well, I guess you can compare it to calling a prey a 'grazer', or to calling a predator a 'chomper'."

Vick remained silent as she let the ferret do the talking.

"The idea, is to talk about those who can't do the things we do as if they are inferior to us. Well, I guess it is hard to not feel superior to others when you can create a fireball from your fingertips while they can't, but still…" She said, and she reflected on her next words, before speaking:

"It is a term that talks about non-mages as if they were less meaningful, like they aren't worth our attention or time. Those who don't have our skills. Those who have nothing of special or interesting about them." Zillah made another pause.

"Those who are mundane…"

A silence followed these words, as all the mammals who listened to this had time to reflect on them and realize that they were, indeed, derogatory.

"It is not something polite to say." Zillah concluded. "It is not something that you should expect to see in an official document of the Association, or hear in a sophisticated conversation."

Vicky knew that now it was time to move on to another subject.

"So, you have spoken of 'beliefs' in what it comes to mages." She said, wanting to avert the subject that was clearly not doing well to the ferret. "Does it includes religious beliefs?" She asked, and this caused the ferret to look up at her.

"I mean, do mages have a particular religion?" She developed the question. "Do mages worship a particular deity over the others? Or they have a deity of their own?"

Zillah looked at her, she pondered on how to answer this, and decided to do so in the most direct way she could:

"Well, in old times, it was common for mages to have altars in their homes for certain deities." She spoke to her, being professional and objective. "It was because in old times, there was the belief that deities and similar entities could grant us great powers. It was common for mages to pay their tributes to the old gods, as way of increasing their spirituality and to gain more power and knowledge."

She then made a dismissing gesture with her paw. "But, we don't do this anymore. Nowadays there is no point into worshipping the old gods, according to most mages."

"The times have changed all around. In the past, we took power as coming from a higher source, nowadays, we acquire power through study and pedigree. Instead of spending our time worshipping an entity and asking for more power, we dedicate ourselves to study and acquire power by our own means."

She was silent for a few moments, and she scoffed a bit.

"I remember how my father was with it. He used to say that having faith in any religion was pointless and a waste of time…" The memory was not a found one, like most of the memories of her father, and she decided to just push it aside.

"Of course, each mammal is different." She spoke to the reporter. "Some mages do have a certain faith or another. Some are devoted Christians, while others choose to be practitioners of Orthodox Judaism. Still, I think it is safe to say that most mages don't really have a religion. They don't really see a point in it…"

Vicky nodded at this explanation, and she decided to move further.

"So, from what I'm listening to you, it seems that mages each have their own personal set of beliefs." Vicky said. "Which is comprehensible, once we are talking of mammals that differ from each other. Now, I must ask you, these beliefs and lifestyles that mages chose, they are something that is truly universal to them? Something that goes beyond species?"

"All mages follow around the same set of beliefs and lifestyle." Zillah answered. "I mean, the ones who can be called 'proper mages', otherwise they would not deserve to be called so."

"Either you are a mouse or an elephant, if you are a mage, you will be expected to act as one." She said to them, "If you are either a predator or a prey, you will be expected to chase the ideals of mages with the very same passion and determination." She explained, "Either you are a weasel or a lion, you will be expected to be just as honored and prideful as a mage."

She made a pause after this, and she added:

"Of course, a lion [i]will[/i] receive more respect than a weasel… or a ferret, for that matter."

"Oh." Vicky said, looking at her. "So, mages do have species-based prejudices?"

"It is a thing you cannot truly escape from." Zillah continued. "This is the kind of exists even among mages. Actually, it can be said that is actually more present among mages than on non-mages. You know, because mages tend to be old-fashioned and attached to traditions, and this makes them more conservative in certain aspects."

She looked away, and she sighed. "The idea that bunnies are small and helpless, that foxes are shifty and cunning, that weasels and ferrets are sneaky and thievery… all of these believes are present among mages, and they do make it harder to achieve anything." She explained.

"I grew up knowing that most mages would mistrust me because of my species, that they would consider me less than them because I was born a ferret, and that I have a smaller and weaker body. All of these things are things that mages take as truth, especially the older ones."

"Of course, you can rise above their prejudices and their bigotry if you are really good. After all, even bigotry cannot overcome talent and influence, that's for sure." She explained, "But still, you will always have to live with others thinking something of you because of your species, once most of the old-time mages don't let go of their ways easily. Also, not to mention how elitist mages are, and envious some can be when someone is better than them…"

Vicky remained silent after the weasel said this, as she took in the news.

[i]So, mages got that as well…[/i] She thought, as she was quite familiar with what Zillah was describing. She too had to keep up with prejudices while she was attending to her college. She did graduated among the best of her class, and that served to cause her to be target of envy from many of her classmates.

She could truly sympathize with the ferret girl.

"I see… well, that is a lot of information on the culture of mages." Vicky spoke, after shaking away the feelings she had just now and focused into making a good interview. "I am hearing some quite interesting things in this and I have to say, some of it is actually quite familiar…"

Zillah turned her eyes to look at her. "Well, the way you talk about the pride of mages, and about the way they attach themselves to the traditions, having nobility and being loyal to their lineages above all else. Well, it seems to me that, like you said, it really take a lot of similarities to the posh families, that are commonly called 'old money families'."

Zillah looked at her, and she was able to smile at this.

"Yeah, you are really right." She spoke to the vixen, and Vicky looked back at her.

"With all that I hear about the 'old money families' around the non-mage communities and media, I cannot help but think on how similar they actually are to the mage families, especially the older ones." She spoke, and leaned back, a paw resting on the head of the creature that was still by her side, making the big bird lean its head closer to her.

"They are really prideful of their heritage, and of all that they have built. The same way, they make sure to build something that they will leave on for the future generations." She explained, looking to be quite entertained with the thought.

"They are proud of their lineages, and they are very careful with who they relate with, even more with who they allow to enter their family." She explained. "They don't allow just anyone to marry their children, and they will often do it in arranged, political marriages with other noble families, making sure to have the best deals and also the best material to produce their descendants. They are really proud of their pedigree"

"They are individuals that will often have their own deal of influence in the place where they came from." She said, looking up, seemingly distracted as she spoke of that. "They have come from long lineages that have built their name over a place, and that have gathered a great deal of political power and fortune, sometimes through dubious means."

She sighed, and she once more looked back at the vixen, who was looking intently at her.

"And, of course, they spend an awful lot of time in their political dances."

"Oh?" Vicky said, and before she could aske further, the ferret decided to continue by herself in this.

"There are a lot of political plots and dances going on among mages." She explained to the vixen, not feeling any problem in looking about this. After all, she [i]had[/i] decided to tell everything. Well, everything she could. "Mages have a lot of personal biases, personal goals and ambitions, which sometimes do surpass the common sense of what a mage should focus on."

"In theory, mages should be dedicated to their researches and to improving their craft and themselves, for nothing more than the shake of doing so. They should look for the truth with no other goal but knowing it. They should see our craft as a noble art that they should respect and refine for nothing more than the pride and the gratification for knowing that they are improving it." Zillah spoke, and she continued:

"But, on reality, mages in general, especially those of the Association, are often involved in all kinds of political disputes and plots. Mages are often striking deals with other families, with arranged marriages, for instance, to bring more advantages to their own families. They get involved into petty power struggles with the goal of not only favoring themselves, but also of sabotaging their rivals."

"Yes, mages can be quite envious of each other. I can tell you many stories that are of mages that find a way or another to sabotage other mages. They invade their homes, trash their workshops, destroy or even steal their researches, all with the goal of preventing them from advancing more than themselves." Zillah spoke, "And these are the oldest and noblest families, for the younger ones, like mine, often get involved in hopes of growing in prestige themselves, as we try to follow the bigger ones and to find ways to make ourselves grow and become more powerful. My dad made sure that I should do my best to achieve this if possible…"

The way that Zillah Ferron spoke, made it seem that she had a deal of experience with this kind of thing, and she seemed some contempt towards the entire thing. "Yeah, the noble and wise mages can be quite petty when they want to, and there are a lot of situations in which they want to be petty. Some of them even go as far as to resort to assassination, if half the rumors I heard are truth…"

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The interview was being seen all over, including in the poorest parts. As it was the case in an old and rundown bar in a poor area. The place was dirty and had rundown walls and counters. The place was the kind where you would go for a cheap drink, and it had a peculiar smell on it, which the patrons in there were willing to ignore, once some of them were part of the source of the smell.

Most of the mammals in there were of species like weasels, foxes, hyenas, there were even some smaller tables where a number of rats gathered. They all were looking at the television that was set in the wall behind the counter. The image was with a lot of static, and the audio coming out form it was not the better. Still, it was perfectly possible to see the interview and to clearly know what it was being said.

"Hear that, guys?" Said a big boar, his cloths tattered, and he had a certain smell to himself. "These mages are just like these rich families who think of themselves as better than everyone!"

A lot of the mammals in there seemed to agree with him. Most of them were from species that were often looked down by society. They were from poorer families, marginalized by the society, and some of them did had some actual experience with these richer, 'nobler' families of snotty brats, and they did held some anger towards them.

While some were more vocal on their anger, others were a bit more discreet, as they resorted to silent hatred over these individuals. Among them, there was a particular mammal, a rat, who was sitting in a small table, sipping some cheap scotch from a dirty glass, as his eyes were focus on the screen, attentive to what the ferret girl would say next…
[center]**********************[/center]

Vicky had been taking in all that the ferret was saying, and as she spoke, the reporter could not help but hold on to something that the ferret had just said:

"Assassination?" Vicky asked, and she could not help but sound at least a tad bit alarmed by that. "You mean that mages actually resort to murder to achieve their goals?"

Zillah felt like kicking herself for talking a bit more than she should. This was the kind of thing that could lead to this whole thing actually making things even worse than they already were. However, the ferret was able to keep her cool, for she knew that this could still be salvaged…

"These are only rumors." She explained. "Things that you can hear around there, as someone claims to have known a guy who was killed by a rival, or someone who killed a family by setting their house on fire. Of course it is not proved." She assured her. "If it was, the enforcers would have acted on it already."

Vicky looked at her.

"And, the 'enforcers' are..?"

"They are the peace keepers of the Association." She said to her. "They are the ones who work by upholding our laws and chasing and punishing the criminals who do this kind of thing. You can say that they are our police force."

"Oh, I see." Vicky said, and she couldn't help but ask. "So, this means that mages have rules against killing, right?"

Zillah looked at her, and she then said:

"We have now, but it wasn't always like this."

There was a brief silence, as the ferret sighed, and she continued:

"Up until a few centuries ago, mages could do nearly anything they wanted. The assassinations, plots, lies and thefts were high on that time." She said to her, as if she was narrating something that she read from an old book. "It was really bad, you see. If you had enough power, you could get rid of anyone who was on your way. Either if it was a smaller family of mages who was bothering you, to some non-mages who had witnessed the supernatural and were threatening to expose you, you had the freedom to do whatever you wanted. You could use your resources to ruin their lives by destroying their possessions and everything they had. You could hire someone to 'dispose' of them for you, or do it yourself. Also, you could simply make them… 'disappear'. Mages could easily get away with murder."

There was a heavy silence following these words, as the animals hearing this took in the news that the ferret was giving. They were hoping that she was going to continue, and say that things were not like that anymore, and indeed:

"Mages were used to do as they pleased in that regard, as they were used to look for more power and more knowledge, while they distanced themselves from morals." Zillah said, "But all of that changed around three hundred years ago, when an influent family of mages stepped forward."

"That family was dissatisfied with the ways that mages acted. They were famous for their righteousness and for their morals, and they were not satisfied with the way that mages were acting. They did not appreciated the cruelty and ruthlessness of mages in general, as they were turning less mammals and more monsters."

"The more important mages of this family gathered and they debated, and in this debate, they gathered their many dissatisfactions within the behavior of mages, and they gathered them in the form of a compendium of laws and regulations that should be followed. This was the birth of the [b]New Mage Codex[/b]." She explained to them.

"Once the Codex was ready, they took to the greatest authorities of the association, presenting it to them as a new set of rules to bring forth morality and ethics into the works of mages." She spoke, looking at Vicky as she explained that, seeing her reactions. "I also read that they presented an argument as they gave it to the Association: '[i]You prideful and honored mages who kill those around you and destroying everything that you consider to be in your way, until eventually destroying yourselves, writing your legacies with blood and building your foundations over piles of corpses, consider yourselves so noble? You do that, and you consider yourselves smart, with your savagery and hubris? Then let us ask: you who act so barbaric in order to reach your goals, what makes you different from beasts? What is the point of reaching the perfection and learning the great truths of the universe, if when we reach the ultimate goal we will no longer be acting like reasonable mammals?[/i]'"

"Now, either if it was purely the argument they used, or also the influence that the family had, it is hard to say. What we know for sure is that the Codex was accepted by the Association, and transmitted down to all of the mages within its reach. From that point on, mammals could no longer act as they pleased, as the Codex brought forth limitations for their actions, bringing moral to how the mages were supposed to act."

"So, with the coming of the 'Codex', now mages follow a set of rules, right?" Vicky asked. "Now, are those laws similar to our own?"

"Oh, they are." Zillah said to her. "The Codex was based on old writings, like the Code of Hammurabi, but it also was inspired in the same rules that non-mages created. Stealing and destroying property are forbidden, and they often get you labelled as a petty criminal in our community, and they bring forth punishments. Also, many other things that were taken as normal back in the day are now considered serious crimes, like using innocent mammals as test subjects on experiments. Also, the most important is that now the act of murder is a heinous crime, either if it is murdering a mammal directly for personal reasons, or killing a mammal as a sacrifice for a ritual. The act of taking a life is a crime that is worth of a serious punishment in our world, and the Enforcers will ensure that the responsible is captured and answer for their crime."

Vicky nodded as Zillah spoke that.

"So, mages don't eliminate witnesses, right?" Vick asked her. "We don't have to look back on the mammals who turned out missing or who had mysterious deaths to see if they were victims of mages?" She asked, trying to keep a playful tune, but her question still carried a hint of genuine worry.

"We used to back then." Zillah answered. "But now, we resort to hypnotizing them to make them forget what they saw. And before you can ask, yes, we [i]can[/i] hypnotize. We use it to make the witnesses forget what they have seen. It [i]is[/i] a better resort than killing, don't you agree."

"Oh, it surely is." Vicky was forced to agree. There were more questions following this, but she decided to focus on that specific subject, once it was still worth talking, and she still had a question or two about that. "However, I must ask, what if the witnesses cannot be hypnotized? What if it is not possible to simply make them forget what they saw and move on with their lives? Then would you resort to other means?"

Zillah stopped for a moment, as if she was reflecting on what to say, and she continued:

"Sometimes, there is someone who saw something and talked before they could have their memories altered." She spoke. "Of course, it can represent problems to us. That is why we resort to discredit them."

"If someone was to see something and describe the things they saw, we did our best to try to cover up the evidence and to make the mammal who is speaking sound like they talking nonsense." Zillah explained. "Of course, sometimes it can have the effect of making the mammal acquire the fame of being insane, but it is a price we were willing to pay in order to keep the supernatural a secret. Honestly, I don't think it was very hard, actually."

She looked at the vixen, as she spoke:

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Most of the officers of the Precinct 1 of the ZPD were reuniting in the recreation room to watch to the interview. However, there was one that was not in there, as he had his own office, and his own television to watch.

Chief Bogo was on his office, looking after his many duties as the police chief when he heard news on the interview that was going to be show on the ZNN.

Now, one week ago he would have dismissed it as more nonsense. However, after what he witnesses on that night, he felt more inclined to hear it out, whatever it was.

He had been reevaluating most of the things he had before been sure since that night.

Not wanting to leave his office, Bogo instead resorted to the small television that he kept in there. It was small, not the best in terms of sound and image, but it was still a television, and he was able to see the ZNN in it, to watch the interview.

What wasn't his surprise when he saw no other than the same ferret of that night, talking in television about mages and all of that stuff.

He heard very intently to all that she said. He got nervous when she talked on how mages resorted to killing. He felt relieved and admired when he heard that they had their own police and laws (well, he kind of heard that already, from the mouth of the very same ferret that was on television now). Most of all, he heard when she talked about the way they discredited mammals who had witnessed their doings.

"[i]Nowadays, mammals are actually much more inclined to dismiss people who say that magic is real as being lunatics.[/i]" The ferret said on television. "[i]The fact that everybody until very recently dismissed the supernatural as false and that anyone who says the opposite is considered deranged is a proof of our ability to hide and keep supernatural a secret.[/i]"

Bogo felt a tightening on his chest as he heard that, his mind on another certain mammal…

[center]**********************[/center]

"I know that make others seen crazy might be radical, and even a little cruel." Zillah said soon after. "But it is still a better option than murder. It is not like in the old days, when mages could do whatever they wanted, as long as they didn't risked exposing the secrecy of the supernatural."

Vicky took it all in, nodding at her. It all made a lot of sense.

"I see. Well, I guess I can see the reasoning behind all that you have said until now." She spoke to the ferret, and then she said:

"Still, this leaves one question: how the supernatural came to be a secret?"

Zillah looked up to look at Vicky, as the vixen continued:

"I mean, there was a time when the existence of magic was considered something real, accepted by most of the population as a fact. How come it became a secret, and considered by many as fake until recent events?"

Zillah could not help but be admired on how the questions that the vixen asked were smart. She knew she had to answer that, and that it was an important thing to answer so everyone who saw it to understand what was happening. So, she put herself to explain:

"It was around a thousand years ago." Zillah said, "During the middle ages, when mages saw that they were having a lot of trouble due to their craft being common knowledge. They saw that this was working against them. So, the heads of the Association came up with an idea: to convince the world that the supernatural was not real."

"Their reasoning was: '[i]The idea of the supernatural is one that brings trouble to those who are not part of it. They suffer and mistrust each other, and live in fear for knowing that the world is full of things that they cannot truly explain or understand. This leads them to turn on us, as we see our doings threatened, and the possibility of all that we work for being lost. So, let us ease their minds by turning it into nothing more than a fantasy. Let the world forget our existence, may mages be remembered as nothing more than a dream.[/i]'" She finished, and she stopped for a moment to sigh.

"They say that the greatest trick of the devil was convincing the world that he did not existed, but that is not entirely true." Zillah said, and she could actually smile at this "It were mages who did that trick."

"It took generations of preparation and effort. It was hard at first, but with each passing generation, it was possible to consolidate more and more the idea that the supernatural was not real. With each passing generation, the doubt was increased, and soon, it became a certainty. The lie was repeated so many times, in so many ways, with so many different speeches backing it up, that it ended up becoming a reality: mages don't exist."

Zillah stopped a little more.

"Yeah, we really did got everyone in that." She said, more as if she was musing to herself than explaining to someone else. Soon, however, she was once more focused into explaining to Vicky and the camera.

"Still, it only worked for a few centuries, didn't it?" She said, "Well, I guess it was a good plan, but not meant to last. We didn't really expected so much evidence to be piled up against us with such speed and power."

Vicky nodded at this.

"Well, I guess you can say so." The vixen said. "I guess even mages have their limits, even with their magic."

Another brief silence, before Zillah spoke:

"Magecraft."

"Excuse me?" Vicky asked, and the ferret was looking at her.

"It is not [i]magic[/i], Ms. Vulpen. It is [b]magecraft[/b]. It is not the same…"