Zorian wasn’t idle while the Sword Divers deliberated whether to accept his offer or not. He left Korsa to continue his search for more aranean colonies, though they proved more elusive than the Sword Divers despite living beneath much smaller settlements. By the time the Sword Divers contacted him again eight days later, he had only found one more colony. Illustrious Gem Collectors lived under a small village near Ticlin and, although perfectly friendly and polite, immediately informed him that they had an exclusive contract with the leaders of the village that would prevent any dealings with Zorian. Unfortunate. That said, they were perfectly willing to tell Zorian the locations of five other webs in their vicinity that might be more open to the idea, so that was still a win in his book.
