We don't have any other choice. Our Keepers are our leaders and guides. They study and protect the lore and lives of the People. But we're not just mages. We're elves who live free. Settling and living together and sharing our lore and protecting our mage children from being sent away is impossible. Clan life is our only alternative to alienages and Circles, and we would sooner die than give up our freedom. But clan life is hard, and it's so hard to keep people alive sometimes. During the plague it wasn't about whether we'd lose someone, it was about how many, and whether our clan would continue on or just die out. When so many are sick or grieving, it's the hands that can work that do the working, even if they're a child, even if they have no parents but their Keeper. There is nothing anyone can do about that.