Figuring out what to do about the false Karanissa was a little more difficult. By general consent of everyone involved except the image herself-and even she didn’t seriously object-she had been locked away in one of the four small bedrooms in the wizard’s tower, out of sight of the castle’s other inhabitants but with an adequate supply of food and water, until such time as the others had decided how she should be handled.

Karanissa thought she was harmless and should be released; Alorria thought she was a monster that should be destroyed; and the two men did not yet have fixed opinions.

Over breakfast and a subsequent glass of wine, Gresh explained to Tobas exactly what had happened in the cave and detailed his theories of just how the mirror’s magic worked, which included a description of the reflection’s initial appearance. That did not bring them to any quick agreement on what should be done with her.

Alorria did not stay around to listen to the debate; she had stated her position and had more urgent concerns, such as showing Alris off to the king and queen again. Karanissa stayed, but had little to say; for the most part she left the discussion to the two men.

“She’s just an image. We should use Javan’s Restorative to make her disappear,” Tobas said.

“Would it do that?” Karanissa asked.

“I think it would,” Tobas said. “The Restorative turns things into what they were before they were enchanted or broken or transformed, and she wasn’t anything before she was enchanted.”

“If that would work on her, it would work on spriggans,” Gresh said thoughtfully. “That might be a way of disposing of them. An expensive one, though. I wonder if it would work?”

“It ought to.”

“Then it could be used to make any magical creation vanish?”

Tobas hesitated. Gresh suspected he was reconsidering his position. Javan’s Restorative was a powerful countercharm, but surely it wasn’t that powerful!

“I think we should try it on her,” Tobas finally said.

“Why?” Gresh demanded. “She hasn’t done anything to harm anyone. How sure are you it will make her disappear, anyway?”

“I’m not sure at all,” Tobas admitted. “I’m not comfortable having her around, though-she’s an imitation of my wife, after all!”

Gresh glanced at Karanissa. “One wife, yes,” he said. “Which is probably why the other wants her destroyed. She feels outnumbered. And you probably find it unsettling, having a copy of one of your wives. If she weren’t a second Karanissa, but the image of a stranger, would you still want her destroyed?”

“Probably not,” Tobas admitted. He frowned thoughtfully. “All right, you’ve made your point.”

Gresh was not at all sure he had adequately conveyed his feelings on the subject, partly because he was not entirely certain himself what they were. He had originally been considering finding a way to erase the reflection himself, but the more he thought about it, the more repulsive the idea seemed. He was beginning to suspect it would amount to murder; the reflection certainly considered herself a person, and anyone seeing her would think she was human.

He had already decided that killing half a million spriggans would be wrong; how would killing this one pseudo-human be any different? These magical reflections might not be entirely real, might not be “complete” in some way, but they certainly seemed to have feelings and desires and intelligence-they could speak and act and showed every other sign of being rational beings. Calling it “erasing” or “unmaking” didn’t change the fact that it was killing, ending a life.

But turning a reflection loose in the World didn’t seem like the best idea, either. Where would she go? What would she do? If she was like the spriggans she didn’t really need to eat. She couldn’t starve to death, but she would get painfully hungry if she didn’t get regular meals.

Gresh could easily imagine her winding up as one of the miserable, homeless residents in Soldiers’ Field, or as a slave, or as one of the whores in Wargate; he didn’t like any of those ideas.

Of course, she was an attractive woman; she might be fortunate enough to find a trustworthy protector. And she might be a witch; no one had yet determined that definitively, one way or the other.

Using Lirrim’s Rectification to turn her human might be a good idea-assuming it would work-because at least then she would be no more tempting to abusers than any other homeless and beautiful orphan. Gresh had some unpleasantly lurid thoughts about what might happen if a slaver or a Wargate pimp found out that an indestructible woman was available and unguarded; it would be better to remove that possibility. The Rectification might fill in some of the holes in her memory-assuming they were holes. She had been created with a complete working knowledge of the Ethsharitic language and an understanding of such concepts as marriage and dragons, but had not known whether she was a witch, whether she was married, or any number of other things. If she had arrived completely ignorant, like a baby, needing to learn to walk and talk, that would have made sense. If she had started out believing herself to be Karanissa, with all Karanissa’s memories, Gresh would have understood. This halfway state, where she had most or all of Karanissa’s general knowledge but none of her personal and specific knowledge, was confusing. Lirrim’s Rectification might change that.

Or there might be other spells…

“We should ask her,” he said, abruptly arriving at a conclusion he now thought he should have reached long ago.

“Ask her if she wants us to erase her?”

“No-or rather, not just that. We should offer her all the options we can think of and ask which she wants.”

“Without promising she’ll get her first choice,” Tobas said. “If she says she wants to marry me, the answer’s no-I can barely handle two wives, and three is out of the question.” He grimaced. “For one thing, Alorria would kill me. Or her, or both of us.” He glanced at Karanissa. “I doubt Kara would be pleased, either.”

“You know, in her present condition, she can’t be killed while you’re protecting the mirror.”

“Ali would find a way.”

“Or I would,” Karanissa interjected.

“One of you just might,” Gresh agreed. “So the marriage option is unavailable-but really, we ought to let her choose what she wants.”

Tobas sighed. “I suppose. Or perhaps we could just deliver her to one of the Guildmasters, and let the Guild decide?”

“No,” Gresh said. “She wasn’t part of our agreement, and I’m not giving her to Kaligir.”

“I was also thinking of Telurinon.”

“Nor him.”

Tobas gave in. “All right, then-we’ll ask her what she wants.”

Gresh finished his wine, set the glass on the table, and rose to his feet. “Now?”

“I don’t see any reason to wait.” Tobas stood, as well, and the two men headed for the stairs. Karanissa gulped the last of her wine, then followed.

In the tower apartment they made their way up the stairs and unlocked the door to the little-used bedroom where the reflection had been confined. They found her seated on the edge of the bed, staring intently at a tapestry she had taken off the wall and now held stretched across her lap.

She looked up at their entry.

“What are you doing with that tapestry?” Tobas asked, puzzled.

“Seeing how it’s made,” the image replied. “Studying the weave.”

Gresh suspected that further inquiry about her activities would be a waste of time, and before Tobas could say anything more he said, “We’ve come to ask you a few things. Important things.”

“I’m not sure I know anything important,” the reflection replied.

“Actually, we came to ask what you want, not what you know,” Tobas told her.

“Oh?” She lowered the tapestry.