“We’ve been discussing what we should do with you,” Gresh explained. “We finally decided that it wasn’t really up to us-you should decide.”

“But you know so much more about the World than I do!”

“But it’s your life we’re discussing.”

“Well, that’s true. So what is it you want me to decide?”

Tobas and Gresh exchanged glances; then Gresh said, “I know you consider yourself a person, but you aren’t exactly a human being; you’re a magical reflection of one. You were created fully grown, instead of being born and growing up; you have no name; and the witch here says that there are parts missing-it may be that you don’t have a soul, she isn’t quite sure. If the spriggans are right, you’re bound to the mirror that made you in several ways and immune to physical harm as long as the spell is active. You aren’t entirely real; you’re a magically solidified image that thinks it’s real.”

“I am? Is that what I am?” She looked fascinated, but not particularly troubled by this revelation.

“We’re fairly certain,” Tobas said. “But it’s possible our theories are wrong.”

“As a magical creation of this sort,” Gresh said, pressing on, “you may have some difficulties in dealing with human society. In any case, you definitely aren’t going to be permitted to stay here in Dwomor Keep; your resemblance to the woman you’re reflected from, Karanissa of the Mountains, would make your presence inconvenient and upsetting to several people here.”

“Where else is there?” the image asked.

“Hundreds of places, from uninhabited wilderness to huge cities,” Gresh told her. “You can go wherever you please, so long as it isn’t here.”

“Then why did you bring me here?”

“Because we were coming here, and we hadn’t yet decided what to do with you. It seemed cruel to leave you alone in the mountains.”

“But now you want to send me away?”

“Eventually, yes. But there are a few other matters to resolve first.”

“Go on.”

“We have some magic powders-they’re downstairs, where I left them. We think one of them would undo the spell that created you; if you don’t care what happens to you, it would be simplest for us if we just uncreated you. If we’re right about what the spell would do, you’d just cease to exist; there’d be no pain or discomfort of any kind. You’d just be gone. We aren’t sure it would work, but we think so. Would you… would that be acceptable to you?”

She stared at him. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I’m not suicidal.” She frowned. “I thought you were having trouble with an excess of spriggans. Aren’t they the same sort of reflection I am? If you have a spell like that, why haven’t you uncreated them?”

“Two reasons,” Gresh said. “First, it’s ordinarily a very expensive spell. I only have a supply of the powder form because the Wizards’ Guild wanted me to be well equipped for dealing with the magic mirror. Second, up until we actually found the mirror, and saw you come out of it, we had no idea how it worked and didn’t think the spell would do anything to spriggans. We didn’t know they weren’t entirely real.”

“Oh. I suppose that makes sense. But I still don’t want anything to do with it.”

Gresh sighed, though he wasn’t surprised. “All right, then. We have another spell that transforms things into what they were meant to be. We think-again, we aren’t absolutely certain-that it would turn you into a real human being. After that you would be free to go wherever you chose, other than this castle, and do what you please.”

“Interesting. Do you have any other spells? Perhaps the one that turned him from a dragon to a man?” She gestured at Tobas.

“That’s the one that would unmake you,” Gresh said. “He was a man first.”

“Then what about the spell that turned him into a dragon?”

“I don’t think that would do anything to you; it might be interesting to try it and see, though.”

“Would it turn me into a dragon?”

“No. I think I can say that much.”

“Oh. Are there any others, then?”

Gresh and Tobas looked at one another, then back at the reflection.

“Not really, no,” Tobas replied. “That’s the lot.”

“So my choices are to remain as I am, to cease to exist, or to turn human?”

“Yes. We think.”

“If I turned human and didn’t like it, could you change me back?”

Tobas and Gresh exchanged glances again. “The Spell of Reversal?” Gresh asked.

“It ought to work,” Tobas agreed.

Gresh turned back to the reflection. “You’d have about half an hour to decide; after that, I don’t think we could turn you back.”

“Javan’s Restorative might work, too,” Tobas suggested.

Gresh frowned. “Maybe,” he admitted.

“Well,” the reflection said, “if I have a choice of two possible modes of existence, it seems to me that I ought to try them both before deciding which I want.”

Gresh nodded. “Very sensible,” he said. “Then you want us to turn you human? Or rather, try the spell that we think will turn you human?”

“You aren’t sure?”

“I’m afraid not. But we both really do think it will work.”

“Then I’ll try it.”

Gresh smiled reassuringly. “I’ll go fetch the powder.” He turned and left the room, bound for the stairs.

Just outside the bedroom door he almost tripped over a spriggan, but caught himself against the wall of the passage. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

“Heard voices,” the spriggan said. “Came to see whether voices were bad mirror thieves trying to sneak up on us.”

“There aren’t any mirror thieves around here,” Gresh said, annoyed. “That’s why we brought it here, so it would be safe.”

“Yes, yes. Sorry sorry.” The spriggan scampered back toward the stairs. Gresh watched it bound up a few steps, then pause to catch its breath. Gresh decided not to waste any more time on it. He marched down the passage and down the stairs to the sitting room, then crossed to the corner where he had left his pack.

He considered hauling the whole thing upstairs, but he was afraid that if he did, Tobas and Karanissa might get caught up in the excitement and start throwing spells around, wasting the powders. He had gotten a little carried away himself out on the mountain. It was the first time he’d ever had so much magic right there in his own hands, and he’d been perhaps a bit careless with his powders, but he was calmed down now and didn’t see any need to put needless temptation in anyone’s path.

He thought he understood now why wizards didn’t ordinarily keep many spells around in powder form. It was too easy to use them. The temptation to just fling a powder and say a word was much stronger than Gresh had imagined. Working a spell from scratch every time meant that a wizard had to think about what he was doing, instead of acting on impulse. Gresh knew he had been lucky that none of his enchantments had ended in disaster, and he did not want to push his luck too far. He intended to take the remaining powders and potions back to Ethshar with him and, if the Guild did not reclaim them, sell them for a healthy price. He did not care to let anyone else experiment with them, trying them all out to see what they might do to the reflected Karanissa, or to spriggans.

So he did not bring the whole box. Instead he opened the pack, pulled out the box, and found the jar of white powder, still mostly full-he had used only one pinch from this one so far, less than any of the others. He pulled it out, pushed the pack back in the corner with his foot, and then headed back up to the bedroom. He heard the spriggans squeaking somewhere above him as he climbed the stairs, but ignored them as he marched back up the passage.

He did wonder idly how much damage they were doing to Tobas’s laboratory, but did not let it concern him.