Tobas looked down, remembered that she was not who she appeared to be, and snatched his hand away. Then, reluctantly, he settled onto the other velvet chair.

Gresh hesitated; he wanted to give Twilfa some help in the kitchen and start getting caught up on business matters, but he had promised Tobas he would never leave him alone with Esmera.

“Will you two be all right here if I go give Twilfa a hand?” he asked.

Tobas threw Esmera a quick glance, then said, “I would really prefer…”

“Could I come with you?” Esmera interrupted. “I’d like to meet all your sisters and get to know them, if I’m going to be staying around here.”

Tobas looked relieved. “I’ll stay here, to let Kaligir in,” he said.

That was not exactly what Gresh had wanted, but it was close enough-and it really would be a good idea for Esmera to get to know Twilfa. “As you please,” he said.

Together, Gresh and Esmera made their way down the passage to the kitchen, where Twilfa was filling beer mugs from the keg in the pantry. A tray of black bread and hard cheese stood ready on the table.

“I thought you’d want something simple and filling,” Twilfa explained, with an uncertain glance at Esmera.

“Excellent,” Gresh said, not mentioning how similar it was to the breakfast they had eaten in Ethshar of the Sands. “Esmé, could you fetch that big jar of apricots?” He pointed, and then picked up the prepared tray.

As Esmera lifted the heavy jar down from the shelf, Twilfa leaned over and whispered, “Are you sure she isn’t Karanissa?”

“Quite sure.”

“But she isn’t really a sister, is she? Isn’t Karanissa four hundred years old?”

“Yes.”

“So she’s, what, a homunculus of some sort? A shapeshifter?”

“More of a magical accident-and a witch, just like the original, so she can hear everything we’re saying.”

Twilfa threw her a quick, guilty look. “Oh.”

“That’s all right,” Esmera said, as she turned, holding the jar. “Of course you’re curious; anyone would be. As Gresh says, I’m an accident-remember, he went to find a magical mirror? Well, he found it, and it is a mirror, as well as the source of the spriggans. I’m a reflection turned human.”

“Oh.” Twilfa’s voice was noncommittal, but her expression was frankly baffled.

“But I really am human now and would prefer to be treated as such.” There was a faint tone of warning in Esmera’s voice.

Twilfa did not miss it. “Oh, of course,” she said. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“You weren’t,” Esmera assured her, relaxing again. “And as a guest here, I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable.”

“It’s nothing…”

Just then the doorbell jingled.

“That will be Kaligir,” Esmera said. “Shall we go?” She hoisted the jar of pickled apricots and led the way back to the front room.

The Spriggan Mirror

A Legend of Ethshar

Kaligir stood in the doorway, looking around distastefully. He wore the same red-and-black formal robes and black cap he had worn for his first visit, a couple of sixnights earlier.

Tobas was already on his feet, saying, “Welcome, Guildmaster,” when Esmera, Gresh, and Twilfa emerged into the room bearing food and beer. Gresh set the tray of bread and cheese on a table, while Esmera opened the jar of fruit, and Twilfa distributed beer.

“A pleasure to see you, Guildmaster,” Gresh said, wiping his hands on his breeches.

“I’ll go get more beer,” Twilfa said. She had brought only three mugs.

“Don’t hurry,” Kaligir said.

Twilfa glanced at Gresh, who nodded; they both understood that Kaligir did not want a mere supplier’s assistant listening to Wizards’ Guild business.

“Shall I give her a hand?” Esmera asked.

“I think we want you here,” Gresh said, before either of the other men could respond. “Here, take my beer; I’ll wait for another.” He took a mug from Twilfa and handed it to Esmera.

Twilfa had already provided Kaligir and Tobas with their drinks; thus unencumbered, she hurried away.

The others watched her go; then Gresh, Tobas, and Esmera turned expectantly to Kaligir and waited for him to speak.

The Guildmaster did not waste time on pleasantries. “I understand from my communications with Tobas that you have found and obtained the magic mirror, but have not destroyed it,” Kaligir said, looking directly at Gresh.

“I was not engaged to destroy it,” Gresh replied mildly. “I delivered it to Tobas, as our agreement specified.”

“Don’t play the fool with me, Gresh. You know what the Guild wanted.”

“You said that you wanted to ensure the mirror would stop producing spriggans. It has stopped producing spriggans, and it’s safely in Tobas’s possession. That was the full extent of my agreement; I never promised to do anything more than deliver it, and I’ve done that. If you aren’t happy that he isn’t delivering it to you immediately, well, yes, in order to obtain it without undue difficulty I placed Javan’s Geas on Tobas, ensuring that he will never give the mirror to anyone else. But the Guild can take it from him, should you choose. There’s nothing to prevent it, whatever the spriggans may think.”

“Nothing to prevent it? So anyone can take it? And what if the spriggans take it from him?”

“I don’t mean it’s unguarded; I mean that Tobas can make it possible for the Guild to take it, should you want to. As for the spriggans, they have agreed not to retrieve it-and even if they do, it’s no longer generating spriggans. It’s harmless, regardless of who has it.”

Kaligir glanced at Tobas, who gulped beer; then he turned his attention back to Gresh. “The spriggans have agreed to this? And you believe them?”

“I do,” Gresh said quietly. “Seriously, have you ever known a spriggan to break a promise?”

“I have never been in a position to hear one of the little pests make a promise!”

Gresh turned up a palm. “Well, there you are, then,” he said. “That’s why you couldn’t find the mirror, and I could. Because I thought to ask the spriggans where it was. Because I took the time to talk to them and made an effort to understand them, instead of simply chasing them away. I negotiated terms with them, as one speaking creature to another. I treated them, annoying as they are, with a trace of respect.”

Kaligir blinked at him. “Is that how you found it? You asked them?”

“Well, that, and some careful questioning, and a little sorcery.”

“So you talked to spriggans who led you to the mirror and who promised not to take it back-but what makes you think they spoke for all the half-million of the creatures who are roaming the World? Why shouldn’t some other bunch of spriggans snatch the mirror away?”

“I have reason to believe the ones I spoke to represent the majority and that many of the others don’t concern themselves with the mirror at all.”

Kaligir frowned. Gresh met his gaze calmly.

“I promised only to deliver the mirror,” Gresh said. “Holding on to it is not my problem. I would have thought that the Wizards’ Guild could manage that without my assistance.”

Kaligir said nothing more for a long moment, but finally demanded, “And once you had the mirror, why did you and Tobas not see to its destruction? You say that it’s no longer producing spriggans, but destroying it would seem a far more certain way to ensure that no more spriggans would be produced than whatever you did do.”

“Well, Tobas cannot destroy it-I placed a geas on him to that effect.”

“Why did you do that? Having done it, why did you not destroy it yourself? Tobas could not destroy it or give it back to you, but surely you, more than anyone else, could just take it. Why didn’t you?”