Reflection: The Stranger in the Mirror

by Rachel R. Smith

  A tiny bell chimed as she pushed open the door to the shop. The front room served a dual purpose as both a showroom for the season's new designs and a fitting room, with curtained booths on one wall and lined with mirrors on the other. Nerissa was idly examining a rack of blouses when the dressmaker herself emerged from the back.

  "Ahh! Heiress Nerissa, you must be here to check on your costume!" Nerissa smiled politely and nodded in agreement. "Come on back and take a look! The last few days have been hectic, but the second one is nearly done."

  She followed the woman into the backroom where bolts of cloth were neatly arrayed in a rainbow of color along the walls. There were several other dresses on mannequins around the room, but Nerissa's eyes were immediately drawn to one in particular. The dress was remarkable, with elegant ruching on the bodice and layer upon layer of fabric filling out the skirt. However, it was the color that truly set it apart—the crimson orange of sunset.

  "I was a bit worried since this is the first time I've used this color dye, but I think it turned out rather well," the dressmaker said. She held up a long feather that had been dyed to match. "I'll be adding these to it tonight."

  "It's beautiful," Nerissa breathed. "Do you need to check the fit once more?"

  "No, I've been working on the embellishments and accessories, so I haven't made any alterations since the fitting earlier this week."

  "Excellent, I look forward to seeing it finished."

  "My husband can bring it to the Manor tomorrow afternoon," the woman began.

  "No need for that,” Nerissa interrupted. “I'm sure you'll both be very busy delivering costumes to your other customers. I'll come by tomorrow afternoon myself. I'd like to be sure that no one gets a peek at it beforehand anyway." Nerissa winked as she returned to the front door of the shop.

  "I couldn't possibly allow..."

  "I insist. Besides, someone might wonder why I am having two dresses delivered and then that would ruin the surprise!" Nerissa interjected, cutting off her protests. "As always, I thank you for your hard work."

  "It is my pleasure, Heiress," the woman replied with a bow.

  The tiny bell on the door rang once again as Nerissa exited the shop and stepped into the bustling street. The main streets were filled with people. Rarely was it so crowded in town, but preparations for the following night's festivities were underway here as well. Booths and stands were being constructed in the grassy squares that separated the buildings on one side of the road from the other. Tomorrow night the streets would be filled with masked revelers. Unlike the elegant decorum of the masquerade at the Manor, the festivities in town were energetic and sometimes wild celebrations involving games, contests, food, and drink. Though she had always lived in the Manor by the river, the capital city of Niamh had a special place in her heart because it was where she had spent most of her youth. Even her earliest memories of the masquerade were of spending the evening on these very streets with Charis and her father, playing games and eating snacks until they felt sick.

  Despite being the daughter of Chiyo's Blood and Bond, there had been no guarantee that she would one day inherit the rule of the country. Royal children were always treated the same as all other children in terms of schooling and discipline. That changed at age twelve when she, like others before her, began to learn about policies, procedures, and protocol from her parents and took on minor responsibilities. During this time, her actions and behaviors were evaluated by a secret council to determine if she was fit to receive the title of Heiress. She still had no idea who the members of the selection council had been. Nerissa had been approved of unanimously and was named Heiress on her seventeenth birthday. She had been the Heiress of Chiyo for three years, and now there were only a few citizens who still remember her as the child she once was.

  Nerissa walked along lost in thought which is precisely how she ended up with a cream-filled pastry in her mouth before she knew it was coming. She blinked in surprise and then smiled broadly around the edges of the protruding confection. There were few people in Niamh whose opinion of Nerissa had not changed upon her being named Heiress—and the stout, laughing man in front of her was one of them.

  "So how is it? Do you think it is good enough for tomorrow night?" he questioned, leaning closer to her expectantly.

  She swallowed the first bite and pulled the remainder of the pastry from her mouth. "Recruiting unsuspecting taste testers again, Pan?"

  "Humph! You've been sneaking tastes of my cooking ever since you were this tall," he grinned, gesturing to the level of his knee with one hand. "It's about time the tables were turned!" His whole body shook as he chuckled so loudly that those passing by craned their necks to see what was going on. Oh yes, Pan was one of the people who still remembered the antics of Nerissa's childhood all too well.

  A window above the bakery banged open, and Pan's wife leaned through, "Pan! You're not telling tasteless jokes again, are you?"

  "Never, my dear! How could you even think I would do that in front of such a refined lady?" he called back innocently.

  Pan was one of the most jovial people she knew, always quick to smile and laugh—and equally quick to bring about the same reaction in others. Nerissa had lost count of the times she blushed at jokes he had told in her presence. He had a habit of forgetting himself and saying off-color things occasionally.

  His wife tsked affectionately from the window. "If he makes you blush again, Nerissa, you have my permission to send him off to the farm for a few weeks until he learns to control his tongue!" She laughed and disappeared again.

  Nerissa stepped into the shop, trailed closely by Pan. "I think that the pastry will be just perfect for tomorrow night," she said with a smile. "Now that I have the taste in my mouth, I ought to bring a couple to have with our tea."

  "Visiting with Tao today? I wondered what had brought you by," Pan said absently while placing two confections into a small, waxed paper bag.

  "Yes, since tomorrow night is the masquerade, I can't come on the usual evening." Nerissa couldn't resist taking another bite of the sweet in her hand. "If I don’t fit in my dress, I will hold you personally responsible, Pan," she said in her most scolding voice.

  "My dear, you really shouldn't talk with your mouth full. I can't understand you."

  Nerissa raised an eyebrow. She hadn't any food in her mouth at all when she said that. However, she did catch a glance of herself reflected in the glass case and realized she had a bit of cream on her cheek, which she quickly wiped away. "How much do I owe you?"

  "For my favorite taste tester, no charge," Pan chortled, sliding the bag across the counter to her.

  "The sign in the window says, 'No free samples.' You can't disobey your own sign, Pan," Nerissa playfully lectured.

  "If you insist, then today's fee will be a kiss right here." No sooner had Pan pointed jovially at one of his rosy cheeks than a loud thump resounded from the ceiling, followed by an exasperated exclamation of "Pan!”

  "She doesn't like it when I let others use her discount," Pan whispered conspiratorially.

  Nerissa laughed and placed two coins on the counter. She dashed out the door, turning back long enough to stick her tongue out and wink at him once outside the shop. Pan simply put his hands on his hips and laughed.

  To make up for her unexpected stop at Pan's shop, Nerissa cut through the gardens in the center of the city, which were just beginning to bloom. The wide legs of her pants rustled and stirred curls of fallen cherry blossoms with each step as she hurried along the winding path. Throughout the gardens were tall stone sculptures, crafted to display the grand conquests and wondrous achievements of Gared, the Hero of Renatus and one of Nerissa's distant ancestors. In the center of the gardens, was the largest statue of them all. It depicted Gared atop a rearing horse, waving the flag of Renatus above his head in triumph. From a distance, Nerissa could see a man leaning casually against the horse's massive hind leg. His long black hair streamed behind him in the wind, and a sword hung at hi
s side. As she strained to get a better look, a lock of her hair was freed by an errant breeze and blew into her face. She quickly brushed it from her eyes, but, when she looked again, all that remained were long shadows stretching across the ground as a gust stirred still more soft pink petals from the trees. It happened so quickly that she wondered if perhaps she had imagined him entirely, yet her senses tingled with an odd sense of foreboding.

  Chapter 2

  Shatter

  The sense of foreboding lingered as she finally arrived at Tao's home. Calling it a home was really an understatement. The building in front of Nerissa contained not only Tao's residence but also a classroom and shop. Despite her age, Tao had seemingly boundless energy to channel into her "hobbies" which included teaching crystal classes to the town's children and running one of the largest crystal shops in Chiyo. Her most intriguing work, and the reason why Nerissa met with her each week, was to delve deeper into the uses of crystals. She was always looking for new stones and new uses for them. Tao had a talent for combining gems—twinning, she called it—in unique and unprecedented ways so they could be utilized for highly specialized tasks. In her younger days, Nerissa and Charis had been particularly vexed by one of Tao's first inventions: a combination of stones which can detect lies. It was a popular item among parents, judges, and merchants. These and other creations were sold in her shop along with individual crystals imported straight from Rhea, the distant mountain region of Chiyo.

  As Nerissa entered the store, tiny crystals tinkled overhead, spurred into motion by the opening of the door. An apprentice waved a greeting on his way into the stock room. Tao's voice could be heard clearly emanating from the other room, leading her students through the steps to identifying a crystal's element: first by the shape and then by the color. Nerissa occupied herself by browsing the glass cases for new additions. One case contained hundreds of fire-fire stones. Their sharp, jagged contours in sparkling yellows, oranges, and reds presented a stark contrast to the soft curves of the blue and purple water-water stones in the adjacent case. On the opposite side of the shop, two women were exclaiming over the pure, clear spirit stones. They commented on both the remarkable quality and the inexpensive price. Spirit stones were the only crystals identified solely by color without regard to shape. Colorless gems of high clarity were very rare indeed—meaning spirit stones were prized above all others.

  Wandering past the case of fire-air and air-metal stones, Nerissa paused to look at the most unique crystal in the collection. It was one of her personal favorites. This particular specimen was not for sale. It was far more rare than even the clearest spirit stones. The stone was a gradient of clear, blue, green, and pink with threads of silver within the stone itself; representing spirit, water, earth, fire, and metal, respectively. A single stone that embodied all five elements was so astronomically rare that its existence would be nearly impossible to believe if she couldn’t see it with her own eyes. Stranger still, the stone didn't behave like any other. No matter what minerals she and Tao had tried to twin it with, and they had tried numerous combinations, it sat there as unreactive and lifeless as an ordinary rock.

  The rustling of papers and books a moment later told Nerissa that the class had ended. Passing the case, she walked a short distance down a narrow hallway to the doorway of the classroom. Holding the bag of pastries behind her back, she leaned against the frame and waved discreetly when Tao spotted her. The students, none any greater in height than Nerissa's waist, filed out of the room. Some paused and briefly bowed with formal greetings of, "Hello, Heiress Nerissa!" while others simply laughed and waved, calling out an informal, "Hello, Nerissa!" before hurrying on their way. As Tao carefully organized the papers on her desk, Nerissa mused to herself about what the students would think if they saw the way their teacher really was. A crashing sound near the window, followed by a stifled curse from Tao, caught her attention. Before Nerissa located the source of the sound, Tao had already pulled a brush from its hook on the wall and begun pushing tiny shards of a green crystal from the floor into a basket of rubbish.

  “Tao, that crystal! What...," Nerissa began before Tao cut her off mid-sentence with a hiss.

  "I'm simply a clumsy old woman. It’s a shame, really. That was a rare specimen. Earth-air crystals like that one can only be found in remote areas of Marise."

  It wasn’t possible for Tao to have knocked the stone over since she had not been near the window! She was rambling, an obvious attempt at changing the subject.

  "Tao..." Nerissa started again, this time cut off by a pointed look from Tao along with a sharp nod of her head toward the other room. Her apprentice was hovering near the door, pretending to be busy dusting. "...that is a shame," Nerissa finished, barely catching herself.

  "Indeed. Help me carry these upstairs before I drop them as well," Tao said dryly. She paused outside the door to bid goodnight to her apprentice before proceeding on.

  Nerissa followed the elderly instructor up the narrow stairway to the second story where she lived. The living area, directly above the shop and classroom, was as different from the first floor as night is to day. This floor was one large room that was both airy and spacious with a wide set of paneled glass doors opening onto a balcony. Bookshelves lined every available wall. They were stuffed and stacked to overflowing with volumes of literature and lore about crystals, their history, their myths, and their uses. Stacks of papers and still more books crowded the two tables in the center of the room. Some were closed with colored ribbons peeking out from the pages to mark important or interesting passages, and others were stacked atop one another while still open. There were even books on the floor protruding from Tao's bed, apparently tucked away just before dreams overtook consciousness.

  Tao busied herself, starting a fire in the small stove and putting a gray kettle on top to boil water for the tea. "Which lucky young nobleman will be escorting the Heiress to the masquerade tomorrow?" she queried, not the slightest bit ashamed of the boldness of her question.

  Nerissa decided silence and a doleful look was the best answer. The idea of dating any of the noblemen of Chiyo was not particularly pleasurable. All of the young nobles she had the distinct displeasure of being acquainted with were less than discreet about their true intentions. After the third heartbreak caused by one of these self-centered leeches, Nerissa decided she would be much happier if she never married. Never mind that there were plenty of other men in Chiyo and that there were no requirements that she marry another noble. Her own mother had married a farmer after all. Nerissa was thoroughly convinced that she would never find someone that was interested in her and not her station.

  "You shouldn’t choose to be alone because you had a few bad experiences, you know,” Tao said.

  Oh, yes, I can, Nerissa thought.

  Tao crossed the room and opened a drawer, pulling out a small cloth sachet. "Humor an old woman, please, and take this. It will help you find love."

  "I'll probably end up with some cocky nobleman. I'm much better off without love." She would not reduce herself to pouting in front of Tao. Nerissa examined the water-water crystal inside the pouch and shot Tao a questioning look.

  "It will help you attract true love. It arrived today from Rhea, and I set it aside for you," she answered. "You should be careful. If you keep saying that you’ll end up with a cocky nobleman, it might happen," Tao added teasingly as Nerissa winced.

  "It's a beautiful stone. Thank you." Nerissa appreciated the gesture, even if she disagreed with Tao's sentiment.

  The muffled tinkle of the chimes on the front door was music to Nerissa's ears. She looked out the window to see Tao's apprentice making his way down the street.

  "You were about to ask about the shattering crystals, yes?" Tao asked. An unreadable look flittered across her face before she smiled faintly. She stood on her tip-toes, stretching to reach the top shelf in the tall wooden cabinet where she stored the tea leaves.

  "So you've heard about them too?" Nerissa waited
for Tao to nod in confirmation before going on. "What is the need for secrecy? I’ve been told that crystals are shattering all over town, so it isn't like no one has noticed."

  "Is that what your friend Charis says? She has an uncanny ability to gather information. It is causing a stir among many people because they believe in the omen that a spontaneously shattering crystal represents."

  "I wonder why so many are breaking." Nerissa was beginning to feel unsettled.

  “You are a particularly observant girl, Nerissa. Have you seen anything unusual over the last few days?"

  Nerissa twitched involuntarily just a second before the kettle began its shrill whistle. She hoped that Tao hadn't noticed, or if she had, that she would think she had been startled by the kettle. "I've been busy the last few days preparing for the masquerade on top of the usual duties and my studies. This is actually the first day that I've had some free time this week."

  A knowing look crossed Tao's face, but if it was due to Nerissa's evasion she did not pursue it. "I have read," Tao said, gesturing to a book opened and earmarked at the corner, “that immediately preceding a great event, the building energy becomes so intense that it can sometimes become a tangible manifestation to anyone perceptive enough to sense it. Those who have experienced it wrote that it seemed almost as if the future were overlapping with the present."