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JOHN MORRESSY
REFLECTION AND INSIGHT
WITH SPOT'S HELP, KEDRIGERN wrestled the large awkward bundle carefully into the
cottage as Princess looked on with anxious interest. It was wrapped in heavy
cloths, tied securely, and from the amount of grunting the wizard was doing, it
was of considerable weight.
"Is it very heavy?" she asked.
"Very," he said, putting it down gingerly and taking a deep breath.
"You're lucky you had Spot to help you."
He rubbed his lower back and groaned. "Even with Spot's help, I was tempted to
use a levitation. I should have. My back will ache for a week."
"What is it?"
He smiled and began to untie the cord that encircled the bundle like the strands
of a great web. That done, he turned back the folds of thick cloth, pausing with
his hand on the last one. "You're going to love this. A pity it's promised to a
client, Sigert of the Nine Shallow Ponds. But I'm looking for another, for us."
"What is it?" she repeated, her interest increasing.
He flung back the last cloth and spread his arms in a gesture of revelation,
beaming at her all the while.
"A mirror?" she said.
"That's right, my dear. You've often said that you'd like to have one by the
door."
"Only a little one, so I can check to see that my coronet is on straight, and my
wings aren't all bunched up under my cloak. This one is...it's sort of
elaborate, isn't it?"
"This is no ordinary mirror, my dear."
"I can see that. It's very nice, really," said Princess, leaning closer to the
surface and studying her reflection. "No warps or wiggly places in the glass."
"It's a magic mirror."
She took two steps back and looked at him sharply. "I've had one bad experience
 
with a magic mirror, and I don't want another. Don't bother getting one for us,
please."
"Moggropple's was a unique problem. And it involved five mirrors. This is only a
single mirror, and all it does is talk."
"I don't care. I don't want a tricky mirror around the house."
Crestfallen, Kedrigern said, "I thought that something like this might be nice
for those times when I'm away on business and you have no one to talk to but
Spot."
"I appreciate the thought, but no." She took his hand, smiled to soothe his
feelings, and said, "Anyway, talking mirrors must be very rare. And terribly
expensive."
Kedrigern gestured airily. "I got this one for a song. An incantation, actually.
Against pains in the joints."
"Well, you won't find another on such terms, I'm sure. Besides, I'd sooner talk
to Spot when you're away than to a mirror," said Princess.
"Whatever you say, my dear. But as long as it's here, why don't you take a
look."
She smoothed down her dark blue gown, straightened her coronet, and stepped
before the mirror. She half turned, fluttered her wings, then rose from the
floor and did a slow pirouette.
"It's a very nice mirror," she said.
"Say something to it."
She frowned. "What does one say to a mirror?"
"How about 'Here's looking at you'?"
Princess gave him a pained glance. She pursed her lips thoughtfully, and after a
time said, "Mirror, how do I look?"
The surface of the mirror shimmered like a pool in a gentle breeze. Colors
flashed and flickered across it, then slowly faded. A silvery voice said, "How
do you look? Very good, for a woman your age."
Princess's hand shot up, snatched the cloth, and flung it over the face of the
mirror. "That will be quite enough out of you," she snapped in a voice cold
enough to frost the glass. Turning to Kedrigern, she said, "A hand mirror will
suffice. A silent one," and fluttered from the room.
"As you wish, my dear," he called after her.
 
He was relieved by her decision. An attractive and serviceable hand mirror was
easily obtained. Talking mirrors were hard to come by and very nearly priceless,
even when the seeker was well-known and much respected, with extensive contacts
in the magical community. He could not expect to be lucky twice.
After receiving Sigert's plea for assistance, it was months before Kedrigern
even got wind of a faint rumor of a magic mirror, and many more before he
actually traced it down, ascertained its provenance, and satisfied himself of
its authenticity. Haggling over the price dragged on for two more months, and
might have taken longer if the owner, an aging seneschal, had not been stricken
with a painful bout of rheumatism. Transporting the mirror intact to his cottage
took Kedrigern another full month. The whole operation consumed so much time, in
fact, that there was none left for the usual full-scale safety check. The mirror
was to be a surprise birthday present for Sigert's queen, and only if he
departed for the Kingdom of the Nine Shallow Ponds the very next morning and
encountered no obstacles along the way could Kedrigern hope to deliver the
mirror on Brissault's birthday.
With the help of Spot and a very small levitation spell he stowed the mirror
safely in a wagon, surrounding it with padding and protective spells. Princess
chose not to accompany him on the journey. "In the first place," she explained,
"I am a princess, not a freight-handler. And in the second place, from what
you've told me, the Kingdom of the Nine Shallow Ponds is not a happy place. I
don't want to take along, slow, uncomfortable journey just to be surrounded by
gloom."
"I intend to dispel the gloom, my dear."
But she had decided, and was adamant. After a brief but tender farewell, he set
out just before dawn, aching and yawning, comforted only by the thought of a
generous fee and a chance to save a marriage.
The weather was benign and his journey was uneventful. Kedrigern had ample time
to ponder the misfortunes of the royal couple. Having won the confidence of both
king and queen, he had been made privy to all the details.
Sometime in their third decade together, no one could say exactly when, things
began to go wrong between King Sigert and Queen Brissault. Petty quarrels
swelled into full-blown arguments. Familiar mannerisms became irritants. Casual
phrases elicited barbed responses. Angry silences sometimes lasted for days, and
only a state occasion would have Sigert and Brissault speaking to one another
again, albeit coolly and formally.
Sigert, who still loved his wife deeply, tried to figure out where things had
gone wrong. He could not. He consulted his counselors and advisors and the
wisest men in the kingdom, and while they were able to suggest a number of
causes, they could not agree on a solution. They were in accord on war, taxes,
and ceremonials, but not on domestic relations. Some said that women required
flattery; others prescribed extravagant gifts, separate palaces, or beheading.
 
In the end, they were no help.
Unknown to the king, Brissault, who loved her husband every bit as much as he
loved her, was following the same course, except that she was consulting with
wise women. But they were no more help than the wise men. A venerable nun told
her that men at any age were still small boys in many ways -- a fact she well
knew. One learned woman suggested aloofness, another submission, a third poison.
No one offered advice that she found acceptable.
A year passed, and then another, and the domestic tension remained unresolved.
One winter morning, after particularly sharp words over breakfast, Sigert
wandered through the palace deep in gloomy thought. Muttering under his breath,
he trudged aimlessly up flights of stairs and paced down corridors long
unvisited. Eventually he found himself standing before a familiar door. Lost in
his brooding, he had come to his old nursery. Memory bade him enter. The chamber
faced the east, and the early sunlight gave it a cheerful air. The bright
pictures on the walls, the toys that lay scattered at random, and the old story
books aroused a pleasant nostalgia.
He picked up a dusty book of tales that lay nearby and settled in the window
seat where he had spent so many happy childhood hours. Leafing through the book,
he came upon the story of the magic mirror. It had been one of his favorites,
and he read it once again, hoping to recapture some of the innocent wonder of
those days. He paused after completing it, cried out in gratitude, and
immediately reread it. After the second reading, he hugged the book to his
breast and laughed aloud. Here was the solution. He would give Brissault a
mirror as a birthday present, a magic mirror that would make her appear forever
young and beautiful. Such a rare and encouraging gift would demonstrate the
feelings he could not seem to express otherwise. She would be happy again. Their
quarreling would end and they would be reconciled forever.
Having no knowledge of magic himself, he summoned Kedrigern, who had worked
effective and timely spells for his father, and for himself in his youth, and
entrusted the work of finding and acquiring the mirror to him. While at the
castle, Kedrigern had picked up another assignment. He was pleased to be
wrapping both up with a single journey.
As time ran on, Sigert grew uneasy. When Kedrigern presented himself at the
castle on the very morning of Brissault's birthday to announce that the mirror
awaited their majesties' pleasure, the king was elated.
"Where is it?" he asked.
"I've had it placed in the queen's bedchamber, Your Majesty," said the wizard.
"Her Majesty is in the great hall right now, accepting a present from the
Goldsmiths' guild. The Saddlers are arriving after them, and then the
Fishmongers. Her Majesty always bathes and changes her clothes after a meeting
with the Fishmongers." Sigert paused to do some mental calculation. "We've got
about an hour. Let's go and inspect this mirror," he said, rising.
 
The mirror stood in the center of the queen's bedchamber. It was very tall,
rising from a massive silver base inlaid with precious stones. It was covered
with a richly embroidered cloth.
"Remove the cloth. We want to see the mirror," said the king.
Kedrigern dismissed the servants, then removed the heavy cloth himself. It took
a bit of effort.
"Why didn't you have the servants do that?" Sigert asked.
"Just a precaution, Your Majesty. I don't want them looking into the mirror
until I've had a chance to test it out."
Sigert took a step back, away from the mirror. "Have you brought a dangerous
object into this palace without testing it?"
"I've checked it for curses and trick spells, Your Majesty. I can assure you
that it's perfectly safe."
Sigert looked relieved. "That's better. What else do you have to do before we
can use it?"
"Well, I know it talks. I have to determine whether it has other powers, and if
it does, which ones we want to utilize. The man who sold me the mirror didn't
know much about it. He wasn't even certain that it was magic, but I could tell
right away."
The king looked less relieved. "Could it be dangerous?"
"Not dangerous, Your Majesty. At worst it might be...." Kedrigern paused to
search for a less alarming term and at last said, "Unpredictable. Tricky.
Surprising."
"We do not like surprises in our palace," said Sigert, frowning. "We want
nothing untoward to happen to Her Majesty."
"There is no danger, I assure you, Your Majesty."
The king pondered. Over the years, besides putting on weight, Sigert had become
pompous and self-important, but he was no more so than other kings, and less so
than many. He really did love Brissault, and wanted to make her happy once
again. He lacked not good will, but comprehension. He simply could not
understand how a woman married to him and reigning at his side could be unhappy.
He studied the mirror, extending a hand to touch the frame but stopping short of
actual contact. He concealed his hesitation under a spacious gesture and said,
"It's nicely made. We like all those little cherubs and ribbons and bands of
flowers."
 

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