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“So much of your world fascinates, Adam. Your kind is always marveling at our magic, no matter how much miracle and wonder surrounds all of you. Of all the splendors your people take for granted, my sisters and brothers most admire your crafted glass. You have learned to how to capture reflection from material so simple as sand and heat. We hold our breaths to peer through your windows. We swoon in excitement when we watch your glass prisms split sunlight into rainbows.
“And nothing captivates our kind like your mirrors. I still haven't learned how you can so casually look upon your reflection. Do you not think it magical that light and glass can duplicate your image? It's as if you capture souls in the cold, hard surface of glass. You create magic and do not know it. Your kind crafts such wonders from mud, and rock, from sand and stone, and yet you think nothing of it.
“Each year, my kin gather on the longest of our summer days in the gardens of our King. We do not gather to pray, nor to observe memories or ghosts. We do not gather to give thanks, nor to ask for blessings, nor to kneel. We gather under that long day's sun to simply laugh and dance. We gather to eat and to love. On such a day, we gather in our king's gardens with celebration in our hearts, celebration with no strings of duty or ritual attached.
“And all of my travels have taught me the rarity of such pure celebrations.
“Our king presents gifts throughout that long day. He grants marbles to the singers with the most melodious of voices. He gives ribbons to those who attend in the most incredible dress. He doles out streamers to those laugh, buttons of pearl to his subjects who cook the tastiest crow pies. The king asks for nothing from his subjects in return. He gives according to his whimsy, and we ask for no reason why he might present whatever gifts he may to us.
“I danced at that festival many seasons ago. I laughed and stepped unhindered by anyone's expectation of pattern. No one frowned when I giggled. No one flinched as I grasped their hand. None blushed when I smiled. My halos never glowed so brightly.
“Late in that long day's sunny afternoon, the King tapped my shoulder while I twirled. I stopped spinning as the King presented a treasure to me that amazed my brothers and sisters. The King gifted a round mirror surrounded in golden frame to me. I bowed as I accepted it, though no custom nor law required that I do so. The King winked before he stepped further into the crowd so that he could find others he thought deserving of gifts.
“The small mirror that fit into the palm of my hand mesmerized me. Its sparkle filled my following days. Its reflection distracted me throughout the following years. I attended new festivals, but I did not dance with the same feverish twirl, for I tightly gripped my mirror to my chest so that I could suffocate its glimmer and keep its reflection away from envious eyes. I did not attract the King's attention. I did not care as long as I embraced that wonderful mirror.
“The Regent came to me through the mirror. I can't explain the mirror's power. The story still sounds crazy to me. But during a summer afternoon, while I considered the tresses of my silver hair and the sparkle of my halos in the mirror's polish, the Regent appeared within the very glass, with such hypnotizing eyes, with a handsome face that looked both hard and soft. He only peeked at me during an instant that first time he came to my glass mirror.
“I held the glass closer to me each day, and so invited the Regent back without a word. He answered my summons. Our shared stares turned to long conversations. Our words ripened into want. Soon, I did look into the mirror before I was certain my silver hair and halos looked their sparkling best.
“It was not enough to gaze into the mirror. My heart thrilled when the Regent suggested we meet in the flesh so that glass no longer constrained our company. I agreed without hesitation.
“We met throughout a long summer season a handful of years after my King gifted me my mirror. We met in shaded forests, in humid jungles, within crystal castles and cloud chateaus floating high in the sky. Our words turned to touch, and I felt a magic unlike any other I have yet found. Every meeting with the Regent was another festival filled with simple celebration. I did not notice how the days shortened. Every day was bright. Joy filled each minute of those days.
“I did not think I might fall after floating so high.
“On a day when a new chill was introduced to the breeze, the Regent told me we could no longer come together in the fantastic locations of our loving. He explained that the counsel he provided to our King could not be compromised should his rivals learn the secret of our romance. He informed me that his rivals plotted to murder me to strike at him. He warned of conspiracies against our King in which our enemies would use our love as a weapon. Forces greater than ourselves would chase us into hiding. I pitied the Regent for all the sacrifices his duty forced upon him. It was too dangerous for him to love a sprite girl who simply danced.
“The Regent asked for my mirror, told me his rivals and enemies would use the glass to strike at me and our King. I hesitated. But the Regent promised he would find a way we could be together. He promised the day's danger would pass, and that he would return to again take me to such exotic places. He promised there would be another summer of our love to follow the coming winter.
“My hands shook when I gave him my mirror. I watched through tears as the Regent shattered it upon the ground. I sobbed while he patiently gathered all of the pieces into his pockets, careful to not leave one shard, one glimmer behind that our enemies might find to use against us. The Regent placed the last jagged shard of glass into his pocket and vanished. I did not have time for a last embrace, for any sweet rituals of farewell.
“The next summer arrived and passed without a word from the Regent. I begged for an audience with my King. I worried that something horrible might have befallen the Regent. The King had not forgotten the dancing sprite girl to whom he had gifted that gleaming mirror. With his Queen beside him, the King heard my concerns. He frowned when I mentioned the dangers the Regent told me gathered against his throne. Many in the court sighed as they listened to my plight, of my anxiety towards the Regent. The Queen's blue eyes leveled much sympathy upon me.
“The King told me he knew of no conspiracies against him. No Regent had mentioned a dancer's plight to him. He told me there were too many Regents within his realm for the crown to keep track of each one. He could not say what might have befallen the Regent for whom I worried. Nor, claimed my King, did he have jurisdiction to force any Regent out of hiding.
“I asked him for another mirror. I thought another surface of glass might open a doorway to the Regent I so missed. But the King had no more mirrors to give. He said my story touched heart, but there was little he could do. The Queen then stood and stepped before me. She presented the first of the snow globes to me as I knelt. She said that such snow globes would unlock all of the worlds to me. She said she would give me other globes until I could find my missing Regent. It was the most she could do, and for that I am forever grateful to my Queen, whose eyes regard me with such sadness whenever I return to request another globe.
“Those globes carried me to you, Adam. I found the first piece of glass with your luck at my side. You are my compass directing me to all those glass shards I have lost. The Regent leaves those pieces behind for me to find, so that I can mend my broken mirror and bridge the divide separating us.
“So promise me, Adam, not to leave me while more pieces of glass remain waiting to be found. Help me find what has happened to my Regent. Promise to help me learn why the Regent has turned so silent. Promise me this, Adam, and I will show you worlds beyond your wildest dreams, filled with splendors none of you mortal kind could ever imagine. Promise me this, Adam, and I will promise to show you each magical world and every miraculous heaven.”
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Of course I give Fay that promise despite my suspicions towards the Regent. I know that Fay will never turn from him no matter how the Regent turns my stomach. I know, that in the end, Fay will leave me as surely as the Regent has left
her.
All the same, I can never deny Fay.
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