The World Mirror sat at the center of the courtyard at the very center of the Gardens. For the uninitiated it looked like a wide, low stone pool filled to the absolute brim with water. It was so full it looked like a single drop more would make it spill its boundaries. It was the only feature in the courtyard surrounding by eternally blooming roses of a thousand different colors.

Adriel didn't approach the pool at first. He paced the very perimeter of the courtyard and kept it in the corner of his eye while he perused the roses. Maybe he wouldn't even go over this time. Maybe he'd just appreciate that he'd found it.

Maybe just a quick peek....

He glanced at the nearest roses and plucked one at random. He didn't notice that where it had been a new bud was already forming.

With the blossom in hand he slowly approached the Mirror. It reflected the night sky back up at him with a soft luminescence that filled the courtyard. Here there were no deep shadows. At its rim he leaned over and he knew what he would see.

Nothing. He should have seen himself in the reflective surface, but it was just the inky black above spattered with stars. He settled himself on the stone edge and for a long time just stared at the surface.

Time for another deep breath in, this time to steel his nerves as he pulled a single petal from the blossom he'd picked. It was a pale greyish blue edged in a darker green. This was it. He had been here before, with a guide of course, and he knew what was to come. His hand hovered over the edge of the pool and released.

The petal floated serenely and painstakingly slowly until it kissed the edge of the water. The surface rippled like he had smacked his whole hand against it, but the water didn't spill. He leaned forward as the ripples smoothed back out to show something very different than the night sky.

Where was it' Ilysia didn't have mountains like that! So tall and covered in white. Was that snow? The image coasted slowly high above the scenery of another world somewhere far across the universe. He greedily tried to take in every last detail he could of this place so foreign and alien. So different from what he knew. When he thought he had seen it all he plucked another petal to drop and the scene changed.

Again and again he pulled petals to change what the Mirror showed. He could hardly believe all of the different sights this world had to offer! Mountains and oceans and cities and farmlands and deserts and...! His favorites were the cities with their impossibly towering buildings that looked like they must be able to scrape the clouds. These he would gently touch the surface of the mirror and pinch his fingers together so that the view descended from high above so he could see the beings that dwelt in these places.

Time blurred for him. Hours must have passed, but he wanted to see just one more scene. One more petal. Until he had found himself drawn into a particular scene. Drawn to watch a pair of beings. How odd, he thought, that they might look so similar to himself. He followed them as they walked and talked, though he couldn't hear them. Watched them laugh and smile and hold hands. Then they reached a dwelling and it seemed they were saying their goodbyes. He twisted at the heavy signet ring on his right hand while he sat raptly focused.

The pair leaned in and he was certain they were going to kiss. He leaned closer....until a noise slammed him back into the reality of Ilysia. Voices. Heavy boots crunching on stone. He was out of time.

He was up in an instant and running faster than he ever had before. In his haste to escape he hadn't noticed that his ring had slipped free and fallen into the pool.

Malla stormed through the residence's hallway. While she and Adriel were the only Younglings left on Ilysia the long hallways full of empty rooms highlighted the island's past. There was a time when that building bustled with life and laughter. Now they were only two.

Being that they were only two her twin's absence from lessons was keenly noted.

"Adriel, you scoundrel!" Her voice was raised so there could be no way he hadn't heard her. The lazy loaf was probably still in bed despite the late hour. Soon the suns in the sky would cross paths to mark noontime. Which was entirely too late to still be abed. She stopped short of crossing the threshold when she spied the state of the living quarters beyond. Each had its own small sitting room with a couch, a desk, and a small nook for private meals. Adriel was certainly an imp, but he was a tidy imp.

It was like a tornado had torn through the space, with cushions dug out of the couch, papers strewn about, and just about every piece of furniture up ended. The force that had gusted through this space had been brutish, sparing not even the mirror on the wall from its fervor.

Picking her way carefully through the detritus and wincing at the crunch of glass underfoot, Malla took it all in with an expression of horror. "Adriel?"

The soft call barely carried. Through the open doorway she could see a figure halt its rummaging and turn. She let out a sigh of release and shifted her thumb from the face of her delicate signet ring when she recognized the wild spray of curls. Her lips formed around a new question just as she passed into her brother's bedroom which was as right a state as the antechamber had been. Those words died in her throat unspoken.

"It's gone."

Adriel's face reflected the tremble of panic in his voice. Two simple words that caused an icy fist to close around Malla's heart. "Are you sure?"

She wrung her hands together while Adriel was windmilling in the middle of the room with his arms spread wide. His eyes were wide, too. "There isn't anywhere else to look!"

Malla jumped at the explosive, angry tone. They'd had their share of spats from nascence on, but he'd never yelled at her like that. She shrank back from the heat of his rage and his expression immediately softened.

"Malla, I'm sorry," he said, muffled from the press of his hands against his face. His heart pounded in his chest, beating against his rib cage and thundering behind his eyes. He felt like he couldn't catch his breath. "I don't know what to do."