Of course, there was a mirror in Lumera’s room—a gift from Maggie. It’s small and perfect for holding up to study one’s face, yet Lumera seldom picked it up.

Through the mirror, [s1.name] could only glimpse the ceiling of the room. Still, it could hear the steady rustle of turning pages.

Night deepened, and the pages kept turning. A gentle voice called from beyond the door, urging the girl to rest. Lumera murmured in reply—then the pages flipped faster, as if she thought just a few more pages need to be read.

Soon, the lamp went out and the moon rose. [s1.name] gazed through the window, where the stars shimmered, reading the dreams of people.

All of this was answer enough to its question.

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Lumera

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Wisdom) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000706): Add 2

[s1.name] found the mirror in Hassan’s room. Each night, the old poet would tend to his beard before it, and his little lamb would adjust its bow—how it managed with hooves, nobody could ever know.

What the Mirror saw in Hassan’s mirror taught it more of desire—not the carnal kind, but the hunger for inspiration, the urge to shelter the weak, and perhaps the itch to toy with them. The Mirror didn’t explain that last part. "Best not ask the lamb too many questions."

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Hassan

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Wisdom) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000707): Add 1

Gulis’s room held no mirror, no polished metal trinkets. It took [s1.name] some effort to arrange for a passing slave girl to stumble, spill oil by his window, and be too harried to clean it up.

Through the oily sheen, [s1.name] watched Gulis tend his bow, comb his hair, strengthen his arms. He carved deep into the floor with arrowheads, as if etching hatred into the very bones of his enemies. These tasks consumed hours as if his life seemed to hold little else.

[s1.name] pondered why you’d asked it to watch this man. Perhaps desire was the root of all things: vengeance is a desire, gratitude another. Human exist by the grace of desire alone.

At least, that was how [s1.name] saw it.

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Gullis

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Stealth) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000706): Add 1

The hour was late, yet Mahir remained in her workshop. No mirror stood there, so [s1.name] peered through the clarity of an Aetheric solution to observe the artisan.

Before this, [s1.name] had glimpsed many royal artisan through polished gold, silver, or gemstone facets—their wares could even please the Sultan! But no matter how exquisite, their repetitive trinkets grew dull. [s1.name] had tired of them.

Now, the Mirror watched Mahir hum as she sanded a tiny part, holding it up to the light now and then. [s1.name] couldn’t guess its purpose. The Mirror craned through every smooth, lamplit surface in the room, searching in vain for Mahir’s blueprints. Perhaps they existed only in her clever mind? [s1.name] watched and searched until, unnoticed, dawn neared. Songbirds outside began their chaotic chorus. Mahir stretched, tossed a blanket over a makeshift bed, and soon let out soft snores.

This human fascinated [s1.name]. She made the Mirror recall the feeling of reflecting human’s first fire.

It resolved to visit her often—until witnessing the birth of this invention, useless perhaps, yet unlike any before, and that should be a story worth telling.

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Mahir

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Physique) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000706): Add 3

Adila rarely looked into mirrors, yet [s1.name] found her all the same—though the swaying view left it dizzy. Adila was practicing her swordplay, the most basic forms, the most tested: thrust, slash, parry, sweep... The sword’s clear gleam mirrored her eyes, and in its ringing steel, [s1.name] read Adila’s untamed desires—the hunger for battle, for strength, for shattered chains, for proof. Such desires were once deemed the province of men, so much so that many women forgot: among beasts, the females are the fiercer.

The sword is the truest mirror for her, [s1.name] tells you.

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Adila

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Combat) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000706): Add 1

Alim’s dog den did hold a cracked mirror, its back lined with mercury—stolen by his pups from the home of some noble beheaded by the Sultan. While the man’s kin scrambled for riches, no one cared for a broken mirror. But to the little thieves, it was the first time they’d seen themselves clearly.

So each night, they took turns before the glass. The cracks were carefully mended with paste and paper, the unbroken parts polished clean. They laughed, comparing who’d grown taller, who now looked almost a man. Old Alim, though—he never glanced at the mirror. [s1.name] only heard his voice from the shadows.

“Enough play. Off to bed. And mend those rags… Heh… Heh… Heh… Dress like beggars, and beggars you’ll be. Thieves ought to look proper! You—stop stealing food from the others! We’re thieves, not brigands! Now sleep, sleep! No rest, no loot tomorrow!”

Silence settled at last, the old dog and his pups breathing in unison. Still, [s1.name] watched. The Mi seemed to grasp why you’d pointed it toward Alim.

“They all have desires. To live well, to eat their fill, to be seen as decent. Desire is a wish, a wish is a dream, and dreams… well, they’ve been known to change your world. I wager some of them will get what they crave.” The Mirror paused. “But then, ‘indulgence’ could apply to many things—why do you lot only use it for intercourse?”

You spent ten minutes explaining how you’d been dragged into this game, how it wasn’t your choice, how you had no say… but it didn’t seem convinced.

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Alim

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Survival) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000707): Add 1

Even under your banner, Raed still lived in the same house as the vagrants, eating the same food. [s1.name] peered into this tiny world through the freshly filled water vat. The homeless gathered around Raed, gossiping about life, struggles, and solutions. The men called her chief, the women called her sister, the children called her mother. So every one of them was her kin!

The sight reminded [s1.name] of a time long, long ago, before kings, lords, rivalry, violence, and conquest. The world was made of loose yet tight-knit families, sharing goods and exchanging gifts. It was a time so sweet, so distant.

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Raed

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Sociability) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000706): Add 2

[s1.name] did not understand your intent, yet it used that crooked wooden apple as a means to find those children. They had no mirrors, but luckily, the carving knives were sharp enough. [s1.name] watched as these novices clumsily yet earnestly shaped scraps into practical bowls, spoons, cups, and plates, etching their favorite leaves, flowers, or patterns of the sun and moon upon them, then eagerly presenting their creations to their mothers. How pure was the hope shining in their eyes! [s1.name] returned deep in thought. The Mirror said it understood—wanting to forge a better life with one’s own hands was also a kind of desire, and that wasn’t such a bad thing, was it?

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Wooden Apple

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Physique) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000706): Add 1

Slipping into the palace was child’s play for [s1.name]—if anything, it was where the Mirror frequented most: the lapis lazuli floors polished to a shine by servants, the domes inlaid with colored glass, the candlesticks gilded and silvered... everywhere were the Mirror’s eyes.

Ansuya sat before her dressing mirror, tracing her brows. There was no coyness in her expression, only a cold detachment. To [s1.name], concubines were but vessels for rulers’ desires. Yet through this silent bell, through Ansuya’s glass-like eyes, [s1.gender] saw more—how desire became her mask, the sharp edge of her betrayal; how fury surged within that slender body; how oaths stained with dried blood and tears were kept.

The Mirror saw a heart that had never strayed, and how it could not be forsaken. In this moment, [s1.name]’s opinion of you shifted, if only slightly.

Conditions:

• Slot #2 Has Card = Mute Bells

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Survival) of Slot #1: Add 1
• Counter (7000706): Add 1

Following your lead, [s1.name] observed [s2.name]’s life for a time, but the Mirror soon grew weary.

"I saw nothing new," [s1.name] said. "And that’s no surprise, for human ever repeat what’s been done before, and take joy in it. Were I to judge fate, I’d name it the most practiced plagiarist, the dullest and least original of poets."

Result:

• Counter (7000707): Add 1

Is it only humans who possess such an instinct—to glance at their reflection when passing a mirror?

You only became aware of it when those around you remarked, “Master [player.name] pays no mind to mirrors at all.” It had been a long time since you last looked into one… those shimmering surfaces held no appeal. Somehow, you knew what you looked like without needing a mirror.

Perhaps this was the Mirror’s blessing, given in its own understanding—for it does not much care for humans. So it blessed you, freeing you from the nuisance of what does not favor you—granting you confidence, ease, and liberty.

Result:

• Adjust Tag (Sociability) of Slot #1: Add 1

Action:

• Enable Event: The fourth question from the poet at the start of the small-scale fundraising.
• Enable Event: The poet directly determines the result.