He wondered how they felt about that. What existed between them was not quite friendship, and not quite sisterhood; it was something different, and as far as he could tell neither of them ever thought about it. They had just accepted it as a matter of course, within a day of meeting. But how would this separation change mat?

He couldn't guess. He knew, however, that if a permanent severing was the only answer to their problems, they would both accept it without question. It was a cost they'd be willing to pay.

Once more they split up. Miryo rode directly into Aystad, while Mirage and Eclipse circled around to a different gate. There was less need for it, since Aystad wasn't a Hunter town like Angrim and Elensk. But caution seemed to be ingrained in the Hunters' bones, and Miryo was beginning to behave that way, too.

She found the Twin Hearths, her designated inn, and took a moment to get her luggage into her room. She didn't bother to unpack it, though. That was another thing she was beginning to pick up. She'd skipped out of enough places in the middle of the night lately that she knew better than to get settled in.

Then it was time to find her contact, Yaryoki. The names and locations of all the Void Hands was one of the things she'd been drilled on and tested over, but just because she knew the streets' names didn't mean she could find them. Aystad was a horribly tangled town. Miryo at least had the sense to ask her innkeeper, and he was very obliging, but following his directions turned out to be impossible. By the time Miryo found Yaryoki's house, nearly an hour later, her temper was frayed quite thin.

She took a moment outside the low garden wall to straighten her hair and calm herself. Then she walked in.

The perimeter spell tripped as she passed through the gate. Miryo kept her steps slow, to give the Cousin time to get to the door. It opened before she reached it, and the short, stocky woman inside bowed her in without a word.

Perhaps it was the way the Cousin seemed unaccountably tense. Perhaps it was the way she didn't ask Miryo's name, as if Yaryoki had been expecting her. Whatever it was, though, instinct prompted Miryo to draw herself suddenly erect as she was conducted into the sitting room.

Where she bowed to the Primes.

Being around Mirage had taught Miryo how to control her expression better. She was proud of herself as she straightened; that control, combined with her sudden suspicion before she walked in, allowed her to face the Primes without flinching, or showing any sign of surprise that they were here, in Aystad, in Yaryoki's house. Expecting her.

Satomi, of course, was in the center. They sat in an arc of high-backed chairs; the resemblance to their formal seats in the hall where they had sent her on her hunt was not accidental. Magical lights cast the room into stark relief. The effect left her feeling as though there was no place to hide.

"We are concerned," Satomi said.

Void it.

"The Cousins were sent with you for protection. We began to worry when they were seen by a Void Hand, and you were not in their company. We investigated."

So Kan and Sai had been found. Miryo wondered, rather belatedly, where they had gone after they left her.

Satomi's eyes were completely expressionless. "You have found your doppelganger."

"Yes." No point in denying it.

"And it is not dead."

Miryo found herself flinching at the pronoun. She had grown used to thinking of Mirage as a person; it was jarring to speak with someone who didn't. But Satomi was waiting for an answer. "No, Aken."

She expected the Void Prime to ask her why, and in fact was marshaling her arguments. Not that she thought they'd work, but it was worth a try. Satomi, however, surprised her by staying quiet. It was Rana who spoke next.

"We understand," the Water Prime said, and Miryo's jaw almost hit the floor. "It is difficult. To face one so like you in appearance, to strike that blow, is not an easy thing to ask."

"You must do it, though," Koika put in. "This task has been given to you. It is your responsibility to fulfill it."

Miryo could already see what they were doing. Next it would be Shimi. And, right on time, the Air Prime spoke up. "There are no other options. None. We have searched for them, through the centuries, and found none. Misetsu established the pattern for us, and we must continue to follow it if we wish to survive."

And then, of course, came Arinei, giving her the final exhortation. "This is all that remains between you and the power that is your birthright. All you need do is reach forth and take it. Then you will be a witcha"as you have strived to be, all these years! That dream will be yours!"

Empathy, resolution, reasoning, and a grand vision to round it off. All nicely matched to their Elemental roles. Miryo hoped the cynicism she felt didn't show in her eyes. It would make them very unhappy.

Of course, so would what she was about to say. "So you say. But I'd still like the chance to investigate it myself, before I go kill a part of me."

"Your doppelganger is no part of you. It was separated out in infancy for a reason."

"What reason, Shimi-kane? That's one of the things I wonder about. And I'm afraid I can't quite agree that she's no part of me." No visible reaction when she called Mirage "she," but Miryo knew they'd noticed. "You see, I've met her. I've looked her in the eye. And that's something none of you can understand. You've not been there, looking at your own reflection made flesh."

"Wrong," Satomi said.

The word brought Miryo's head snapping around to face the Void Prime. It broke the tenor of their little speeches so far. Satomi wasn't speaking from a script now; she was talking to Miryo directly.

"What?" Miryo said.

"I have been there. I looked my doppelganger in the eye. And I hesitated. For an entire day I talked to her, and I questioned everything exactly the way you have. But in the end, I chose to complete my task. Will you hear why?"

The floor had dropped out from under Miryo's feet. Satomi's doppelganger had survived? How? Presumably the way Mirage had, of course, buta Miryo tried to envision ita"the Void Prime, twenty-five and idealistic, looking for a way out. And then accepting that there wasn't one, and killing her double.

"Yes," Miryo managed to get out. And then a belated, "Aken."

Satomi closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, they were as cold as ice.

"Centuries ago," she began, "in the days when the land was still joined into three great kingdoms, a woman dwelt in the southern mountains. She was a hermit, and a devotee of the Goddess in all her Aspects. Despite her young age, she was known for her faith, and her love of the Lady who watches over us all."

Misetsu, obviously. Miryo knew the story. But she kept her mouth shut; no sum of money would have persuaded her to interrupt Satomi right now.

"One evening, as the stars were beginning to emerge, this woman climbed to the top of a crag and stood there, singing praises to the Goddess. And such was the joy and devotion in her heart that her song changed, and became something more. And she saw that around her the starlight had begun to grow; it filled the air, and formed into threads, and began to dance around her.

"She stood there the whole night through, singing. When the dawn rose, she sang one final praise, and then fell asleep, there on the rock where she had stood. In the evening she awoke, and the gift of magic was strong inside her, and the Goddess had given her the name of Misetsu. In the weeks and months and years that followed she continued to hear the Goddess's voice in her heart, and thus created the first spells and enchantments."

Now Satomi's voice changed, and Miryo realized the story was diverging from the one she had always been told. "She had daughters, three of them. And the Goddess showed her how to pass her gift on. One by one, as her daughters were born, she sang the spells over them. And she found, to her surprise, that as she did so, each child became two. This puzzled her, but she chose to raise all of them as her own."

Goddess, I wish Mirage were here to hear this. Waita"no, I don't. I'm not sure what the Primes would do to her. "Twenty-five years later," Satomi continued, "she began to discover her error. For the time had come for her eldest daughter, Monisuko, to wield her magic." Monisuko? I thought her name was Menukyo.

"To Misetsu's horror, her daughter's magic raged out of control. And before long, it slew both her and her double. Misetsu grieved, but attributed the disaster to imperfect faith. Her next daughter, Machayu, would do better."

Machayu. Still no Menukyo. But I bet I'm going to hear how they ended up deciding to. kill the doppelgangers.

"Machayu also died, and her double with her," Satomi said. Miryo wasn't surprised. "But Misetsu did not give up. She prayed tirelessly, and sought a way to make it possible for others to wield magic, so the gift would not end with her. It was after Maiyaki, her third daughter, died, along with her double, that she found the solution. With the death of the doppelgangers, magic became stable. Misetsu, now aged and weary, lived just long enough to see Monisuko's eldest daughter, Menukyo, become a full witch."

She paused to give Miryo a searching look. Miryo stood still and tried to show no expression. And there's Menukyo. Not the eldest daughter. The eldest granddaughter.

When Satomi did not speak again right away, Miryo risked a question. "But why must the doppelgangers be killed? What did Misetsu learn that made her think that was the only way?"

Satomi gave her a brief smile, but there was no humor in it. The Void Prime's eyes were hard and flat, as if holding emotion down by will alone. "When I was sent after my doppelganger, the answer to that question was given to me before I left. I felt, based on my own experience, that it would be better if those after me did not know. It seemed kinder. But I question my decision, now. It is my dearest hope that I will never again be required to send one of our own on this task, but I will advise those who come after me to tell those sent. It is imperative that our young witches understand why they must kill their doppelgangers."

Miryo stilled her hands and waited, motionless, for her answer.

"The answer we give comes to us from Misetsu, from her last writings before her death. 'The doppelganger is anathema to us. It is destruction and oblivion, the undoing of all magic. It is the ruin of our work, and the bane of our being. It and our magic will never coexist, and its presence threatens all that our powers can do.' So wrote Misetsu, five days before she died."

Silence. Tension. Miryo suddenly blinked, and forced air back into her lungs.

Merciful Mother. I thoughta"I mean, there was obviously trouble, buta"

"The doppelgangers are a danger to us all," Satomi said. "That is why we must kill them. If we do not, all that we are will be destroyed." Her expression was grave, and only now did Miryo see something human in her eyes, too deep to be identified. "Do you understand?"

"I do," Miryo managed. Her voice was little more than a strangled whisper.

"We will give you another chance," the Void Prime said. "You see, now, why you must kill your doppelganger. For your sake, for the sake of us all, do it without delay, and return to us. If you do not, we will take steps, for our own protection."

In her mind's eye Miryo saw Mirage, but the image had subtly changed. Mirage. Not just a part of herself, but a danger. Carrying in herself the seeds of destruction for Starfall. It was a part of what she was. Could that ever be fixed?

Goddess. This choicea"Mirage, or all that I've held deara"

"I understand, Aken," Miryo whispered. She felt dead inside. "May I be excused?"

Satomi nodded. "May the Goddess walk with you."

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE.

Faith

Perversely, Miryo found her way back to her inn without difficulty. She paid no attention to where she was headed, but within a few minutes of leaving the Primes she looked up and found herself in front of the Twin Hearths.

Her feet felt like lead as she walked in. She had a private room on the third floor, with a sitting room and a bedroom; the sitting room had a fireplace. Miryo doubted any fire could melt the ice in her gut, but she craved the warmth. So she forced herself up the stairs, one step at a time, eyes on her feet, and focused only on that fire.

"Are you all right?"

Miryo looked up. She had just entered the sitting room. Mirage was on her feet by the fireplace, giving her a look of clear worry. Miryo shut the door with exaggerated care and said, "Yes. Mostly. The Primes were there."

"The Primes?" Mirage led her to one of the chairs and got her to sit down. "Here?"

"Yes. Or I thought so; they were probably just projections." She hadn't even thought to check for spells. But would it have mattered? "Satomia"the Void Primea"she had to kill her doppelganger when she was my age. And Menukyo wasn't the eldest daughter; she was the eldest granddaughter. Misetsu watched all three of her daughters die, because of their doppelgangers, before she figured out what was wrong."

Miryo got to her feet, and was surprised to find she was steady on them. She walked a few steps away, into the middle of the room. She couldn't bring herself to turn and look at Mirage. "They've looked. Truly, they have. And they finally told me why. Youa"" She looked at the ceiling and swallowed painfully. "Doppelgangers are the antithesis of magic. Your very existence puts all magic in danger. That's why you have to be killed."

She never even heard Mirage move. But one minute she was standing, looking at the ceiling; the next, hands slammed her into the floor, grinding her face against the carpet, and twisted her arms painfully behind her back. Miryo's mind snapped out of its fugue and straight into fear.

"I have a theory," Mirage breathed into her ear, voice low and hard. "I think that just as you can kill me, I can kill you. And I'm the only one who can do it. And, you know, maybe I should. All my Hunter training tells me to do it. You're a threat to me.

"It wouldn't even be very hard," she continued, and her words had an edge to them that made Miryo's blood turn to ice in her veins. "Your Cousins aren't herea"and they couldn't stop me anyway. You have no magic you can depend on; you're practically defenseless. Killing you would be easy. And it would solve so many problems."

She paused. Miryo tried desperately to breathe, but all she could manage were shallow, panicked gasps. Oh, Goddess, she's going to do ita"

Then the pressure on her arms eased slightly. "But before I was a Hunter, I was a Temple Dancer," Mirage said. "And that means I have faith. Faith that the Goddess didn't mean for things to be this way. Faith that she wouldn't give her children a 'gift' that requires them to kill. Faith that, if we search, we will find another answer. And that even if we don't succeed, it's still a cause worth dying for."

Another pause. Miryo expected Mirage to let go now, and when she didn't, her fear grew stronger. Never in her life had she been so terrifyingly aware of the fragility of her body.

"So I have faith in the Goddess," Mirage went on. "But that's not really enough, is it? Because this is in the hands of three people: the Goddess, myself, and you. I trust the first two. Can I trust you, though? Can I rely on you to listen past the persuasive words, the simple way out? They sound so plausible, so convinced of their own truth. Thinking past their boundaries won't be easy. And I don't know that you can do it."

Miryo licked her dry lips and tried to speak. It took several attempts before her voice would work. "I can. I will."

The pressure increased sharply, making her hiss with pain. "Why should I believe you?"

"I swear. On my soul. Satomi still regrets what she dida"I saw it in her eyes, at the end. She's never come to terms with it. I don't want to live like that. I'd honestly rather die. It would be better to die, fighting for a better way, than live knowing I betrayed myself and the Goddess."

She waited, barely breathing. The words were un-planned, but true. Only now did she understand what she'd seen in Satomi, so deeply buried. And she didn't want to end up that way.

Then, slowly, Mirage released her arms, and knelt on the carpet beside her.

Miryo sat up, blinking sweat out of her eyes, and faced her doppelganger. Mirage looked drained, but she nodded. "Good. I knew you felt that waya"well, I was pretty surea"but I had to make you say it."

Well, at least that wasn't an afternoon stroll for her, either. Miryo brushed her damp hair back and managed a wan grin. "If nothing else," she said, listening with some detachment to the rasp in her own voice, "we'll live on in infamy."

Mirage gave a short, harsh bark of laughter. "Well, that's better than nothing, I suppose."

Miryo tried to fight the pull of her own weariness, then gave up and rolled over to lie flat on her back. "Crone's teeth, all two of them. I didn't get to ask about Ashin." She laughed at herself, flatly. "You think they would've told me?"

"You're asking me? I've never met these women."

"Probably not. Void it. How are we going to find her now?"

"I don't know. Our contact offered to meet us in Talbech. We can try to make her tell us."

"If she knows."

"I think she probably does." Mirage leaned back against one of the chairs and wiped her own brow clear of sweat. "Mind if I think out loud?"

"Not at all," Miryo said. She considered sitting up, but the floor was far too comfortable.

"Good. My mind's too shot to work without help right now." Mirage's laugh sounded more like a croak. "So. Kasane has a child. She does the ritual, kills mea"we assumea"and I somehow end up with my foster parents in Eriot. Good so far, except we don't know how I got there. I'm five; my parents send me off to be a Temple Dancer. I stay there until I'm thirteen. Tari-nakana sees me, recognizes what I am, and makes sure I become a Hunter. Why?"

"Because you're good at it."

"Right. Then, soon after that, several other doppelgangers don't die."

"I can believe you were an accident, but it stretches credibility that all of them were, too."

"But we're dangerous to witches, or so the story goes. So letting us survive isn't a very good thing to do."

Miryo snorted. "That's an understatement. The Primes are not going to be happy with either of us. Letting you live is pretty much equivalent to an act of war."

Mirage held up one hand to silence her, and dropped her head, thinking. When she lifted it once more, there was a gleam in her eye Miryo didn't like. "An act of war."