The hero of the last Descent sighed. Ondua felt a little put upon for being subjected to hearing even a single sentence about his once pure and *innocent* daughter's private intimacies. It didn't matter if what they did was the definition of chaste, it just forcefully reminded him that some day it would not be!
'And someday even my newest little one-'
His voice broke a little with genuine, if misplaced, bitter emotions.
"You could have told us first you were having trouble sleeping."
"Could I? I didn't want to worry anyone. I was also going through some other things… that I thought I was handling and was causing it. I expected that it would be fine."
The 'real' adult form of the heiress spoke it like it was just fact. The mirror version, meanwhile, had tilted her head with a slightly 'self-mocking' smile. For some reason - likely the more mature face - the man noticed how much the heiress reminded him of Yatrel when she was down on herself.
Yeah, it's never a good idea to allow a person that you like to tease to become *genuinely* smug.
You only want their ego to rise up a little right before you "oops" poke the inflated bubble with a needle.
Or... so I hear.
It was the mirror! I wonder if anyone thinking about the wedding gifts called it? I don't think I gave a lot of foreshadowing (I don't remember intentionally doing any!)... but readers can be sharp and make the author feel like they are adhering to a cliche.
Well, obsidian mirrors are traditionally used in spiritual mysticism so I kind of am?
There was plenty of reason to discard it as an option. It was given by Lirades who seemed to be the most reasonable Yecine in existence after all. And it hadn't been brought up since that moment. Like I forgot it!
I... I didn't! It's more likely everyone reading is like "What mirror? Oh, right. Okay."
Just like you'll be "What 'ghost' of a disciple?" when I get back to another 'thing I mentioned mostly once'! There are... a lot of those...