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~~((The 6 Pages of New Year's + Double Monday = Page 2 of 8))~~
Maybe he was just in a weird mood. Somehow, he felt like he was back in school again, attempting the impossible task of making friends with normal people.

After that, Hector wasn’t able to speak up much more, but that may have also been the result of the conversation simply not going anywhere else. It was mainly just the Rainlords expressing their worries more, and Hector didn’t feel terribly compelled to say anything else, not when it might just further increase that worry.

Unsurprisingly, Garovel did a much better job of trying to comfort them than he could have.

At length, Diego finally arrived, though the Lord Elroy was not with him.

‘Where’s Zeff?’ asked Garovel.

“I explained the situation to him, but he didn’t want to stop his work,” said Diego. “He’s determined to get us out of here as soon as possible and doesn’t seem to care about much else, right now.”

Hector couldn’t say he was surprised.

“Will you explain the situation to us now?” said Elise. “We have been wondering what is going on for some time.”

“Of course.” Diego took a seat next to Hector. He explained about his encounter with the Hun’Sho named Jasirok and presented the pyramidal key known as a Kag for the group to examine. Then he told them about what he had witnessed.

A period of incredulity passed as the group asked for clarification, of which Diego and Yangéra could unfortunately provide little.

A giant hand appearing from a mirror.

A mirror?

Apparently, Hector wasn’t the only one to pick up on that coincidence, because Garovel was the first to ask, ‘Was there anything strange about the mirror?’

“Not that we noticed,” said Diego. “I didn’t think to examine the mirror too closely when I first saw it, but it seemed normal enough. After it happened, though, the mirror shattered instantly. I brought one of the pieces, if you want to see it for yourself.” He rifled through his pockets and retrieved a jagged mirror shard.

They passed it around, though Elise was kept away from it, in case it decided to do anything else unexpected. When Hector and Garovel got their chances to examine it, they didn’t see anything particularly notable about it. It certainly didn’t have the odd, foggy look to it that Hector recalled the Courier’s mirror having.

But maybe that didn’t matter. Maybe it’s power had left it after breaking.

Afterward, the group struggled to figure out their next move.

“It seems obvious enough that we should try to locate whatever lock this Kag goes to,” said Diego, “but we have no idea where to start looking. And from the way Jasirok was talking, it sounded like asking the other Hun’Sho for help might be a bad idea.”

“I agree,” said Elise. “As nice as they have been to us, I simply don’t trust them very much. They could decide to hinder our investigation rather than help it.”

The three reapers all seemed to concur.