... A backroom, lit only by candles. This was her- no, your- neighbor's home. It was here, during the wars between the Khan and his enemies that you thrive. The body given to you by dreams fits over you like a cloak.

You are at edge, though the training the Khans of the Bazaar have given you lets you control it. The people around you are your friends, neighbors. And now, as they whisper of joining the Rosers, they are your enemies. For you are loyal to the Bazaar above all. It is that that steels you against guilt for what you are about to do.

You imbibe the black drink given to you. Your mind soars, looking down with the eyes of a predator on the streets below. "A red lantern." You think, and feel comprehension rise. The connection is severed like claws through cloth, and you rise, your lantern in hand. The others look at you as you set it on the windowsill.

Shadows move on the streets below, kicking the door open downstairs. The soldiers of the Bazaar, in black silk and armor, pound up the steps, and break through to the room to you are in. They cut down those that fight, and seize those that do not. "For the crime of glass whispering, you are to be given to lacre." They say. The Khan, your Master, perches on the windowsill. "Come, my agent. See the punishment for those that defy us."

You follow them and their prisoners to the spaces under the Bazaar. You see a wide sea of white, the substance they call lacre. The soldiers push the prisoners one by one, into the lacre. You steel yourself against your guilt as the eyes of the Master falls on you.

"As for you..." The soldiers climb up the steps, leaving you two alone. "You have hesitations. Guilt. I have no need for any of those in my agents." It lifts you by the throat over the lacre. "And thus, I have no need for you." It releases you and you drop







into blackness. The body of the Renegade Agent leaves you. Around you, you see the streets of the Fourth City, of thorned warriors, soldiers in copper and flint, fighters with silk and spiders. They scream as bursts of sunlight wash over the streets, followed by a tide of drowning lacre. And thus, Roser, Copper, and Motherling all follow each other into the lacre. The Khans, or the Masters as you know them, survey the empty streets and their final punishment on a rebellious city. The visions end. You open your eyes. You are still in darkness. You can see the corpse of a massive serpent in front of you, its body torn by claws. A glint of light flashes in its jaws. You take it, and barely see it is a mirror shard.

Then, a sharp, freezing claw lightly rests on your shoulder. "Do you see what happens to those who defy us? Have no worries. Your city amuses us, for now. But you... This intrusion into my affairs is intolerable." The claw pushes past you, pointing to the corpse of the snake. "As you can see. This business with the Confessor... not only is it risky, but may strengthen our old enemies. When the time comes, I would like you to break the mirror. You will know what I mean."  It again rests its claw on your shoulder.