| Helene has a vision of herself as one might see oneself in a mirror not of glass but of the layered realities of past and present. Thus the self she sees is a composite of the pitiful child that barely escaped annihilation and the strange Lady of Dark Fire, Eric's muse. |
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| Mirror, mirror, all aflame, wingéd window on the wall, tell what talon stitched what fire charred that piteous face. What music can salve? O love, like an eagle, rapturous raptor, has talons and many names. |