Arilee Selvig sat on her couch, legs curled up under the rest of her body as she stared as the small, silver-y ear cuff thing resting so lightly in her palm. The “feathers” shooting off it it reminded her a little bit of those fiberoptic light things she always saw in the stores during Christmas. What the thing was, she had no idea. But she felt deep in her gut that it was meant as a gift from Mirrorspace. Something that would help her keep them all safe. How exactly it would help her do that was a mystery though. Since reaching into the mirror to take it, it had rested in the pouch that held and protected the wraith shards every Dark Mirror senshi carried.

If she wanted to be truthful with herself, it had stayed there purely because she was afraid of what it might do. What if it wasn’t meant to help, but to punish her for letting Bianca get killed? But if that was the case, she wasn’t doing herself or anyone else any good by avoiding it. It was time to woman up. With a small sigh, Arilee uncurled herself and stood up, stretching out her spine until she felt the little crackles that meant a release of tension. And then, she took a deep breath and powered up, letting herself enjoy the warm rush of power that enveloped her.

After a moment, Chariklo stood in the middle of the living room, the strange gift still clutched in her hand. With a tiny grimace, she reached up to her ear and quickly slid the cuff on, pinching it slightly to make sure it wasn’t going to slide off. And the moment it touched her flesh, the “feathers” grew, brushing against the shaved side of her head. Okay, well, that was weird. Reaching up to gently brush her fingertips against the cuff, she felt a tiny button and pressed it in. Almost immediately, a small screen appeared in front of one eye. And the display on that screen was a small, gridwork map showing little moving dots of light with even tinier text under each dot.

Frowning, the tall blonde wondered what it meant when she realized that one of the dots seemed to be only a few blocks away. Moving quickly, she darted for the mirror in her room and went through, visualizing the mirror she wanted to exit from. The moment her feet touched concrete, she was off running, her eye watching the dot carefully once the grid seemed to indicate she was getting closer. Almost completely absorbed in trying to decipher what the screen was trying to tell her, Chariklo bulled into a figure stepping out of the shadows, sending them both bouncing apart. She opened her mouth to swear when she tok a good look at the girl she’d run into. Corset. Overlay. Eyeball brooch. Her magic mirror ear cuff had led her to a Dark Mirror she didn’t recognize!

Standing up, she reached out a hand to help the other girl to her feet, noticing the way she flinched slightly at the contact.

“Hey, sorry about that,” Chariklo murmured. “Should have watched where I was going. Care to tell me who you are and how long you’ve been one of us?”

She waved her hand between them, drawing attention to the similarities in their outfits. The other girl gasped a little before visibly relaxing, as if realizing that she wasn’t as alone as she’d thought.

“My name is Namaka… I was told I am the Dark Mirror Senshi of Sharks. And not very long. Maybe a few days.”

Chariklo smiled and held up a finger in a hushing gesture as she focused her vision on the screen. The dot that had represented Namaka had changed color and dimmed. Almost as if the cuff wanted to help Chariklo find Dark Mirrors who needed her. The Mirror had indeed given her a gift. Not to make up for her losing Bianca, but to make sure that she never lost another of her family like that ever again.

Smile widening, she reached out and clasped Namaka’s shoulder, giving it a friendly squeeze.

“Well, Namaka, Dark Mirror Senshi of Sharks, I’m Chariklo and if you’re feeling up to it, we’re going to give you some training to make sure that you survive this war long enough to meet the rest of your family. Welcome aboard, honey. It’s gonna be a blast.”