After the surprisingly effective magic lesson, Mirror headed to the meal room with Vertigo's help. Strangely, the old witch seemed to be warming up to her. Point made, when she accidentally bumped into her while going down a flight of stairs. No screams, no yelling; just an annoyed look. "Maybe they will have me in missions soon"- Mirror thought as she reached the round, metal door.

Then again, she wasn't exactly anticipating it. It would be nice to go undercover on the field and bring justice to the world, but... She'd have to knock enemies unconscious. And that wasn't even the biggest drawback.

Servants worked in troupes... and hers? It was a mess, to say the least.

Sitting down on her usual chair, she tried not to make eye contact with the others. No doubt they wondered why she was late. Mirror could only hope to shield herself from the flurry of incoming questions. She'd never been late to anything in the two years she'd spent here.

In her entire life, to be honest.

As the tan, burly-yet-unattractive man sat down, she sighed mentally. Giant. The team's muscle. He'd chosen earth, which required a lot of physical strength training. So, it was only natural for him to eat half of the troupe's assigned rations. It was still unfair to Mirror. She couldn't say anything, obviously. Who would she complain to? Menace?

Right. Menace. The troupe leader. She'd chosen ice, which required training in accuracy and precision. You could also use it to describe her whole personality. She knew a lot of higher-ups, so a slip in front of her could cost Mirror precious points with the Servants. She winced as she thought of that morning.

And the third member... was she missing?

–Hi Mirror! Have they been teaching you how to suck the air out of our enemies' lungs? So. Cool. Wish I could do that! How cool would it be to knock them unconscious and then burn them and then fan the flames with more air?- She giggled.

There she was. Sunbeam. In all her red-haired, wide-eyed glory. The Servant leader's daughter. She was... chaotic, to put it mildly. In fact, whenever Mirror wondered if she was getting too cold-blooded, she took a glance at Sunbeam and immediately felt better. She could always count on Menace to shut her up, though. The troupe leader was the only person Sunbeam ever listened to.

–I see you're... being a ray of sunshine- Menace spoke calmly. She knew she wouldn't want to mess with the Leader himself.- But let's dial it down, shall we. Mirror's had a long day. Why don't you talk about something else?

–Whatever. Mirror's boring anyway.

She took the jab, silently picking at her food. Sunbeam just did these things sometimes. No use getting all worked up over it.

–Well, these beans are just amazing!- Giant somehow always tried and failed to lighten the mood with a misplaced comment. "We're almost overdue for Menace's inner food critic to jump out."- Mirror thought, rolling her eyes internally.

And thus their routine went on. It didn't matter if Mirror was late or early; Sunbeam would always speak first, saying something horrible, Giant would make everyone uncomfortable, Menace would scold them, and proceed to give a detailed review of the day's rations. They didn't work very well together.

The thing is, they were meant to be like family. Right now, Mirror and Sunbeam were still teenagers; the second they were all adults, they all had to address each other as 'sister' and 'brother'. And all the missions they went in? Together, always together. "Thank Aris that's off by a long time"- Mirror thought, relieved. She couldn't imagine being with them longer than the necessary meal hours.

Maybe it would help if she knew their names.

Mirror knew she was being unreasonable. You didn't just... go around telling people your name and curse in the Servants. Everyone knew each other's code name and gender, everyone knew each other's element. They could even take a guess at their age based on the number of wrinkles and white hairs (and their level of tiredness).

But names? Those were private. And witches were advised to forget them. In fact, code names were treated as new names. "Great for me, my name is a dead giveaway to my curse"- Mirror thought resentfully. You couldn't guess Giant's curse by knowing his name.

Sometimes, she wondered if it was the Leader's way of toying with them...

–Mirror? Hello, Menace to Mirror.- Her leader waved at her, composed as always.- You didn't hear what I just said, did you?

Mirror shook her head, hoping she wouldn't get in trouble.

–Doesn't matter. Well, Mirror. Sunbeam. Giant. I am pleased to announce that my superior, Tempest, has finally decided to grant us our first mission as a team. You can come to my office and I'll give you more details. Until then, I wish you all the best of luck.

Mirror gasped, earning herself a displeased look from her leader.

–I'm so sorry, Menace. I was just... excited for the mission.- Menace nodded in understanding. "Phew"- Mirror thought. "Dodged a bullet there."

Hopefully, she would never have to lie like this again. Then again, it was kind of a half-truth. She wasn't just excited to go to the mission- the mission was her only way out.