OH NO! I'm completely messed up the chapters. This one is supposed to go before the one I put up a few days ago! So sorry, hope it makes more sense now.

~ellie

The feeling was rather sickening, Kira thought, as she plummeted through the Portal. She knew her mother's runes had changed most of Portalling, making you return back to where you started if you were warded out of where you wanted to go for one thing. Kira intended to tell her mother that maybe the gut-wrenchng feeling of free falling right out of the sky with only cement below you would be something she might try to improve.

For Kira, it was especially painful. After all, whenever she was falling she needed only to snap out her wings to stop herself. But this...she did not like this at all.

Breathe, Kira, she thought to herself. She concentrated on picturing Simon's kitchen...she'd never actually been there when she was old enough to remember, but her mother had made her memorize it through pictures. She knew the old wood kitchen table, never much used for eating, surrounded by mismatched chairs of all colors and varieties. The large bay window behind the table overlooked a small parking lot, but the green curtains were always pulled back anyway. Simon's way of enjoying the sunlight, Kira thought.

Suddenly, she noticed a substantial decrease in her speed. She kept picturing the shelf to the side of the window, with pictures of her mom, her dad, Aunt Isabelle, Alec, Magnus, Maia, and Luke. She concentrated on the small red pot with the dying green fern (I'll have to ask him about that one, she reminded herself) on the floor, the faded purple rug. A loud crash snapped her out of her concentration.

"Are you alright?" she heard a worried voice above her. She blinked dizzily.

Belatedly, Kira realized the crash she had heard was, in fact, her entrance. She had concentrated too hard, so when she arrived she had no idea and therefor did not stand when she landed, but rather collapsed on top of her trunk. A few seconds later she deftly rolled up her sleeve and absently drew a few runes: one to relieve her dizziness, one to restore her orientation, another for the large bruise she felt growing on her abdomen where her trunk had struck when she fell. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and found herself back to normal.

She stood quickly, but experienced no headrush thanks to the runes.

"Yes," Kira said, finally remembering to address the speaker. "I'm just fine. Bit clumsy, I'm afraid." She found herself face to face with the same man in all of her mother's albums. The same face he had always had for the past twenty years, as Clary and Jace and everyone else in the photos grew older. Kira could never imagine such a fate. But, she had little time to dwell.

"I'm Simon." the man said, sticking out his hand to greet her. She looked down at it for a moment before remembering that this was what mundanes did when the first met; her mother had done it many times when she was a child before she broke the habit. Only a few seconds behind, Kira offered her hand and shook Simon's. He grinned.

"Well, I bet you don't remember me. I mean...how old were you when I last saw you?"

"Um...10, I think. But that was at Clary's 30th birthday, and Magnus snuck in the alcohol to Idris...and then the Clave came....and then Magnus managed to get them drunk...since I was 10, my parents didn't want me around all their crazy drunk friends so I went to the practice fields for most of the night. Besides that, you saw me when I was 5 or so."

Simon laughed. "I remember that! Well, it's been far too long. Everytime I come to visit you're at some training session."

Kira nodded. "Yeah. Mom and Dad knew I didn't need it, but they kept trying to integrate me with my fellow Shadowhunters. Didn't work all to well." Kira said with a shrug. There was a brief silence. Elephant in the room, Kira thought. We both know it, and I bet Mum told him why I came. Awesome.

"Well, " Simon said quickly, "I think you should Mirror your parents, tell them you got here safely. Only a few bruises, right?"

Kira laughed as she followed Simon into another room, this one equally mismatched though comfortable looking. Two long couches took up most of it in a L shape, with various other recliners and rockers scattered in the left over space. A few tables stood, displaying more pictures of the eternally youthful Simon and his aging friends. Simon gestured to the large cabinet on the wall.

"Most mundanes use those to hold TV's and stuff." He opened the top cabinet, to reveal the second TV Clary had ever seen. The first was one her mother had brought in an attempt to make it work in Idris, but soon gave up because of all the magical interference.

"That is a TV." Kira said, confused.

Simon grinned. "I know." he said. "But, if you do this..." He reached out and spun the TV on what Kira realized was a rotating platform. He turned it 180 degrees until the backside of the TV was turned towards them, revealing....a Mirror.

"Woah." Kira said. "That's smart."

"Thanks." Simon said. He light brushed his fingers against the Mirror's frame, and the empty center suddenly twirled with a silver liquid.

"I never did get the hang of these. I know how to answer a call, but not really send one..." Simon said, annoyed.

"That's fine. Mum drilled me back home." Simon grinned.

"That's Clary, alright."

~*~

"Yes, Mom," Clary said as patiently as she could, "I'm alright."

"We heard a crash just before the Portal closed." Clary said, worriedly. Kira could see the lines creasing her forehead. Jace was not in the Mirror's frame, though he was standing somewhere near enough so Kira could hear his voice when he spoke.

"Yeah..I concentrated a little too much and didn't realize when I got there so..."

"You fell on top of your trunk." Jace's voice said, barely stifling laughter. So that's why he won't show his face, Kira thought. He's making fun of me!

"I'm fine, really. Simon said I should tell you I'm alright, and this is me tell you you I'm alright." Kira said.

"Fine, fine. Go enjoy your first day." Clary said. "Tell me all about it when you get home...make sure you visit Isabelle...and oh! there's this little coffeeshop near Simon's place, make sure you go there they have the best cappecino in New York, really. And a few doors down there's a really great little music club that Simon used to play at all the time, good food too. And-"

"Mom." Kira said, cutting her off. "I got it. Simon said he's gonna take me around the neighorhood, I'm sure I'll see it all. "

"Alright." said Clary, visibly disgruntled. "Have fun."

"Thanks, Mum. And Dad?" There was a muffled reply. "Stop laughing at me."

The Clary in the Mirror turned to the left and suddenly grinned.

"Your father had to leave the room." Kira laughed.

"Bye, Mom."

"Bye, Kira. Meet some of the kids you'll be going to school with. It's a Saturday, they'll be around and--"

"MOM!"

"Sorry. Bye!"

Rolling her eyes, Kira replied, "Bye." and cut the connection.

---

That's the longest chap yet. Sad, I know. I tend to write fairly short chapters. Ah well. Hope you liked...I know very little happened but I'm trying to concentrate on rounding out this story...my other fic is very skin and bones (I have to rewrite that...) so I want this one to feel like a full story, not just a plot. So that means action will come, but not immediately. Please hang in. Cookies, anyone? :)