The Tale of Amaretto

Fifteenth Grain

Grain... In Which the Problem is Accessed...

Amaretto followed her aunt out of the Wardrobe only to be stopped by Tempus' whistle.

She paused and looked at Tempus, who was standing next to her aunt. "I think that you are dressed beautifully Amaretto. I am glad you were able to avail yourself of my Wardrobe."

Amaretto blushed and walked a little slower towards the table where Tempus stood. "Thank you," she managed to mumble. Tempus directed her to a chair and she sat down. After a moment, Katherine sat down and smiled slightly as Tempus sat.

"So I have good news and bad news," he began.

Katherine rolled her eyes skywards before asking, "What's the good news at least?"

Tempus beamed. "You both look wonderful and I think you will pass for ladies of fashion without any problem." Amaretto blushed again and tried to say something, but Katherine simply cut in.

"I am glad that we are up to your standards Tempus. I recall being able to do this for a very long time, now, as you were saying?"

Tempus took a moment and then frowned. "Now it is time for the bad news. Due to problems in the past, La Sorcière put a sort of lock on the Sand Mirror."

Amaretto looked at Tempus rather cautiously. "A sort of lock? You mean like a pad lock? That must be some hell of a padlock..."

Tempus sighed and grabbed the bridge of his nose. "That's not what I mean at all."

"Then what are you talking about?"

"Well, it's more of a magical lock. Due to the lock, you have to have a specific key that will unlock the entrance to the Sand mirror."

Amaretto looked around the table and saw a small plate of cookies and poked through them till she found a chocolate chip one and then said, "So it's not in the center of a mountain like the Water Mirror was?"

Tempus rolled his eyes in an exaggerated manner and then said, "No it isn't."

Amaretto bit down on her cookie and munched thoughtfully before asking, "Is it still a Hollow World then?" Amaretto finished the cookie and then searched the plate for another one.

Katherine nodded and answered. "Indeed, it is another Hollow World; however it is merely a precaution. As such, the Water Mirror and the Sand Mirror were placed in separate times. The water Mirror is placed in its own dimension known as Monde Cruex or a Hollow World.

Amaretto bit the cookie and looked thoughtful before she said, "I would expect them to be in different places, but that doesn't explain the key."

Katherine picked up the teapot and poured herself a cup before adding a little bit of sugar and milk. She then began to stir her tea as she spoke. "Hollow Worlds are not true places in dimensional space. They are specifically made worlds that are crafted to have no time flow at all."

Amaretto furrowed her eyebrows. "There's no time flow? Doesn't that mean we can't travel to them then?"

Katherine was about to respond when Tempus cut her off. "All that means Amaretto is that you can't choose a specific time in that dimension to travel to. Time is at a standstill and therefore has no bearing or meaning. You could pass into a Hollow World and have no time pass between the time you entered and exited, or you could have a thousand years pass. Time is not malleable in a Hollow World and therefore ceases to have any meaning."

Amaretto pointed her cookie at Tempus accusingly. "We still when there though."

Katherine smiled wanly. "Yes, we did. We were also invited and the woman who was there had not been trapped under her mirror. Think of it as a primitive security system. Somebody has tripped it and now both places have been locked down tight like a panic room. We have to simply find the right combination to turn the alarm off and open the door now. That way, we can enter the dimension that the Sand Mirror is in."