The Tale of Amaretto

Thirty-Second Grain

In Which the Truth and the Stone of Communication is Found...

Amaretto put her hands on her hips. Everything that she had just heard was leading her to confusion and she knew that the confusion would give her a headache if she didn't clarify it now. "So let me get this straight then," she began, trying to keep her voice level, "Because of your illness, you sought help and Mother Chime came at your insistence. From there, you promised to help her only if she gave you protection from your own enemies, whom we have heard nothing about as of yet. Am I getting this right so far?"

Mother Chime smiled demurely and nodded her head. "Yes child, you are correct so far."

Amaretto nodded her head once in the affirmative and then said, "So then I take it that the queen is being held together with the power of the inventions of steam?"

Mother Chime's eyes hardened and she spoke with a curt affirmative nod of her head. Amaretto narrowed her eyes at Mother Chime. She knew there was something here that Mother Chime was trying to hide and she was going to reveal it. Actually, Amaretto wanted to do anything but what she was about to do. What she wanted the most however was to go home and forget that this was ever happening. She didn't want to have been forced on this strange trip. The only reason she agreed to it in the first place... Now that she was thinking about it, she realized that she never really agreed with this whole trip in the first place.

She had a moment where her encounter with La Sorceire flitted through her mind and she also realized that she had never actually disagreed to the whole idea in the first place. The whole thing was tacit agreement without any disagreement. It was actually quite sneaky. It made Amaretto shudder, but that was not what she was trying to accomplish at the moment. She wanted to go home, and the only way that it was going to happen was if she completed the task which the woman at the Water Mirror had given her.

Amaretto smiled at Mother Chime in a very fake manner and then said, "Your power over steam is truly admirable. I am completely fascinated. I must say, how did you create her body?"

Mother chime smiled once more and slowly moved across the floor. As she did so, Amaretto had a flash back in her head to bad cartoon villains. All that the woman needed now was a dog that snickered. She shook her head as Mother Chime stopped and spoke in her calm voice. "We created the body using higher biological processes and standards."

Amaretto smiled wickedly. "Are you sure you didn't cobble her together like Frankenstein's Bride?"

Katherine scoffed behind her hand and Amaretto could tell that she was trying not to laugh. Amaretto began to slowly move her way towards the bed. Mother Chime however did not look so pleased.

"Are you saying that we had to use a cadaver in order to bring her majesty back to this world?" Mother Chime's voice was a little terse. Amaretto had meant for the barb to sting, but she didn't think that Mother Chime would have taken it so personally.

Amaretto shook her head as if she was dumbstruck. "If that was what it took, and the queen was alright with it, then I am not gainsaying it."

The queen looked a little alarmed at this statement. The panic that settled over her face was quite obvious. "We did not agree to occupy another body that belonged to someone else. That's not what you did is it?" As the queen looked to Mother chime for an answer, Amaretto took another step towards the bed.

Mother Chime shook her head and tried to plaster her smile back on her face, but Amaretto could tell that the conversation was straining the strange woman. "The body that we gave you was never used by anyone else. It was constructed just for your usage."

The queen pursed her lips for a moment and then nodded her head. "We are pleased then." It was like watching a spoiled child get what they want, or at least a facsimile.