Grain....

"I don't want to get used to it! I want to go home!" Amaretto's voice was terse and she was beginning to get angry.

"I'm sorry Ama, but you're going to have to face it; we aren't on Earth Secundus anymore. People will want your Hourglass here too..."

Amaretto looked at her aunt with confusion playing through her features. "Earth Secundus? What's that?"

Katherine sighed in an exasperated tone. "My darling little Ama, that is where you are from. That is the reality where you grew up and where you are most comfortable. This place however, while it is close to your time is very different. It runs on a different time axis and has a whole different history.

Katherine looked out at the street and as she did so Amaretto frowned at her. "Reality and time axis," she mumbled to herself, "I don't understand what you are talking about."

Katherine seemed not to notice Amaretto mumbling and said, "What that history may have been, I am not sure. I will say this however: God save the Realm!" With that she pointed upwards. Amareto allowed for her eyes to wander in the direction in which her aunt was pointing and she gasped. Fluttering and flying in the wind was the Union Jack, but it was slightly different. In the center, superimposed above the traditional colors, was a large bronze gear with a ring of gold in the center.

"What is that?" Amaretto pointed to the flag and looked at her aunt with surprise.

"that my dear," began Katherine, "Is the sign of the Empire and realm of New Machina, also known as the Second Great Empire of England, upon which the sun has never set." Amaretto blinked a few times at this answer. Katherine watched in amusement as Amaretto's mouth dropped open.

"New Machina? What happened to just normal England?" Amaretto turned back to look at the flag as her aunt shrugged.

"That's something that Tempus would be able to answer and explain easier than I. Speaking of which, since we wound up here, he must be somewhere nearby...” Katherine trailed off as Amaretto's head whirled. She had to many questions about what was going on. Wasn't this supposed to be a trial period of some sort? First it was the hourglass, then it was la sorcéire, now it was this. There did not seem to be any shortage of problems going on around here. Amaretto felt like her head was going to explode.

Her Aunt suddenly chimed out happily”There it is! Come on, let's get inside before we are noticed.” Amaretto's hand was grabbed by her aunt and she felt herself being dragged across the street into a watch shop. The rain sloughed down and caught her off guard, but when she got into the shop, she realized that she was soaked anyways, even for the short distance that they had covered from the alley mouth to the shop. It took but a moment more, but her musings about how wet she was were soon replaced with the loud ticking that she head next.

The sound filled the whole of the shop and, though it was very quiet, was actually quite deafening. Amaretto's aunt breathed a sigh of relief. Amaretto was surprised to see that Katherine was not soaking wet. The next thing that went through her mind however was that she was in a watch shop. The horrifying image of all of the watches and clocks going off at the same time went through her mind. She hoped that it would not happened and thankfully, it didn't. Inside of the store behind a rather large counter top was an old woman who looked them both up and down.

The Woman was dressed head to toe in black. She wore a tight corset and a stiff necked blouse that was severely buttoned up all the way to her throat. Her hair was tied up into a bun at the base of her neck and was tightly cinched. The woman looked at the both of them and Katherine tried to smile at her to open the woman a little bit more, but that didn't actually seem to work.

“We are here to see the watch maker, is he in?” Katherine's voice seemed a little forced, but there was nothing that anyone could do about it. The woman behind the counter rolled her eyes and then pointed to a curtained doorway that was behind the counter. Katherine continued to smile and then grabbed Amaretto's hand rather firmly and all but dragged her through the curtained doorway. At that moment, Amaretto felt the familiar pull of something and then there in front of her was Tempus once again.

Tempus' mouth twitched slightly and then he said rather loudly, “you made it! Thank Fate!”

“I don't feel much like thanking anyone,” Amaretto mumbled. It was then that her stomach lurched. She clutched at her middle and fell to her knees.

“Tempus, make some tea. Her stomach is catching up to her now.” Katherine leaned down and patted Amaretto on the back.

The room was familiar to Amaretto, but as she watched Tempus began to set out tea on the small table that sat beneath the towering dark shadow. He started to absently pour himself a cup when he said, “Well I for one am glad to see you both are still alive.”

Amaretto blinked. “Still alive? Still alive? There was a chance that we could have been killed when you sent us off?” Amaretto forced herself off the floor and then shakily stood her ground to stare at Tempus.

Tempus paused and looked at his teacup frowning. He then looked up and said, “Well I hate to admit it, but when I sent you and Katherine to Monde Cruex, I was a little worried...” his voice trailed off.

“You thought that we were going to die! I ought to kill you!” Amaretto surged forward only to be stopped by her churning stomach settling and the firm grip of her aunt's hand on her shoulder.

“Now, now darling. Even though you want to, you can't. The line is simply too long.” Katherine paused to glare at the man in front of them. Tempus actually looked to the ground as his cheeks flared a deep red crimson due to embarrassment.

“sorry,” Tempus said. “When the alarm went off I knew it was trouble ans so I fixed coordinates without even thinking and I didn't realize it till later.”

“Well we made it giver or take a few miles,” replied Katherine acidly. “the temple was not crowded thank god. La sorcéire showed us something rather disturbing though that we were hoping to discuss with you.”

Tempus picked up the cup that he had initially been pouring tea into and then moved forward to pass it to Amaretto. “What did you see?”

The answer burst forth from Amaretto's lips before her aunt could even answer. “Her double at the Sand Mirror is in trouble!”

Shock fell along the lines of Tempus' face for a moment before he placed the cup on a saucer and laid them back upon the table. As he did so, Katherine walked over to the table and searched around the cup s and glasses for a moment before turning her full attention to Tempus. “Still no table brandy Tempus? You really should get some just for me at least.”

“No brandy at high tea,” snapped Tempus. Katherine looked surprised at the tone that Tempus had used. She then sat down in one of the small wicker chairs that surrounded the table and began searching through her purse, all the while muttering dire precautions and unimaginable curses under hear breath at the man who had denied her.

Amaretto looked back behind her aunt and Tempus at the table and once again saw the strange tower once more in her view. It was still shrouded in darkness, but Amarretto swore that as she stared at it, she saw a giant pendulum. It was slowly swinging back and forth without making a single noise. “Hey Tempus, what is this thing?”

Tempus paused in his pacing for long enough to turn his head and gaze towards Amaretto.