The Tale of Amaretto

Fifth Grain

"The appointment was made for today initially as you were not supposed to receive the glass until you were eighteen years, three days, twelve hours, forty minutes and six seconds old." She smiled and then placed the palm pilot on the table and sipped at her tea. She instantly made a face and then reached into her purse for a flask which she promptly took a swig from and then poured the rest of the contents into her tea. Amaretto slowly took a few steps forward, still clearly weary of the man who was standing there and holding the chair out for her. She sat down and then the man proceeded to pour tea for her as well. He offered her the milk and she kindly shook her head and then he pushed the sugar bowl in front of her before he sat down himself.

Pouring another cup of tea, he proceeded to put a single lump of sugar into his tea and then popped a second one in his mouth. His eyes twinkled and he gave an impish grin as he ate it.

"Amaretto, you will have to listen carefully to everything that he says alright?" Katherine sipped her tea and then settled to relax.

The man sipped his tea and then spoke in a rather charmingly deep voice that did not seem to fit with his boyish looks. "My name is Alexander Anthony Taylor Ryan Tempus. Everyone calls me Tempus for short or even "Keeper" at times. You can call me as you like." He smiled rather disarmingly and Amaretto actually blushed.

"Now you might have some questions for me about the Dimensional shifter so ask away. That is what this meeting is for."

"Who the hell are you would be a better place to start," mumbled Amaretto. Katherine was sipping her tea when she spewed at what she heard. The man smiled and then spoke with a frank tone of voice.

"I told you I am a Keeper; a Time Keeper to be frankly honest. I allow for people who have Hourglasses to be able to travel to their destinations. Think of me as an all encompassing travel agent. It's kind of nice to be honest."

"A time-traveling travel agent?" Amaretto ignored her aunt while Katherine tried to frantically clean up the section of the table where she had all but practically spewed her tea with a napkin.

Tempus nodded. "Yes. I am the one who makes sure that your Glass works at all times. If I didn't you might never know where you might end up. I also recharge the glass when it is needed from time to time and help with the general maintenance of it."

Amaretto looked puzzled for a moment. "So you are like a mechanic of sorts as well?"

Tempus smiled. "That analogy works better than the Travel agent, it's true, but I do more of both jobs to be honest. I also make a wicked peach cobbler." At this he grinned rather largely. Amaretto felt a twitch in her left eye and then almost cracked a smile. Instead, Tempus continued to talk.

"I will insist though that if you want to have some you tell me so I can make you some. I have many clients from across the ages and they all seem to love it. It was the previous Keeper's recipe."

"So there have been Keepers other than you?"

Tempus blinked in a blank stare and then smiled. "Yes and no."

Amaretto felt the twitch in her left eye and rubbed at it in an effort to make it go way. "That answer is hardly worth mentioning. It was like shaking a magic eight ball and getting the 'Reply hazy, try again' answer."

Tempus grinned and said, "Yes, well, what I mean to say is that outside of this temporal space, I could look like anyone, but within here, I should always look like myself until I choose to go on with my life. You see, all the Keepers are in a state of time stasis so that they do not age until they are done with their time. All the people on the outside are usually the people who have been previous guardians."