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Ahead of Tarany, dying grass and fallen leaves lay on the ground under mostly bare tree branches. In a few more steps, she was out in the open, now outside of the strange passageway she had traversed carrying Minki. A brightening sky allowed Tarany to see she was in the middle of a town, with distinct architecture, not at all like Erevale. There were shops around the perimeter of the rectangular park. Behind her, the opening she and Minki had emerged from appeared as it had before they had entered it. Dark and difficult to perceive, a space unlike the one they inhabited now.
No one else was outside but lights glowed through a few of the windows of the buildings. On the ground by Tarany’s feet, a metal plate appeared to have writing on it, but the words were foreign to her. To her left, a raised platform had a canopy and an arched sign along its edge. Tarany felt some relief that she could read it, though she wasn’t entirely sure how to interpret it.
“Turquoise Sky,” Tarany said. The words spoken out loud, however, did arouse Minki’s attention and she looked up at Tarany and then around at their surroundings.
“Is this where mommy and daddy are?” the girl asked.
“I hope so, Minki,” Tarany answered. “Maybe someone in that shop can help us find them. At least it looks warmer than it is out here.”
The wide front window of the store Tarany was looking at framed the words “Lettis and Tweed Brew Beverage Shop.” As they crossed the street from the park and approached the shop, Tarany saw another sign on the door, much like the one she had at her bakery, that said “CLOSED.” The interior lights were on, however, and she managed to catch the eye of a woman arranging items on a counter.
The woman stepped from behind the counter and took a closer look at who was at her door. When she recognized the visitor was holding a small child, she came over and opened the door.
“I was about to open in a few minutes anyway,” the friendly brewmistress said. “But you two must be cold. Come in and warm up.”
“Thank you,” Tarany said. “I’m trying to help this lost little lady back to her parents.”
“Oh, goodness! I will certainly try to help. I’m Lettis, and what is your name little lady?”
The child was shy but turned her face toward Lettis to speak. “I’m Minki. And this is my new friend Tarany.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both. Does your family live here in Turquoise Sky?”
Minki peered back at Tarany, not knowing how to respond to the question.
“We’re here from Erevale, but we think her parents came here,” Tarany explained.
Lettis thought for a moment. Erevale was a town she wasn’t familiar with.
“I know New Mexico quite well,” Lettis said, “But I’m afraid I haven’t heard of Erevale. Is that in Texas?”
“Um,” stuttered Tarany. “I – I don’t know anything about New Mexico or Texas. Is Texas where we are now?”
“Not in Texas, no,” Lettis told her. Turquoise Sky is above and just beyond Santa Fe, New Mexico. It would help me if I understood a bit more about how you got here.”
“Well,” began Tarany, “we walked through this – sort of – hole. It’s hard to describe.”
Lettis considered whether some medical services might be needed but decided to elicit a bit more information.
“A hole you say. Like a hole in the ground? A tunnel?”
“Kind of like a…a tunnel,” Tarany struggled in her explanation. “Not in the ground. Like…uh, like a hole in…space!”
Lettis raised her eyebrows with only slight surprise, but with more of a knowing expression.
“I understand. And where did you come through this hole in space?”
Tarany turned and pointed with the arm not holding Minki. “Right across this street. In the park.”
“Over there?” Lettis confirmed. “In the Plaza?”
Both Minki and Tarany nodded yes.
“Tweed!” Lettis called out, “would you please come out to the front? I need to check something outside.”
Another woman came out of the room through a door behind the counter.
“Okay, Lettis,” Tweed responded. “What’s going on dear? Is everything all right?”
“I’m not certain,” Lettis said. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Lettis stepped past Tarany and Minki through the front door and gazed in the direction Tarany had pointed. Her open mouth reflected the opening of the new feature now at the southwest corner of the Plaza.
“It’s an interdimension,” Lettis said to herself. In addition to being a brewmistress, Lettis was also an Archidimentrix. She recognized the manifestation immediately and she was sure this interdimension wasn't here yesterday. Evidently, this one went to Erevale. Not that she had any idea where Erevale was.
Pulling her mobile phone from the pocket of her apron, Lettis dialed Xaila, the Convenor of the Table of Enchantresses. The call rolled over to voicemail, but since Xaila often went to Santa Fe to handle the conditions in person, it wasn’t a shock Xaila didn’t answer. Instead of leaving a message, Lettis went to the next on the list of her colleagues, Behalla, Xaila’s immediate predecessor as Convenor of the Table.
Behalla answered the call right away.
“Good morning, Lettis. What can I do for you?”
“Well, morning, yes, Behalla. I’m not sure it is ideal. I’m standing in the Plaza looking at the entrance to a new interdimension.”
It was quiet on the other end of the phone line for several seconds. Behalla expelled an audible breath.
“Lettis, is it a side door of our Interdimension? The one to Santa Fe?”
“No, I don’t think so. Behalla, I just spoke here with a couple of people who came through this one from a place they called Erevale.”
“Indeed?” Behalla replied. “Have you spoken to Xaila about this yet?”
“I tried but I couldn’t reach her right away. Listen, Behalla, one of them is a small child who has been separated from her parents who apparently also went through this anomaly. Would you please try to contact Xaila while I try to help these lost folks?”
“Of course, Lettis, dear,” Behalla said. “I’ll work on it, and we will come as soon as we can.”
“Thank you. See you soon!” Lettis said as she hung up. Then she rejoined Tarany and Minki back into the shop.
“Why don’t you two sit down at this table and Tweed will bring you something hot to drink and a bite to eat. Can you tell me a little more about how you found this hole in space and came here?”
Tarany told Lettis about the tremor that shook their town early this morning, how most of Minki’s house disappeared, and that the hole in space opened where the house should have been.
“So, Minki’s parents must have ended up here,” concluded Tarany. “Somewhere in Turquoise Sky, right?”
Lettis thought carefully about her answer. No one — not even an Archidimentrix — should be in the space where an interdimension is forming. Inside, multiple dimensional transforms and hyperspace junctions took place in near simultaneous fashion. These interactions could easily put parts of a person in separate, nonadjacent dimensionalities. If someone were to survive such a maelstrom of transforming space, numerous closed boundary spaces formed to limit the interdimension from expanding into and collapsing adjacent dimensions. If they became trapped in such a closed boundary space, it would take an expert metadimentrist to escape it. Even an Archidimentrix, or two, would have difficulty freeing someone provided they knew which boundary space they were in. But this wasn’t the time to explain all of it to Tarany and Minki.
“Well, dear,” Lettis told the child, “Turquoise Sky is a small town. If they came here, I’m sure we can find them for you.”
“Where else would mommy and daddy be?” Minki asked, her brown, innocent eyes stared at Lettis.
Who went and made little kids so blinking perceptive? Lettis thought to herself. She didn’t want to outright lie to Minki, nor did she want to express doubts her parents ended up in Turquoise Sky. Did a small girl need to be saddled with more anxiety when she was already so scared?
“Minki,” Lettis said to her, smiling, “I have a whole group of friends who will do all we can to find them for you.”
Minki held up her plush cat. “Did you hear that, Stormy? Lettis and her friends will find mommy and daddy. Stormy feels much better now.”
Lettis formed the sincerest smile she could muster. The last thing Lettis wanted to do for Minki was to overpromise and underdeliver.
Ancient Light is the sequel to my earlier book Enchantress of Turquoise Sky. You can read and enjoy this new story whether or not you have read the previous book, but if you would like additional backstory on the characters and the world of Turquoise Sky, please check out Enchantress of Turquoise Sky via the link above. Thank you for joining me on this creative journey and I look forward to your comments about Ancient Light!