After a half hour, he lifted his head and looked at the sorceress. He hesitated only a few seconds before he had to ask.

 "How long have we waited for her?" 

"Around an hour and a half." She told him.

"That's all?" He responded.

"Yes. I think I will head to the office and wait for her or Ludwig." She stated.

"Want me to bring coffee?" He offered, wishing to do anything to help.

"Yeah, that sounds good." She replied, nodding to him and walking around the corner to the main office.

           There were a lot of things she needed to think over. She was more than happy to someday be the empress, more like seventy years from now; not tonight. She looked around the sanctuary, but didn't see a note or speck of a clue to go on. Slumping down in the chair at a loss. She had no damn idea on how to deal with or fix this one.

           Twirling a strand of hair around her finger, sitting there fearing the worst for her mentor, best friend and so much more. Worried was an understatement. She was horrified by her own morbid thoughts and fears. Rocking back and forth, whispering  ' Don't be dead' over and over again. 

         Ten minutes later Sage entered the room, his face a pale zombie green. She stared at him for a second, before the curiousity began to gnaw at her.

     "What's the matter?" She questioned, knowing something wasn't right at all.

     "I've brought the coffee for you miss and I went out to the courtyard, here's her big book." He slowly told her as he handed the book over. 

"What's wrong, then?" She asked with a puzzled look.

"You said you hadn't seen her tonight?" He asked with a look more serious than death herself. 

"No..why?" She asked her voice shaken. 

He took a deep breath and shook his head fighting back tears of fear for the mistress.

"I found a plate with crumbs on it. I didn't give it to her, nor did anyone else in this castle." He told her. 

"That is wierd, did you bring the plate?" She asked.

"Here you go, I thought you might ask." He said, handing it to Amberosia.

"Thank you. It might be best for you to get some sleep. I'm going to research the sybols on this plate, to see if I can figure out it's origin." She explained to him.

"Yes miss." He replied, pouring a hot cup of brew for her, set it down and shuffled out of the room.