Swamped

You can think of several spells you could use under normal circumstances. But the time ether surrounding you has ruled those out. And being tangled with Sunflower and a bunch of crates makes it difficult to act without magic.

You don't see another choice. You'll have to use time magic. You attempt to make the flame burn faster, just as the Lady thrusts her hand forward and sends it through the air.

And it does burn faster. But it also starts flying faster. So it might reach the cauldron anyhow. Damn, you'll need more time ether to fix that! That's what you get for messing with magic you don't fully understand. If you'd been just a few moments earlier, you could have at least made it fade while it wasn't moving...

You feel time moving back, to just as she's forming the flame. And you already have the idea, so you don't have to waste precious seconds coming up with it. You immediately hasten the flame, and it starts burning faster before she flings it. It fizzles out just a moment before reaching the cauldron.

But you have no idea how much time ether got used. Certainly more than you intended. And what will the consequences of that be?

The woman in riding boots reaches her sister, and punches her hard. The Lady falls down. One of the beasts wanders over, and the woman ties the Lady to its back.

"Good. There's still plenty to do, but catching her simplifies a lot of things," she says. Then she glances around for a bit, before focusing on you. "Don't follow me. It won't go well for you. I suggest you take the time to clean this place up instead."

She's probably got a point there. You're not in any state to stop her, and she can probably handle Black alone at least as well as her sister can...

Suddenly, something moves. You don't see it, exactly - you just suddenly realize it's there. The woman seems to realize, too, because she turns away very abruptly. She starts rushing towards the other beast. As she picks up speed, she leaps in midair...

And then stops. She doesn't come down.

You don't feel the strange presence any more. No, that's not quite right - somehow, you noticed it leave. And, though you can't say for certain how you know this, you feel very sure that it left by walking through time somehow.

It must be all the time ether you used. You don't understand any of the details at all, but it seems that you were more right to worry about using it than you realized.

You pick yourself up and attempt to figure out which of the various messes in here to focus your attention on first.