I breathed out slowly. "Can we… re-open the portal?" I asked just to have something to say.
"At this point…" You touched the stone, "no. Too much time's past. Not even the original caster would be able to re-open it."
That meant that mini-portal maker Helen lent me wouldn't be a help. "So… what do we do?" I asked.
You got up and made the flame still hovering above your hand flare even larger, lighting up the nearest walls. "We look around," you said. "This place had to be accessible to The Unity staff, so I'd wager there's a permanent way to get back to normal space somewhere here. It's too much trouble to always have to open a portal every time."
I got up too. "That makes sense. What are we looking for then?"
"Not sure." You glanced to me and smiled. "I guess we'll find out when we find it."
It should go without saying, but I really like you and it was in high spirits that I followed you around the perimetre of the room.
