My second Tin Man fic! It takes place in my same little canon as a A Pity, but it's much lighter. Actually this is quite fluffy. Lots of thanks to my lovely beta, eleanorariail.
"Courage, mind, and heart you own..." Azkadellia read the pictures, trying to decipher the next line. "Courage, mind, and heart you own," she repeated, willing the next words to come to her, but they didn't. She frowned down at the book, resting her cheek on her hand. She'd wanted to read the old story to DG, and she wanted the words to be exact. "Is that red...?" She asked the room, but of course it didn't answer her.
Concentrating, she didn't hear the footsteps approaching behind her and jumped when Ambrose's voice cut through the silence. "What are you working on?"
Startled, she looked up up her mother's adviser; his eyes were now scanning the pictures. She knew that he could read some, he'd been the one to show her the first basic symbols she'd learned.
"I wanted to read this to DG," she said, her frown returning, "But I'm having trouble finishing."
"Let's see," Ambrose drew up a chair, looking at it. He was her favorite of all of the people who assisted and worked for her mother; it seemed to Azkadellia that he knew everything and she hoped that one day she could be half so smart. She could see the familiar look in his eyes now- the wheels in his brain were turning with thought. She loved that look.
"How far did you get?" Ambrose asked, looking to Azkadellia.
She pointed to where she'd stopped: "Courage, mind, and heart you own," she repeated again. "But I don't know what comes next." She pointed to another symbol. "I think that's red…"
Ambrose smiled slightly. "That's the picture for silver." He corrected. Azkadellia looked at the symbol and suddenly felt very silly for confusing the two.
"Right, silver."
"It finishes; Courage, mind, and heart you own, and silver shoes to take you home." He pointed out each symbol as he read. "It's read like a song, actually."
Azkadellia committed each word and its matching symbol to memory. "Maybe I could sing it to DG!" She felt excitement at that idea; her little sister loved songs and music.
"I think she would enjoy that." Ambrose said with an approving nod. He had to smile slightly at Azkadellia who was now beaming. "Do you need any more help?"
Azkadellia shook her head. "No, I'm alright." She smiled. "Thank you for your help, Master Ambrose."
"Of course, princess." Ambrose stood and made a slight bow to her. "You're doing incredibly well, Azkadellia," A spark of pride shone in his eyes now. "I didn't expect you to pick it up so quickly." The little girl seemed to swell with pride at the compliment.
As he walked for the door, he could hear the princess singing to an improvised tune "…Courage, mind, and heart you own, and silver shoes to take you home!" She certainly had them all, and Ambrose couldn't help but muse over where her silver shoes would guide her.