"Where There's Smoke"

Author's Note: Hoo boy...It's been almost a year, hasn't it? Right, that's the last time I try to put myself on a writing schedule! I do plan to finish this at some point, but I have a feeling updates will be slow. I do apologize for the delay! I hope everyone's in character.

"Chapter 3: The Letter"

The Wizard's old throne room looked very much the same as it had when Dorothy and her friends had their first terrifying meeting with the great floating head that they thought was the Wizard, with one exception. At Scarecrow's request, all of the pyrotechnics had been dismantled and removed, and the throne was mostly kept for the Lion's amusement. While he didn't refer to himself as 'King of the Forest' as the others thought he might, he did like having a cushy chair to sit on.

Right now, however, the Lion was still off having his lunch, and the Scarecrow sat on the low steps of the dais in deep thought. The throne room was where the trio met to discuss important business (not that there had been very much of that yet), or just to have some time to themselves.

Tin Man was just returning with Nikko when an Emerald City Guard strutted importantly into the room. This was not the same guard who had tried to turn Dorothy and the others away a year ago. That guard had actually been the Wizard in one of his many disguises. Behind the young guard walked an older gentleman, and Scarecrow recognized him as the man they had given sanctuary to. But where was the man's daughter?

Scarecrow stood quickly out of politeness, nearly lost his balance, and hopped down the last step to meet them. He was joined by Tin Man, though Nikko hung back.

The guard clicked his heel and saluted. "Alan Pryce to see you, sirs!"

Alan bowed low, but the Scarecrow grinned and soundly shook his hand. "No need for that! We're not very formal here."

"Oh?" Alan looked at the guard, who stood as rigidly as if he had left the hanger in his shirt that morning. He certainly seemed determined to maintain an air of formality, but perhaps it was because he was so young and trying to impress. The guard saluted again, turned on his heel, and marched out of the room. "I see..."

Tin Man shook Alan's hand next, taking care not to squeeze too hard. "How are you enjoying your stay?"

"I can't thank you enough for taking us in. But..." Alan reached into his breast pocket and brought out a folded note. "It's my daughter, sir. She left sometime during the night."

Tin Man's face fell as Alan handed him the letter, and Scarecrow crowded in to read when he opened it.

Dad,

I don't know what to say. Saying 'I'm sorry' seems too small, somehow, and even though you know I didn't mean to do it, I wish with everything I am that I could take it all back. I wish I wasn't like this. I'm so scared of what I can do, and after tonight, I know it isn't safe for me to be around other people.

You could have been killed. I can't do this anymore. I'm so angry all the time now, and I don't know why. Maybe someday I'll figure it out, and I'll be able to control it. Until then, please don't look for me. Know that I am well, and I'll come back someday if I can.

I'm so sorry. I love you, Daddy. So much!

Tegan

Tin Man's eyes welled up, and he passed the letter off to Scarecrow as he blinked a few times to keep back the tears. Her obvious pain and guilt was difficult to observe, even in the form of a letter, but this new development might mean that Scarecrow was right about her all a long, at least in part.

Scarecrow read over the note again before folding it, and a frown creased his painted face. "Does this mean what I think it means? The fire last night, was it..."

Alan looked down and nodded. "Yes...and no. It's hard to explain. No one was supposed to know about it."

"Please, try." Tin Man urged, successfully regaining control of his emotions. "We can't help if we don't know what's going on."

"She's...There's something going on with her," Alan took back the letter and put it in his pocket once more. "She and her mother were both...well...neither of them ever got burned. Ever. My wife could take a tray of biscuits out of the oven without needing pot-holders. The first time I caught her doing it, it scared the daylights out of me. After she dropped the tray-from my yell, not from the heat-she explained that this was normal for her, and she hadn't heard me come in."

Scarecrow managed to keep up a facade of businesslike calm, though he had no idea how he managed it. He nodded and motioned for Alan to continue.

"And Tegan, we had a heck of a time keeping her out of the fireplace when she was a baby. We always had to watch her, until she was old enough to understand and listen. But neither of them could actually create fire. Then, three years ago, Tegan accidentally torched a house plant."

Nikko screeched, and Scarecrow did his best to conceal his alarm. Was Tegan the rumored Witch, or perhaps it was her mother? "What about your wife?"

"Oh, she passed away when Tegan was about twelve or so," Alan looked down. "Tegan took it very hard, too. But this didn't start until recently, when Tegan was twenty-two.

"Maybe your daughter's a Witch," Scarecrow suggested. Tin Man immediately gave him a reproachful look, and Alan glared.

"If she is a Witch, she's only a danger to herself, whatever else you or she might think. I came here to ask you to help me find her, not slander my family."

"Oh, no!" Scarecrow waved his hands. "I didn't mean it that way. After all, Glinda is a Witch, and everyone loves her. From that letter, it sounds like she meant to do something good when she left, but..."

"We still need to find her," Tin Man replied firmly, putting a hand on his chest as if it ached. "This must be awful for her!"

And awful for anyone who happened to cross her path at the wrong moment, thought Scarecrow.

"Find who?"

Lion's approach had gone unnoticed as he padded in on soft paws, rubbing his full belly. Alan jumped, startled, but the Lion's friendly smile put him at ease once more.

The others filled him in, and he suddenly wished he hadn't eaten so much as the queasiness set in. "We're...we're gonna go look for a Witch?"

"We're not sure if she is a Witch," replied Scarecrow, "but yes."

"Now, wait a minute, fellas..."

His two companions were used to this by now, and Tin Man spoke over him. "Scarecrow, it might be a good idea for you to stay behind. Someone needs to mind the store."

"I'm someone!" Lion tapped his chest, but his paw came into contact with metal. Looking down, he saw his Legion of Courage medal and blushed red under his fur. He wished, not for the first time, that courage and fear didn't actually go hand in hand.

"Come on, Lion. We've dealt with Witches before, haven't we?" Tin Man wheedled with more bravado than he actually felt. "You know as well as I do that Scarecrow and fire don't exactly get along."

"Yeah," Lion scuffed at the floor and pooched out his lower lip. "All right. But where should we start?"

Everyone turned to look at Alan, but it was Nikko who answered. "More fires in the West and in the South. Maybe fire's drawn to fire."

"Hm..." Scarecrow thought this over, then nodded. "Nikko might have something there. It's as good a place to start as any."

"Yeah, but West or South?" Lion anxiously wrung his tail.

Tin Man gave a rattling shudder. "Let's try South first and work our way around, if it could be either one. I don't think we should go West unless we have to."

In the end, it was decided that Scarecrow and Alan would remain in the Emerald City. Alan desperately wanted to join in the search, but he had to concede that Scarecrow was right when he suggested that seeing him might set Tegan off.

"There must be something we can do from here!" Alan told the Scarecrow as they watched Tin Man and Lion depart.

"Actually, there is. Let me show you our library."