Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed this story. Sadly this is the end. There is a short epilogue and I HAVE been convinced to write a sequel. My original plan was to post an update every two days as before I even began posting this story was completed, as was part of the Epic Proportions Challenge. I finished this story in 24 days. Pretty good for someone whose muse has been on an extended vacation. ;-)

Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Although I know this chapter may come as a surprise I did my best to incorporate hints as to what is to come. From here on out, in the sequel of course, it will ALL be an AU that I may consider a crossover with Wicked.

Again, thank you for reading and reviewing, following, and favoriting this story. It means a great deal.

Enjoy.


Part 7
'Finding Happiness Again'

-.-.-.-One Month Later.-.-.-

"Lady Glinda?" A Priestess spoke softly, nervously.

Glinda turned, her eyes still glazed over to look at the priestess in front of her. She was young and shifted from foot to foot, clearly uncomfortable speaking with Glinda.

"Yes?" Her voice was so hoarse she hardly recognized it. She hadn't spoken much to anyone since her return. She spent most of her days in her rooms lying in bed. When she wasn't in her rooms she was here, standing before the gates of the monastery staring westward. She didn't interact with those that arrived for their pilgrimages or the priestesses unless she had to. Many just assumed she had taken on a vow of silence for her stay.

She liked it that way. It kept her from having to make small talk with ignorant people. People who wanted to congratulate her for banishing the Wicked Witch off to the West. People who did not know the pain she had in her heart and the longing she felt to return to join the 'banished witch'. Theodora was not banished. She willingly chose her solitude, chose it over being with her. Was she so terrible? Was she so unworthy? Curse it all! Was she so unlovable that Theodora would not even give her a chance?

"Lady Glinda, our ah, our May-Matron would lie-like to spe-speak with you. When, when you ha-ha-have a-a moment," the girl stuttered, drawing Glinda's attention once more.

Glinda bowed her head and made her way into the monastery, leaving the relieved priestess behind. She wasn't sure how long she had been standing just in front of the main doors of the monastery looking west, and it didn't much matter to her. Her legs were stiff and weak as she climbed the stairs to the Matron's office. The only time she spent with others was during prayer and meal time. She hadn't eaten for the first three days after she'd returned.

It was only at the insistence of the priestesses that she ate and when she did she did so minimally. Just enough to keep herself alive. She looked a fright, far from the enlightened image that one should take on or represent while seeking solace in a holy place. She had not found the Unnamed God while here, she had not spoken with Ozma herself. She had withered away, become a shell of the person she had been while others left renewed, invigorated, and touched by something deeper. It wasn't anyone's fault but her own, and maybe the Wizards, and Evanora's, and Theodora, and the universe itself to keep knocking her back down once she'd thought she'd finally found happiness.

She was due to return to Emerald City in five days and she feared for the wellbeing of those at the castle. She was short tempered, quick to anger, and it was very possible that she would kill Oscar Diggs if he said more than two words to her at a time. Her patience for good people was short; her patience for conmen somewhat responsible for her heartbreak—if not completely responsible—was nonexistent.

As she climbed up to the Matron's office, at the top of the east tower, she heard the soft whispering prayers that came from the many open doors. It calmed her heart, soothing like only a balm was on a burn.

"Come in." Glinda hadn't even knocked yet, but she entered the spacious office. It housed many bookshelves with books and files crammed onto the shelves. There were comfortable chairs and a couch in one corner and a large desk in the other.

There was a soft whimpering coming from somewhere inside the room.

It was as Glinda turned to the couches that she saw what was making the noise. The Matron of the Monastery of Saint Galinda was sitting on the couch holding a crying infant. She wore the traditional habit and was doing her best to comfort the fussy infant.

"Oh, Lady Glinda, we were so happy to hear of your return," the elderly woman stated, her smile a bit thin. "Oh, take a seat dear." She gestured to a chair across from the couch with her head, her arms full with the now wailing infant. "I am sorry that I was unable to meet with you sooner, but I've had my hands full." There were dark circles under the matron's eyes, even darker than the ones under Glinda's.

"Yes, it is nice to have returned." Glinda grimaced at the cries the infant was releasing. She was exhausted and weak in body, mind, and spirit, but the sound of the infant crying instantly called to her. She wanted nothing more than to soothe the pain or discomfort the infant felt to be so unhappy.

"Will you be remaining with us for much longer?" The Matron shifted her hold on the child switching to cradle it rather than hold it against her shoulder.

"Only five days, Madame." Glinda watched the older woman manipulate the child carefully, cringing as the cries became blatant screaming.

The Matron sighed. "I do apologize. Perhaps we can meet at a later hour. She had been so calm moments ago." And by the looks of it, it wasn't often that the child was calm.

"Forgive me for saying so Madame, but I did not take it that the Matron would be responsible for a child. Is she a relation of yours?"

"No, one of the orphans given up to us to look after. She is rather rowdy and fussy. The other Priestesses were unable to…go about their other duties while she was in their care."

"I thought infants were found families quickly." Glinda knew before her statement was answered, why this child had not been adopted. If she was always as loud and unhappy as she was now it was no wonder she would be overlooked.

"Normally they are. However this little one is a bit…different."

"Different?" Glinda could not see anything unusual about the child, but she was swaddled and held in a way that Glinda could not see the child's face. She imagined it to be rather red from all the screaming she was doing.

The matron sighed. "Yes, it appears that when the child is upset her…pigmentation…changes."

Glinda's eyebrow rose as she stood up from her seat immediately. "Her pigmentation?"

"Yes, odd as can be." The woman seemed truly mystified by what ailed the child. "Like a horse of a different color, the girl turns green when unhappy." She stressed the color, shaking her head as if amused, though she seemed anything but.

"Great Ozma…" Glinda gasped, covering her opened mouth with her hand. It couldn't be. It couldn't possibly be. And yet, Glinda reached forward with her free hand, the other still clasped over her mouth, and moved the cloth that covered the infant's green skin face. She withdrew her hand as if it was burned, allowing the cloth to hide the child's dark flushed face.

"As you can see, it turned many of the prospective parents off, as, well, as it reminds them of—"

"The Witch of the West." Glinda breathed out as she sank into the couch next to the elderly matron, her eyes staring at the green skinned infant she held. What breath was left in her body left her as she stared at the crying child and the woman holding her.

"Yes, exactly." Though the Matron seemed curious as to why Glinda had not added the adjective Wicked before the rest of the witch's moniker.

"How…how old is she?" She asked as her hand dropped marginally away from her face.

"Well, she came to us only a few days old, about…I would say a little more than a month ago." Glinda did the math in her head and felt faint. Her vision swam a bit and she needed to grasp the back of the couch tightly to keep herself grounded. "Actually, it was a few days before you arrived, Lady Glinda."

Glinda swallowed down the bile that rose.

Surely it was a coincidence that the week Theodora passed through and stayed at the Monestary a child that's pigmentation turns green when upset is left here. It had to be. It couldn't be…surely not.

Theodora had been here at the monastery days before she arrived. With company. Thinking back, Glinda hadn't asked what company the priestesses had meant when she'd spoken to them about Theodora's visit here. Glinda had always just assumed Theodora had been accompanied by some of her Winkie guards.

But why? Why would Theodora give up her child?

"Why have you come, Glinda? To kill me?" Nearly been killed more times than I would care to admit. Lost…lost a part of myself that no one can ever replace."

Glinda's eyes widened. Theodora had thought Glinda was there to kill her. Thought people would come after her to murder her. Spoke of almost being killed several times in the ten months since the Battle of Emerald City and of, of losing a part of her no one could replace. She had given up her child to protect her from harm. From the danger of retaliation. She kept out of sight. Was quick to hide when she spotted spies and had worked on a charm to keep Glinda from being able to magically look in on her or Evanora.

Glinda had thought it was because they were planning something. But was it? They had plenty of time to organize a counter offensive, to attack, and they hadn't. And Theodora, she had been so different, so mature. Secretly carrying a child for nine months while under threat of death could and should do that to someone.

Glinda's eyes watered, she had been pregnant during the battle. Very early on, but she had to have been. Glinda's hands shook. She had fought with Theodora. Hurt her. Thrown her into a wall, the trauma alone could have hurt the child she was carrying. Ozma, had she even known? When did she find out? What had her reaction been? Did she seek solace and comfort in Evanora or was she alone?

Oh my love you must have been terrified…Glinda thought to herself as she recalled how broken, weak, and childlike Theodora had been. More so than Glinda had ever seen her in all the years they'd known each other. Why hide this from her? Theodora had wrapped her arms around herself in a form of protection.

Did she think Glinda would reject her if she knew? She couldn't, she would never. Not over something like this, something Theodora could not control. It would hurt at first, to know that to have the child Theodora had been with another, but it wouldn't last. Her jealousy would always be there but so would her hatred of Oscar and her love and devotion to Theodora, and to any child she had. Didn't Theodora know that? Did she think her so cruel and heartless as to turn her back on her after having a child?

"Oh, Theodora…" Glinda whined in pain as she covered her face with both of her hands and cried into them.

It took Glinda quite some time to calm down and even as she wiped at her eyes, tears still fell from them. She looked to the Matron in front of her and the crying infant, Theodora's daughter, and motioned for the child.

"Let me try."

The Matron's eyes looked her up and down, uncertain of her capability and probably her sanity. Glinda did not blame her for either doubt. She offered a calming, watery smile, and was relieved when the woman slowly handed the child over to her.

"Be careful with her head, hold her like this." The Matron instructed Glinda on how to hold the child properly. "She does not take well to new, actually to people in general."

"That is something the two of us share in common then." Glinda joked softly, awed by the child in her arms. She did not, could not, look away from the tiny face and wiggling body she held gently against her chest.

Even as the baby continued to cry Glinda could not help but smile down at her. She had Theodora's nose, her real nose, not the one that had formed after the spell. She also had one deep mahogany eye and one aqua blue. It was a mix of Oscar's blue green eyes and Theodora's new purple irises.

"Beautiful…so beautiful." Glinda chuckled through her own tears. "Green skin and all."

The Matron watched Glinda carefully, shocked and a bit inspired by the blonde's interactions with the child in her arms. To her shock the child began to calm as Glinda spoke to her in a voice as soft and sweet as spring honey. Her ears rang a bit at the lack of a screeching cry and both women watched as the green pigmentation of the child's skin faded to a soft tan similar to their own.

"She has her mother's nose," Glinda confided, finally looking away from the child. The Matron was taken aback by Glinda's comment and became a bit uncomfortable.

"Perhaps I should take her back." Glinda turned her upper body away from the Matron in her attempt to keep the baby.

"There is no need. I have no ill will towards her, how could I?" Glinda breathed softly, lost again in the heterochromatic eyes. "She's precious, so very precious." Like her mother.

"And for her mother, you hold no ill towards her?" The Matron questioned seriously.

"Her mother ," Glinda began, looking up once more, "And I have our opinions, differing as they may be." About more things than Glinda thought previously. "But I wish her only the utmost happiness."

Glinda knew how that must sound to someone who only knew the rumors and the stories that spread like wild fire through Oz after the Battle.

"You truly are a woman of Good."

Glinda laughed softly, "I'm no better, or good, than anyone else."

The Matron disagreed. "It takes great courage and strength to forgive those who have hurt us."

Glinda swallowed thickly, looking away from the knowing look in the Matron's eyes.

"She…she." Glinda shook her head. "Does she have a name?" Glinda quickly changed the subject.

"Arduenna Gale."

Glinda closed her eyes momentarily at the child's name. In a way Theodora had named her child after her. Arduenna was her middle name. Theodora had always said how she adored the name, while Glinda could not stand it. She only ever heard it pronounced by her father when she was in trouble or announced at a boring 'grown up' party.

"Lady Glinda?"

Glinda looked up, surprised at the sound of the Matron's voice.

"I'm sorry, forgive me, I was merely surprised." Glinda ran her thumb over the top of Arduenna's cheek, wiping away the tear tracks left on her pink cheeks. "It is a beautiful name."

Glinda felt the hole in her chest fill with love as Arduenna snuggled deeper into her, smacking her lips contently as she looked up at her with sparkling eyes. For the first time in years Glinda felt truly whole.

Epilogue

Elis had been a priestess at the Galinda Monastery for over forty years. She had watched many of her friends pass on and witnessed the birth of hundreds of children. She cared for dozens of children that had no relation to her and watched them grow, caring for them as if they were her own.

She watched many of them leave and a few remain to continue the holy work that had raised them and enriched them. Forty long years she had been here, the last five spent as Matron and in that time she had seen the look in Lady Glinda's eyes many times before. Had seen bonds form that would never break between infant and a prospective parent. Watched as childless women found the fulfillment they sought holding children as reverently as Glinda held Arduenna.

Seeing all of that, Elis knew. She knew before Glinda herself did that everything had changed for the young woman. Glinda was not leaving her retreat alone, of that Elis was sure. The child currently cradled in Glinda's arms was joining the former Princess when she was to leave in five days. Which was both a blessing and a curse, as that meant while she had very little time to get the paperwork in order, she would be free of the burdensome child.

Five days later Elis watched Lady Glinda fly off in a magic bubble. A sight she'd never seen before. Lady Glinda flew to the South carrying Arduenna Gale Upland, her newly adopted child.

As Elis had known, the paperwork had been trouble but there had been little reason to deny Glinda the opportunity to make a family with the young child no one else had wanted.

As Elis watched the blonde disappear into the sunny horizon, Elis thought it fitting. And if she were to admit, a bit unnerving. Even after all these years, that old crone Yackle, a schoolmate of hers many decades before, could still be right. Even after death.

Shaking her head good naturedly Elis walked back into the walls of the Monastery assured that a new era had just dawned for Oz. She just hoped that Oz would be ready for the rest of the storm to arrive after basking in the calm of it.

The End. (For now)

That's it folks. If you have any suggestions for scenes you'd like to see in the sequel be sure to send them my way. If they fit in with the general story line I'll do my utmost to add them. ;-) Thanks for reading!