The Frozen Heart of Oz

by WTalespinner

While the Princess Ozma and her entourage are trapped in Jinxland and stalked by a group of witches led by a former student of the Wicked Witch of the West, the interim ruler of Oz...Oscar Diggs...sends Betsy Bobbin and Captain Fyter to stop a siege on a defenseless pearl fishing village by two hostile lands as our film-based adaptations of Baum's famous Oz books continues!

14. XIV: The Wizards of Ev

XIV: The Wizards of Ev

Making their way back from the space above the Ornaments Chamber, Betsy Bobbin, Quox, Ozga, Rinkitink, and Bilbil returned to the 10' x 10' trick cavern they were in before the white pearl had directed for them to ascend to the ceiling, where large spaces permitted them to eavesdrop on not only Guph and the nomes he was speaking to, but also allowed them to observe and communicate with the occupants of the Ornaments Room as well.

It was this latter encounter which compelled Betsy…who had, in her desperation to think of an alternate guise, cast herself in the role of "Billina, the invisible magic hen"…to bring the group back to the trick cavern to discuss options.

It was this alternate guise which was on the mind of the goat as he spoke to Betsy. "An invisible magic hen?"

Betsy shrugged. "It was all I could think of! I guess I was thinkin' 'bout what those nomes said about bein' afraid of eggs. Well…hens lay eggs, so I made up Billina."

"And what a really cute idea that was!" Ozga cooed.

"But now, the royal family wants to meet this hen." Quox noted. "Now I…could arrange that, but…I can't just generate a hen out of thin air. Only someone as powerful as the Great Jinjin can do that. But I can use raw, living material to create one for a short period of time."

"How long?" Betsy asked.

"The enchantment would last for a single day's time." Quox replied. "It won't hurt a bit, either."

Betsy nodded, turning away thoughtfully from Quox as he rose his glowing hands up behind her. "So…I guess one of us gets t' be a hen for a…" She then began to feel strange as white feathers began to sprout from and bundle upon her body beneath her servant's outfit. "…a d-dayyy-yyy…"

Feeling a fleshy growth hang beneath her chin, she saw her mouth and nose harden and push forward, forming a beak. Her curly hair seemed to recede as more white feathers covered her head and neck. Her young body shrank and bloated to become the frame of a healthy fat fowl as her arms blossomed a pair of white-feathered wings. Skinny, four-clawed avian feet stepped out of her human footwear as Betsy's still human eyes widened, looking down upon the hen's body that Quox had so obviously given her!

She then looked up at Quox, who shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "Why me?" Betsy whined in protest.

"I'm sorry, Betsy…but I did say this would be temporary." Quox replied. "At this time tomorrow, you'll be back to your old self."

"I know, but…I thought we could draw straws or somethin'!" Betsy remarked, still a little thrown by the feel of her new, smaller fowl form.

"I'm afraid you still would have been our Billina, Betsy." The old man replied, once again shrugging. "I don't enchant fairies, so I couldn't pick Ozga. Rinkitink is royalty, and I don't change rulers who are fair and just with a majority of their people. Bilbil here is…well, he's already suffering from something he didn't want, so I couldn't transform him."

Betsy frowned curiously as her eyes turned to the goat. "Sufferin'?"

Bilbil's tone was firm and very serious in his reply. "Don't ask."

Rinkitink smiled down to Betsy. "Besides…with you being as you are now, you can also provide us with one other very important element we will need to be able to quite possibly free all of us from these caverns."

Betsy tilted her now-feathered head to the side in her confusion, feeling the fleshy hen's ridge on her head flop a bit.

She also noticed that the others were looking upon her as well. All except Ozga, who was apparently creating something using her fairy magic. When her glowing hands came away from an area she was concentrating on, it became clear what they wanted Betsy to do.

Because Ozga had created a comfy-looking hen's nest.

"Oh, now wait a minute." Betsy protested. "Y-y' don't really think I'm gonna…"

"Betsy, they said eggs were a nome's weakness." Bilbil noted. "You're the only one, at the moment, who can give us that."

The hen sighed, lowering her head. "I know…but, well…I-I've nev'r been a hen b'fore. I dunno what t' do…I mean, I've been on a farm, but…I've nev'r work'd on one!"

"Well, maybe I could give the waiting time a little nudge." Quox responded, gesturing to the nest as Betsy's hen's feet began to hesitantly walk towards it.

The hen wobbled a bit, as Betsy was logically unaccustomed to walking with this new body shape, and the weight differences that came with it. Upon settling into the nest, she felt a pleasing warmth run through the fullness of her fowl frame, and she sighed out contentedly.

Betsy obviously had no idea what it would feel like to actually lay an egg, and she was quite nervous over the prospect of doing this…

…but if it meant helping her friends, she was entirely willing to give it a try.

She did not have to wait very long before she felt a fullness form within her gut. Instinctively, she began to caw and crow as the feeling became much more intense. Betsy then felt a large, round, warm object below her resting feathers. Ozga lifted the hen up with her slender hands to reveal the healthy white egg she had successfully laid. Quox picked the egg up carefully, after which Ozga settled Betsy back upon the nest.

"There we go." The disguised dragon held up the egg to examine it. "And one egg is all we're gonna need from you, Betsy."

The hen nodded, smiling. "So? Don't keep me waiting! Is it a boy, or a girl?"

---

Roquat had them all lined up in front of him in the large room that was outside of the throne room entrance. The horde of nome warriors had the Lion, Trot, Dorothy Gale, the Queen of Ev, all ten of her freed children, and King Kitticut stood before the Nome King, who was quivering with rage over the constant ringing of the bell that had signified a successful ornament selection.

The gray-skinned nome walked slowly in front of the lined-up prisoners, scowling up at them as he passed. "If I could still wish upon my Magic Belt, I would make pure diamond statues out of you all! Needless to say, for all the trouble you have brought us, you have no chance of winning what you came here for! None of my nomes will leave these dominions to aid you for any reason!"

At that point, Kaliko walked into the large room, headed towards Roquat. Another younger-looking nome walked alongside him, staring amazedly around the spacious area as they approached the nome monarch.

"Inga!" Dorothy softly confirmed, recognizing the way the boy was dressed.

Roquat hurried over to scowl up to the canine girl. "His name is Ingot, dog. Out of the curiosity I have for that which humans call a 'family', I have made little Ingot that which you call…a son."

"Son?" Trot frowned in her confusion. "But…who's his mom?"

"Ingot will only have a father! A 'dad', so to speak!" The Nome King growled stubbornly. "And I shall be that dad to him!"

"Dat's not how a family is, nomey!" the Lion growled. "Ya don't just takes people ta be ya kid!"

Kitticut, who had been observing the entire time in silence, was now in shock upon seeing his young son wearing a nome's body. His eyes boggled, and his mouth hung open in his disbelief. He was particularly aghast at what the Nome King was now saying about his dearest boy.

"You're mad!" Kitticut yelled. "He's not your son, no matter what form you give him! He's mine!"

Roquat fired a finger over to the old king of Pingaree. "NOT ANYMORE, HE ISN'T! Do you really think he would want to leave the comforts of his new home after seeing just how lovely our Metal Forest is? He shall be dreaming about it no matter what he is…and by my own powers as an immortal, he shall always remain what he is now."

"NOOOO!" Kitticut cried out, dropping to his knees, tears forming in his eyes as he collapsed into a sobbing fit, his hands reaching out to the nome that was once Inga. "Nooo…my boy, my dear boy…"

"Yer a real snake, Roquat." The Lion disgustedly remarked, fixing an angry gaze upon the Nome King.

Dorothy couldn't help but growl loudly as well as she fixed an angry stare upon the round-bodied, red-suited nome.

Roquat arched an eyebrow amusedly as he turned to the growling canine girl and the Lion. "Make a move towards me, and you shall be hopelessly and impossibly overwhelmed. I field the largest army of warriors in the whole of the nonestic isles. I could overcome even the mighty armored soldiers of the land of Ix with sheer numbers if I wanted to!"

"If ya say so, shorty." The Lion now had an odd smile on his furry face. "Personably, I don't tink any of 'em stand a speck of a chance against…" He then gestured to Trot. "…dat monkey dere."

Trot's eyes widened. "Huh? Me? But…" She then realized why the Lion had singled her out. "…oh."

Nome warriors now began closing in on Trot, surrounding and encircling her. They slowly began approaching the monkey girl, who now looked very nervous.

Roquat smirked to the Lion. "Shall we put that to a test?"

She then began chittering and screaming in a simian fashion. Nomes grabbed her from all sides and began to hold her down…

…but Trot threw her arms out to the sides, raising herself up from the ground effortlessly and shoving the nomes that were on her to the sides! Balling one of her hands into a fist, she reared it back as another tough and muscular nome moved in on her. When the monkey girl's punch solidly connected with this nome's chin, he sailed up and over in a wide arc, landing far from where Trot was standing.

Dorothy began sneaking over towards the Nome King as he expressed his shock over what he was seeing. "FOOLS! SHE IS BUT A SINGLE MONKEY! OVERWHELM HER!" Roquat called out.

Empowered with the super-strength of Pon's pearl, which she had placed in her mouth and under her simian tongue, Trot began swatting and striking away a great many nomes that tried to grab and strike at her. Some of her blows even shattered their best and most deadly-looking weapons before a follow-up punch sent them flying. Not one nome in the entire horde could hold onto her, nor strike her, at all. Contrarily, the monkey that had once been a young girl from California was beginning to enjoy the one-sided battle that had ensued. Nomes seemed to be flying everywhere as they continued to surge in towards the unexpectedly strong monkey girl.

As she struck away another group of attacking nomes, she raised her furry fists to the sky in exultation. "AWOOOOO-WOO-WOO-WOO-WOOOOO!" She cried out, proudly emulating her baboon friend. She then continued her battle with the nomes.

Dorothy needed only a couple more steps to be able to attempt a grab on the gem-encrusted strap wrapped around Roquat's waist. As he continued to scream and rant over the inability of his nome hordes to get a hold of Trot, the canine girl was finally able to grab the area where the belt could be fastened, and she found it surprisingly easy to slip the belt off of the Nome King's waist.

Roquat felt the movement of the belt too late to keep it from leaving his body, but he turned his shocked gaze behind him, and saw Dorothy attempting to distance herself from the gray-skinned monarch.

Eyes wide, and flaring with fury, he jumped and screamed where he stood, shooting a finger towards the retreating canine girl. "THIEF! THIIIEEEEEF! SEIZE HER! SHE HAS MY BELT!"

At the same time, Kitticut was able to grab and pull Inga by his skinny gray wrist and rush into the now unoccupied throne room, subsequently hiding from what was going on in the outer room.

The nome warriors now turned their attention to Dorothy, and Trot found herself at a disadvantage. She now had to get through a sea of nomes in order to reach and defend the canine girl, who was racing towards one of the room's exits as fast as she could with the king's belt in one furry hand.

The Lion was able to move in behind Dorothy to cut loose with another loud and bellowing roar, but this only recoiled and hesitated a little over a handful of the nomes that ran towards the canine girl. Everyone else ignored the Lion as they closed in on Dorothy.

The door remained far from her. She needed to cover a LOT of ground to be able to reach it, and the nomes were almost on her. There was no time to even try to use the belt herself. She just kept running as fast as her digitigrade legs could carry her.

Now determined to stop her by any means necessary, the Nome King, focusing her eyes on the fleeing canine girl, began waving his hands, inhaling to be able to call out the incantations for yet another crippling spell that was sure to stop this furry thief…

…but a strong blast of wind, however, surged against not only Dorothy, but the charging nomes as well, knocking all of them down! From the shadows above them all, a large, reptillian beast sporting sky blue scales dropped down a few feet in front of the canine girl, who had stumbled to the ground over the unexpected disturbance.

Upon spotting this large creature, Roquat's eyes widened with fear now. He knew exactly who this creature was. "N-no…not you…it…it can't be!"

It did not take long for Quox to be able to spot the now terrified Nome King. Once their eyes met, a circlet of glowing magic resembling a ribbon surrounded Roquat's neck for a moment before disappearing with a flash and a loud bang. This bang resounded in the nome monarch's head, which he placed his hands to in a brief but evident agony. When the pain subsided, he found himself incapable of remembering any magic incantations at all!

When the dragon settled to the ground, two humanoid figures that were riding on its back carefully slid down its scales. One was a large and jovial-looking man wearing a king's crown, and the other was a young woman with striking eyes and a curiously floral outfit that seemed to suggest green leaves. This one held something furry in her hands, which she placed upon the ground. A glow surrounded her slender hands as they hovered over the horned, furry, four-legged creature, which was revealed to be a goat once he was restored to his proper size.

Dorothy had dropped to a furry knee, panting rapidly in her exhaustion, her tongue lolling despite herself. The nomes pursuing her were obviously keeping a distance, presumably because of the dragon that had landed very near to where she was recovering.

Their eyes, however, were on the fat monarch. Or, more accurately, on what he was carefully cradling in his arms.

Roquat, obviously enraged over the fact that his capacity to cast personal magic had been stripped from him, looked to his now fearful nome horde. He practically hopped where he stood as he screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GET MY BELT BACK!"

But the soldiers were all saying the same word as their gazes lingered on the hen comfortably held by the ruler of the land called Rinkitink. General Blug himself, who commanded a majority of the horde, found himself muttering the same word.

"Eggs…eggs…" they all whispered under their breath. Some of them pointed to the hen as they recoiled. "…eggs…"

"BLUG!" the Nome King called out to the General. "COMMAND THEM TO CHARGE! OR I WILL HAVE YOU SLICED!"

"THERE IS A HEN AMONG THEM!" Blug fearfully yelled back.

"BA-KAAAWK!" The hen loudly called out, visibly startling the nome hordes.

Roquat himself gasped aloud in horror upon hearing, and then spotting, the fowl in Rinkitink's arms.

"Is that…Billina?" Evardo asked aloud as he and the rest of the royal family joined the smiling king.

"It's gotta be!" Evring responded.

The frowning dragon's large eyes lingered on Roquat as he spoke. "She laid lots of eggs, too! A whole army of them, you might say!"

Quox's scaly tail whipped around in front of him gracefully as he spoke, and he then traced a straight line with its light bulb-like tip on the ground in front of him. As the tip ran across, a row of round, solid white cylindrical shapes, all of them standing upright, could be seen.

Gasps and yelps of shock could be heard by the nomes. "EGGS!" many of them yelled, pointing fearfully at the line of eggs…

…which now began to move along the ground towards the Nome King!

Roquat, of course, recoiled in complete horror as the eggs advanced, and indeed, they were moving like a marching army. "NOO! Please! Don't let them touch meeee!" The nome monarch wailed as he backed away.

Quox, in the meantime, was forming line after line of eggs one after the other, moving forward in perfect formation. Some of them split off to begin approaching the nome horde, and the large room was now filled with the sound of screeching, stammering nomes who turned tail and ran wildly from their marching anathema.

The hen turned her head to the dragon. "An' you said y' only needed one egg?"

"Well…it's been awhile since I've actually seen a hen's egg, Bets…I mean, Billina." Quox sheepishly admitted. "I needed to get an actual egg before I could conjure more of the same."

"So all dose eggs is not real, eh?" The Lion wondered aloud as he and Dorothy moved closer to the dragon. "Heh…dey looked real enough ta me."

"Oh no, those are real eggs." Quox confirmed. "Compliments of the Great Jinjin, Tititi-Hoochoo. Defender of truth and justice all over the nonestic isles."

While the nome hordes were able to escape the marching eggs, Roquat himself was not so lucky. In fact, there were a great many eggs encircling him now, and he practically curled up into a badly-quaking fetal ball in his fear of the round white objects, which had stopped a short distance from the terrified nome monarch.

"Hmmm. I tink I've heard o' dat Jinjin guy." He settled a furry arm around Dorothy's shoulders as he explained. "Not a guy ya wanna cross, doggie." He then looked back to Quox. "So he sent ya, huh? What crime did dat nomey commit?"

"He used the Hollow Tube." Quox replied.

Moving his arm off of the canine girl's shoulders, the Lion gasped in his surprise, stepping closer to the dragon. "He didn't!"

"Yup! Never asked permission, either." Quox responded.

Trot frowned in confusion. "What's the Hollow Tube?"

As the Queen of Ev was close enough to the monkey to hear, she stepped over to Trot to answer. "That's a passageway to the fairyland ruled by the Great Jinjin, which is on the other side of the Earth. The nonestic end is in a forest near the entrance to the nome dominions, and it's very well concealed, too." The Queen then turned her head to Quox. "But why would the Nome King have any interest in the Great Jinjin's lands?"

"One needs to look to the strap Roquat wears around his waist to know why." Quox answered.

As Quox and the others spoke, Dorothy moved up close to the hen. "You know…you sound a lot like a friend of mine."

The hen sighed in her embarrassment. She spoke in a hushed tone. "Let's put it this way. Right now, I'm Billina. T'morrow, I'll go back t' bein' Betsy Bobbin."

The canine girl's eyes widened and her furry ears went straight up. "I shouldn't ask, should I?"

"I'd rath'r y' didn't, Dor'thy." Betsy replied.

"You should punish the dog as well!" Roquat shot a gray finger over to Dorothy. "She is a thief! She stole my belt!"

"Which was decorated with the stones of an artifact that was never yours." Quox revealed. "Or have you forgotten that those shards on your belt come from the ancient Whither-stone?"

"The Whither-stone?" Ozga exclaimed. "I thought that was just a myth!"

"But…but…they were only shards." It was now clear that Roquat was attempting to rationalize his actions. "Not the entire stone! I certainly didn't cause the ground tremors which shook off those shards!"

"But you knew that by collecting enough of them, you could create something…like that belt of yours…which could grant a single wish upon a single day if you arranged the shards in a certain way." Quox countered. "As you have been unnecessarily selfish in your wishes, the Great Jinjin does not find enough justification in your plea to have the belt returned to you. I suspect that someone like Dorothy there…" He gestured to the canine girl. "…would be a little more responsible in her use of such an artifact?"

Her ears lowered a bit in her intimidation, but she took a deep breath before speaking. "Well…um…I think this belt should go to someone far better suited to using this responsibly. At the moment, she's under a spell back in Oz, and we're trying to break it, but we can't do that without the help of one of the nomes."

"And yet, you don't feel compelled to make a single wish which would quite easily break this spell?" Quox curiously asked. "Or the spell which has covered you in all that fur?"

Dorothy shook her head. "With all respect, I'd rather we stick to our plan."

Quox then turned his head back to Roquat. "And now, you know why I feel that this belt of yours is safer in the hands of one such as Dorothy Gale. Were she as selfish as you, Roquat, she would have immediately used your belt to change herself back to the human girl she once was."

The Nome King, who was now on his knees, looked up to Quox with as soulful a gaze as he could attempt. "Wh-what is to happen to me?"

"You are to be banished to the surface, Roquat." The dragon proclaimed. "You will never see the interiors of your own dominions ever again."

"But this is my home!" the nome monarch yelled angrily. "I am the ruler of my people! There is no other nome who…"

"No other, you say?"

Kaliko, the king's steward, now stepped over to Roquat upon announcing his presence. Unlike the other nomes, he ignored the eggs that were surrounding the nome ruler, and the white orbs began to separate to give the steward an open path. "I feel compelled to dispute that claim, Roquat."

At this point, Inga re-emerged from the throne room to curiously observe the situation outside of it. King Kitticut followed behind him. Roquat caught sight of Inga…who remained a nome…in his peripheral vision, and glanced upon him.

The nome monarch's eyes then went back to Quox, gesturing to the nome his magic had created. "What of…"

"Don't even suggest it, Roquat." Quox warily interjected. "You know that boy used to be someone else's child. The humanity you selfishly took from Inga will be restored."

The gray-skinned nome's head lowered slowly. His words were tinged with genuine regret. "I…I only wanted to know what it was like…to have what humans call a 'son'. I was never going to hurt him."

"Quox…" The dragon turned to the source of the young female voice, and saw the monkey girl looking up at him. "…um…if you're a magic dragon, can you get something out of me? I…kinda swallowed something. It's a magic stone."

The scaly beast frowned in confusion, and then brought the tip of one of his claws over to gently touch upon the simian girl's large tummy. Quox's eyes closed as the claw lingered upon Trot's furry gut. A moment later, his large eyes re-opened. "Ah, there it is. Hmmm…you've got the petrified eye of a gorgon in you! That doesn't belong there, does it?"

The claw harmlessly rubbed up towards Trot's head, and a wave of nausea seized the monkey. She began to cough and hack until a moist stone object popped out of her simian mouth, which she caught with her hands before it hit the ground. She immediately recognized it, through wide eyes, to be the very same stone she used to enchant Ozma and her entourage.

The dragon's claw then hovered over Inga, and then spun in a circle above the gray-skinned, white-haired nome. His thin legs began to expand as his round body seemed to straighten, forming a more human torso as his legs also resumed a more human appearance. The boy's hair reshaped itself to the full head of brown hair worn by the young prince of Pingaree. As Inga's mind had been mildly altered to the effect that he was made to think he was always a nome, he felt that fog recede as well as his eyes blinked rapidly. In the next moment, Ingot was completely gone, replaced by the young son of a highly-overjoyed King Kitticut.

When Inga looked around confusedly, he spotted his father, and instantly recognized him. "DAD!"

The prince hurried into the open arms of the relieved king, and both father and son embraced each other happily. "Ohhh, my boy…my dear, dear boy!"

Quox's restorative claw then hovered over an idling, confused dove as well, and upon circling the tip above the bird, the feathers covering the creature began receding as its body shape began mutating to that of an aged human man with shaggy gray hair. The dove's beak receded back to become a human nose and mouth, and a pair of human arms replaced the dove's wings just as a pair of human feet replaced the avian limbs below his waist.

Upon spotting the dragon, the Shaggy Man gasped aloud. "Dear me!"

Quox chuckled amusedly. "Don't worry…I'm not gonna eat you."

Although the Lion and Dorothy were happy to see all these conundrums being addressed by the Great Jinjin's dragon, there was one other matter which once again put an expression of concern on the leonine monarch's furry face as he turned his head to the anthropomorphic dog. "Dorothy…da Scarecrow!"

Dorothy's ears rose in recognition of this, and she gasped in her realization. The straw-stuffed advisor had failed his test, and he had to be somewhere in the Ornaments Chamber. Without saying a word, the canine girl hurried her way past everyone, remembering how she got to the chamber, ignoring anyone who called to her.

When she passed through the curtain this time, however, it did not become a solid blank wall!

Once again, Dorothy began looking around the remaining ornaments, sniffing around instinctively. Sadly, she could pick up no scents other than that which all the ornaments shared. Selection had to be by sight. Her ears lowered regretfully upon acknowledging this.

She then noted a glow coming from behind her, and she turned curiously around, her ears raising up.

A blue ornament in the shape of a proud schoolmaster, holding a diploma, was emitting this soft blue glow.

Dorothy's tail began to wag as she brought her claw-tipped, padded finger up to point at it. "Ev."

But nothing happened, and Dorothy's ears lowered.

"That's not where your Scarecrow friend comes from, Dorothy!"

She recognized the voice of the dragon, but she did not see the giant beast behind her when she turned to face him. Instead, he saw a well-built old man frowning confusedly at Dorothy. Standing beside him was one of the male children of the Queen of Ev. "Don't you know where he comes from? Where he was made?"

"Of course I do." She then turned back to the ornament, and once again pointed her finger at it. "Oz."

The ensuing flash of light turned the ornament into a thick blue mist, which grew in size, and dissipated in front of Dorothy to reveal the fully-restored Scarecrow.

The canine girl's tail wagged wildly and her ears stood straight up as she wrapped her furry arms around the straw-stuffed advisor, who still looked a little confused. "Scarecrow! You're back! You're back! RUFF! RUFF!"

When it finally hit him, the Scarecrow looked Dorothy in her still-human eyes. "Did I…did I fail?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter now." Dorothy replied. "Don't worry about it!"

"But…but this is so embarrassing!" The Scarecrow protested. "First, I confuse an Isoceles Triangle for a Right Triangle, and now this! I may need to get a new brain, Dorothy!"

"Now, now…" Quox remarked, stepping over to them. "…even the best brains in the world can fail every so often. You just over-rationalized is all. It's a weakness common to having good brains!"

Dorothy smiled, gesturing to the old man. "Scarecrow…this is Quox. He's…"

"QUOX?" The Scarecrow sounded very surprised as his eyes widened. "I know that name! He's an instrument of vengeance, sent by Tititi-Hoochoo, the Great Jinjin, to punish anyone who violates the laws of his fairyland!" He brought his hand up, still awestruck, to shake the smiling old man's hand. "I'd always read about you, sir…but I never thought I'd ever meet you! I guess this is the human form I read about that you use as your disguise!"

Quox chuckled. "Yup, that it is."

Dorothy felt a tug at her tail, and she looked down to see the little boy, Evrob, looking up at her. He held a glowing blue ornament in his little hand. "'Scuse me…I think this is yours too. Could you do the Oz thing again?"

The canine girl nodded, smiling. "Put it on the ground there."

Evrob complied, and once again, Dorothy raised a furry finger and invoked the name of the magical fairyland of which she was now a resident. Another flash of light turned the ornament into a thick blue mist, which formed in front of Dorothy and then dissipated to reveal the tin-plated form of Empress Nimmie Amee!

Confused at first, her eyes then fell on Dorothy, and then scanned the other live people in the room. "Hmmm…I guess I failed, didn't I?"

"Don't be too hard on yourself, your highness." The Scarecrow responded. "I've got the most excellent brains in the land of Oz, and I still failed my test."

Evrob now pulled at Dorothy's furry arm. "Hey! Look! I see another one glowing!"

The group followed Evrob and Dorothy until they found the glowing ornament. It was the very same man in white armor that had been selected once before when Nimmie had her turn.

The tin empress frowned at this. "That's funny…that was one of the ornaments I picked. Nothing happened."

Dorothy shrugged. "Well…it's glowing now." The canine girl brought up a clawed, furry finger. "Oz."

The flash happened once again, turning the white knight into a blue mist, which formed in front of Dorothy, and dissipated to reveal the tin-plated soldier called Fyter!

Nimmie's eyes widened. "So I should have said 'Oz', eh? Tri-cky, tri-ckyyyy…"

At first, the tin soldier looked confused in his restoration. Upon spotting Dorothy's canine form, however, he frowned in confusion.

"Dorothy?" Fyter tilted his head to the side. "Is that you?"

The canine girl sighed. "Long story. I'm still me, though."

Fyter nodded, gently placing a tin-plated hand upon Dorothy's shoulder. "And that's the important thing." His eyes then turned to the tin-wrought female, and as his gaze lingered, he stepped over to her slowly.

Knowing who this was, Nimmie was understandably hesitant to speak. This was, after all, a man she once had affections towards during the reign of the Wicked Witch of the East. They had covertly arranged potential insurrections against the powerful old crone's rule, only to see them all effectively neutralized and put down before they had a chance to make a significant difference.

The silence between them was finally broken by Fyter. "I…heard about the wedding. And your coronation. I'm sorry I was not there."

Nimmie nodded. "Would you have approved?"

"I am a soldier with the gillikin armies." Fyter replied. "I don't think that's a question for me to answer, empress."

"Yes it is." Nimmie countered. "I'm asking for your opinion. Do you think I have the potential to be a good empress?"

Fyter shrugged. "I think you would agree that we both risked our lives to try and compel others to rise and resist the rule of the Wicked Witch of the East, Nimmie. That you had spoken out so passionately against her tyranny, on so many occasions, shows you certainly have the charisma to be a leader." He then placed his hands gently on Nimmie's own tin-plated shoulders. "I think the emperor made a good choice."

Nimmie smiled. "I was the one who made the choice, Fyter. He didn't want to force me into anything."

Fyter smiled back, nodding. "Yup, that sounds like our Nick." His expression then went serious again. "You know, I never did find out what happened to you. I mean…the last time I saw you, you were a beautiful munchkin."

"I'll tell you later, Fyter." Nimmie responded. "Right now, I have to think about my husband, and my friends. But I promise, I will tell you the whole story afterwards."

As Fyter and Nimmie spoke, Evrob had been going around the Ornaments Chamber, looking for any other glowing exhibits. Sadly, no other piece gave off any illumination, and he was sullen when he returned to Dorothy's side.

The canine girl bent to a furry knee in front of the boy in her concern. "What is it, Evrob?"

The little boy pouted, lowering his head. "I thought those other wizards would be here." He quietly murmured.

Dorothy frowned in her confusion. "Other wizards?"

King Rinkitink was the first to react to this mention. "Oh yes! You must mean Marie's friends!" He looked down to the hen that he still cradled in his arms. "You do remember who she asked us to find, don't you?"

The hen nodded. "An' I r'memb'r those nomes talkin' 'bout those two gray gems in that Metal Forest."

"My, my, my my my." Kaliko stepped slowly towards King Rinkitink and the hen he held. "I always knew that some of us tend to be a bit loose-lipped, but really. I should impose new rules on idle chatter, shouldn't I?"

Quox arched an eyebrow. "Perhaps you would prefer to see Roquat back on the throne?"

Were it possible for a mere look to kill someone, Kaliko's expression in response to the disguised dragon's question would have quickly put Quox six feet under. After a moment, he spoke slowly and sternly in answer to the old man's notion. "Go get those stones…and then I will want you and all of your friends out of my dominions, if you don't mind."

"Sorry y' can't get your 'silver guardian'." Betsy slyly quipped.

Kaliko smirked, turning back to 'Billina'. "You're better off in feathers anyway. Maybe Dorothy can set you up in a farm."

The old man that was Quox's disguise then bent down to Evrob with an expression of eagerness on his face. "Want me to help you find your magician friends?"

Little Evrob nodded, smiling. "Okay!"

Quox nodded back, smiling. "Follow me, then. Let's go!" As they began to move, the old man stopped near Kaliko. "By the way…I'll expect you to release all those other prisoners from Pingaree as well. Have them all gathered outside your throne room, okay? Be a good little usurper."

Kaliko sighed loudly and irritably. "Fiiiiine."

As Quox and Evrob hurried their way through to the Metal Forest, the rest of the group stepped out of the Ornaments Chamber to go back to the large room where the others were waiting.

Rinkitink just happened to be walking near a very grumpy-looking Kaliko. "Sly actions on your part, I must say." The round-bodied monarch mused aloud, smiling. "For a while, I thought you were lying when you suggested that those caverns would give us the means to help you supplant Roquat. But I suppose if we had gotten ourselves hopelessly lost in there, Roquat would have been quite pleased with you. Sounds like a win-win scenario for you, eh, Kaliko?"

Again, Kaliko smirked as he walked. He didn't even turn his head to Rinkitink as he dismissively replied. "Whatever you say."

The incumbent king gave instructions to a group of nomes to bring the shipwrecked prisoners from Pingaree to the large chamber. He then motioned for his other guests from Oz and Ev to join him in the throne room.

Once Kaliko settled himself into the throne seat with a sense of quiet satisfaction, his eyes first fell on the Scarecrow. "You should count yourselves lucky you have a friend in Quox, or I'd have you hand over that belt."

"You heard him yourself, Kaliko." The Scarecrow reminded. "He wanted it to go to Dorothy."

"And what makes you so sure she is going to use it responsibly?" Kaliko mused.

"I won't." Dorothy calmly replied. "This belt is going to the Princess Ozma once we've set her free."

"Princess Ozm…oh yes." He reached over to grasp a very nicely-designed mug, signalling for a nome. "Lurline and Pastoria's halfbreed brat. What makes you think she is going to use it responsibly, then?"

"She may not use it at all." Nimmie replied. "But I'm sure she'll keep a very close watch on it."

A nome servant stepped over with a pitcher of liquid, which he poured into the empty mug, filling it near the brim. Outside the throne room, many murmuring voices were heard from a crowd that was rapidly forming outside.

Bilbil clopped over to Rinkitink as the others idled. The goat's eyes were on the mug Kaliko held. He spoke in a hushed tone. "I wonder if that's the 'victory cup' those nomes mentioned?"

"I was thinkin' th' same thing." Betsy responded, in a similarly hushed manner.

The smiling Shaggy Man and the equally pleased old woman called Mira stepped over to where Dorothy, the Lion, Scraps, the Scarerow, Nimmie, and Fyter stood. "You have no idea how grateful we are that you have rescued us." The shaggy vagabond remarked. "I'm certain these people will be relieved to find themselves out of these subterranean surroundings, at the very least."

"As long as we don't have to walk past a big ol' splatter again." Nimmie glanced to the Lion, who shrugged sheepishly.

"Well, well, well!" Scraps practically hopped over to the Scarecrow. "Fancy seeing you here, honey-bunch!" She cooed.

The straw-stuffed advisor smiled. "I imagine you were keeping everyone entertained while you were in captivity?"

Scraps nodded. "I even did that silly 'write-on-the-ground' thing that everyone started doing." She then pouted. "They didn't care for my messages, though."

The old woman's eyes were on Dorothy as she stepped in closer to the canine girl. One of her aged hands rubbed against a portion of the girl's soft headfur, and Dorothy's tail began to wag approvingly. "Hello, dear. My name is Mira. We are so very indebted to you and your friends! Looking forward to getting back on the farm?"

Dorothy found herself enjoying the petting from the sweet old lady. "W..well…I don't actually work on a farm anymore. My Aunt and Uncle live on one in Oz, but..."

"Oh, but you do visit them every so often, don't you?" Mira then asked, maintaining her highly satisfying petting rhythm as she spoke. "Perhaps…not as often as you should? Hmm?"

Indeed, this thought had been on Dorothy's mind on occasion before and after her weekly Sunday dinner visits. "Yes, I…I do visit them. Every Sunday, in fact."

"Oh, I think you should visit them much more often, if you ask me, dear." Mira noted, applying a bit of scratching behind Dorothy's furry right ear that felt very pleasant. "They are family, after all…aren't they?"

"Mmmmm…" Dorothy found herself luxuriating in Mira's petting, closing her eyes as her tail wagged more rapidly.

The Scarecrow, glancing Dorothy's way, was about to say something when Quox returned with Evrob. Behind them were two robed men. One was well-built and had a head of shoulder-length brown hair and a well-groomed mustache and beard. The man next to him was not as athletic-looking, but he also had shoulder-length hair, and his mustache was thinner. He had a goatee rather than a full beard, and his eyes were larger compared to the other, taller man. Both men presented the appearance of being magicians.

The other nine children of the Royal Family of Ev, and their mother, rushed over to reunite with these two men, greeting them as they would a beloved family member. They smiled back and shared a few kind words with them as the other guests from Oz watched.

Evrob began dragging the shorter one over to Dorothy as Mira disengaged from her petting to stand by the Shaggy Man and observe. "Neville! Neville! These are the people that saved us! You've gotta meet them!" Evrob noted aloud. He indicated Dorothy first. "This is Dorothy. She's under a witch's curse. Can you help her?"

"Hey! Hey! Hang on! One thing at a time, pal!" The smiling Neville gently chided, rubbing Evrob's head. He then looked to Dorothy, his eyes scanning up and down her furry form. "Witch's curse, eh? I won't ask how ya got it." He then extended a hand. "Nice to meet ya, Dorothy. I'm Neville. Neville Evince from Chicago." He gestured to the other man with his other hand as the surprised canine girl shook the offered hand. "Tall and dashing over there is Corin Everhart. He's from Wales. There was a third, but…well, he's kind of in hiding around here…" Neville began to look around curiously before his eyes fell on Kaliko. "…oh, there he is!" A quick glance to Dorothy followed. "Excuse me, hon. I'll be right back…hey, CORIN!" Looking to his fellow magician, he pointed to the nome in the throne seat. "I found him!"

Corin and Neville now stepped over to confront Kaliko as he took another sip of his drink. The others went quiet as they confronted the incumbent nome ruler.

"You've got something of ours, did ya know that?" Neville remarked.

"We certainly hope you're not entirely unwilling to part with it." The handsome magician called Corin added.

A tense moment of silence followed before Kaliko spoke. "Can I finish my drink first?"

Corin, who had his hands behind his back, tilted his head to the side. A tinkling noise could be heard behind him. "What drink?"

The usurping nome snorted in derision, and brought the mug to his lips once again. Kaliko then blinked as he noticed that the mug's remaining liquid was now completely gone, and not a drop of it remained.

With a loud and irritated sigh, Kaliko angrily tossed the mug towards the two magicians. Corin was easily able to catch it. Giving it a quick inspection, he then turned his head to Neville and gave a nod of confirmation.

An unpleasant expression remained on the new nome ruler's face as he leaned forward, his eyes on Quox. "Get Roquat in here."

The dragon, who was still in his human guise, turned his head towards the still-petrified former monarch who was still surrounded by many eggs, which remained upright as if they were alive. "Right! Bring him over!" He commanded unto this egg army.

The eggs began to move now, compelling Roquat himself to move to avoid even brushing against the surfaces of their outer shells for fear that he might be forever destroyed. Other nomes kept themselves at a distance from these eggs as they brought the former monarch of the nomes before their new ruler.

Kaliko smirked as his eyes went to Dorothy. "Fetch me my crown, doggie."

Dorothy's ears lowered angrily as she fixed a hateful gaze upon the usurper. "Fetch it yourself." She growled.

It was Mira, however, who snatched the crown from the top of Roquat's head, and Kaliko turned his eyes to the old woman as she smirked up to him. The former steward looked surprisingly wary as Mira gazed upon him.

"Do behave yourself, steward."

Mira then tossed the crown towards Kaliko, who grabbed it with an odd and visible sense of relief, and then placed it upon his head.

Kaliko then addressed the entire assemblage. "Now unless there's anything else you want to take from me…" He then gestured towards the room's exit. "…get out of my dominions."

"Ah, not so fast." Quox remarked, stepping forward to confront Kaliko.

The former steward sighed loudly, hanging his head. "Now what?" He snapped.

The dragon's human guise smirked. "You're holding on to someone else that we need to take with us."

Kaliko frowned in confusion for a moment…

…and then his eyes widened. "Not that…disgusting-looking…thing!"

Quox fixed a stern and unsettling gaze upon the former steward. "You know who I mean. He hasn't committed any serious crimes, and I'd hate to have to tell the Great Jinjin that you're holding him against his will. Especially after what Roquat did to him."

Kaliko sighed in his frustration once again. "I thought I would never have to see that vile ruin of a face again." He muttered, and then signalled for a pair of nome warriors. "Go on, find the Butterfield man and bring him out here."

This statement immediately caught the attention of the Shaggy Man, whose eyes widened, seeing as how he, too, was from the little-known Kansas town of Butterfield.

One of the nome warriors looked hesitant. "Do we have to?"

"NOW." Kaliko ordered.

A few minutes later, the sent warriors returned with a human man clad only in burlap rags between them. His smaller nome escorts made every effort to keep their eyes averted from his face as they moved.

Everyone else caught sight of this man's face, and some of them had to look away, as it was a wrinkled, horrid semblance of what may have once been human. It was now wrinkled, pock-marked, and boil-ridden. Remnants of his hair hung like lifeless strings from the top of his head, and he looked entirely malnourished. A very unpleasant stench hung around him as well, although only those who were very close to him could smell it.

He also had the tattered remnants of a tie around his neck which the Shaggy Man immediately recognized.

The old vagabond gasped aloud. "That…that's my brother!" His eyes then went to Roquat, and they now flashed with fury. "Monster!" He hatefully hissed.

The deposed nome merely snorted in derision. Kaliko, however, had a more amused look on his face now as he made an announcement to his guests. "Any fair maidens here brave enough to give our liberated friend here a kiss? Hmmm?"

Although all eyes brave enough to look upon the Shaggy Man's brother were hesitant to immediately respond, their eyes were not so much filled with revulsion as they were with pity for what had obviously been inflicted upon him. They wondered what he could have possibly done to deserve such a horrible countenance.

But only one among them all began stepping forward, despite her initial hesitation, to close the distance between her and the Shaggy Man's brother. The eyes of many…including those of Betsy, Dorothy, Scraps, the Lion, King Rinkitink, the Scarecrow, Nimmie, Fyter, Quox, and the Shaggy Man himself…followed her as she walked, and while one could not tell if a beak was capable of displaying a smile, she knew that if she were still human, she would be smiling along with the rest of them as she watched.

All were silent as the girl stopped in front of the man with the mystically-ruined face, and while the stench was indeed quite repulsive, she knew that it had been magically inflicted, and she was more than willing to defy this. Even if it meant becoming a repulsive hag herself as a consequence.

She knew that the gentleman from Butterfield was just as pleasant as his natural appearance had shown, and it was through his intervention that he had prevented her from a terrible fate at the hands of a cruel man. The Butterfield gentleman gave no thought to compensation, either, as he merely believed that it was the right thing to do.

Since that encounter, she had very much wanted to see him again.

And here he was.

A single tear of pity ran down her face as her eyes saw his own human eyes through the fleshy, ruined mass of his face. They remained very close to each other.

A tear then fell from one of the eyes of the Shaggy Man's brother, running down along the wrinkles and pockmarks of his unnatural, cursed face.

She spoke quietly, despite her shaking voice. "I don't care what you look like." She ran the tips of her fingers along his ruined face. "I love you."

Dorothy held the Lion tightly as they both witnessed this moment. Both had tears streaming down their eyes. The Scarecrow, who also had a sympathetic expression, had a hand on the weeping canine girl's shoulder.

A whispery, strained voice could now be heard from the mouth of the Shaggy Man's brother as he stared into the unnatural, but beautiful and captivating eyes of the beautiful former fairy in front of him. "Oooozzz-gaaaaaa…."

The lips of the floral fairy girl met his own ruined mouth, and they lingered there lovingly. She wrapped her slender arms around his torso tightly, casting aside all concern that she herself would be cursed to share his unpleasant visage. He had saved her from the cruelty of the Royal Gardener. Now it was time to return the favor.

But the curse Roquat had inflicted upon the well-dressed Butterfield gentleman was brashly laid, as the former Nome King imagined that he had made this man so vile-looking and so disgusting that no fair maiden of any kind would ever want to be anywhere near him. This in punishment for a well-deserved comment laid down by the Butterfield man regarding how Roquat's penchant for cruelty was reflected in the old nome's unpleasant appearance.

Bright and beautiful sparkles of light showered around the Shaggy Man's brother as their kiss lingered, and eyes widened as the stringy head of hair became a more healthy shade of brown and became fuller in volume. The pockmarks on his face dissolved along with the wrinkles, as did the boils. A much more handsome face could now be seen as the hunched-over Butterfield man now stood upright, holding to Ozga with two much more healthy-looking arms.

And when the eyes of the Shaggy Man's restored brother looked upon Ozga with a more clear human gaze, she saw a pair of butterfly-like wings grow from the back of the beautiful fairy girl, who now looked much less floral, and all the more radiant for the fact that she had, indeed, reclaimed her full powers as a fairy!

Ozga's eyes widened as she noticed the restoration of her wings. "OHH!" She joyfully cried out as she once again gripped the Shaggy Man's brother in a tight, loving hug.

Kaliko, observing the scene, rolled his eyes in his boredom.

Roquat hopped around angrily where he stood, fuming and growling with quiet rage over the breaking of another of his prized indulgences.

Tears of joy streamed down human faces, while those who were not human just smiled upon the happy moment in their mutual relief.

Quox, turning back to Kaliko, grinned in his satisfaction. "Now we're done here."

Kaliko also grinned, albeit in a sarcastic manner. "Good. Get out."

Unlike their respective journeys into the dominions, the entire assemblage of visitors from Ev and Oz...who were summarily guarded by the "egg army" Quox had created as they moved…stepped out into the open air through the front entrance to the dominions. The iron guardian with the large mallet remained motionless as they safely went across the impact platform. Progress was only slowed by the very hesitant Lion, who started stepping over the impact point quite slowly and fearfully before Dorothy and Trot amusedly pulled him across.

Once they were a good distance from the bridge that led to the dominion entrance, Prince Evardo turned to address the large group. "I don't know about anyone else, but I could use a bit of food. Unless you are in a rush to get back to your own homes, you are all welcome to join us for a banquet in honor of our liberation."

"Dat sounds good ta me!" The Lion responded.

"Me too!" Trot added.

"Me three!" little Evrob eagerly remarked.

"I might add that with a little grub in our bellies…" Neville then turned to Dorothy. "…me and my three other friends might be able to see about gettin' rid of all that fur."

Corin nodded. "Agreed."

Dorothy's ears raised up high, and her tail wagged wildly. "Gee, that would be swell!"

The Queen of Ev now looked around in her sudden confusion. Evardo turned to her in concern. "What is it, mother?"

"Quox isn't here." The Queen replied. "Where did he go?"

As it was King Kitticut who witnessed Quox's departure, it fell to him to explain. "I saw him stepping away with Roquat. Didn't even stop to say goodbye."

"Well, he is the Great Jinjin's instrument of vengeance, after all!" The Scarecrow noted. "Now that he's given Roquat his punishment, he's probably on his way back to the Hollow Tube to report to Tititi-Hoochoo."

"Heh! For an instrument of vengeance, he was a pretty nice guy!" Neville observed.

"He sure was." 'Billina' added.

"Agreed." Corin noted.

"I'll miss Quox." Evrob remarked.

"So will I." Dorothy added.

"It was an honor to meet him." The Scarecrow noted.

"And I say, upon our first drink, that we propose a toast in his good name." Corin suggested.

All voices, on smiling faces, loudly spoke as one. "AGREED!"

---

"I don't understand!" Jellia frowned, as the motes of fairy magic faded around the ice-encased posture of a shocked Oscar Diggs. "You're a fairy capable of powerful feats of magic, and you can't thaw out the Wizard of Oz?"

Polychrome sighed regretfully as her gaze lingered on the icy prison. "Fairy magic and the power of witchcraft are two separate things in Oz, Jellia. It was one of the reasons why the fairies of Burzee never intervened when the witch-sisters conquered Munchkinland and the Winkie Country. We can overcome most low-power enchantments with our magic, but this is potent and very dark sorcery that has encased Mr. Diggs. This is far beyond our ability to dissolve. I fear even Queen Lulea could not even melt the ice that covers the Wizard."

A far more dreadful thought occurred to her. "Y-you don't…think…he might die from all that ice, do you?"

"Oh, no. That much, I am sure of." Polychrome assured. "I can still feel life within him, and he's in no danger while he's in there, but…" she turned to Oscar with a lamenting expression. "…he's afraid. He's very afraid."

"So…how are we going to free him?" Jellia asked.

"We can't, obviously." Polychrome regretfully noted. "But there are two who can, and it was these two coven-sisters who established the tenuous stalemate that lingered until Dorothy Gale's unexpected arrival."

Jellia's eyes went wide in her surprise. "Both of them? I should think Glinda's magic would be capable of…"

The colorful fairy shook her head, silencing the head maid. "Both of them. Glinda, and Locasta."

---

Loud, raucous jubilance reigned all over the city of Evna as Prince Evardo XV led the entourage from Oz, the Royal Family of Ev, and the people from Pingaree…as well as King Rinkitink and Bilbil…through the city's cobblestone streets. Betsy had read about the kind of architecture and fashions that were popular during England's Victorian period, and she saw a lot of this through her hen's eyes as the entourage moved towards Evna's Royal Palace.

The main group needed to wait, however, for the food to be prepared, and for the Royal Family to get cleaned up and changed. In that time, however, there was one last matter that the two wizards of Ev…who were reunited here with Marie Evangeline…needed to address.

Corin seemed to make a show of it as everyone watched, and he held the "victory cup" aloft as he spoke. "Now you all might be wondering why we specifically asked that stuffy nome for this particular mug. Although I will admit, he looks quite nice this way, and I'm tempted to…"

"Oh, just restore the man!" Marie demanded, after rolling her eyes in disbelief.

"Yeah! You've got more than enough flagons in your collection as it is!" Neville amusingly added, provoking a few hearty laughs from the observers.

Corin smirked, his hands on his waist as he looked to Neville. "Then you know what we need to do, don't you?"

Marie and Neville now stepped over to Corin as the young wizard from Wales held up the nice-looking mug, the bottom of which rested upon the palm of Corin's right hand. Marie placed her palm on the opposite side of Corin's hand, and Neville held his hand beneath Marie's.

The words they chanted aloud next were spoken in loud unison…

I bid, set him free, set him free, set him free!

By will and wizardry, three times THREE!

Upon invoking the word 'three', they shoved the mug up, and it began to tumble and spin in the space above them as the three wizards lowered their arms. The mug spun around like a centrifuge, growing larger until the mug seemed to warp and twist to the shape of a man tucked into a fetal ball. The spinning motion slowed until gravity took over and a bald and fairly well-built old man wearing a set of fine brown robes was able to settle to the floor on his feet. He didn't look at all dizzy as he assumed a defensive stance, looking warily around him.

"RIGHT!" The bald man barked out, in a bold and commanding voice as his eyes found Neville. "Give me a situation report!"

Neville smiled. "Would ya believe it if I told you all is well?"

The freed wizard frowned in his initial confusion. He looked around until his eyes found Marie, who confirmed Neville's words with a nod and a smile. "So…the Royal Family…?"

"Liberated." Marie answered. "They're getting ready for a banquet in honor of our new friends."

"New friends?" The old man now looked to the others in the entourage curiously, most of whom smiled back to him.

"They come from the lands of Oz, and Pingaree." Corin noted. He then flourished unto the curious man who had once been a 'victory cup'. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce Everitas, the wise and most benevolent leader of our mystical quartet."

Everitas nodded slowly as he scanned the smiling, curious, and otherwise pleasant expressions looking at him. "And…how did you all come to meet my three friends here?"

"Actually, it was Marie there who met us." King Rinkitink responded, still holding the hen that used to be Betsy. "She aided us when we fled the charge of those wheeler creatures. We were looking for the stranded shipmates of our flying dirigible."

Marie nodded in confirmation. "They told me they'd try to find you…but, there was a little girl with them. And a nome, as well."

Inga raised his hand. "That nome was me. Roquat turned me into one. A dragon named Quox changed me back."

"And Betsy…" The hen in Rinkitink's arms looked warily up to the round-bodied monarch as he spoke, noting his hesitation in coming up with an excuse. "…well, she…"

Everitas, however, raised his hand. A gentle smile was on his face. "Say no more, my friend. What matters is that she is here, safe and sound. Even if she is temporarily not herself." The bald spellcaster glanced down at the hen, holding his gentle, and apparently knowing, smile. The hen looked back up to Everitas curiously.

He then looked down to the goat next to him. "And neither are you, I would imagine."

The goat's response was in a less than cordial tone. "That's none of your business."

"Even though I could quite easily have you restored?" Everitas then offered.

All eyes were on these two now. Particularly those of King Rinkitink.

"Don't bother." Bilbil grumpily responded. "Fix Betsy instead."

Everitas spoke more discreetly now, and everyone other than Bilbil heard him muttering incomprehensibly. "I'm afraid her form is being held by the potent, and thankfully temporary, magic of a dragon. We would have to arrange a ritual to break it early, and that's time-consuming." The bald man then turned to the rest of the group while staying next to Bilbil. "What we have here is the victim of an evil wizard's magic."

"Everitas!" Bilbil loudly hissed. "Don't say anything more! I will hit you!"

"But the man who put you in that form is gone, good Prince!" Everitas reasoned. "Don't you think the people of your country deserve to have their ruler back?"

Everyone else was quite astonished at this. Save for King Rinkitink, who remained silent, but was otherwise relieved that his four-legged friend's lingering problem was finally being brought out into the open.

Bilbil sighed, apparently resigned to his fate. "They can do without me."

"Rubbish." Corin remarked. "Let Everitas put you on two feet again, Prince Bobo."

"NO!" Bilbil barked angrily. "I…I've been this way for…for too much time. I might as well stay this…this way, yes."

Everitas did not look convinced. From Bilbil's tone, it seemed like he was making excuses. "If you're worried that it's going to hurt…"

"Fix…fix Dorothy instead." Bilbil reasoned. "Leave me alone!"

The canine girl, however, was not about to let the goat off the hook. "Actually…I, uh…I have very important business with the Legion of Courage. The Lion…my king…needs me to stay like this for a little while longer."

The leonine monarch now looked confused. "I do?"

"That's right!" The Scarecrow added. "After all…until the Tiger has been freed, she still is the Lion's majordomo!"

Dorothy gave the Lion a discreet, but hard, nudge. "But I…OW! I…I mean, OH! Yeah! Right! Hey, sorry, Bilbilly ol' boy…I gots ta keep Dorothy a doggie fa now."

"Please, Prince Bobo." The Shaggy Man now stepped towards the troubled goat. "Whatever regrets you might have that is compelling you to hold to this fate, you should let it go."

"I agree." King Rinkitink firmly added.

"As do I." Fyter remarked, his own tone resolute.

"Me too." Empress Nimmie added.

"I wanna see what you used to look like!" Trot whined.

"So do I." 'Billina' added.

The Shaggy Man's brother stepped over next to the old vagabond. "If the one who made you this way is gone, I don't see any reason why you need to remain a goat."

"Unless you might want to…maybe…tell us why?" Ozga then asked, moving to stand at the side of the Butterfield gentleman she loved.

Bilbil let out a long, lamented sigh as his furry posterior lowered to the ground. "I…I wasn't a very good prince. I…guess you could say that I cared too much. I kept stepping in on the affairs of my people. Anything that I thought was a problem, I wanted to address. I was…stubborn about it. I thought I could trust my advisor to keep secrets, but…well, I had no idea that he was a sneaky magician with a desire to rule Boboland. I could have been more cautious. Next thing I knew, I woke up with a pair of horns one morning, and then my hands looked weird. He even got everyone thinking that I had something against the privacy of other people. Like it was some kind of crime. When he finished his work on me…well, I certainly couldn't let my people be ruled by a four-legged goat, could I? A beast?" Bilbil lowered his head. "Like I said…they're better off without me. And that is why I'd rather stay this way."

Neville stepped over to Everitas. "And that's why the people of Boboland appealed to us to help them deal with that guy."

The bald man nodded. "Indeed. It all fits." He turned his attention back to the goat below him. "We know this wizard is gone, your highness, because we were the ones who drove him away."

"And once he was gone, he never returned." Marie added.

Corin now stepped over to Bilbil. "There's something else you should know, too. All that spite over your want to help others was the result of that wizard's magic as well. His spells were subtle, but effectively made your people a bit less inclined to trust you. We cleansed these enchantments before we left Boboland, but the only question we couldn't answer was whether or not their prince would return to them."

The room was very quiet as the goat thought on these words for a long moment. He then turned his head to the Lion with a curious expression on his furry face. "Legion of Courage?"

The Lion shook his head. "Sorry, kid. We don't take no cursed princes."

After another long moment of thought, Bilbil finally angled his head up to Everitas.

"Do it." He quietly remarked, his head lowered.

Hopeful whispers could be heard as Everitas…the most powerful wizard of the quartet that protected the land of Ev…began summoning forth magical energies as if he were a music conductor, and began directing them down upon the goat in front of him.

Bilbil had his eyes closed the entire time as he felt the volumes of hair covering his body begin to recede. The perpetual numbness in his hands and feet began to fade, and as he began to painlessly rise from four legs to two human-shaped ones. After such a long period of time locked in his four-legged form, he was finally able to wiggle fingers and toes as his torso went from that of a goat to one of a healthy, broad-chested human. His curled horns also receded into his head as he rose up to two feet, his face diminishing in its length until a handsome human face replaced the nose and the muzzle of the goat he once was. The human form that was taking shape was surprisingly well-built as a head of wavy, shoulder-length brown hair replaced the dull whiteness of the goat's fur on his head. All that remained was a bit of goat-hair stubble on the otherwise restored Prince Bobo's chin, but that soon faded as well.

Bobo brought his human hands up, making sure that the goat was completely gone. Marie had even chained an enchantment during the restoration process to insure that the Prince would not be naked when his humanity took shape, and he wore a white poet shirt, black breeches, and knee-length socks by the time his restoration was done.

The smiling Shaggy Man and his brother bowed respectfully. Everyone else, including the four wizards of Ev, followed suit.

Bobo could not help but smile at this gesture. It was perhaps the first time he had smiled since before he had been cursed. "You don't have to do that…but thank you. All of you."

"Mercy me!" Dorothy padded over to Bobo. "You look really handsome, your majesty!"

"You know what the best part about this is, Dorothy?"

The canine girl tilted her head to the side curiously.

Bobo then gestured to King Rinkitink. "I don't have to have him on my back anymore whenever he needs to get around."

This produced a round of laughs from everyone present, and it was at this point that the Royal Family of Ev finally stepped out to rejoin their new friends. King Rinkitink was quick to explain the situation regarding Prince Bobo's restoration, and Evardo and his mother…and the rest of the Queen's children…saw no reason to not regard Prince Bobo as another new friend.

But it was young Evanna who asked the more important question. "So are you gonna go back to being a prince in your land?"

Again, Bobo thought on this. He then nodded. "Yes, little Evanna. I believe I will give my people another chance."

"Promise?" Evanna asked, keeping her eyes on Bobo's.

The restored prince smiled, and then planted a kiss on the cute blond girl's forehead. "I promise."

"I'm sure they'll be more willing to accept your selfless nature now, your highness." Corin remarked, gently placing a hand on the restored nobleman's shoulder.

"Well! I'm told the food is prepared and ready for us." Evardo announced. He then gestured towards where the banquet area was being set up. "Shall we, then?"

Once everyone was settled in and the food had been passed around, the revelries lasted well into the evening. Many a story was shared, and the mood remained quite lively. Bobo was particularly relieved to be having something other than carrots as a meal for once, and a lot of the conversation had been directed at him for the kind of society he had established while he was the ruler of Boboland. King Rinkitink was instrumental in helping Bobo remember some of the details.

The Lion's voice, close to her ear and spoken discreetly, intervened on her silent and contented observation of the banquet proceedings. "Got a few minutes, doggie?"

Dorothy nodded, and the furry girl rose up, politely excusing herself so she could follow the king of the Quadling Forest beasts until they were outside of the royal palace. The clear, moonlit skies were full of stars as they slowed to a halt beyond the palace's front entrance.

"Well! Dat was all one hell of a ride dere, eh, Dorothy?" The lion remarked as he turned to the canine girl.

"It's not really over yet, though." Dorothy replied. "We still have to set Ozma and the others free. Your Legion is still waiting for us at Jinxland."

"I already told dose wizards in dere about all dat durin' our meal." The lion revealed. "Dat Everitas guy an' his buddies are gonna come down wit us ta Jinxland an' break dat stone spell on ev'ryone."

Dorothy's eyes widened, and her ears went straight up. Her tail also wagged happily. "They will? Oh, that's fantastic news!"

The Lion's head tilted, however, as he observed Dorothy's reaction. "Wow…seems like dat's becomin' second nature to ya."

Dorothy frowned confusedly. "Huh?"

"Da way you're reactin' ta dat news." The Lion explained. "Look at ya. Tail waggin', ears standin' up high. Jus' like Toto."

"Oh. I…I never really thought about that." Dorothy lowered her furry head a bit. "I guess I-I'm not conscious of it."

The anthropomorphic Lion gently placed a padded paw on the canine girl's shoulder. "Ya don't sound very worried about it, ya know."

Raising her head back up, Dorothy shrugged, smiling as she turned to face the lion. "I guess I…I don't feel too bad about being a dog. I've always liked them, after all."

The smiling lion also shrugged. "Dey are man's best friend."

"Yeah, but I can't stay this way. I know Glinda wouldn't like it, for one thing." Dorothy reasoned. "And it was bad enough putting Aunt Em and Uncle Henry through two years of me being a munchkin."

"Ye'd prob'ly drive Toto crazy, too." The lion observed. He then turned to look upon the surroundings in front of them both. "But ya know? Tonight jus' feels like a good night fer a nice, big roam. An' if dere's one ting Ev has a lot of, it's a lotta open ground."

The smile returned to Dorothy's furry face. "Are you suggesting that we kill a few hours roaming around outside Evna, my king?"

The lion shrugged again, feeling a bit bashful. "Tink of it as a late night guard shift."

The canine girl stepped in close to the lion. "Sounds good to me, your majesty."

"I can tell!" The lion mused. "Yer tail's waggin', an' yer ears are standin' up again."

Dorothy felt a wellspring of raw energy build within her. "I'm really starting to feel eager for it, too! Ruff! Ruff!"

The lion chuckled, rubbing at Dorothy's headfur with a paw. "Sounds like instinct ta me, puppy."

They both lowered to all fours, taking a deep breath before launching themselves unto the open grasslands of Ev, padding forward fast and feeling the light winds of the evening sky stream against their furry pelts. They remained alongside each other as they roamed, the canine girl always conscious in matching her pace with that of the leonine monarch. They chose to maneuver close to and around Evna as they moved at a brisk and liberating pace, and they occasionally leapt over a few obstacles along the way.

Dorothy couldn't help but feel wonderful in her canine stride. She couldn't help but to be reminded of the other magical and wondrous evening she spent dancing around with the Scarecrow as a patchwork girl before her natural humanity was restored by Glinda.

Like that moment, she had no doubt that this roaming, too, would become a long-lasting memory.

---

Ever the soldier with a strong sense of duty, Fyter chose to keep a silent vigil over the royal palace during the night. Occasionally, he would hear Dorothy barking happily in the distance as she and the Lion continued their liberating roam around the city. Nimmie had chosen to stand guard over the door leading to the bedrooms of the royal family, which were conveniently lined up against each other, with the rooms of the King and Queen at the far end, and as such being the largest and the most lavish of these rooms.

As the tin-plated soldier continued his vigil, however, a small, furry creature loped out through the entrance door. Moving to get a closer look at this particular beast, he saw that it was the fat monkey Trot had been turned into.

As the people of Ev had oiled his joints upon the group's return from the dominions, no squeaking could be heard as Fyter moved close to the simian girl, who moved to a step of the staircase outside of the entrance and settled her furry butt upon it.

She then let out a long sigh.

Fyter lowered to a knee next to Trot. "Something on your mind tonight, slugger?"

Trot gasped a bit in her surprise upon seeing the tin soldier next to her, but she settled quickly. "Oh…hi, Fyter. I, uh…I can't sleep."

"Really? I should think you would be having magnificent dreams of beating away a few more handfuls of nomes tonight!" Fyter mused.

Trot smiled a bit at this, but her more serious expression quickly replaced it. "That's not why I'm here, though. Gosh…it's been so long since I was back home in California. My mom must be worried sick!"

"So you're lost? Like Dorothy was, when she first arrived in Oz?" Fyter surmised aloud. "What brought you here?"

"It was a whirlpool, but…I was trying to find someone when it happened." Trot answered. "All I knew was that he was lost at sea."

"Hmmm. You think he might be here?" Fyter thoughtfully asked.

Trot's head drooped back down. "I don't know. One minute, I'm sucked down into a big ol' whirlpool. Then, when I wake up, I'm in Oz, and an old lady is telling me she knows someone who can help me find my friend. That's…kinda how this whole mess started."

"I'd say you earned the right, then, to find your friend, now that the dangers seem to be behind us now." Fyter responded. "The ruler of the land has a magic picture, after all, and they say if you speak the name of the one who you're trying to find, the picture will show you exactly where that person is."

Trot sighed in the regret of her next thought. "I was the reason this whole mess happened, though. I was told that Glinda and her friends were evil. I thought I was doing a good thing by turning them to stone."

Fyter gently placed a tin-plated hand on Trot's furry shoulder. "You were obviously deceived. And from what I hear, you made up for it by helping Dorothy and her friends defeat the very witches who lied to you. There's a word for that, in fact. It's called 'penance'. You make up for a wrong by doing something to fix the damage you had caused for whatever reason. Or you do something significant which may not be related to the damage, but which shows that you genuinely want to make amends."

Trot's expression remained sullen.

"And you don't feel you've done your penance?" Fyter then asked.

The monkey girl sighed. "I don't know. Maybe I'm better off this way. Being a monkey. I like being with Koup anyway."

Fyter frowned curiously. "Sorry…Koup?"

"He's a winged baboon I met in Jinxland." Trot explained. "He's a member of the Legion of Courage. He taught me things I could do as a monkey, like swinging on branches and climbing trees and stuff."

Fyter nodded, smiling. "But he's not the one you're trying to find, is he? Koup is not the reason you came here?"

"I know, but…honestly, I don't know if he's even here." Trot lamented. "I could be doing all this for nothing. And if I had to go back home somehow and face my mother about how long I've been away? She'd kill me for worrying her like that. That's why I figure I'm better off just staying as a monkey."

Fyter nodded once again, and after a moment of thought, he made a proposal. "How about we just see if we can bring back Ozma tomorrow, and if we can't? I'll take you to the Magic Picture myself and we'll both see where your friend went. What's your friend's name?"

"Cap'n Bill." Trot replied. "Cap'n Bill Weedles. He's an old man with a wooden leg. My dad was part of the crew of his ship when Bill was a sailor."

Fyter re-positioned himself in front of the monkey, both of his tin-plated hands on her shoulders as he knelt before her. He looked right into her eyes as he spoke.

"We'll find him." the tin soldier quietly proclaimed. "I promise you. We will find him."

---

Marie Evangeline had offered to take the hen that Betsy Bobbin had been turned into to a place where she could get some appropriate rest. The nest she had conjured with her magic looked quite inviting to the fowl who acknowledged herself as Billina.

It was more for the assurance that Marie wanted to give to the former Oklahoma girl that the wizardess chose to do this, and after she settled the hen upon the nest, she flashed a reassuring smile to her. "I wanted to let you know that your friends from Pingaree reminded us that you had a mule with you. Neville did a bit of scrying, and he was able to magically relocate Hank to one of the city's empty stables."

The hen's eyes widened. "He can't see me like this!" She whispered, a bit distraught by this news.

"Don't worry. He's been assured that you're just fine. Neville didn't say anything at all about what happened to you." Marie responded. "He said you'd come to him when you were ready to go back to Oz."

This sounded quite acceptable to Betsy. "Okay." Her feathers settled to a more relaxed position now. "Thank you, Marie."

The blond, smiling wizardess gently placed a hand on the hen's body as she spoke. "Get yourself plenty of sleep now…Billina." She winked amusedly.

"G'night, Marie." Betsy quietly replied. "Again, thank you."

---

As all was finally well in Oz, and everything had been set right, Dorothy Gale chose to return to her home within the fairyland where she knew she would be happy.

As their missing monarch had come back to the sounds of cheers and exultations from all directions, the brave heroine from Kansas would similarly receive such cries of joy, as she was terribly missed as well.

She felt good, too. It seemed so natural this way, as the royal entourage of which she was a part settled back into the throne room, where the rightful ruler would stand ready to receive visitors once again after an absence that lasted far too long.

Dorothy looked forward to a far more interesting future, too, as she glanced over to her partner, who still looked relieved that he was no longer nothing more than a stone statue.

She took a deep breath, breathing in the natural scents around her, and feeling the comfortable breeze cascading around her, and through her volumes of clean, thick fur, as she continued to follow her brave monarch to where he usually sat within the Quadling Forest.

Dorothy was happy that not only Ozma, but Glinda as well, found understanding in the former Kansas girl's decision. Her ordained work as one of the Lion's two majordomos…the other being the restored Hungry Tiger, of course…in the Legion of Courage was far too important for her to go back to being a hairless human girl.

Besides…she liked dogs, after all.

And as she settled into her new place at the Lion's side, sitting in a comfortably canine fashion, it was clear now that she loved being one even more.

---

Dorothy's eyes opened here, as the morning sun shined upon her furry face.

The dream felt so vividly, startlingly real. She even remembered the scents she had whiffed while she was within the dream's semblance of the Quadling Forest.

Glancing over to where she knew the Lion was sleeping, she saw that the leonine commander-in-chief of the Legion of Courage was still fast asleep, perhaps lost in a pleasant dream of his own.

Dorothy couldn't help but be thoughtful as her gaze lingered upon the Lion.

Such was the exhilaration of their roaming of the previous evening that she and the Lion chose to sleep outside of the city of Evna while remaining within close sight of the city's entrance area. As much as the Lion was used to slumbering out in the open air, this was Dorothy's first time sleeping in more natural surroundings. As she was covered with fur, it was as if she had a blanket keeping her warm against the evening's cool breezes.

Perhaps that's why she had such a vivid dream, she thought.

Or was it something more? The canine girl pondered this as she repositioned herself to a canine sitting posture, gazing down at the still-sleeping lion.

Although there were still moments where the leonine monarch needed to work on his capacity for courage, he had come a long way from the irony of a great beast who was even afraid of his own shadow. As much as his other two friends had their own touches of irony…the Scarecrow who wanted a brain without realizing how smart he already was, and the tin-plated Woodsman who felt that he lacked a heart while being ceaselessly compassionate…the Lion was among a species known to the people of the real world, and so she could relate to this particular beast a little more than two acquaintances that could never exist in places like Kansas and Oklahoma. There were no walking, talking scarecrows, nor were there men and women who were literally made of tin.

But as she herself had observed once to all three of them, they were the best friends anybody ever had, and she cared for all three of them equally.

Fate, however, seemed to be testing the former Kansas girl. Her time spent as a patchwork girl had obviously affected the Scarecrow in a fairly significant manner, and now it seemed that another wicked witch had now put her in a position where she couldn't help but wonder how an inescapable curiosity in continuing to serve as an anthropomorphic member of the Legion of Courage would affect the Lion she had been respectfully referring to as "her king".

On those occasions, she figured that by calling him such, it would remind him that he was indeed a monarch. He was royalty. Knowing this could effectively diminish any notion of his past cowardice, even if in some cases…such as the iron guardian situation…he would forget himself, and quiver in fear.

And on those occasions in which the Lion did display a confident sense of courage, Dorothy did, indeed, feel attracted to the king of the quadling beasts. A dog, after all, may be man's best friend, but a lion was the undisputed lord of all that would call themselves beasts. His highly intimidating bellows of ferocity…as well as his training in the ways of animal instinct…clearly evidenced this.

And she was very proud of how far her furry friend had come since she smacked his nose in self-defense upon their first meeting. Particularly for the fact that his own reward from the Wizard of Oz would inspire him to create a caste of proud and vigilant protectors.

She also found the prospect of actually being an active member of the Legion of Courage appealing.

Her thoughts compelled her to softly set them to familiar lyrics as she began to run her padded hand over the sleeping Lion's fur…

Though those witches want me crying, I'm with a mighty lion.

It's not so tough a slog.

Through the woods, I'll be running…

…for my king, I'll be cunning…

…if I must remain a dog.

Dorothy sighed out thoughtfully as she continued petting the Lion, who was resting on his right side, facing away from the canine girl.

Moments later, one of the Lion's paws gently wrapped around the wrist of Dorothy's own furry limb, and the leonine monarch rolled onto his back, looking up at his smiling, anthropomorphic friend.

The lion smiled back. "What'cha tinkin' 'bout, kiddo?"

Dorothy shook her head. "Nothing." She then placed the Lion's paw back on his chest. "Just…keeping a vigil on my king."

The lion nodded. "An' ta-night, you'll be back in a real bed. Safe, sound, an' furless."

The canine girl nodded slowly, lowering her head a little.

The Lion, however, lifted it back up with a paw. "Come on, doggie. What'cha tinkin' 'bout?"

Dorothy slowly placed her padded hands upon the Lion's shoulders as she spoke. "Instinct, I guess. I mean…I'm still a dog, and…and you're the…the mighty king of the beasts." She struggled for a way to voice her thoughts as she spoke. "D-do you…think I did good as a member of your Legion?"

The Lion's eyes widened in his disbelief. "Are you kiddin'? Dorothy, if I could give ya anytin' higher den a solid A plus, I would! Flyin' colors, even! Ya know…most people dat get turned inta aminals, dere always goin' all crazy an' silly, an' goin' on an' on about wantin' ta be back ta normal! But you? Kid, ya handlin' dis like a real champ! Yer not just a 'good memba of my Legion'…yer a beacon! A big ol', shinin' beacon! A real example fer all de uddas ta follow. In fact, I…well, I…"

The Lion had to stop himself, which only served to heighten Dorothy's curiosity. "What? Oh please, your highness…go on!"

But the leonine monarch shook his head. "Naaaw, naw. It's ludi-ca-rous. Real silly! Fah-get it."

Dorothy shook the lion now in her desperation. "No, please, please, lion! Tell me! I don't care how silly or how crazy it is. I wanna hear it!"

The lion then sighed aloud, lowering his own head. "Straw-head would kill me fah sayin' dis, but…" He then raised his furry head back up. "…well, yer…kinda, y' know…not bad as a…as…you know…"

"A dog?"

The lion hung his head low now. "Bet ya wanna smack me real good in da beak fer even tinkin' dat, don'cha?"

But Dorothy now lifted his chin back up, smiling. "I'm not offended at all, my king. If it was impossible for me to be changed back, I'd be very happy to serve under you. After everything you and I have been through, I know now that you're a really good leader, and I wouldn't be surprised if you had a lot of supporters back in the Quadling Forest, where you reign supreme as the king of the beasts. If I ever found myself in your forest, no matter what I am, you would always be my king, and I'd always be your loyal servant, and your greatest supporter."

The lion smiled now. "Ya really mean dat?"

"Absolutely." Dorothy assured. "I've always felt that way since I found out they made you their king." She sounded a little bashful as the canine girl spoke her next words, and her own furry head lowered a bit. "I guess I just…feel a little more strongly about that here, being what I am now."

The lion rubbed his paw against Dorothy's furry, smiling face as she continued to look up at him. "I tink I know what'cha sayin'. An' dat don't make ya any less of a friend, Dorothy. Or any less of a big dog in da Legion a' Courage, fer dat mattah."

They then embraced each other in a long, warm hug. The canine girl's tail wagged happily as they held each other, and smiles were on both of their faces.

The lion broke the hug, but kept a paw on Dorothy's shoulder as he spoke. "C'mon, doggie. Let's go in an' see about gettin' some food."

The canine girl curtsied obediently. "As you wish…my king."

She then followed behind the ruler of the quadling beasts as they went back into the nearby city of Evna.

---

The decision was made to wait until the moment in which Betsy Bobbin's human form would be restored before the people of Pingaree said their goodbyes, and in that time, it was the Scarecrow and Fyter who explained their respective situations to Evardo.

Betsy herself, still held to her hen's form for a few more hours, was also able to share the situation involving the Princess Langwidere…and her collection of heads…to Evardo and his mother. Entirely outweighed by the extent of the efforts Betsy and her friends had performed in freeing the Royal Family of Ev from their captivity, it was impossible for Langwidere to formally place the visitors…whom she had branded as fugitives following their departure…under arrest upon their return.

Although he had promised to address the situation involving Langwidere, Evardo found the situation in Jinxland worth the notion of offering the services of the full quartet of wizards to aid in breaking the spells and fixing the situation in that troubled Quadling Country province, and the entourage from Oz was quite grateful for this. They figured it would be a most pleasant, and overwhelming, surprise for Oscar Diggs upon their return to the Emerald City.

In the last few minutes before the restoration of Betsy Bobbin, the people of Pingaree gathered in the royal palace's large, spacious and beautiful courtyard along with Prince Bobo and King Rinkitink, the latter of which had carried the hen out to where she would finally be able to shed herself of her feathers.

And in a whirl of glowing magic that spun her hen's shape around, her two fowl's legs expanded, and the feathers on her body seemed to pop off of her skin as her plump body grew taller and thinner. The hen's ridge on her head began to recede as volumes of soft, curly hair began to fill the top of her head, and her beak slowly receded inward, softening until it was a human nose and mouth. Dislodged feathers seemed to rain down below her as she continued to painlessly change. In the next moment, Betsy Bobbin…who was once again dressed in the outfit she wore when Quox transformed her…stood within the circle of feathers that were once her own.

She heaved a sigh of relief, smiling as the relieved Oklahoma girl looked to her many amazed friends from Pingaree. The curious children of the Royal Family were there as well, and they had been told the truth of the situation. Evring, in particular, still looked a little sad to see that his savior…the "invisible hen"…was now gone.

But he was at least happy to see that this was the human girl behind that guise.

King Kitticut, Queen Garee, King Rinkitink, Prince Bobo, and Prince Inga were all reluctant to part with the brave Oklahoma girl after all they had been through. Despite the many perils along the way, it was indeed an amazing adventure, and they were all the most relieved to have actually survived it.

Betsy went to each and every one of them to offer a hug and a personal farewell. She was particularly grateful to Salvo and Coral for helping her navigate and fight aboard the Regos Warboat that brought them to the Nome Dominions.

"You're a very brave and resourceful girl, Betsy Bobbin." Bobo remarked when she stepped in front of him. "Should you ever wish to visit my land, you will be given a warm welcome."

"Indeed! The same goes for my own lands as well." The round-bodied man called Rinkitink added. "You should find our capital city of Gilgad particularly entertaining!"

"Why?" Bobo mused. "Because they all laugh at your jokes, no matter how bad they may be?"

Rinkitink rolled his eyes. "That's Prince Bobo for you. Always butting into things! Are you sure your restoration is complete? Might there be a little of the ol' 'goat' left?"

Bobo smirked as Betsy and everyone else laughed at this exchange. The restored Oklahoma girl now stepped in front of young Inga, who opened his arms to receive Betsy's tight hug.

"It was great to meet you." Inga remarked. "Thank you so much for everything. I'm really gonna miss you."

"Indeed, young lady." Queen Garee gently placed a hand on Betsy's shoulder. "And it goes without saying that you will always have a friend should you ever decide to visit our island. Do remember this."

Betsy nodded, smiling, in acknowledgement to the Queen. Her eyes then went wide in recognition of something she had just remembered. "Oh! Inga…" She fished in a pocket of her outfit, hoping what she had put there was still where it was…

…and she thankfully pulled out the pearl of wisdom. "…I think this is yours."

"OH! Right! Thanks!" He took the offered heirloom. "There were two others, though…a pink one, and a blue one. I…don't suppose you know where they might be?"

As Trot overheard this, she quickly loped over to Inga and pulled the blue pearl from beneath her tongue. She then pulled at Inga's shirt to get his attention and held the moist pearl up for him to see. "Is this the blue one?"

Inga of course nodded. "Yes! That's it." It didn't bother him much that the pearl was covered in Trot's saliva when he took it, and he simply polished the thick residue off anyway. "Thanks! All we need now is the pink one."

"When we get back to Oz, there's something we can use to find out where it is." Fyter assured. "We'll let you know once we get its location."

Inga nodded, smiling, in understanding. As Betsy had gone through everyone now in her goodbyes, he now turned to the four wizards of Ev. "I think we're ready to go home now."

Corin nodded, and gestured to the center of the courtyard. Once everyone was there, the four powerful spellcasters stood at four positions around the group, and then began the casting of an enchantment which made the entire entourage glow brightly. A platform of pure, bright light rose up from beneath them, and then shot up into the sky, seemingly taking the contented people of Pingaree with it.

The Pingaree entourage re-appeared, feet first, followed by the rest of their fully-intact bodies within the island community's town square, where a couple of them dropped to the ground to literally kiss the soil of their home. As they all returned to their homes, King Kitticut, Queen Garee, Prince Inga, Prince Bobo, and King Rinkitink headed for the royal palace, speaking of their experiences as they went.

Back at the royal palace's courtyard, the Scarecrow moved to the Shaggy Man and his brother. "You said you came from Butterfield? Where's that?"

"Oh, it's just a quaint little town in Kansas, but it's where my brother and I were born." The old vagabond replied. "I have no interest in going back there, though. I don't want to hear anything more about the matter of that debt."

The straw-stuffed advisor frowned curiously. "Debt?"

The vagabond's younger brother chuckled. "Someone there has been insisting on paying back a small loan my brother here gave to him. Twelve cents, I think."

"Bah." The Shaggy Man dismissively waved. "Money matters disgust me!"

"You should find the land of Oz quite inviting then!" The Scarecrow responded. "When Princess Ozma came to power, she abolished money. The Wizard of Oz had a coin system in place when he ruled Oz, but Ozma put a stop to all that."

"Really?" The Shaggy Man looked very interested now. "I should very much like to see your Oz, then! It already sounds a lot more inviting than the world my brother and I used to share!"

"We have to go rescue Ozma first, though." The Scarecrow reminded. "That's where we're going next."

The old man nodded. "And I'm sure you don't mind if we join your party?"

The straw-stuffed advisor shrugged, smiling. "Sounds fine to me!"

Everitas motioned for Dorothy and Trot to step up to him. "Perhaps you would like us to help you both look a little more human now?"

"I'd rather you did that in Jinxland. Before you release our friends from the stone spell." Dorothy replied. "You should do it in front of the witches, too. They're the ones who made us this way, after all."

The bald leader of the wizard quartet frowned at this idea. "Will we need to fight them?"

"Oh, no. They've been defeated." Dorothy assured. "My king's friends…a group called the Legion of Courage…is watching over them. Their leader's ability to cast spells was taken from her, and the others are bound up. You won't have to worry about those witches at all."

"Ahhh, I see." Everitas replied. "And you want them to see their own magic broken. I like how you think, my dear."

The sound of clopping hooves could be heard getting louder, and when all eyes turned to the direction of the sound, Betsy's eyes widened as she saw a familiar beast walking into the courtyard alongside Neville Evince.

"HANK!" She raced over to hug her beloved mule, wrapping her arms around the beast's furry neck. "So great t' see you again! I'm so happy you're OK!"

"Th' feelin's mutual, Betsy." Hank responded, in his customarily low-toned and somewhat lazy-sounding voice. "I was startin' t' lose hope. Thought I'd nev'r see ya again. Where's all those Pingaree people?"

"They're all back home, safe an' sound." Betsy assured. "We're gettin' ready t' go an' free Princess Ozma an' the oth'rs. Then we're goin' back t' Oz."

Hank nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

The old woman called Mira now raised her hand, and then cleared her throat loudly to get everyone's attention. "Uh…I…hope none of you mind if I join the party as well? This is the most excitement I've had since I was taken from my quaint little home near Noland!"

The Scarecrow shrugged, smiling. "Fine by me!"

"Sure." Dorothy added. "Just watch where you step is all."

"Oh, I will!" Mira answered, nodding rapidly.

Nimmie Amee stepped over to Marie. "Are you still strong enough to take us all?"

"Oh yes, Empress." Marie assured. "We still have more than enough strength. If it was one of us, it would be more taxing. If it's all four of us? Never an issue."

"Then let's get underway." Fyter remarked as everyone gathered at a spot indicated by the other three wizards. "Our friends in Jinxland have been petrified long enough."

When transporting the people of Pingaree back to their homes, they faced the ones being magically relocated. As the wizards were joining the entourage from Oz in their relocation to Jinxland, they faced away from the group they surrounded, spoke their incantations, and traced a portion of a circle in front of them. Once the glowing lines connected to a full circle, the platform of energy rose up beneath them, and rose up to swallow them all whole.

Their respective visions blurred for a bit before coming back into focus. When clarity returned to their eyes, the entourage from Oz found themselves back in the familiar landscape called Jinxland.

They found themselves in the midst of the many cottages that made up the residential section of the isolated region, and both Dorothy and the Lion scanned the area, sniffing around for any sign of the temporary HQ they had established during the Legion's occupation.

When their eyes scanned the area above them, they saw a lone, winged baboon making a pass overhead. His own eyes glanced below, and he nearly lost concentration on his flying when he gasped in surprise.

Trot lit up like a lightbulb upon seeing her winged simian friend. "KOUP!"

Koup slowly settled to the ground now, landing right next to the monkey girl, who wrapped her furry arms around him. As he was similarly happy to see her, he did likewise. "Ahhh, seestah Trot! Righ-tee-ous ta see ya, me seestah." He pulled away to look down on his prized pupil in monkey business. "Deedja get de rock out'a ya now?"

"Yup! We've got it!" Trot responded. "The same four wizards that got it out are gonna help us free Ozma and the others!"

"Before we do that," Everitas announced. "There's one other very important thing that needs to be done." He then stepped over to Dorothy. "Now I have been a wizard in Ev for a fairly long time. As such, I know Glinda very well, and if you and your friend from California here were transformed by wicked witches, I don't think Glinda would react too well to see what they had done to you."

Dorothy nodded. "I understand." She then walked over to the Lion. "I…I meant what I said, you know. It would have been nice to serve you as one of your advisors. You know…as a dog."

The Lion smiled, gently placing a paw on her shoulder. "Yer always gonna be a part a' my Legion, kiddo. Whether ya got paws on ya or not. But I tink it's time fer ya ta shed dat doggie fur now."

The canine girl wrapped her furry arms around the leonine monarch, and the Lion did likewise. They hugged each other very tightly. "And you'll always be my king in the Quadling Forest." Dorothy gently admitted.

At that moment, the sound of a loud roar broke the tender moment. Voices the Lion recognized to be Bo's and Shade's were then heard, in tones of distress, as a small figure was caught awkwardly hopping around close to the soil below near Corin Everhart.

Leaping out, angrily, with a roar of challenge was the tigress called Rouse. With every jerk of her head to look for her apparent quarry came a quick snarl. Clearly, something had set her off once again.

The panda woman called Bo, and the panther whose name was Shade then emerged. The sight of their missing friends obviously surprised them. "Commander!" Bo smiled to the Lion. "Welcome back!"

"What's goin' on here, Discipline Offica?" His paws went to his waist as he frowned. "Yer not fightin' Rouse dere again, are ya?"

"No, no. Not at all, sir." Shade explained. "There was a bug hopping around Rouse. Guess it was curious. Rouse did tell it to go away, but the darn thing couldn't take the hint. As you can see, she's lost her patience. Again."

Corin, however, allowed the small creature…which turned out to be a grasshopper…to settle on the palm of his hand as Shade spoke. He kept his voice gentle as he spoke his assurances to the insect, raising the hand up carefully.

The frowning Lion stepped in front of Rouse now. "Wha'd I tell ya 'bout bein' a bad kitty?" He scolded.

Although she emitted a low, long growl, perhaps one of frustration, her ears and furry head lowered as she eased herself. "Sorry, sir."

Everitas and Neville stepped over to Corin curiously. "Whaddya got there, Corin?" Neville asked.

"Undoubtedly the most unusual-looking grasshopper that I've ever seen." The bearded wizard replied, bringing his hand up so his other two colleagues could get a good look. "It appears to be a bit…lame, judging by one of its legs. See it?"

Neville had to squint his eyes, but he finally caught the oddity. "Oh yeah, I see it. Looks like a peg of some kind."

Everitas brought up his own hand, placing the edge of it next to Corin's, so as to permit the insect to go from Corin's hand to the other. Corin tilted his hand a bit to get it moving.

"Be careful, Everitas." Corin quietly advised. "He looks rather nervous."

"Shhhh." He gently hissed unto the grasshopper, who remained still in the hand of the elder wizard. He then hovered his other hand over the peg-legged insect curiously for a moment, closing his eyes.

"And for good reason." Everitas remarked as his eyes opened. "This is no insect. There are trace elements of channeling powder upon this grasshopper."

"Wow. These wicked witches must've been busy." Neville observed. "A dog, a monkey, a grasshopper…"

"I'll restore this man myself." Everitas then looked to Corin. "You restore the monkey. Neville, see to Dorothy."

"Ah, actually, I'm still workin' on restorations, remember?" Neville warily noted. "I think Marie would be the better choice."

Everitas nodded. "Very well. In the meantime, perhaps you can have one of the others show you where their petrified friends are."

"On it, boss." Neville hurried away to approach the Scarecrow, who already began leading the Chicago-born wizard towards the Jinxland palace.

Corin stepped over to Trot with a somewhat merry disposition. "So, my dear. Are you ready to…evolve, so to speak?"

Trot didn't immediately respond. Her head then turned to Koup, who was standing nearby. "I need a minute, please." Her sullen voice was heard responding.

Corin nodded in understand. "Of course."

Loping over to the winged baboon, she couldn't help but feel sad now. Her voice was tinged with sorrow as she spoke. "I'll miss being a monkey with you."

The baboon was quick to wrap the monkey in a tight hug. "Koup know, Koup know, seestah. I an' I knew dees day be comin'. Dat time be now, chile. Time ta be da brave girl ya was, an' find who ya came for."

As they pulled away, Koup rubbed a simian hand along the side of Trot's furry head, smiling. "Ya be real good monkey, ya know. I an' I always call ya friend, no matta what ya be."

A happy tear fell from Trot's eye as she returned Koup's smile. Wiping it away, she loped back over to Corin and looked up at him. "I'm ready."

The wizard nodded, already passing his hands over Trot as he intoned mystical incantations under his breath. His hands began to glow as the fur on the little girl's simian body now began to recede inward. The bulges on her face and her eyebrows also began painlessly diminishing along with her large, round gut. Her curious eyes remained on her arm as the thick fur there continued to grow smaller and smaller until there was nothing but young, hairless human flesh upon it. She gave the fingers of her restored human hands a wiggle as she held them up, visually confirming their restoration.

Those hands then rubbed at her own face, which was still slightly simian. Those oddities were diminishing, however, and in the next moment, they were completely gone.

Corin then tossed up a piece of gray cloth, and cast another enchantment upon it. The cloth disappeared before it began to fall, and then reappeared as a one-piece gray dress, which covered Trot's young human form as she began to rise to her feet, still looking at her arms.

Her eyes then went to Corin, and she smiled. "Thank you."

Corin cordially bowed. "My pleasure, young lady."

"Ooooh!" Koup loped over. "Koup knew you 'ave good look as brave girl! Look bettah den monkey, even!"

Trot giggled at this. "Thanks."

And then, a voice she never thought she'd ever hear again followed. "Trot? Trot? Is that you?"

The California girl's eyes widened as she gasped aloud. Turning to the source of the voice confirmed that her search…the very reason she went out onto the seas in the first place…was finally over.

The bearded, balding old man was similarly wearing a simple gray outfit…no doubt created by Everitas upon his restoration, as Corin had done…as the retired, peg-legged sailor hurriedly moved closer to Trot, who was already rushing over in her disbelief.

"CAP'N BILL!" She cried out as she jumped into his waiting arms, picking her up and squeezing her in a loving embrace. He, too, was streaming happy tears as he laughed. Trot sobbed joyfully as she continued to hold on to the lost former sea captain.

Corin stepped over to Everitas as they watched the happy reunion, as did everyone else. Dorothy had also asked for a moment to observe before Marie began her own restoration enchantment. They were now smiling happily upon witnessing the little girl hugging the sailor she had hoped to find.

Mira nudged the Shaggy Man. "Lucky girl, eh?" The smiling old woman indicated Trot.

The old vagabond nodded. "Indeed."

"So where are you off to after we're done here, hmm?" Mira then asked. "Back to Butterfield?"

The Shaggy Man shook his head. "No, no. I'll never be going back there. I figure I might see what this Oz place is like. From what I hear about it, I'm quite curious."

Mira nodded as her eyes returned to Trot and Bill Weedles.

Marie now turned to Dorothy, gently placing a hand on her furry shoulder as she led her out into a hallway, and then into an empty room. "It's your turn now, my dear."

Dorothy nodded, her ears lowering a little.

Seeing this, Marie's head tilted curiously. "Why, Dorothy…you seem a bit crestfallen. How come?"

The canine girl sighed. "I was starting to like this. I know I shouldn't, but…"

Marie giggled. "I'm rather fond of dogs myself. I remember owning one back where I came from. I still miss him, too."

Dorothy now looked curious, remembering what Neville said about where he came from. "And…where did you…?"

"I was born in England." Marie interjected. "Essex, to be exact."

This visibly surprised Dorothy, and her furry ears raised back up. "Wow…Neville told me he's from Chicago."

Marie nodded, smiling. "And Corin Everhart is from Wales. It was Everitas who found us all and brought us to the land of Ev. Told us that this land was our real home. He had to travel through three different time periods…the past, and even the future…to find us."

Dorothy now looked amazed. "Why?"

"Oh, that's quite a little story, I'm afraid." Marie responded. "But we don't want to keep Glinda waiting any longer, do we?"

"No, I…I guess not…" Dorothy replied. "…but I'd really like to hear that story sometime soon. I mean, I came to Oz from Kansas, and Trot came from California."

"And Betsy from Oklahoma." Marie added. "The fairies from Burzee made very good judgments when they touched you all."

Dorothy nodded. "I can't help but wonder who it was that touched me."

Marie shrugged. "It's very rare for someone to discover exactly who it was that marked you when you were born. You may never actually find out, but that shouldn't trouble you, my dear. Although I'm fairly certain that whoever it was, they would not want to see you covered in all this fur."

The canine girl nodded again. "You're right. Go ahead, Marie. I'm ready."

With a nod of acknowledgement, Marie closed her eyes, and began intoning the same incantations Corin used. Her hands began to glow, and Dorothy could already feel the fur on her body begin to recede.

Memories flashed through Dorothy's head as the digitigrade shape of her legs began to painlessly modify, the front part of her feet beginning to recede back towards the heels. Memories of the times she had spent with the Lion as a dog, and the adventures she experienced as a furry member of the Legion of Courage. As she felt her ears move back down to the sides of her head, her mind now began to dwell upon more unexpected memories. Memories she did not recall experiencing.

Memories of being fed, and cared for, by the one-eyed witch called Blinkie. She could not help but admit to a fondness for these strange moments, much as there was a part of her that wanted to admit otherwise as she saw the canine pads on her less furry palms and fingers dissolve.

The tail behind her had also dissolved to a fleshy nub, which continued to wiggle until it flattened right into her bare, hairless posterior.

A gray dress formed around her bare body next as Dorothy Gale…once again restored to her human form…took a deep, relieved breath. Even after her restoration, a part of her still missed being a dog.

Marie, however, looked a bit exhausted. She could see drops of sweat running down the sides of her head as she panted.

"Marie?" Dorothy moved quickly over to the wizardess. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, yes, dear." Marie assured, raising a hand in restraint as she lowered to a knee. "I-I just need a moment to recover here. You go on ahead. I'll come back out there in a…in a few minutes."

Still looking concerned, Dorothy nodded as she began to backtrack. "Thank you, Marie. I…I'll see you when you come back in."

Once the restored Kansas girl stepped back into the room where the others were, Betsy was the first to notice her, and she ran over, smiling. "DOR'THY!"

The lion also hurried over as Dorothy and Betsy hugged. Trot brought Bill over, and the other members of the Legion of Courage similarly headed over to the restored Kansas girl. Mira, the Shaggy Man, and his brother joined the growing group as well.

"Finally back ta yer ol' self, eh, girlie?" The Lion mused, smiling.

"Oh, my, my, my!" Mira seemed to marvel at the sight of Dorothy as she blushed. "What a darling young thing you are behind all that fur!" She patted affectionately at Dorothy's cheek. "Welcome back, dear."

The Shaggy Man and his brother bowed courteously. "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Gale." The older man remarked. "It's nice to know I'm not the only one from Kansas to be among such fascinating surroundings!"

"You're from Kansas?" Dorothy asked.

"A little town called Butterfield." The Shaggy Man replied. "I…stepped away to rescue this young scamp." He indicated his younger brother.

The gentleman next to him extended a hand. "And I'm the young scamp who happens to be his brother."

Dorothy shook the hand, smiling. "Nice to meet you both."

"Me next! Me next!" Trot made her way through, practically dragging the old sailor with her. "Cap'n Bill, this is my friend Dorothy. Dorothy, this is Cap'n Bill Weedles. He's my dad's friend."

The old sailor smiled as he also extended a well-worn, somewhat calloused hand. "Nice to meet ya, Dorothy. Trot here tells me you're a pretty big deal in these parts."

Dorothy humbly shrugged. "I'm just me. That's all I've ever wanted to be, really."

"DOROTHY! Oh, rapture!" The Scarecrow, with Neville behind him, had returned from the palace. "You're back to your old self!" He wrapped his stuffed arms around the Kansas girl lovingly.

Neville went over to Everitas. "We found their friends. We should be able to restore them all at once, but…as for all these others…"

"We'll leave them to Glinda." Everitas assured. "She is, after all, the most powerful sorceress in the land. She should quite easily be able to perform the mass restoration."

They then saw Marie step back in from where she was resting. Neville's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow! Marie looks spent!"

"Yes, I wonder why?" Everitas and Neville curiously headed towards her, as did Corin. "A restoration enchantment upon a single person should not be very taxing."

Corin held her up. "Are you well, lady?"

Marie nodded despite her visible fatigue. "Well enough to help you undo the stone enchantment."

Everitas nodded. "Trot gave me the gorgon's eye. Let's go."

The four wizards of Ev then began following Neville back to the palace. The Scarecrow noticed this, and motioned for Dorothy and the others to follow him. The rest of the group began following as well, with all the members of the Legion of Courage flanking them to keep them all safe.

Princess Gloria waited for them inside the palace. "Welcome back, my friends." Her eyes then fell upon the bald wizard. "I am the princess Gloria. I had the Legion move the statues to the largest room in the palace."

"Everitas." He introduced Corin, Neville, and Marie next. "We should be able to restore them, but I'm afraid we must leave it to Glinda to release the others."

Gloria nodded. "I understand. Do whatever you need to do. Should you require anything, please let me know."

The four wizards stood still for a moment, closing their eyes in deep concentration as Everitas held the Medusa Stone in one of his hands. They began to breathe slowly, in through the nose first, and then out of their mouths. They then turned to each other as the elder wizard held the stone between them. Each of them touched the stone now, keeping their eyes closed in their deep concentration.

Those hands that touched the stone now emitted a soft white glow, and as they had done with their relocation magic, they traced four portions of a large circle upon the ground. Once the glowing lines formed a full circle, they raised their hands up before the transparent dome that had formed and began chanting incantations in unison, repeating the single, unintelligible line three times. Their eyes remained closed the entire time as Dorothy, Trot, the Lion, and the rest of the group silently observed the ritual a short distance away. Gloria stood beside Dorothy, eyes wide with awe.

Mists of pure magic energy now seemed to be coming from the surfaces of the stone statues, and then their gray stone surfaces began to display colors other than gray.

In fact, it seemed like the stone surfaces were dissolving as Dorothy and her friends watched. Petrified flesh and petrified dress began to show their true colors now, although there was no movement. The Lion saw the solidified form of the Hungry Tiger shedding its stone in favor of his black-striped orange fur.

The quartet of wizards kept their eyes closed, and their glowing hands raised as the stone colors and surfaces were almost completely gone, and the voice of the princess Ozma…strange for the fact that it sounded like the voice on a phonograph record spinning to full speed…could now be heard as movement was slowly being restored to them all. "…iiiiss? Weee caame in pea…huh?"

Emperor Nick Chopper looked similarly surprised as he looked around. "Goodness! Wha…what happened?"

Ozma's eyes first fell upon the four wizards as they lowered their hands. She took a cautious step towards them. "Who…who are you?"

Glinda also looked upon the four wizards as Ozma spoke. She only recognized one of them. "Oh! Dear friend! Fancy seeing you here, Everitas!"

The bald wizard smiled. "Milady Glinda. Yes, your friends over here…" He indicated the visibly relieved group. "…came to our rescue after we had a stroke of misfortune in the Nome Dominions, so we came here to Jinxland to return the favor."

Ozma's eyes then found Gloria, and she frowned warily. "There you are. How could you…"

"Wait! Your highness, wait!" Dorothy quickly interjected, raising her hands in restraint. "It wasn't her fault!"

"I'm sorry, your highness." Gloria lowered her head regretfully. "I was…not myself."

"It was my fault."

All heads turned to Trot, much as some of them had wished she should have remained silent.

Bill, standing next to her, looked a little surprised. "Huh? What're you talking about?"

Trot walked towards Ozma now. "I was tricked by a group of witches into using a magic stone on you. They told me they could help me find my friend. They told me you were bad people."

"We took care o' dose bad ol' witches, though." The Lion added. "My Legion has 'em all locked up somewhere."

"And they're all quite powerless, too." Gloria smiled. "Thanks to your friends."

"I'm not surprised." Locasta responded. "We did come with a pretty resourceful team."

"And apparently, it grew into a nice little army." The Hungry Tiger mused.

Glinda smiled over to Dorothy. "Well done, my honorary handmaiden." She gave her a knowing wink, which made the Kansas girl blush.

"Lady Glinda, if we may…" Corin stepped forward. "…there are others here in Jinxland who are currently being held to the same stone enchantment. Would it be possible for you to release them from it?"

Glinda nodded. "Of course. As the enchantment was able to provide me with more rest than was necessary, I should be able to free them all…but I will need the stone that the girl had used."

Everitas handed the Medusa Stone over to the restored Good Witch of the South, who examined it for a moment. "Hmmm. Not a stone at all. This is the petrified eye of a gorgon! I…won't ask how it was acquired." Glinda then pulled out a wand from the folds of her red robes.

"Can you really set all of them free?" Gloria asked. "They turned everyone to stone!"

Glinda, however, was already making circular passes over the stone with her wand, spinning the circles wider and wider until it seemed like small, glowing motes of light began to shower from the skies above. Now whirling the wand above in wider circles, the radius of the shower of lights widened as everyone else watched in their amazement.

Whatever enchanted stone surfaces the motes of light touched caused the stone statues…even those beneath the cottage that was used as the Legion's temporary headquaters…to glow. The emanation of magical light grew brighter and brighter from each petrified human form until they finally began to move. Slowly at first, and then gradually becoming more normal. Those who were speaking when they were petrified briefly resumed their dialogue before they stopped to wonder what had happened.

And as none of the stone statues were damaged in any way, even during the battles with the witches, each and every one of them were alive and well.

Naturally, a mass exodus began as the freed citizens of Jinxland…men, women, and children alike, young and old…approached the palace, all of them confused.

When they reached the palace, the scent of food became stronger, and they saw that there were already a variety of guests…some of them strange and unusual-looking…seated at the array of tables that had apparently been put in place. On each plate in front of each seat was a fresh serving of food.

A glow at the tip of Glinda's wand died down as the Good Witch of the South…the one who had created this grand setup, tables and all…lowered her wand.

Gloria smiled as the citizens began to arrive in the large, open area. "Questions later, my friends. For now…let's eat!"

---

The treacherous Goog L'Goo had been perpetually frowning when he found that he had been locked into a set of manacles in the palace's dungeon. All of his yells and cries for help went unanswered.

It seemed like an eternity before he finally heard steps moving in his direction. Indeed, there were many footfalls approaching, and he wondered if the time had finally come for an interrogation.

Gloria was the first of the entourage he saw, followed by two of the anthropomorphic animals that were a part of this 'legion of courage' the princess had apparently recruited. They were very carefully tending to another more familiar-looking old man.

A man who Goog had robbed of his youth with the aid of those crazy witches.

The old man looked very weak now, and the two beasts…the Lion they called their commander, and the panda woman…carefully laid him down near where Goog was chained up.

Behind Gloria were the Kansas girl, who no longer resembled a dog, the girl who vaguely resembled the fat monkey, and the straw-stuffed Scarecrow. Behind the Scarecrow was a tall and very beautiful-looking red-haired woman with a set of flowing red robes.

All of them fixed unpleasant looks upon the treacherous suitor once the old man…Pon…had been set down.

Gloria broke the silence. "It's time to answer for the gardener's boy, Goog."

Goog sighed loudly. "I was set up. You want a culprit? Find Krewl! He started this whole mess! He was willing to do whatever was necessary to…"

"SHUT. UP." Gloria firmly and loudly interjected. "We didn't come here to interrogate you, seeing as how you'll just stink the dungeon up more than it already does with your lies."

Goog now began to look nervous. "So…what do you want from me?"

As the red-robed woman pulled a wand forth from her robes, Gloria fixed a very ominous look upon the crafty young man. "Guess."

The red-robed woman now stepped forward and aimed the glowing tip of her wand towards Goog. She then sweeped the wooden stick in an arc towards the unconscious old man lying nearby. As if she were literally sweeping the ground, the red-haired sorceress kept sweeping the wand from Goog to Pon, and streams of light and energy surged forth from Goog's body to that of the gardener's son.

The others watched as Goog's youth began to advance significantly. He looked like he was getting gradually weaker…

…while Pon began looking gradually younger. With every broad sweep of the wand, Glinda effectively transferred the stolen youth back to its rightful owner, the old man becoming younger and even smaller while Goog gradually became more and more decrepit.

Gloria's eyes were logically on Pon, and happy tears began to fall from her eyes as she saw the older gardener's son become a much more handsome and familiar young man. This was truly the face of love in the eyes of the princess of Jinxland, who herself was restored from a wicked enchantment. This was the man she had always known she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

This was the man who she was certain would make an excellent and most benevolent King for Jinxland.

As old as Googly-Goo was before the age-transfer spell was cast by Blinkie's witches, he looked far worse by the time Glinda was done. Perhaps deliberately, she had transferred a bit more in the way of youth to the more deserving gardener's boy, who was once again the young boy he used to be at long last.

And although Pon remained unconscious, they could see, to their relief, that he was breathing steadily.

Dorothy, who was behind Gloria, then whispered a suggestion to the princess. After a moment of thought, she wiped the tears from her face and began to lower down to a knee. She lowered down even more to the ground until she was able to connect her lips to his.

She kept her lips pressed against his for the next quiet moment.

Slowly, the young eyes of the gardener's boy opened, the eyelids fluttering a bit in his return to consciousness.

His young voice was the next thing the group heard. "Gloria?"

Gloria rubbed a hand at the boy's cheek as she smiled. "Pon. My dearest Pon."

It then began to dawn upon Pon that he was no longer weak and decrepit. One glance at the horribly-aged semblance of Googly-goo confirmed this. As he rose to a sitting position, he saw familiar faces, and others he did not know, but were smiling happily down at Pon and Gloria.

He smiled when his eyes fell on one of them. "Dorothy."

The smiling Kansas girl had to wipe away joyful tears of her own. "You look wonderful, Pon."

"You sure do!" The Scarecrow agreed. "Wow…you're a really lucky girl, your majesty! He's quite a catch!"

Pon had to laugh at the compliments. "Thank you, both of you." He then rose to his feet. "All of you."

A growl now came from the withered old man still sitting on the ground. He had a hateful expression on his face.

Gloria glanced at Googly-Goo in contempt. "What do you think, my love?" She then turned her head to Pon. "Should we keep him here."

A long moment of silence followed as Pon thought on his answer, his eyes lingering on the decrepit old man.

Most, including Gloria, were shocked at his answer when he finally spoke. "Let him go."

"Huh?" The Lion frowned in his bewilderment. "Even afta what dis bum did to ya?"

Glinda looked down at Googly-Goo pitifully. "I think I know why he is making that choice. There is not much more you could do to him now. He has already lost a great deal. To take anything else from him would be…excessive. Perhaps even fatal."

"And I wouldn't wish that upon him no matter how horrible he is." Pon thoughtfully added.

"Heh. He's in a prison of his own making." The staff-armed panda observed.

"Exactly, Bo." Pon responded. "And I don't want to see him stay in this one."

Gloria hesitantly nodded in agreement. "All right, Pon. It will be done."

Bo then frowned, sensing a presence behind her. Whistling her fighting staff in the direction of the presence, she saw the panther called Shade about to speak.

"Uh…it's only me, Discipline Officer." Shade wryly remarked.

A frowning Bo rested the staff on her furry shoulder. "Yes?"

"What's up dere, Shade?" The Lion asked.

"We have someone subdued upstairs." Shade reported. "Seems there was a mass revolt going before the stone enchantment fell. The Legion didn't even need to lift a paw to catch him. He's got eyes like glowing coals. Kind of…intimidating, really."

Pon and Gloria smirked to each other, fully aware of who this was, and they spoke the name in unison.

"Krewl."