Theodora wished she could claim that her first restful night of sleep came with the restoration of her "fair" form but it would have been a horrendous lie. She tossed and turned all night, waking several times to check her mirror and see if she had truly been cured or if she had dreamed the whole thing, or worse yet, if Glinda's spell had somehow worn off. And although she never saw so much as a flash of green beyond the marble and emeralds used in the construction of the Palace itself, she still fretted.
Part of her wanted to seek out comfort from someone, anyone, to reassure her but she refused to attempt it. After all, where could she turn for emotional comfort? To Dorothy with all of her twelve years of life experience growing up on a farm? To the Wizard? To Glinda?
No, she was grown woman and she would handle her inner turmoil on her own terms. She would learn to deal with this sudden change to her life. She had done it once when she was transformed the first time and she would do it again.
And if she felt the need to check the mirror for any sudden flashes of green for the eighth time that night, well that was nobody's business but her own.
Morning and breakfast alongside it were something of a blessing for Theodora's troubled mind as she joined the others. At least the idle conversation of the breakfast table would drown out the thoughts and worries that kept waking her the night before.
"Ah Theodroa, good morning," Oscar greeted with a congenial grin as he tended to do with anyone that knew his as anything other than just the Wizard. "Did you sleep well?"
"Well enough," Theodora lied with her eyes looking down at the table as she seated herself.
Oscar and Glinda both noted her rather dour mood, and Glinda also noted the bags under her eyes, but chose not to comment on it.
"Well it's good you're here. We need to discuss how we want to play things. I mean I know we discussed it a bit last night, but we really need to plan out how to deal with things from here on out," Oscar noted seriously.
"What do you mean?" Theodora asked as she looked up into Oscar's face in confusion.
"Oscar means we need to know if you're ready to reveal yourself to the rest of Oz, Theodora," Glinda elaborated.
"Well, I mean, you would have to reveal my cure, wouldn't you? To reassure people that the Wicked Witch of the West is gone too? I'm sure the Munchkins will even make up a song for it like they did for Evanora," Theodora commented with knitted brows.
"But that's just it, Miss Theodora. Some of us were talking last night and well, most Ozians that didn't know you well before your transformation would never associate how you look now with the Wicked Witch of the West. Why, if you wanted to, I bet you could walk through the very heart of the Emerald City without anyone taking note of it," the Scarecrow suggested.
"Nobody is suggesting you hide yourself, Theodora. It's just, when the Scarecrow mentioned that last night I thought we should ask you about it. If you wanted you could take some private time, maybe a couple of weeks, to adjust to everything before we worry about crafting any kind of official announcement," the Wizard explained.
"What would I do in the Emerald City after all this time?" Theodora asked still bewildered at the nature of the conversation.
"Oh, Miss Theodora, maybe you could take me on that tour you suggested? We could visit the library or some of the museums. Maybe we could even go out of the City for an afternoon and fly again," Dorothy suggested with a note of excitement in her voice.
"I think someone might notice it if you were whisked away on a broom given that the only woman in Oz to ever use one to fly was Theodora," Glinda noted with a note of disapproval in her voice.
"But there would still have to be people in the City that would recognize me. I mean, they only saw Oscar's true face for a few hours but he still has to keep himself in here to hide himself away because he would instantly be recognized," Theodora protested.
"That's true enough, but I think you're underestimating how much people are willing to see what they want and expect to see rather than what's really there. It's like my old levitation illusion. I would make sure there were obvious wires that someone in the audience would always point out. And if there wasn't someone that astute or rude there I had an audience plant that worked for the carnival there ready to do it. Anyway, I would act like I had no idea they were there, say I had no need to rely on wires, and cut them with a sword my assistant would toss me. It dazzled the crowd, and at the same time it diverted their attention from the special platform harness I would use to create the illusion. They expected to see someone levitate, someone would present evidence it was a fraud, I would dispel it, and nobody would look any closer," Oscar said with a nostalgic smile.
"How is that anything like someone recognizing me?" Theodora challenged with a roll of her eyes. Then again, as someone that could really fly, the trick didn't sound all that impressive to her.
"It's not," Oscar conceded. "But the premise is. If you give people what they expect to see their own minds will fill in the blanks. If you went out in your black clothes with Dorothy dressed in her gingham dress and pigtails everyone would assume you were the Wicked Witch of the West and you were after Dorothy Gale even though you're not green. In fact, I would bet some would say you still looked green because it's what they expect to see. And the same risk might be there if you wore the types of clothes you wore before your transformation since people old enough to remember you might associate the clothes with Princess Theodora. But if you say… wore some of the latest Ozian fashions and Dorothy did the same while keeping her hair down instead of the in pigtails I would wager handsomely that nobody would recognize you. After all, people would just see a young woman and a younger lady walking with her. And seeing you on friendly terms with each other would be enough to help dispel any doubts well enough that nobody would look any closer than that."
"Oscar, do you really think it's that simple?" Glinda asked with a look of concern on her face.
"Glinda it's what's kept me in place as the Wizard. The people wanted to see an all powerful and nigh-omnipotent ruler that made everything in Oz work correctly. That image kept back Evanora's plots for twenty years because even she expected the image to be reality and refused to look deeper. The average person is really happier seeing what they want to see," Oscar countered.
Glinda had to nod in agreement with that. It was very close to the argument she used to convince Oscar to act as the Wizard for her in Quadling Country all those years ago.
"Well I don't know about taking weeks to do it, but I suppose I could take one short day to reacquaint myself with the Emerald City. It would be a pity not to show Dorothy some of the better sights," Theodora conceded with a shy smile.
Oscar smiled in response before his face grew pensive as he said, "Well there is one sight I'd prefer you avoid."
"What's that Uncle Oscar?" Dorothy asked as Theodora looked on puzzled.
"Oh my, I had forgotten about that," Glinda commented with a twittering laugh as her hand went to her mouth.
"I wish I could," Oscar muttered in disgust.
"What is it?" the Tin Man inquired as he wondered what could upset the Wizard so within the walls of the Emerald City.
"A show. A derivative, puerile, ridiculous show that makes munchkin songs look like high art by comparison," Oscar groused.
"What kind of show could leave you so upset?" Theodora asked with a small laugh of her own.
"It's called 'Wizomania.'" Glinda explained. "And it is quite bad. It's supposed to be based on the Wizard's Life and how he saved all of Oz."
"But it's really two and a half god-awful hours of people singing about how great I am without knowing so much as my name. I think they took all of ten minutes of it to mention you and Evanora leaving the City, and even in that they glossed over the fact the two of you still had control over more than a third of the nation as a whole with your respective kingdoms. I can do no wrong and everything is perfect. If I wasn't the Wizard myself and knew for a fact it wasn't connected to the Palace, I would swear it was created as some kind of horrible propaganda machine. I don't even want to know what went on in the minds of the people who wrote and produced it," Oscar elaborated with grimace.
"Now I have to see it. You've given it such a ringing endorsement," Theodora teased with a bell like laugh.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," Oscar cautioned with a shake of his head. "Especially when they insult you in the thing."
"Ten minutes of insults directed at me? You make that sound like something I've never encountered. Twenty years as Oz's worst nightmare, remember? I think I can handle it just to see what the fuss is about," Theodora shot back with a triumphant grin.
"Okay, fine. Whatever. It will be a big party," Oscar groused as she folded his arms angrily across his chest.
"I've heard that one before," Anna whispered to Finley with a laugh.
"At least nobody had to cry to get her way this time," Finley teased back with a wink.
"Okay, I'll admit it, that was awful," Theodora said as she and Dorothy exited the theater several hours later that evening. Both were wearing the rather elaborate outfits seen on most middle to upper class Ozians, although Glinda made sure to add some Gillikenese touches to make people less curious about why neither had been seen around previously. After all, Gilliken was still locked in a struggle between the Good Witch Locasta and the Wicked Witch Mombi. It would not be beyond the realm of possibility for Gilliken citizens to flee to the Emerald City to escape the strife in the North.
And true to Oz's predictions, not a single person so much as guessed at the identity of either Theodora or Dorothy for the whole of the day. In fact the most common comments they got were older women remarking on what a pretty and polite young daughter Theodora had in reference to Dorothy, something that left both of the blushing and stammering at the compliments. Theodora never really saw any of the features she shared with Glinda, taking much more after their respective mothers in appearance rather than their father as they both did, but there were similarities there if you looked. And when you couple those with the shared chestnut brown hair that Dorothy and Theodora both had… well it was an easy if erroneous conclusion to make.
Still, "Wizomania" had been the definite lowlight of the day as the pair and explored various places Theodora had enjoyed as a girl and was happy to share with the ever-curious Dorothy Gale. Theodora felt as if years were melting away as she shared what she knew of the city with the girl and had a truly carefree afternoon for the first time since… well since her father's death really.
"Oh part of me doesn't want to go back. This has been such a wonderful day," Dorothy commented as the pair started to make their way back toward the Palace proper.
"I know what you mean. I think this is the most fun I've had in as long as I can remember. No matter how bad that show was," Theodora agreed with a smile.
"I wish we could have brought Anna with us for it, though. She would have laughed so hard at some of it," Dorothy replied with a smile.
"I'm willing to bet she's seen it and managed to get her mileage out of teasing Oscar about it. She seems the type to keep her father in line," Theodora noted with a smirk.
"Yeah," Dorothy acknowledged wistfully.
"Dorothy, what is it?" Theodora asked as she took notice of the girl's changing mood.
"It's just; I think Momma would have been so happy to see all of this. I know from her stories that she missed seeing Uncle Oscar. She always said he had greatness in him if he would share it. And I know she missed him something fierce. She loved him. I don't know if it was boy-girl love or family love but I know she did. And even Poppa told me once that he missed having Uncle Oscar around because seeing him always made Momma happy. Then he said if Uncle Oscar did show up he'd box his ears for being a rapscallion and making everybody worry over him all these years," Dorothy confided.
"I'm sure Oscar would be honored to hear that," Theodora replied with a comforting hand on Dorothy's shoulder.
"This place seems almost like some kind of amazing dream. I know my family could never imagine somewhere like this even existing," Dorothy noted sadly.
"What's wrong?" Theodora asked, concerned as the child's mood seemed to get even worse.
"Do you think I'll ever get home to Auntie Em and Uncle Henry? Don't get me wrong, this place is wonderful. And I know Uncle Oscar and Anna are family even if they're family I had never met. I mean if I had the rest of my family there I don't think I'd ever want to leave, but it's just… I still miss home. I miss my family. Heck, I even miss feeding Bellina and the other chickens," Dorothy lamented with a shake of her head.
"Dorothy, I don't know when, but I promise you that you'll get back to your Land of Kansas and your family. Between the odd inventions of Oscar's that are like magic themselves whether he realizes it or not, and Glinda's and my skills with regular sorcery, I promise we'll find a way to get you back home," Theodora swore. She had a feeling it was time to talk to Glinda about why she hadn't done just that already, in fact. And if Glinda didn't want to bother, well Theodora had been interested in seeing the kingdom that had produced Oscar and Dorothy both anyway.
"Oh thank you, Miss Theodora. You are one of the nicest people I think I've ever met," Dorothy gushed as she hugged Theodora happily.
Theodora chuckled ruefully as she replied, "I think you're the first one to ever say something like that to me."
"I bet Chistery and Treackle would agree with me. And Finley too," Dorothy argued.
"They don't count. I still technically have control over them with the Golden Cap," Theodora explained with a fading smile.
She had forgotten about that fact in all the excitement. Was it still right to even be in possession of the Cap not that she was free? Did she need a flying army to augment her control over Winkie Country and its many inhabitants? No. No she didn't. Not now that the Winkies themselves had accepted her as their ruler. She would have to address that soon. It didn't seem right for her to keep the Winged Monkeys in bondage now that she herself was free of her own proverbial chains. But if she kept the Cap without using it the whole troop would stay at her side as the magic compelled them. And if she used her last command to free them it would leave the Cap open for someone else to exploit in the future as she once had. She couldn't do that to Nikko, Chistery, and the others. She would have to think of something to deal with the issue once and for all tonight or tomorrow. That was her only real option.
Dorothy cut off Theodora's musings as she replied, "I don't think that would matter, Miss Theodora. They're your friends. I can tell."
Theodora looked pensive even as she gave a strained smile and responded, "Maybe. Anyway, what do you say we pick up the pace so we can get back in time for dinner? I'm eager to see Oscar's reaction of we start humming bars from Wizomania at the table."
"Oh Miss Theodora, that's awful," Dorothy replied with a giggle.
"Well I guess I'll have to leave being nice to you and Glinda, then. I'm sort of out of practice on the concept," Theodora playfully replied.
And with that the pair headed back to the Palace both feeling lighter in heart then they had a few minutes earlier.