DG had grudgingly handed over her sketch book for the scrutiny of the others, and while Ahamo had given her a new one it was slightly more difficult to let the images fill the pages now, knowing that they were more than simple thoughts. The fact remained, even if Jeb wasn't giving up the details, that she had drawn something from his past. Just plucked the image out of the air and put it to paper as if it were nothing. It was frightening to think she had this strange new gift.
She felt like everyone was watching her as she worked, expecting her to solve some great riddle. Her hand rested on the page as she searched her mind for something, anything that was out of place. She found the empty sheet that stared back at her suddenly intimidating.
Cain wrapped his arms around her, smiling at her when she looked up at him.
"Stop putting so much pressure on yourself." He said softly and she sighed, nodding that he was right and letting her eyes wander down to the blank page.
Glitch looked up from where he sat in a chair across from them flipping through her earlier sketches for anything that might be helpful. He gave Cain a look understanding, feeling just as badly that they were asking her to continue.
Jeb and Azkadellia hadn't been around much in the last two days and Glitch silently wished for them in that moment, they were so much better at lightening the mood for DG. According to Raw, however, Jeb was starting to feel better and would return to them soon.
A line was all it took, one sweeping, shaded line across the white sheet and she was back in business. She had decided to draw something familiar, something beautiful. The palace of Finaqua filled her mind and she sketched its towers from memory, the way it shined with magic in the sun, the way its waters beckoned you closer. Before she knew it she was onto another page, tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she drew the palace of the Northern Island, the home of her childhood as it was before it had been frozen by the evil witch.
She moved on to Central City…though her drawing was somewhat different than how it appeared today.
Cain peered over her shoulder, his brow furrowing. The image she was drawing was something that couldn't have originated from her own recollection, her parents had told him once that her first visit there had been after her return to the OZ, they'd never taken her there as a child. The city hadn't looked that way since he was still a young man approaching with his father and being awe struck by what was at that time dubbed 'The Emerald City'.
She hurriedly flipped the page and Cain loosened his hold on her as she began sketching the imposing towers of the fortress which they were currently residing in, the one that the evil witch had eventually taken as her stronghold.
He had barely noticed on the first three drawings, but was astonished to see that DG was writing symbols beneath these images…symbols in the ancient language.
Her eyes had glazed over, her hands working quickly as she began to sketch the raven again…the black clouds swirling dangerously in the sky…another blank sheet…an iron suit…Zero's face…
Her hand froze as his likeness sneered up at her and she could feel Cain's body stiffen before she had a chance to cover the image. She heard his lips part and words fail him and knew he had seen.
She closed her eyes and silently cursed herself for letting the images be drawn again, her heart aching for the pain she knew it was causing Wyatt and her fear for the fate her visions held for him coiling tightly in her stomach.
Without a word she tore the sheet from the book, crumpling it and holding it in her palm, calling forth magic she didn't know she possessed to engulf the page in white flames, letting it fell to ash and blow away on an otherwise unfelt draft.
She dropped the book and rolled over in Cain's arms, hiding her face under his chin as he held her tightly; each resigning themselves silently that they would give their life to save the other.
The Queen watched from where she stood at the window, her hand on her chest as she resisted the need to rush to her child and comfort her when seeing her so distraught. She gave Ahamo a stricken look and he forced a weak smile for her, telling her without words that it would be alright.
Glitch chewed the inside of his bottom lip, standing slowly and picking up the book, his eyes wandering over symbols that he could not find the translations for. They were somewhere in the other half of his mind and he sighed in frustration, sometimes it felt like following a familiar road and finding it had suddenly become a dead end. He could remember learning the ancient language, but couldn't recall any of the actual knowledge. "I will go find Azkadellia." He said softly, turning on his heal and exiting the room with his now aptly present grace.
He knocked on the door and was surprised to come face to face with Jeb.
"Hi!" He managed, his happiness to see the young man without pain in his eyes was hard to contain. "How are you feeling?" He asked, forgetting for the moment why he had come.
Jeb laughed as Glitch hugged him. "I'm better, thank you for asking." He said, waiting for the advisor to release him from his enthusiastic embrace before continuing. "What brings you?" He asked with his eyes pausing briefly on the leather sketch book, and then watching Glitch run through his thoughts until he found the answer.
"I need Azkadellia to translate something for us." He said, entering the room as Jeb swung the door open for him.
"Translate? Can't DG tell you what she drew?" Jeb asked, but watched the grave expression that washed over Glitch's face. "She doesn't know what it means." He said in understanding.
Azkadellia approached from across the room, smiling at Glitch and hugging him, having not realized how much she had missed him over the past few days.
"Princess, I need you to look at something and tell me what it means." He said, turning in her embrace so that his arm was still around her back and letting the sketch book fall open to the page of Finaqua.
She traced her fingers over the symbols at the bottom, amazed that DG had drawn them. "This is the ancient's word in its own language; this is how they would write Finaqua." She said, taking the book from his hands and sitting on the edge of the bed as she turned the page. "And this is the name for their Emerald, The Emerald City, their crowning achievement…and Twyla, the name for the palace of the Northern Island."
Her lips formed a tight line when she spotted the towers of the fortress, her fingers skimming the page around the symbols, but not touching them. "This one must not be spoken in vain, but it is the ancient word for the name of this palace."
Jeb struggled to conceal his confusion. "So wait, the ancients built these palaces? How old are they?" He asked, eyeing the seemingly fresh marble that surrounded them.
"Many hundreds of annuals, they were built with magic and it sustains them. The Emerald City faded once the witch took up residence; she was like a locust, using up all of its resources and then moving on to this fortress." She closed the book, looking up at them slowly. "DG is sketching images sent by the magic of the entire OZ."