Disclaimer: Tin Man is not my property. Never was.

Five hours into making the spell with Toto and Az and she was forced to call it quits. She had pushed an hour past when she started to feel dizzy, and twenty minutes past the steady and growing ache that even candy couldn't stop. Actually, she probably would have pressed on in the interest of total destruction, but Az started going mother hen on her about her lack of normal skin pigmentation and increased clumsiness, so she retreated after minimal arguing about it. There was no need to alert Az to he fact that she was still injured and if she gave out without any sort of fight her sister would know something was up.

Her sister and teacher were debating some technical tweaking of the spell anyway, and she was no good at that. She was probably hindering the process as she threw out completely useless thoughts on the subject. Her knowledge on magical hypotheses and suppositions was on par with a five year old mage. Since that was the case she abandoned the library, and several ancient and scarily thick texts on illusion dispersion which were making her head hurt just looking at the covers, and headed toward Raw's room. Since it was nearly noon she figured it was a safe bet he was awake.

She was turning the corner to get to Raw's room when she was bowled over by something small and warm. Letting out a very unfeminine grunt she tumbled backward and landed on her already bruised back. Lifting her head she found herself covered by a boy of about four and blinked. The child was substantially less scary than anything she had been imagining when she got tackled. She relaxed at once and his dark eyes took her in. "Sorry."

"That's okay." She helped him off and he accidently stepped on her ribs. She winced again, but didn't want to make him feel worse about knocking her over so she kept her mouth closed. When he was on his feet she sat up. "Are you hurt?"

"No, mam." He grabbed one of her hands with both his small ones. This boy had excellent manners. "I didn't mean to knock you over. I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Hey, no worries." She got to her feet. "I don't watch where I'm going very often either."

"Really?"

"Really." She assured him. Then she held her hand down to him. "I'm DG. What's your name?"

"I'm Sam." He shook her hand firmly, his small fingers gripping hers in a surprisingly tight grip. Taking the little boy in she could tell why Wyatt liked him so much. He was adorable and outspoken. The tin man couldn't resist him she was sure.

"It's nice to meet you, Sam."

"You too." He replied perkily. "Do you live here?"

"I do."

"You must know where everything is!" He tugged on her shirtsleeve so she would come down to his level and she leaned down. He whispered in her ear. "Do you know how to get to the stable?"

Her lip twitched. She had a runaway on her hands. She was fairly sure with the conspiratorial mumbling that he had escaped his aunt. She played along with him because it was fun. "What's in the stable?" She whispered back.

"Horses."

"Of course." She nodded seriously. "It would be crazy to keep anything else there."

"Can you show me?"

"Does your aunt know where you are?"

His eyes got huge. "How did you know I have an aunt?"

She smiled at him kindly. "I do live here. Word travels pretty fast in this place." She tilted her head. "Does she?"

He let out an extremely dramatic sigh for a little boy. "No."

She suppressed her laughter. "Maybe we should go find her. I don't want her to think anything happened to you. Where is she?"

"She won't let me go to the stables!"

"No, I won't." They both looked up at the response. She took Olivia in. The teenager still looked like one but her eyes were older than the rest of her face. Her hair was back in a pretty, but no nonsense braid. The coloration of it was gorgeous and she found herself more than a little envious of the bright color.

Still, in the Outer Zone the color wasn't uncommon like it was where she grew up. She'd noticed that red and blond hair was much more prominent here than in her world. In Kansas it was rare to see anyone with a red tinted hair color that was natural, and blond was uncommon. But here the two colors made up about half the populations hair pigmentation. She also noticed that recessive genes didn't seem to have a factor here. A dark haired parent wouldn't necessarily cover up their partners hair color in their children. It was strange but most things here were. Those thoughts had inevitably led to more and she wondered if the Irish had actually been a large group of slippers that came over from this side, not that there was anyway for her to find that out. "I've told you not to run off like this, Sam! What if something had happened to you?"

"But I'm bored." He whined. "Why can't I go see the horses?"

The woman shook her head authoritatively and she could only admire her control of the boy. She wasn't sure she'd be anywhere near as good with a child. "And I told you that you can't go to the stable without Jeb or Wya-" She corrected herself at once. "-General Cain." She figured the name switch had a lot to do with her being here. The young woman turned to her. "I'm very sorry if Sam was bothering you."

"Not at all." She smiled reassuringly. "I'm sure if I were his age I'd be bored to pieces too." She thought an alternative to the stable might be a good idea. She could wait to see Raw for another hour or two. "If you'd like I could take you both to the gardens. All the children that live in the palace play there."

"Oh." Olivia seemed relieved. She was sure the idea of letting her nephew run himself to exhaustion with other highly excited children would be a dream for her. "Could you?"

"Sure." She turned in the opposite direction she had been heading. "This way."

Olivia caught Sam's hand and walked next to her. "I appreciate your help. I'm Olivia Stills. I hope my nephew introduced himself."

"He did, and very well. You taught him excellent manners."

"I try." Sam sent her a winning smile and her lips twitched down at him. Olivia returned her attention to her. "Do you work here?"

"I do."

"That must be interesting. What with all the things that go on here."

"It has its moments for sure."

The other woman studied her for a moment. "Are you from here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sorry, you just have an odd way of speaking." Her green eyes flicked over her pants and she was sure Olivia was being delicate about the oddness of her trousers as well. Not many women wore pants here.

She tried not to laugh at the question. "I've been told that before. I slipped over a few years ago. It's pretty hard to hide. Not that I try all that much."

"You slipped over?" Sam asked excitedly. "What's that side like?"

"It's different. I'm afraid I don't have enough time to tell you about it right now."

"Wow!" He had let go of his aunt in an instant and started bouncing around her excitedly. "I've never met anyone that really slipped over before! Can you believe it, Olivia?"

"Yes, I can. Don't jump in front of people like that." She grabbed him so he wouldn't trip over him. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." That was probably the most favorable reaction she'd ever gotten from anyone after hearing she came from Kansas, the flattest place on Earth. She was loving this kid. He was hilarious.

The other young woman glanced around all of a sudden. "Maybe we should wait to go to the garden. I don't want to go missing on Jeb. I have no idea how long his meeting is going to last. He didn't say. I just thought of that."

Sam sent her a pathetic stare as the idea of losing garden time sank in. She destroyed the fear at once. "That's not a problem either. All you have to do is tell one of the stewards." She pointed one out to her. "They wear the green uniforms." She waved at the man in question and he made a beeline for her. When he stopped in front of her she addressed him by his name, she found that made a lot of people friendlier. "Mr. Banks, could you let General Cain, the young one, know I'm taking his guests to the garden? Sam needs to stretch his legs."

He bowed at the waist. "Of course, your grace.".

"Thank you."

He straightened up and left to deliver the message. She smiled at Olivia. "It took me awhile to get used to that but don't worry. All the stewards are very nice. If you need anything just ask."

The other woman's eyes were suddenly large and wary. "He called you your grace."

"People around here do tend to do that. Terribly annoying." She spotted the door they needed at last. Going to it she opened it and ushered the boy out into the sunlight that started to pour into the hall. He hadn't caught on to what his aunt had. "Out you go."

The kid yipped with joy and bolted. She followed him and Olivia rushed after her. They emerged onto a terraced garden that was over the third floor of the palace. The high walls that surrounded it kept any possible falls from happening and the kids loved this place. There were at least three of them in the football field sized area at any given time. She was sure Sam would find a playmate within minutes.

She couldn't blame the children for loving this area. She loved it too. The gardeners kept it beautiful. Trees and bushes of colorful flowers filled the place with shade and places to play. There were several small ponds full of fish and frogs for them to chase and the butterflies that somehow managed to find the garden all the way up here kept fluttering about playfully. Add in that there was always a spare ball or toy to play with hidden somewhere and there was no better place for them. The parents felt safe with their kids out here and the guards that made rounds through it every few minutes helped with that.

Spotting a bench hidden under a blooming tree she went toward it and sat down gingerly. It was nice to let the warm sunlight brush over her skin. Getting stuck inside so long had her wishing she were back at the lake and swimming. Olivia sat next to her nervously and she grumbled internally. This always happened when someone new found out she was royal. "You don't need to get edgy. I promise I don't bite. Not unless I have to anyway."

"You're Princess Dorothy." She said softly.

"True that."

"Umm."

She sighed. "That means 'yes I am'."

"Oh."

"Don't get all uptight on me now. We were totally having a good time."

Olivia began to stutter. "That's-that's not at all proper."

"Trust me when I tell you I am not overly concerned with proper behavior." She shrugged. "I grew up on a farm and worked in a pretty low class restaurant before I came back here. I like normal, non-princessy conversations."

"You worked in a restaurant? Serving people?"

"For really measly tips. So wrong I tell you. My service was first class." That had Olivia smiling slightly. Trying to get her back to normal she reached into her pocket and tugged out another piece of candy. "Chocolate?"

"Thank you." She said as she took it with a look of bafflement. "Why do you have candy in your pocket?"

"That is so hard to explain." She changed the subject. "I heard what happened at your apartment. Are you and Sam okay?"

"We're fine. I don't know how my home is though. Jeb had us out and at the palace in about ten minutes."

"That was the smart thing to do. These are bad people."

"Can I ask you what's happening? Jeb's afraid to scare me. I know he means well but I'm going to punch him in the nose if he keeps evading my questions."

She laughed at that. "Like father like son I suppose." Her humor was short lived. "How much detail do you want?"

"As much as you can give me I suppose."

She nodded in understanding. She could tell Olivia wasn't the type to scare easy. She couldn't be if she had been part of the war, especially the resistance part. "A man that used to be very close to the witch started letting criminals out of those iron maidens." Olivia shifted nervously. "Now they're loose. We don't know where they are or how many of them are helping this man. There have been two attacks here, one at Finaqua, and the man at your apartment. I'm sure there will be more before this is over."

"Are we safe here?"

"I don't know." She replied honestly. "But Jeb and Wyatt made sure a guard is watching your room all the time, and I don't think you'll be bothered here. I think that you were targeted before to scare Jeb or get him to do something stupid. He's a strategist by nature and nurture but enough of an emotional shock would ruin that."

"We're a weakness for him." The other woman said.

"No." Her voice was soft but firm. "There's nothing weak about having a family. You keep him stable. You make him want to keep everything safe, especially you. Love isn't a weakness. It keeps us all together."

Olivia was quiet for a few minutes and she let her think whatever it was she was thinking. "Can you stop this man?"

"Yes. We just need a few days."

She nodded. "Can I help?"

"I'm sure you can. I'll let you know, alright?"

"You aren't just saying that are you? I know how to fight. I was in the resistance cell with Jeb. I know how to hold my own."

"I'm not just saying that. I'm sure you can fight better than me. I'm not much of a liar. If there's anything you can do I promise to tell you."

She nodded sharply. "Good." She was quiet for a few seconds. "I can teach you if you want."

"Huh?"

"To fight. I used to teach all the new women that came into camp. I know things that would be easy for you to do."

"What do you mean easy?"

She shrugged. "Men and woman are built differently. We can fight differently because of that. You should fight to fit your body, not to fit in with someone else's standard."

She hadn't thought about it that way before. Maybe that's why she could never beat Glitch. "That would be cool."

She got an odd look in response. "Does that mean yes?"

"Yeah it does. It's going to have to wait until Vy-sor is gone."

Olivia nodded and it was her turn to change the subject. "Maybe I shouldn't ask, but is Jeb happy here? He always seems so tired when he comes to see us. Not that it's changed since the war ended. He always worked himself into the ground. I worry about him."

"He doesn't talk to me very much. Not about things like that."

Olivia sighed. "He doesn't talk to me either. Does he talk to his father?"

"Sometimes." She could hardly forget his ranting before she fled the scene. "You know if you want him to talk to you maybe you should tell him. He's probably trying to protect you by doing that. Stupid, really. I don't think guys get that we worry more when we don't know something than when we do."

"You make it sound easy."

"I don't think it'll be easy, but I think that's what you're going to have to do."

"I know you're right." Olivia shifted. "This is going to start a fight."

"Yeah, but then he'll stop being stubborn for a few minutes and get over it. That's pretty much how Jeb rolls."

"Why is he rolling?"

"Nevermind." She waved her hand. "It means that's how he'll react. Let him explode and then he'll calm down and listen to you. You just have to get past the initial blast without backing down."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"The advice."

"Anytime." She smiled over at her. "And thank you for talking with me. It's nice to have another girl to talk to, other than my sister."

"I-"

Whatever she was about to say was cut off by Jeb's searching call. "Olivia? Sam?"

"Over here!" Olivia called back.

A few seconds later and he walked into view. He took them in quickly and nodded to her. She couldn't tell what he was thinking or feeling but sensed it was time for her to go. Even if she couldn't tell what way he was feeling about her she could sense the shift between them, his new awareness of her. She would give him space until he wanted to find her. She thought that would be the best approach. Strategic retreat until terms were offered.

She bid Olivia a farewell. "It was nice talking to you, Olivia. Maybe we can meet up again later?"

"Do you have to go?"

Yes, yes she did. She needed to let Jeb do what Jeb did. Put her presence into one of his strategic maneuvers so he felt better about it. Besides, she was really starting to feel the ache of her drain and fall now. It was time to see Raw. "I do, but feel free to find me whenever you want." She nodded to Wyatt's son. "Hey, Jeb."

"DG." His voice was devoid of emotion but at least he spoke to her.

"See you guys later." Without further hesitation she left them in the garden and forced herself back inside and out of the sunshine. Pity. Heading toward a different hall she made herself relax. If Jeb hadn't gone off on her now he probably wasn't going to. Of course, Wyatt was probably on pins and needles about whatever had gone on between them, and she wanted to talk him down, but she really needed to get fixed first. Besides, if she knew the tin man at all he was going to need a few minutes alone to analyze.

Decided on her plan of action, she went to Raw's rooms. This would be good. Everything was fine. If Jeb was that calm then it must have gone well. It must have been a good heart to heart. She pulled in a worried breath. Please god, let it have been a good talk. The last thing any of them needed was more drama in their lives.

Author note: Hi, guys! New chapter! Yay!