A/N: A shout out to James Birdsong. So glad you liked it. :)
Chapter 13
It would be three more days before the group finally reached a consensus. Elphaba, Glinda, and Zixi now made their way to the Palace Walls and Bonescraper and Feilong quickly noticed the two royals.
"Have you reached a decision, your Highnesses?" Feilong asked.
"The countries of Oz and Ix have come to an arrangement. We hope that it will be satisfactory to your cohorts," Elphaba said.
"I will certainly take it to them if that makes things easier for us," he said.
"The economies and ecosystems of Oz and Ix cannot currently sustain nine dragons for the foreseeable future. Therefore, we are suggesting that some come to live here with Bonescraper, and others go to try their hand in Ix," the green woman explained.
"There is a good piece of land in Ix that is currently uninhabited by my people. It would allow for privacy and a nice way to slowly get used to having people around," Zixi spoke up.
"The people of Ix are used to magic? Are you a Dragon Lord?" Feilong wondered.
"I am not a Dragon Lord. As for my people, I am all the magic they need," she winked.
"And of course, as we previously discussed, everyone would be subject to the laws of the land they end up inhabiting," Elphaba said. Glinda had been awfully quiet considering she was the actual leader of Oz and it did not escape the dragons' notice.
"Would all of us stay in the Vinkus?" Bonescraper wanted to know.
"The Quadlings have offered up some of their territory and of course there is room here. You'll have to forgive the Gillikin. In their current state of rebuilding, they cannot assist. Of course, that may change in the future," Elphaba admitted.
"I believe that leaves the Munchkins out…" Bonescraper raised an eyebrow. He knew that Elphaba had her issues with Munchkinland.
"As much as Head Munchkin Mopsi would love to assist, the people of Munchkinland are quite resistant when it comes to the four-letter words known as change and different. Perhaps, they will soften once they see how well things go," the Princess said.
"Then we will work to change their opinion. I have great confidence in this alliance. Now, I will fly back to my current homeland and give my cohorts your proposal. How would you like to hear our answer? I imagine you wouldn't want us to just show up," Feilong seemed to be doing the best he could to be accommodating.
"Simple. I have created this magic letter. All you must do is breathe fire on it. Once you've done that, it'll show up here, meaning you've accepted. If the letter does not return, we know that you have not accepted our offer," Queen Zixi smiled and she sent the letter to him with a quick snap of her fingers.
"If we accept, then what?" Feilong wondered as he clenched the letter in his hand.
"Then we will expect you on the seventh day following the acceptance. All of you should come here and then we will decide who will go where," Elphaba let them know.
"This is agreeable to me. What if my friends would like to counter-offer?" he asked.
"I'm afraid that our deal is the only one on the table. I wish we could have more discourse, but I think we're all in a tough situation. We are willing to help if you are willing to try and coexist with us," Elphaba said.
"Understood. Thank you very much for this chance. I hope to see you soon," with that Feilong took to the skies and disappeared.
"That went well," Bonescraper smiled.
"I'll save my congratulations until we've seen what they say. I must prepare to alert the nation," they were Glinda's first words since they came outside.
"Her mind might not be in it, but we must prepare for the possibility that the dragons will just try and take what they want," Zixi said.
"Do you really think they'd do that?" Bonescraper asked.
"I think they have seen our numbers and know where we stand. While you are trustworthy Bonescraper, we do not know if they are, not yet," Zixi told him.
"Good thing we have an ace in the hole then," Elphaba said.
"Yes, let us prepare young Zara," the Queen of Ix nodded.
To Be Continued…