Disclaimer, the usual
Early the next morning, Dorothy awoke. Looking around, she could not find alex, but she did find that she had his coat draped over her. Ozma was sat on the couch, obviously awake, looking up at the ceiling, saying something to herself. She listened around for a bit and realized she could hear the shower running, and so assumed that's where alex was. She could hear footsteps and things moving around in the kitchen as well. Getting to her feet and removing Alex's coat from her shoulders, she looked at Ozma.
"Sleep well?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"about as well as I always do." She whispered, "feel's weird, not waking up to get ready for royal duties."
"I can imagine." Dorothy said smiling, "I assume alex went to go shower?" she asked curiously.
"It was either him or the beast, I'm not sure, he didn't say a word, I know your aunt is in the kitchen making something though." Ozma whispered in response.
It was at that point that dorothy observed the sound of the shower stopping. Waiting a minute, she then walked to the bathroom, and knocked.
"I'll only be a minute, kitten." Came Alex's voice from inside.
After a moment, Alex Emerged, now dressed in his usual day clothes, the stuff he had worn over night tucked under his arm. Taking his hand, she observed it was absolutely freezing.
"Cold shower?" she asked curiously.
"Usually." He responded as they walked back to the living room.
"why would you typically take a cold shower?" Dorothy asked.
"wakes us up better." Came the voice of the beast from a nearby mirror.
"still, a cold shower, makes me shiver just thinking about it." Dorothy said shuddering.
"You, actually were shivering this morning, without thinking about it." Alex said, "not used to sleeping on the floor I suppose?"
"I guess not, is that why I woke to find your coat draped over me?" she asked curiously.
"I'd be lying if I said no." He said running his hand over it.
Dorothy smiled and kissed him again, before plopping down on the couch next to Ozma. Alex however, walked over to his work boots and pulled them on, before walking over and sitting next to dorothy.
"oh, good, you're all awake." Em said as she came out of the kitchen, scents of bacon and eggs wafting out of the kitchen.
"Well, we don't know about Ace yet." Ozma said.
"trust me, she's awake." Dorothy said stretching, "she's always up early, if only to read."
"I mean, one of you could have come and checked." Aislynn said coming out and walking over to the table.
She was completely dressed already like alex was, but as usual she had her nose in a book. Eve was following at her heels.
"Ace, if you could have your way, you'd never sleep." Em said firmly,
"Checking would have been a nice thing to do though." Dorothy said sighing. "sleep well?" she asked curiously.
"the usual." Aislynn replied.
Dorothy sighed, getting to her feet, turning to Ozma.
"I suppose you and I should get cleaned up and dressed." She says looking at the clock and offering her a hand.
Ozma smiled and took up her wand. She gave it a wave and both she and dorothy quickly found themselves in similar outfits. Dorothy's was a purple that she was fairly sure was left there by Madeline and Ozma was wearing a mint green color, the difference being, Ozma had matching flats and socks on, dorothy was still barefoot.
"Odd, usually it completes the outfit." Ozma said looking at her curiously.
"well, if the magic tried to summon the slippers, odds are it wouldn't work." Alex said looking at dorothy, "I like the purple though, it's a nice touch."
"Why would it try to pull the slippers here though?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"that…is a very good question." Ozma said thinking about that, "maybe because you almost always wear them when in Oz?" she said tapping her wand against her hand.
"I mean, it's not like it does any harm, to wear them, you just have to be careful." Alex said shrugging.
"Considering we'll be spending the morning in the auditorium, shouldn't be hard not to unconsciously click my heels three times." Dorothy said giggling.
"I mean, you'd just end up at the end of time again anyways." Came Glinda's voice from a mirror.
Everyone turned to see Glinda, who looked like she was still in the process of waking up.
"you actually slept?" Em asked coming into view of the mirror.
"I know, surprising isn't it?" Glinda asked sighing, "Elphaba and nessa convinced me to get a full night's sleep as opposed to watching the crystal ball all night."
"Well, we had a barrel of laughs, sorry you missed out." Ozma said giggling.
"and by we, she means that she and alex double teamed me." Dorothy said groaning.
At this Glinda could not help but giggle for a few moments.
"really?" She asked through her little fit.
"after I explicitly said NO DOUBLE TEAMING!" she said firmly.
"I'll be back in a moment, going to check on the rest of breakfast" em said seeing herself out of the room.
"oh, come on kitten, you can't say you didn't enjoy it." Alex said teasingly, "it was fun wasn't it?" he asked now sounding properly concerned.
"It was, but it's one thing to have your boyfriend do it." Dorothy said looking at him, "it's quite another when your boyfriend and one of your best friends decides to rush you together, though I wouldn't put it passed ellie to try."
"Ok, we are guilty of that, but even if it were one on one you wouldn't be evenly matched to either of us." Alex pointed out.
"between him and the beast they beat you in strength." Glinda said, "though thanks to the beast, I think he beats everyone out in the strength category now." She added.
"and Ozma could easily use her magic to restrain you, though you don't really struggle that much when tickled." Alex added, "I think the feeling has sort of grown on you over the past couple years."
Dorothy put herself into a teasing pout at this remark.
"It has not." She said childishly, before breaking into a fit of giggles, "okay, I can't lie, it's not my favorite feeling in the world but it's not unenjoyable, I'd take the massaging though, over the tickling."
"what she means to say, is that she doesn't mind when you two do it." Aislynn said not looking up from her book.
"Oh…shush ace, you're not helping." Dorothy said sighing.
"Oh, I am, I'm just helping them." Aislynn said as Eve jumped onto the table.
"well, I'll leave you four to your breakfast, shall I?" Glinda asked giggling, "I'll check in on you around lunch time." She said as her face faded from the mirror.
The three of them shared a glance, dorothy gestured for the two of them to take a seat at the table and she went to go get the slippers. Toto and pockets were asleep on her bed, the scepter was floating idly in a corner, though it let out three irritated sounding pings as if to say 'what kept you' she slid the slippers on, and the scepter let out another ping.
"Don't worry, you get to come along too." Dorothy said plucking it from air, "are you two going to see us off? Or spend the entire morning sleeping?" she asked looking at her pets.
"If we can, sleeping." Toto yawned.
"did you two stay up most of the night again?" dorothy asked curiously as she grabbed her satchel from the bedpost, "what do you two even discuss?"
"things." Pockets yawned, curling up into a tighter ball.
Dorothy rolled her eyes and gave both a smile before walking out. When she got to the table, it seemed there was already a discussion going on. Letting the scepter float next to alex, she sat herself down. Everyone was already eating alex pointing a piece of toast as he spoke.
"no, that's kinda why I wear the jackets." He said finishing the piece of toast and picking it what looked like a bit of yolk which had gotten on the material.
"to keep yolk from getting on your shirt?" dorothy asked curiously, "how is that an improvement?"
"this fabric cleans up nicely." Alex said as Em came out of the kitchen with a damp cloth, alex took it, thanked her and dabbed at it for a moment. "see." He said motioning to it.
Dorothy could not deny that it did seem to clean up well, but she also wondered, looking at the scepter, if that was helping a little. She shrugged and sighed and served herself before starting to eat.
"suppose it could be worse." Dorothy said, "you could be wearing white."
"White, looks regal, but stains way too easily." Ozma said, tapping her wand against the table idly.
"that's why I generally try to avoid wearing it, I'll wear a white t-shirt as an undershirt, and dorothy has a few night gowns, but I'll typically stick to black, or darker colors." Alex said.
"like that purplish velvety coat that dorothy likes so much." Aislynn said nibbling on a piece of toast.
"Ace, can you put the book down while you eat please?" dorothy asked her with a giggle.
Aislynn sighed and marked her page, setting the book down. Eve immediately put a paw on it.
"eat." Eve said firmly.
"yes ma'am." Aislynn sighed again as she served herself some eggs and toast,
Dorothy and Alex could not help chuckling at this, Ozma was just staring at Eve with her paw on the book. They all ate in silence for a few minutes, until it was relatively bright outside. Looking out they could see that the sky was half darkened by clouds, alex walked over to the door and opened, sticking his head out and sniffing.
"storm on the air, we should probably bring a couple of umbrellas" he said sighing.
Dorothy smiled and got up, walking to a hall closet, she pulled out three umbrellas. Walking back into the living room, she handed one to Aislynn and one to Ozma.
"a little rain never hurt anyone." Ozma said looking outside.
"still, we'd get a proper scolding if we came back from school or even arrived there soaked." Dorothy said looking at the kitchen door.
Alex quickly cleaned the plates and stuff from the table and brought them into the kitchen, the clinking of plates into the sink was heard and a few moments later he emerged again. Dorothy smiled and grabbed her satchel while her aunt handed each of them a bagged lunch, while alex grabbed the scepter.
"at any rate, at least we three would wind up soaked, I'm not entirely positive about you, kitten." Alex said looking at her feet, "considering those literally stay clean regardless of surrounding."
Dorothy could not deny that was true, but she certainly did not want to test those odds, at least not for the moment. not long after this, the four of them were leaving the farmhouse, waiting for Betsy and Zeb to catch up with them.
"Oh, Ozma, I didn't realize you were still here in Kansas." Betsy said curtseying.
"Everyone decided I could use a bit of a vacation, so I'll be staying with dorothy for a couple of days." Ozma said smiling.
"and alex as your royal guard?" Zeb asked catching his breath.
"no, Alex is just alex, or the beast depending on the mood." Dorothy said giggling, "credit for trying though."
They walked making idle chatter until Trot and Ellie caught up with them. Ellie had already given trot the warning that Ozma would be joining their little party. As a result, she was not remotely surprised to see them. As they walked by Alex's father's shop, they his father, coming out.
"Oh, on your way already?" He asked curiously.
"yes, what's the new project." Alex asked glancing around his father.
"restoring bits of an old desk, I may need your help with it tomorrow." Mr. teak said holding up a print which his son took from him.
Looking it over for a moment, then taking out his reading glasses and looking it over again, he smiled.
"should be a couple of easy fixes, seems like a good plan for tomorrow." Alex said handing the print back to his father, "will Annabella be joining mom shopping today?" Alex asked curiously.
"yes, I asked if she wanted to wait around the shop, she said she didn't want to sweep sawdust all morning." Mr. teak said leaning against the door.
"you'll make a carpenter of her yet, then." Alex said with a chuckle, "gotta start somewhere assuming she's interested."
"we'll have to ask if she has an interest in the family trade." Dorothy said looking at the two of them.
"we?" alex asked curiously, "surely that doesn't qualify as a group activity?"
"I was talking about the three of us." Dorothy said giggling, "I mean, if you want to make it a party, I'm sure it would be fun."
"really kitten?" Alex asked chuckling, "wait, when you said we…you were including yourself?"
"well, its family business, she is for all intents and purposes a partner due to her father." Mr. teak said, "um…right, sorry, didn't mean to bring it up."
"well, that's not why I brought it up, but it is a good point." Dorothy said taking a deep breath in.
Alex placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it tightly. Ozma took her hand and squeezed it tightly. However, at that point, the clouds had rolled over and a light drizzle had begun, so they had to rush on their way or risking getting caught in a cold deluge. When they got to the school, it began absolutely pouring.
"Would hate to be caught in that." Trot said looking outside as they walked.
"Especially at this time of year, you'd catch your death of cold in a storm like that." Zeb said looking out there, "It's not California where it could just be a hurricane then suddenly 80 degrees in the middle of January."
"no, it's Kansas, where like a good majority of the world." Mr. Alistair said coming up to them, "the autumn months are very cold, wet, and windy."
"or hello and good morning as most principals might say." Alex said leaning against a wall,
"Right, well, you guys should get to the auditorium, Mr. Pryce is already there." He said as his secretary came out alongside Mrs. upland with some signs pointing to the auditorium.
"What do you want Ozma and me to do?" Alex asked curiously.
"Alex, oh, and Ozma" Mr. Alistair said looking at her, "You two should probably stay with the herd, like I told you last night Al, this concerns you too, and I suppose it concerns Ozma to the same extent."
"so why wasn't I allowed to be told?" Ozma asked curiously.
"Like I told you, they were probably worried if you were let in on whatever happens to be going, then you could just tell me to keep me in the loop." Dorothy said sighing, "at least alex can be relied on to keep a secret for a day, especially one that concerns the entire school."
"I mean, they aren't wrong." Ozma admitted, "but only because I know you don't like things being kept from you" Ozma said looking her.
"to be fair, I wasn't told either, for the same reason." Ellie said looking at her mom.
"everyone is presently in the dark about what's going on, save for the faculty and alex, and I assume Annabella, I called the Macduff's this morning to inform them of the situation as well." Mr. Alistair said as he began herding them to the auditorium.
"If you didn't tell mom to keep it a secret from her, Annabella will certainly know." Alex said.
Meanwhile in the emerald city.
In light of Ozma's extended absence from the city, The China Princess and Marshall Mallow had decided to return to the palace. They had decided to take an extended stay in Candy county, which they cut short to assist with daily duties around the palace.
"Honestly, I think Ozma will love the time she spends in Kansas." The china Princess said, "I visited once alongside Glinda."
"Oh, how did you like it?" the wizard asked curiously.
"well, I did spend a lot of the trip in a paper bag being concealed, but I thought the parts I saw of it were quite interesting." She said smiling, "it's all…plain compared to Oz." she said.
"Oz is a fairy country, anywhere is plain compared to here, but there are places around the world that get pretty close." The wizard said with a smile, "just as dangerous as well."
"the world you come from doesn't hold much of a candle to Oz, but there are some beautiful places." Madeline said coming into the chambers.
"How are things on the Kansas front?" Scarecrow asked curiously.
"At the moment, students are arriving, being accounted for, and sat with their classes." Madeline said smiling, "You know, boring big announcement stuff." She said with shrug.
"the auditorium is probably abuzz with idle gossip at what's going to be announced." Marshall Mallow suggested.
"just about, but that's not abnormal for students." Madeline said occupying Dorothy's throne.
Back in the auditorium.
Once it had filled up, and a few more minutes were given for any stragglers or late arrivals. Mr. Alistair made his way to the stage and was handed a microphone.
"okay…" He said into it as the speaker system squealed into life, causing him to jump. "okay, as you all are no doubt aware, I have to make an especially important, and honestly rather special announcement. Once the ball is rolling it seems it just cannot stop, well over the weekend to school board looked at our school and all the occurrences here, burst pipes, the occasional fire, casual flooding, and decided that it would be more efficient to finally gut the entire place and renovate it completely, instead of the patchwork of repairs we have now, inefficient and honestly dangerous" he said, sternness entering his tone.
This sparked the buzz of whispers and conversations.
"The board brought it to debate on Saturday and Voted yesterday morning in a special session." He said, "As some of you are aware, this means that the school will have to close down for an extended period of time."
This resulted in a few cheers, and a bit of a groan from Aislynn.
"However, that does not mean you will not be without schooling, the board of education has policies in place should such circumstances ever arise." Mr. Alistair said as his secretary handed him a few papers, "In the Event that a school becomes unable to properly function due to lack of facilities, usually we would use the portable classrooms but at the moment those are present unavailable, there are two other options, homeschooling by packet, or paperwork to allow students to use other schools for the time being, however in order to gauge what the students need to learn it involves everyone's two least favorite words." He said looking up at them.
"Standardized testing?" Aislynn whispered.
"Standardized testing, starting Wednesday morning in rigorously into Friday, everyone will have two separate tests a day for all the subjects." Mr. Alistair said taking a moment to let that sink in, "each student will be sent home with paperwork for their parents and or guardians to fill out, if you do not wish to be transferred to a different school for the time being or cannot get transportation one way or the other the packet will be provided by default." He said reading off the paper he was handed before handing the papers back to his secretary.
"before anyone asks, why Wednesday." Mr. Alistair said shrugging, "I couldn't get a straight answer, but probably so you still had something to do on Friday." He said taking the papers again and going through them, "yep."
"I think he's conflicted." Donna whispered tapping dorothy on the shoulder, "because he won't have much to do and still worry about everything."
"Is he overseeing the renovations?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"probably, you know how he is." Donna whispered, "but he won't tell us, just leave us to guess."
"In his usual way." Alex said rolling his eyes.
"anyways, I know Ace loves a good test, but they always leave my brain feeling like an egg." Dorothy said groaning.
"yep, cracked and fried" Ozma said, "it's the same with the professor's lessons, except I don't know why I learned anything as I can't say I actually listened." She whispered.
"alex was telling me about that some time ago, once he starts talking, you two just seem to tune out and then find your heads filled with knowledge." Dorothy whispered.
"Okay, now that everything has had a chance to sink in, you can ask your teachers any questions you might have." Mr. Alistair said, "Assembly dismissed." He said.
As people began to funnel out with their classes, Mr. Alistair took a moment to stop both Alex and Ozma.
"as you two are not students, and you came in through the main doors, I do have to get you both visitors' badges." He said.
"We'll catch up, kitten." Alex said kissing her, "only a few minutes."
Dorothy nodded and smiled and walked along with the rest of the class. As they got to the classroom, Donna tapped dorothy on the shoulder.
"so, how are we explaining Ozma?" Donna whispered curiously.
"Family friend, staying a few days." Dorothy whispered back, "the options were her coming here with us, or shopping with auntie em and Alex's mom."
"so naturally, you insisted that she come with you guys." Donna said nodding.
"well, shopping is always boring." Dorothy said shrugging.
Taking her jacket off and putting her other things down and sat. looking at the teacher's desk, she noticed something that everyone else observed. Large journals, what appeared to be enough for the whole class were stacked on Mr. Pryce's desk.
"Now, some of you may be wondering about the journals, thankfully this news coincides well with a plan I had for all of you." Mr. Pryce said holding one up, "project is simple, everyone picks a skill they want to learn and improve, Cooking, dancing, hobby projects, et. Cetera, and write about it, then over the course of the year, try to practice, write about your progress and see if you improve by the end of the year." He adds.
"seems like a good chance for you to work on baking skills, dorothy." Ellie said smiling.
"or you could take up carpentry alongside alex." Donna suggested.
"she could do both if she really wants to, just so long as she remembers to write about them." Mr. Pryce said handing out journals.
"I'm surprised you aren't too good at baking." Trot said, "I would have thought your aunt would have taught you over the years."
"she's tried" Dorothy said thumbing through the pages of the journal after it was placed on her desk, "not my fault I have the worst luck imaginable with it." She giggled.
"something we can work on in our free time, kitten" Alex said coming into the classroom with Ozma both had Visitor passes on land-yards around their necks, the scepter in Alex's hand.
"ah, so you two will be sitting in today?" Mr. Pryce asked turning to alex.
"if it's no trouble." Alex said handing the scepter to dorothy and going to the back of the room for some extra chairs.
"don't be a distraction and it should be fine." Mr. Pryce said going back to handing out journals.
"Dorothy, do you think you'd actually be any good at carpentry?" Betsy asked curiously.
"no idea, I've helped alex by steadying things or keeping track of his tools, but otherwise I have no real hands-on experience." Dorothy said shrugging.
"you could do both baking and carpentry, there's more than enough room to jot down progress for both." Mr. Pryce repeated.
"okay, so probably a stupid question, but Alex, would you actually teach dorothy carpentry?" donna asked curiously.
"yes, and with a little help I could probably help her baking skills improve too" Alex nodded setting a chair next to Dorothy's desk and occupying his old one.
"it's nice to see that desk properly occupied, rounds out the room rather nicely." Mr. Pryce said heading to the board and writing the steps for the project down.
Ozma sat next to dorothy and looked at the journal, thumbing through it the same way she had done moments previous.
"that's a lot of work to fill out." She observed, "should definitely be a fun experience on top of the packet."
"how do you know she isn't going to just pick a school?" Alex asked sarcastically.
"because then she wouldn't be able to walk and pass by your guy's shop on the way to and from school." Mr. Pryce said rather flatly.
"okay, I'll grant you that one." Alex said rolling his eyes.
"I feel most people will opt for the packet" Aislynn said, "that's what I'm going to do." She said smiling.
"and you'll be finished with it in less than two weeks." Donna said looking at her.
"I'd say six days barring she doesn't sleep." Dorothy said turning to Aislynn.
"oh, come on dorothy, of course I'll sleep, eventually." She giggled.
Before anyone else could say anything on this subject, Ms. Short came in and asked if anyone wanted to spend some time in the library, she had been going room to room and making a list. A few people from the advanced class jumped at this chance, leaving just the regular group of friends as it so often tended to be.
"hm, seems fate likes to consistently keep you guys together." Mr. Pryce said looking over the room.
"wouldn't know, don't get much of a chance to talk to fate very much." Ozma said shrugging.
Mr. Pryce looked at Ozma for a moment. Then shook his head.
"forget I mentioned that." He said pinching the bridge of his nose and going to his desk, "so, standardized testing, everyone's two favorite words."
"also known as, several hours of brain melting mental expenditure to most people." Aislynn said, "exciting isn't it?"
"oh yes, a real treat." Trot said, "in the words of my dad, it would be more fun to watch paint dry."
"Actually, in the right circumstances that would probably be loads more fun." Mr. Pryce said taking out a red pen.
"and what, pray-tell, would be the right circumstances?" Ozma asked giggling.
"Not sure, but logically it could happen." Mr. Pryce said shrugging.
Everyone shared a glance at this, it seemed there was silent agreement that watching paint dry at least would leave one less mentally exhausted than 3 days of standardized testing, but that was all that could be said for it.
"so, ace, what are you going to work on improving?" Betsy asked curiously.
"Oh, I was thinking on breaking my record on books read in a school year." She said giggling, "in truth, my mechanical skills, Grandfather and Scarecrow can definitely help me improve on that."
"well, your grandfather is definitely a master alongside Scarecrow." Dorothy said smiling, "Maybe you all could do a nice group project instead of just focusing on the rainbow mover." She suggested.
"maybe, wonder what we would come up with though, because right now the rainbow mover is guesswork. and the alternative as a complete disassembly and starting from scratch." She replied.
"yea, that's what it currently looks like they're leaning towards." Madeline said appearing in the classroom, causing everyone to jump.
"Complete rework?" Aislynn asked curiously, she then giggled, "perfect, should only take a couple of weeks with us working together."
"seems like a fairly short project then." Mr. Pryce pointed out, catching his breath.
"Maddie, I assume you didn't just come here to give exposition on the rainbow mover." Dorothy said taking her pulse, she wasn't sure why she did this around her, but assumed it was more part of their connection.
"still beating." Madeline said checking her own pulse, "and yes, because I came here because I can." She said teasingly.
"of course, you did." Alex said growling, his eyes flashing yellow for a moment.
"Okay, Deep breaths, alex" Dorothy said taking his hand, "first time in a while the beast has been woken up by Maddie." She said worriedly.
"if you had to spend most of your days asleep, you'd be a little bit Cranky as well." Alex said shaking his head, "I usually let him roam at night, he'll wander or run or do an exercise routine for about an hour then I'll take back over, he didn't get to do it last night." Alex said sighing.
"because of the deal you two have?" Madeline asked curiously.
Alex nodded.
"wait, you have an exercise routine?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"You think we only do push-ups?" alex asked chuckling.
He proceeded to whistle, the scepter then floated upwards and turned sideways making a bar in the air. Alex leaped up to grab it and began doing chin-ups.
"Of course, that's something you do." Ellie said, rolling her eyes.
"well, still important to keep in shape, isn't it?" Alex asked curiously.
"I mean, I can't exactly say no." Ellie said, "as a soldier, even in a former sense I still find it best to keep in shape."
"former?" Ozma asked curiously, "I didn't think you resigned from your sister's army?" she added.
"I haven't, not officially, but at some point, I'll have to." Ellie said sighing.
"Luckily, that's still a long way off." Dorothy said looking at her, "considering how things work in Oz, it could be decades if not centuries."
"true." Ellie said looking up at alex, "how many of those do you usually do before taking another break?" she asks.
"usually a hundred" Alex says stopping and pulling the scepter down.
"so how did you know that kind of thing would work?" Donna asked curiously.
"it's capable of supporting mine and Dorothy's weight combined so one day I asked if it could hold me up." Alex said shrugging, "and it's been our routine for exercise whenever I have downtime."
"I shouldn't be surprised by this" Ellie says rubbing her temples, "but for some reason I am."
"Zeb, you've become awfully quiet again." Donna pointed out.
This caused everyone, including dorothy and alex to look at him. He was staring out the window, daydreaming. He did eventually notice that he was once again the center of attention in the classroom. He went completely red in the face.
"something, or someone on your mind again, Zeb?" Ellie asked curiously.
"Someone?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Signs are all there, he's daydreaming, question is who about." Mr. Pryce said.
"well, it's not our business to pry" Dorothy said firmly.
"true." Donna said sighing.
"Besides, it's not like I haven't been listening, I just haven't been paying attention" Zeb said chuckling.
"Contradiction of terms there." Aislynn said giggling.
"you guys have been talking about activities and Alex's exercise routine for when he's got a little downtime." Zeb said looking at her.
"Contradiction in terms, but still accurate…" Aislynn trailed off, "interesting."
"I think auntie em calls it, Selective listening, you can be miles off and still be listening." Dorothy giggled.
"Anyways, moving rapidly along." Donna said attempting to change the subject, "Baking, Carpentry, or both?"
"my money would be on both." Betsy said, "because then if one doesn't work out, you have something to fall back on." She says.
"Smart." Mr. Pryce said with a chuckle.
"Any idea what you're going to do, Ellie?" Alex asked curiously.
"I'm not sure, either work on transport spells, because I'm still very bad at getting the height right." She says, "or embroidery because Mother has been doing that a lot recently so it's not like I don't have a baseline to go by."
"everyone does embroidery or needlework at some point in their lives, decent way to pass the time and it's a fairly decent hobby." Ozma says smiling, "your sister occasionally does it."
"I know, she's been working on a piece for the last couple of years, she doesn't really allow herself much time to work on it." Ellie said giggling, "I give it six months before she starts cheating and using magic."
"who's to say she hasn't already?" Trot asked curiously, "have you ever looked in on her to see when she's doing it?"
"well, no." Ellie trailed off at this, "I don't have much of an argument for this, for all I know she could have used magic at any given point."
"I mean, if you use magic, less likely to prick yourself, I suppose." Zeb said shrugging.
"Pricking is an occupational hazard for anyone who can sew." Alex said looking at him, "But it feels like a waste of magic to use it for embroidery, the Seamstress's work aside." He added.
"It would be small, negligible, wouldn't even put a dent into the energy dorothy has stored up." Madeline said listing those points off, counting on her fingers.
"you know, that is something we should probably address at some point, are there effects to having energy built up in me like this?" she asked curiously.
"Nothing prolonged that I'm aware of." Madeline said shrugging, "apart from your hair color changing."
"I mean apart from that." She said taking a lock in hand and looking it over.
"Again, not that I'm aware of." Madeline said with another shrug.
"you know, you guys are really good at drawing yourselves away from worrying about your tests that start Wednesday." Mr. Pryce said looking up from the schoolwork.
"it's better than talking about it in general." Alex said, "there's a lot all of us would rather do than standardized testing."
"like, literally anything else in the world?" Mr. Pryce said with a chuckle, "like every other person in the world?"
"I don't know, I happen to like standardized testing." Aislynn said giggling, "she's says to no one's surprise" she mumbled.
"Well, maybe not, ANYTHING else, but there is definitely a list." Dorothy said giggling.
"I assume saving Oz for Nth time is somewhere close to the bottom?" Ozma asked giggling.
"I mean, we are the land's official protectors." Alex says, "so it's not like it's out of the question."
"I don't think it was ever even IN question." Madeline said, "just like with the Imps, something will inevitably turn up eventually to be the fly in the ointment."
"true." All of them nodded in agreement.
"It's a matter of when, the who, why and how will sort themselves out as time goes on." Madeline sighs, "not the best thought in the world, but at the end of the day, it's true."
"Sad, but definitely true." Ozma sighed nodding "balancing act, like with The Jester, Jinjur, Evanora, and as the Hatter pointed out, the imps" Ozma said counting them off on her fingers.
"and that's only a shortlist" Dorothy said sighing.
"Depressing thought, that something will, as Mads put it, turn up to be the fly in the ointment." Alex sighed leaning back in a chair.
"well, if it depresses you, then why not change the subject?" Mr. Pryce asked curiously.
"Fair." They all said.
"So, what do you think My sister is up to?" Ellie asks closing her eyes.
"worrying herself silly, maybe working on aforementioned embroidery." Alex says looking at her.
"by the looks of it, she's doing some paperwork, I've seen these forms before" she says, "important things needed for overseeing our domain."
"Truth be told, the land of the south does seem to get on rather well even without Glinda overseeing it one percent of the time, doesn't it?" Ozma asked curiously.
"never too many complaints." Ellie says sounding rather uneasy.
For some reason, this statement didn't sit well with Alex or Dorothy either. There was something about it. Something that didn't feel right. But they couldn't put their fingers on it. The line of thought however was broken by Mr. Alistair coming in, looking more jittery than usual.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you're all still here" he says.
"I mean, its us, if one of us doesn't go." Alex says, "most of us don't."
"and if one of us does, it's usually me, to the library." Aislynn says her nose in a book "where everyone else is."
"which means staying here as its quieter" Ellie says.
"right." Aislynn nods not looking up.
"Anyways" Mr. Alistair said nervously, before alex cut him off.
"Superintendent Mackintosh is proctoring the exams now?" alex asked curiously.
Mr. Alistair looked at his nephew for a moment, he squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head a moment to clear it.
"yes." He said trailing off nervously. "to be more specific, he will be proctoring for the advanced class." He said.
"well, that's pretty important news." Mr. Pryce said, "so who will I be proctoring?" he asks curiously.
"you, will actually not be proctoring, and consider yourself lucky on that, you will be in the library to receive students who finish early" Mr. Alistair replied.
"So, I get the more fun job" he says
"yep, you, me, and the librarian." Mr. Alistair replied wiping his brow with a handkerchief.
"so, you're telling us now?" Aislynn asked curiously "with half the class missing?"
"well, he had hoped the classroom would be functionally empty." Madeline said looking at him, "you know, save for Mr. Pryce."
"yea, I would have preferred that Mr. Pryce had been alone, but you guys are capable of keeping a secret."
"until everyone gets back, and Mr. Pryce announces it." Alex says tipping back in his chair.
He tilted back far for a moment, then over balanced. There was a loud crash and alex found himself tumbling to the floor, managing only just to flip backwards off the chair. Dorothy couldn't help but giggle at this before going to help him up. The scepter was pinging rapidly as though it were laughing again.
Alex got to his feet and removed his jacket, dusting it off before putting it back on.
"Thanks kitten." He said as he righted the chair.
"not even a student and you're still learning." She said giggling
"Yeah, like how far back I can tilt without over balancing." He said straightening his cuffs.
Ozma took out her little silver wand and cast a spell over him.
"well, no damage done." She said putting it away just as quickly.
Meanwhile back in the palace.
Glinda was sitting in her room, filling out her paperwork. Elphaba and Nessa were both at the chambers. She had looked through ellie's eyes for a moment and had heard something that made her blood run cold a moment.
"You didn't tell her." Came the familiar voice of the mysterious girl.
Glinda looked up.
"I was going to the next time we talked, mom and dad know about it." She said looking at her for a moment, then returned to her paperwork.
"she's working it out on her own now." The girl said walking over, her shoes clacking loudly against the floor as she walked.
Glinda said nothing, she simply closed her eyes and sighed.
"the ship is listing Glinda, that crack in the hull you created is only going to get wider." She said leaning against the desk, "did it ever occur to you when you made the deal, the effect it would have on your sister?" she asked as she brushed away the paperwork.
Glinda said nothing, the girl just snorted and went through the paperwork, quickly finding what she was looking for.
"in exchange for changing." She says thumbing towards the door behind her "their history, so the truth was found out about what happened, exonerating them, the southern and northern domains would switch." She read, sliding it back onto the desk.
"which makes me good witch of the south and Locasta, witch of the north." She says.
"as it should have been from the start, but because everyone who has had extended interactions with you, is in the eye of this little time storm" she says "and they all remember it both ways."
"Just who's side are you on?" Glinda asked curiously.
"believe it or not, yours, all of yours." She says "you know what's coming Glinda, you know you can't stop it, even though you tried." She says.
"I haven't tried to change anything." Glinda said to her.
"you did, though, and the funny thing is, until I thought about it." The girl said looking at her "I didn't even realize it." She says taking out the diary and scratching something out.
"what are you talking about?" Glinda asked worriedly, "how could I have tried to change the future, you come from the future that is a result of my actions."
"Well, not just yours, all of ours." She says "all of our actions create ripples, yours, mine, theirs" she says referring to the crystal ball.
"no one is entirely blameless." Glinda sighed.
"a hard truth." The girl said smirking "imagine how it feels for me." She adds.
"you?" Glinda asked sounding rather surprised.
"you'll forget most of this meeting, so take into consideration for a moment." The girl said, "the affect it has on me, going back, seeing things as they once were, knowing what's coming, knowing I cant change it no matter what I do, and to top it all off, I have to see them before it all." She says.
Glinda just stared at her for a moment. This thought honestly hadn't occurred to her, at all. She had felt nothing but disdain towards her. Despite knowing who she was. Glinda began second guessing herself as the girl started to smirk again. had she really tried to change the future without knowing it? She took several more, deep breaths and took a moment to regain whatever composure she had lost. The matter wasn't easy to think about, with this girl it never had been. The first time she had met her, she had intervened and stopped her from using the Grimmerie in place of her aunt, the act of which destroyed her and caused Glinda to become leader of her domain. Thanks to making the deal with father time, that domain was now the south. The girl knew all about it, knew to hold Glinda back, to stop her, to give her a taste of what was coming. And she realized what she had done.
"you knew." She said looking at the girl. "you knew this entire time, all my actions were already accounted for."
She smirked back again and giggled, taking a moment to look in a mirror and fix her hair to make it neater.
"I gave you that taste of the future, to show you that what will eventually come is inevitable, like I said." She smiled "you cant stop it."
"and you can't either, without negating your own existence." Glinda sighed.
The girl nodded and sighed, scratching another thing out, snapping the book shut and pocketing it again. She sighed and turned her back to Glinda.
"some of them think you're a little harsh and overprotective still, yet you aren't unpersuadable." She says walking towards the door, "you let them be happy, even though you know what's coming and that they're in for a tough time later down the road, and why is that?" she asked rhetorically, "simple, because they'll be in for a tough time later down the road.
She turned to Glinda, and their eyes met. For the second time, Glinda saw the pain, frustration and the hardship, but the same fierce loyalty that was always there. She said nothing, the girl smiled, turned, and walked out the door, vanishing as she stepped over the threshold. Glinda just stared at the now empty doorway for a moment, then, grabbing all her papers back up, she reorganized them into a neat stack. She took one last deep breath, put the papers in a drawer, and left her room to join the others in the chambers.
Okay, yea, this was another long one. I wanted to break it up but the only place where it would really flow well was at this last scene shift.