[Part 1]

Chapter 3: Misunderstanding

-The Yellow brick road; Sunflower Pass-

*~Oscar~*

They had woken three hours after sunrise and were once again on their way to the Emerald City. It had not been that long since they had fallen into a comfortable silence before Oz decided to learn a bit more about his future kingdom.

"So is there anything specific that I need to know about being king? Any rules or restrictions?"

"My sister would be better suited to answer you, but I do know a few. First, a king must rule justly."

He nodded, going along with the idealistic fairytale prince rule.

"Second, a king must annually pay his respects to the Ancient Faeries."

"Fairies?"

Like those tiny river fairies with the pointy teeth? Yeah, how about no?

"The Ancient Faeries created Oz, but they disappeared some time ago. Legend has it that their queen left behind several of her followers and many believe that Queen Lurline was a Faerie, but no one has seen her for decades."

Decades, huh? So they're not around anymore?

"And what happens if one breaks this rule?"

Theodora gave a half shrug. "I don't know, the previous king always paid his respects."

Well, that's ominous. "I'll keep that in mind."

"The last rule I know is rather ridiculous and I'm not all that sure why it's in place, but it basically prohibits the king and his court from sleeping with the Royal Advisor."

He turned to Theodora curiously, wondering what could be the story behind such a specific rule. "You find it ridiculous?"

"Well of course. I mean, what's wrong with sleeping with someone? I've slept with my sister countless times!"

She's slept with... Perhaps he's misunderstanding the situation. Yes, that has to be it. "You've slept with your sister?" Was his voice always that tight? "As in, shared a bed?"

"Yes?"

Why does she look so confused about all this? Wasn't she saying last night how she didn't have any admirers and how excited she was for her sister to meet him? Unless this is what she meant by him not knowing much about witches? Or could it be that this land of Oz was very open in regards to polyamorous relationships?

"Ah, is that a common practice amongst witches?"

"I'm not sure. There aren't that many of us."

Oh, how convenient. "But you and your sister are close?"

"Why wouldn't we be?"

She sounded defensive. Clearly he crossed some sort of line here. "No, I didn't mean to imply that you weren't," he amended quickly, "clearly you love each other very much," this is so awkward, "and that's great, and uh," what is he supposed to say? "I'm very happy for you?"

She looked at him in concern, her brows creasing together. "Is something wrong?"

There are so many things wrong with this entire conversation.

"Tell me more about the Emerald City."

"It's incredible."

She took his hand, half skipping down the road.

She's adorable and when she acts like this he can almost forget her earlier declaration. She's so child-like and naive. He almost feels bad for stringing her along like this.

"Yeah," he agreed, smiling as he thought of his new role. 'The wizard' certainly had a better ring to it than 'the magician'. And 'king' sounded even better.

"Here I thought I'd live a lonely life and then you showed up. Not only are you the Wizard, but you're the person I belong with."

She's smiling so brightly at him.

Okay, this is getting a little out of hand. He needs to set the record straight quickly – and preferably without triggering that uncontrollable fiery temper she mentioned.

"Well, we sure get along and-"

Oh boy.

"And?"

Were her eyes always so doe-like?

"-and," (Why did she have to look so hopeful?), "like you said. We belong together."

If this wicked witch doesn't kill him, her sister very well might.

"Oh, I was hoping you would say that."

What has he gotten himself into?

-Emerald City-

*~Evanora~*

She had started awake in the hours of pre-dawn unable to return to sleep and so – to prevent drawing the eye of early risers and the nocturnal – had instead set about sneaking through the secret passages of Emerald City in order to come and go as she pleased.

If news spread that the prisoners in the dungeon received a 'visitor' (who unfortunately received no information in regards to the location of Glinda's hidden castle), well, the royal advisor will simply have to look into the fact of why there were prisoners in the first place.

With her scrying crystal shattered, Evanora was forced to rely on the one left behind by Queen Lurline which in turn meant taking up the magician's nook in the throne room. Aside from its openness and the fact that anyone could walk in on her at any given moment, what bothered her most about the location was the fact that it had typically been occupied by Glinda and Andahan.

Every morning when she entered the throne room to report to the king, they would be there, hidden away by the curtains and exchanging tales told by their mothers while Glinda showed off her newest parlour trick to him.

Even now, years since its last occupation, Evanora can still feel their lingering presence as though the world took delight in taunting her.

It did not remove from necessity of course.

Given the early hour and the fact that she had nothing else to entertain herself with (Why was it she never had work when she had time for it?), she went about setting up a make-shift magic workstation, even going so far as to scour her chambers for the materials she had leftover from her time as a student of the king.

She had just finished arranging the last of the magical elements in her inventory when the doors to the throne room opened to reveal the sight of a near panic-stricken servant.

On that note, her workday officially began.

Despite the (mild) chaos of the day, she did find a moment to instruct Knuck to prepare a carriage and had caught the captain during training hours and secured an escort for her sister.

When reviewing her daily schedule she discovered that somehow (even she had no understanding of her methods) she had so few responsibilities left to be seen to she might as well have been given the day off.

That left her with the perplexing question of how to amuse herself in broad daylight under the watchful eyes of her guards and the entirety of Emerald City.

Quite uninvitingly, it also drove home the fact that she hadn't left the palace for anything short of obligation since... Never mind, she would rather not think of it.

This did give her an opportunity to check on her sister's progress and as it was a practical thing to do it also became the first.

It felt as odd as it did that morning – standing in the magician's nook – but despite her stiffness it wasn't too difficult to coax the overly sized crystal ball to answer her request. (The servants throwing glances her way made her uneasy, so she had them complete their chores elsewhere and privately had their names written down on a list of people to investigate.)

"It's the Emerald City. Just down this hill, along the yellow brick road."

"Wow."

"It will all be yours now."

"It's a good thing green is my favourite colour."

"Haha. Oh, you are going to make the best king Oz has ever known."

"Thank you."

"And I will be so proud to be your queen."

She willed herself against any visible reactions, well aware of the guards watching her, but even so she could not help but marvel at her sister's naivety. Hero worship was one thing, yet to all but announce oneself betrothed?

Then she paused, an uncomfortable thought coming to her.

Could it be that Theodora secretly covets the throne?

Surely not; she has never once displayed any such aspirations in the past. But then if the royal advisor can forsake her vows to kill the king, what is to stop her sister from making an attempt at the crown?

Had their altercation motivated Theodora into leaving to search for the wizard so that she may dispose of the throne's guardian?

"My queen?"

"We'll spend a lifetime together. But right now, there's thousands of people in Oz waiting to witness your miracles."

"My lady?"

With her focus broken, Queen Lurline's crystal clouded and due to her unfamiliarity with it, Evanora failed to re-summon its powers.

"My lady, you're very pale."

Finally turning her attention to the guard that had disrupted her, she prepared to dismiss the woman with a warning against interrupting her again, but before she could a wave of dizziness crashed into her, nearly sending her stumbling back. She gripped the edges of the table, confused by her sudden bout of light-headedness.

What had brought this about? She felt fine just moments ago.

"Careful!"

She stepped away from the guard, refusing to be assisted. "Has the herald departed?"

The woman's concern meant nothing to her. "Y-yes, more than three hours ago, milady."

"Good." She dismissed her and started the trek back to her workroom when another interruption made itself known, this time in the form of a Munchkin servant standing directly in her path by blocking the doorway.

"My lady, the cook wishes to know if you intend to eat this morning."

Ah, yes. Breakfast was to be served some time ago. She had missed it in her haste to make preparations for her sister's return.

Come to think of it, she hadn't eaten yesterday either.

Well. That explains the faintness.

"I shall dine in my study, preferably something light, and instruct the kitchen to have a proper meal prepared in time for my sister's arrival."

"Of course, my lady."

From today on, the ninth of every month will be the scheduled date for monthly updates, but that's only for the scheduled ones. As I said multiple updates are possible, but those will be at random so keep an eye out!

Thanks for reading!

L.L.