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After breakfast, which was pancakes and fruit, and a cheese plate for biter. Dorothy, Alex, Madeline, biter, Glinda, and Ozma all returned to the chambers. As dorothy went over to her own little throne next to Ozma's, Madeline vanished and returned moments later with the scepter and the slippers in hand. Handing them to dorothy she immediately left stating that she had some work to do. Glinda smiled and summoned a chair for alex to sit on and a stool on which he was to rest his leg. However, before any conversation could be started a guard came in.

"Your majesties, there is a jester and a Rose Garrison here to see you." The guard said.

"Send them in." Dorothy said before Ozma could get a word out.

The guard nodded and ran out of the room. Dorothy turned to Ozma who was smiling sweetly at her. a few moments later both the Jester and Rose were standing before them. The jester bowed low to the two of them.

"Please, stand up." Dorothy said with a slight bit of annoyance in her voice.

"so, still don't like formalities then?" The Jester asked.

"not at all, have you two been happy?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes, we have dorothy, Glinda sent word to us that you were back in Oz, which is actually quite a coincidence because, there are some things that you and the jester need to discuss." Rose said sighing.

Both dorothy and alex looked at each other from the across the room. The jester was the little brother of the wicked witches of the east and west. Cursed out of spite from his sister the witch of the west to be forever stuck in a jester's outfit, if he pulled one off another would take his place. it was believed, at least amongst them that she did it because of his love towards rose. Since she was cursed with age and ugliness by father time for her greed in stealing a magic hourglass that when used, could accelerate a person's life cycle without aging them and kill them. The hourglass was destroyed when dorothy encountered her.

The jester however at first, abandoned rose out of shame, and fear. When he would resurface after his sister's deaths he would try several times over to take over Oz, the last one ending in his destruction. And it was completely a miracle that a spell of forgiveness, cast from the hearts of everyone in Oz, brought him a second chance. Now he and Rose lived happily together at her house in the western domain. But it still led to the question, what could he want to talk about. taking his wand from his sleeve he flourished it and it conjured up a small tea table and chairs. Dorothy took a seat and the jester took the one across from her.

"well?" dorothy asked.

"Dorothy, first, you, now princess of Oz, I must ask, how does it feel to be in charge?" the jester asked smiling.

"it's going to take a bit more getting used to, but in time I think I should be acclimated." Dorothy replied.

"Good, now, it's funny that you should show up, since last night, Rose and I were talking about some things, and you came up in the conversation." The jester said.

"All right, Go on." Dorothy said.

"Well, technically speaking, I own the castles of the West, and my sister's mansion in the east, because magical law states that the property would go to next of kin." The jester said.

"you also own the winter house in the frozen lands of the western domain." Ozma said.

"Right, well, here's the thing, there are other rules as well, and you fall into them, as you knocked off both of my sisters, and you beat me in fair combat on two occasions, the third one, you actually killed me, and then I came back, and well, you know the rest." The jester said.

"Go on." Dorothy said.

"what he's trying to say, is that the properties belong to you now." Rose said placing a hand on his shoulders.

Dorothy sat there for a few moments. Her eyes widened, she then turned to Glinda who turned as to not meet her gaze. Then it clicked in her head.

"Glinda?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes?" Glinda replied.

"How long have you known, and when did you plan on telling me this?" Dorothy asked.

"honestly, I had forgotten about those rules until he mentioned them." Glinda said.

"Now, if I might cut into the conversation, say she doesn't want to take ownership of the castles in the west or east?" Alex asked.

"Well the winter house has servants, but unless the guards in the west are given new directions on what to do with the castle, it will just sort of sit there till it eventually falls over or something, and the house in the east, it's still presided over by the munchkins, who keep the place ship shape, I was there the other day, and that's actually how the conversation started." The jester said.

"But, don't you want them, I mean, the western castle served…" Was as far as dorothy got before the jester cut her off.

"the western castle was not a home, home is where you can go to find warmth and forgiveness, and people who care about you, that's why I returned to the winter castle, but, in honesty, I'd rather have the properties with the person who beat me, who became the person I trust, rather than them falling into disarray and ruin." The jester said.

Dorothy looked at Glinda, then at alex, who seemed as confused with the situation as she was, then to Ozma, who continued smiling sweetly at her. She sighed, she like the way the buildings in Oz looked, the castle, though intimidating, was beautiful, however she had no history with witch of the east's mansion. Dorothy then took a deep breath, sighed again, and realized this was up to her to work out. Then something just seemed to click in her again.

"you can use the winter house as you please, I'll take ownership of the western castle, and the eastern castle, which is what you used to call it, Glinda, can you send word to the guards in the western domain that they can continue their work on the castle? Lighten it up and what not?" dorothy asked finding herself running on some sort of autopilot.

"if that's what you wish." Glinda said.

"it is." Dorothy said.

"But what would you use a castle, or a mansion for that matter for?" Alex asked.

"A vacation home?" The jester suggested.

"Alex, I'd rather not see any of the beautiful architecture of Oz go to any sort of waste." Dorothy said turning to him.

"neither would I, I love it as well, but, wait a minute, I have another question for the jester." Alex said as something dawned on him.

"I think I know what the question is but go ahead." He said.

"I'm curious, does that come with the belongings of both witches, not counting the wand you're using?" alex asked.

"yes, but no one said you must use it, around half the magical artifacts of my sister's possessions, artifacts that once belonged to my parents, those were rarely touched and just really only serve to collect dust." The jester said.

"all right then." Alex said

The jester smiled and chuckled. Dorothy felt herself calm down a bit. She realized she was now the owner of, practically speaking, two estates.

"will you two be staying for lunch?" Glinda asked.

"oh, no, we already have plans, but thank you." The jester said.

"well, the offer is always open." Dorothy said.

The jester looked at dorothy and smiled. dorothy smiled back wondering if he had just cast a spell on her to make her say what she did.

"Glinda, send your carrier Doves with messages to the mayor of Munchkinland, and who ever happens to be presently in charge of Winkie Country, let them know." Dorothy said.

Glinda nodded and left the chambers. Dorothy then stood up and walked around the table. She then turned to alex who had an eyebrow arched.

"Jester, tell me, did you just cast a spell on her to make her say the things she did?" alex asked.

The jester chuckled.

"Now, why would I do such a thing?" The jester asked.

"you have a track record." Alex said getting up and grabbing his crutches.

"fair point, and no, I did not, personally I'm surprised she didn't just flip out and say no a hundred times over." The jester said.

"it's odd, it was like some sort of autopilot clicked on when I accepted ownership." Dorothy said.

"I think that was guilt talking." Biter suggested.

"Guilt?" Alex asked slowly making his way over.

"Honestly, I agree with biter, I mean, dorothy counts both the deaths of the witch of the east and the witch of the west as complete accidents." Ozma said.

"They were accidents, apart from the jester, and that was forced, I would never kill anyone on purpose, even Evanora's downfall was beyond most of my control, and honestly, now that I actually think about it, maybe it is guilt, maybe, subconsciously, I want to come to terms with the things I have done, who knows?" Dorothy said with a sigh

Alex sighed and made his way over to dorothy, placing a hand on her shoulder he squeezed it tightly.

"dorothy, you don't have to talk about it, or think about it if it bothers you so much." Alex said.

Dorothy shook her head and turned to the jester and rose.

"is there anything else either of you wanted to say?" Dorothy asked.

"Nothing comes to mind." The jester said.

"I think everything that's needed to be said has been said." Rose added.

"well, feel free to stick around if you two aren't too busy." Dorothy said.

"Actually, this is just our first stop on a bunch of errands we have to run today, this was the biggest one so we decided to start here." Rose said.

"well, I won't keep you any longer, it was nice seeing you two again, give lily, violet, and Thomas our regards." Dorothy said.

"Yes, your majesty." The jester said causing dorothy to glare at him.

However, dorothy sighed and excused herself from the chambers. It had been a while since she had thought about the accidental deaths of the witches of the east and west. Was it guilt that had made her accept ownership? She wasn't sure, she wasn't sure she wanted to know either.

So, dorothy is now the owner of the western castle, and the mansion of the witch of the east. Will she ever go to those places? Will she come to terms with her own past? Read on to find out.