Disclaimer, you know.
By the end of the week, dorothy, alex, and Harold had a bunch of new experiences to talk about and keep under their belts. When it came time for the mayor to take down the barriers at the borders, dorothy and alex waited. While they waited, they watched from the windows as the sky was consistently lit up by the spells being broken.
"well, it was nice getting to know you two, and it was nice to be in presence of royalty." Helen said sitting down on her suitcase.
"it was nice to get to meet you and Harold, maybe one day you can visit us in the emerald city." Dorothy said.
"if I go to emerald city, it will be either alone, or with my husband if we bring Harold along." Helen said.
"why?" dorothy asked.
"because, trying to travel with Harold, well, you may as well wrestle with a jackdaw." Helen said.
"he isn't much of a traveler, is he?" alex asked.
"gets rather restless on long journeys, which is why I rarely take him anywhere without my husband." Helen said.
At that moment, Hawkeye came down from the tower.
"all the barriers are down ma'am, where's Harold?" Hawkeye asked.
"already outside." The mayor said coming up the stairs.
"Oh, well at least he's ready this time." Hawkeye said.
"I imagine you two will be leaving soon?" The mayor asked turning to dorothy and alex.
"'fraid so, I'm a tad worried about my pets, they tend to start out fine when I'm away, that normally lasts for about a day most of the time, then they start to sulk." Dorothy said.
"well, it was nice having you two around, hopefully we'll meet again sometime." He said extending a hand.
"oh, I'm sure we will." Dorothy said shaking his hand.
Alex followed suit, and at that moment, their suitcases disappeared and they noticed that the scepter was glowing.
"looks like we're wanted somewhere, well, sorry to dash." Alex said shifting his toolbox from over his shoulder to under his arm.
"it was a pleasure playing host to you two." The Mayor and Helen replied.
"thank you for having us." Dorothy said walking over to the scepter.
She then took Alex's free hand in her own and grabbed onto the scepter. at that moment, they felt themselves lurch forward. The journey was shorter this time though. As it was easier and faster to travel between places in Oz than it was to travel between the two worlds. And in an instant, they found themselves in Glinda's bedroom in the city.
"ah, I was wondering when you two were going to notice the scepter, I sent that spell half an hour ago." Glinda said with her face hidden behind a book.
"Glinda, with respect, we aren't ones to just dash, we do our part before leaving a place." Alex said.
"oh, I know, But Ozma wouldn't get off my back until I sent the spell." Glinda said.
"she's that anxious to have me around?" Dorothy asked.
"well, with respect, it's rather dull here without you around, when I left the chambers no less than ten minutes ago, everyone was loafing about." Glinda said closing her eyes.
"and what are they doing now?" alex asked.
"well, from Ellie's perspective, still loafing about." Glinda said.
"Glinda, have you seen Terrance? Oh, dorothy, I didn't know you were back already." Alyssa said walking into the room.
"we just got here." alex said.
"Terrance is in the chambers, with everyone else, being lazy and loafing about." Glinda said
"seems to be a lot of that being done today, oh, dorothy can I ask a favor of you?" Alyssa asked.
"go ahead." Dorothy replied.
"would it be too much to ask of you to design me a dress for my wedding, I didn't like the designs Locasta and Glinda presented." Alyssa said.
"Alyssa, it would be my pleasure, is there anything you favor in particular?" dorothy asked.
"not too simple, but not too elegant either, nothing flashy either." Alyssa said.
"I'll see what I can come up with later, but first, I think we should go get everyone up and moving." Dorothy said.
"I figured the hatter would have announced your presence by now." Alyssa said.
"actually, she's currently engaged in working on a hat." Glinda said opening her eyes.
"you know, I'm not even surprised." Alyssa said.
"Glinda, care to join us?" Alex asked.
Meanwhile in the chambers, however, everyone was lazily lying about. Ozma was slumped in an uncomfortable looking position on the throne. Both toto and pockets were dozing in a sunbeam. Ellie was in an awkward position with her bottom against the wall and legs in the air, and back against the floor. Betsy and trot were sitting on the floor lazily trying to play rock paper scissors. Terrance was just sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, staring at the ceiling. Aislynn was beginning to nod off with her head in scarecrow's lap. The others girls were lying on the floor in a circle. Tinman was oiling his joints and lion was already snoring. When the few of them that were, alert heard the sounds of footsteps they looked at the door before going back to what they were doing.
"you know, it's a beautiful day, you can hear birds chirping, bees buzzing." Ellie said.
"there's a nice calm, gentle breeze." Terrance said
"you can smell the flowers on that breeze." Brianna said sighing.
"I wonder if going out to the courtyard and making a flower chain would be worth the effort of getting up and picking the flowers?" Betsy asked.
"maybe." Trot said yawning.
"I think we should just be lazy today." Alison said.
"yea." The other girls said in agreement.
"ace, you still awake?" scarecrow asked.
"barely." She yawned.
"Terrance, where is Alyssa?" Chrissy asked.
"I think she was looking for you." Elena said
"I told her in I'd be in here, if she's somewhere else looking for me, there's a problem." Terrance said.
"or I just wasn't listening." Alyssa said sticking her head in
"oh, there you are Alyssa." Elena said.
"Brianna, shouldn't you be opening the ice cream parlor?" Alyssa asked.
"Mom is running it for me today, told me to take a day off for the first time in my life, so I'm in here, laying on the floor, in a circle with the rest of my colleagues." Brianna said.
At that moment both toto and pockets jumped up. Toto began barking which got everyone's attention.
"wonder what's got toto so excited?" ellie asked.
"could be that alex and I are back." Dorothy said walking in with alex.
Now this caught everyone's attention, but within what felt like a few seconds, dorothy was pulled into a crushing embrace by Ozma.
"oh dorothy, it's been so dull here without you." Ozma said releasing her allowing dorothy to breath
At that moment though toto and pockets ran over to dorothy. Dorothy smiled and picked the two of them up. Toto barked and licked dorothy on the face causing her to giggle.
"Well, is this what you guys do when I'm not around?" Dorothy asked.
"mostly, yes." Ellie said shifting her position a tad so that she could see dorothy.
"you know, there is a pool right down the hall, right?" dorothy asked.
"Yep, we all just felt like being lazy." Aislynn said.
"well, I can see that." Dorothy said.
"is there a reason for this general laziness?" Alex asked.
"not in particular." Terrance said.
Alyssa then giggled and walked over to Terrance.
"do you plan on just sitting here all day?" Alyssa asked.
"dunno, haven't thought about it." Terrance said.
At that moment, a carrier dove flew in through the open window and landed on Dorothy's shoulder.
"it's for you." The dove said
Dorothy took the message from the dove and opened it.
"who's it from?" Alex asked.
"Rose, she says I should look at Winkie country in a crystal ball or something." Dorothy said
"oh, yea, wiser has been overseeing the restoration of Winkie country, back to what it was before the witch took power." Ozma said.
Dorothy smiled and walked over to the crystal ball. Ozma waved her hand over it and it lit up.
"show me Winkie country." Ozma said.
Immediately the crystal showed the image of a now beautiful place. Where once only grew weeds and dead trees, was now covered in beautiful flowers and fruit bearing trees. The sky was clear and no longer dark and stormy. The people of Winkie country looked happy, and indeed they were. Happier than they ever had been.
"through a mix of magic, and hard work, Winkie country has been restored." Glinda said walking into the room.
"who provided the magic?" Dorothy asked.
"rose and the jester, mostly, Locasta and I did our part, as did ellie and Alison." Glinda said.
Dorothy let out a giggle and smiled.
"looks like I'll have to head that way at some point." Dorothy said.
"well, you do own castle west, which you really should visit at some point." Madeline said walking into the room carrying a new hat.
"oh, there you are Maddie." Dorothy said.
"I would have been here sooner, but I was finishing this hat." Madeline said putting it on Dorothy's head.
"I like it." Alex said.
"Thanks." Madeline said.
