Disclaimer, you know.
When dorothy awoke, it was to the sound of quiet footsteps approaching in the grass. She looked up at alex who staring at the sky. He looked at her and smiled. she smiled back, feeling refreshed.
"morning." He said quietly.
Dorothy smiled and kissed him on the cheek before looking up and seeing Marshall mallow and the china princess coming towards them.
"well, well, it looks like they had a party without us." The China Princess said causing dorothy to giggle.
Dorothy and alex both got up and folded up the blanket that Glinda had given them. When they were done with that, alex went to bring the blanket inside. Dorothy smiled and then walked over to the china princess and Marshall mallow.
"you two just arrive?" dorothy asked.
"yes, did you all sleep out in this field?" the china princess asked.
"yes." Dorothy replied holding out her hand causing the scepter to fly to it.
"I see, well it was a beautiful clear night." The china princess said.
"yes, it was, very beautiful." Dorothy said.
"did you catch a glimpse of any shooting stars?" Marshall Mallow asked.
"No, but now I wish I had stayed awake longer I might have glimpsed one." Dorothy sighed.
"well, I'm sure you'll see one eventually." The china princess said.
"oh, China Princess, Marshall Mallow, you've returned, how was candy county and china country?" Came the sleepy voice of Ozma.
"It was delightful your majesty, thank you." The China princess said.
Dorothy turned and saw everyone waking up. However, everyone jumped as lion let out a roar.
"jeez, Lion, was that necessary?" Madeline asked.
"sorry." He said.
"hey, where are Tin Man, and Scarecrow?" Wendell asked.
"Oh, tin man is wandering around the palace, and Scarecrow and Ace are in the library." alex said walking over.
"you know, I'm not surprised." Dorothy said sighing.
"well, I'll go start on breakfast, then I have to go open the ice cream parlor." Brianna said stretching and running inside.
"wait, why is tin man wandering the palace?" Betsy asked.
"because his joints stiffen if he stays still too long, and it can get rather humid in the early hours of the morning, especially in the summer." The china princess said.
"oh." Was all Betsy could say.
"well, let's get all this stuff cleaned up, I'm sure my sister wants the lanterns safely away." Ellie said.
Madeline smiled and whipped out her wand. Waving it, immediately all the blankets that were still outside folded themselves up and flew into a neat pile.
"Neat." Trot and Betsy said.
Ellie smiled and walked to all four lanterns. Waving her hand over each lantern before picking them up. As they all walked inside dorothy was immediately greeted by her pets.
"good morning you two." Dorothy said picking them up.
"did you sleep well?" toto asked.
"yes, I did, thank you toto." Dorothy said
"was it scary?" Pockets asked.
"Not really, it was a beautiful night." Dorothy said as she started walking to catch up with the group.
"we had a good night, we actually discussed some things." Pockets said.
"like what?" dorothy asked curiously
"that would be telling." Toto said.
Dorothy giggled and set the two of them down. However, when they got to the chambers she was stopped by Glinda.
"dorothy, would you be able to, with the help of Madeline, take Ozma to the underground lake in her old branch of the community, and teach Ozma to swim in the shallower waters?" Glinda asked.
"um, has Maddie assured you the place is safe?" Dorothy asked.
"of course, it's safe, it's super safe." Madeline said coming out of the chambers.
"not very reassuring." Dorothy said.
"dorothy, I promise you, the place is safe, besides, just because it's no longer part of the community, doesn't mean people don't still live there." Madeline said.
"I thought they would left that place?" dorothy asked curiously.
"no, I visit there some times to maintain my little flower garden that I have there, and I'm still considered the leader of the place" Madeline said.
"so, will you do it?" Glinda asked.
"well, yes, of course." Dorothy said smiling.
"thank you." Glinda said going into the chambers.
"dorothy, you know you just got talked out of a relaxing day off, right?" Madeline asked.
"Maddie, when I have I ever been completely relaxed? Or had a day off for that matter?" Dorothy asked.
"without the use of calming tonic? Or a well-deserved vacation?" Madeline asked.
"helping family does not count as a vacation." Dorothy snapped.
"well, relaxed, maybe once, for like 10 minutes." Madeline said putting some thought into it.
"and I've never really had a day off, there's always something that has to be done." Dorothy said.
"okay, fair enough." Madeline said sighing.
"hey are you two going to stand out there all morning?" alex asked sticking his head out the door.
"yea, we're coming." Dorothy said sighing.
As the two of them walked into the chambers they found Ozma already sitting on the throne.
"hey jack tell Morris and Wendell to make sure the passage to the underground lake is opened, dorothy and I are taking Ozma there for swimming lessons." Madeline said.
"would you like them to check on your flowers as well?" Jack asked.
"no, I'll do that later." Madeline said.
Jack nodded and ran out of the chambers.
"How do you grow flowers underground anyways?" Ozma asked curiously.
"actually, Ozma has a good point, growing up on a farm, I've been raised with the knowledge that plants kinda need sunlight, and water, the latter I can forgive since it can be rather damp underground." Dorothy said.
"I'll show you both later, while we're there." Madeline said.
"I'm sure she has an interesting explanation." Glinda said.
"oh, it is, but like I said, it's a story for later." Madeline said.
"alex, what are you going to do while we're gone?" dorothy asked turning to him.
"well, I had been planning on teaching jack how to use a sword, but now I have to ask, is he going with you two?" Alex asked.
"no." Madeline said.
"alex you do know that not all swords are like yours, other swords, not made by nomes, hurt people they don't intend to." Ellie said.
"ellie, you don't need to talk to me like I'm my little sister, I know that, that's why I have two wooden ones." Alex said.
"when did you…never mind, I don't want to know." Dorothy said shaking her head.
"good, that saves me a long explanation." Alex said doing a fake sigh of relief.
"anyone have any preferences for breakfast? Otherwise I'm just going to cook what we have since the first of the summer shipments come in today." Brianna said sticking her head in.
"you know, I should really get some sort of magic door put in between here and the kitchen somewhere." Glinda said.
"is there even a spell for that?" Betsy asked.
"probably, but door spells have never really been that useful." Glinda said.
"yea, a spell that creates a door where you want it to, and where you want it to go can never truly be, useful, can it?" ellie asked.
"only useful until it wears off then you got to figure out what you're going to do with the leftover doors." Glinda said.
"so, no preferences?" Brianna asked.
"not really." Everyone said in unison.
Brianna nodded and ran back to the kitchen. Dorothy smiled and walked over to the thrones, sitting down on hers, immediately toto and pockets jumped on to her lap. Suddenly however a thought occurred to her. she looked at alex and shook her head, she would ask later, when they had time alone.
"it's going to be a beautiful day." Madeline said sticking her head out the window.
"okay, Wendell and Morris have returned to the underground, mads." Jack said walking into the chambers.
"thank you." Madeline said turning to him.
"okay, now that our things are squared away, how have things been in the city?" the china princess asked walking in followed by her husband.
"it's been, well, boring to say the least, dorothy and alex got back from the village yesterday." Ozma said.
"I see, hey did any of you see any of the shooting stars last night?" china princess asked.
"I saw one before going to sleep." Alex said
"lucky you, did you make a wish?" dorothy asked.
"of course, he did." Ellie said.
"well, yes." Alex said nodding.
"How nice." Glinda said.
"I think there'll be a few more sightings of them the summer." Marshall Mallow said
"I hope so, some people go their whole life without seeing one." Dorothy said.
"don't worry, there'll be a lot of clear nights here this summer" Madeline said slipping something into her pocket.
"how do you know that?" The china princess asked.
"I'll explain later." She said smiling.
"I hate it when people say that, they normally never get to explaining." Trot said.
"I know, infuriating, isn't it?" Madeline asked giggling.
