Disclaimer, you know.
The next morning, in the emerald city, after breakfast, Madeline, jack, ellie, and Brianna found themselves at the ice cream parlor.
"did I tell you guys about Alex's father?" Madeline asked.
"Glinda told me." Ellie said.
"I know, it's a tragedy, isn't it?" jack asked.
"it truly is, man of his age, starting to go blind like that." Madeline replied.
"Mr. teak is going blind?" Brianna asked in shock.
"yes, and this afternoon, after lunch I imagine, dorothy, and alex are bringing Mr. teak here to see if there's anything Glinda can do about it." Madeline said.
"but we all know you can't fix blindness, or really any age-related issues with magic." Brianna said
"of course, we know that, and I'm sure dorothy has at least a little understanding of it, I mean you can slow the affects depending on how far gone the eyesight is but all in all it really can't be fixed." Madeline said definitively.
"hey ellie, can you check the thermometer outside, I've got a shipment of fudge coming in from candy county today and I need to set the freezer to account for the heatwave this week." Brianna said.
Ellie nodded and got up, walking over to the door, and opening it, sticking her head out she looked at the thermometer.
"It's already almost 90." She said turning back to look at her.
"good grief, already?" Brianna asked running over and looking at the thermometer.
"seems so." Ellie said.
"I hear marshal mallow has been keeping himself in his bedroom so he doesn't start melting, I don't think I've seen Oz go through a heatwave like this before." Ellie said walking back over to the table.
"hopefully the people from candy county will be smart and call for some munchkins to deliver the fudge, even with Tugg's assistance they'd never make it over the munchkin river without sticking to the deck, but every time I've been there, they've always wanted to do it themselves." Madeline said.
"well, the walking lollipops seem to get around nice enough." Brianna said.
"hmm, fair point." Madeline said.
Brianna smiled and then went to her back room. Returning a few minutes later she sighed and sat down.
"can't wait for my new assistant to start today, it'll be nice to have an extra hand." Brianna said
"Is he nice?" Madeline asked.
"yes, actually he's very nice and seems like he'll be a good fit." Brianna said.
"oh, well, that's good, anyways, this was a nice break, and you know, after thinking about it, perhaps alex is right, dorothy needs a real vacation, we should plan something for her." Madeline said taking off her hat and pulling a pocket watch from it.
"Glinda and I have been talking to Ozma about that, any suggestions for a location?" Ellie asked.
"the hot springs and sauna in the upper portion of Winkie country." Jack said.
"oh, yes, Glinda took us all there once for leave, beautiful place, inside the yellow mountains, right?" Brianna asked
"That's the place, anyways, come on jack." Madeline said putting her hat on and leaving the shop.
"see you all at lunch." Jack said following quickly after her.
However, in the city, Glinda and Ozma were going through all the books in Glinda's small library.
"anything useful?" Ozma asked.
"nothing, as I expected, there's nothing, nothing we can do at least, there is an alternative, but I'd rather not risk it." Glinda said.
"what alternatives are there, might I ask?" Ozma asked curiously.
"we'll cross that bridge when and if we come to it." Glinda said with a shudder.
"couldn't we try appealing to lady Cassandra?" Ozma asked.
"I sent a dove to mount munch this morning, if anyone knows a solution it's her, but I can't get my hopes up." Glinda said.
"I'm just worried about alex, I mean, you saw him in the crystal ball last night, pacing around his room, worrying." Ozma said.
"I know." Glinda said sighing.
However, as they continued looking through, both Glinda and Ozma knew that it was hopeless. While her small library was rarely touched, even by her, but she was sure at one point she had seen something about eyesight, but she wasn't sure if the book was still here or if she had exchanged it for a book in her personal library back at her castle. When it was near lunchtime both she and Ozma stopped looking.
"well, at least we tried." Ozma said.
"yes, I know I read something pertaining to eyesight, but I can't remember which book it was in." Glinda said with a sigh.
"I was always under the impression that you couldn't solve things like blindness with magic, or is that just a rumor that magic users spread around?" Ozma asked
"to my current knowledge, at least in any memory, there isn't anything that can be done about blindness, at least not completely curing it, but I remember once reading that you can slow down the affects, luckily Mr. Teak still has moments where he can see, if I can find the book, or get lady Cassandra's advice and or assistance, we might be able to delay the affects, and I really hope we can without having to go to the alternative I mentioned earlier." Glinda said shutting the book in front of her.
"what about the Grimmerie?" Ozma asked.
"the only spell out of the book that I can actually read is that protection spell, besides the book doesn't even technically belong to me, I can't do anything with it, I'm just its keeper." Glinda said.
"wait, what?" Ozma asked
"yes, I know, it's confusing, anyways you should run along, it's almost time for lunch." Glinda said looking at the clock on the far side of her room.
Ozma nodded and got up, walking out of the room. Glinda sighed, she really hoped they would find something.
