Disclaimer, you know.
The next morning, after breakfast, dorothy, alex, and Ozma found themselves taking Tugg to Winkie country. Dorothy and Ozma had both gone back to their rooms and gotten jackets of before they had headed out. Alex however didn't seem to mind the cold so much but had also already been wearing a long-sleeved shirt.
"Tugg, what do they do with you during the winter? it's occurred to me that I've never asked that." Dorothy asked curiously.
"oh, Glinda places as spell over me that keeps me from getting damaged, because the river doesn't freeze over I mostly sit out here chatting with any of the animals that happen to come by, or taking the china princess and Marshall Mallow to the shore by China country." Tugg said
"that doesn't seem right." Ozma said.
"I agree, but what are we going to about it?" alex asked curiously.
"there's nothing you can do about it, where would I be placed otherwise?" Tugg asked with a chuckle.
"a warehouse of some sort?" Alex said.
"no, that wouldn't be right, I mean, Tugg is alive, I told you how we made him, didn't I alex?" dorothy asked.
"I've heard the story, but I think it was from your aunt and uncle, not from you." Alex thinking about it for a moment.
"well, anyways, once we get out of the tunnel we'll be in Winkie country." Tugg said.
"thank you Tugg, but we already know that." Dorothy said looking over into the water.
"I know, I'm just trying to keep some sort of conversation going." Tugg said chuckling.
Dorothy smiled and made a note to visit Tugg when she had a chance during the winter. She began to feel a tad guilty for basically ignoring him unless she needed him. It was wrong and she knew it, but she was also aware that she wasn't the only one who used Tugg. But still it made her feel a twinge of guilt. However, as they exited the tunnel they were met with the now beautiful sight of Winkie country.
"wow." Was all dorothy could manage to say
"wow indeed." Tugg said with a large smile.
"I've seen Winkie country at least a dozen times through the crystal ball since the restoration started, but this is much better than seeing it through a magical perspective." Ozma said.
"I've only seen it twice I think, once with dorothy, and another time through the crystal ball." Alex said looking around
The once eternally dark and gloomy sky, was now clear, clean, and blue like the rest of the skies over Oz, not a cloud was in sight. The once dead trees were now vibrant with color, some were even baring fruits that you could smell on the breeze. The grass was now a vibrant yellowish-green color, and filled with many, many perfumed flowers, many were yellow like a lot of things in Winkie country, but there were many more colors, some dorothy and alex didn't recognize as a shade of anything. However, the largest thing they noticed was Castle West, it was no longer the big, dark colored castle sitting on a hill, it was now made from what appeared to be white marble, but the three of them all assumed this wasn't likely what it was made from. However, once they had disembarked, the first thing they wanted to do, was find a spot for their little picnic lunch that they would be having later that day
"I don't think we should set up too close to the castle." Ozma said.
"Why not?" dorothy asked curiously.
"well, for starters, we're on a hill, secondly, here at the river allows us to admire these beautiful flowers later." Ozma replied.
"honestly, I'd have to agree with Ozma on this one." Alex said.
"thank you." Ozma said walking over to a tree and leaning against it.
Dorothy smiled and tightened her grip on the scepter before walking over to alex. taking his hand, the three of them then started for the castle.
"is this what it looked like before the witch took over?" Alex asked
"according to everything I've been told, yes" Ozma said
"I imagine it must be, and I imagine it'll take us a while to explore the entire castle" dorothy said.
"I'd say let's save that for another day, I'd rather not go through every room of that castle, I've been told its quite big." Ozma said
"it is, trust me, it is." Dorothy said turning to look at her
"okay, I believe you." Ozma said smiling
"I like the way the castle looks now, it was way too gloomy." Alex said as they approached the castle.
"even the door was remade, polished wood and everything" Dorothy said pushing it open.
Alex smiled and felt along the door, "wonderful craftsmanship." He muttered to himself as he did so.
"they went all out on the renovations, as far as I'm aware, actually, the jester and Rose are still working on it." Ozma said
"what could still need doing?" dorothy asked curiously as they walked in.
"honestly I don't know." Ozma said.
"wow." Alex said as they got inside.
Dorothy smiled and looked around. she was amazed with how much the place had changed.
It looked to them as If the entire castle was completely renovated, which it in fact had been. The main hall was still large, it would be an understatement to call it huge, but that was the only word dorothy and alex could think of to describe.
"so, how are we going to see a good majority of the castle?" Dorothy asked
"Split up and report back here before lunch?" alex suggested.
"is that a good idea? I mean, the only one of us who has had any real experience in this castle is dorothy, otherwise we're liable to get lost if we split up." Ozma said.
"hmm, good point, um, pick a direction and walk?" alex said
"can we start the closest tower?" Ozma asked curiously.
"why?" Dorothy and Alex curiously.
"because I want to see how far we can see from it." Ozma said smiling.
"hm, not a bad idea actually, dorothy you said the first time you were here, you were brought here by a group of flying monkeys." Alex said.
"don't remind me, I was terrified." Dorothy said shivering as she remembered that night.
"I can only imagine, come on let's go." Alex said taking her hand.
Dorothy smiled and the three of them started for the closest tower. The way to the one dorothy had been held in had not changed. And as they climbed the stairs, dorothy felt a chill go down her spine, one memory she didn't like, but one that didn't make her sad. However, as they got to the top of the tower room, they found the Jester, setting up a telescope, his back to the door. Rose was looking out the window, pointing at places for him to point the telescope at.
"Does the lens need cleaning?" Rose asked curiously.
"I just cleaned it." The jester said.
Alex looked at dorothy and smiled, Ozma smiled as well before letting out a sigh. this however attracted their attention.
"oh, your majesty, we didn't know when you guys were coming." Rose said.
"how would you know, Glinda sent a note didn't she?" Dorothy asked.
Rose nodded and pulled it from her pocket. She then walked over to the three and hugged dorothy tightly.
"nice to see you again Rose." Dorothy said returning the embrace.
"I honestly didn't expect Glinda to let Ozma out of the city." The Jester said.
"we didn't either." Alex said shrugging and walking over to the telescope.
"wanna look? there's a nice view of the village my sister once enslaved, actually I found this while we were renovating the root cellar." The Jester said smiling.
"there's a root cellar?" Ozma asked curiously
"very ill used, but yes, it's in the kitchens, now restored." The Jester said.
Dorothy smiled and walked over to the telescope with Rose and Ozma. Dorothy motioned for Ozma to look through the telescope.
"Actually, the view is why we came up here." Dorothy said smiling.
"Kid, it's your castle now, we're just repairing my sister's damages, you go where you like." The Jester said smiling and twirling his wand like a baton.
"Dorothy, the view from here is beautiful, you need to see for yourself." Ozma said happily.
Dorothy nodded and looked through the eyepiece. She was immediately met with a beautiful view of the entirety of Winkie country. In the distance there was a small town or village. She could see the people happily working, having finally rebuilt their lives. It was a good sight for her to see, it made her happy. The country seemed to have a yellow theme to it, just the munchkins recognized blue as their countries color.
"the castle, you might have noticed, has been made larger, but this tower was left in place." The Jester said.
"yea, we noticed, you must give us a tour sometime." Alex said.
"Hey, where are Lily and Violet?" dorothy asked looking up and turning to Rose.
"home, with their grandparents and Thomas, they were a bit of a distraction." Rose said sighing.
"getting restless?" Alex asked.
"yep, well, only Lily, but she's always restless, Violet just gets bored quite quickly." Rose replied.
"it really is a beautiful view, isn't it?" the jester asked trying to change the subject.
"it really is, its heartwarming to see that the people here have finally rebuilt their lives." Dorothy said smiling.
"it's thanks to you, you know, they hold a celebration a few days during the summer to celebrate the day you freed them from the witch." Rose said.
"the munchkins do the same thing, as do the Gillikins, and the Quadlings, for saving Oz on many occasions." The jester said.
"including from you?" Alex said as he looked through the telescope.
"not entirely sure anymore" the jester said with a shrug.
"dorothy, would you like me to show you to your castle's sleeping quarters?" Rose asked.
"sure, alex, Ozma you two want to come?" Dorothy asked.
"I say we all go, it'll give us a chance to show you some of the places in the castle" the jester suggested.
The three of them looked at each other and shrugged before nodding.
"alright, sure, let's do that." Dorothy said smiling
the five of them descended the steps, the first place they walked by once they were in the main hall was a library.
"your young charge will like this library." The jester said opening it.
"there aren't any books on magic in there are there?" alex asked.
"no, those are all in the study, which if you like, we'll keep it locked for you if you'd like." The jester said holding up a large ring of keys.
"I'll have to think about that, I might just let Maddie use it though." Dorothy said sighing as she looked into the library.
It was huge, larger than the emerald city library. at least three times the size, with shelves stretching all the way to the ceiling. The room seemed disproportioned to the rest of the area around. but dorothy and alex were used to the unusual and bizarre things they had seen over the past few years.
"I don't think we should let ace near this library, or scarecrow for that matter, they would try to read every single book." Alex said with a chuckle.
Dorothy couldn't help but let out a giggle at this remark. But decided it was best to continue the tour. The next room they passed by was the ballroom, which was empty save for a chandelier and a bunch of mirrors. Neither the jester or Rose had an explanation for this.
"it's just a ballroom, nothing fancy, nothing special, don't know why it turned out the way it did." The jester said shrugging.
The next place they passed by which seemed to be a long walk up a corridor they got to the kitchen, once again, it was small and simple. There were no remarks to be had about it, and it was the same for the dining hall. Taking a left and walking five minutes more they found the study, which was locked, and not long after they got to the Dorothy's bedroom.
"I think you're going to like this." Rose said smiling.
Dorothy arched an eyebrow and opened the door. Looking inside she found that the room was huge like every other room in the castle was. it was set up similarly to her room in emerald city, but it was completely yellow themed instead of green. The bed set up was at least twice the size of her one in emerald city, but dorothy and alex chalked this up to castle mainly being inhabited by adults, one of which dorothy was near positive never slept. There was a desk completely set up with materials for her to use for sketching and drawing. Walking into the room and being led over to the closet by Rose, she found that it was about the same size as her wardrobe in the city, with as much variety in outfits.
"so, what do you think?" asked curiously.
"I'm not sure what to say, but did you guys really set this up for my benefit?" dorothy asked curiously.
"well, for alex as well, he has a room not far from here, and it wasn't just us, many of the villagers not far from here were more than happy to make this place homier." Rose said with a smile.
Dorothy said nothing in response to this, she still wasn't too comfortable with people basically dropping everything for her. but she knew that it was something that she had to cope with.
"Wow, this room is big." Came Alex's voice as he came into the closet
"oh, good you've noticed." Dorothy said with a giggle.
"okay, the sarcasm isn't needed dear, I'm just voicing my observation." Alex said walking over to her.
"well, thank you for playing the peanut gallery." The jester said walking in with Ozma.
"pot calling the kettle black." Rose chuckling.
"hey, at least my observations mean something, like for example the magic mirror over there, it's on the wall crooked, again, I'm beginning to wonder if we should have made it a full size one." The jester said walking over to it and straightening it
"what's it do?" Alex asked curiously.
"it can show you anywhere in Oz, bit like a crystal ball, it also allows communication through the mirrors using a spell that I crafted myself." The jester said.
"but it's only useful in that extent?" He asked
"no, you can still use it as a mirror." The jester replied.
"oh good, we were all concerned on that point" Alex said rolling his eyes.
"anyways, come on there's still about three hours before it gets around lunch time, there much more to show around the castle." Rose said leading them all out of the closet and out of the room.
Meanwhile in emerald city
"they seem to be enjoying to themselves so far." Locasta said waving her hand over the crystal ball.
"I had a feeling they might, I gave Rose and the Jester the specifications for the rooms." Glinda said looking for something on her shelf.
"they're unnecessarily huge." Locasta said stretching a bit having been sat in front of the crystal ball for about an hour.
"yep, plenty of space for them to work with, even had them give alex a little work room." Glinda said giggling.
"wow, are you taking that energy potion again? I've never seen you this giddy, at least not since we were Cassandra's pupils." Locasta said rather concerned
"Oh, that's not why I'm giddy, but I'll leave you to ponder that on your own." Glinda said taking a small red notebook from her shelf.
Locasta arched an eyebrow and walked over to Glinda, placing a hand on her forehead. She didn't seem feverish or anything, she seemed normal, considering the recent events. But she was more bubbly and excited about something,
"Are you sure you're all right cousin dear?" Locasta asked.
"I'm fine, really, Locasta, don't you trust me?" Glinda asked.
"not completely, not since that time you slipped that fire pepper into my sandwich that one after noon, had heartburn for a month." Locasta said with a grunt as she clenched her stomach, remembering that incident.
"oh yes, right, was that where your grudge against me started?" Glinda asked curiously.
"no, it wasn't, that was after we originally parted ways, shortly after you became known as Glinda The Good." Locasta said grumbling.
"Oh." Was all Glinda could say
Back in Winkie country.
After a rather long walk around various rooms in the castle, the trio decided to invite the Jester and Rose to join them on their picnic, knowing Brianna packed more food than they would likely be able to eat alone. So, they went back down to the tree they had found at the bottom the hill and finally looked at the contents in the basket, which, like the rooms in the castle, was pointlessly bigger on the inside and filled with more than thirty sandwiches. Dorothy wondered if she should have brought Ellie's lunch box, which always had food in it when it was needed.
"so, who put the lunch together? That chef girl?" The jester asked.
"Brianna? Yes, but I always have to wonder how she finds the time to make sandwiches like this." Dorothy said taking a bite from a ham sandwich.
"I think she has a little bit of training from Alison, in magic I mean." Ozma said.
"Hmm, didn't think about that." Dorothy said.
"Hmph?" Alex said with his mouth full.
"alex were you even paying attention?" Rose asked.
"um, not really, I think I spaced out there for bit." Alex said swallowing.
"since when do you space out? You've never spaced out before." Dorothy asked rather surprised.
"honestly, I was looking at the bank across the river, there's something over there in the wood, at least, I'm pretty sure there is." Alex said taking out his reading glasses and putting them on.
"well, Winkie country does have some rather curious fauna to go along with its flora, but most of it is harmless." The Jester said.
"and the stuff that is dangerous?" Dorothy asked worriedly.
"typically comes out at night, but the castle is safeguarded from most of them." The Jester said.
"that's not really reassuring." Ozma said with a bit of a sigh.
"Nope, but the things you don't want to get bitten by can't get into the castle." Rose said.
"I can imagine why you wouldn't want to get bitten by the creatures around here." dorothy said.
"yea, flying monkeys, giant lizards, giant wolves, you name it, we probably have a version of it here." the jester said sighing.
"Giant wolves?" Alex asked curiously.
"Yep, quite vicious to, but they're only dangerous if you're bitten by one, since they are, you know, huge." The jester said
"would like to have a run in with one, I like wolves." Alex said.
"not with a giant one, they'll attack you the moment you get too close, and really, they don't care how close you are, if they see you as a threat, they'll attack." The Jester said sighing.
"you've seen it happen before?" Dorothy asked.
"my sister caused an attack on someone, lured them too close to a den while on her broom." The jester said shuddering
"torn to pieces?" Alex asked.
"nope, he survived, but was so traumatized that as far as I'm aware he hasn't been able to talk to anyone since." The jester said.
"though, they aren't that carnivorous, will only try to eat another creature if they are really, hungry, otherwise they eat some of the local flora, which I guess would make them omnivorous." Rose said thinking about it for a moment.
"Interesting." Was all alex said before
Dorothy smiled at him and looked across the bank, she immediately saw a large shadow duck back into the wooded area, it made her shiver to think about what it might have been. Since her first arrival in Oz, she had seen several amazing creatures, and met a lot of amazing people, but the only ones that really tried to attack her in some way, were under the yoke of someone with bad intentions. She didn't want to be attacked by something that was under its own free will. She moved a little closer to alex and curled up next to him wanting to stay close.
"basically put, if you want to stay alive in Winkie country, going into any wooded area without a decent training in magic, at least at night, is probably not in your best interest" The Jester said conjuring up a toothpick.
"there wasn't much wooded area left during my first time here, the wasn't much of anything left, but now." Dorothy said looking around
"no one really knows why everything around here started to wither once my sister took power over the country, there wasn't a village she left alone, just about every Winkie capable of work, was a slave to her bidding." The Jester said.
"not true, she never came near our little village." Rose said.
"Really?" The Jester asked curiously.
"Yes, I don't know why, she just seemed to ignore us, but we still lived in fear of her, she'd fly by once in a while, just to intimidate us I think, I don't know whether it was out of respect for our parents, who were good friends, or because she thought that there was no point in enslaving the entire country for some strange reason, and she did make it difficult to grow flowers there" Rose said.
"Interesting, I was under the impression that every settlement in Winkie country was under her yoke, she knew just about everything that went on the city." The Jester said.
"perhaps she wasn't as evil as you thought she was?" Alex suggested.
"oh, she was evil, believe me, I suffered under her for years, but if there was some remorse in that black pit of a heart…" the jester said trailing off.
Rose smiled and kissed him, causing Ozma to gag, and dorothy and alex the chuckle. However, as the afternoon flew by, and soon it was time for the three of them to return to emerald city. They parted with Rose and The Jester, promising to contact them the next time they were to head to Winkie country. And as Tugg headed east back to the city, dorothy looked back with a smile, knowing that, while she didn't like remembering what she did, she was glad that it lead to something good.
