Disclaimer, the usual.
The next morning, after breakfast, at Glinda's request, dorothy found herself with Madeline, working on her pet project for the wedding, and alex found himself in the ballroom once again, with Alyssa and Terrance teaching them how to dance.
"okay yes, good, positions, now try to mimic my steps." Alex said.
It felt awkward doing the steps alone, but he did rather well. And as he watched Alyssa and Terrance dancing the steps that he and dorothy did many times, he didn't feel the magic he felt between himself and dorothy.
"you know alex, I don't know what it is, but when you and dorothy dance, it's like there's magic forming between you two." Alyssa said smiling.
"so, you noticed as well?" alex asked curiously.
"several times, I think there really is something between you two, but another dead giveaway is that her hair is still getting brighter and brighter, like her mothers." Alyssa said.
"don't let her hear you say that, I worry about her so much, I worry one day the emotions are going to be more than she can handle, and it'll nearly kill her." Alex said sighing.
"she doesn't even look at her own face in the mirror unless she has too." Terrance said.
"so that's not a secret either?" alex asked.
"Madeline only tells us what she thinks we need to know." Alyssa said as she and Terrance finally broke from their positions.
"I'm assuming that isn't much then." Alex said with a chuckle.
"that about sums it up, and I'm fairly certain her 'pet project' for us, is matching hats." Alyssa said.
"would that come as a shock to anyone?" Alex asked sarcastically.
"not remotely, but I want to ask, do you feel it? something, I don't know what, but it feels like there's trouble on the winds, like something is coming." Alyssa asked curiously.
"I never stop having that feeling, sure it's been peaceful around Oz since dorothy got rid of Evanora, but I can't help but feeling things are always far from being over." Alex said sighing.
"never let your guard down then?" Terrance asked.
"I never do, because I know the moment any of us do so, something bad, or borderline stupid is bound to happen." Alex said.
"then I stand by what I've told Glinda, you would make a good soldier." Alyssa said walking over to him.
"thanks, but, you should know I have no intentions on joining either Glinda or Locasta's armies." Alex said.
"For your own sake or for Dorothy's?" they both asked in unison.
"both, I'd rather have a simple life as a carpenter, like the rest of my family before me." Alex said.
"Fair." Alyssa and Terrance said in unison.
"anyways, back to the point, back to practicing." He said.
Meanwhile in Madeline's room, the pet project was indeed matching hats for Alyssa and Terrance. They were simple in design and at the moment, a dull grey. Which dorothy thought was unlike her to do. She had spent a majority of her time there holding some ribbons for her, while the scepter floated idly in a corner, every now and again letting out some noise to relieve the monotony. Jack, Morris, and Wendell were nowhere to be found. And while dorothy found this odd, she didn't really question it.
"you know, when you and alex dance, there's a kind of magic that forms between you two, I don't really know how to describe it." Madeline said taking some of the ribbon from dorothy and tying it over the brim of one of the hats.
"I've felt it, and like you I can't really describe it either." Dorothy said as she watched.
"you know it's been making your hair a bit brighter, right?" Madeline asked curiously.
"yes, I know, everyone's noticed, ever since it got back down passed my ears I've noticed the color has shifted, I really am starting to become more and more like my mother." Dorothy said sighing.
"and that's a bad thing?" Madeline asked taking some more ribbon and tying it in a bow over the brim of the other hat.
"Maddie, you know I don't like thinking about them, but now every time I look in a mirror, I get reminded of her, of both of them, people say I look so much like my mother, and the more it's said, the truer it seems to become, and it hurts." She replied.
"Dorothy, you can't hide from the facts forever, you can't keep bottling back your emotions either, its damaging you and we all know it." Madeline said sighing.
"I know Maddie, and its damaging you as well, because you feel all of my pain." Dorothy said feeling a tiny bit guilty.
"dorothy, I know you tire of hearing this, but you have to let go, sooner or later, because the more you hold this back, the larger the torrent is going to be when the dam finally breaks." Madeline said sighing.
"when it happens, you'll know." Dorothy said sighing.
Madeline sighed once more and shook her head. Taking two fingers and pressing them against her lips, she conjured up a spell dorothy had never seen before. Touching her fingers to one of the hats, immediately the color changed to a shiny black with a white ribbon. She followed suit with the other and it became a similar color the only difference being that it had a yellow bow attached to the black ribbon. She then took a step back to admire her handywork.
"you know, for a first attempt at that spell, I think it went rather well." Madeline said.
"but, how did you do it without your wand?" dorothy asked turning and gesturing to her wand which was on the coffee table.
"residual magic, anyone who uses it or is around anyone who has used magic has at least a little built up inside them, there are a number of ways it can be burned off, one of them is using spells like that one, there's an entire chapter dedicated to it in the book I learned from, if you ever want to borrow it." Madeline said.
"so, the energy really does just build up then?" dorothy asked curiously.
"yes, I know this has been explained to you before as well, usually it takes years for enough to build up to cause any noticeable damage, but you've absorbed a lot in your time here in oz." Madeline said turning to her.
"I'm fully aware of that part, I just didn't realize that casting those powerful spells wasn't enough to burn any of it off." Dorothy said trying to make sense of it.
"until a few seconds ago you didn't even realize that there was such a thing as residual, as far as your knowledge went it was just that over time, exposure to magic can have adverse effects." Madeline said smiling.
"how do you know I have a lot of residual anyways?" dorothy asked curiously.
"because I'm able to draw a small amount from it, whenever you're around, but to get you back down to safer levels so that it doesn't suddenly discharge when you have an emotional outburst, you'd have to take up near permanent residency in Oz, and then spend a lot of time standing in the same room as me." Madeline said walking over to her closet and pulling out two hat boxes.
"and how long would that take?" dorothy asked curiously.
"a couple of years, to perfectly honest, you've absorbed enough energy to the point where, with enough practice, you wouldn't even need the scepter to cast a spell." Madeline said.
This drew a response from the scepter, and it was a rather angry sounding bell noise.
"I don't think it liked hearing that." Dorothy said turning to it.
"most objects wouldn't take well to that I'm sure, but it's true, with enough practice you could spend years using the residual energy built up inside you to cast spells, no scepter required, which is good since alex, as far as any of us are aware, only has a normal amount." Madeline said smiling.
"Maddie, also take into account that I've been hit with dangerously large, and what should have been incredibly fatal blasts of energy, me surviving has been a mix of fate, and sheer dumb luck for the most part." Dorothy sighed as she sat down on the carpet.
"you're right." Was all Madeline said as she boxed up the hats
"I know I am, that's the part I'm not entirely fond of, Maddie, I know I could cause some considerable damage if I let my emotions get the better of me, it's one of the reasons I try to repress them best I can, not that I would admit that to anyone." Dorothy said fiddling with a piece of ribbon.
"technically speaking, you still haven't, but it's not news to any of us either, Glinda, Ozma, Locasta, heck even Cassandra have all talked about it at one point or another, like I said, it's only a matter of time before the floodgates burst and we all know it." Madeline said squatting down in front of her.
"thanks, that makes me feel a whole lot better." Dorothy said rolling her eyes.
"any time." Madeline said smiling widely as she got back up and began cleaning her workspace.
Dorothy sighed and shook her head, pushing herself back to her feet. She walked over to the table and set the ribbons she had been holding neatly back into their box. She then held out her hand for the scepter and it immediately flew to her. As her hands closed around it Madeline grabbed her wrist.
"you feel it don't you?" Madeline asked curiously.
"feel what?" dorothy asked in response.
"I don't know, it feels like something is coming though, I don't know what." Madeline said sighing.
"I've mainly been focused on the wedding, you know that Maddie, but if something is coming, lets pray it waits until at least after the wedding to rear its head." Dorothy said sighing/
Madeline said nothing, she simply shook her head and returned to her work. Dorothy shook her head as well and left the room, starting in the direction of the ballroom to check on alex.
