Disclaimer, the usual

Four days until the wedding.

It had been rather uneventful and peaceful for a majority of the day. As the afternoon slowly creeped in, dorothy, alex, Ellie, Alyssa, and Terrance, all found themselves at the clearing that dorothy preferred to frequent with a picnic lunch. What had compelled them to go there, none of them were sure. But it was a relaxing place to sit, rest, and lose one's self to the sounds of the fauna of the area. They had to walk to the clearing through a short cut from the forest as marshal mallow was still at candy county. And to their surprise, the clearing wasn't far off from the yellow brick road, a good ten-minute walk away. For a few moments they sat in silence, the scepter floating silently a few feet away from them, glowing brightly until Alyssa broke the silence.

"it's so peaceful out here, isn't it?" Alyssa asked.

"it's why I like coming here, been a while though, I haven't felt as much need to distance myself to relax recently." Dorothy said smiling and resting her head on Alex's lap.

"and we appreciate that, its much less for us to worry about if you actually stay in the city instead of running off on your own." Terrance said getting glared at by everyone.

"as much as that was uncalled for, Terrance is right, a lot can happen when one runs off on their own, specially here in Oz, you never know what's hiding behind a tree." Alex said looking dorothy in the eyes.

"I know, I know, and its irresponsible for me to do so, I've heard this speech at least ten times already." Dorothy said.

"Well fortunately all of us are armed, so at least we're ready if for whatever reason we get attacked." Ellie said as she made smoke formations in the air with her wand.

"I wish I had brought my sketch pad, I haven't really done too many sketches of the clearing, since I can't see it from my window." Dorothy said.

"we could arrange for that to be changed you know." Ellie said smiling.

"no thanks, the palace is easy enough to get lost in without me having to find out where I'm supposed to be going." Dorothy said.

"actually, I think Ozma has three separate suites reserved specifically for you in the palace, no idea why though since you always seem comfy enough in your own room, well, at least three, don't quote me on that." Ellie said.

"and you guys were going to tell me this when?" dorothy asked curiously.

"well its never really come up before, one of them is huge, expanded by magic, you could probably fit the entire library in it, another is reserved specifically for clothes, and I'm not sure what the third in the list is reserved for." Ellie said counting them off.

"honestly, dorothy could have first pick of any room in the palace, and it has hundreds more than any of us have actually taken the time to look at, and no one would contest her." Alyssa said.

"Alex were you aware of this?" Dorothy asked glancing up at him.

"surprisingly, no I'm just as in the dark as you are, though I do know there are more floors to the palace than what we've seen, and beyond what should logically be possible, at least by yours and my standards." Alex said stroking her hair.

"alex, considering everything we've seen so far, logic as we know it isn't even adequate anymore." Dorothy said sighing.

"Fair enough." Alex said sighing.

"the palace was always the emerald palace, the wizard only commissioned for the emerald city to be built around it, as well as the yellow brick road, building it was the hard part and there are still areas that drop off into ravines, one time there were full bridges, but the witches rather took their toll on the lands." Alyssa said.

"but at least we've gotten the west mostly restored, its back to what Glinda said it used to be." Alyssa said.

"I was thinking of maybe giving Glinda the suggestion of putting a vacation house there, maybe a few miles away from Dorothy's castle, the issue would be getting a permit to build on that land because one not only would I have to get one from Ozma, but dorothy would actually have to learn how to fill out the paper work required as well." Ellie said.

"Why is that a problem?" Dorothy asked curiously.

"Because you refuse to go there." Ellie, Alyssa and Terrance said in unison.

"okay, I get the point, I'll have to look in on it, but that's also built on a rather big if, and that's If your sister allows you to even do such a thing." Dorothy said.

"dorothy, you could build a decent sized house in Oz, with the proper help, in less than a full week, the biggest road blocks tend to be getting the proper paperwork in order." Alyssa said smiling.

"and you would know that because?" Alex asked curiously.

"I'm on Glinda's list of people who are proper help, that and our father is an architect." Alyssa said.

"so, your mother does what exactly?" Ellie asked curiously.

"She's a housewife at the moment, she was a teacher, but after Elena and I joined Glinda's army, she retired, I think just to spite us." Alyssa said.

"she's not going to cause trouble during the wedding, is she?" ellie asked worriedly.

"If she does, Elena, Terrance and I have agreed to have her escorted out by guards, at least she doesn't object to our marriage, but the moment she goes off on one of her rants, she's out." Alyssa said assuredly.

"but she's your mother, can't you put up with her antics for at least one day?" ellie asked.

"preaching to the choir ellie, I've been saying that a lot but they're both hell bent on getting her out of there if she so much as utters a word about discontent of them." Terrance said.

"because when she goes off, she really goes off, and I hate her for it." Alyssa said sighing.

Hearing this made dorothy sigh. She couldn't understand it, she wasn't sure if it was because she didn't really get a chance know her own parents, or for some other reason she wasn't entirely sure of. But she didn't like it when people spoke bad about their own parents. Ellie and Glinda, Alex, Mr. Teak, Alyssa and Elena, Donna and Kelly, and a few others, all were discontent with either one or both of their parents. She wanted to say that they should be glad that they had them around. She didn't though for fear of provoking.

"dorothy, I know that face, I don't like it either, what are you thinking about?" alex asked snapping her out of her thoughts

"Hmm? What?" dorothy asked shaking her head to clear it.

"You were getting thoughtful again, what's on your mind?" alex asked curiously.

"oh, nothing important." Dorothy said

"I'm sure she'll tell you later alex, in private, we can get the information from hatter if need be." Ellie said teasingly.

"really ellie, holding that over my head?" Dorothy asked pushing herself into a sitting position and looking at her.

"what kind of best friend would I be if I didn't?" Ellie asked curiously.

"oh, a kind one I think is the answer I'm looking for, but it's a fair point." Dorothy said.

"so, will you tell us?" Alyssa asked curiously.

"I'll tell alex, later, in private, then if he chooses to, he can tell you guys." Dorothy said sighing and setting herself down again.

"then I'll be going to Maddie later and asking her." Ellie said giggling.

"if you must, but don't think she'll play either." Dorothy said smiling.

"you know, its just passed lunch time, we brought a small picnic with us and none of us are eating, can we get to that part?" Terrance asked.

Everyone shared a laugh at this before grabbing the basket and setting up. as they ate Alyssa sat in thought, this was a look dorothy hadn't seen before.

"Alyssa are you alright?" Dorothy asked curiously.

"yea, I was just thinking." Alyssa said smiling.

"about?" Alex asked before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"well, not really thinking, per say, but picturing you two, when you eventually standing where Terrance and I will be, getting married yourself." Alyssa said causing both dorothy and alex to nearly choke on their sandwiches.

"now, Alyssa, don't rush things, that could be an eternity away." Dorothy said looking at alex teasingly.

"besides, I don't have her aunt and uncle's blessing to marry her, and besides, all things considered, we're still too young." Alex said

"not in Oz." Alyssa said smiling.

"yes, we know that, ace was telling me that a few weeks back." Dorothy said sighing as she cuddled into alex.

"I see, and why was she researching this?" Alyssa asked curiously.

"she grabs whatever books she can find I think, everything is adequate reading material for her." Ellie said.

"thank you ellie." Dorothy said starting to doze a bit in the heat.

"you tired?" Alyssa asked noticing this.

"while this clearing is cooler than being in the sun, its easy to relax and doze." Dorothy said.

"relax, that's not a word we usually associate with you." Ellie said giggling.

"I know, usually I'm worried about everything else going on around me, or worse, someone trying to kill me and enslave everyone in Oz." Dorothy said stretching.

"well, you could always take a proper vacation, I know of some places you and alex could go to in Winkie country to relax, maybe get some sun." Alyssa said smiling.

"and our castle is always open to you." Ellie added.

"I thought it was just Glinda's?" alex asked curiously.

"its been in our family for years, eventually it'll be mine to control, hopefully not due to the circumstances that put Glinda in control." Ellie said sighing.

"yes, hopefully Glinda eventually gets to have a quiet retirement." Terrance said.

"well, its not like its hard to have a quiet retirement in Oz." Alyssa said rolling her eyes.

"hey that's not for the lack of trying." Alex said as dorothy leaned against him.

"speaking of quiet, I'm still surprised how well Zeb has taken to life in Oz." Ellie said.

"he isn't, he's still moderately confused about it, but too nice to say anything." Alex said stroking Dorothy's hair.

"she's not really falling asleep, is she?" ellie asked curiously.

"seems so, though I can't say I'm shocked she and I were up at maybe two o'clock, the scepter started acting up, and quite frankly I'm surprised that it didn't wake up any of you." Alex said sighing.

"well it has been quiet so far, but, now I'm curious, how much sleep have either of you gotten these past few days?" Ellie asked curiously.

"me, not much, dorothy, about the same." Alex said sighing.

"why?" Alyssa asked curiously.

"Because of the scepter mostly, ever since it started making noise it honestly hasn't stopped, hardly a few moments of peace and its driving me mad." Alex said looking at it.

"well, what time is it now?" Ellie asked curiously.

Alex shrugged and took out his watch. Still blackened from when he had been struck by lightning, he could hear it ticking but wasn't sure how accurate it was.

"nearly half past two unless my watch is wrong." He said holding it his ear.

"alex, why do you keep that thing?" Terrance asked curiously

"because it's still a perfectly good watch." Alex said winding it up.

"well, if dorothy is falling asleep, I think we should get back to the city, as much as I'd like to nap in this clearing, my gut is telling me we shouldn't stick around." Alyssa said starting to clear up.

"Honestly, I have to agree with that, but at least we won't need to walk back, the scepter has been glowing since we got here, to give us some convenience." Dorothy said lazily getting up.

"yes, I noticed that, I think it was Madeline's idea." Alyssa said looking over at it

"well this was nice, perhaps we can do this again after you two get back from your honeymoon." Alex suggested.

"perhaps, if Glinda doesn't have other plans, and knowing her, it's likely." Alyssa said as she placed everything back into the basket.

When this was done they walked over to the scepter. Dorothy and alex placed their hands on it first and it began glowing brightly and humming. Within another moment Alyssa, Terrance, and ellie had their hands on the scepter, and another moment later they were off back to the chambers.