Disclaimer, the usual.

The next morning, after breakfast, dorothy found herself in the chambers with alex and Ozma. The scepter was floating in the corner.

"so, Alyssa is working on her speech for the wedding, are you two going to say anything?" Ozma asked.

"I'm sure we'll be asked to, alex has taken the liberty of writing up some note cards." Dorothy said smiling.

"yes, that we probably won't use, but make a great baseline." Alex said taking the stack from his pocket

"yes, well, Terrance said the same thing at breakfast remember?" Ozma said smiling.

"yep." Alex replied.

"honestly I'm a tad nervous." Dorothy said.

"because its your second royal wedding or because you're attending it as a royal?" Ozma asked curiously.

"both mainly." Dorothy replied.

"does this qualify as a Royal wedding?" Alex asked.

"it can be if we say it is." Ozma said causing alex to roll his eyes.

"your majesty?" Em asked coming into the chamber chuckling.

"yes, auntie em?" dorothy said rolling her eyes

"Alyssa and Terrance need you two, in the ballroom." Em said.

Dorothy looked at alex and nodded. Alex got up and helped her to her feet. They both held out their hand for the scepter. It let out an exciting sounding ping and met both their hands at the same time. As they left em turned to Ozma and smiled.

"is it true, what I heard from Ellie? That you are going to merge Glinda and Locasta's armies?" Em asked curiously.

"yes, it is Emily, and that's not the only part about it, the girls commissioned something from the Nome king for the two of them, and I don't even know what it is." Ozma said smiling.

"they commissioned something from Roquat? Does Glinda know?" Em asked curiously.

"she just found out this morning, its too late for her to do anything about it now, the commission is finished according to a rock fairy that appeared this morning, but like I said we don't know what it is that the girls commissioned we just know that whatever it is, it's big." Ozma said smiling a big goofy looking grin.

"something tells me you know more than you're letting on." Em said smiling.

"ellie has been blocking out her sister over the last year to prevent Glinda from finding out what Roquat was making for them, but whatever it is, its not small, and its not crystal." Ozma said.

"sounds like we'll be in for quite the surprise alongside Alyssa and Terrance." Em said.

"yes, yes we will." Ozma said giggling.

In Ellie's room however, she was meeting with Elena, Ellie had her eyes closed but was writing some things down almost perfectly.

"you know Glinda will never approve of our commission." Elena said.

"its too late for her to say anything about it, it's finished, and there's nothing she can do about it now." Ellie said smiling.

"I know, it's exciting isn't it?" Elena asked giggling.

"Welcome to the club." Ellie said opening her eyes.

"blocked her out?" Elena asked.

"completely." Ellie said smiling.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"it's open!" ellie shouted.

The door opened and Alison and Zeb and walked in.

"told you she'd be here." Zeb said.

"quiet." Alison said getting irritated.

"Alison, Zeb, did you two need something?" Ellie asked.

"Actually, we're here for Elena, Alyssa needs her in the ballroom." Zeb said.

"I didn't actually think you'd be here, we're supposed to be trying to keep secrets from Glinda, she found out this morning we commissioned something from Roquat, but she's still unaware what it is, and now Glinda is starting to pry." Alison said.

"I've blocked her out, also look at my bedside table." Ellie said pointing to it.

On the bedside table there was a pink crystal that was glowing bright.

"I see, clever." Alison said.

"what is it?" Zeb asked curiously.

"keeps Glinda from looking in on this room in her crystal ball." Alison said taking a compendium from her pocket and handing it to zeb.

"okay, and what's this?" zeb asked curiously.

"a pocket compendium, it'll give you a basic understanding of magic, dorothy has one as well." Elena said.

"as does alex, and Aislynn, and many others around here, dorothy has used it as light reading material every now and again." Madeline said appearing in the room causing them all to jump.

"Hatter would you stop doing that, sooner or later you're going to cause someone's heart to stop by doing that." Ellie said catching her breath.

"ellie, how long have we been trying to get her to stop doing that?" Alison asked.

"ever since she moved into the city I think." Ellie said as she watched Elena get up and leave the room.

"and what makes you think she'll stop now, she's one of them most powerful self-taught sorceresses in Oz, but she's also not completely bound to the conventional laws of magic either." Alison said.

"well neither are dorothy and alex, so you're essentially making a moot point." Madeline said.

"what are you three talking about?" Zeb asked.

"this falls under that list of things that are difficult to explain." Alison said.

"I see, um, short version?" Zeb asked curiously.

"the scepter obeys both dorothy and alex, fully, which shouldn't technically be possible." Ellie said.

"why not?" Zeb asked.

"well, I'll use my self and my sister as a prime example, I can use my own wand, but if I tried to cast a spell using my sister's wand I would either get zapped, the spell wouldn't work, or it would backfire rather explosively, because I'm not the one it recognizes as its master or mistress, the scepter, if any of us try to touch it without one of them handing it to us, will zap us, quite painfully." Ellie said picking up the paper she had been writing on and blowing on the ink gently to help it dry faster.

"the same thing happens with the slippers, alex is the only person who can remove them from her at the present time without them zapping us, well, I can, but only if I'm wearing some special gloves." Madeline said.

"yes, I've been meaning to ask, what are those gloves made from anyways?" Alison asked turning to her.

"they were made by the seamstress using special materials." Madeline said smiling.

"okay, so, do you know what makes dorothy and alex so different?" Zeb asked curiously.

"no, we don't, but the scepter hasn't always acted the way it currently is either, it never made noise until recently, which is rare for any object of power, however the scepter has always had a mind of its own all things considered." Alison said sighing and plopping down on ellie's bed.

"dorothy is a rather special case, in many respects." Madeline said.

"well you know more about her than anyone else here." Ellie said.

"I know, but even I can't explain a lot of this, by all logic the scepter should only obey one of them, not both." Madeline said.

"so basically, how things go with dorothy and alex, shouldn't be possible?" Zeb asked

"by all known laws of magic, yes, and the laws of magic to us are what the laws of physics are to you guys." Madeline said.

"I see." Zeb said still incredibly confused.

"it's a lot to grasp, in time you'll likely come to understand it better." Alison said.

"I hope so, because at the moment, just trying to understand is a bit of a headache." Zeb said pulling up a chair and sitting down.

Meanwhile at the ballroom Alyssa and Terrance were working on their speeches for the wedding. With dorothy, alex, and Elena as their audience.

"well, it sounds pretty, but why go off a script?" Elena asked.

"because I don't think either of us would be able to remember this off the top of our heads." Alyssa said.

"I see, so you two are nervous of making a fool of yourselves at your own wedding, I'm fairly certain no one will notice." Elena said smiling,

"Elena aren't you supposed to give a speech as well?" alex asked curiously.

"yes, but I know exactly what I'm going to say." Elena said smiling.

"and what's that?" Alyssa asked curiously.

"For me to know, and you to wait till the reception to find out." Elena said smiling teasingly.

"you two are going to make a speech, right?" Terrance asked.

"if you want us to." Dorothy said.

"we want you to." Alyssa and Terrance quickly said.

At that moment a small dove flew into the ball room and dropped and envelope on Alyssa's lap. Alyssa sighed and picked it up. Dorothy recognized the seal on the back as the one Rose used to seal her letters.

"that reminds me, you guys did invite Rose and the jester to your wedding, right?" Dorothy asked.

"of course, we did, I wonder what she wants." Elena said watching her sister open the envelope.

Alyssa read through it quickly. The project they had set up was done, the house for dorothy and alex was finished. She smiled and chuckled.

"they'll be one of the first people here I take it?" Alex asked.

"I think that honor will likely go to Cassandra, who will be here before any of us have even noticed." Alyssa said folding the paper and putting it in her pocket.

"well, what was the letter about?" Dorothy asked curiously.

"nothing important, at least, not to you three, I just asked her for some advice." Alyssa said.

"Aren't small things like that, what we have the potion bottles for?" Alex asked curiously.

"well, sort of, the potion bottles vary in strength and duration that they last, one may last a few minutes, others may last a few hours requiring you to dispel the connection manually." Alyssa said.

"its not worth it if you aren't sure how long the conversation is going to last, because the potions are a bit of a lottery." Terrance said.

"well anyways back to the point that we're here for, the speech, it does sound great, but I feel like it would be better if you just ad-lib it." Elena said smiling.

"you think so sis?" Alyssa asked curiously

"I know so sis, you two will be brilliant." Elena said before getting up and whispering something into her sister's ear.

Meanwhile in Glinda's room she was working on a potion, with Emma assisting her.

"Emma can you hand me the pink bottle on the shelf, not the large one the tiny one." Glinda asked.

"yes ma'am, got it." Emma said handing it to her.

"I'm surprised you didn't ask what's in the large one." Glinda said smiling.

"I know its an energy potion and by the looks of it you've been using more than you should." Emma said giggling.

"now that's a bit personal isn't it?" Glinda asked chuckling.

"not if its just us, and not if it's true, besides I saw the hatter give it to you and I saw you drink half the bottle, why do you put yourself through this?" Emma asked.

"what, keeping myself awake?" Glinda asked tapping some of the contents of the bottle into the cauldron.

"well yes, but you're trying to pry into your sister's business, you're trying mix up a large, powerful batch of the mirror potion." Emma said.

"well she did go behind my back and commission something for Alyssa and Terrance from Roquat." Glinda said sighing.

"no, your army went behind your back, likely because they didn't think you'd approve, but what's using a powerful variant on the mirror potion going to accomplish?" Emma asked.

"oh, you'd be surprised I'm sure, you'll understand when your older." Glinda said sighing.

"Glinda, I'm old enough to know that other people's surprises should stay just that, besides, do you really think either dorothy or Alyssa would approve of you attempting to pry into your sister's business?" Emma asked smiling handing Glinda a little green bottle.

"no at all, why do you ask?" Glinda asked taking the bottle and looking over its contents before taking the cork out.

"Because we're standing right here?" Dorothy said.

This made Glinda jump and drop the bottle into the cauldron causing the entire thing to start emitting an acrid smelling black smoke that smelled similar to burning hair.

"Glinda do you really have to go prying every time someone goes behind your back?" Alyssa asked walking into the room.

"of course not, but it gives me something to do." Glinda said starting to clean up her mess.

"also, Glinda, I do have to complain again, half a bottle of that potion at a time, is not healthy." Alyssa said picking it up.

"its her third bottle this week." Madeline said appearing in the room.

"Maddie, I forbid you from giving Glinda anymore of that potion, and that is a royal order." Dorothy said sternly.

"also, how do you always know when to jump into the conversation, because it's not just ones that Dorothy's around." Alex said.

"that's for me to know and you guys never to find out." Madeline said smiling.

"is it because it's something I wouldn't approve?" dorothy asked curiously.

"nope, but ill explain it to you after the blue moon festival is over, oh, and can I borrow your moon tear?" Madeline asked curiously.

"Madeline, no, I strictly forbid that, dorothy won't be able to control it if you charge with the blue moonlight." Glinda said.

"I assume this is a, we'll explain later situation?" Dorothy asked curiously.

"very much so." Glinda said smiling.

Madeline smiled and took the bottle from Alyssa.

"Glinda, I'm afraid I'm going to have to side with dorothy, yes its wrong that I'm giving you this stuff, but its even worse that you're drinking half a bottle at a time, in one go." Madeline said handing the bottle to dorothy.

"do you mind if I try some of this?" alex asked curiously.

"alex, consider that question for a second." Dorothy said.

"besides, what would you need it for?" Emma asked curiously.

"alex is a natural insomniac, he's awake while I'm asleep, he's awake while I'm awake." Dorothy said sighing and handing him the bottle.

"hey, I can't help that." Alex said chuckling and uncorking the bottle.

"you know, if I put that in a cauldron and added one more ingredient it would quite a potent sleeping potion, not as potent as poppy essence, mind you but potent enough." Madeline said.

"what color?" Alyssa asked curiously.

"a rather pale blue." Madeline said smiling.

"I swear Maddie your grin gets wider every time you smile." Dorothy said shivering.

"a bit like that doll you hid away years ago." Madeline asked.

Dorothy shivered at this point. That doll gave her the creeps, Eliza had brought it up once in conversation having found it once before. The memory of her mother giving her that doll resurfaced for less than a second and she shook it off fast.

"alright, Maddie, you did that on purpose, you know I hate thinking about that more than I hate remembering that doll gave me the creeps when I was little." Dorothy said.

"I know it did, I almost took the liberty of starting my own doll collection, just to see how you would react." Madeline said.

"that's absolutely bonkers Maddie, who would waste their time creating a doll collection just for the benefit of one person?" Emma asked curiously.

"hers truly." Alex said taking a swig for the bottle then offering some to dorothy.

"no thanks alex, maybe the night of the wedding, but not today." Dorothy said taking the bottle from him and handing it to Madeline.

"anyways I got a response from rose." Alyssa said.

"oh, good, did she tell you anything good?" Glinda asked curiously.

"everything I wanted to hear, yes." Alyssa said smiling.

"so, where did you leave Elena?" Madeline asked.

"back to the sick wing." Alyssa said.

"Alyssa, do you know what ellie commissioned from Roquat?" Emma asked curiously

"if I did it wouldn't be a surprise would it?" Alyssa said.

"fair enough." Emma said.

"anyways, what brought you three down here anyways, and where's Terrance?" Glinda asked curiously.

"he's talking with Locasta, I figured you might go prying, so we came here." Alyssa said sighing.

"well, that's not really something you figure, glinda, like dorothy doesn't really like things being done behind her back." Madeline said.

"I assume you knew about ellie's idea?" Dorothy asked.

"guilty as charged, anyways, Alyssa, did you find the right shade of lipstick to match your dress?" Madeline asked.

"not yet Madeline, but I've still got two full days to do so." Alyssa said.

"well, come to my room later, I'm sure I can find you the right shade, I have hundreds." Madeline said smiling.

"noted." Alyssa said smiling.

"anyways, dorothy, alex, come with me, there's something I want to show you two, something ive been working on." Madeline said taking both of the by the wrist and dragging them away.

"Maddie, wait, where are we going?" Dorothy asked.

"Into a construct." Madeline said smiling wide.