Disclaimer, the usual.

The rest of the day, all of the next, and the first part of the following day, the third day, the day before her birthday, was a rather large test of Dorothy's self-restraint, it felt like it was dragging. She wanted to take the scepter in hand, put on the slippers, and figure out where alex wound up. But she knew it would put him at the mercy of the tribunal and she would be stuck in the vault, unable to see him. Rose and her mother, as well as Dorothy's aunt attempted to teach her how to properly bake. They started with small cookies, which came out incredibly dry. Then tried making cakes, for which hers didn't rise. Brownies, which tasted bitter and smelt like burnt sugar. Pies that bubbled over into a burnt mess. In short, dorothy was not one for baking, or at least didn't seem to have any luck with it. eventually she found herself in Rose's workshop, where the three siblings, Elphaba, Nessarose, and the jester, were working on their objects of power. Elphaba finally giving into Glinda's pestering about working on it. however, as she watched Nessarose polishing her wand with a new lacquer, a question popped into her mind.

"so, how come you haven't asked them to break the curse on you?" Dorothy asked curiously.

"okay, kid, two things, one, I have, and two, none of us seem to know how to reverse it." The jester said.

"but I will work on it." Elphaba said as she carefully removed the moth-eaten black fabric from her old umbrella, "once I have something to channel my magic through." She went on.

"I personally think he should keep it, he's such a klutz that he spills something on himself incredibly often, if just saves with the cleanup." Rose said.

"look, dear, it's not that I don't appreciate the idea, but after a while the novelty does wear off." The jester said sighing.

"yea, it's not like we can't make him one outfit that functions the exact same way, I mean, I did invent the curse, I'll admit, it was one of my few conscious moments as the witch, I was jealous he was able to have what I probably wouldn't and couldn't, so in spite, I turned him into a proper clown." Elphaba said sighing as she put on rose's magnifying glass headpiece.

"we sort of figure as much, he had an entire song explaining it." scarecrow said coming into the room.

"Oh, strawman, I'm assuming the bookworm is also here now?" The jester asked.

"present." Came aislynn's voice as she walked into the room.

"I thought you two weren't going to leave the city?" Rose asked curiously.

"well, we weren't, but scarecrow wanted to test the new remote button for the rainbow mover, he wouldn't let me test it alone, I wouldn't let him, so we agreed to do it together, it's a switch with a small wire that allows you to activate the rainbow mover from inside the new transport chamber." Aislynn said smiling.

"and I have to admit Mrs. Garrison, which I'm going to call you since I don't know the jester's last name, I'm a tiny bit jealous of your workspace here." Scarecrow said.

"she is not taking my last name, we've already agreed on this." The jester groaned.

"why not?" Elphaba asked curiously.

"okay, before an argument breaks out and magic starts flying, can I request a change in subject?" Dorothy asked curiously, "ace why don't you and scarecrow head to the sitting room?" she offered.

Aislynn nodded and she and scarecrow left the room. Once they were gone, Nessa decided to break the silence.

"sure, so, how'd the baking go?" Nessa asked curiously.

"you couldn't smell it?" rose asked curiously.

"not from here, no, pretty good?" Nessa asked.

"try, catastrophic failure." Dorothy said giggling, "but thanks for making an attempt at leaving my dignity intact." She added.

"any time, so, bad luck then?" nessa asked curiously.

"very, never have been really good at it, I think the closest I've gotten to successfully baking something is putting a loaf of bread in a hot oven, and taking it out when it was done, I didn't do any of the other work." Dorothy said.

"anyways, at any rate are you actually going to pursue alex? It's almost noon." Rose said looking at a clock on the wall.

"not in that outfit she's not." Elphaba said.

Dorothy looked at her outfit, a simple shirt with a jean dress over it that cut off just below the knee.

"what's wrong with my outfit?" dorothy asked curiously.

"well for starters, it's a dress, you're going to be in the woods, odds are he hasn't left Winkie country, so you've got some of the thickest brush this end of Glinda's domain to deal with, thick, gnarled, twisted trees, snagging roots, you'll get caught on the first odd branch you walk by." Elphaba said raising the magnifying pieces.

"actually dorothy, she does raise a good point, you'll wind up hurting yourself attempting to navigate the woods wearing that dress, a pair of pants would probably suit you better." Madeline said appearing in the room causing everyone to jump.

"Okay, how are you guys not used to that?" the jester asked referring to his wife and dorothy.

"because she does it inconsistently, enough, for it to be a problem." Dorothy said catching her breath, "Do you have any pants?" she asked turning to Madeline.

"None that are easily accessible, I suppose you could always borrow a pair of Alex's." Madeline suggested.

"But they'd be rather loose on me." Dorothy said.

"well your other option is to wait while I locate the pair I own, and they barely fit me properly." Madeline replied.

"well I know my father has some suspender straps you can use." Rose said.

"okay, let's not get tacky here." The jester said just as the clock struck noon.

Every clock seemed to chime louder than they had before. Each one hit dorothy hard, causing her to stagger. She wasn't sure how this was possible, but she had her guesses. Once the chimes had stopped, the castle shook for a moment and then a strong gust of wind blew through it once again. Zinnia appearing in the room, clapping delightedly.

"well done Ms. Gale, I must say, very well done." Zinnia said going all giggly.

"this isn't some kind of a trick, is it?" dorothy asked.

"tricking you would violate their end of the contract, making us all free as birds, as for the chiming, that was isolated to this castle." Came father time's booming voice.

Faster than anyone could blink, he was there.

"can't we ever be allowed to explain this stuff?" Zinnia asked groaning like an impatient child.

"if you didn't take so long to get to the point, then yes." Father time said patting her shoulder.

"wow, low blow." Zinnia said walking over to a chair and sitting down,

"anyways, Ms. Gale, not only are you impressively persistent, but you have the patience of a saint." Father time boomed.

"thank you, but it wasn't easy, taking my mind off the idea, anyways, I guess I should go change, rose, what were you saying about suspenders?" dorothy said turning to her before walking out of the workshop.

Father time chuckled before vanishing again, though as usual it took all of them a bit to realize he was gone.

"so, I assume the restorative elixir is ready for him once they find him?" Elphaba asked.

"If 'they' find him, if we still had currency and I were a gambler, I'd bet dorothy is found by him first." Madeline said.

"well both our parties keep running into each other, right now they're both stopped in the same place for a lunch break." Zinnia said, "At any rate, yes it's done, we're just waiting on the seamstress to finish the collar, should be ready by midnight." She went on.

"How fitting." Madeline said summoning a cup of tea.

"Beg pardon?" Zinnia asked arching an eyebrow.

"I said, it was fitting." Madeline repeated.

"why's that?" Elphaba asked turning away from her work once again.

However, before Madeline could answer, the jester let out a laugh. The realization hit him quite quickly.

"oh, yes, that it marvelously fitting." He said laughing.

"Explain." Zinnia said, now rather curious.

"another year older, another year wiser." Madeline said, "that's the only hint you're getting." She added before taking a rather loud sip from her cup.

It took the three-remaining people in the room a minute to riddle this out, and the pieces seemed to click into place at the exact same time.

"you're joking?" Zinnia asked.

"It's mine too, why would I joke? That's his job." Madeline said referring to the jester.

"okay, low blow." The jester said.

"To what? Your dignity?" Madeline asked teasingly.

This resulted in a chuckle from everyone in the room, except for the jester who had gone red in the face and returned to his work. Zinnia smiled, going all giggly.

"what's so funny?" Madeline asked.

"I actually get to say something I've wanted to get to for a long time." Zinnia said smiling, "you guys, are officially pardoned." She went on.

Meanwhile back in the forest.

The little camp was only about 2 miles away from where they would actually find alex, but they wouldn't find him before dorothy. As Fenrir opened his watch, he chuckled.

"well, I'll be, the kid actually managed to restrain herself." Fenrir said.

"and you thought she wouldn't?" jack asked.

"I actually had my doubts." Mr. teak said.

"Show's you she'll risk anything to save the ones she cares about." Alyssa said.

"surprised we haven't found him yet, usually you find more traces than we have, but not even a mangled animal." Benton said.

"maybe he's got flaws?" Fayth suggested.

"of course, he's got flaws, who doesn't." Jack said leaning against a tree and dozing.

"I'm surprised we haven't run into any other creatures." Alyssa said.

"you wouldn't, most if not all creatures in this area, are horrified of the giant wolves, a kalidah could go tooth and claw against one and wouldn't come out the worst of the two." Benton said.

"but they're still out there, Kalidahs don't back away from a fight, especially when there's food." Alyssa said gripping the hilt of her sword nervously.

"but they avoid the hunt, and they know we're out here, odds are if there are any about, they're miles off." Benton said, "but that still doesn't explain the lack of damage, perhaps he does have some flaws" he went on

This was not, however, due to any flaws, as the hunt suspected, but due to the fact that Alex's stubborn and persistent nature was carried over to the beast. Two more miles northwest the monkeys as well as the stubborn fairy were now sitting on the lower branches around the truth pond. The beast circling around. Almost five full days without food, just drinking from a stream, he was both hungry, and looked furious and they could all tell. But he didn't seem to be wavering or looking like he was going to fall in., and this is what Finley was afraid of. Fangs was circling as well, from the other side of the trees. He knew he wouldn't last in a fight against the wolf, no one did. He looked up at Finley, waiting for the next order.

"you'd figure by now he would have passed out." The fairy said in a rather annoyed voice.

"you'd think that, yes, for most people, but unfortunately this person is one of the most stubborn and persistent people I know, I was hoping this would make things at least a little bit different but I was also prepared to be wrong." Finley said.

"one of us is going to have to swoop down and try to get him to fall in." Nikko said

"yea, but which one?" Basil asked.

A few of the other flying monkeys took a step back or looked away. Finley however, sighed and stepped forward.

"Fangs, when I give the signal, run out and get his attention." Finley said nervously taking off his hat and coat.

"what's the signal?" fangs asked curiously.

"you won't be able to miss it." Finley said.

He took a step back, waited for both fangs, and the beast to circle around the pond to the other side. He took a deep breath, reconsidered for a moment, counted to three, and swooped down.

"LOOK AT ME I'M A TARGET!" he shouted as he swooped down.

Immediately the beast turned and started to bolt around towards him. Just then Fangs barked, and the beast turned, that split second however was enough to cause the beast to lose its balance and fall into the waters of the truth pond. They waited for a minute as the waters settled, and the wolf, gasping for air broke the surface. The monkeys all swooped down to help the wolf out of the pond. Finley chuckled in triumph,

"told you that wouldn't fix his transformation, too powerful." He said.

They watched as the wolf attempted to regain its bearings, staggering a bit, he made his way back to the edge of the pond. He looked down at his reflection.

"oh, brilliant" was all he said.

And here we are, the circle closing.