Disclaimer *fluff here*
The jester gave them some privacy to change once he noticed they were soaked. Dorothy quickly changed into a salmon colored shirt and a dry jean dress. Madeline appeared not long after, handing dorothy her satchel which was now filled with various items that she really didn't feel too bother about. As she picked up the slippers and put them into the satchel a thought popped into her head.
"Come on, lets go to rose's workshop, let her get a good look at you." Dorothy said taking his hand.
Alex had changed into a simple navy blue short sleeved shirt and one of his many pairs of black pants. He had changed into his work boots again which he felt need some polishing, but he wasn't going to interrupt dorothy any more. Taking her hand, they made their way to Rose's workshop, where they not only found rose, but Elphaba and nessa. Alex stood there for a moment, his gaze transfixed on the green skinned woman wearing rose's magnifying goggle helmet.
"Oh, right, introductions, Elphaba, Nessarose, this is alex teak, alex, this is Nessarose and Elphaba." Dorothy said snapping her fingers in front of him.
Alex shook his head for a moment to clear it. toto and pockets running in at the sound. Toto sniffed alex quizzically and growled.
"you don't smell like you." Toto said.
"I don't imagine I do." Alex said causing Dorothy's jaw to drop.
"I'm sorry?" Dorothy asked.
"toto said I don't smell like myself." Alex said.
"I know what he said, how do you know?" Dorothy asked now very concerned.
"I'm afraid that's mostly the witch's fault, its part of the curse." Elphaba said.
"right that's something I wanted to address, dorothy told me about you two, aren't you supposed to be, ya know, dead?" alex asked.
"you mean you weren't told about us till now?" nessa asked curiously.
"it did not come up, no." alex said.
"splendid, well it's a long story, we'll discuss it over tea in emerald city, I've just felt an invitation from Glinda land in my pocket." Elphaba said smiling.
"what's that you're working on? An umbrella?" alex asked curiously.
"well I don't have the broomstick anymore, so I've switched back to my original object." Elphaba said.
"what about the slippers?" alex asked curiously.
"neither of us should be able to touch them, and I have no plans on getting zapped to find out." Nessa said, the scepter pinging three times as if to say, 'quite right too'
"happy birthday though." Rose said coming over to dorothy and kissing her on the cheek.
"thanks, actually, we came to talk to you, about him, actually nessa why are you still in here?" dorothy asked.
"alternative is going talk to the senior garrisons or my nieces, and I'd rather have Elphaba around to do all the stuff that requires the big explanations." Nessa said sighing.
"would you two be willing to move into emerald city?" Alex asked curiously.
"well they won't stay here, I know that much, they'll tire of me quickly then go, but would Ozma allow it?" the jester asked cartwheeling in.
"she would." Madeline said appearing causing them all to jump.
"must you do that?" Elphaba asked annoyed.
"yep." She said.
"anyways dorothy I have a gift for you, and alex, if you'll just come with me." Rose said leading them out of the workshop.
They quietly followed, walking out of the castle down the field to where, just off the yellow brick road not far from the river, a large house now stood, it was simple in outer design, but dorothy wondered when it had got there. Taking out a key and unlocking the door she led them in. the house was deceivingly larger on the inside, just like a lot of things were as far as they were concerned. They could smell something cooking, but for some reason neither of them could put their finger on what. The house had two floors, looking around they stopped as rose put a hand up and stopped them. Leading them into the living room with a large fireplace, three sofa's a large bookshelf, a rocking chair, and several tables and drawer sets. In the corner was an odd-looking thing with a music stand attached that alex looked over to and chuckled. For he recognized it, and as dorothy looked over she thought she did too.
"is that a…" he and dorothy asked in unison before stopping to let each other finish.
"a what?" rose asked.
"you wanna guess at it alex?" dorothy asked.
"your birthday, ladies first." Alex said.
"it's a harmonium isn't it?" dorothy asked curiously.
"I know it is." Alex said walking over to it, removing the cover and playing a few notes out of it.
"how can you tell?" Dorothy asked looking to see rose walking out and taking a left down the hall, returning a few moments later with a large envelope and a small box.
"Open your present and you'll see how" rose said winking at him.
It hadn't taken long to guess that this house was meant for Dorothy's and his own use, he even came up with a catchy little name for it, "gale hall". As dorothy sat down on one of the sofa's she started with the envelope.
"my mother used to love the harmonium, was never really good at playing anything other than pop goes the weasel, which sounds terrible on it." dorothy said giggling.
"my mother hates it, father loves it, Annabella was indifferent." Alex said watching as dorothy took a large piece of paper from it.
"deed of ownership?" Dorothy mumbled aloud before reading through it, her eyes going wide, "rose I couldn't." she quickly said trying to hand it back to her.
"you could, you can, and you will, we all agreed on it, dorothy, about three weeks ago." Rose said smiling.
"But, its your prop…" was as far as dorothy got.
"YOUR property now your majesty, don't worry we intend to build up on this place eventually, like a manor almost." Rose said.
"how about gale hall?" alex asked.
"oh, good one." Rose said giggling.
"teak manor?" dorothy offered trying hard to fight against this.
"no." the two of them said.
"Really?" dorothy said sighing.
"dorothy, you won't let us do anything for you, regardless of what you do for us, its not fair, and it doesn't come close to paying the debt all of oz owes you, but it's a start, I'll head to the kitchen, see what's cooking." Rose said smiling as she walked out.
Dorothy shook her head and opened the small box. Inside was a small piece of paper, a key that she assumed was for the door, and two beautiful gold rings. Starting with the piece of paper she read it aloud.
"these rings, one for you, one for him, the inscription on the inside roughly translates from Nome to 'so long as you both wear one, come hell or high water you will always find your way back to each other's arms' yours truly, Roquat." Dorothy said picking up one of the rings.
Putting it onto her ring finger she found it fit perfectly. When alex picked the other up he found the same. They glowed for a minute before returning to normal.
"so, what do you think?" Roquat asked his face appearing in the large mirror over the mantel piece.
"better late for these than never?" alex suggested causing Roquat to laugh.
"Glinda had them commissioned while dorothy was still in the vault, actually, she commissioned two sets, I don't know what the second was for." Roquat said.
"Ellie and Jude?" dorothy suggested.
"Too obvious." Alex said, "besides, how did you know ellie had a crush on Jude?" he added curiously.
"Tiny bit obvious, ellie's always down at the ice cream parlor, the first thing she asked when we got there once was if Jude was there yet, he has ellie's favorite memorized to the letter." Dorothy said, "should I go on?" she asked.
"No, its fine, you want to know how I knew about the harmonium?" alex asked curiously trying to change the subject.
"if I said no, you'd tell me anyways." Dorothy said.
Alex nodded, walked back over to it, closing the lid before waving her over. Dorothy got up and walked over to it. on the cover, stained into the wood, was Teak, in large friendly letters.
"this was sitting in the workshop basement for the longest time, father loves it but could never play the thing, mother hated the sound of it, like I said." Alex replied.
"so, this was completely set up for our benefit?" dorothy asked.
"Your benefit mostly." Nome king said, "By your recently wedded captains." He added.
"wait rose said three weeks?" alex asked
"well almost three weeks." Roquat replied.
"a week before their wedding and this is what they plan?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Guilty." Alyssa said appearing in the mirror.
"Alyssa, why?" dorothy asked sounding a bit annoyed.
"as rose said, its time you let us do something for you two, and if alex is going to stay in oz, he may as well have some place to go to in order to be alone." Alyssa said giggling.
That's when something clicked in Alex's and Dorothy's mind at the same time.
"ooh I know that face." Alyssa said teasingly.
"that was what rose sent you a letter about, it wasn't wedding advice." Alex said.
"very good." Alyssa said, "now Roquat, you should probably get back to teaching Terrance and I how to fly this thing." She added.
"quite right, Ms. Gale, Mr. teak, enjoy your day." He said as the mirror rippled and faded.
Dorothy sighed, walking back over to the sofa and slumping down. As if on cue, toto and Pockets came bolting in from the direction of the front door. She sighed and used the scepter to physically pull an ottoman over which she put her feet up on.
"it seems they've left me no choice, and now they've guilted me into this." Dorothy said sighing.
"only way to get you to accept gifts." Alex said walking over and plopping himself next to her.
"doesn't make it right." Dorothy said.
"then what does it make it? it was their choice was it not." Alex asked curiously.
"and you knew nothing about this?" dorothy asked curiously.
"not until I saw the harmonium, no." alex replied.
"so, gale hall, why not teak manor?" Dorothy asked.
"because one already exists, and I have no intentions on getting my father's bad side reawaken alongside my own." Alex said picking up pockets.
"please put me down." Pockets said.
"sorry." He replied setting her down.
"well, gale hall it is then, but, I really don't want to leave you behind." Dorothy said.
"its not like that dorothy, I'll still be around, drop in from time to time to help my dad, but the beast is unpredictable, the sword doesn't hurt anyone I don't want it to, I don't know if that applies to the beast, or not." Alex said stroking Dorothy's hair softly.
"I spent days waiting because I didn't want to break the bargain and be a prisoner of the vault for an undetermined length of time, I'd go madder than Maddie." Dorothy said, "I was afraid I might have lost you for good." She said sniffing.
"if it hadn't been for Finley you honestly might have." Alex said pulling her closer to him, "if you had broken the bargain, I probably would have gone nuts with grief, the beast would just love that." He added.
Dorothy said nothing, she simply sniffed and curled up.
"what was it like?" toto asked curiously.
"I don't remember most of it, but, it wasn't, too bad, however, I do have a request, for all three of you." He replied.
Dorothy looked up at him, arching an eyebrow quizzically. Both toto and pockets jumping on to the coffee table to receive their orders.
"If the beast, ever awakens, whether I just wake up as him or he just bursts forth, do not be afraid to act hostile towards him, be strict, don't trust him at all." Alex said sighing, "I don't fully know what he is capable of, but I don't need you guys getting hurt just because I couldn't hold him back." He added.
"we'll do our best." Toto said.
"but we don't want to hurt you, for Dorothy's sake." Pockets added.
"and this is why I'm not just going to be asking this of you guys, the message will be quickly passed around by someone who shall remain nameless, but we all know who." Alex said smiling.
"when I saw him, I still saw a lot of you in him." Dorothy said.
"all of me is in him, but he portrays a lot of my worse qualities, he can fight as well as I can, both hand to hand and I can only assume by sword." Alex said looking up at the ceiling.
Dorothy sighed, before looking over to her pets.
"why don't you two do some exploring? Let me know what you find." Dorothy said smiling.
They both nodded and jumped from the table, running off in their own directions before quickly regrouping and going off together,
"like two peas in a pod." Alex said shaking his head.
"alex, do you think, that he's changeable?" dorothy asked curiously.
"the beast?" alex asked curiously.
"mhm." Dorothy said nodding.
"I don't know, but he wont sleep forever, when I see him, in my mind, I see what I was, the boy who once wanted to be noticed, be a rebel, but he does care about you, he just doesn't want it to show." Alex sighed.
"so, exactly the way you used to be, wait, what about your dance lessons?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"I don't suppose I really need them anymore, I wouldn't truly call myself an expert, but I don't feel like there's anything left for me to learn, maybe I could start teach others." Alex said smiling.
"perhaps you could." Dorothy said giggling.
At that moment Alex's stomach let out an extra loud growl. Dorothy giggled even louder.
"well, lets go see who else is here, and what they're cooking, of course a map would probably be more helpful this place looks quite a lot larger than it should be." Alex said looking around.
"It is." Madeline said appearing in the room causing them to jump, "but that's mostly my doing, a few of us have been working on this place behind the scenes, in our free time." She added smiling.
"Maddie, seriously?" dorothy asked catching her breath as she got up.
"why not it's your house." Madeline asked teasingly knowing full well this wasn't what they meant when asking that question.
"well is there a map for it?" alex asked curiously.
"ill be developing it as the place gets larger, it's going to be the finest house this end of the riverbank." Madeline said smiling.
"basic run down then?" alex asked.
"it's got many rooms, bathrooms, library, plenty of bedrooms to choose from, kitchen is a straight shot down the hall from the main door, main bedroom for you two is up the stairs second green door on the right, I do hope you enjoy it." Madeline said as quickly as she could.
After the two of them managed to wrap their heads around what Madeline had just said, they sighed.
"well anyways, can you at least tell us who else is here?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"well, I'll make it a guessing game, its only just about to be 8 in the morning, something is cooking, and someone is doing it, in your own house, who would you prefer be taking on that task?" Madeline asked teasingly.
"that's a trick question." Alex said.
"I know it is, and she can't technically get it wrong because there aren't really any wrong answers." Madeline said.
"which means apart from rose, there's more than one person doing it." Dorothy guessed.
"correct." Madeline said, her grin becoming wide.
Dorothy smiled, she held her hand out for the scepter, which immediately flew back to it. the three of them walked along to the kitchen, the scent growing stronger, it was a familiar scent the three of them knew it, but they couldn't place it. this irked both dorothy and alex to no end. It was sort of floury, like bread, but had a slight sweetness to it. it made dorothy start to feel incredibly hungry.
"seriously, you two can't place this scent?" Madeline asked giggling.
"oddly enough know, I assume that's your doing?" Alex asked curiously.
"oh, seriously have you two been so wrapped up in what was happening that you've forgotten what you do every year?" Madeline asked.
As they got to the kitchen, dorothy was happily surprised to find her aunt, Brianna, and Glinda happily cooking away while rose set a table for the two of them. The kitchen was at least as large as the one at aislynn's mansion, maybe a bit bigger, which made dorothy wonder what everyone intended her to actually do here. She wasn't going to argue though, at this point she knew she wouldn't win. However, she was also happily surprised to find the source of the smell was pancakes, as she liked them, made from scratch. On the table that rose had set up also sat one of the small sandwich lunchboxes that Glinda gave every single one of her soldiers.
"I hope you two are hungry." Brianna said turning to them.
"don't worry about the clean up either, it'll be taken care of." Madeline said.
Em turned to look at her niece before walking over and hugging her tightly.
"happy birthday sweetheart." Em said stroking her niece's hair.
"thanks auntie em." Dorothy said smiling.
When em released her niece, she turned her attentions to alex. She walked over to him and hugged him as well.
"its good to have you back." Em said sighing in relief.
"it wasn't easy though, I'm sure you saw the circumstances that she and I ended up in." Alex said.
"well, its not like we expected her to drop into the path a kalidah." Brianna said.
"what about the sanctuary?" dorothy asked.
"protected, which is honestly something of a shame." Glinda said sighing.
"well, I'm sure that it won't be the last time I end up there, perhaps next time you guys will be allowed to come." Dorothy said.
"well I know that they have at least some interest in our connection." Madeline said, "so at some point we'll likely be summoned so they can take a look at the two of us." She went on.
"what do you mean, take a look?" dorothy asked curiously.
"just run a few experiments, nothing harmful." Glinda said.
"you've thought about this before haven't you?" em asked turning to Glinda.
"a few times, yes, because I'm intrigued by there connection as much as anyone else is." Glinda said turning to them,
Alex's stomach growled loudly again, dorothy giggled.
"for goodness sake alex, before you do succumb to hunger have a sandwich or five." Dorothy giggling.
"you sure?" alex asked curiously.
"go nuts, you're making me hungrier by having your stomach growl so loudly." Dorothy replied.
Alex nodded and walked over to the table, sitting down opening the lunchbox, and immediately wolfing down the first sandwich he grabbed. Dorothy giggled again while her aunt set a plate of pancakes down at the empty space.
"so, pancakes for a proper breakfast." Em said smiling and kissing her niece's cheek.
"I was thinking, maybe a picnic along the river bank later?" Rose suggested, "who's available?" she asked curiously.
