Disclaimer, *blah bleh*
After two large helpings of pancakes for dorothy, and one serving of pancakes and several sandwiches for alex, the two of them found themselves being given a quick tour of the upstairs by Madeline. The layout seemed rather awkward and reminded the two of them of the rooms of emerald city. Like the vault it felt like a construct, but apart from the bathroom and a few others, just about every room had a window, that you could see various areas of the Winkie landscape from. This went on for about 20 minutes before Madeline led them back downstairs.
"I'm sure there's a workshop and library for Ace around here somewhere?" dorothy enquired.
"yep." Madeline said, "from the kitchen, take a left, large door down the hall on the right, I know the layout doesn't make sense, but what do you expect when, even with the main architects, one of the people in control is mostly bonkers?" she asked giggling.
"I don't know why you define yourself as mad though, you seem perfectly sane all things considered, you just drive other people insane." Alex said leaning against the wall.
"oh, there are several reasons, none of which, for Dorothy's sake I'll go into now." Madeline said.
"did jack give you anything for our birthday?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"he did, but that would be telling." Madeline said leading them back into the living room.
However, as they walked in, the scepter made a pinging sound. Something seemed different, Madeline smiled, she knew what had been done. Looking around, at first it didn't seem as though anything had changed. However, alex was the first to pick up on it, the harmonium had been moved to the opposite corner of the room, and its place was a piano. Walking over to it, he played a few notes before looking at the sheet music on it.
"odd, my dad never let me touch this book, it was his mother's sheet music." He said.
"but where did the piano come from?" dorothy asked curiously.
"same place as the harmonium, teak manor, dad must really want to have some of this stuff go to some good use." Alex said.
"but I don't play." Dorothy stated.
"I know, but I do, a little, I was never too good at it, the harmonium, yes, but the piano, not so much." Alex said, "Self-teaching, great way to learn." He added sighed before playing a quick tune.
"you do pretty well with the drums though." Dorothy said smiling.
"I can also do a bit of the guitar, again, not very good at it, so it stayed buried in our cellar." Alex said turning back to them, "anyways, enough about my life, its supposed to be your day." He went on walking back over to her.
"alex, just being able to have you in my arms, or being in yours again, was all I really wanted this time around, while I don't really agree with them going out of their way to build, what will essentially become a manor in its own right, for me, but essentially for the two of us, I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect them to eventually try such a thing." Dorothy said sighing.
"anyways, you two still have the rest of the day together, I'm going to go see if we are actually going to do the picnic idea for lunch." Madeline said taking out her wand and vanishing.
Dorothy and alex shared a glance as toto and pockets ran into the room.
"This place is huge." Toto said panting.
"we know boy." Alex said walking over to the sofa and sitting down.
Dorothy smiled, let go of the scepter and sat down next to him. She kissed him quickly before resting her head on his shoulder.
"escaping the vault was the harder task I had to do, I don't even know what I did either, I tried to call out to the scepter though, through the wall, according to Glinda and Elphaba I burned a lot of energy doing it, I remember being pleased with myself, the next thing I know I'm waking up, both extremely hungry, and full of energy and utterly pepped, I think Maddie or someone referred to it as a natural high." Dorothy said giggling.
"that explains the hair, you're going to get a lot of giggles at school." Alex replied.
"let them laugh, its not the strangest I've ever looked there." Dorothy said looking at him.
"true, but whatever you did, it did work." He said smiling.
"what do you think of it?" dorothy asked curiously.
"what? The hair? You want my honest opinion?" alex asked.
"that would be nice." Dorothy said smiling.
"honestly, I think you look more natural as a blonde, though I'm used to the dark brown." Alex said smiling and kissing her again, "if they laugh, just let me know, ill set 'em straight." He said chuckling.
"or the beast will, alex I won't have you go back to starting problems just for me, I can handle it." She said sighing.
"I know you can, I'm just messing around." Alex said, "I'm very protective of my little kitten." He added.
"and I of my large, protective wolf." She said kissing him once more, "anyways, now that I know your middle name, there is something else I want to know that you're neglecting to tell me." Dorothy said smiling.
"ask, I might answer, I might answer truthfully, I'm not sure." He said smiling teasingly.
"you might not as well, it seems that the truth pond's effects didn't stick with you too well." Came zinnia's voice from the mirror.
"and this comes as a surprise? zinnia if you're going to look in on us you may as well come in." Dorothy said smiling.
Zinnia nodded and in an instant she was sitting in the room with them.
"the truth pond is meant to compel people to tell the truth, It didn't work on Benton either as we used water from the truth pond to snap him back to his senses as well, meaning either your beast will be compelled to tell the truth or the dark magic used in the transformation really cancels it out, which means whatever is contained in that hourglass is a lot more powerful than we think it is." Zinnia said, suddenly shivering at the thought.
"so, how was your rest?" Alex asked curiously.
"oh, I haven't even turned in yet, everyone else is napping though, I thought it might be a good idea to just keep a close watch on you two." Zinnia said smiling.
"I see, well you are aware that like, 10 or so others are also probably watching us at this moment, correct?" alex asked curiously.
"Glinda, Ozma, Rose, the jester, Glinda's younger sister ellie, Locasta, the hatter, and Cassandra, to be exact." Zinnia said smiling wider, a smile similar to Madeline's.
"okay, and this is where I change the subject." Dorothy said looking around for Madeline to appear, "alex, when exactly is your birthday?" she asked curiously.
"Oh, really, you haven't guessed that yet?" alex asked curiously.
"still in the dark." Dorothy replied smiling.
"Well, I personally want to leave it up to you to work out." Alex said teasingly.
Dorothy groaned, "oh come on alex I never pester you about it, why can't you just tell me?" she asked curiously.
"because it's more fun this way, but, I'll make it a little more fun, if you still haven't guessed by this day next year, then I'll tell you, but if you do guess even if it takes the entirety of the year, then I'll tell you something else you never really knew about me." Alex said smiling teasingly, "deal?" he asked.
Dorothy giggled, "Fine, deal." She said sighing.
"oh, I love a good guessing game, even though I already know the answer." Zinnia said smiling.
"that's only because you can hear thoughts, which is cheating, anyways, is what Glinda said true, will you guys eventually attempt to examine the connection between Maddie and I?" dorothy asked curiously.
"oh, eventually we plan on it, experimenting a little, nothing harmful, or physically invasive, mother nature doesn't tell us much about it." zinnia said sighing.
"well it is our business, this connection, there's no natural way to recreate it in the way it is" Came Madeline's voice now from the mirror.
"Huh, I rather expected you to just drop in." Zinnia said looking over to the mirror.
"changing it up a little, its our birthday, so I'll do what I want, anyways dorothy, the picnic is definitely going to happen, Tugg will arrive on the river bank around noon with those of us who are available." Madeline said smiling.
"thanks Maddie, I'm surprised you haven't made me a hat yet." Dorothy said before smiling teasingly.
"oh, come on, you know I've already finished it, that's how I roll." She said giggling, "anyways, I do have other things to do, I'll see you in a few hours." She said as the mirror rippled, and her image vanished.
"you know, even though I know the nature of her existence, there's something just not right about her, anyways, you two are about to have some visitors, so I'll head back to the sanctuary, I guess it's time I go for my nap as well, before I just pass out on the spot, tata." Zinnia said vanishing.
A moment later there was a knock on the door. Alex got up and went to get it, returning a moment later with the jester, Elphaba, and Nessa following close behind. Elphaba being the only one not wielding an object of power.
"so, how are you two settling in?" the jester asked curiously.
"as well as can be expected, I mean, I didn't expect you all to literally build me a manor of my own." Dorothy said smiling.
"yea, rose is just generous like that, anyways, I'm assuming you're wondering why we're here?" The jester asked curiously.
"A tiny bit, but I've honestly given up questioning you at this point, you don't seem to have any rhyme or reason for doing anything, kinda like Maddie." Dorothy said before picking up toto, who was growling at Elphaba, "seriously toto, be nice to our guests, you do this every time she crosses your path." She said sternly.
"but, she tried to kill you once." Toto said whimpering.
"the witch tried to kill me, Elphaba is entirely different." Dorothy said, "now be nice, or I'll have the jester take you and pockets back to emerald city understand?" she asked sternly.
"yes ma'am." Toto said begrudgingly
Dorothy smiled, kissed his nose and set him down on the coffee table, Pockets jumped back onto it to join him. She giggled and motioned for the three to take a seat.
"you shouldn't be so hard on him about that dear, it's not like any of us blame him for acting like that, the witch did horrible things using my body as a vessel, trying to kill you is one of the tamer things though." Elphaba said sitting in the armchair next to the couch.
"I know, but it just irks me a little." Dorothy said sighing.
"it shouldn't." Alex said, "shall I go see if I can't find a kettle and some tea to put on? I know I saw a tea set in that monster of a kitchen." He offered.
"if you don't mind." Dorothy said smiling.
He nodded and walked out again, Elphaba smiled, got up and sat down next to her.
"I know what you've been thinking dear, and you really don't have to say anything about it." Elphaba said smiling sweetly.
Dorothy arched an eyebrow, pulled her feet up onto the couch, and turned so that her back was against the arm of it and she was facing Elphaba dead on. Making eye contact, she sighed.
"about what?" dorothy asked curiously.
"apologizing, our brother said you do that a lot, more often than necessary." Elphaba said smiling.
Dorothy sighed and looked over at the jester, who was now playing around with his new object of power. A silver jester's baton. It had a jester hat adorning a golden ball on the top. However, as he was fiddling with it, it let out a spark causing him to jump.
"should be fine." He said.
"you gave up half of your power and half of your knowledge of magic for them, and you say if should be fine?" dorothy asked curiously.
"in fairness dear, half his power isn't saying much, he was already exhausting is power to the limits because he wasn't using an object of power that fully obeyed him, I'm honestly more surprised by the fact that he's able to still preform any acts of magic at all." Elphaba said turning to her brother.
"abusing an object of power can be one's own undoing, case in point, the scepter." The jester said sighing.
"nearly got you killed, twice, and I still regret actually killing you." Dorothy said hugging her knees.
"kid, that's water under the bridge now, just let it go." The jester said sighing.
"you haven't even forgiven yourself for trying to kill me, anyways, Elphaba, how's the umbrella coming along?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"oh, it's finished, once I got the rest of the fabric off, it was just a matter of an hour that I managed to replace the fabric, but there's not a cloud in the sky so I don't really need it." Elphaba said smiling.
"She can draw from her object of power from a fair distance away, like Glinda, with her old wand, again, sorry for that, it's just never come up." The jester said sighing.
"I almost ran into that barrier myself with the scepter, all it escaped with was a cracked orb and me full of excess magical energy that both tastes and smells terrible." Dorothy said.
"and Glinda with her own wand cracked in half, somehow magical energy is just sort of drawn to you, like a battery of some kind." The jester said walking over to her, and poking at her feet with his baton, causing her to giggle.
"oh, come on, seriously, does everyone have fun doing that?" dorothy asked curiously.
"exploiting that weakness? I dunno." The jester said smiling.
"alright brother dear, you can stop now." Nessa said.
"doesn't he have an actually name?" alex asked coming back in, "kettle should be ready soon." He added.
"Of course, I do, but that's for me to know, and you all, hopefully to never find out." The jester said shivering, "I think I might die of embarrassment if any of you found out." He added.
"Glinda knows it, rose knows, it, we know it, Cassandra knows it, I think that's the list covered." Elphaba said smiling.
"don't forget the staff at the winter house." The jester said.
"are they still about?" Nessa asked, "after all this time?" she added curiously.
"yep, rose was talking with them the other day." The jester said sighing before pulling over an ottoman and squatting on it.
"really? After all this time, that's just, wow." Nessa said at a loss for words.
"so, anyways, the reason we actually came here, dorothy, if you'll allow it, is to get your blessing for nessa and I to move into emerald city, but not for the reason our brother suggested, he's engaged to Rose, so castle garrison is no place for us to stay, intruding on him like that now that we're free." Elphaba said.
"you really came here just to ask for her blessing?" Alex asked chuckling, "you'd think her answer would be a no brainer." He went on.
"he's right actually, I think it's more Glinda's permission you should be seeking, as she is really the one that handles all that, or Ozma, as its her castle." Dorothy said smiling.
"we know, but its you we're sort of concerned about, despite our brother's reassurance, we weren't sure on your thoughts about sharing a place with a former enemy and their sister." Elphaba said smiling.
"well, if you really feel that strongly about the idea, you do have my blessing, but surely castle west or the east…" dorothy said but that was as far as she got before the sisters cut her off.
"those properties are yours now, and we won't take any ifs ands or buts about it." they both said in unison.
"dorothy, you weren't going to be able to fight this you know that right?" alex asked curiously.
"can't blame a girl for trying, it just doesn't feel right." Dorothy said sighing.
"you think either of us want to reside in places where we actually caused harm?" Elphaba asked, "those places serve as nothing but reminders of what the witches did, I know you don't see us as them, but either way, we still technically preformed all those wicked deeds." She continued,
"dorothy, you've done so much for people, you don't ask for anything in return, and a lot of the citizens of oz fail to understand why." Came Ozma's voice as she appeared in the room.
"does Glinda know you're here?" alex asked curiously.
"she does now." Ozma said smiling at him teasingly.
"and again, I ask, why do you all talk as if she's in charge?" Elphaba asked curiously.
"because Glinda likes to act as a kind of surrogate mother to both dorothy and Ozma, she knows its wrong to try and control them, but she feels the needs to do everything in her power to keep them safe." Alex said before dorothy could open her mouth
"ah Glinda, always the protective one, must be a lot of guilt, I mean, her idea of protection would be to place a memory spell on someone and swear their friends to secrecy." Nessarose said smiling.
"she did that you know, to ellie, put a memory block on her, swore both her parents and the rest of the girls to the secret, just to keep her safe, she didn't expect ellie to pursue finding her quote unquote long-lost sister." The jester said chuckling.
"really, her own sister? I would think that doing so would cause the opposite of protection, because if anything ellie would just charge straight into battle without so much as considering what her sister thought." Elphaba said shaking her head.
"didn't stop her, thankfully I hadn't reestablished myself as a threat quite yet, they do have a rather odd connection though, they can see through each other's eyes just by closing their own, recently they've both been experimenting with blocking each other out." The jester said smiling wider and causing dorothy to shiver.
"and I remember when ellie found out, I'm surprised she doesn't hold a sort of a grudge for it." dorothy said, however a moment later ellie appeared, falling onto the floor with a thud, wand in hand.
"you don't seem to have the height right." The jester said helping her up.
"tell me about it, I always get it a bit wrong on my own, and dorothy let me just stop you there, I do actually hold a grudge against her for doing that, I just don't let it show," she said sighing "however that's not what I came here to talk about, now that my embarrassment has faded, was my crush on Jude really that obvious?" she asked curiously.
"I didn't realize it!" Ozma said raising her hand and smiling.
"well at least one person didn't think it obvious." Ellie said sighing, reaching over to scratch pockets behind the ear.
"anyways, ellie, as I'm assuming your sister is watching this, she does know my sister and I will be coming to tea this evening correct?" Elphaba said pulling out a bright pink envelope from her dress pocket.
"and bedroom arrangements have already been made for you two, or rather we're starting on it, two bedrooms, right next to each other, right next to Glinda's I'm assuming?" Ozma asked curiously.
"do you guys just have a blast rearranging the rooms like that?" alex asked curiously.
"same way the hatter does when she's planning out how to expand this place, its quite powerful magic that was used to make it like this." Elphaba said smiling.
"you can just feel the energy still dissipating." Ozma said cheerily.
"no, we can't, we could feel the shifts though, you're more sensitive to it being part fairy." Ellie said smiling.
"oh, true." Ozma said pulling up another ottoman and sitting on it.
"anyways, that would be nice, those arrangements." Elphaba said as the clock struck 10
Ozma smiled and glanced at ellie who nodded. Flicking her wand, a few moments later a large iron tea kettle and a tea set flew into the room and landed perfectly on the coffee table. Ellie giggled and congratulated herself.
"finally, a success." She said as Elphaba started pouring out the tea.
"you know, I could have just gone and retrieved that myself." Alex said.
"and make you do all the work? Where's the fun in that?" ellie asked giggling.
Dorothy smiled, she couldn't help but be amused by all this.
"anyways." Ozma chimed in, "alex, is it true you plan on moving yourself to oz, on a more permanent arrangement?" she asked curiously.
"yes Ozma, it is, if the beast comes forth he could cause harm, and at least in emerald city I can't cause to much lasting damage, besides with a good handful of magic users at least if need be I can be easily restrained." Alex said sighing as Elphaba handed him a cup of tea.
"anyways, I guess since this question does need to be asked." Dorothy started, "how often does the professor come to give you lessons?" She asked curiously.
"two or three times a week, the lessons aren't too long but you do get a lot out of them, not that I would normally admit that." Ozma said sighing.
"that explains why you're always so pleased when we're around." Alex said, "gives you something to do other than sit on the throne or wander around the palace looking for someone to talk to, or alternatively keeping an eye on us." He added.
"there are other reasons, quite a few actually, boredom is just one of them, but Glinda watches over me like a hawk most days." Ozma said sighing, "you know, among other things." She added.
"we'll have to address that again eventually Ozma, you know that." Ellie said, "and I don't have a plan quite yet, at least not a fully realized one." She went on
"I think I might be able to talk some sense into her, I mean, its not the first time Glinda has gotten quite protective, how was it you described her like?" Elphaba asked handing everyone else a cup of tea now, "as a surrogate mother?" she asked turning to alex.
"that was the term I used, yes, honestly we all know Glinda would adopt dorothy as a daughter if she could." Alex said sighing, "honestly I'm surprised she hasn't tried."
"she has offered to let you become her apprentice though, I'm sure?" Nessa asked.
"a few times, and I've honestly thought about it." Dorothy said taking a sip from her cup before setting it down on the coffee table, "you know, learn about what it is people are trying to kill me with." She added.
"wouldn't cause too much harm to humor her, I guess, but I'd say follow your heart." Elphaba said smiling warmly.
"anyways, so picnics' in a few hours, will you all be attending?" Ellie asked curiously.
"of course." The jester said, "why wouldn't we?" he asked.
"lily mainly." Alex said sighing.
"she has promised not to go through Dorothy's mind at least for the rest of the day." The jester said chuckling.
"that's a bit of a comfort, not much of one, but a bit of one." Dorothy said rolling her eyes before taking up her cup again.
"don't roll your eyes, its impolite." Ozma said in a sort of mix between imitating Glinda and em.
"so will Locasta be returning to her domain now that everything is settled?" alex asked.
"this evening actually, we'll keep the room set up just in case she feels the need to return, but otherwise her presence isn't really required." Ellie said.
"I was kinda hoping they'd end up getting in a full-on duel, I've always wondered which of them was better at it." the jester said.
"honestly, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want that at least a little bit." Ellie said guiltily.
"if they're going to duel, it'll be until the other one yields, I'd like to see them do it without wands though, I know Glinda is really good at the mental battle." The jester said.
"only because she's used it on you." Ellie said giggling.
"she wouldn't win against me though." Elphaba said smiling before drinking her entire cup in one go.
"well you would know." Ellie said smiling teasingly.
"I'm honestly curious how did you two wind up as friends anyways, you seem so different?" alex asked curiously causing him to get a rather sharp glare from dorothy and a rude sounding ping from the scepter.
"oh, now you decide to chime in." the jester said, only to be met with the sound of a cricket chirping, it took them all a minute to realize this was just the scepter as well.
"how long has it been doing that sort of thing?" Nessa asked with genuine interest.
"a while now, since an incident in candy county." Alex said looking to them.
"an incident that ended with me in a pool of molasses." Dorothy said.
"oh, yuck!" nessa said cringing, "that must have been horrible." She said.
"it felt horrible, and I still smell rather strongly of it." Dorothy said sighing.
"ah, so that's what that is, didn't want to bring it up." Elphaba said smiling.
"yea, I don't really like talking about it, not one of my best moments." Dorothy said leaning back against the arm of the couch.
Ellie smiled teasingly at her before finishing her cup and sending it back to the kitchen.
"you know I've been practicing that all week so that I could do it right?" Ellie asked, "anyways, Glinda's in a bit of a fizz now so I should probably get back and help with the picnic preparations, your majesty I'm assuming you're going to stay here?" she asked curiously.
"only if dorothy doesn't mind." Ozma said smiling.
"why would I mind? our house is entirely at your disposal Ozma." Dorothy said smiling.
Ellie giggled again before vanishing, Elphaba set her cup down and cleared her throat as her siblings did the same.
"well since we've accomplished what we came here to do, we shall meet you at the river bank this afternoon dorothy." Elphaba said smiling.
"its been my pleasure." Dorothy said smiling back.
With that Elphaba and Nessarose snapped their fingers and vanished. The jester looked around and sighed.
"Oh, come on, I didn't know we were doing that!" he shouted before waving his baton and vanishing.
Well, dear readers, and followers, now's time for a guessing game I pose to you. When do you think Alex's birthday is?
