Disclaimer, the usual

A few days later Polly had mostly acclimated to her new surroundings. She still wasn't all that steady on her feet, so alex had fashioned her a walking stick. However, she was still distressed by the fact that she couldn't remember much of anything before ending up in the emerald city, and there wasn't much anyone could do for her. Elphaba and Glinda had decided to take a look at the book of records to see if they could find anything, but could find nothing as they looked through it.

"It seems." Elphaba said flipping through the recent pages again, "whoever sent Polly to us, doesn't want us to know about her."

"I know Elphie." Glinda said with a sigh

"so, it's liably in our best interest not to go looking for more answers." Elphaba said flipping backwards through the book, "because it was liably work of the council with the help of time."

"and we'll end up in over our heads again." Glinda said nodding in agreement, she knew the folly of poking into the business of the council of immortals.

This assumed that the council of Immortals were actually involved. And were they involved they were doing it for a reason, and had voted on it.

"the book is also really light on information about that girl that turned up." Elphaba added

"yes, that I'm aware of, its because the events technically haven't happened all the way through yet." Glinda said with a sigh, "and you know as well as I do that what she did is dangerous, specifically due to the fact that she mainly focused on dorothy and alex."

"she can use the scepter, which means she's someone they trust with their lives." Elphaba said leaning back in her chair, "and because she's that close to them, until this time comes around for them again, their memories about this are going to be rather foggy."

"Temporal Amnesia, I knew that my first encounter with her would not be my last, but I couldn't remember many of the details." Glinda said as Chuck came in with a tea set.

"What was your first encounter with her anyways?" Elphaba asked curiously.

Glinda looked at her friend for a moment before taking the tea tray from chuck, thanking her, and sending her away. She poured herself and her friend tea before she finally began the story.

"you know well that the Grimmerie has a specific spell in it that can be used three times, the third time guarantees death of the user." She started with a sigh, "my aunt fell victim to it." she added, her face falling.

"But she had…" Elphaba cut herself off,

she knew she and her sister had started to cause almost irreparable damage to Oz during their first few years in power, she was aware of the spell her brother had used to start draining magic from oz. but that spell was harmless and could be reversed by the caster had they wanted to do so. But their magic had actually been dark, damage that could have torn oz to pieces with enough exposure. She had been aware before she had turned, Glinda's aunt had used to spell twice before though no one was sure of the reasons as to why. The third time, she realized, was her own doing, and now she knew answers to one of the many questions she had. Glinda soon seemed to realize what she was thinking and continued her story

"Have a reason to use it?" Glinda cut in, "I tried to stop her, to do it myself." She added

"And the girl stopped you?" Elphaba asked

"she held me back, and shielded me from the effects of the spell." Glinda said with a hint of contempt in her voice at the memory.

"well, if the time line is supposed to be like this, then everything had to go as she knew it." Elphaba said flipping the pages a good way back.

However, when she got to the point she needed to, which took a better part of an hour and a lot of trial and error when doing several pages at once. She found the entire section between their re-emergence and Glinda coming to power, a rather jumbled mess that was difficult to look at.

"found it?" Glinda asked with a sigh.

"seems so, but its all jumbled up." Elphaba said averting her eyes and blinking a few times to clear her vision.

"case in point Elphie." Glinda said bringing a cup over to her.

"but she already knew you, and about the first time, so shouldn't the book have corrected itself already?" Elphaba asked.

"no, because we don't really know her yet, but we will." Glinda said looking at the jumbled mess on the pages.

"Well, can you at least tell me her name?" Elphaba asked curiously

Glinda shook her head,

"no one can know, not until the right time." She replied.

Elphaba took a deep breath in, she had missed quite a lot between being possessed by the force in the hourglass and being dead. But this played with her mind a bit. The implications of the girl were rather frightening. It did mean, for a start, that Glinda knew quite a lot that she simply wasn't telling. And two, that at some point, possibly in the near future, something would have to happen to begin the entire cycle that would lead to it. She searched her memories, the actions of the wicked witch, she could remember a lot of the actions of the witch, but there was a gap, something which didn't make sense to her. She wondered what she and her sister had done that led to the event in the first place. She was aware things had been bad, and what the force had caused them to do was for all intents and purposes utterly evil. But there was still an unaccountable gap in her memory for the time period. This made her feel completely uncomfortable and uneasy. She quickly decided to change the subject, as if she continued trying to think back she`d simply upset herself.

"well, at any rate Glin, there is something else I'd like to talk to you about."

Back in emerald city

Dorothy, Madeline, Ellie, Polly, Ozma and Alex were sitting in the chambers. Toto was running after Ellie's red ball as they took turns tossing it across the room. Pockets was sat on the arm of Dorothy's throne, watching the back and forth.

"Toto is getting a decent amount of exercise today." Polly said as he brought the ball to her.

"well, in fairness, he and Pockets are usually wandering somewhere around the palace, we don't know how much exercise they get on a daily basis" Alex said

"and what they do in their own time isn't really any of our business, so long as they aren't causing harm." Ozma said with a smile.

Polly gave the ball a good toss and giggled as she watched Toto chase after it.

"pity the season cant last forever." Madeline said changing the subject, "but that's the way of the universe."

"and circumstances have changed." Ellie added as Toto brought the ball to her, "has your uncle been informed?" she asked tossing the ball and turning to Alex.

"I'm sure one of them has brought it up during the trips back and forth." Alex said, "right Mads?"

"well it has come up, yes." Madeline said as Toto brought the ball to her.

A bang from the workshop assured them that things were going par for the course with the rainbow mover. Everyone turned to see rainbow colors smoke drift from it, and soon after Aislynn emerged coughing.

" you all right Ace?" Dorothy asked concerned.

"the usual." Aislynn replied

"so, par for the course, to passable?" Alex asked

"it's always par for the course" scarecrow said coming out of the workshop, "I think we should take a break, why don't you go see what Betsy and trot have been up to?"

"last I saw them; they were heading towards to courtyard." Madeline said.

Aislynn sighed, and nodded. Removing her apron and handing it to the scarecrow before walking out of the chambers. Toto ran past her and brought the ball over to his mistress. But before Dorothy could toss it, Nessarose came into the chambers.

"oh, so this is where you all have wound up." She said walking over to them.

"yes, Toto has been keeping us entertained." Polly said smiling.

"I'm sure it's a mutual situation." Nessarose said smiling back, "Glinda and Elphaba should be back soon, I assume they didn't find the answers they were looking for."

"we sort of expected that." Ozma said, "well at least the hatter and I did"

"I didn't either, if the council was responsible, it means they had a reason, and we aren't meant to know about it, at least not yet" Nessarose said trying to sound encouraging for Polly's sake.

Polly, however, only let out a long sigh. She had basically resigned herself to being stuck in the state she was in. Dorothy had tried the book in her dresser because it never failed to tell her the truth. Or rather it usually never failed, until then. When consulting it about Polly, the pages had remained obstinately blank. They all found this rather disconcerting but they weren't really in a position to do anything about it.

"well, it does technically tell us something, if only indirectly." Madeline cut in, a cup of tea appearing in her hand.

"really?" Polly asked perking up at this.

"Yes." She started, "if even the council of immortals don't want you to know who you are with us in the same boat…" Madeline trailed off hoping someone else would get it,

Fortunately, the scarecrow did.

"I see, if they wanted her to forget, then she is obviously someone of major importance" he said smiling.

"but then why make her forget?" Ellie asked curiously, "Polly is just as safe here with her memories as she would be anywhere else, she's not much use to anyone without knowing who she is or really where she came from."

"there also aren't any wars going on that would require the council to intervene like this." Ozma added, "at least none that have been brought to my attention"

"even if there is one, you would think simply placing her in our care would be enough" Nessa added

"never assume that." Alex said shaking his head, "every time we do, things take a nosedive into chaos"

"tell me about it." Dorothy said sighing, "but we've been lucky so far" she added, tapping the scepter with one of her knuckles.

"so, what are you two going to do about the scepter?" Nessarose asked curiously.

"we'll take it in turns to wield it" Alex quickly said, "when they come on the weekends, one week I'll have it here, the next she will take it home with her"

Everyone nodded at this, it seemed sensible enough, there wasn't any harm in it. At least none that they could see. The scepter pinged in agreement, Dorothy sighed, finally tossing the ball so Toto could run after it. At that moment a small bell at the far end of the room rang causing everyone to jump as no one had expect it. Turning in the direction of the sound, they saw a silver bell that certainly did its best to remain discrete.

"oh yes, I had forgotten about that, Elphaba and Glinda set that up this morning, it was to alert me when they returned." Ozma said smiling

"well, that's useful, if they leave, you always know when they get back." Ellie added closing her eyes, "and we know that it works, they're on their way here."

"question is, which of them came up with it?" Madeline asked as she walked over to the bell, and flicked it.

"we both did." Glinda said coming into the chambers.

"so, what is it? Some kind of, Glinda alarm? Give us the chance to hide or make ourselves look busy?" Ellie asked teasingly.

Glinda sent a glare at her younger sister but couldn't help giggling. Everyone shared a laugh at this.

"if that's what you wish to think, then there's no harm." Elphaba said with a chuckle.

"Elphie, don't encourage her." Glinda said giving her friend a playful punch on the arm.

"so, I assume you two didn't find anything?" Nessarose asked curiously

"Nothing useful, the information is well hidden." Elphaba said sighing, "but, I am positive, given the time that we will be able to work out something."

"then I must ask you not to trouble yourselves over me" Polly said shaking her head, "I thank you for your efforts, but I must concede the fact that I am not meant to find out who I am, it was done to me either out of protection or as punishment, to what end I am not sure, but I think the best we can hope for that my memory returns on its own."

"is that what you wish?" Ozma asked curiously

"I've been giving it a lot of thought, and if it isn't too much trouble, I am grateful for the help I have been provided, but I would rather remain contented as I am than to impose much more trouble on you." Polly said nodding, "I should be much more comfortable knowing you all aren't worrying over my benefit"

"if that is your wish, then we shall fulfill it." Ozma said nodding understandingly,

"then the best we can hope for is that the answers come to us in time." Scarecrow said firmly.

"Well, after a week, I believe that is the most we can ask, as we have tried everything at our disposal save for trying a memory charm, and as we are sure the council has had something to do with this, I doubt that would be effective." Madeline said, "but lets not dwell on it, its almost time for lunch."