It only took a minute for Glinda Arduenna to show her true colors. "Leave us," she barked harshly at the guards who had rushed to their aid. The second they had gone she turned on Nor. "So I suppose this was your plan all along?"
Nor gave her a blank look. "What?"
"You damn little upstart. How dare you toy with me? Bringing some little waif in here. Into my palace. Parading her around as the rightful heir."
Nor glared at her. "You said she was Ozma, not me." But Glinda had seemed to have forgotten that part.
"Something you no doubt picked up from your mother. Whispers would have never been so presumptous."
"But I didn't-"
But Glinda was on a role. "And to think that I let you charm me."
"Will you shut up," Nor cried before she could stop herself. But she looked instantly alarmed at her own outburst and as though she expected Glinda to strike her. Scraps shivered in her arms and Nor made to soothe her again.
"Well have out it. Explain yourself then."
"I came to discuss Kiamo Ko and that's it. This is someone that I found in my travels. Ozma or not, I don't care. She is precious to me and I couldn't bear to lock her in my hotel room."
"So am I supposed to believe this is mere coincidence," Glinda said stiffly.
"Some ruler she will make, she can hardly dress herself in the morning," Nor said, but not unkindly.
Glinda softened and was once again all smiles. The shift was so abrupt that Nor was shaken by it. "Well she does certainly look like Tippetarius whether its true or not," she said after some consideration. "She cannot be seen or there will be a revolt. After all, this is what the masses are clamoring for."
Nor raised her head, alarmed. "Wait, the guards they saw..."
Glinda paused and turned quite pale. "Oh dear, I think you are right. And I sent them away. Oh dear, I may have made this mess for myself," she said, fretting. She gave Nor a slight accusatory look. "I am still not convinced that you didn't plan all of this."
Nor shrugged, not sure what to say. Certainly it would look like that to Glinda, that she was here to usurp the throne. "Really, I just wanted my father's fortress."
Glinda snorted. "Well too late for that now. The story of the Ozma's return is probably half-way to Quox by now." She flounced away.
Scraps lifted her head. "Glitter lady is angry."
"Oh don't worry about her. She's a silly old thing. Not much she can actually do or she would have." Nor helped her stand. "Do you like it here? Maybe you'd like to bring Miss Malina along and the two of you could live here for awhile."
Scraps scanned the great hall with her beautiful, dead eyes. "All cold and dead. Tip remembers. Terrible man fell from the sky. Everything wash in red. Take Tip away to Old Woman. Tip cry but no one hear."
"Yeah I know. But he's gone now. Gone far away. And he won't be coming back." Nor smiled to herself. "I won't let him." She kissed Scraps on the forehead and held her close.
What will happen now, Nor wondered. She had come to barter for her legacy and through Scraps she had gained all of Oz. Hardly what she had envisioned this morning. But it was true, she did not care if Scraps was the Ozma. She just knew she couldn't leave her.
She wondered what Fiyero would think.
Glinda returned a moment later. She said, "Follow me," briskly and then she swept away.
Nor told Scraps to stay where she was and hoped that she would actually do it this time.
A man stood ostentatiously in the doorway. He deflected an air of superiority. She already hated him.
"Master Avaric Tenmeadows," Glinda announced. "This is-"
"Illianora," Nor lied. Another fake name, but close enough to the truth. Besides she had reinvented herself so many times after her escape from the Southstair, what was one more?
"Right," Glinda said, sounding a bit short.
"Walk with me," he told Nor. He flicked his wrist at Glinda as if to say she was dismissed.
She bristled. "This is my castle," she said, affronted.
"Is that right?" Avaric proceeded to act as though she didn't exist. "I hear that you are the one who found our little Ozma."
"That is what you say."
He eyed her shrewdly. "What do you mean by that? That is not an answer."
"I have no proof of who she might be. Neither do I care."
He shrugged. "No matter. No matter. That is to say that it does not matter if she is or not. What will matter is that the people will believe she is Ozma."
"But-"
He laughed. "Politics, my dear. Something you know little about, if anything. It's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed." He paused and gave her another long searching look. "I must admit, you do look familiar. Is it possible we may have met, before?"
Glinda held her breath. After all, Nor could be considered a fugitive.
But Avaric snapped his fingers. "The Giddy Pixie. You were a bar maid."
Glinda relaxed and Nor gave him a small nod. He smirked. "My, my, ambitious aren't we?" But he went on without allowing her to answer. "Reminds me of someone I knew, once, years ago. A Winkie, of all things."
"Oh dear," Glinda moaned. She closed her eyes, dreading what was coming.
"Played at being a Sophisticate. Called himself a prince." He snorted. "But of course, everyone knows that Winkie's are blood-thirsty savages, the lot of them." He chuckled to himself. "Still it could have been worse. He could have been a Quadling." He laughed heartily at this.
"Vinkus," Nor hissed through clenched teeth.
"Oh, right. I suppose that is the politically correct term. But it's not as if anyone gives a toss."
Glinda shook her head and Nor kept her mouth shut while Avaric went on making an ass of himself.
"Anyway the fool got himself caught up in things that were too big for him and got himself killed for it. Lynched, beaten, dragged away never to be recovered. Was a shady business. Atleast that's what the rumors say. Well, I say 'Serves him right.' Meddling in affairs that are none of his concern. You'd do well to learn by his example, young lady."
"Oh my, well, this is certainly been lucrativious," Glinda said, breaking in. She took hold of Nor's hand and started to lead her away.
But Avaric stopped her. He wore a self-satisfied smirk. He lowered his voice, but not enough to spare Nor. "I think I may have made some leeway. She's gone over quite pale, you may have noticed. No doubt she will be having second thoughts of proceeding with this coup."
Glinda turned red in the face. "Oh you are a boor," she spat at him. And she whisked Nor out of sight.
The room they retreated to was hardly more than a broom closet. "Oh dear, if I had known he would go on like that about Whispers, I never would have...But that's Avaric for you. Always been that way, even when we were kids. Especially when we were kids. Dry your tears now. You don't want them thinking you weak. Quick with it now. I'm not saying this to be harsh but it's a dirty business and you need to grow a thick skin. Believe me there are worse ones out there and they will all be out for your blood, Love."
"But he was talking about my father," Nor said
"I know. I know but all the same."