AN: Yes, yes, it's been a while, and I am truly sorry. I've been busy with school, but I've found a break, so here it is! The sixth chapter! Hopefully it won't be as long before the seventh comes out. :)

Enjoy!

Chapter Six:

Cain smiled as he took another bite of fish, careful to chew slowly and spit the small bones aside. Ambrose sat across the fire, munching happily on a fruit that he had traded with a passing Pahpay. The creatures had become increasingly peaceful since the queen's return to the thrown. The Pahpay they had come upon had been more than willing to trade his fruit for a few fish and news from the palace – more so for the former than the latter. Cain had been wary of the creature during their meeting, his hand resting on his belt near his gun while Ambrose had eagerly approached the creature, chatting with it politely.

And now they sat, Cain with his fish and Ambrose with his fruit, neither knowing what to talk about.

The tin man cleared his throat after a while, having finally thought of something they might be able to talk about civilly. "So," he began, "did you know Azkadellia and DG when they were younger?"

The inventor chuckled. "I did," he confirmed with a nod. "I was there when they were born."

Cain's eyebrows rose slightly. "Really?"

Ambrose nodded. "Azkadellia was born much too early. She almost didn't survive . . . She was so small." The inventor's eyes glazed with the memory. "And DG; she was stubborn and very, very late. The doctors would have had to induce the birth if she hadn't come when she did."

The tin man smiled slightly. "I was away when Jeb was born. I didn't even get to meet him until he was two months old . . . but the first time I held him, he gave me his very first smile."

"Sounds like it was worth it," Ambrose said.

Cain nodded. "What were they like when they were younger?"

The inventor shifted slightly, taking a breath and delving into his mind for the memories. "DG was ambitious, brave . . . troublesome. There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't get herself into some kind of trouble, and she always ran to my lab when she was hiding from Tutor or her mother." Cain chuckled. "Azkadellia was smart, studious. She spent most of her time either in the library or in my lab watching me work. She even designed a few handy gadgets – alarms to alert me when it was time to eat, things to help me keep track of time." Ambrose removed the pocket watch from his vest, turning it in his hand carefully. "She made this for me." He tinkered with it a moment. "It was to be a wedding gift."

Cain's eyes widened. "A . . . A wedding gift?" The inventor nodded. "But she was just a kid!"

"She was two years older than the queen was when she was married," Ambrose said defensively, smiling after a moment. "She is the one who proposed."

"She asked you to marry her?" The tin man asked incredulously.

"No, she asked her mother," the inventor explained with amusement, taking another bite of his fruit. It really was very good. It had been extinct along with the flowers that the queen had loved so much, and, thanks to DG, both were back in bloom in the land of the Pahpay. "It was a request for her fifteenth birthday."

Cain's eyebrows furrowed. "She asked to marry you for her fifteenth birthday?"

"The queen was ecstatic," Ambrose huffed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

"I take it you weren't."

"I didn't love her," the adviser admitted with a regretful smile. "But I was serviced to the queen. And everyone knows you don't refuse a queen's request."

The tin man looked confused for a moment. "Did she even ask you? Or did she just outright tell you that you had to get married?"

Ambrose froze, the words to defend the queen on the tip of his tongue and holding there. He couldn't remember. For the first time since his surgery, he couldn't remember something. "I . . ."

"Ambrose?" Cain asked with concern, sitting forward slightly. "Are you all right?"

"No, I . . . I mean yes. I'm fine. I just . . ." The inventor stumbled over his words. "I think I need some sleep."

The tin man nodded, studying the other carefully.

"I think we both do."

0 o 0 o 0

The Story of Ambrose:

Once upon a time – and a very strange time it was – there lived a girl with three older brothers and three younger sisters. She wanted so badly to be seen, so badly to be unique and to stand out from her family. But no one saw her, and no one could see how brilliant she was. Every night, she would slip away to the city, where she would hide away in the library, reading as many books as her tired, dark eyes would allow.

On her thirteenth birthday, there arrived a letter for her: an invitation from the elves! They asked her to come to their kingdom and hold a child during its christening. Her parents refused, encouraging her to forget the letter, burn it. But she had read long ago in a very big book that it was not wise to refuse an invitation from the elves.

And so she secretly accepted. The day of the christening, two elves arrived on the doorstep. Her family begged her not to go, and for a short moment she considered. They had never noticed her before. They had never even cast her a glance, too occupied with themselves. But the elves wanted her. They thought she was special enough to be the godmother of an elf. So she left, following the elves to their mountain kingdom and imagining all the wonderful things she would tell her family upon her return.

She held the child at the christening, finding that the child was not an elf at all, but a human child with hair and eyes as black as night. The elves were not permitted to name a human child, and so asked her to. After careful consideration, she smiled and whispered the name into the infant's ear, because she had read that once an elf was known to the name of a human baby, the baby was theirs to raise and keep.

After the christening, there was a celebration. Three days it would last, the elves told her, and three days she stayed, dancing and drinking and singing. After three days, the elves led her back from their kingdom with a small basket as a token of their appreciation. When they returned to her home, she found it gone, the land covered with tall grass.

Three days she had spent in the kingdom of the elves, only to find that one-hundred years had passed in the land of humans. Her family, her life, was gone. The elves did no more than leave her to mourn.

When she discovered she was alone with nothing but the basket to keep her company, she wept, falling to her knees and crying until nightfall, when a young man happened upon her. He was a traveler and a great inventor, cast into the streets at a young age and forced to survive on his own. But he didn't much mind. He liked seeing new places and making new inventions to sell . . . though he could not stand to see a beautiful girl such as she so distraught.

When she had sobbed her story into his handkerchief and calmed herself, he lay a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, offering a sad smile and a place to stay. He introduced himself. Jacob was his name. Anna was hers. As they stood, a noise came from the basket that she had been given by the elves – a soft cry – and when she pulled back the white cloth covering its contents, she gasped.

There lay the baby she had held in her arms during the christening.

Jacob was wary of bringing the infant with them, accusing the elves of enchantment and dark magic. But Anna would hear none of it, cradling the baby and gently singing.

Several years passed. Jacob and Anna were married, raising the child as their own. He was small, not very strong, but very smart and took an interest in Jacob's work immediately. Anna schooled him at home, afraid his frail nature would only hinder him if he was subjected to public schooling and other children . . . and she was afraid that his secret might be discovered.

The boy was not like other boys, or any children for that matter. He grew with the enchantment of the elves, and so was both blessed and cursed with their immortality.

Years passed, and the boy grew little by very little while his parents aged profoundly. On her death bed, Anna whispered the amazing tale of their life to her boy, and he was very sad to think that he must live alone and isolated for eternity – for what was the use of friends if he was going to outlive them? But his mother was smart. She had learned the elves' secrets, and she knew how to break the enchantment. Then, and only then, would he be free to live a life of mortality.

Anna died, as did Jacob, and the boy was left utterly alone.

AN: Hope you liked! Stay tuned for what's to come! Later, Gators! Catch you on the flip side.