Disclaimer you know.
Dorothy awoke to find Alex standing in the doorway. She sat up and noticed that Annabella was no longer in her crib. She held out her hand and the scepter flew over to her. She then got up and looked at Alex.
"Everyone else was up about two hours ago." Alex said.
"What time is it?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Six in the morning." Alex said.
"How come you didn't wake me up?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"None of us had the heart to do it." Alex said.
"Has anyone opened presents yet?" Dorothy asked.
"No not yet, all presents have been transported to Oz, as well as everyone besides me and Mr. Foreman." Alex said.
"Why?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Because my dad said if I was going to stay then an adult had to stay as well." Alex said.
"Fair enough, that's your dads way of thinking, what about the maids? Surely they're still here." Dorothy said.
"Yea, but my father wanted another adult as well." Alex said.
"Ah, did my aunt leave my spare dress anywhere?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Yes, your aunt put your dress in the closet." Alex said before walked out.
Dorothy smiled and walked to the closet. Opening it she reached in and pulled out her spare dress and quickly changed into it. She then walked over to the bed and slid her flats on and then walked out of the room. When she got down stairs she found Mr. Foreman and Alex waiting for her.
"So, I would assume that Glinda is probably watching us?" Alex asked.
"Yea probably, but do you think she has a bucket set up?" Dorothy asked.
"I hope so, I am probably going to get sick again." Alex said.
"What does it feel like during the transport?" Mr. Foreman asked curiously.
"Dizzying and nauseating at the same time." Dorothy said.
"I think I might have a bit of a solution." He said pulling out a small wax paper bag from his pocket and offered its contents to Alex.
"What's in it?" Alex asked curiously.
"Candied ginger." He replied.
Alex didn't even bother to question it, he just took a piece from the bag and popped it in his mouth. Mr. Foreman offered a piece to Dorothy but she politely declined. She had eaten candied ginger once when she was younger, and she knew she didn't really like it that much. Mr. Foreman shrugged and put the bag back in his pocket.
"Well then, is everyone ready?" Dorothy asked as the scepter began to glow brighter.
"I'm ready if you are." Alex said.
"Well then, grab on, you two Mr. Foreman." She said holding out the scepter.
Alex and Mr. Foreman both nodded and grabbed the scepter. Shortly after Dorothy felt herself lurch forward and she saw the usual scene of colors whizzing by her. She once more began to feel dizzy and sick. But she then found herself stopping abruptly and she fell forward into Glinda's arms.
"Ah, merry Christmas Dorothy." Glinda said.
"Merry Christmas Glinda." Dorothy replied catching her breath.
"So, nice place." Mr. Foreman said looking around.
"So you aren't even disturbed by the fact that we came here through magic?" Alex asked.
"Why should I be? I've live a good life, I've always wanted to do something amazing." Mr. Foreman.
"Fair enough." Alex said.
"Anyways, everyone is in the chambers." Glinda said.
It was then that Dorothy realized that they were in the banquet hall of the emerald city. She wondered why Glinda brought them here. But she shrugged this off. Glinda chuckled and walked around Dorothy and out of the banquet hall. Dorothy looked at Alex and Mr. Foreman who shrugged and followed Glinda. Dorothy then followed after them and as soon as she exited the banquet hall she found herself nearly tackled to the ground by Annabella. Finley then flew up to her.
"Come on Annabella." Finley said
"Merry Christmas Finley." Dorothy said.
"Yea, merry Christmas." He replied.
"Why are you chasing Annabella?" Alex asked walking over.
"She's been hyper all morning, she's been running around all morning." Finley said.
"Come on Annabella." Dorothy said picking her up
"Okay so she's fine around you." Finley said.
"Yea she likes Dorothy a lot." Glinda said.
"Yea well Ellie put me in charge of her, so have I failed my duty?" Finley asked worriedly.
"No, you haven't, but Ellie has definitely failed hers." Glinda said storming off to find her sister.
"Well that's a relief, come on you three, everyone else is in the chambers." Finley said leading them along.
Dorothy smiled and looked at Annabella who in turn looked at her as they walked along. Annabella then playfully tugged at Dorothy's hair.
"Annabella be gentle." Dorothy said wincing a bit as they walked into the chambers.
As soon as they arrived Dorothy set Annabella down as well as the scepter and marveled at what she was seeing. The chambers were completely decked out for the holiday, complete with a large Christmas tree where the throne normally stood. The presents were stacked up and neatly organized into separate piles. Dorothy smiled at the organization of the gifts.
"AH Dorothy gale." Came the voice of the Nome king.
"Hello Your majesty, Merry Christmas." Dorothy said.
"And same to you." The Nome king replied.
"So almost everyone is here then?" Mr. Teak asked.
"Just Glinda and Ellie are all we need." Aislynn said.
"Right, where did they…" Mr. Teak started to ask as Glinda came in dragging Ellie behind her.
"Sis I said I was sorry." Ellie said.
"So, you still put Finley in charge of Annabella." Glinda said.
"You put a chimp in charge of our daughter!?" Mr. Teak asked in a really concerned tone.
"Um, I'm a monkey thank you very much." Finley said.
"Whatever." Mr. Teak said.
"Right, anyways, let's not dwell on this we can argue about it later." Glinda said.
"Quite right Glinda." The Nome king said.
"Right anyways, I think we should let Annabella attack her pile first." Aunt Em and Aislynn said in unison.
"Agreed." Everyone said in unison.
Mrs. Teak then walked over and took Annabella's hand. She then led Annabella over to her pile of gifts. Surprisingly Annabella didn't seem too thrilled. She opened the gifts one by one. Most of the gifts were either more stuffed animals or picture books, typical things you would get a one year old girl. It wasn't until her last gift where it took a change.
"So this one is from you Dorothy." Mrs. Teak said handing it to Annabella.
"Best for last?" The Nome king asked chuckling.
Annabella opened the present and gasped, as did Mrs. Teak as Annabella pulled out a small silver locket and a few hair ribbons. What everyone's attention was on was the locket however. Dorothy smiled and walked over to Annabella and knelt down next to her.
"Open it." Dorothy whispered.
Annabella nodded and handed the locket to her mother to open. As soon as she did this and saw what was in it she chuckled in delight. She then handed the locket back to Annabella who giggled in delight.
"Dorothy." Annabella said hugging Dorothy.
"You're welcome Annabella." Dorothy said helping her put the locket on.
"What's in it?" Alex asked curiously.
"It's a picture of me, that way she can always have me with her." Dorothy said.
"Smart." Alex said.
"Dorothy should open hers next" Annabella said.
"I think that's fair, Dorothy?" Aislynn asked.
"Sure why not?" Dorothy said.
"Your pile is that one over there." Ellie said pointing over to the pile at the far end of the room.
Dorothy walked over to them and was about to say something when to her surprise Mr. and Mrs. Pryce walked in. Mr. Pryce was pale in the face and looked as if he had been vomiting for the last hour.
"So, you guys managed to convince him to come?" Dorothy asked.
"No, he asked if it would be alright if he and his wife tagged along." Glinda said.
"Fair enough, I see he took it well." Dorothy said chuckling.
"Thanks for the enthusiasm dear." Mrs. Pryce said sarcastically.
"No problem." Dorothy replied.
"Hey Dorothy, before you start opening things, have you ever seen the scepter do that before?" Alex asked curiously.
Dorothy looked at Alex and then looked at the scepter. She was surprised to see the scepter glowing strangely. She held out her hand and the scepter flew into it. For a brief second alongside the red haze that was in the middle there was a small golden ball of light. But it faded as soon as it was in her grasp. She looked at Glinda curiously for an answer.
"I'll explain later dear." Glinda said.
"So nothing dangerous?" Dorothy asked.
"nope." Glinda replied smiling.
Dorothy shrugged and picked up one of the gifts. On the little tag that was on it she found that it was from her aunt and uncle. She opened it and revealed the small album that her uncle had placed the picture of her and Alex's Christmas kiss the night before.
"Now that we've added your picture in it, it can go to you." Henry said.
Dorothy said nothing in reply to this. She just flipped through the album, there was a picture of her great grandparents, a picture of her grandparents, a picture of her aunt and uncle, and a picture of her own parents before it came to hers and Alex's picture. She saw that each picture had an individual date and time stamp written in ink below the pictures. Each being either the twenty fourth or twenty fifth of December at seven in the evening. Dorothy smiled and placed the album aside. She then picked up another gift. This one was larger. She looked at the tag on it and found that it was from Ellie. Opening it revealed a book. Dorothy opened the book and found that every sketch she had made while she was here in the emerald city recently was now compiled together in this book. Ellie walked over and embraced Dorothy tightly.
"How did you manage this Ellie?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"I had a little help, speaking of that, where is the china princess? I just realized that she and marshal mallow aren't here." Ellie said.
"I actually don't know." Glinda said getting up and walking over to the crystal ball.
She waved her wand over the ball and it immediately lit up. The scene changed to the china princess's room where she and Marshall Mallow were sharing a dance. Glinda sighed in frustration and then a crashing noise came from the back of the room.
"Sounds like your trio of friends are done for the day." The Nome king said as scarecrow tin man and lion came out from scarecrow's workshop.
"What did you guys do now?" Came the voice of Brianna from behind them.
"Brianna, I thought you and your parents went home for the holidays, everyone else did, even Alyssa and Elena." Ellie said turning around.
"Mom and dad are busy running business, so I decided to stay down at the parlor, merry Christmas by the way." Brianna said walking over.
"Same to you." Ellie replied.
"Thanks for showing concern Brianna, but we were just dismantling the old rainbow mover." Scarecrow said.
"And it didn't quite go, as planned." Tin man said in a tone of disappointment.
"Wait, so you guys figured it would be a good idea to dismantle heavy machinery while there are loads of people in here?" Dorothy asked looking at her friends with a surprised look.
"You know, the kid has a point, I mean what if it exploded?" Lion asked curiously.
"It doesn't have any components that can explode, several large metal pieces that are extremely heavy yes, combustible explosive parts, no, mostly because well, I'm made of straw." Scarecrow said.
"Okay, can we get back to the gift opening?" Aislynn and Mr. Teak asked in unison.
"Sure." Dorothy said.
She picked up another gift and found that it was from the china princess. Before she even got a chance to open it both the china princess and Marshall Mallow ran in panting.
"Sorry about that, we got a little, carried away." The china princess said through her breaths.
"Okay now the gang is definitely all here." Glinda said.
"Right, anyways." Dorothy said opening the gift.
Inside the gift from the china princess was a beautiful dress that looked as if she herself could have designed it. In fact it looked like one she would have designed. She looked at the china princess and smiled. The princess put up her hand as if to signal that Dorothy need not say anything about it. Dorothy smiled and stood up, letting the scepter float next to her so she could hold the dress out in front of her. It looked like it would fit her perfectly and it was definitely beautiful. It was light blue from the collar down until it got to the midsection, from the mid-section down the color faded from red to bright pink. She then folded up the dress and placed it to the side before sitting back down to open another gift.
"I think it's a beautiful dress." Em said.
"Same here." Dorothy said.
She then picked up another gift and found that it was from scarecrow, tin man and lion. She opened it and it revealed what looked like a music box. When she opened it she saw that in the middle was a small standing statue of herself and all of her friends. She then wound it up and it began to play a tune that she knew she had heard before but she couldn't place it.
"Thank you guys." Dorothy said shutting the music box.
"We all worked together on it." Scarecrow said.
Dorothy chuckled and placed the music box to the side and picked up the gift from Aislynn. As she opened it, the contents revealed a diary.
"Your aunt told me that you had never kept a diary so I wondered if it would be something you would want to try." Aislynn said.
"Yea, I have actually thought of keeping a diary, don't know why I never did it though." Dorothy said.
"Well, you are an open minded person at any rate." Aislynn said.
"Thanks ace." Dorothy said.
Aislynn smiled and then signaled for Dorothy to open another gift. There were now only three left in the pile. She then heard the sound of both Donna and Kelly yawning. Dorothy looked over to them and they both gave fake coughs to cover it. They had both been completely silent in their entire time here that Dorothy didn't even notice them. She picked up one of the gifts and found that it was from Alex. She looked at him curiously and opened it. She gasped at the contents, Alex had gotten her a beautiful necklace with a small ruby in the center of it. Everyone besides Mr. Teak gave a collective gasp at the sight of it.
"Alex, how did you ever come to afford that?" Mrs. Teak asked.
"By helping in the shop, I worked up a deal with dad." Alex said.
"Thank you alex." Dorothy said as Ellie helped her put it on.
"Open ours next." Donna said.
Dorothy looked at her last two gifts, one was a medium sized rectangular box and a rectangular wrapped gift that was shorter than the box in length, but larger in width. Opening it revealed a picture of her friends. All of them in a group photo. She looked at Donna and Kelly curiously and then wondered when they had the time to do this. But she didn't bother to question it.
"One gift left, it's from the Nome king and me." Glinda said chuckling.
"Well, knowing you Glinda, its either something amazing, or judging by how the scepter reacted earlier rather worrying." Dorothy said chuckling.
"You basically just described her and I working together in a geode." The Nome king said chuckling.
"What's a geode?" Alex asked curiously.
Both Mr. Pryce and the Nome king looked at him curiously. Mr. Pryce then thought about it for a minute and then chuckled.
"That's right you were out that day." Mr. Pryce said.
"That doesn't answer my question." Alex said.
"A geode is basically a large round stone with crystals on the inside, crack it in half and you get a beautiful looking decoration." The Nome king said.
"We should show him one at some point." Glinda said.
"I think there's something about it in that book Dorothy used to make Ellie's prism necklace." Scarecrow said.
"Well don't go checking now, I want everyone to see what we got Dorothy." Glinda said smiling.
"Yea, what did you two get her? You have managed to keep that a secret." The princess said.
"Then that narrows it down to something amazing, to something only slightly more worrying than before." Alex said.
"Don't correct my statements dear." Dorothy said smiling.
"Sorry, anyways just pick it up and open it." Alex said.
Dorothy nodded and picked up the box. As her hands touched it the scepter gave a bright flash and grew dim after a second. Glinda chuckled again, and this time the Nome king joined her. Dorothy looked at them for a seconds and then opened it. Inside was a shoe box, plain looking, and beige colored cardboard.
"Okay, so sis, what did you get Dorothy?" Ellie asked curiously.
"Can we let her open it first?" Alex asked looking at Ellie.
"I agree." Donna said.
"As do I." came Kelly's reply.
"Just open it!" Came a scream from Annabella making everyone jump.
"Okay, before she screams again, can we please just let her open it and get this over with?" Finley asked checking his pulse.
Dorothy nodded and opened the box. For a moment she met with a dazzling red light that made her look away and shield her eyes. She assumed this was the part she should find rather worrying but the red glow was familiar and welcoming to her. Toto barked a few times and ran over to Dorothy. Jumping into her lap, Dorothy knew Toto was most likely looking into the box while she was turned away. Toto barked a few more times this time in excitement.
"Dorothy, open your eyes." Toto said.
"Why what is it boy?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Just look." Toto replied.
Dorothy was surprised that Toto was acting like this. But she wasn't ready to argue this and opened her eyes. Turning her head to look back into the box she gasped at what she saw and nearly fainted. Scarecrow, tin man and lion walked over to get a closer look. The scarecrow chuckled for a second and looked at his comrades.
"Well, doesn't this bring back memories?" He said jokingly.
"Why? What is it?" Alex, Em and henry asked in unison.
Dorothy looked at them and smiled, then ever so slowly she set the box down in front of her and took Toto off her lap. She then leaned over and reached into the box and pulled out the ruby slippers. Everyone gasped, with the exception of Annabella and Mr. Foreman who were just amazed.
"Glinda, and your majesty, I, I d-don't know what to say." Dorothy said stuttering a bit.
"Say nothing about it then my dear girl." The Nome king replied.
"But, I must, I just can't find the words." Dorothy said.
"That's a first." Ellie, Alex, and Aislynn said in unison.
"There will be a lot of firsts in our lifetimes, what you really need to care about are the lasts." Mr. Foreman said chuckling.
"Nicely said Mr. Foreman." Glinda said chuckling.
"But sis, however did you manage to find them, you told me they were lost forever." Ellie said beginning to question her sister's honesty.
"They fell into my domain during Dorothy's first trip to Oz, I have kept them protected, and hidden away from all for many years, I expected the Glinda suspected it, and I was right." The Nome king said lighting up his pipe, "she came to me a few weeks ago and asked me if I could do her a favor, her favor was to return these to you, what bothers me the most however is that she knew I had them." He said after taking a few puffs of his pipe.
Dorothy had tears of happiness streaking down her face at this point. She looked at the scepter which now had returned to its normal state. It was then that Dorothy thought about something for a second. How could Glinda have possibly known that the Nome king what truly in possession of the slippers? She didn't however dwell on this for very long because it would spoil her good mood.
"Two objects of power, united at last." Ellie said chuckling.
"How do you mean?" Alex asked curiously.
"I'll explain later." Dorothy said taking off her flats and sliding on the slippers.
"They still fit you perfectly, after all this time." Scarecrow said.
"They belong to her, they bend to her needs." Glinda said.
"Do they still work the same way?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Yes." The Nome king replied.
Dorothy smiled and plucked the scepter out of the air. As her fingers closed around it, the scepter began to glow brightly, sending a wisp of light out of the orb at the top down to the ruby slippers. As the light hit the slippers they began to glow brightly. Dorothy looked at Glinda and the Nome king curiously for answers.
"The scepter is transforming them into footwear that you are more comfortable with." The Nome king said chuckling.
Dorothy smiled and looked down at the slippers. The slippers turned into shoes similar to flats but with a heel maybe a corner of an inch thick. The glow then subsided and the transformation was complete. Dorothy felt as if she were being reunited with an old friend. She smiled and walked over to Glinda and the Nome king and hugged them both tightly. She then walked over to her aunt and uncle and did the same. She continued this pattern with all of her friends until she got back over to Alex whom she kissed on the cheek. She then smiled and looked at her friends.
"Thank you, and if no body objects I think I'm going to head to my room." Dorothy said.
"That's alright dear, but why?" Em asked curiously.
"I want to relax for a bit." Dorothy said tightening her grasp on the scepter.
"Okay dear, that's alright" Em said.
Dorothy sighed and walked out of the chambers. It didn't take her long to get back to her room. She walked over to her bed and sat down on it. She then pulled off the slippers and held them in her hands. They brought back the memories of her first visit to Oz. her feelings of happiness however were broken by the strange feeling that she wasn't alone here. She hated this feeling, it most of the time meant that the jester was near.
"So, my sister's idea out done by a little girl." Came the voice of the jester from behind her.
"What are you doing here?" Dorothy asked not even turning around.
"It's the holidays, even my sisters wouldn't do anything evil during the holidays." He said doing a flip in the air so that he could see her face.
Dorothy looked up and him with a look of pure venom. The jester backed away immediately into Glinda.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Wow, it's really echoing in here today isn't it, you knew my family well enough, neither of my sisters would do anything bad during the holidays, and I intend to follow that pattern." The jester said.
"How do I know your being truthful?" Glinda asked curiously.
"You know how you can find out." The jester said.
"Glinda, he's right." Dorothy said getting up and walking over to the dresser.
She then knocked on it twice and it opened. Dorothy pulled out the book and set it on her bed.
"The truth hurts doesn't it?" The jester asked curiously.
"No one knows it better than me." Glinda said sighing and walking over to the book.
As she approached the book she sighed and opened it. Immediately the book began to float in the air so that the spine of the book could face the jester. Glinda's eyes darted around the page of the book she was on and soon after Glinda plucked the book from the air and sighed.
"You win this round, but I've got my eye on you." She said placing the book back into the dresser.
"Should I expect better from you, sweet Glinda?" The jester asked teasingly.
"Has everyone else opened their gifts yet?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Dorothy are wondering how you ever managed to afford such gifts, I mean you got Ellie a silver heart shaped locket with a picture of her an I in it, you got Aislynn a locket with the picture of her grandfather in it, I see a pattern here but how could you afford all those?" Glinda asked curiously.
"I got help from my aunt mostly." Dorothy replied.
"Ah how sweet." The jester said making a gagging noise.
"You should probably go." Dorothy said glaring daggers at him.
"I figured you didn't want me to stick around, well then, merry Christmas." He said vanishing.
"You know, just his presence gives me the creeps." Dorothy said.
"I can imagine." Glinda said walking over to Dorothy and placing a hand under her chin.
Dorothy looked up at Glinda and smiled. She was about to say something when her aunt and uncle appeared in the doorway. They were followed by Ellie, Aislynn, Alex, and Mr. and Mrs. Teak. Annabella was currently whimpering in her mother's arm at the thought of the jester even being there.
"So, he was here then?" Alex asked.
"Yep." Dorothy said.
"Thanks for the watch by the way." Alex said holding up a pocket watch.
"You're welcome." Dorothy said.
"We've sent the Maitlands home, Mr. Foreman insisted he stay." Ellie said.
"How?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Dorothy believe or not we have set up precautions in the event that the jester shows up." Glinda said.
"And behind my back?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"We've been planning them for a while, you couldn't know because you would be against it dear." Em said.
"Auntie Em, it's not that I don't agree that precautions were needed, but why not tell me about it?" Dorothy asked.
Because once again, you would be against it." Em repeated.
"Okay then." Dorothy said sitting down on the bed.
"You guys, I think we should just leave Dorothy alone for now." Alex said.
"I think that would be a good idea." Dorothy said.
Alex nodded as her friends, as well as her family walked out. She then picked up the scepter and waved it in the direction of the door. Which slammed shut and locked. She began to wonder why her friends always kept these things a secret from her. She knew they had their reasons but she still wondered why everything was being kept from her.
Meanwhile in the library.
After they had left Dorothy's room and back to the chambers, scarecrow, Alex, Aislynn, Ellie and Annabella went to the library. Alex was keeping his sister from running around everywhere and hurting herself. Ellie and Aislynn were helping the scarecrow organize some books.
"So, Dorothy and alex had their first Christmas kiss last night." Aislynn said handing some books to the scarecrow.
"That's sweet." Scarecrow said.
"Yea, mistletoe trap." Ellie said climbing up the bookshelf.
"Ellie please don't do that." Scarecrow said placing the books on the shelf.
"No I mean seriously, mistletoe trap." Ellie said getting on top of the book shelf and holding a sprig of mistletoe over scarecrow and Aislynn.
"Oh now that's not fair." Aislynn said.
"Oh it's completely fair." Ellie said chuckling.
Scarecrow chuckled and finished putting away the books. He then jumped off the ladder and was immediately pulled into a quick kiss by Aislynn causing him to physically blush.
"There happy now?" Aislynn asked curiously.
"Quite." Ellie said slipping the mistletoe back into her pocket.
"Okay, let's agree never to do that again." Scarecrow said as he finished blushing.
"Agreed." Aislynn said.
"So, how are you going to re-create the rainbow mover?" Ellie asked curiously.
"Well first I'm going to start with a new design." Scarecrow said.
"Can I help?" Aislynn asked curiously.
"Only if Dorothy approves." Scarecrow said.
"Fair enough." Aislynn said.
"You know, I feel like we should really stop keeping these things from Dorothy." Ellie said.
"Ellie, you know Dorothy doesn't want us to be doing stuff like our secret meetings to get precautions in place." Scarecrow said.
"Scarecrow, she is really upset by the fact that we keep this stuff from her." Glinda said walking into the room.
"I know, but you're the one who said it would be best." Scarecrow said.
"I know what I said, but I feel like sooner or later we'll drive her to the point where she just stops trusting us and take things into her own hands." Glinda said.
"But she promised she wouldn't run off." Ellie said.
"And you promised you'd watch my sister, what's your argument!?" Alex shouted.
"Okay definitely not keeping in the Christmas spirit but, never mind." Aislynn said.
"Where are Mr. and Mrs. Gale?" Scarecrow asked curiously.
"They've gone to Dorothy's room with Mr. Foreman as well as Alex's parents to see if they can comfort her, or if she just needs a bit of a cool down." Glinda said.
"But Dorothy surely locked the door to her room at this point." Ellie said.
"I gave them a key to her room." Glinda said.
"Fair enough, Merry Christmas." He said walking past Glinda and out of the library.
"Do you really think that Dorothy would actually run off on her own?" Aislynn asked worriedly.
"Sadly yes, the secrets we keep from her about our preparations for war, we are doing more harm to her emotionally and mentally than we are helping her." Glinda said.
"Well, I, um, oh Mr. Foreman where's Mr. and Mrs. Gale?" Ellie asked as he walked over.
"Currently trying to convince Dorothy that you guys were doing this to try and help her." Mr. Foreman said.
"Oh dear, I think we should probably go talk to her." Ellie said looking at her sister.
"Agreed." Glinda said taking her sister's hand and walking out followed by everyone else.
Meanwhile back in Dorothy's room.
"Auntie Em, what I'm still not getting is why you guys can't tell me how this is supposed to help me." Dorothy said.
"Dorothy, like we said we are doing this to help." Henry said.
"But help with what, I don't want this going to all-out war." Dorothy said.
"Dorothy, please just don't worry about it." Henry said.
"How can I not worry about it, not only is this happening on Christmas, but this is happening for what? The third maybe fourth time?" Dorothy asked sounding frustrated.
"Dorothy my dear, please calm down." Came Glinda's voice as she walked in.
"Then tell me why you guys have been having secret meetings behind my back." Dorothy said.
"Because, Dorothy whether you like it or not this will most likely lead to all-out war." Glinda said walking over to Dorothy and placing a hand under her chin.
"You keep saying that but you never let me get a say in the happenings." Dorothy said.
"Dorothy, how about this, we'll allow you to sit on the meetings from here on out, I admit that my decision to keep you out of this stuff was a poor choice on my part but I thought I had my reasons." Glinda said.
"I think that's fair enough, but no more secret meetings." Dorothy said.
"That's a fair deal." Glinda and scarecrow said in unison.
"Um Glinda, if you wouldn't mind, I think it's about time my husband and I be getting home." Mrs. Teak said interrupting.
"When should I send alex and Annabella?" Glinda asked curiously.
"Whenever they get bored I guess." Mr. Teak said.
"Okay then." Glinda said waving her wand causing them to vanish.
"Actually speaking of that Glinda, would you mind sending henry and I back home as well, I know you've been sending everyone back to the manor, we do want to get home before dark." Em said.
"Sure, Mr. Foreman would you like to head back to Kansas as well?" Glinda asked curiously.
"No thank you, not right now." He said
"Okay then." Glinda said waving her wand causing Em and henry to vanish.
Dorothy sighed and sat down on the bed. She then picked up the slippers and slid them on. She immediately felt a warmth spread through her and tranquility that she normally felt when she used the pink orb. She then sat up and looked at Glinda for a second.
"Do you mind if I do a little bit of traveling using the slippers?" Dorothy asked.
"Depends on where you want to go." Glinda said.
"Shall I make a list of possible places and submit it for your approval?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Sure." Glinda replied.
"Well then, oh looks like Annabella needs a nap." Dorothy said looking over at Alex who was holding a yawning Annabella in his arms.
"I'll go set up a crib in Ellie's room, you don't mind sis do you?" Glinda asked curiously.
"Not at all sis, just don't make a mess of things." Ellie said walking out.
"Fair enough, alex take her to Ellie's room." Glinda said.
Alex nodded and walked out and in the direction of Ellie's room.
"When will that tea be ready?" Mr. Foreman asked curiously.
"Soon I except." Glinda said.
"Great, well I'll be at the chambers waiting for the tea." He said walking out.
"Mr. Foreman." Dorothy called.
"Yes Dorothy my dear?" he asked popping his head back in the room.
"Merry Christmas." She said chuckling.
"Same to you my dear." He replied before leaving.
"Dorothy, can you promise me something?" Glinda asked turning to face her once more.
"That all depends." Dorothy replied.
"On what?" Glinda asked curiously.
"Whether or not you're going to tell me the same thing you guys have been telling me, which is not to go looking for the jester." Dorothy said.
"Well, never mind then." Glinda said.
Glinda then smiled and placed a hand under Dorothy's chin. Slightly tilting her head to the left and right. She then chuckled a bit.
"What's so funny?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"I'll explain later, I should probably go set up the crib in Ellie's room, Merry Christmas." Glinda said smiling and walking out of room.
Dorothy smiled and down on her bed. She then giggled and lay back. She found this Christmas one the best ones she had so far, and this one was finally spent with friends. She then got up and walked over to the window. It had started snowing. She smiled, sat down, and watched.