Disclaimer, you know.
Dorothy awoke at around four o'clock the next morning. She sat up and opened her eyes for the first time in a while. Her head was no longer pounding which was a good thing. She looked down at herself and found that she was in a mauve colored night gown. She knew Glinda and Locasta must have changed her into it after they found her. Dorothy looked around the room and found the scepter floating at the foot of the bed. She smiled, got up, and walked over to it. Plucking it out of the air, she then smiled and walked into her closet. She found her normal dress and shirt sitting on a small table in front of the large mirror that was in the closet. She smiled and quickly she changed into it. When she emerged from her closet she walked over to her bedroom door and opened it. Walking out of her room the first place she decided to go was Alex's room. She didn't want to disturb Ellie or, or Aislynn, it was then that it occurred to Dorothy that in all this time she had not once been the Aislynn's room. She had never even seen it or knew where it was. As she walked on her way she resolved that she would look into this at some point. As she walked passed Locasta's room she wasn't surprised to find that door shut, however she was surprised to find Glinda's door shut. She, however shrugged this off and decided not to disturb her. As she reached Alex's door she found it open a crack. Dorothy carefully pushed the door open the find Alex, sitting at his desk, reading a book. She quietly pushed opened the door and quietly walked in. she quietly walked over to him and embraced him from behind. He chuckled and turned his head to see Dorothy's eyes staring into his own.
"What you reading?" Dorothy asked curiously
"A book on good swordsmanship." Alex said.
"Why?" Dorothy asked now curious, and worried.
"Because, Glinda had the Nome King make me a sword, it's lightweight, easy to carry, and only hits its intended target, it won't harm me, or anyone I care about." Alex said pointing to the sword still in its sheath.
"Okay, why did she have a sword made for you?" Dorothy asked curiously
"Beats me, according to her it's so I can defend myself with something better than a peashooter." Alex said taking off his reading glasses and setting them on the desk.
"Well then, I, I honestly have no remark for that." Dorothy said thinking about it for a second and then looking at the orb on the scepter.
It was glowing its usual green with the red haze in the middle. Dorothy looked at it, then back at Alex. She then smiled and kissed him on the cheek. It was then that they both heard someone knock on the door frame. Dorothy and Alex both looked and saw Both Locasta and Glinda standing in the door way. Glinda wearing a pink nightgown, and Locasta in one so white that is was really difficult to look at for more than a few seconds.
"I told you we'd probably find her here." Glinda said.
"Alright you win." Locasta said sighing in defeat.
"Good morning Glinda, good morning Locasta." Dorothy said.
"Good morning Dorothy." They both replied in unison.
"What brings you two here?" Alex asked curiously.
"Well I wanted to check on Dorothy." Glinda said.
"But she bumped into me since I had the same idea." Locasta said.
"When we found you weren't there Locasta suggested using the crystal ball." Glinda said.
"But Glinda bet that we would find you here in Alex's room." Locasta said.
"I swear you two are starting to sound like twin sisters." Ellie said appearing behind them with Toto and pockets in her wake.
"Ellie, why are you awake?" Glinda asked curiously.
"I saw you two here and figured it was more interesting than waiting for breakfast." Ellie said.
"Is Aislynn awake?" Dorothy asked curiously as Toto and pockets ran up to her.
"I was actually going to check." Ellie replied.
"Can I come? I was on my way here when I realized I had never, ever, seen Aislynn's room let alone been there." Dorothy said picking up Pockets and allowing her to crawl into her pocket.
"How are you two?" Dorothy asked looking at both of them.
"We're fine, it's you we were worried about, and you collapsed so suddenly." Pockets said trailing off.
"Yea, you gave us quite a scare." Toto said as Dorothy picked him up.
"I'm glad you two were worried about me, but you really shouldn't." Dorothy said walking over to Ellie.
"Dorothy, everyone worries about you." Ellie said as she led Dorothy to aislynn's room.
As they walked away from Alex's room they continued to the end of the hallway. Dorothy actually never thought there was anything down here. But she was surprised to see that the wall at the end of the hallway was actually a door made entirely out of the wall. There were no markings on the door. Just a small latch in the wall. Ellie smiled and lifted the latch. Pushing open the door in the process.
"Aislynn had the door designed this way because she felt it would be something her grandfather might do." Aislynn said as they walked in.
"Good morning Ellie, Oh, Dorothy you finally found the place." Aislynn said as Eve jumped off her lap.
"Good morning ace, good morning eve." Dorothy said giggling as Eve rubbed against Dorothy's legs.
"Good morning Dorothy." Eve said.
"Good morning momma." Pockets said.
"Good morning pockets." Eve said.
Dorothy looked around the room now. It was much different than hers. All the walls had a bookshelf against them. Each filled with books to the point where it seemed like it would be difficult to pull out one book without taking another with it. The floor, carpeting, walls, the ceiling, her bed and desk, as well as everything else in the room seemed to be colored emerald green. Ace seemed to like it though so she didn't make any remarks. She simply set Toto down on the floor and walked over to Aislynn who was seated at the desk, and had, before they arrived, been reading a book.
"She was up most of the night reading." Eve said.
"Was she now? Ace were you really up most of the night?" Dorothy asked looking at ace.
"Thanks eve, thanks, Dorothy I love reading, and you know that once I start it's hard to stop." Aislynn said.
"Ace, you can't do stuff like this, you know how bad it can be going around without sleep." Dorothy said.
"I know, I know." Aislynn said trailing off.
"Look, I'd give you a lecture but really I'm not in the mood." Dorothy said.
"Thank goodness." Aislynn said.
"I'll talk to you later, I'm going to go back to my room and sketch a bit." Dorothy said walking out with Toto following.
"When's breakfast?" Pockets asked curiously.
"In a few hours." Dorothy said.
"Awe." Pockets said sighing.
Dorothy giggled and soon they arrived back at her room. She set the scepter against the bedpost as she walked by and went over to her desk. She sat down and went into the desk. Taking out a piece of paper and some paints that had been put in there she decided to sketch a dress for Aislynn. taking out a pen and brush she then got up and walked over to her bed and grabbed the half full cup of water bringing it over to her desk and setting it down. She then set to her work. She wanted to make Aislynn a dress that was simple yet beautiful. But she then decided Aislynn may not like that. She then took out another piece of paper and went with another more simple design. Using the pencil as an outline she made the design of a simple looking dress. She then filled in the design with paint making it look like gold studded with silver buttons at the waistline. At the bottom hem of the dress there would be white lace and the same would be around the neck. At the end of the sleeves she wanted gold colored lace that matched the dress. As she finished the design the clock struck six. She sighed, got up, and walked over to her bed. She yawned and laid back. Dorothy sighed and looked at the scepter. She felt like she needed a bit of time to relax, but at the same time she knew that was hardly possible. She started thinking about many things at once. What did the jester's warning mean and when would he strike again, were just some of the questions that raced through her mind. She then sighed and decided to go back to Alex's room.
"Toto, keep an eye on pockets, I'm going to go talk to Alex." Dorothy said getting up, sliding on her flats and grabbing the scepter.
"Why do I have to stay?" Pockets complained.
"Because I don't want get interrupted by you, remember the rules you agreed to." Dorothy said.
Pockets sighed and Dorothy smiled. She then made her way to Alex's room. As she approached Alex's room she heard him talking with Glinda and Locasta. She knew it was wrong but she decided to listen in anyways.
"But we still can't tell her Locasta." Alex and Glinda said in unison.
"But don't you think she'll be upset when she finds out?" Locasta said.
"But she won't find out, as long as we're careful." Glinda said in quieter tone.
Dorothy felt upset, were her friends actually still keeping a secret from her? She was upset by this. She walked over to the door way and stared in. she then struck bottom of the scepter against the floor creating a loud bang. Locasta and Glinda quickly turned around.
"Find out about what?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Dorothy!" Alex exclaimed worriedly.
"Well?" Dorothy asked rather irritated at this point.
"Dorothy, I promise you it's nothing." Glinda said.
"Then surely you'd be fine with telling me." Dorothy said.
Alex sighed and got up. He then walked over to Dorothy. Dorothy stepped back as soon as Alex was close enough to touch her.
"Alex, I'm shocked that even you would keep a secret from me." Dorothy said leering at him angrily.
"To be fair, I did scare him into giving his word." Glinda said.
"This is why I haven't told you, I was more worried for both our sakes." Alex said.
"No, you worried about what Glinda may do to you for telling me!" Dorothy as the scepter began glowing brightly.
"Dorothy, calm down, once the scepter stops glowing, I'll tell you." Glinda said.
"How can I calm down when you guys promised to stop keeping secrets from me?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"Dorothy, please, calm down." Locasta said in a worried tone.
"Dorothy, since these two are rather impatient, I'll tell you, just hand me the scepter and sit down." Alex said holding out his hand.
Dorothy looked at Alex, her eyes welling up with tears. She sighed and tossed the scepter to Alex. Immediately Glinda waved her wand and a chair appeared behind Dorothy. She looked at it and sat down.
"Dorothy, when you told us that your aunt was expecting the triplets, you told Glinda to keep them safe in any way possible, and when you walked away from us Glinda had us devise a plan, the day they were born Glinda gave each of them her most powerful protection in the form of the protective kiss, the jester cannot touch your cousins. Which is why your aunt and uncle were on such long chains in the castle on the mountain." Alex explained.
"SO you meddled in something I could have easily taken care of?" Dorothy asked as a tear rolled down her face.
"Dorothy, you told me too, I did what I could, but I couldn't tell you what I had to do, I knew you wouldn't approved." Glinda said.
"Wouldn't approve? Oh you've got it wrong, I would have approved, I just don't approve of you guys not letting me in on the plan." Dorothy said.
"Dorothy, I, I…" Glinda said at a loss for words.
Dorothy felt she now knew where Glinda's thoughts lie in terms of these facts. She got up and walked away without a word. Alex was about to follow since Dorothy had left the scepter with him. But Glinda held him back. She looked at him dead in the eyes and shook her head. She then did a zip your lips motion. Alex said nothing for here, he merely nodded.
"Why would they leave me out of the plan, do I really take secrets that badly?" Dorothy asked herself
"Yes, yes you do." Came the booming voice of father time.
"Father Time!?" Dorothy exclaimed in surprise.
"Yes, and welcome, to the hall of clocks." Father time said referring to the room Dorothy was now standing in.
Dorothy looked around. Surrounding her was a circular room filled with clocks of many varieties. Each ticking loudly and relatively in sync with one another. Dorothy surprisingly found herself becoming slightly relaxed. Father time got up from the chair he was sitting in and walking over to the girl. His smile was warm and welcoming.
"Glinda told me to bring you here in the event that you were to nearly flip your lid again." He said chuckling and leading Dorothy over to the chair.
"What's so funny about that?" Dorothy asked as she let another tear roll down her face.
"Nothing in particular, just found Glinda's terminology funny, and it's one of many I've heard over the last several years." Father time said taking out a handkerchief and wiping Dorothy's eyes.
"Thanks." Dorothy said sniffing.
"Now, instead of pulling you out and allowing no time to pass between our passing Glinda asked me to keep you here for at least half an hour your time." Father time said.
"I'm assuming to let me have a good cool down?" Dorothy asked.
"You got it kid." Father Time said as they got to the chair.
"And are you going to make me sit here and relax?" Dorothy asked.
"Aha, it's assuming that where you are wrong, that is entirely your choice, who's to say that once you are sat down that you run off and end up somewhere else in my domain?" Father Time asked changing his outfit to a tuxedo outfit similar to Mr. Foreman's.
"This is true, I do have a habit of running off don't I?" Dorothy asked wondering why she really hadn't completely thought about it before.
"I cannot confirm or deny this for it could influence your decisions." Father time boomed out.
"Fair enough, how much time do I have to make a choice?" Dorothy asked curiously.
"As much time as you'd like, I have much to spare." Father time said chuckling.