Chapter Thirty Three: The Queen's Ship

Lavender had insisted discussions took place on the ship she had come into the Reed Lands on. So they had been bundled on board unceremoniously. Now the four of them were sat in a richly decorated chamber in the mid-section of the ship.

'This is utterly ridiculous.' The Queen said sharply.

'No it isn't.' DG replied.

'You are not in a position to do this DG. You do NOT speak for me.' The Queen's eyes burned angrily.

'I speak for the people. THIS was the ONLY way mother.' DG spoke with a deep passion.

'Don't be so ridiculous!' the older woman repeated.

'Your majesty, I don't think you are quite understanding the situation-' Cain interjected doing his very best to be polite and managing insincerity instead.

'Oh do be quiet General Cain.' The Queen said her voice sounding weary. 'I am holding you responsible for this mess. If you had discouraged the foolish crush my daughter has on you in the first place then she would not have chased you half way across the OZ and would not have ended up in a position to think she could make agreements with the gypsies!'

'Foolish?' DG echoed shocked. Her mother had been cruel before. Thoughtless. Unfair. But never so utterly dismissive… so hideously… so… so… so…. 'Foolish?' She said again.

'Oh DG…' her mother said in a patronising tone.

'Foolish and I THINK I'm in a position to make agreements?' there was cool edge to the Princesses voice now. They had been arguing for over two hours before they had reached this point. Up until now DG had kept her calm hoping for a calm solution to the issues before them. But her voice was like iron now.

'I am a Princess of the OZ. I might not like it. I certainly didn't choose it. But it is what I am. DO NOT tell me what I think. I did not have a foolish crush on Cain. I did not erroneously chase him because of a crush. I came out here because I could help here. Because I love him. I also did not make a treaty with the Islar-Nari I am not prepared to keep. I made one I will keep.' It was flat statement of fact.

The queen stared at her daughter in disbelief.

'I also married General Cain.' DG said with a smile raising her left hand and letting the light catch her wedding ring. Behind her Cain smiled. Glitch winced. There was the longest of quiets. Quiet not silence because there was a ripple of whispers in the room. The servants… the other generals… they all were speaking quietly stealing looks at the princess and her husband.

'That…' Said the Queen after the quiet had stretched painfully thin. 'Can be dealt with later. Right now I need to think how to deal with situation you have created with the gypsies.' She made a waving gesture with her hands dismissing them from her company. To DG's shock they her firmly ushered from the room.

Stood on deck in absolute shock DG looked at Glitch.

'What the hell just happened?'

(###)

'Can she do this?' Cain asked, his voice gravelly and grim.

'Which… Throw us out of her presence or "deal with" your marriage?' asked Glitch. He was sat in the bow of the ship looking decidedly unhappy.

'Either.' The Tin-man asked his eyes locked onto the Princess, who was stood several feet away communicating with her sister.

'Both actually.' The adviser said sadly. 'Your marriage does not have to be recognised by the rest of the OZ and the Queen can choose who is in her company. But…'

'But what?' The older man asked gruffly.

'But she should recognised your marriage. She should listen to her daughter!' Glitch's voice was higher than usual. 'I don't understand her!'

'She don't like change. Or challenge.' The Tin Man replied. His eyes still on DG.

'This is crazy. She is doing it all wrong. She is making castles out of hazelnuts!' The advisor said angrily.

'Hazelnuts? Castles?' Seb asked. He couldn't help himself.

'Oh… No. That's not right is it… Making something big out of something little?' The advisor looked at Seb and then Cain questioningly.

'Molehills. Mountains.' Wyatt Cain said turning his attention to Glitch his pale eyes concerned. Since being re-brained Ambrose usually functioned like everyone else. He still stuttered sometimes but that was it. It was only when he was incredibly concerned or stressed that his mind threw him a bad card: "jokers" as Jeb Cain had called them.

'Tell me.' The words were pointed and direct.

'This is not what I expect. Lavender…. Is good. Kind. She wouldn't be like this unless…'

'Unless what?'

'Unless she really doesn't think DG can rule the OZ.' Glitch turned his pale face on the Tin Man. Who in return simply adjusted the fedora on his head.

'Ah.'

(###)

'Is this true?' DG asked. Her voice was calm and her eyes painful wide. She had the look of the girl who had fallen through a storm and discovered the whole of her life was a lie. Her eyes huge and her face wide open.

'Is what true?' Lavender asked her voice tinged with impatience.

'That you don't think I'm capable of ruling the OZ.' The strength of the statement forced Lavender to look up. Her youngest daughter was stood in front of her. She was stood hair a tangle of dark curls, eyes enormous and bright blue. She was wearing a plain grey dress and a fierce expression. Behind her was the Tin Man. When, wondered Lavender suddenly, had she last looked at her daughter and not seen Wyatt Cain behind her? She'd sent them off on different errands a while ago hoping time apart would stop the inevitable. It obviously hadn't.

Wyatt Cain was wearing his usual uniform of browns. A long duster coat and fedora, pale hair and eyes glittering at her from beneath them sternly. Next to him was wild haired Ambrose. Lavender again wondered when her advisor had become her daughter's companion instead. When they fought the witch? Or after that when their kingdom was slowly pulled back together thread by thread. The boy was there too trying to look confident and actually looking scared.

'DG don't be-'

'If you tell me not to be ridiculous I will scream.' DG said angrily.

'What?' Demanded the Queen.

'That is all I have heard since I moved in to the palace. Don't be ridiculous. Like every idea I have is so absurd it can't possibly be considered. It's worse than being argued with. It's worse than be told I'm wrong. It's being dismissed as crazy. Impossible. I'm SICK of that! I am NOT ridiculous.'

'DG you can't behave like this. You cannot go around challenging the way things have been done for hundreds of years. Changing laws. Making new schools. Making new friends… enemies… any of it. You can't act like this- you're a Princess of the OZ that has meaning! It matters! Some of your ideas are great but the rest are so far beyond what we know…'

'SO!' DG asked feeling like a teenager all of the angst and pain of being misunderstood making her blood boil. 'What is the issue with change?'

'The fact you don't see an issue is the problem! Don't you understand? There are consequences to actions even new ones. You might have new ways of doing things but the Kingdom has old ways of handling it! You think you can marry a general and then your sister can marry an advisor? It does not work like that! The court will object! Only one of you can choose to go outside of the old ways and I had thought…' Lavender trailed off sighing.

'You did not want Cain and I to be together because you wanted Azkadellia to be able to marry Glitch?' The words fell from DG's mouth like they belonged to someone else. Behind her Glitch froze like he had a knife in his back.

'I know it. Darling Girl. I know the court will not accept two consorts of low birth. I know how difficult it was for your father. He was spurned. He struggled. He was taunted and he was outcast. He put up with it all for me. I know Ambrose would manage it all for your sister…' She gave her advisor a kind smile.

'You were going to send Cain away because you want Az to marry Glitch.' DG repeated numbly.