Author's Note: Thanks for reading, we're getting to the end now. :-)

Chapter Thirty Four: Over the Rainbow

'This is crazy. Completely mental.' DG said her previous numbness fading. 'It's utterly over the rainbow!' This was one OZ phrase she understood and loved. Being 'over the rainbow' meant being somewhere a long long way away from sanity. It usually made her happy to say it.

'No it isn't.' Lavender replied tersely. 'I've told you. There are old ways…' The queen's voice faded from DG's understanding as she processed what was happening. Her mother loved her sister. She wanted her to be able to marry… there was a question about why Az should marry for love and she be forced to marry for politics but still… DG turned, her mother still talking, to look at Glitch he was still frozen staring into nothing looking even paler than usual. Cain had put one hand on the man's arm in concern. Cain. He met her eyes and they shared a long look.

DG suddenly remembered telling him she had everything she needed "right here" and she remembered the feeling of safety him being around had given her when they first met. It had never really changed. She took a deep breath and turned back to face her mother.

'We haven't.' DG said and faltered. She wanted her sister. Suddenly more than anything in the world she wanted Az with her holding her hand. She remembered their conversation from earlier. Az had told her she loved her. Stood by her and would support her no matter what. Clinging to that thought DG forced a little of her magic into her voice. It was enough to make it heard over Lavender. It glittered in the air white mist in the lamp lit room.

'We haven't had hundreds of years of tradition. There were hundreds of years of tradition. Then there was the witch. No court. No traditional way of doing things. Things changed during her reign. The Papay were peaceful then they hunted anyone near to their lands. Now they exist in an in between place. They cannot go back to their blood thirstiness but they also cannot be peaceful. The OZ is like this. It was strong and powerful the traditional ways worked. But then it changed into something much darker. Now it is in the in between place mother. Why can you not see it cannot return to what it was.'

Silence. Shocked silence.

'Why don't you think I can reign in the OZ? Because I will change things? Because I do not remember the traditions? Because I ran away?' DG asked and there was a genuine wanting in her voice. She wanted to know the answers to those questions.

'No. Because you are rash! You draw yourself when there is a chance that could make you ill. You ran away rather than risk telling me how uncomfortable you were. You almost ran a horse to death when you heard a friend was injured… you married a man rather than tell me you wanted to be with him… in case I would forbid it.' Lavender spoke softly. 'You made a treaty with an old enemy of the crown without even talking about.'

Silence again. DG felt a flush creeping up her neck. The truth hurts she thought suddenly, feeling the confidence she had mustered seeping away.

'With respect?' It was Glitch. He had unfrozen. 'With respect Your Majesties… DG did those things because she saw no other option… You wanted her to draw Jeb Cain a dear friend of hers. To make him ill instead? She saw no option but to limit the casualty to herself… how could she hurt someone else knowingly? Have you met your daughter?'

'She could never have told you have stifled she was at the palace.' Cain added quietly. 'You would not have heard it. DG is right, you tell she's ridiculous so often I'm shocked she doesn't think it's true.'

'I heard she only rode that horse so hard because you wouldn't let her go to General Cain.' Seb interjected too. Reddening alarmingly as he spoke.

'You told her you would send Cain away.' Glitch said. 'She loved him. Why not marry him?'

'Why not make a treaty with the Islar-Nari? When it is the right thing to do?' Cain asked.

'Every action has consequences even those which are traditional minded. Every reckless action is a consequence of your courts forcefulness with a Princess who cannot be untrue to her nature. She is so like you your Majesty, why can you not see it?' The advisor stood tall curls shuddering only a little as he trembled.

DG felt her eyes brim with tears. To be defended so. To be fought for. It felt good.

'You'd have me let her run off and raise chickens with the general?' The Queen asked. Her voice choked.

'You think we'd leave?' DG asked. Suddenly the idea of being back on the farm with Cain was all she could think about. It would be heaven she knew. To have engines to tinker with. To have horses for him to care for. To have miles and miles of Kansas to wander hand and hand…

'You want to.'

'Of course I do. But I won't. I don't even know if I do really. Mother I don't fit here! Not how you want me to… but this… With the Islar-Nari I can do this. This has felt good. I could do this.'

'You really believe the OZ is different now?' Lavender asked as if this was new information she had never considered before.

'Have you seen the brick route?' Cain asked dryly.

'The scar and the crack?' DG offered tentatively.

'The OZ was vast and powerful. It was worthy of being called great.' Lavender said almost in a whisper.

'It can be again.' Glitch said quickly. 'But not as it was.'

'Why can't Az marry Glitch?' DG waved a hand dismissing Glitch's squeaky reply. 'And I stay married to Cain. Why can we not make peace with the Islar-Nari and fix the turning malady. Why not?' DG asked quietly.

'I… I…' Lavender closed her eyes and tears shone on her cheeks.

'It's a new world Mother.' There was another long silence. In which Cain paced over to stand close to his new wife. He was relieved to find she wasn't shaking. Then the queen looked up. She nodded once in a gesture so reminiscent of her younger daughter that it made Glitch smile quietly.

'I guess we really are over the rainbow.'