The trip took far longer than anticipated. After he examined the body, the Wizard interviewed a winkie farmer who lived across from Gayalette's cabin, who confirmed that the witch had been deceased when he saw her body through the window the prior night.

At the end of it all, the Wizard tiredly declared that Gayalette had died from natural causes. It was already late afternoon when they departed from the deceased witch's cabin. They still had a three hour walk ahead of them.

The Wizard was quiet as the group made the journey back and ignored the chanting of the winkie soldiers.

Finally, after a nearly three-hour walk, the group returned. The Wizard was exhausted. But he immediately noticed that none of the Winkie Guards were stationed at their posts outside. Something was wrong.

"Wizard, I'm heading home", the captain informed him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Upon saying goodbye to the captain, the Wizard entered the castle. When he passed the glass rotunda at the entrance, he still did not see any of the guards stationed at their posts. What was going on?

His eyes became wide when he saw two little Winkie children dashing towards him. The oldest one appeared to be around four and the smaller one was barely able to walk and still wore a diaper. "You have to help us!", the eldest one squeaked. "She's gone berserk!"

Oh no, the Wizard thought to himself. "Where is she", he frantically asked.

"In the junior ballroom! Hurry! Please!", the small child squeaked.

He darted as quickly as he could towards the ballroom. He ran past the dining room and the multitude of bedrooms as he then swung right to a larger hallway. He could hear distant noises and screams, so he knew he was getting closer. As he barged down the long hallway towards the gold-plated doorway of the ballroom, his heart began to race like he was about to enter battle. He was scared, but he tried to push his fear down.

"STOP!", he screamed as he stepped into the ballroom. It was a big space. Besides an array of Winkie Guards surrounding the room, there was a bunch of terrified and sobbing Winkie children and adolescents packed together in the middle, some of whom had their backs pressed against the wall on the opposite side. When he saw a Winkie child dangling in the air and a group of Winkie adults who were bound and blindfolded, he became incredibly angry.

The witch had her back to him, but not for long. She slowly turned her head when she heard his voice. She held her broom in one hand, which she dropped to the floor. She held a fireball in her other hand, which started to dissipate as her hand curled up into a fist. Her normal red hat had been turned black. As she partially turned towards the Wizard, her ominous glare met his. She looked furious.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING", the Wizard demanded angrily as he began to take giant and energetic steps towards the witch's position. "WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?" The witch didn't respond, but merely continued to glare ragefully at him.

But after several moments, she finally broke her silence. "You! How dare you—"

But he didn't allow her to finish. He was so incredibly irate that, even for a split second, he completely forgot that Theodora was a witch. He was fuming so much that he didn't even realize how loud he was screaming. "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK WHAT YOUR EXPLANATION IS! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" He then pointed to the child that was floating above them, his heart still pounding in his chest. "RELEASE THAT CHILD!"

After a moment of silence where Theodora did not say anything, he reiterated. "NOW!" The witch had never seen him this angry before. In fact, the Wizard never even realized that he could become this angry. But there he was, boiling mad with his own rage.

The witch slowly lowered her hand as the child floated safely back to the ground.

"Now, everyone here needs to go home", the Wizard demanded. The witch curled her red lips into a frown, but ultimately nodded her head begrudgingly at the Winkie Guards as they proceeded to leave. As the Winkie maids and servants started to hurriedly leave, with many of them holding their hands to their face and sobbing along the way, he angrily curled his finger in the witch's direction. "Theodora…come here!" They walked to a nearby pantry. The witch was so incensed. Had this been anyone but the Wizard, she would have blasted him into oblivion.

The Wizard slammed the door shut as the pair entered. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?", he asked with fury in his voice. He angrily gestured with his hands at the witch. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Theodora snapped at him. "What do you mean what is wrong with me? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? How dare you place the blame back onto me for this! You disappeared and left me with no choice! Besides, Wizard, this wasn't as bad as it looked! You need to calm down and stop being so sensitive! I'm not the one with trust issues!"

Being taller than the witch, he bent his knees and looked her straight in the eyes. "This wasn't as bad as it looked. This wasn't as bad as it looked. Are you kidding me? You were about to light that boy on fire! Don't give me the 'this wasn't as bad as it looked' speech!"

The witch gasped. "Wizard, I know my methods are sometimes unorthodox. But it's not like I was going to do it, okay? Stop overreacting! You always act so sensitive to everything! These Winkies need to know fear, otherwise they are never going to do anything I say or tell me the truth! And they aren't going to be honest with me unless I pry it out of them! That's what I had to do! Clearly, they have been manipulating you from the start. The Winkies are very devious like that!"

"Theodora, what are you talking about? Didn't you receive my NOTE that I left on the dining room table? I went with the captain because your aunt passed away and—"

But Theodora brushed him off, acting unconcerned about her aunt's passing. She started to bitterly whine. "No! Wizard! I did not receive your 'note'. And I know all about my aunt passing. That's not the point!"

She stomped her feet as her eyes welled with tears. "The point is you didn't tell me in person where you were going! You just left me, just like you did when we arrived at the Emerald City! Nothing has changed! You haven't changed! What did you think I was going to do? And you think the Winkies were going to deliver your message to me, Wizard? Of course, they weren't! Because they are incompetent and can't do anything right!"

She continued to glare at him as she stomped back and forth like a child having a temper tantrum, consumed with anger and jealousy. "You only came here because you like Bella! Didn't you? And then once you are done with her, you are going to go back to the Emerald City and be with Glinda! I just know it!"

The Wizard grit his teeth in anger. "Theodora! Enough of this already! I have zero interest in any of your maids! I am not even seeing Glinda! None of this is true!" His voice was loud, and his tone was filled with frustration. He looked at her with concern. "Are you okay? Seriously? What is wrong with you?"

The witch breathed heavily as she raised her voice. "All of this isn't true? All of this isn't true? Of course, it is true! Just like all your affairs at the Emerald City! Don't try to say that it isn't! Don't you dare try and lie to me, Wizard!"

He had a look of disgust on his face. "And who told you that?" None of what the witch was saying was even remotely true. He was cloistered in the palace for the past three years because he feared the witches. Besides a brief romance with Glinda that went nowhere, he never had any other type of intimate relationship with any other Ozian while he was at the Emerald City.

Theodora's voice became soft and whiney. "Evanora…"

The Wizard arched his back, rolled his eyes, and sighed in exasperation. He looked at her with an enraged expression on his face. They both then got into a heated argument.

"I told you not to fucking listen to her!"

"Wizard! I didn't speak to her since we spoke about this last night!"

"But I told you not to believe anything that CUNT says!"

Deep down, the Wizard had an intense and visceral reaction any time Evanora's name was mentioned. He didn't know why that was. The eastern witch never physically harmed him, nor did she ever kill anyone close to him. And despite the character assassination campaign she waged against him for the last three years, the only group of people who really fell under her sway were wealthy Munchkins who already had more to gain from her rule than from the Wizard's.

Perhaps it was Evanora's ambition that threatened him the most. In the Wizard's world, women did not even have the right to vote, let alone work or hold prestigious jobs. The Land of Oz was different. Here, many political offices were governed by women or by non-human sentient beings.

But it was more than that since none of these other women or beings personally threatened the Wizard. Glinda was one of the most powerful witches in the land and yet she did not threaten him. And despite his disagreement with the way she ruled, Theodora's control of the Winkies did not threaten him, either. He feared her powers, but he would never call her vile names.

Evanora was different. Not only did the Wizard fear her, but deep within his mind, he knew that he could not control her. She could not be appeased like Glinda or wooed like Theodora. Unlike her other sisters, Evanora was an existential threat to the Wizard's very existence. If Evanora ever invaded the Emerald City and captured him, he knew that she would waste no time in torturing him in the worst way possible before taking his life. He felt powerless against her, so he would retaliate the only way he knew how: by verbally degrading her.

"Wizard! How could you say those horrible words about my sister!"

"BECAUSE IT'S TRUE! THAT'S WHAT SHE IS!"

An unlucky Winkie servant then happened to open the door of the walk-in pantry as the pair were arguing. She was only able to peek her head in before the Wizard flashed an angry expression and waved her off. "Shut the door and fuck off!" This quickly made the servant, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, hurriedly close the door.

The Wizard then placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose to try and calm himself. "Listen to me and listen to me carefully." He lowered her hand back to his side as he looked at the witch. "I have ZERO interest in any of your maids! Your sister is a dirty and disgusting liar! How many times do I need to say this to you?!"

"But Wizard…she is my sister!"

"She is a liar!"

As they started to argue again, there were then interposing voices between the witch and the Wizard. But his voice then became the dominant one.

"Did you even bother to ask Finley to confirm what your sister told you was true?"

This caused the witch to slump her shoulders and silently began to brood.

"Did you even bother to investigate what your sister said with anyone else?"

Theodora lowered her head as she pursed her lips. She slowly began to realize that she had been deceived by her sister again.

The Wizard started to count on his fingers. "You take what this bitch says—"

"Wizard! Stop using wicked language! She is my sister!"

"I don't care who she is! She is a bitch!", the Wizard screamed at her before lowering his voice again and resumed counting on his fingers.

"You take what she says as true, you don't fact check anything, and you don't ask anyone to verify what the truth is. And then you accuse me of doing things that I've never done before? How dare you!"

The witch began to sob as her eyes started to fill with tears. She then looked at the Wizard as she started to cry. "Ohhhh and now I really messed up and you are going to be angry with me", she sobbed. "Are you are going to leave for real now…"

He gave her an icy stare. "Why are you crying?"

She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "I don't know. I just…I just can't keep it together…"

"You can't keep it together?"

"No", she whined.

Theodora's meltdown then forced the Wizard to ask her a critical question.

"Are we done?"

The witch gazed at him with trembling lips and pleading eyes. His voice unwavering, he asked the question again. "We're done? My visit is over."

Theodora tried to compose herself as she gently shook her head and blinked. "No."

His voice remained steady. "You can't recover from this? You can't keep it together?"

She nodded her head. "I will."

"You're helpless to what your sister says? You can't investigate anything that she tells you?"

"I can", she said.

His voice became stern again. "Let's get a grip, okay? Remember what I told you last night about being a superhero? This is not it! This is not it!"

The witch tried to show resolve but was still filled with self-doubt. "Yes, Wizard…"

Thinking that the conversation was finished and behind them, the Wizard breathed a sigh of relief.

As he turned to walk out of the pantry, the witch grabbed his arm with her hand.

"But!"

He turned around and looked at her again as she tried to explain herself. God, she looked ridiculous in a black hat, but the Wizard conveyed an impartial expression.

"It's just that I feel so sad and depressed, and these emotions really mess with my head." Theodora's voice was still quivering. "I just get into my head, and I always doubt myself and feel like I did something so wrong and messed up and that everything here was just my fault and that I am a horrible person and then this intense darkness…" The witch looked away from the Wizard as she put her hands on her head as she made a painful grimace. She then made fists with both of her hands.

"Ohhh I just sometimes want to take it out anyway I can…and these Winkies…"

She turned around and punched the nearest wall in anger, which made a dent. Her black hat fell to the floor as she lowered her head and was on the verge of tears again. "I always mess up a good thing and…" She then started to bang her head against the wall.

"Hey! Stop doing that! Stop!" The Wizard intervened as he grabbed the witch's shoulders to stop her from hurting herself. He simply didn't know how to handle this. As she began to sob, he slowly bent over and picked up her black hat, an item that gave him countless number of nightmares. He felt surreal when he held it in his hand. "Just flick it", she said between her sobs as her back was still turned to him.

With the flick of his wrist, Theodora's hat became red again. "Woah", the Wizard exclaimed. A magical hat, he thought. After composing herself for a moment, the witch grabbed the hat from him and placed it back on top of her head. She still had her back turned to the Wizard. She didn't want him to see the newly formed burns and scars on her face. She then held her hands to her face and started to cry again. Some of her tears started to burn her fingers as she wept. He placed his hand on her back as his fingers caressed the linen of her red coat. He tried to console her.

"I hate my life", the witch thundered as she continued to wail. "I hate the Winkies and how they treat me! I hate every Ozian and everything about Oz! I hate them all!" She didn't even pretend to hold back her tears anymore, as they all came flooding out and burned her in the process. She was nearly inconsolable.

The Wizard kept rubbing his hand on her back as he sighed.

It was then when he realized that the captain was right about everything. How she turned out had nothing to do with him at all. He was a tiny ship on the vast ocean that was her pain. He had simply stumbled onto a disturbed girl who happened to have magical powers. An unstable witch who had dangerous magical powers at that. But even though she was a witch, she was still human.

Thank God no one was injured before, the Wizard thought to himself. If only I had arrived sooner. If only I did not leave at all. He then had another disturbing thought: what would have happened if I had arrived five minutes later?

He continued to rub her back and thought of what to say next. "I know you are suffering and I'm really sorry that you feel this way", he said with much sincerity in his voice as she continued to sob. "But you can't do what you did again. This was not acceptable behavior by any means."

"Wizard! It wasn't as bad as you thought", she said with frustration in her voice as her convulsive gasps from her crying started to slow. She continued to hold her hands on her face. "Stop being such a baby!"

"Theodora, are you serious? Of course, this was as bad as it looked! You were…" The Wizard was about to continue, but then he stopped. He realized that arguing about this was not going to get them anywhere and he didn't want to keep kicking her when she was down. He was just relieved that he arrived when he did.

"Come on Wizard", she said grumpily as her sobbing ceased. "The little boy was never in any danger…"

"Look", the Wizard said, trying to calm the situation. "Let's move on from this, okay? When wizards and witches make mistakes, they forgive each other. Sometimes we must be the better…"

His words ended on his tongue as the witch dropped her hands from her face and turned around. A look of desperation filled her eyes and voice as the Wizard dropped his hand to his side. For the first time, she let him see the newly minted scars that lined her cheeks.

"You see what I am going through, Wizard. Do you see?"

He was silent as she remained distraught. "Make this better."

"What?"

"You're the Wizard. Make it go away. Make it better. Now. Please…" She started to plead with him tearfully as she grabbed and shook his suit jacket. "Come on, I know you can do it. You're the Wizard. Make this pain and agony go away. Make it stop!"

He closed his eyes, looked down and sighed. "I-I'm not that kind of Wizard." He looked up at the witch again with sadness in his voice. He really wanted to help her. He just didn't know how. "I mean, I wish I could snap a finger and—"

But the irritated witch interrupted him and curled her fingers in frustration. "Ohhhhh…I hate you!" Theodora was so agitated that she clenched her teeth as she opened the door, darted out of the pantry, and ran across the ballroom sniveling and sobbing once more as she made her way back to her own bedroom.

The Wizard was exhausted. But he sighed and reluctantly started to follow her. As he did so, he ran into the same Winkie servant who had opened the door on them minutes earlier.

"Wizard, I'm sorry", she said. "A letter came for you today in the mail", but he waved her off because of her poor timing. He slowly followed the witch as he made his way towards Theodora's bedroom, guided by the sounds of her weeping. After following close behind for many minutes, he then heard her slam the bedroom door shut.

"Come on Theodora, open the door!" The Wizard began to knock on the imposing double doors that led to her room. "Come on, let's talk about this!" He tried to turn the knob, but the door to her bedroom was locked. "Please, let's talk about this."

"Go away!", the sulking witch said as she sank her face into her own pillow. "I. Hate. You!"

"Uhhhhhh", the Wizard sighed as he arched his back in annoyance. This woman is impossible. He genuinely felt sorry for her, but there was nothing more he could do.

I guess it's the guest room tonight.

He spent the rest of the evening in the guest bedroom. And for the first time since he arrived, he locked the door.