"There is a problem! Problem with one of your requests, there is!"
The Wizard had emerged mere moments before and already Freddy had bad news for him. Because of a technicality in Ozian law, Gloma could not grant him a stay. This was especially problematic since the council was to appoint their own ministers in three days. He sighed in disappointment. What was he to do?
"However, since the Magistrate could not grant it", he chirped in his high-pitched voice as he had already made corrections. "In another three days, this petition will be decided."
"Oh great!", the Wizard said as he looked relieved. "And we will return here?"
"Noooooo, no, no, no, no, no, you are to go to the Munchkin Country, where you will see Magistrate Pompadorea! At two in the afternoon in her nice abode. Very nice manor house! Very wise witch, she is. Very wise. Appointed by the late King Pastoria, she was!"
What? The Wizard's heart sank into his chest. Oh no, this is not good! Not good at all!
"Can we please be assigned to another Magistrate!", he pleaded as his voice turned to sudden panic. "Why not Gloma? She seems to be very competent and…"
But Freddy interrupted his pleas. "No, these things are chosen at random. Four magistrates in the four quadrants of Oz and one in the Emerald City. Done at random, this is. Can't change it. Ohhhhh, would you like some cookies? Maybe you would like some cookies. I make very good cookies."
The Wizard sighed in defeat. "No, it's okay. Thanks, anyway." He looked depressed as he gathered his papers and exited the hut. Appointed by King Pastoria, the very king that started all of this in motion. How am I going to win? I'm doomed from the start.
When he was feeling anxious, his negative thoughts would take over. What if I lose this? Then I might never be allowed back into the Emerald City again. And then what would happen to Theodora? Would someone else—another ruler—order a little girl from Kansas to retrieve the witch's broom and kill her? If I lose, there would be no way for her to be assimilated into Emerald City life. Most of Oz will still regard her as a malevolent force, even if she is trying her best to reform.
As the Wizard trekked from the Winkie Country to the Emerald City, the walk took several hours but he was still thinking about what would come next. It was welcome news that his plea would be heard expeditiously, but even if he did prevail, would a favorable decision come in time? There were no guarantees that everything would turn in his favor.
It was not long before he arrived at the sterling gates of the Emerald City. Exhausted and tired, he was stopped by one of the guards on duty.
"I'm sorry Wizard, but I can't let you pass. I would if I could, but I am under strict orders by the—"
He then showed the guard the papers he was carrying, which he then began to review.
"Oh, I see…" He then held up a finger to the Wizard. "Wait here a moment…" He then conferred with another guard next to him, who nodded his head in approval.
"You may proceed." The gate then started to slowly open, and the Wizard passed through. But like everything at the Emerald City, there was always activity. Throngs of Ozians had descended on the Emerald City palace to peacefully protest his suspension. Many waved banners demanding that he be restored to his position. Others cried out in protest. There was also a small counter-protest that favored his removal.
As the Wizard proceeded to walk slowly and steadily down the busy and crowded main boulevard, nosy journalists from various media outlets began to descend on the Wizard himself, all of which he ignored.
"Wizard! Is it true that you want to appoint the Wicked Witch of the West to a ministerial position at the Emerald City?"
"Wizard, what are your plans for dealing with the council's suspension?"
"Wizard! Is it true that the council wants to ban you not just from the Emerald City, but permanently from the Land of Oz?"
Suddenly, he stopped and turned to the reporter and shot her an irritated glance.
"What?"
"Is it true that the council wants to banish you permanently from the Land of Oz?" And for a moment, the Wizard simply stared at her in silence before responding.
"No comment."
By this point, several Emerald City guards created a buffer zone and escorted him to the palace entrance. He continued to walk past the throngs of reporters as they tried to ask him different questions and the protesters, some cheering him and others booing him, but he did not acknowledge any of them. He finally reached the entrance of the palace and walked through the wondrous and spacious glass rotunda. Marble tiles adorned with green emeralds covered its floor while the glass ceiling stood nearly one hundred meters high. He passed the rotunda where more Ozians gathered and conversed with each other and entered one of the many hallways. He wasted no time and started to climb the steps to the main room where the council gathered. Despite being exhausted and fatigued from not sleeping the previous night, his stride was energetic and his confidence unwavering.
He knew what he had to do. The council wanted him gone, but he wasn't going anywhere.
In the meantime, the council had finished up its morning meetings and were now gathered in the large hallway adjacent to its main room. They were quietly conversing amongst each other and with Glinda when the Wizard turned the corner. Silence quickly descended amongst the group as he did so. The atmosphere suddenly turned to dread.
"The Wizard's coming! He's coming", one of the council members stated in fear.
"He somehow got past the guards", another one said in shocked surprise.
"Glinda! Turn around! He just turned the corner…", the council leader said as anger covered her face. "He's not to be allowed here!"
"He's walking towards us…" Some of the attendees began to cower in fear. They were told what happened between Glinda and the Wizard on the phone call and the veiled threats he was giving her. They began to fear the worst. They believed the Wizard was up to something nefarious. Something wicked.
The group began to slowly take several steps back, with only Glinda remaining in her place. She held her wand casually in her hand, but it was clear to all that she had no intent on using it as she did not aim it at the Wizard. Suddenly, the council leader took several steps forward and, in a show of bravado, she held her hand up. "Wizard! I order you to halt and leave the Emerald City at once! Your wickedness is NOT welcome here!"
As he approached the group, the Wizard grabbed several copies of what he had written, now stamped with the Ozian seal, and angrily pulled them out of his bag.
"HERE", he screamed at the council leader, a look of rage filled his face and frustration in his voice. "PICK IT UP!" He then threw the papers at her. The documents fluttered in the air and engaged in a delicate ballet, like a soft butterfly traversing the Ozian forests or a leaf slowly falling from a tree while being carried away by the soft breeze of the wind. Finally, it then started to float silently to the floor.
The Wizard didn't even bother to see this play out. As soon as he threw his papers towards the objects of his anger, he immediately turned in the opposite direction and stormed down the hall. After taking several steps, he turned once more, entered his bedchambers, and then slammed the door behind him, which made a loud bang. Some of the maids who saw him storm down the hall had thought the Wizard's anger was so great that the palace started to shake, but this was a gross exaggeration.
As soon as he felt safe in the confines of his bedroom, the Wizard smiled and sighed with relief. He did it. He really did it. He did his research. He prepared his writings. He gave them a piece of his mind. And in another three days, he was going to find his voice. He was going to show everyone, and especially Theodora, that the pen was far mightier than the sword. Or so he had hoped.
He yawned. He was going to prepare his bed chambers for a much-needed nap. The front of his bed, situated in the center of this room, touched the green studded emerald wall behind it. Like everywhere else in the palace, these tiny gemstones glowed a subdued and seductive hue of emerald green. At the forefront of his room, past his makeshift desk, was an enormous glass window which covered the far wall, giving a magnificent view of the City of Emeralds in its entirety. Two huge window drapes were tied back to the sides, exposing the huge window to anyone in the chambers. However, the drapes were not going to be like that for long. In preparation for his nap, he was going to make the room extra dark.
The Wizard approached his bed, draped in the finest of linens and the softest of pillows. He was about to unbutton his shirt when a loud knocking was heard on his door. Oh no, he thought grumpily. Now what?
"Go away", he said bitterly. But the knocking continued.
"I said go!—" He was about to ominously wave off whoever entered his bed chambers uninvited as a warning to not disturb him, but to his surprise, it was not a maid or anyone he knew from the palace.
It was a woman, but not just any woman. It was the woman from the mountaintop. The one who was with Frank as he lay on his deathbed. It was her. It was the daughter of Annie.
It was Dorothy.
"I heard what happened", she softly said with much sympathy and candor in her voice as she slowly made her way into the interior of his bed chambers. But the Wizard stopped her as he motioned with his hand from the bed. "Close the door", he whispered. He then moved the back of his hand to his mouth as he closed his eyes and yawned again.
As she did so, she then turned around and looked at him once more with a look of softness and delicateness on her face.
"Wizard, when I said for you to change future events, I didn't mean for you to go all out like…this". She again moved towards his position as he sat on the edge of his bed. "I didn't mean for you to put your very position in jeopardy!"
"No", he exclaimed. "It wasn't you. I've been down this road before. And I want to make a change. I decided to seek out and destroy this culture of righteousness that's corrupting this city. This attitude of being labeled like a popularity contest. It destroys lives. It's so pervasive that it threatens to harm everyone in Oz. I want to put a stop to it. I need to put a stop to it. It's not fair for someone to have this scarlet letter attached to their name. It has to end. It must end…"
This caused Dorothy to smile at him. "I'm so proud of you, Wizard. You've come such a long way."
"And it is all because of you."
"Like someone once told me, you had it in you all along…"
"But if you never sent me to Theodora's castle to begin with, none of this would have ever happened. I would have been under the sway of the Emerald City for all those years, until Theodora met her end by a little girl with a bucket of water…" He started to shake his head. "And all those people dancing in the streets at the misfortune of someone so misaligned and misunderstood. That is pure evil. That is what's truly Wicked about this society…"
He sighed as he began to stand from his bed. "Mombi was right. On the outside, Ozian society appears congenial and happy and warm. But deep within, it is pervasively toxic and rotten to the core. She warned me about this, but I didn't want to listen. And who knows how many others the Emerald City has unfairly cast out. Who knows how many others live in fear of being ostracized. Of being forgotten."
"And this is why you want to bring Theodora back, Wizard?"
"I want to give her another chance. But…"
"But what?"
"What if I don't win? What if fail? What if I'm forever suspended as the Wizard? Banished even? Forever from oz? What if they bring in someone else to take over? Someone who is insufferably sanctimonious, but follows Ozian culture to a tee? What if…"
The Wizard then turned away from Dorothy as he began to gaze at the window. "What if we can't change the course of the river? Like a small pebble or a stone, what if we are only able to make a small ripple effect, but then the current quickly adjusts? What if the future is immutable?
"Or what if you go into this and you win? What if you make history? What if you change the very future itself…" Her smile and eyes brightened as she beamed at him. "You are so tenacious, Oscar. I just know you have what it takes."
He shot her a smile of his own. "Thank you…"
"But I do recommend that you appoint others…"
"What?"
"If you plan on going down this road, which I know you are, then you are going to need other ministers to fill other positions, would you not? I mean, certainly you are going to need more help than Theodora…"
The Wizard did not even think of this. But as he thought about Dorothy's words, he felt that it would be a good idea to bring in other advisors of his own. He could go from being a guardian of the city, a "king" merely on paper and at the mercy of the council's whims, to an actual leader in his own right.
"But what type of positions", he finally asked.
"Oh, I don't know. Certainly, running this city is a huge responsibility. What about commerce? What about the treasury and the economy? What about the forests and preserving Ozian beauty?"
The Wizard knew that the budget and finance was the council's responsibility. But as he thought deeper, he realized that this could be a good opportunity to wrest away some of their responsibilities and powers. They were King Pastoria's advisors, after all, and he agreed to do whatever Glinda wanted when they retook the Emerald City from Evanora. It was time for him to have his own advisors. He was keen on Dorothy's plan.
"Would you like to be included on this list?"
But his hopes were quickly dashed as she waved him off. "Oh, no. I have no intention of getting involved in any type of politics at the Emerald City."
"Then who do you think would be good for the role?"
Dorothy placed her hands over her mouth as she contemplated his question. "Hmm…you know, there is a wood cutter who I think would be very good at maintaining the beauty of Oz, maintaining natural resources, yadda yadda yadda, all that kinda stuff…"
"Alright, I'll set up a meeting with him. Where can I find him?"
"He's not really a public person. He keeps to himself. I'll speak to him. Let's just say he owes me a favor…where would you like to meet him?"
"Let's do tomorrow", the Wizard replied as he began to rub his eyes. "I'm so tired I cannot think. Tell him to meet me…" He then tried to think about a meeting place when he also remembered someone else he wanted to ask. "Tell him to meet me in the Gillikin Country. I'll give you the address…"
Dorothy's stay lasted for far longer than the Wizard had anticipated. By the time she left, he realized it was now late afternoon. And with the sun slowly setting and his nap denied, he started his walk back to the Winkie Country. Due to the outright animosity between him and the council, he had no intention of sleeping at the palace that night.
The weather was crisp as he walked alone on the Yellow Brick Road. The warm rays of the sun had slowly sunk beneath the surface of the horizon. The sounds of birds continued to chirp, and owls hooted from distant branches as twilight descended across the land. This soft lavender of twilight brought a small chill to the Ozian air while the Wizard passed forests, fields, brooks, and streams, all filled with the smells of jasmine and other wonderful fragrances. And when he finally made it back to the castle gate, the night sky was dotted with the glistening constellation of stars. But he was so incredibly tired that all he wanted to do was sleep.
As the guards opened the gates and let him pass without question, the Wizard trekked through the wonderous castle gardens without much forethought. The trickling and cascading sounds of water were heard from the nearby fountains as he made his way past the maze of botanical gardens filled with finely trimmed bushes and trees. The sounds of crickets and the soft melodies of thrushes, warblers and finches were heard as the stone paths were lit by the soft orange hues of the gas lanterns.
For him, this walk had started to become normalized, expected and even routine. He remembered the first time he went to Theodora's castle slightly over a year ago. He was filled with so much dread. His mind raced as he planned even the smallest of details, which included various escapes if things went horribly wrong. He truly feared for his safety, something he now took for granted while staying there. It was ironic that he now felt her castle was the safest place of all.
He still could not believe how things turned out. If someone had told him nearly one year ago that he would reconcile with Theodora, he would have dismissed this lunatic outright. They were crazy. Clearly deranged. Unhinged. Out of their mind.
But there are often unexpected twists and turns in life. What could be someone's mortal enemy one day could then become their most trusted friend and ally the next. And he remembered what Dorothy had told him. There were numerous attempts where things did not work out in the timeline where Frank and she had to start all over again. It took many tries for them to get to this point and he was so appreciative of their tireless work. To him, they were the real unsung heroes of this story. And because of their wishes, only he would ever know.
As soon as he approached the main entrance of the castle, the door started to slowly creak open. Standing on the other side, with only her head peaking around its corner was the witch herself. Her narrow eyes were betrayed by a barely concealed impish smile from her red lips. He could tell that the witch had been waiting for him and he knew he had been naughty for not telling her where he had disappeared to.
"Wizard", she exclaimed as her hand continued to pull on the knob and her body remained covered by the door in kind.
"Bella told me you went—" But before she could finish her sentence, the Wizard dropped his bag and wrapped his arms around her. He then closed his eyes, tightened his grip, and gave her a big hug. "Oh!", she yelped. She then returned the favor as she also closed her eyes. His hands began to dig into the back of her white blouse as she felt his fingertips scratch her back through the fibers of the fabric. This gave her shivers and tingles throughout her body which she felt most pleasant and welcoming.
"I missed you", the Wizard confided.
"You did", she softly asked as she gave the most serene smile she could muster. The pair gently swayed in their continued embrace.
"Yes. So much."
"Did you really miss me?", she answered softly and affectionately. Her eyes remained closed, and her bright smile remained unaltered.
"Yes", he whispered back. "I really did."
They continued to tightly squeeze each other as the soft rays of the full moon entered the ceiling's magnificent glass rotunda and gently reflected its light off its wall. Continuing to hold her with one hand, he then dug his fingertips of his other hand into her scalp and gently gave her a gentle massage. In response, Theodora's lips parted as she purred. She lowered her head as his fingertips moved in small circular motions throughout her head and behind her ears. There was something about his magical touch that she found incredibly intoxicating.
After some time, the Wizard kissed her cheek and held it there gently with his lips, a vocal sound of mmm being clearly heard. When his lips finally parted with a mwuah sound and a click, he then continued with a flurry of small kisses to the same spot of her cheek, to which the witch started to arch her back and giggle with the utmost feeling of pleasure and glee.
"Oh, Wizard…", she quietly said as she locked eyes with his and continued to flash him a big, bright smile. "I missed you, too…"
As the pair softened their embrace and now instead caressed their hands over their arms, the witch gazed at him tenderly while her lips began to part. You must be hungry. I—"
"I can't eat", the Wizard replied as he started to subtly shake his head. "I'm so tired that I can barely chew."
They say when someone is sleep deprived, they exhibit similar symptoms of drunkenness. And while it was not apparent, even to the Wizard, that his sudden amorous behavior was the result of sleep deprivation, he now realized that he was so exhausted that he could barely stand on his two feet. His legs became wobbly, but not waiting to see if he would fall, the witch instead scooped him up gently into her arms and began to carry him into the interior of her castle. "Let's get you to bed, Wizard", she cooed. She held his weight with one hand while the other softly caressed his cheek and ear.
The Wizard did not resist this in the slightest. Instead, he welcomed it by nudging his head on her chest between the collar of her blouse.
He was tired of being strong. He was tired of feigning strength. He was tired of hiding who he truly was. He was tired of putting on an act. He was tired of lying to the world and to himself. He was tired of pretending to be someone he was not. And he was tired of hiding his deficiencies.
At the heart of it, he was a tired mortal man. He was growing old. He was full of faults. And weakness. And fatigue. And low energy. He felt old.
And here was the witch, who was so incredibly strong. She could fling fireballs. She could fly. Move things with her mind. She could be the best superhero the land has ever seen or its greatest, most prolific, and cruelest villain. She was immensely powerful, perhaps even stronger than Glinda herself. But despite the Wizard's massive flaws, she accepted him. He did not need to put on an act with her. He could be vulnerable, something he had never thought would have been possible.
As she carried him with one hand toward the bedrooms, she used the fingertips of her other hand on his cheek, sending pleasurable shivers down his spine. Metaphorically, if he was truly the king of a chess set, he was its weakest piece. But if she was his queen, his protector, his closest advisor, then she would be its strongest.
During his lifetime, his father always pressured him to be the strong one. Maybe it was time for someone else to take charge. To lead. Despite her faults, Theodora had shown time and time again how much she truly did care for him. He felt secure with her now. He felt safe and protected. In this past year, she had grown, both emotionally and mentally. While she wouldn't be labeled "his" queen at the Emerald City, his intent to have her by his side albeit in a different role was one and the same.
To him, her carrying his tired and exhausted body signified so much. It became clear what all this meant: as a mere mortal man, he knew that the witch would do whatever it took to protect him and to nurture him. This was certainly enough. Dorothy and Frank knew exactly what they were doing.
Not before long, the witch had plopped him into bed and covered him with blankets, a welcome relief to a long, exhausting, and arduous day. "Get some sleep, Wizard", she said to him, but he didn't need to be told twice. And the last thing he remembered before falling into a deep slumber was her kissing him goodnight on his cheek.