It was another day in the Land of Oz, with the sun slowly rising over Winkie Country once more, shining its gentle majesty over the land.
However, not all of its inhabitants were sleeping. In fact, there was much pandemonium in a nearby sprawling and majestic estate.
"She's coming! Assume your stations!" The Winkie messenger brought chaos and confusion to the castle's servants and cooks. One Winkie maid was equally stunned. "She's coming now? I thought she wouldn't be back until later this morning! Alert everyone!"
For the next several minutes, dozens of anxious Winkie servants were running around, cooking breakfast, cleaning the rooms and mopping the floors. They had to be completely ready before she entered the main castle doors.
And then, the entry doors to the main glass rotunda flew open like a gust of wind. Walking alongside the captain of the Winkie Guards was her, followed by a procession of Winkie Guard contingency.
She arrived. She is here.
"Mitchell, I still don't understand why these Winkie boys put up such a fight. You'd think it would be easy to subdue a child that weighs much lighter than you…"
"I am sorry, Mistress. The child—" But she was having none of it. She waved her hand at the captain's latest transgression.
"Tell your incompetence to someone else who has the time to hear it", she snapped angrily at him.
As the group walked past the glass rotunda and entered the various rooms of the sprawling manor, dozens of Winkie servants had formed two orderly lines parallel to the procession. They bowed as she walked past.
As the Winkie Guards dispersed to their various assigned stations in the castle, the sole leader in the procession, a scarlet clad young woman with peach complexion, a wide brimmed red hat and a household broom, continued alone to her bedroom.
It had been three years since Theodora left the Emerald City. Before she moved permanently to the family castle in Winkie Country, the estate had been used by her mother, Queen Lurline, when she would host foreign dignitaries from the Land of Ev. Those who visited the castle grounds could understand why it was used: they were spectacularly beautiful. Miles and miles of rivers, fields and farmlands surrounded the castle. The estate was also directly surrounded by a huge waterless moat, which was used as protection against foreign invaders. While the Deadly Desert kept Oz safe from invaders, and especially from the Nome King himself, Ozian engineers felt an additional level of security would be beneficial, especially since the castle was located near the land border of Oz itself. However, when Theodora arrived at the castle, she ordered the water in the moat to be drained lest she would accidentally fall in.
If one should be lucky enough to enter the castle walls, the estate's exquisite interior was nothing short of ornate, lavish and luxurious. Numerous grand parlor rooms, several grand ballrooms and a multitude of bedrooms made up the castle.
Ever since she left the Emerald City, Theodora felt bitter that her chance to become queen was robbed from her. She blamed the Wizard for this, but she blamed Glinda, her estranged sister, even more. She suspected that Glinda used her powers to put a magical enchantment on the Wizard, turning him against her. She became even more enraged when she learned from various sources after her banishment that it was Glinda who told the Ozian people she was now known as the "Wicked Witch of the West" and that everyone should avoid contact with her. As a result, she prohibited anyone from calling her a "wicked witch" and would often take her anger and frustration out on her Winkie subjects when they would disappoint her.
Even the captain of the Winkie Guards would fear Theodora's hot temper and her spontaneous angry outbursts.
Compounding the problem was Theodora's outrage that Glinda would journey to the Emerald City and visit the Wizard from her castle in Quadling Country. Theodora suspected that they were having a passionate love affair. Her hatred for Glinda since her self-imposed exile grew by the day.
Ever since she was little, Theodora was jealous of her three older sisters, all of whom were not only vastly more talented than her, but also knew their purpose in life. Her oldest sister, Locasta, was tougher and more disciplined than her. She mastered her self-restraint and never wanted to become queen of the Emerald City. Instead, she left at a young age and relocated to the Gillikin Country. Both Glinda and Evanora were smarter than Theodora, were more beautiful than Theodora and had political ambitions of their own.
As the youngest sister, she didn't know what she wanted. Her values, her beliefs and even her outward appearance would change, sometimes on a daily basis. One time she even dyed her hair red because she thought it would complement her powers. That angered her family and they shamed her for being different.
Inwardly, while Theodora didn't know who she was, she knew what she was not. She was not beautiful. And every time when she gazed at herself in the mirror, she only saw the hideous green skinned monster with that ugly black dress.
"Where's your warts? Where is your broom?" She remembered the Wizard telling her this and playfully mocking her on the first day they met. But he was right. This is who she really was.
Despite how she viewed herself, there was one thing that Theodora desired most of all. And if she could have this, then she would be very happy indeed.
It was love. She wanted to be loved and admired not only by her family, but she also wanted to experience true love. She wanted to experience it, and yet was equally terrified at the prospect of it. And despite her fears, she thought she almost had it, until Glinda snatched it away from her.
Because Oz was founded by female faeries-magical and powerful beings which all witches descended from-Ozian society perpetuated the belief that witches needed to be fearless.
However, this is not what Theodora was at all. She was timid and unsure of herself, both in her reactions to other people and in her relationships. Because of this, she was the pariah of her family for deviating from the cultural norms, especially when it came to matters of social interactions.
And while she managed to rule the entire Winkie Country, a feat she was shocked to have pulled off, she still felt empty inside. Nothing could take this vast emptiness that she felt inside her "heart".
Since her departure from the Emerald City, her obsession to be queen was slowly replaced by the desire to control the Winged Monkeys and to become more powerful than even Glinda herself. Because Evanora lost her powers in her duel with Glinda, the Winkie Guards had followed Theodora, enhancing the witch's power and prestige. This made sense since the Winkie Country was their home.
Additionally, in the time since Theodora left the Emerald City, her aunt Gayelette had exhausted her three commands of the Winged Monkeys. Since her aunt could not use the Golden Cap anymore, Theodora seized on this opportunity by sending a contingency of Winkie Guards to Gayelette's home to retrieve the magical item. As a result, this power now passed to Theodora. She now viewed herself as one of the most powerful witches in all of Oz, and perhaps even in all of Nonestica.
However, today she was in an utter panic.
Two days prior, she received a shocking visit from an Emerald City messenger. No one from the Emerald City or the surrounding countries of Oz had dared come onto her property in these past three years. While the messenger was barred by the Winkie Guards from entering the property, he told them that the Wizard had returned to his mortal form and that he had a note for the witch.
In the months since her banishment, she heard rumors that the Wizard returned to his physical form, but she could not verify this. It was now confirmed with the message she received.
And she did not know how to respond. She did not even know how to feel or to act. Intense emotions filled her, ranging from distress to fear to excitement to despair to hope and optimism to sorrow and even rage.
On the day the messenger arrived, the day began as normal for the young witch. Two Winkie maids spent the entire morning combing and styling Theodora's hair. They knew it had to be perfect or the mistress would lose her temper. Still, like every other day, the witch was sulking and irritable.
And that day was inspection day. Every week, the Winkies from all over the country would travel to the witch's castle and deliver half of their food in exchange for continued protection. If they brought enough food, this would appease the witch. If they did not, they would be "punished".
For a Winkie farmer, inspection day was the most worrisome day of the week. The witch's moods would often be capricious, ranging from simply tolerable to downright cruel.
As she held her late morning meeting with the captain, she was still in a vexatious mood. Suddenly, a contingency of Winkie Guards rushed into her castle. They interrupted the meeting with urgent news.
"The Wizard wants to…come here…and pay a visit to…me?" Her eyes were wide and her eyes darted in every which direction. Her lips parted ways as she initially expressed shock and disbelief at the news. Then, a huge smile came across her red lips as her face radiated with a cheerful exuberance that had not been seen in a long time. "Really?"
She then started to skip and hop around the table like a jubilant child. The Winkie Guards were taken aback by Theodora's sudden behavior, but were always experts at hiding their expressions and feelings. In the past three years, they had never seen a smile on the witch's face and they most definitely never saw her happy.
This initial euphoric feeling then disappeared as quickly as it came. Her skipping and hopping stopped and she looked down at her plush red carpet, which were just as red as her lips. The witch scowled.
"How dare the Wizard come here…" She looked at the captain with fire in her eyes and anger in her voice as she spat at him, clenching her teeth between words. "How dare he come here after…getting with my sister and then…getting with my other sister! How dare he come here after casting me out of the Emerald City! How dare he not make me his queen!"
The captain immediately stood to attention and nervous stammered at the witch. "D-Do you want me to reject the request?"
As the witch continued to daydream about that conversation from two days ago, she gazed at the music box in her bedroom, the present the Wizard had given her almost three years prior when they danced together in the forest. In those intervening years, it sat in her bedroom drawer collecting dust. But this time, she held it gently in her hand and opened it. As she heard the melodic tune, she viewed the gift with a sense of bitterness and longing. In Theodora's mind, it felt like she was gifted it yesterday. She still had feelings for the Wizard, even though she begrudgingly knew that destiny had other plans for her and that she would never be his queen. She loved him and was devastatingly heartbroken by him. And many nights after she left the Emerald City, she would cry herself to sleep, thinking that the Wizard and the entire Ozian community had betrayed and abandoned her. She put her heart towards the best interests of the Ozian people and they rejected her in the worst way possible.
As she continued to stare at the music box in her hand, the only gift that anyone had ever given her, her response to the captain played out in her mind.
"No. No, it's okay. Let him come."
She did not know why she agreed to the visit. The Wizard had hurt her in the worst way possible. He caused her to bite that apple. He caused her to turn into that hideous green witch. He caused her to become the "Wicked Witch of the West", a term that she hated and loathed with her entire being. She was not wicked. She was Theodora the Good Witch. He caused her to be cast out of the Emerald City. She was the victim here. It was the Wizard who was the villain.
Maybe she agreed to this visit it in a moment of weakness. Evanora would always say that she was weak. But something inside of her yearned to reconnect with him. For the first time in three years, she had butterflies in her stomach once more. And like a child who would throw a penny into a wishing fountain hoping that her idealistic dreams and fantasies would come true, she imagined that this visit would give her another chance to gain the power that she craved. She hoped that this visit would enable her to become queen.
She started to daydream again as she imagined what that life would be like. "Your Majesty…" This would be the words she would hear when an Ozian would unquestionably bow to her. "Oh…", she would reply, putting her hand meekly to her chest, smiling brightly and blushing at the lavish praise. She would finally be respected, heard and cared for.
As she stared blankly at a nearby wall in a dazed trance as the music box finished its tune, her thoughts were interrupted by the captain.
"Mistress, he's here."