"Tell Me of Your Yesterdays" - 3/13
Disclaimer: "The Wizard of Oz" is owned by the estate of L. Frank Baum. "Tin Man" is owned by its various production companies. The following is for entertainment only. No money is being made and no infringement is meant.
Thanks to: darling_lisa for her amazing beta work. Without her this would be unreadable.
Missed something? Go back to Chapter Two or visit the Story Index.
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The O.Z. 483 A.G.
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Dillon Smith was running through the yard towards the tree house he had built with the Roger twins. In school today the twins had told him about a present their grandfather had sent from Ev, a real dessert spyglass.
As Dillon climbed the tree he could hear Bobby and Billy talking, “Hey guys!” He called.
Billy looked down at him from the platform, “Dillon, come up! You can see everything with this!”
Dillon pulled himself onto the platform and looked over at the twins, Bobby held out the spyglass and Dillon took it, surprised at how light it was.
“Look, look!” They both urged him.
Dillon raised the spyglass to his eye, “It's amazing!” He said. Dillon could see the whole village, even the farms right at the edge of the woods. Dillon could pick out the bell of the church, the steps of the school, the brick road... “There's a rider!” Dillon yelled loudly before looking back through the glass. Dillon could feel Billy and Bobby at his shoulders so he passed the spyglass back for them to look through.
“Dillon Smith! What are you yelling about? I could hear you from inside the house!”
Dillon looked down to see his older sister Adora standing at the foot of the tree with her hands on her hips and looking very mad.
“Billy and Bobby just got a spyglass and we saw a rider coming into town from the brick road.”
Adora moved her hands from her hips to across her chest, not a good sign.
“I guess I got carried away.” Dillon said sheepishly “I'm sorry.”
“He didn't stop at the square!” Billy yelled. “Quick! He's coming this way!”
Dillon looked out towards the road and saw the horse and rider come to a stop on the road. The man in a blue and red trimmed uniform swung himself down and opened the gate to the Smith farm.
“He's here!” Dillon called to the twins, then looked down on the yard just in time to see the man swing Adora into a kiss.
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The ballroom was full of light and music and the sound of people being happy. Dee had wanted to go, had begged her parents to let her just for the first part of the evening, but her mother had said that it wasn't appropriate for a girl of Azkadille's age to be in a ballroom. Well Dee wasn't in the ballroom, she was in the old music loft above the ballroom.
Dee shifted to get a better view of the ballroom, to get a better view of him.
Glyn Ambrose was sixteen and that was old enough to attend a royal ball. Dee could see him standing by the buffet, he was wearing a brown suit that was the same color as his eyes. Dee could swear she could see them sparkling from here.
Dee knew that if Katie was here she would be teasing her for acting like this, but there was just something about Glyn that made Dee turn to goo. But Katie had left to visit her grandmother. Which was odd, because Katie didn't even know she was going until this morning when Dee asked if Katie was excited about the trip.
Dee pulled her thoughts away from Katie and that mystery and back to the ballroom. Glyn had moved closer to the dance floor. Dee felt a tug at her chest when she saw him speak to Langwidere. Langwidere was seventeen and one of the most beautiful woman Dee had ever seen, and now Glyn was asking her to dance. Dee could almost cry, but then she saw Langwidere step back and laugh. Not a giggle of a courtier flirting, but a mean laugh. At that sound Dee's sadness was overtaken by anger.
How dare she! How dare that nasty wretch laugh at Glyn.
Dee couldn't watch any more. She crawled out of the loft and marched down the hallway. Glyn was one of the smartest, kindest, nicest people in the royal court, in the kingdom, and Langwidere and her group of empty-headed followers were laughing at him!
Dee's eyes started to sting and that made her walk all the faster as she rounded the corner. “Ofh!”
Dee reeled back from the collision. “We have to stop meeting this way.” Dee felt her body stiffen as she looked down to see Glyn sprawled on the floor.
“Oh!” Dee slapped a hand over her mouth and watched as Glyn stood up and reached his arm up to rub his neck. Glyn suddenly grabbed his coat hem and groaned. Dee's eyes widened as she saw the rip in the coat. “I ripped it!” Dee cried. “Oh I'm so clumsy!”
Glyn's head shot up, “It's not your fault, highn.. Azkadellia.”
Dee felt a warmth spread through when Glyn corrected himself and said her name. That warmth brought life back into her limbs and prompted her to step next Glyn and take his coat in her hands. “Oh there's hope, ” she said and looked up to find Glyn's eyes staring right into hers. Dee cleared her throat and continued, “It just pulled out the seam. I can fix it.”
“You don't have to do that, Azkadellia,” Glyn said softly.
“Dee.”
Dee really liked way Glyn scrunched up the side of his face as he asked, “Dee what?”
“Dee me.” Dee took a small step back “It's what my friends call me, and if I'm going to fix your coat then you're my friend.” Dee started to walk down the hall towards her room. After a few steps she notice that she was alone. She turned around and looked at Glyn, “Are you coming?”
Glyn face scrunched to the other side, “Azka...”
“Dee.”
There was a pause as the two of them just looked at each other.
“Oh fine!” Glyn said with an exasperated sigh “You can fix my coat!”
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“Wyatt?”
Wyatt shook himself back to reality to see his Mother looking at him from across the table, “Yes Mama?”
“Is there something wrong with your food?” His mother asked.
Wyatt looked down at his plate then back up to his mother. “No ma'am.”
“Then,” Wyatt could see that his mother was fighting back a smile, “Why have you been sitting here for the last half hour without touching a bite?”
“What?” Wyatt looked over to his father to see if this was just his ma joshin' him, but his fathers chair was empty.
“Your Pa finished up a few minutes ago and went out to do the chores.” Wyatt looked back at his ma and saw that her smile was out in full force. There was no way he would get out of a good teasing now.
“Not that I mind you taking time over your meal,” Wyatt shoved a large bite into his mouth, then forced himself to swallow the cold mouthful. “But I figured that you would have bolted food and then've been off to the Smith's.”
Wyatt could feel his face heat up and knew that he was blushing. How was it that his ma could always do that to him.
Wyatt's mother stood up and took his plate over to the stove to reheat it.
“So, your pa and I are second fiddle now?” She said.
“It's not like that ma.” Wyatt began.
“Oh hush! If I can't tease you then who can I tease?”
Wyatt laughed softly as his ma handed back his plate.
“So you come busting in a day early, a huge grin plastered on your face, then sit at the table just wool-gathering while your food goes cold.” His mother reached a hand out to feel Wyatt's forehead “Mostly I've wondered that you've never burnt yourself or choked with the way you tuck in. You have never let your food go cold.”
Wyatt ducked his head and shoveled a few bites into his mouth before he looked back at his mother.
“This last week has been busy. There were two days of nothing but class testing, then a day for a survival hike.” Wyatt pushed his chair back. “Yesterday the standings were posted. I came in seventh in the class.”
“Wyatt!” His mother turned from the sink and grabbed him into a hug, soap bubbles falling from her hands. “That's wonderful news! I knew you would do well, but I never thought... Oh!”
“That's not it Ma.”
“What?” His mother stepped back and looked at him.
“That afternoon four of us were called into Mr. Marks office.” Wyatt thought for a moment, remembering how nervous he had gotten while he was to go into the assistant dean's office. “Most cadets go through three years of training, but there are a few who go into an advanced program and finish in two years. Mr. Marks told us that since we four would be starting into that when we got back that we had permission to start our break a day early.”
“Oh my!” Wyatt knew that his mother was going to be surprised by his news, but here she was nearly falling over. Wyatt pulled out a chair and helped her sit down.
“Oh Wyatt. That's...” Wyatt watched as she brought a hand up to her mouth and blinked back tears.
“On the ride here I got to thinking. About how much work I would have to do next year, and how I would be finishing a year earlier then I'd thought, and how I'd be in line for a much better position after graduation, and... well...” Wyatt knelt down by his ma's side and spoke softly. “How I'd be able to support a family in one year instead of three like I'd thought...”
His mother interrupted, “You asked Adora to marry you.”
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When Glyn first moved to the palace he had spent days on end in the labs. Working with the other scientists, the way ideas were passed around, grew, changed, it was addictive. He had been at the palace for a month and a half when Ahamo had come to talk with him one day and mentioned something about the odd weather for the year, before Glyn realized that he couldn't say when the last time was that he had been outside. After that Glyn made it a point to take a walk through the gardens every day. Glyn had been walking the gardens for nearly three years and he was still surprised by what he could find in them: a rare plant that should only grow in the highest mountains but that was blooming here wildly, an herb that had its own magical properties, a princess crying.
“Azka...” Glyn caught himself “Dee, what's wrong?” Glyn knelt down and placed a hand on her back. “What happened?” Dee sat up and Glyn's heart gave a hard thump when he saw her red eyes and blotchy cheeks, she must have been crying for sometime.
“Oh Glyn!” Dee cried out and then threw herself into his chest.
There was that THUMP again.
Dee was saying something about Katie, and a grandmother or was it a mother, and was Glyn leaving, and Dorothy...
“Hold on, hold on Azka...” Glyn felt a small fist hit his arm “Dee. You need to slow down, take a breath,” Glyn dug his handkerchief out of his pocket “Blow your nose.”
Dee took the white square from Glyn and wiped her face.
“Now what's all of this about?”
Dee sniffed a few times before she started to talk. “Katie's grandmother... My mother... Katie...” Dee took a deep breath. “My mother feels that I'm not as close to Dorothy as I should be. In order to rectify this shocking short-coming on my part,” Glyn realized that these weren't Dee's words, but that she was quoting the Queen, “She has arranged for my best friend Katie to leave. Her grandmother has held a position at the court of Ix for a few years now.” Dee started to cry softly again. “And this isn't it. It started two years ago with Andria and her family.” The tears over took Dee and she buried her face back in Glyn's chest.
Glyn didn't know what to say to that. He looked around for some form of inspiration and spotted the clockwork doll he had made for Azka... Dee for her twelfth birthday. Glyn picked up the doll and wound up the key. Placing the doll on the ground he watch as the doll gave a curtsy, went through a simple waltz step and turn, waltz step and turn, waltz step and... instead of turning she gave a little shake and kick her left foot.
“Huh!”
Glyn picked up the doll and flipped her over so he could get to the casing latch.
“What are you doing?” Dee asked in a panicked tone of voice.
“It's not supposed to do that. It must be a glitch, I can fix it.” Glyn said softly.
“No! I like it, everyone needs their very own glitch.” Dee sat up. “Sometimes I think that being a princess is my glitch.”
Glyn was shocked, how could she say something like that? “Azka... Dee.”
“And that's your glitch.” Dee said as she stood up. “But I like it. And since my mother has banned anyone who calls me Dee...” Dee held out the handkerchief that Glyn had let her use. “I can be Azka-Dee and you can be...”
Glyn handed the doll to her as he said, “And I can be Glitch.”
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Continue to Chapter Four.