Plans of Action

[Taye Keats]

"I don't know why she kidnapped Ellie," Taye said stubbornly. An idea suddenly sparked in his head. "Maybe... maybe we'll just have to ask her ourselves."

Yes... yes, that just might work. If they could convince Elphaba to help them... Ellie would be safe, and the Nomes might be defeated. And Elphaba's name would be cleared. It was all coming together...

[Polly Chrome]

Polly laughed outright. "Convince the Wicked Witch of the West to HELP you?" She said. "Why she's probably in league with the Nome King herself to reclaim the throne of Oz. She's probably already killed Ellie..."

[Dorothy Gale]

"Please!" exclaimed Dorothy. "The Witch... yes we can call her a Witch it's not a wicked term. Even Glinda goes by the Witch of the North must have something at stake. Whatever did happen to the ruby slippers..."

[Taye Keats]

"If she was in league with the Nome King, she wouldn't have warned us to leave," Taye pointed out to Polly. "She'd only be hurting her cause in warning us if that was the case."

"I'm not really sure where they went," Taye said, glancing at Dorothy. "They more or less vanish from the pages of history after you left Oz. Do you not still have them? I think most scholars assume you do..."

[Dorothy Gale]

"No" she said. "When I was flying back home they fell off of my feet, somewhere near the deadly desert. I have no idea what happened to them. I wish I did! There are dozens of time I wished I could have come back to Oz. I don't really know what I'm doing here now..."

[brooser]

"Maybe you're here because Oz needs you," Kay said thoughtfully. She was already beginning to like Dorothy quite a bit, and (though she felt foolish for thinking so) almost hoped that they could become friends. "Oz certainly seems in trouble now. I don't know if the Wicked Witch really means to harm us or not, but... she did warn us of the Nomes, and if she hadn't we wouldn't have known about them now, would we? So we should be glad for that." Kay's words surprised even herself. But being good was more important than holding grudges, was it not? If Dorothy could see the Witch in a good enough light to apologize for killing her sister, then Kay was ready to be forgiving for her past actions if it mean helping them now.

[Dorothy Gale]

"You have to understand... I had lots of help last time. I'm just a little girl from Kansas. I don't know what I can do..."

[Dorothy Gale]

This was all odd to Dorothy. This was very different than her last trip to Oz. All these people seemed, well, if whimsical, slightly... normal. She'd never met any young people like herself before in Oz.

[Glinda Upland]

Glinda stood up and held up her hand. "Quiet!" Everyone silenced and looked at her. "We have to have some sort of order to this conversation. I know you're all scared, and frankly, you should be. Nonetheless, I don't think it is the witch you should be afraid of. She warned us all of the Nome King and his minions, and I am greatful for that. If she hadn't warned us we might have not had enough time to get everyone to safety.

"As far as Ellie is concerned...Ellie is powerful. As her mentor and caretaker I learned how magical she really was. Perhaps the witch is going to...use her power to help her defeat the Nomes. I'm not sure of anything, but after the display, I would assume her motives aren't entirely wicked. I knew her once, and I've seen the things she has done throughout her lifetime. She doesn't kill senselessly. I trust Ellie is safe, perhaps even safer than us, with her.

"Now, as for the time being: I have all of you here for a reason. We, as a group, must now figure out the best plan of action against the Nome King. Polly, you've already proved you know a great deal about him. Does anyone else have any information that might be good for us to know as a group before starting a plan of action? Or have a plan of action we might be interested in following? DO NOT yell at each other or at me. We don't have time to argue about meaningless things. We need to think and act. We have to stay organized."

[Polly Chrome]

"Well," said Polly rather ashamedly. "There is something else... I know where the ruby slippers are - the Nome King has them. That's how he's become so powerful. I saw them fall out of the sky when Dorothy flew over. I tried to catch them... but I couldn't. I was hoping that the Wizard would know what to do, but when he left... and then the Scarecrow dissapeared..."

[Glinda Upland]

Glinda sighed. She'd been afraid of that. "OK, so, we add to the to do list: get back the slippers..." She thought of just how angry Elphie would be when she found out that the slippers were on a giant rock. She'd been angry enough when Glinda put them on a cute little girl. "Thank you, Polly. That was very helpful. Suggestions?"

[Claire Heart]

"My parents helped to build the buildings from the Emeralds. There had to have been some way they got the emeralds to build with. I wish I could ask them...I wish I knew..." Then a thought occurred to her. "Wait! Some of the buildings AREN'T Emeralds! They're just green blown glass. That was why my parents were called in the first place. They're glassblowers...the Wizard couldn't get the Emeralds he needed so he called them to make glass that looked like Emeralds!"

[Polly Chrome]

"Well" said Polly, realizing that she herself could be thought of as Wicked for what she had just done - letting the slippers get into the hands of the Nome King! "As our great Wizard once said... isn't the best way to bring people together to give them a common enemy? And it seems like whatever we think the Nome King is a common enemy. Maybe Mombie could even help!"

[Glinda Upland]

"No!" Glinda realized she came on a little strong. "I'm not sure how trustworthy Mombie is just yet...this group is here for a reason. I trust you all. You need to help me. You need to trust me. Maybe keeping it small is better for the time being. A mutiny doesn't make for anything but chaos."

[Dorothy Gale]

"Well, who is this Mombie? And what do we know about her?"