The Witches of Oz

About an hour before sunset Fiyero and Elphaba, the latter wearing a hooded black cloak and black gloves, approached the castle.

“Halt,” said the guard who’d replaced Avaric. “Who goes there?”

“Prince Fiyero and a guest.”

“Forgive me, Your Highness. The King told me to expect you of course, go right on in.”

“How are you doing?” he whispered to Elphaba as they walked in.

“I think I’m going to be ill,” she muttered back nervously.

“You’ll be fine. Just be yourself.”

“But within reason, right?”

“What?”

“Just something Glinda said to me once… Oh my!”

The exclamation followed their entry into the great hall of the castle. The entire room was stone including the pillars that supported the several stories high ceiling and the ceiling itself.

“This is amazing, the stonework, it must have taken years! They’re all fitted so close together.”

Elphaba approached the nearest pillar and began examining it more closely. Fiyero smiled indulgently and leaned against another of the pillars to watch her. After looking around the room to make sure they were alone Elphaba peeled off one of her gloves and laid her hand against the stone.

“Oh my!” she gasped again as she felt an odd sort of magical tingle from the stone and pulled off her glasses. “Fiyero! This is incredible! The entire thing is being held together by very old magic!”

“What?” said Fiyero, musing briefly that he seemed to say that to her quite often. Elphaba walked down to the nearest and back again.

“The pillars they’re all held together by magic, coated in it, it’s amazing!”

She heard footsteps and quickly replaced her glove and glasses then lowered her head so her face was covered.

“Your Highness.”

It was one of the castle servants.

“The King is expecting you in the family dining room.”

“Thank you, we are just on our way there now.”

“Very good, Your Highness.”

“Your Highness,” mimicked Elphaba after the servant had left. “Doesn’t that get annoying?”

“Extremely. The dining room is through here.”

The dining room was another high-ceilinged room with a large fireplace at one end, a table at the other and an empty space in the centre that looked to be a dance floor. Fiyero’s family, the women all dressed in brightly coloured gowns, were seated at the table.

“Good evening everyone,” said Fiyero leading Elphaba into the room and, seeing that there were a number of covered dishes on the table, closed the door behind them. Elphaba held his hand tightly as he bowed, and she curtseyed, in greeting.

“I see you have persuaded Miss Elphaba to return with you,” remarked his mother neutrally. “Now there is just one more guest to arrive. You may remove your cloak if you wish, Miss Elphaba, our guest has been fully informed of your identity and he is completely trustworthy.”

“Thank you, Fiyero has already reassured me that the gentleman in question would not be invited if that was not the situation.”

“It sounds like you know more than we do!” declared Kalira, whose bright blue gown and elaborately braided blonde hair made Elphaba feel quite plain and odd in comparison. “Do tell us who it is! Father is being the most dreadful bore and won’t give us the slightest hint!”

“If I may interrupt for a moment,” said Minna, who was equally beautifully clothed in lavender. She stood up from the table and approached Elphaba.

“I would ask your forgiveness for my abominable rudeness earlier.”

“If you can forgive my equally abominable display of bad temper then we can consider the matter forgotten.”

“It’s forgotten,” agreed Minna “Now why don’t you hang up your cloak? It’s frightfully warm in here.”

“Yes. I was just going to, thank you.”

Minna smiled and sat down; Fiyero let go of Elphaba’s hand then pointed her in the direction of a row of hooks next to the door. She peeled off her gloves then unpinned the cloak and draped both items over a hook. Fiyero had persuaded her to leave her hair loose for the evening and it flowed down her back like a velvet-black curtain. When she turned around Fiyero’s father noted silently that the impact of her skin colour didn’t lessen even when one was expecting it.

“Sit down, both of you,” commanded the Queen imperiously. “What took you so long to get here from the front gate?”

As they sat down next to each other Fiyero answered her question.

“Elphaba was admiring the architecture in the Great Hall.”

“Oh!” exclaimed Kalira. “Doesn’t it just look like it’s going to fall down at any moment?”

“Kalira!” scolded their mother.

“Well it does, doesn’t it Minna?”

“Yes, I always thought so!”

Elphaba was saved from offering an opinion by the arrival of Master Avaric.

“Your Majesties, your Highness, Milady.” He bowed to each of them in turn. “I am here as requested.”

“Good,” said the King, standing up. “I have an announcement to make. At the next gathering of clan lords it is my intention to bestow a title upon this most worthy young man immediately after which I shall grant him the hand in marriage of my second youngest daughter.”

Avaric and Kalira wore identical expressions of stunned disbelief following his announcement. Kalira had no idea at all that her father was planning this and Avaric thought it was his plan to allow them to be married despite his low rank.

“Your Majesty I…”

“Sit down, sit down,” commanded the King. “We’ve left the space next to Kalira empty for you.”

“Father!” shrieked Kalira finally. “Of all the… oh I’m so happy!”

“Avaric, congratulations,” said Fiyero cheerfully. “And my sympathies too.”

“Bite your tongue!” said Kalira, smiling brightly at Avaric.

“Thank you, Sir,” replied the other man absently as he smiled back at his soon to be fiancée.

“Shall we get on with dinner then?” suggested Fiyero’s mother.

They all nodded their agreement and settled in their seats.

“Need you wear your glasses at the table, Miss Elphaba?” asked Minna curiously.

“Only if I want to clearly see what I’m eating, your Highness,” replied Elphaba, extremely politely.

“Oh I see. Our sister Alika has the opposite problem, she can see in front of her but after a certain distance everything looks blurred.”

“That would be more convenient then having to squint to something that is right in front of you, I think.”

“I wondered why you kept doing that,” remarked Fiyero in reference to her squinting when she didn’t have her glasses on.

“Well you never asked…”

“Yes I did, I said ‘do you have something in your eyes?’ and you said no.”

“Because I didn’t have something in my eye, you weren’t really asking anything else, and you know now.”

“Yes I do.” He agreed with her having decided not to argue in case someone asked what they had been doing when he asked her why she was squinting – not a question he wanted to answer in front of his family. “Of course if they’ve been letting Minna cook again you might not want to see your food.”

“Fiyero! I was twelve, will you never let me forget about it?”

“Maybe when you learn how to cook…” teased Fiyero then ducked as she threw one of her forks at him.

“Minna Tiggular!” scolded their mother. “Mind your manners! And Fiyero you stop teasing her at the dinner table!”

“Sorry Mother,” muttered Minna.

“I’m sorry,” said Fiyero.

Elphaba observed the entire exchange silently increasingly curious about how ‘normal’ families behaved when they were together. Fiyero nudged the distracted woman with his elbow.

“Mother is talking to you,” he whispered to her.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I didn’t hear you.”

“I was offering you a drink, Miss Elphaba.”

“Thank you,” answered Elphaba, taking the proffered jug and filling her glass.

“What is it?” she muttered in Fiyero’s ear as she leaned over to pass it to him.

“Vinkus wine, it’s harmless,” he whispered back then thanked her more loudly for the jug.

Silence fell as the group passed various dishes to each other with Fiyero occasionally interjecting a comment to Elphaba about the ingredients. Elphaba felt self-conscious about the number of people around her… a feeling that lasted until she tasted the first bite at which point her stomach reminded her that she hadn’t eaten all day.

“That was delicious.” She complimented the meal quietly. “Especially those lovely spiced meats. Are the spices local or imported?”

“They all come from the Vinkus,” explained Fiyero. “A lot of people from outside find them unpalatable but I thought you’d enjoy them.”

“How do you find the wine?” asked the King.

“It’s a lovely flavour, I’ve never had anything like it before. In Munchkinland they drink very dry white wines, this is quite different.”

“I can not drink more than a glass of it,” stated Minna. “Or it puts me straight to sleep!”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thank you,” said Elphaba who was only half way through her first glass. She didn’t see any point in telling them that she had worked out, some years ago, that her body absorbed the alcohol too quickly for it to affect her.

“Shall we withdraw to the sitting area while the servants clear the dishes?” suggested the Queen, when they had all finished eating.

Only Fiyero noticed Elphaba tense briefly as they all stood up and he took her arm to lead her to a large chair directly opposite the fireplace so that, when they sat down, their backs were facing the door. Elphaba sat down on the chair, which made her feel tiny, and Fiyero perched on one of the wide arms. Avaric shyly invited Kalira to share the sofa with him while Minna claimed a seat next to a small table with a chess set laid out on it. The King and Queen stayed in the dining section to oversee the servants then the Queen sat down on a chair between Fiyero and Elphaba and Avaric and Kalira while the King sat opposite Minna, on the other side of Fiyero and Elphaba.

“I believe I owe you a game Minna.”

“Yes you do.”

Fiyero’s mother started telling him about the various members of their family while Elphaba watched Minna and her father playing chess. She observed them for a few minutes then turned back to pay attention to Fiyero’s conversation.

“You find chess boring to watch, Miss Elphaba?” asked the King pausing in the game and speaking with the smallest inflection of something in his voice. Elphaba turned to face him.

“Not at all, Your Majesty, but Lady Minna just lost so I saw little point in continuing my observations.”

Elphaba’s reply was polite… perhaps too polite, something in her voice caught Fiyero’s attention and when he turned around everyone else started paying attention to her as well.

“We are only a third of the way into the game.”

“There is no counter-defence against the series of moves Your Majesty just began. Lady Minna will lose in, at the most, six moves.”

“Do you play, Miss Elphaba?” said the King almost disdainfully.

“Not since I was seventeen, Your Majesty.”

“I can’t see what you mean, Miss Elphaba, all he did was move a pawn!” interjected Minna.

“Why don’t we play the game out and see if Miss Elphaba is correct?” suggested the King. “ Was that a total of six moves or six each?

“Each, Your Majesty.”

As Elphaba predicted the game was finished in less than twelve moves.

“That was a good prediction for someone who hasn’t played in… how long?”

Elphaba knew that Fiyero had told his father how old she was but responded as though she had no idea he was only asking her to make her say it.

“Nine and a half years, Your Majesty. The person who taught me was fond of that particular manoeuvre.”

“Would you care for a game?”

“Certainly, your Majesty, though I am very out of practice.”

Minna vacated her seat and Elphaba took her place. She lost the first game in a spectacular fashion that, for reasons unclear to the observers, made the King give her an odd look, Elphaba smiled innocently at him – the same smile Fiyero had earlier suggested would confuse his father.

“As I said it has been awhile.”

“I should like to dance,” announced Kalira. “Mother, may I prevail upon you to play for us?”

“Of course, my dear.”

“Come on Avaric, Minna, Fiyero, Miss Elphaba you too.”

“No thank you,” responded Elphaba politely though she was inwardly cringing at the memory of the last time she danced in public. “I don’t dance.”

“We can teach you,” offered Minna brightly.

“Use your ears, Min, Miss Elphaba said she doesn’t dance not that she can’t.”

“In that case I claim Fiyero as my partner.”

“I’m hardly going to fight you for him,” retorted Kalira, offering her hand to Avaric with a smile.

“Another game?” offered the King once the Queen had started playing her harp at the other end of the room.

“Certainly, Your Majesty.”

The second game was still going on three dances, about half an hour, later when the Queen declared her arms too sore to continue playing.

“How many times has he beaten you now, Miss Elphaba?” asked Minna who was used to being beaten in about ten minutes… on a good day.

“This is still our second game,” answered the King. “It seems Miss Elphaba has remembered how to play tolerably well.”

“Your move, Your Majesty,” Elphaba informed him, ignoring his comment as she removed one of his pieces from the board.

“You got his Queen?” exclaimed Minna in awe. “How did you get him to move her out? I…”

“Minna. It is rude to interrupt another person’s game. You can ask Miss Elphaba how to avoid losing in under ten minutes when we are done.”

He made his move, his King piece took her Wizard. (The Oz chess equivalent of a Bishop.)

“Your King is ruthless, Your Majesty,” observed Elphaba in a deceptively bland tone as she moved her Queen to protest a lesser piece.

“Your Queen risks herself recklessly,” he answered in kind.

“But never without good cause,” she responded as he withdrew the piece threatening her Queen.

“Good is a very subjective term.”

“Indeed it is,” Elphaba agreed as she made her move. “Checkmate.”

“Surely not!” proclaimed Minna echoing her father’s silent thought. As he examined the board carefully, not so much because he didn’t believe that she had beaten him but to ascertain what strategy she had used to do so. Elphaba sat in silence; well aware that everyone’s attention had turned to her when she announced her win.

“Well played, Miss Elphaba.” the King congratulated her formally.

“I thank you, Your Majesty,” replied Elphaba with a polite inclination of her head.

“May one inquire as to why you have not played for so many years?”

“If Your Majesty wishes to know the honest answer I will give it though you may find it somewhat unflattering.”

Her comment caught his interest as well as the attention of their audience. Fiyero wondered for a moment if he should caution her to speak politely then it occurred to him that, polite or rude, if she told his father that he would find the answer unflattering it would be.

“Pray speak for we are all filled with anticipation now.”

“I stopped playing because I find it boring to win every time and pointless to play when I know I am going to do so.”

“What an arrogant young woman you are,” remarked the Queen in a disapproving manner.

“I beg your pardon, Your Majesty,” replied Elphaba, managing to maintain her polite tone. “It is not arrogance but confidence in my skills and it has been some time since I considered myself a young woman. There are, after all, more forms of maturity than that bestowed by age.”

“Confidence or arrogance, I do not believe that anyone could master the game by the time they were seventeen,” she retorted, ignoring the comment about age.

“Believe me or not as you please, Your Majesty.”

“If you play so well,” remarked Minna, “Why did you lose the first game so badly?”

“I wanted to see how his Majesty played, Your Highness,” replied Elphaba with a shrug. “One can not learn how to win every time without learning to lose as they wish.”

“How did you learn to play so well?” asked Fiyero, perching on the arm of her chair so he could put an arm around her shoulders. Elphaba leaned against him and explained, just for him, ignoring everyone else.

“My sister’s tutor taught me the basics in the autumn of the year I was sixteen. Our grandmother, Father’s mother, invited Nessarose and Miss Jhana to winter with her in the warmer southern parts of Munchkinland. I’d read everything in Father’s library by the beginning of that year and with Miss Jhana away I had no one to get library books for me. The weather was absolutely rotten, typical Munchkinland winter; I couldn’t go outside at all so I resolved to learn Miss Jhana’s winning technique.

I played against myself and made notes of all the moves I made. Once I mastered that technique I decided to see how many different winning, and losing, combinations there were. When Miss Jhana returned, and Nessa, returned she refused to play with me after about the first six or seven games.”

The entire account was delivered in a bland no-nonsense tone with no hint of the bragging one might expect from someone who had mastered in five or six months what took most people years. The silence in the room was near overwhelming and Elphaba found herself leaning imperceptibly closer to Fiyero.

“Surely your parents must have objected to you spending so much time in your room?” said Kalira in a wondering tone. “I know mine would have.”

Fiyero groaned inwardly at her inadvertently tactless question and unobtrusively tightened his grip on Elphaba’s shoulders.

“No, Your Highness. My mother died when I was five years old and my father, being the Governor of Munchkinland, was very busy.”

“The Governor?” repeated Kalira. “Of course, I didn’t realise your surname was an indication of such a close relationship.”

“Don’t concern yourself, Your Highness, most of Munchkinland barely knew he had another daughter, he preferred it that way.”

Kalira had nothing to say to that and another awkward silence descended on the group until she remembered something Fiyero had said earlier.

“Fiyero mentioned a book you’d read recently about Animal evolution – I’m reading it at the moment.”

“How do you find it?”

“The author is overly fond of showing off his vocabulary. I’ve had to keep a dictionary beside me when I read it and his translations from our ancient texts are abominable!”

“I know!” agreed Elphaba, leaning forward to speak. “If you read carefully you’ll find a note indicating that he included the translations from Old Northern in an appendix, that’s what he translated from. I retranslated them from that and it made much more sense but of course you could just read the original text.”

“Yes I learned to read and write that atrocious language as a child, we all did.”

“Atrocious?” protested Elphaba. “Surely not! It is one of the most beautiful languages I have seen written and would love to learn it properly but I have only ever been able to find a very old book that translates from Old Vinkus to some language no one has heard of though it is very easy to find translations between Ozian and Modern Vinkus. It’s interesting how often different versions disagree on exact translations, I’ve been through six or eight and there are some words that have different meanings in each one – it is most annoying!”

Elphaba paused to take a breath and found herself having to resist the urge to lean against Fiyero again when she realised everyone was watching, and listening to, her.

“I could teach you how to read Old Vinkus,” he offered quietly. “We all learned it in our childhood classes.”

“Oh would you?” exclaimed Elphaba, turning around in the chair to look at him. “That would be lovely!”

“I don’t when you’d have that much time,” remarked Minna, in an unintentionally superior tone. “It’s not a simple language like Ozian.”

Elphaba responded with another of her eloquent shrugs.

“It’s grammar and sentence structure that takes the time, learning what the words mean is easy for me, I have a good memory.”

“It’s not very ladylike to brag about your intelligence, my dear,” said Fiyero’s mother in a mild tone that immediately rubbed Elphaba the wrong way.

“Excuse me.”

Elphaba stood up very abruptly and walked to the other side of the room to stand out of their sight next to the fireplace.

“Mother!” said Fiyero angrily. “That comment wasn’t exactly ‘ladylike’.”

“I was merely pointing out a fact that Miss Elphaba is clearly unaware of.”

“She wasn’t bragging anyway!” retorted Fiyero. “She just likes books and has a good memory. Last time I checked the statement of facts wasn’t considered bragging and even if it was it is not your place to correct her behaviour. She is not one of your subjects nor is she too young to know better. Unless she was being as unspeakably rude as you just were, and I’ll thank you not to include this morning’s circumstances in that, you have no right or reason to speak to her in that way!”

Elphaba couldn’t hear what was being said at the other side of the room and when she heard footsteps on the floorboards she hoped, correctly as it turned out, that it was Fiyero. He didn’t say a word, just stepped into the dark corner and wrapped his arms around her.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, burying her face in his shirt.

“Don’t be,” he replied quietly. “She was out of line, not you.”

“My mouth just runs away with me when I’m excited.”

She sounded so miserable that Fiyero felt awful for convincing her to come back here.

“I hate this,” she said with a sudden, albeit quiet, vehemence. “I hate people, I hate being around them, all of it, all of this… except you of course.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have talked you into coming here.”

“Oh it’s not your fault. Your mother doesn’t approve of me, I suppose you realise that’s why she keeps pointing my numerous flaws out to everyone?”

“I did notice that,” he replied, “And I don’t care, she wouldn’t be happy unless I came back and announced I was marrying someone from my own land.”

“It’s nice to know she’d be equally nasty to Glinda, though I suppose I’m easier to do it to.”

“I don’t think my mother really approves of intelligent women, to be honest, her values are a bit old fashioned that way. Come on, let’s go and make our farewells and Elphaba? Feel free to be yourself as much as you like.”

Before the pair had a chance to start saying goodbye, or even speak, Fiyero’s father stood up and announced that there was something he had to show him right now and led the bewildered young man out of the room. Kalira dragged Avaric and Minna over to the middle of the room and got them involved in a complicated dance. Elphaba looked at Fiyero’s mother expressionlessly, the woman had obviously made the rather clumsy arrangements to get her alone.

“Has my son proposed to you yet?”

“What?” exclaimed Elphaba, too startled by the way the conversation started to use a proper form of address.

“It’s a simple question. Has my son asked you to marry him?”

“No, Your Majesty. What a ridiculous notion!”

“He has informed his father, and I, of his intention to do so. You have demonstrated that you are an intelligent woman, I am sure you’ll see my point in this even if my son is too blinded by his feelings to realise that he cannot marry an outsider, especially one as… unusual as yourself. It would be a disaster as far as his future responsibilities are concerned.”

“I’m sorry… could you go back to that first part? Fiyero wants to marry me?”

“Are you having trouble with your hearing? That is what I said.”

“In that case you’re making a presumption to think that I would accept such a proposal.”

“I was under the impression that you loved my son.”

“With all my heart and soul. But love, as my mother once said, is no excuse for marriage and marriage in itself is just an excuse to be intimate with the man you love without causing a scandal.”

“That seems an odd thing to say to a five year old.”

“I was three and she was speaking more to herself than to me.” Elphaba shrugged. “In any case Fiyero and I have no excuse to get married based on that premise.”

It took the Queen a moment to work out the implications of that statement and when she did she looked completely scandalised. Elphaba smiled and waited for her to regain her composure – it was almost as much fun as making Galinda shriek.

“Your Majesty looks quite unwell. Shall I fetch you something? A glass of wine perhaps?”

“You… you… wicked girl!”

“That’s what everyone says, Your Majesty. Now, as to your other concerns, I will happily step aside for whomever you think is more suitable… as soon as you convince Fiyero to do so.”

“I’m talking to you because I know that he won’t…” She stopped speaking as she realised that was exactly Elphaba’s point. Elphaba smiled at her, and it was not at all a nice smile, the Queen was outmanoeuvred and she knew it.

“If he asks me I’ll say no, because he’s already mine and there’s precious little you can do about that. Console yourself with the fact that I will never be Queen of the Vinkus and leave us in peace to enjoy what time we have.”

“You were right in correcting my calling you ‘young’. You are as bitter and cynical as a woman with twice your years.”

“I will not deny my bitterness and cynicism and if my life has aged me beyond my years, well, I’ll not deny that either. There have been few people in my life who have loved me for who I am and I’ll not let him go… unless he wants to. You may find that he chooses the path you want him to with no ‘assistance’ from yourself.”

“It seems only time will tell. Here are my husband and son come back.”

“Elphaba… I’m sorry we took so long,” apologised Fiyero as he and his father walked back to where the women were.

“No need to apologise, your mother and I were just having a nice little talk.”

She smiled at him and he wondered what they’d been discussing though obviously she had won to make her smile like that.

“I guessed it was nice, nothing is broken.”

“Come, Fiyero!” she grabbed his hands, still smiling, and pulled him towards the dance floor. “Come dance with me! I’ll teach you a Munchkin dance!”

“I thought you didn’t dance?” he muttered as she asked Kalira and Avaric if they would like to learn the dance and Minna offered to play for them.

“I don’t, normally,” she replied with yet another smile. “But don’t you know I’m just dying for the chance to rub your mother’s nose on the fact that I came out on top of our little talk and I know she’ll recognise the dance.”

Elphaba told Minna the beat for the song and proceeded to demonstrate the different parts of the dance, explaining in the process that it was a Munchkin couple’s dance.

“So,” asked Fiyero, pulling her closer as they danced around the floor. “What were you talking about?”

“She was trying to convince me that it would be best for you if we weren’t together. I told her I’d be happy to do so…let me finish…as soon as she convinced you of that.”

“I would never…”

“Exactly!”

“Oh I see.”

“And in the process I was able to utilise something else I learned playing chess…how to look like you’re losing until you want to win!”

They finished the dance with bows and curtseys all around.

“What a lovely dance, Miss Elphaba!” said Kalira breathlessly. “So energetic.”

“Ah yes,” replied Elphaba merrily, with a sly wink at Fiyero. “It’s supposed to wear the young couples out before they can sneak away from their chaperones.”

“Miss Elphaba!” Fiyero’s sister scolded her and blushed.

“Oh dear!” exclaimed Elphaba with mock dismay. “Have I completely scandalised you? What a rotten thing to do!”

“Why Miss Elphaba I do believe you are laughing at me!”

“Only on the inside where no one can hear.”

“What a wicked sense of humour you… Oh! I didn’t mean that.”

Elphaba made a mocking little bow to the Princess and replied.

“Your Highness should take care to say what she means…or mean what she says.”

“What a vexing creature you are!”

“I practice,” replied Elphaba with a completely straight face that caused Kalira to dissolve into giggling hysterics. Elphaba turned to Fiyero and Avaric who were watching, and listening, in bewildered amusement.

“Was it something I said?”

The two men exchanged glances then started laughing, not quite as much as Kalira but close. Elphaba folded her arms in mock disapproval of their levity then turned to Kalira, who was still gasping, and carefully rapped her back between her shoulder blades.

“Oh!” exclaimed Kalira as she caught her breath. “Thank you. Please don’t do that again!”

“Make you laugh or stop you from laughing?”

“Make. Me. Laugh.”

Kalira managed to splutter the three words out before dissolving into laughter again. Throwing her hands up in the air Elphaba sighed and walked back to Fiyero who had, by now, managed to regain control of himself.

“Your sister is a bit hysterical tonight isn’t she?”

“It’s probably the excitement of being engaged.”

“Yes,” agreed Elphaba. “She looks very happy… it’s not as though I said anything that hilarious, you know, all I expected was a polite chuckle or something.”

“Like I said, she’s very excited and she quite often gets hysterical over small jokes.”

“Excuse me,” interrupted Avaric politely. “Your Highness, Miss Elphaba, I have made my farewells to the King and Queen and your sisters. I am away to tell my family of the day’s events, good evening to you both.”

Avaric bowed to Fiyero then, taking her hand in his with no hint of revulsion, to Elphaba as well.

“Come Miss Elphaba, I’ll show you the library,” decided Kalira. Elphaba opened her mouth to say that they were leaving and Fiyero interrupted.

“Go on, we don’t have to go yet.”

“Very well, I’ll just get my gloves and cloak.”

“I’ll stay here,” Fiyero told them. “More chance of staying awake!”

“Clown!” teased Kalira as she followed Elphaba to the door. Minna hugged Fiyero and made her way out.

“I’m off to bed!”

“Goodnight Minna.”

“Goodbye Fiyero!”

The Queen, while the youngsters were dancing, had repeated her conversation with Elphaba to her husband.

Here we go again, concluded Fiyero silently when he saw their expressions.

“I take it, Mother, that whatever you are about to say has something to with the conversation you had while Father and I were out of the room?”

“You suppose correctly.”

“I must say it was very underhanded of you to try and get her to leave me like that.”

“It’s necessary! Surely even you can see that our people would not accept her as their Queen even if she did consent to marry you, which she has assured me most vehemently that she will not do.”

“If Elphaba will not marry me then I will not marry anyone. I will take her love on any terms she chooses to name.”

“She also implied that you and she were… bed partners to put it more delicately than she did.”

“If we are it is not your business.”

“If you refuse to marry properly because of that fact then it becomes our business,” his father reprimanded him in a stern tone that, to Fiyero’s surprise, was no longer as intimidating as it had once been.

“My sisters have enough sons between them that you do not need me to have them. I repeat that there is only one woman I will marry and if I do not marry her I will not marry anyone. Let Alika’s oldest son be my heir, or yours if you want it that way.”

“I said I would not disinherit you and I will not but I ask you to consider this decision carefully.”

“I have. Do you think I didn’t consider the consequences before I left with her? I did and I decided it was worth it.”

“Unless these circumstances change drastically it must be that there is nothing else to say on the subject.”

“Surely you are not going to let him defy the wishes of both of his parents?” exclaimed the Queen.

“We’re letting Kalira marry young Avaric, it would be inconsistent to protest because our son wishes to have a witch as his lover even if she is someone we do not approve of. As for the matter of them living together, which I am certain was to be your next point Marina. Kiamo Ko is his to do with as he likes and Miss Thropp’s reputation is both not our concern and, meaning this in a truthful and not a spiteful way, scarcely likely to become worse than it is through her living with our son.

If they intended to marry I might be more concerned with the propriety of the situation but a lover is not a fiancée – the rules are different and far less rigid. It’s a shame about the colour,” mused the King at the end of his short speech. “If it was just her… unusual talents and… volatile personality we had to deal with she would have made an excellent Queen.”

With those words the Kling has, in effect, given Fiyero and Elphaba his blessing even though he would never support a marriage between them.

“Yes indeed.” He continued, “Anyone who can learn chess in a matter of months could pick up the politics of ruling a kingdom in no time at all.”

“You’re lucky she was feeling shy or you would have been bombarded with questions on the subject,” offered Fiyero, understanding that it would not do to comment on his father’s inexplicit approval of the relationship.

“A student of witchcraft, chess, languages, and politics. What a curious combination.”

“She was also a keen history student at Shiz, I believe, and she reads a lot of books about Animals.”

“I never thought that you would end up in a relationship with a woman who is, frankly, so much more scholarly than yourself,” remarked the Queen.

“Neither did I until I fell in love with her.” He replied shortly. “Excuse me it’s been a long day and it was a longer night. I’m going to go and check on Elphaba. Good night Mother, Father, it’s been an… enlightening evening.”

“I’ll walk you that far,” offered his mother.

“No thank you, I’d prefer to go alone.”

The first thing Fiyero heard when he approached the library was Elphaba laughing, he knew it was her immediately. The first thing he saw when he entered was Kalira staring at Elphaba who had her face buried in her hands and appeared to be having a fit of hysterics.

“Dare I ask?”

“I didn’t do anything, I swear, I was just politely asking her if there was any truth in some of the things the Wizard’s messenger told us and she… well look at her!”

“Elphaba?” he said cautiously tapping her arm. Elphaba drew a huge gasping breath and lowered her hands, as soon as she saw Kalira’s face she started laughing and covered her face again.

“Is she quite well?”

“It’s been a very long week, I’d take a guess that your questions were the thing that set her off. Don’t worry about it, it’s really not your fault.”

“I’m fine,” gasped Elphaba at last. “I’m sorry Kalira. Fiyero is quite right; it’s been a long week and I’m very tired.”

“I just came to tell you I’m going to fetch some things out of my old room before we go,” said Fiyero. “Did you get a chance to look at the books yet?”

“No… I was distracted by your sister’s… questions.” She turned to Kalira. “Do you mind if I look before we go?”

“Of course not, please do! I’m sorry I insulted you!”

“Oh I’m not insulted just amused, really.”

Fiyero slipped out of the room while they were talking and Elphaba walked over to the nearest bookshelf.

“Are there any histories of this castle? I was wondering what it was before it was a castle.”

“Before it was a castle? Well it wasn’t anything it was built about three hundred years ago.”

“The pillars in the Great Hall are older than that,” disagreed Elphaba as she skim-read the book titles.

“That’s impossible!”

“So is flying on an enchanted broomstick. What about books on magic or witches and sorceresses?”

“I…don’t think so… you could try the books on the bottom shelves, they’re really old, I don’t think anyone’s read them for years. Do you always talk like that to people when you think they’re wrong?”

“You were wrong,” Elphaba pointed out. “I’m sorry. Was I too abrupt? Books affect me that way, all this knowledge I don’t have yet… it’s indescribable.”

Kalira looked at the expression on the other woman’s face and thought: You love books more than anything else… except, perhaps, my brother.

“Why, Elphie dear, you’re positively glowing with joy!”

“Please don’t call me that,” snapped Elphaba, more harshly than she intended.

“I’m sorry… I was just trying to be nice!”

“No, don’t apologise. I don’t mind you giving me a nickname, it’s just that… that one is… taken I suppose you might say.”

“Oh, may I enquire... that is to say, as nicely as I can, you don’t seem likes someone who would allow someone else to give you a nickname.”

“My roommate at Shiz, we didn’t get along at first then we became friends…” Her voice trailed off as she remembered that crazy night. “Now we… well we aren’t friends anymore…”

“Because of this whole Wicked Witch business?” said Kalira sympathetically.

“No… I think it was more to do with the part where I ran away with her fiancé,” replied Elphaba blandly.

“Glinda the Good?” exclaimed Kalira. “You were her roommate!”

“It was a misunderstanding… and yes, though it was Galinda back then. She changed it just before… just before we went to meet the Wizard…” Her voice turned bitter and sarcastic as she finished. “The wonderful Wizard of Oz. Ha! Such a lovely thing to have all of your illusions shattered and become a fugitive on the same day.”

Kalira fell silent as Elphaba, almost viciously, returned to examining the books on the shelves.

“Are there any books about Kiamo Ko? Or could you tell me anything about it? I despise walking into unfamiliar places knowing nothing about them.”

“It’s a dreary damp castle, what more do you need to know?

“Weak points in the defences, interior water supply, exits and entrances – Fiyero mentioned secret tunnels, do you know if any of them lead outside?”

“Sounds like you’re preparing for a siege.”

“It never hurts to be prepared for all possibilities.”

“You’ll have to ask Fiyero, he spent several summers there in his teens.”

“Thank you… oh look…” Elphaba peered at the very top shelf, nearly two feet above her head. “You have some books written in the original language of Munchkinland. I heard they were all destroyed except for the one in the collection at Shiz University’s library!”

“Here. I’ll fetch you a chair if you want to get them down.” Kalira looked at the chairs then at Elphaba who was quite a bit shorter than her. “ Maybe I should get them down for you?”

“Would you please? They’re the two in the middle with dark blue covers.”

“So that’s what that language is. Father was never able to find out.”

“I’m not surprised, all they have at Shiz is a translation for Gillikinese and Munchkin. Gillikinese is almost understandable because it’s what Old Ozian derived from.

Of course they say that when Munchkinland became part of Oz proper they voluntarily burned all of the books written in their own language but I have my doubts on that score and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is more than one attic, or cellar, with a forgotten book or two in it.”

Kalira listened quietly as she fetched down the two books and handed them to Elphaba.

“If no one uses the language anymore why learn to read it?”

“One day the Munchkins may want to remember.”

“Forgive me but I got the impression that you don’t really… like Munchkins.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Elphaba placed the books carefully on the table and continued along the shelves. Kalira had nothing to say in response to her last remark so she stayed silent and watched Elphaba examine the books.

“Do you have any translation books for Ozian and Vinkus?” asked Elphaba politely, snapping Kalira out of a pleasant daydream.

“It only has Vinkus to Ozian.”

“That’s fine. It just takes a bit more reading.”

“I’ll find it for you.”

“Thank you. Do you know if the Quadlings write books? I’ve never been able to find out much about them.”

“If they do, they’d not last long in that humidity but I can not say I know one way or another. Truly Miss Elphaba do you intend to learn every language in Oz?”

“You can call me Elphaba and yes I do intend to learn as many as I’m able to.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to know.”

Fiyero had told Kalira that she would like Elphaba because they both ‘liked books’ but, as she had just realised, Elphaba didn’t just ‘like’ books she… well worshipped was the only word that seemed right, she worshipped knowledge.

Comparing the two of us, thought Kalira, is like comparing a carnival trickster with a real magician – one has pretensions of grandeur and the other is a master of the art who has no need to display his talents.

“You’ve gone quiet, Princess, I didn’t offend you did I?”

“Oh no, Mi… Elphaba, I was just thinking.”

“It liked like a deep thought, you practically had your eyes crossed. May I enquire as to what was so engrossing?”

Kalira started to say that it was a trivial thing, of no importance, she got as far as ‘it’ and changed her mind.

“It… I was thinking that it was wrong of Fiyero to suggest that your interest in books was of the same level as mine. It isn’t, you see, for I believe I could live with reading only one book in a year but I would make the presumption that for you even a few months without must be pure torture. I don’t quite understand how anyone could need books so much but I think I understand that you do.”

“You are… very perceptive,” Elphaba replied hoarsely.

“Forgive me but you aren’t exactly unclear about it. Oh! I didn’t mean to make you cry! Please don’t cry Elphaba!”

Elphaba covered her face with her hands and shook her head. Kalira shocked both of them even further by wrapping her arms around the smaller woman’s shoulders and hugging her gently.

“There, there, now it’s not as bad as all that.”

Kalira soothed her and Elphaba responded by wrapping her arms around the girl’s neck and burying her face in her shoulder.

Fiyero returned with his bag and this time found his sister hugging Elphaba while the latter cried quietly.

“Fiyero’s back, Elphaba, see?”

“Oh,” said Elphaba, lifting her head up. “Look at the mess I’m in!”

“You look fine. Here.” Kalira handed her a handkerchief. “Wipe your eyes.”

Neither of them offered Fiyero an explanation and he chose not to press them for it. Kalira walked to a nearby shelf and removed two books to give to Elphaba.

“Here we are, one book on how to translate Vinkus into Ozian and on translating modern Vinkus to old Vinkus.”

“Thank you. May I take them with me?”

“Of course. Those two are mine and no one here can read the others anyway.”

“I knew you two would get along,” said Fiyero, with a grin at both of them. “You know… eventually.”

“Fiyero!”

“Fiyero! You behave yourself! And take Elphaba home before she falls asleep on her feet.”

“Yes, do!” agreed Elphaba. “I feel like I haven’t slept for a week.”

“And it’s only been a day and a night,” said Fiyero, half teasingly.

“I’m so glad I put the broom on the library balcony, I don’t think I could handle the walk tonight.”

“Will you lock the window behind us Kalira?” asked Fiyero. “There’s no need to mention this mode of transport to Mother and Father if you can avoid it.”

“Of course to both,” agreed Kalira. “Visit again soon.”

“I’ll try,” said Elphaba. “But… well let’s just leave it at I’ll try.”

“After all who knows what will happen tomorrow?” agreed Kalira.

“Exactly.” Elphaba walked to the window and unlocked it. “Time to go.”

Fiyero and Kalira thought she was making a general comment until they saw the broom float out of the shadows.

“Look at that lovely full moon!” exclaimed Kalira.

“It’s not quite full, you can see a tiny black line on one side, come out again in about three days,” remarked Elphaba, correcting Kalira absentmindedly.

“Goodbye Kalira.” Fiyero embraced his sister fondly. “Congratulations again to you and Avaric.”

“And to you and Elphaba. Goodbye Elphaba.”

“Goodbye Kalira.”

Fiyero glared distastefully at the broom then handed his bag to Elphaba with a sigh.

“Let’s go then, shall we?”

“Don’t you dare close your eyes when you’re supposed to be giving me directions, Fiyero Tiggular!” said Elphaba fiercely as she tied the bag on to the broom.

Fiyero shuddered then shrugged and smiled at Kalira.

“I’ll do my best!”

The broom didn’t look like it could hold one person let alone two with four heavy books and a bag but it could, and did, and all too soon there was no sign that they had been there but the open window.