All in all, decided Elphaba, two hours later, as she made her way back to Galinda’s suite, That went rather well. I won’t be too sure about that until after he talks to Nessa though. Now for Miss Galinda – no doubt I’d have more success trying to talk sensibly to Madame Morrible’s pet cat (note the lower case ‘c’) but still, I told Nessa I would.
“Galinda? Are you in here? I wanted to talk to…oh! Hello…”
Elphaba started talking as she pulled the door open and her voice trailed off as she realised who was standing in the sitting room.
“Good evening,” said Fiyero politely.
Doesn’t he know you’re supposed to sit in the sitting room? wondered Elphaba irrelevantly as she managed to calmly reply to his greeting.
“Good evening. Is Galinda in the bedroom?”
This was the first time since that History class that they had been alone together, ‘alone’ being a very relative term since Galinda was in the next room, but just as likely to be completely oblivious to what was going on outside her room.
Was it really only yesterday? wondered Fiyero of the eventful, to say the least, History class. But then it feels like I’ve been at Shiz for longer than six nights as well.
“Miss Galinda disappeared into the bathroom about fifteen minutes ago to ‘fix herself up’ before we go out this evening.”
Oh wonderful, thought Elphaba irritably. That means she’s locked the bedroom door as well and I’ll have to stay out here with him or find some excuse to leave. I should tell him about the Lion before I go though…
“Since you’re here…”
“I was wondering…”
They started, and stopped, talking at the same time then looked at each other awkwardly.
“You go first,” offered Elphaba hastily.
“I was just going to ask how you were feeling after the drenching you got yesterday afternoon.”
“Oh… fine… thank you for asking. I hope the… interruption didn’t upset your dinner plans?”
“Not at all. The restaurant was quite pleasant and the company delightful as always. Now what were you going to say?”
Fiyero wouldn’t normally have been so abrupt but he had a feeling that what she had to say was much less trivial than inquiries about her health and his dinner engagements.
“Oh… I went into the City last night – to see Doctor Dillamond, and Madame Morrible has already… spoken to me about it – anyway I happened to meet a… I suppose he must have been a relative of the one you took home and… well, I just thought I should pass on his thanks since you helped so much.”
“Well,” said Fiyero, surprised by her words and not thinking anywhere near as much as he should have about his reply. “If that is your idea of an intelligent action – going into the Animal Quarter of Shiz City after dark – I am no longer surprised that you don’t consider me ‘really stupid’. What ever possessed you to do something so... so… reckless?”
With considerable effort Elphaba managed to keep her voice and expression calm, though her tone did border on icy, as she replied to his exclamation.
“I was concerned for Doctor Dillamond, whom I consider a friend, after he was taken away from class. The irresponsible nature of my actions has already been quite thoroughly explained to me by our esteemed Headmistress who was gracious enough to not expel me on this occasion though she did inform me, quite forcefully, that any future transgressions would attract the harshest penalties.
The fact that someone who, as Miss Galinda informs me, has such a scandalacious reputation considers my actions reckless merely reinforces my determination to avoid such behaviour in the future.”
How can someone who lost their temper so spectacularly in class speak so calmly about those things now? wondered Fiyero. That must have been some lecture she got from Morrible!
He winced inwardly as he recalled his own lecture from Madame Morrible the day he arrived at Shiz.
After arranging the party with his newfound friends Fiyero went, as requested, to the office of the Headmistress of Shiz University. It was just before evening meal time because the Headmistress had a prior engagement to teach on Second Day afternoons.
“Prince Fiyero Tiggular to see you, Madame.” Her secretary announced him then gestured for him to enter.
“Good afternoon, Madame Morrible,” said Fiyero charmingly as he entered the room. To his dismay she seemed unimpressed by his greeting.
“Prince Tiggular. I have here your records from the last…” She took a moment to flick through the pile of papers on her table. “…eight Universities you have attended. I asked you here today to inform you of the conditions under which I accepted your enrolment at Shiz University which, as you should know, is the most prestigious educational institution in Oz. No doubt you have been wondering why we accepted someone with such a poor academic record.”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” agreed Fiyero. “And naturally I am very grateful that you did accept my application to attend Shiz.”
“Of course. The only reason not in some other school, though I doubt if any of them would have you, is by the personal request of your father. Naturally such a lowly personage as myself could not refuse the personal request of the King of the West… however there were conditions, as I just mentioned, to my acceptance.
You have been enrolled in all of the classes you undertook at your last school and if you do not pass at least eighty percent of your classes by the end of this year I will have no choice but to ask you to leave Shiz. I have your timetable here. Do you have any questions?”
“No, Madame, you have made yourself quite clear. Thank you,” replied Fiyero politely.
So Father intervened, hmm? I wondered why he hadn’t called me straight home.
“Good afternoon to you then. I do not expect to see you in my office again unless it is to congratulate you on your academic proficiency.”
“Did she do that thing with her glasses?” asked Fiyero as he shook himself out of the daydream.
“Your pardon?” said Elphaba, using the Munchkinland abbreviation of ‘I beg your pardon’ without realising what she was doing. Both she and her sister had to make an effort to remember to speak like Central Ozians instead of in the Munchkinland dialect they picked up at home. Nessa found it easier because their father usually corrected the way she spoke whereas no one paid much attention to Elphaba.
“Morrible, when she talked to you, did she do that thing where she looks over her glasses at you? I swear that must teach that trick to all Head teachers because every one I have met has done it.”
“Yes. Madame Morrible did do that when I spoke to her. I believe it would have been more effective if she hadn’t spent an hour of our last lesson discussing methods of impressing people with your importance. Of course I have not had your experience with different teachers so I could not possibly offer an opinion on your assertion that all Head Teachers use such methods.”
Ouch! What a way to emphasise the fact that she has never been kicked out of a school. As if I care what she thinks of me anyway!
“How do you know how many schools I’ve… been to?” asked Fiyero because he had no recollection of her being around when he had bragged about how many schools he’d been kicked out of.
“Miss Galinda is my roommate. She has been talking about you since you got here. Apparently you have quite a reputation in Central Oz and Gillikin.”
“But not in Munchkinland?” he inquired, having immediately grasped the omission. Elphaba responded with a funny little shrug that was half shoulder movement and half hair toss.
“You would have to ask my sister about that, I certainly wouldn’t know who does and doesn’t have a reputation in Munchkinland.”
And that will suffice as an explanation, decided Elphaba. Because I am certainly not going to tell him that, until I came to Shiz, the furthest I’ve been from the house I was born in is the gardens of the same house.
“Yes. Munchkinlanders are a rather boring bunch, all in all, I can see why…”
Way to forget your diplomacy classes, Fiyero, he scolded himself when he realised how inappropriate his comment was.
“Oh don’t stop now,” said Elphaba, all sweet sarcasm. “I find your opinions of my homeland absolutely fascinating.”
“I meant no insult to you personally, Miss Elphaba. I can honestly say I have never been bored in your company.”
“I’m certain you haven’t.”
“I didn’t mean it like that!”
“Perhaps if you thought more, and spoke less, you would be able to say what you did mean.”
“Perhaps I should just stop talking before I offend you even more.”
“I would certainly have no complaints about that but don’t feel that you have to restrain yourself for my benefit. I was just leaving anyway.”
“Are you always this infuriating?” snapped Fiyero.
“Only when I’m around you!” retorted Elphaba.
He opened his mouth; ready to reply just as sarcastically, then the bathroom door opened and both of them froze as Galinda walked into the room. Both of them managed to force their faces into more pleasant expressions before the blonde girl could realise they had been having a rather heated discussion.
“I’m ready!” she sang out cheerfully. “Oh Elphie, there you are! What are you doing out here?”
“You always lock the bedroom door when you’re in the bathroom, Galinda. I just got back while you were in there.”
“Oh how silly of me! I do apologise.”
“It’s nothing, Galinda, certainly not cause for an apology.”
“Do you like my dress?” said Galinda, taking Elphaba’s words at face value; she swirled around to show off the item of clothing.
“Well,” said Elphaba unsurely. “It’s very… pink. You look very nice as always.”
“‘Very nice’? Really Elphie is that the best you can do! This isn’t just a very nice dress it’s…oh there’s no point lecturing you about fashion is there?”
“Definitely not,” agreed Elphaba quickly. “You two should go, so you aren’t late.”
“Why I do believe Miss Elphaba is in a hurry to get rid of us,” drawled Fiyero in an annoying manner that suggested he might be about to stay longer if he thought it would annoy her.
“ ‘Miss Elphaba’ is in a hurry to study for the exam she has in Literature class on Fifth Day.”
“I’m so glad I don’t take such a dull class,” remarked Miss Galinda, oblivious of the undertones in the room. She smiled brilliantly at Fiyero. “Shall we go and leave Elphie to her study then?”
“Of course. We wouldn’t want to interrupt something as riveting as Literature now would we?”
“Don’t hurry on my account,” muttered Elphaba. “Galinda, I’d like to talk to you when you get back, if you don’t mind?”
“Certainly Elphie! Have fun with your study.”
Galinda pulled a face that indicated she couldn’t understand how anyone could enjoy studying something as tedious as Literature then smiled.
“I’ll see you later!”
“Have fun Galinda.”
“I will!”
“Good evening, Miss Elphaba.”
“Good evening, Fiyero.”
As the pair left the room Elphaba wondered briefly if she should have reminded Galinda and Fiyero that they had a test in Protocol class tomorrow then she shrugged they were both technically adults they could sort themselves out.
Elphaba walked through the hallways of the Governor’s House, smiling, carrying a bunch of flowers in one hand. She reached a particular door in the family wing and pushed the door open then greeted the woman sitting by the window reading.
“Good morning, Mother!”
“Good afternoon is more like it,” scolded Melena Thropp. “It’s halfway to evening.”
“I brought you flowers,” said Elphaba, holding out the wild roses to her mother.
“They’re lovely, Fabala. Where did you get them? And where is your sister?”
“Father just got home from the Emerald City. She went to see what he brought back for her.”
“He spoils her,” complained Melena without any real feeling. Elphaba shrugged and sat down next to her mother.
“I think we make her feel left out sometimes. Father being so… obvious in his affection for her makes it easier.”
“I love her just as much as I love you,” protested Melena, not for the first time but the argument was usually with her husband. “It’s just that Frex loves her so much as well.”
“You don’t have to defend yourself to me,” Elphaba assured her. “It isn’t your fault she gets along with father. She does come to you when she wants to do womanly things – you know new clothes, or shoes, or jewellery, fixing her hair…”
“All the things you aren’t interested in,” noted Melena. “It seems to border on a miracle sometimes, that you and I have anything to talk about.”
“Company is company,” replied Elphaba philosophically. “Speaking of which… has he changed his mind yet?”
“Not unless he did so while he was away.”
“I still can’t believe he agreed to let me go to University with Nessa. It’s like a dream come true, I just know he’s going to change his mind!”
“I have already written to the Headmistress myself explaining about Nessa and you. She wrote back to tell me that she is happy to accept any student, regardless of their differences, as long as they meet the academic standards of Shiz… She sounds like a right old bore to me.”
“Mother!”
“She does!”
A clock struck in the corner of the room (and in the courtyard of Shiz University).
“Sweet Oz!” exclaimed Melena. “Frex and I are supposed to be going to some dinner party tonight and I need to get ready!”
She stood up, hugged Elphaba, and kissed her daughter’s cheek. “I’ll see you later, Fabala.”
“Good night, Mother.”
Elphaba went back to her room and found she was looking into the full-length mirror, the only item invented by her imagination.
“It isn’t real you know?” she said to her reflection. The Elphaba in the mirror looked back at her and shrugged, prompting the Elphaba in front of the mirror to continue speaking.
“It’s just a dream, a fantasy, a creation of my mind, so why do I keep coming back?”
“You really think that you’re too old to need to see here every night?” queried Elphaba-in-the-mirror.
“I never remember it, anyway, when I wake up.”
“You remember the other dreams, the ones that start after… after Mister Rabbit died.”
“I remember everything about her so why can’t I remember it when I dream about her?”
As always her dream self’s question was unanswerable. Elphaba woke up briefly before slipping into a dream of the other kind she had described to herself.
Elphaba found herself in a room that looked like a small office, but for the fact everything in the room was green, it could have been a room in any part of Oz. She didn’t recognise the man at the table but his guest, who had just entered the room, was very familiar.
“Madame Morrible?” she exclaimed, “I don’t know how I got here but… oh – she can’t hear me!”
“Good evening, Madame,” said the man at the desk cheerfully. “I hope my message didn’t inconvenience you too much?”
“Not at all, Your Ozness,” grovelled Morrible. Elphaba was too stunned to hear the conversation for a moment.
That is the Wizard? No! I must have misheard her.
“How is that promising pupil you wrote to me of turning out?” asked the man.
“Not as well as I have hoped but I may have another student’s services to offer you. She is not as powerful as the Governor’s daughter…”
Twice in two days, I might forget soon that it’s only in name.
“…But she is more suggestible and much more pleasant featured.”
“A good image can be as good as, if not better than, real power,” agreed the man knowledgably. “The Lady’s name?”
“Miss Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands. The niece of the Leader of the North, her older brother is his nominated Heir at this point in time.”
“An excellent prospect, but when you last wrote you were most exuberant in your praise of Miss Elphaba.”
“There was an… incident that showed she has not advanced in her studies as far as I hoped.”
“She is not as powerful as you thought?”
“Quite the opposite. She is at least as powerful as I thought but she lacks control and she is too independent for my liking. For those two reason I have not yet suggested the level of her power to her. She is, however, quite enamoured of the idea of being asked to meet the Wizard at some point in the future.”
“It’s a good thing I called you here then, so we could discuss our options and the best course of action from here. For instance you mentioned that there was something that ‘might be a problem in the future’, what was that about?”
“Miss Elphaba is an unusual young woman and not just because of her strong magical talent. She is green.”
“Green?”
“Her skin, all over, is the same colour as your wallpaper.”
“My goodness me, I think the word ‘problem’ is an understatement in this case!”
“I wouldn’t have even noticed her but for the exhibition of untrained magical power. I thought to myself ‘if she can do that much without training imagine what she can do with it.’ The problem, at the moment, is that she still needs training. Whether or not the people of Oz will accept her as your Magic Grand Vizier or whatever title you decide to give her is a problem for the future.”
“But still, green?”
“The people of Oz love their Wizard, they’ll believe you if you tell them that she is Good. And if they don’t there’s always Miss Upland, in the worst scenario she could be the face and voice representing the things that Elphaba – and herself to a lesser degree – can do for Oz.”
The man who, it seemed to Elphaba, was almost certainly the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, nodded thoughtfully.
“I see you know what you are doing, as always, Madame Morrible. Tell me – do these girls trust you?”
“They don’t much like me but I do believe they trust me as their teacher, yes.”
“Good. That will make it easier for you to guide them towards their future occupations.”
“Elphaba is more likely to be troublesome than Miss Upland but I believe I can channel her energies in the right direction for her own good and the good of Oz.”
“Excellent. I’m glad we had the opportunity to have this little talk. Now, if you will excuse me, I’m meeting with the Vinkus delegation at noon and I must prepare.”
“Of course, your Ozness. With your permission I will remain in the Emerald Palace until the storm has passed.”
“Naturally, naturally, have someone show you to a guest room and leave in the morning if you wish.”
“I really should…” Morrible paused to think for a moment. “Actually I do think I will take you up on that offer, I’m conducting a little experiment at Shiz which requires my absence for at least a day.”
“Very good then. Perhaps we can take tea or some such before you leave?”
“I would be exceedingly delighted, Your Greatness. Good day to you.”
Elphaba watched in silence as the little man walked away, whistling, and Madame Morrible, after shooting one disconcerting look in her direction but showing no sign of having seen her, left the room as well.