Author's notes:
1. The Quadlings mentioned in this chapter are based on those in the book by Gregory Maguire.
2. I have no idea if Ozian girls have shampoo in the modern sense but the scene was too good to leave out.
3. Watch out for the angst/depressive bits later on.
4. The first person to utter the words ‘update soon’ will get a smack around the head with a big stick (metaphorically of course ;))

Galinda just made it back to her room, without Fiyero who’d gone straight to his own room before curfew. She smiled when she saw Elphaba at the desk near the window of the sitting room, asleep on her workbook. The blonde girl crossed the room and gently shook her friend’s shoulder.

My friend. That does sound funny! After all these months of hating Elphaba, suddenly we’re friends!

“Elphie. Wake up, Elphie-dear, you can’t sleep there, you’ll get a sore neck!”

“G’ ‘way, Galinda,” muttered Elphaba, burying her face in her elbow.

“El-phie! Wake. Up!”

“All right!” replied Elphaba, snapping back to consciousness suddenly. “I’m awake, where’s the fire?”

“There’s no fire, Elphie. I just… I didn’t think you should go to sleep at the desk.”

“Why thank you, Miss Galinda,” replied Elphaba; genuinely surprised that Galinda was still interested in her welfare. “I must have dozed off…”

Elphaba shuddered slightly as she remembered her dream about Madame Morrible.

Imagine dreaming that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz was just an ordinary man! How ridiculous!

“Elphie? Are you cold?”

“No, no, I just had an odd dream, that’s all.”

Elphaba managed to smile at Galinda and changed the subject.

“How was your evening out?”

“Absolutely fantabulous! Fiyero is so wonderful, he’s been here for a week and he already knows all the best places to be seen at in Shiz! He took me to the most glamourific restaurant this evening, it was simply delightful!”

I’m sorry I asked!

“I see you made it back before curfew, if barely.”

“Don’t give me that look, Elphaba Thropp! Fiyero happens to be a perfect gentleman!”

“If he is a gentleman the standards are considerably lower than I thought they were!”

“Elphaba!”

“You told me his reputation yourself, Galinda, don’t blame me for making assumptions based on that.”

“But his reputation is just that. He’s not quite like I expected him to be, he has very good manners.”

‘Good manners’ – a Gillikinese euphemism for ‘doesn’t put his hands where they shouldn’t be unless he’s invited’. That’s something I suppose.

“Good. If he hurts you I’ll be very annoyed,” Elphaba replied in a matter of fact manner. Despite her attempt at being casual Galinda recognised the words for what they were.

She really is my friend! the blonde girl realised excitedly. I’m so glad!

“It’s Fiyero, silly girl, he wouldn’t hurt me!”

Speaking out loud she made no acknowledgement of Elphaba’s words but there was a sense of understanding in the way they looked at each other.

In spite of, or perhaps because of, the rocky start to their relationship they had started something that would – in time – grow to be the strongest friendship either of them had ever known.

“I think he might love me,” added Galinda. “I would never ask, of course, that simply is not done – but I think he does.”

“People hurt people they love,” said Elphaba, hiding jealousy behind philosophy. “But I hope he does love you, you deserve to be loved by someone like him.”

“Elphaba…”

Momentarily unsure what to say Galinda smiled instead and was relieved when the green girl smiled back. Shying away from any interpretation of her friend’s words, surely they were just the usual good wishes given to someone in a new romance; she remembered something Elphaba had said earlier.

“You wanted to talk to me about something?”

“What?” Elphaba blinked distractedly. “Apologies. Yes I did, but…”

How can I tell Galinda I don’t want to talk about it now because she’s in such a good mood? No, I promised Nessa I would talk to her so I have to do it. So I will. There. Simple.

“But?”

“It’s late, you must be tired…”

“I’m not too tired to talk to you Elphie. Oh! I see, you think it’s going to upset me don’t you?

“Well yes…” She wanted to say it wasn’t important but couldn’t bring herself to lie to Galinda about something that was important. “It’s about Master Boq.”

“Who?” said Galinda with a tilt of her head and a slightly bemused expression.

Elphaba narrowed her eyes, a sure sign she was close to losing her temper and one that Galinda missed, and then sighed.

“That remark is exactly my point. Master Boq is the young Munchkin you dumped on my sister.”

“Oh I thought his name was Baq or Biq or something. Was Miss Nessarose upset? She seemed to be having fun at the party.”

“Oh yes, Galinda,” responded Elphaba, no longer able to hold her sarcasm at bay. “I’m sure it’s a great deal of fun watching the person who invited you to a party mooning over a beautiful, popular, normal woman. Nessa thought that he invited her because he liked her and that you encouraged him to ask her because he was shy.”

Elphaba’s harsh, unrelenting, gaze made Galinda squirm visibly and she actually felt guilty about what she’d done even though it seemed like a perfect solution at the time.

“Now Master Boq is all confused – yes, I did talk to him, you hurt his feelings as well – and so is my sister.”

“You’re angry with me aren’t you Elphie?” asked Galinda in a young girlish voice that never failed to melt the hearts of her peers and acquaintances but had no effect on her roommate. “Does this mean we aren’t friends again?”

“Yes, I am angry, and no, it does not mean we aren’t friends Galinda but I am having my doubts. I’m thrilled that we don’t hate each other anymore, really, and now that we’ve gotten to know each other I genuinely like you Galinda, I’m just not sure I can be friends with someone who treats other people that way.”

It occurred to Galinda that, during the entire exchange, Elphaba didn’t once mention the hat, which she was keeping on her bedside drawers, or the invitation to the party.

She didn’t mention the things I did to her, just Biq – I mean Boq – and Miss Nessarose. Oh why did I do such a silly thing? I knew Boq wasn’t interested in Miss Nessarose and I encouraged him to ask her because I felt sorry for her and I wanted to get rid of him. It didn’t seem so wrong at the time but it must have been because it made Elphie angry with me! Oh who am I trying to fool? Of course it was wrong but how can I make it up to them all!

“I’ll make it up to them! I promise, I will…but I don’t really know how.”

Galinda’s genuine penitence softened Elphaba’s heart towards the other girl, she clearly didn’t realise until Elphaba pointed it out that she had done something wrong. Hesitantly she held out a hand to her roommate.

“Don’t cry, Galinda, please!”

Galinda grasped Elphaba’s hand urgently and tugged it until the taller girl stood up.

“I can’t help it!” protested Galinda. “It’s so silly but I can’t stand the thought of you being disappointed in me, Elphie!”

“Oh Galinda, you are a goose sometimes! I’m not disappointed in you; I’m just worried about Nessa.”

“Would it help if I… well, maybe I could apologise to her?”

“I think that would be nice.”

“And Biq too.”

“Boq, Galinda.”

“Right, that’s who I meant.”

“Try to get it right when you talk to him.”

“I will. Elphie?”

“Yes, Galinda?”

“Do you think I should write it on my hand so I don’t forget?”

“I think he’d be a little offended if he noticed,” replied Elphaba, stifling her laughter when she realised that the idea was spoken in earnest.

“Oh you are so smart Elphie! I never would have thought of that!”

“Galinda, you don’t have to flatter me just because you think I’m upset with you.”

“I’m not! It’s true! You are so clever! I wouldn’t dare flatter you without meaning it, Miss Elphaba Thropp.”

“Oh really?”

Brilliant blue eyes stared seriously into soulful brown eyes and the blonde nodded slowly then explained.

“You see right through me. If I wasn’t being genuine you’d know.”

The moment was too intense, too intimate, for such a new friendship and the girls pulled apart hastily.

“It’s probably because I’m a boring Munchkinlander,” remarked Elphaba, drawing herself back from the moment. “We don’t bother making things up to flatter each other while there’s work to be done.”

“I don’t think you’re boring Elphie!” declared Galinda, with a toss of her hair that made Elphaba snicker softly. She too was afraid to look to deeply into the implications of the moment they had shared. “Though Munchkinlanders in general are, but we can’t all be Gillikinese!”

Elphaba put her hands on her hips, pretending to be offended and haughty.

“I shall have you know, Miss Galinda Upland, that I am just over one quarter Gillikinese!”

“How can you be ‘just over a quarter’ of anything?” asked Galinda. Fractions were not her strong point.

“Both of my paternal grandparents are half Gillikinese and half Munchkin, so my father is half and half as well, and my mother had some Gillikinese blood but I don’t know the particulars of her pedigree.”

That wasn’t entirely true but Elphaba thought it was a little too soon in the friendship, even after the moment of closeness, to admit to Galinda – who most definitely suffered from the typical Central Ozian and Gillikin snobbishness in relation to certain bloodlines – that her maternal grandmother was a Quadling.

“How interesting it must be to have relatives in so many places!”

As soon as she spoke Galinda realised it was the wrong thing to say but Elphaba, thankfully, didn’t get upset. She just smiled and answered politely.

“I couldn’t say. I’ve never met any of them. Nessa says they are nice enough people but the Gillikinese are too snobbish and the Munchkins too deferential.”

“Snobbish!” repeated Galinda in an almost unbearably high-pitched tone. She simply had to defend the honour of her people!

“We are not ‘snobbish.’ We’re simply… simply…”

“Extremely select about whom you feel it is suitable to associate with?” suggested Elphaba.

“Exactly!” agreed Galinda then realised Elphaba was making fun of her, “No, wait, that isn’t what I meant!”

“So what did you mean?”

“You made me forget!”

“Apologies.”

“Your accent is so quaint, Elphie!” Galinda informed the other girl with a laugh. “It’s really quite sweet, the way you slip into that Eastern dialect without realising you’re doing it.”

“I’m thrilled that you approve,” replied Elphaba, straight-faced. “And I am completely aware of the way I’m speaking, thank you. Sometimes I just can’t be bothered remembering all the ridiculous phrases you Northerners invent and inflict on the rest of us because it’s fashionable at the moment.”

“You are incorrigibly hopeless, Miss Elphaba!”

“You have just used two words that mean the same thing next to each other, Miss Galinda.”

Elphaba, and more surprisingly Galinda, had never had someone to exchange this sort of playful insults with. Both of them knew that what they said wasn’t sincere, it was just the kind of game close friends could play, though to someone who didn’t know how close they had grown in just a few days it might seem like they had, after a brief flush of friendship, reverted to their former enmity.

“I did not!” protested Galinda. “I did?”

Elphaba threw back her head and laughed, the first time Galinda had heard her do so when she wasn’t laughing maliciously at the blonde girl (usually after playing a prank on her.)

“Why, Miss Elphaba, look at you – you do know how to laugh and smile after all!”

Elphaba blushed, though Galinda couldn’t tell, the words reminded her of the night after the dance when Galinda had said: ‘Why look at you, Miss Elphaba, you’re beautiful!’ and the green girl had promptly run out of the room after seeing her reflection. As always she covered her feelings with sarcasm.

“When I have a reason to smile I am quite capable of it and I do find you so terribly amusing.”

“I couldn’t help but notice that, like when you trip me over!”

“I only did that once!”

“Or when you sneak up on me!”

“You squeal. It’s hilarious!”

“Pull faces at me!”

“Only when you’re not looking! Can I help it if you turn around? And what about you? Always pointing at me giggling!”

“Well I do find you so terribly amusing!” retorted Galinda with a giggle at her own cleverness.

“And you forgot to mention the time I put pink dye in your shampoo…”

“That was you?!” wailed Galinda in outrage at the reference to the week she’d worn a hat and hair scarf everywhere because her hair was bright pink – she’d told her friends it was bad new style that she had to grow out.

“I was using my ears! Who did you think it was?”

“Well I… I don’t know, I just didn’t think that… where did you even get pink dye?”

“The kitchen.”

“The kitchen? You put food in my hair!”

“No. I put food colouring in your shampoo. You put it in your hair. Can I help it if you didn’t notice the colour?”

“It’s always that colour!”

“Oh that explains it.”

“I still can’t believe you did that! I was so humiliated.”

“I didn’t particularly enjoy it when you tripped me down the stairs and half the school saw my underthings.”

“Oh now it makes sense, I thought it was because of the time I put glue in your inkpot!”

“That was you?”

“Well who did you think it was?”

“Oh I don’t know, Galinda, it could have been any person in the entire school.”

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, Miss Elphaba!”

“Would you rather I did this?” asked Elphaba and crossed her eyes in a rather grotesque manner.

“Elphaba! That is ghastly!”

Galinda scolded her roommate while giggling hysterically.

“I’ll stop if you stop that hideous noise!”

“I happen to have a very charming laugh!” Galinda informed her proudly.

“Not when you’re giggling like a milkmaid in a haystack with a shepherd!”

“Elphaba Thropp! What a scandalacious thing to say! Wherever do you learn such language?

She shrugged.

“I read a lot.”

“People put things like that in books?” asked Galinda incredulously, now more curious than scandalised.

“If you actually read books you’d know.”

“But they’re so dull!” protested Galinda.

“Only if you read the wrong ones!” countered Elphaba. “Surely there are books you like? Like books about... clothes for instance?”

“Oh! Of course, I read all sorts of books about styles when I was studying at the Gillikin Institute, before I decided to go into Sorcery… but Madame Morrible refused my application.”

“You stayed anyway?”

“Of course. And then you… why would you do that Elphaba?”

“You made Nessa happy,” she explained simply.

“Why do you love her so much?”

Galinda hadn’t meant to ask such a personal question of her friend, not so early in their friendship, but the question had been building up for weeks – even when she was ignoring Elphaba or laughing at her she couldn’t help noticing the way her sister treated her.

“I know you blame yourself for what happened to her and your mother,” she added on hastily, not sure if the comment would improve the situation.

Elphaba thought the question should make her leap angrily to the defence of herself and her sister but it didn’t, she had to suppress a feeling of guilt on that score, and she answered in the simplest way she could while still fully answering the question.

”I’m the only mother she has ever known.”

That was a good start but it wasn’t all of her reasoning and she held up her hand to prevent Galinda commenting on it. The second part was harder to say but Elphaba felt that Galinda had to know what sort of person she was offering her friendship to.

“She’s the only person I’ve been able to love since our mother died.” She looked away from Galinda, out of the dark window, into the night. “I’ve tried to love my father, I’m still trying to please him.”

For once in her life Galinda, who could not even imagine what it was like not to love and be loved, kept her mouth shut and just listened – effectively allowing the conversation to turn into a monologue.

“I think Nessa loves me a little, in her own muddled up way, at least she notices me on a regular basis. The only time our father notices me is when I’m doing, or have done, something I’m not supposed to.

I loved Nessa the moment I saw her, just like my mother loved her sister, I didn’t know then that she had been hurt during the birth as well. I only knew that Mother was gone and Nessa would never know her.

I know I’m not a very loveable person but I never really learned how to love people, or how to know if I do. I know I don’t love my father but I do care about him. I know I feel guilty about my sister and I think I love her but I have no basis of comparison except a four year old’s memory of her mother saying ‘I love you’.”

Elphaba pressed one hand against the glass and stared at her reflection: midnight hair, dark eyes, and her ever-hated green skin.

“Sometimes I think that I was so young, I must have imagined it. How could she have possibly loved this? It seems only logical that she only said it out of obligation if she said it at all. Logic is what makes sense, you know?

There are times though when my heart argues most vehemently with my logic and insists that a mother’s love cannot be falsified, nor can the memory of it. I have to hold onto that memory, it means everything to me, it’s the only proof I have that it is possible for anyone to love me.”

Elphaba traced her reflection in the window with her spare hand and wondered out loud.

“How can anyone love me when I hate myself so much I can hardly stand to look in a mirror most days?”

A dozen shallow platitudes died on Galinda’s lips, it was a new situation to hear such self-loathing expressed openly.

Poor Galinda doesn’t know what to say now, thought Elphaba as the pair stood in silence. Probably trying to think of the best excuse to get out of here as quickly as possible.

Poor Elphaba, she probably thinks I’m trying to think of an excuse to leave! I wish I could think of a single thing to say to make her feel better or… I don’t know just help somehow! But then Mother always said ‘if you can’t improve the conversation it’s better to stay silent’ though I’m not sure that applies to this situation.

I should tell her to go to bed, contemplated Elphaba. She’ll be over all of this by the morning and that will be the end of it.

She’s going to make me leave and then it will never be the same again.

“Galinda, I…”

“Elphaba, I…”

The girls spoke at the same time then stopped and fell into an awkward silence; Elphaba was still staring fixedly through the window rather than at her reflection in it and Galinda stood helplessly behind her.

“You should go to bed, Galinda, it’s late. We have an exam in Protocol tomorrow.”

“Don’t push me away, Elphie.”

Galinda had only meant to think the words but she ended up saying them out loud. Her pleading tone, similar but somehow more sincere than the one she used earlier, caught Elphaba’s attention but wasn’t enough to pull her away from the window.

“Are you close enough to push away? I don’t have any experience, you must understand, in pushing people away. They usually manage to stay away all on their own.”

There was an eerie, far away, quality in her voice that made Galinda shiver.

“You sound like you’re miles away, Elphie. What is outside that window that fascinates you so?”

“The world.”

“You can’t see the whole world from one window,” Galinda reminded her.

“It faces East. If I look hard enough I can almost see the place that was my whole world until I came here. I can count the number of times I left the grounds of the Governor’s House on one hand you know?”

While Elphaba was talking Galinda, on a sudden impulse, slipped up behind her and put her hand on the taller girl’s shoulder.

“Five times?” Galinda translated the explanation quietly, all the while thinking that it was impossible to imagine living in the same place for over twenty years and only leaving it five times.

“Two,” replied Elphaba, still staring out of the window.

Galinda gently pushed Elphaba’s shoulder until the girl sat down on the window seat then perched next to her. She ignored the fact that Elphaba still refused to look away from the window.

“Tell me about them, the two times you left.”

“Why do you want to know?” replied Elphaba defensively. Galinda almost smiled, a defensive Elphaba was so much easier to deal with than this new, depressed, Elphaba.

“Because I’m interested, of course! Please Elphie?”

“It’s not very interesting at all, you’ll be bored in less than a minute!”

“The sooner you tell me the sooner I’ll get bored and stop annoying you.”

“If I ignore you long enough you’ll get bored and stop annoying me.”

“Not this time,” Galinda said firmly. “I am completely resolved to making you talk to me, Elphie, and I’m going to sit here for as it takes!”

She shook her blonde curls and crossed her arms in what she hoped was a resolved fashion.

“Oh Galinda, you are adorable.”

“Was that a compliment or an insult?” asked Galinda with a slight frown.

“Just an observation, dear girl, a simple observation.”

“Now you’re just being patronising!”

“Not intentionally, I assure you. Just trying to find a suitable nickname for you. I’m not having much luck. I guess one needs to have a knack for such things like you do.”

“Well, my mother calls me… actually never mind I cannot in my most fanciful fancifications imagine you calling me by that nickname.”

“I won’t even ask, you’d only be offended when I laughed I’m sure.”

“I’m quite sure you would laugh. I don’t suppose you know what it’s like to have a nickname.”

“Well no, I wouldn’t, I suppose,” muttered Elphaba, drawing her knees up against her and returning to staring out of the window.

“Oh I’m sorry Elphie! I didn’t think before I spoke!”

“It doesn’t matter, Galinda, really. I don’t care.”

“Have you ever had a nickname? Before you met me I mean.”

“My mother called me Fabala. It’s nothing special, just the Quadling way of saying ‘Elphaba’.”

“Why would your mother use a Quadling nickname for you?”

“I imagine it had something to do with the fact that her mother was a Quadling,” replied Elphaba, without really considering her answer. “Oh Oz! Galinda, you must promise never to mention that to anyone especially my sister! Father has never told her and I don’t know how she would react.”

Elphie and Nessarose are part Quadling? Goodness gracious I had no idea, not that it matters of course but…I never would have guessed and surely their mother must have looked more like an Easterner or it would be mentioned.

“You’ve gone quiet, Galinda.”

“I’m sorry. I was just thinking. Miss Nessarose doesn’t look very… well she looks like a Borderland Easterner.”

“Don’t hurt your head over it. Our mother didn’t look like a Quadling either. It makes sense that Nessarose wouldn’t.”

“Anyway that’s a pretty nickname, why doesn’t your sis… actually never mind, that’s a silly question. Miss Nessarose doesn’t seem like she approves of nicknames… unless ‘Nessa’ counts?”

“I called her ‘Nessie’ up until she was about ten then she decided it wasn’t grown up enough for her and insisted I call her Nessa as Father does.”

“My mother still calls me… by my nickname despite the fact I insist I am too old for it. In Gillikin it’s considered a childish thing to have a nickname, from people older than you, once you’ve reached adult status but I suppose parents must be exempt from such things.”

“Does that mean I can’t give you a nickname because I’m older than you?” teased Elphaba.

“You know perfectly well that I meant people my parent’s age. If you like me well enough to give me a sensible nickname…”

“I must shudder away from the thought of the differences in our ideas of ‘sensible’.”

“…Then I would be very pleased. And stop mocking me when I’m trying to be serious!”

“You do it so rarely, I couldn’t tell. Speaking of telling, what does your mother call you that is so embarrassing you won’t even tell me?”

“I told you it’s childish.”

“Women are allowed to be childish in the middle of the night when they’re alone with their close friend. It’s a rule, you know?”

“You just made that up!”

“Perhaps. Don’t you think it’s a good rule though? Besides I told you mine and something you are called when you are five is bound to be more childish than something an older child is called.”

“Will you tell me about the times you left home if I tell you this?”

“One of them,” said Elphaba, offering a compromise. “And I’ll let you choose which.”

“Very well then,” agreed Galinda, curiousity overcoming her fear of ridicule; it didn’t occur to her that Elphaba was hardly likely to tease her over a nickname. She took a deep breath and began speaking.

“Ever since I was a young woman of around eight, before that I had a different nickname, my mother has called me…”

She stopped speaking when Elphaba, who had spent the entire conversation staring into the window, gasped loudly.

“Elphie? Are you all right?”

In the window Elphaba had seen not her reflection but a vision of a blonde girl, clearly a much younger Galinda, and a petite blonde woman who could only be her mother. They stood in the mother’s garden and Elphaba heard her telling Galinda why she called her by that nickname and found herself repeating the words.

“Lynni, after the pink flowers that grow on the riverbank and in her garden. Oh Galinda your mother is so beautiful!”

“Elphaba how could you possibly…?”

“Sometimes… sometimes… I see things that have already happened, usually in dreams, and sometimes I see things that… that might happen. Most of the time I don’t… don’t realise what I saw until after it happens but sometimes it’s so clear I can see every moment as it happens. It often happens that I can’t tell what is a… vision I suppose is the correct word and what is just a dream like everyone has. At least not until something happens that fits in with what I saw but even then it can be a coincidence and… I’m talking too much aren’t I? I’m sorry it’s just that I’m nervous and I talk a lot when I’m nervous… see I’m doing it again!”

“You don’t have to be nervous.” Galinda managed to reply reassuringly despite the fact she was… well she wasn’t sure how she felt about what Elphaba had just told her beyond the fact that it was important that Elphaba did not feel rejected when she was baring her soul to Galinda.

“Don’t I?” asked Elphaba in a tone that was, frankly, nervous. “I mean you’re not going to take a fit of hysterics or something are you?”

“No, Elphie, I’m honestly not! Though I did consider it for a few moments but only because I was surprised! I’m really not sure what to say, I’ve never heard of anyone having spontaneous Divination powers before and I read a lot of books about magic when I wrote my entrance essay! Mostly people use bowls of water, or crystal balls, or… but then you probably know all about Divination from your classes with Madame Morrible.”

“No. I believe that falls under the heading of things she considers too advanced for a mere student to learn about. You probably know more about it than I do. I always though Divination was just seeing the future?”

“It is,” replied Galinda, feeling very important because she knew the answer to one of Elphaba’s questions for a change. “But it also means seeing things with magical sight, things that you wouldn’t normally see, like the past or things that are happened in the present but out of your normal sight. Surely Madame Morrible told you this when you told her about…you didn’t tell her did you?”

The shocked exclamation at the end of the straightforward explanation almost made Elphaba smile and she actually turned her head slightly so she could see Galinda, out of the corner of her eye, when she replied.

“No. I didn’t tell Madame Morrible about the things I see and I would be most appreciative if you kept it between us.”

“Of course!” agreed Galinda. “No use talking about something that is so imprecise it’s not exactly…”

“Useful?” suggested Elphaba.

“Oh dear, that did not come out the way I meant it!”

“I know what you mean anyway.” Elphaba reassured her friend with a brief handclasp. “I’m sorry I inflicted my dark mood on you, Galinda. They just come over me sometimes and normally there’s no one around.”

“I don’t mind, Elphaba.” To the blonde girl’s surprise she really didn’t despite her usual tendency to shy away from serious moods, in herself and her friends.

“You really don’t do you?” realised Elphaba. “How strange for you to react this way, Miss Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands. Could it be that you are not entirely shallow?”

“Well of all the…here I am trying to be nice to you and you start mocking the way I say my own name! Do I really sound that dreadful?”

“Not at all. You have a much prettier voice than I do and much more practice saying your formal name I’m sure.”

“Momsie used to make me practice saying it every day until it came naturally every time I was asked to introduce myself. What is your full formal name? I know Munchkinlanders and Border Landers have a different way of introducing themselves.”

“Elphaba Liana Hadar Thropp,” replied Elphaba somewhat self-consciously. “I’ve never used it. I only know it because my mother told me once and it stuck in my mind. Liana was my mother’s mother and Hadar was my mother’s name before she married.”

“Liyana,” said Galinda slowly, not realising she was mispronouncing the name. “That’s pretty.”

Elphaba considered telling her that the correct pronunciation was “Lee-ana” but decided not to spoil the moment with such pettiness.

“Thank you.”

The conversation lapsed again until Galinda remembered something Elphaba had said not long ago.

“You said you’d tell me about one of the times you were away from home.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “But you don’t have to because I didn’t actually tell you.”