Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Ah, inspiration is lovely. I'm still working on Believe Me, don't worry about that. I just like to have multiple stories because of my ADD. There aren't enough fanfics with little Elphaba and Nessarose. Please R&R!

Sunlight filtered in between the wooden slats that covered the windows. The bright light hit the face of the child asleep on the floor underneath the window, causing her to open her eyes. With a dejected look that read 'its morning already?' she neatly arranged the thin blanket and what barely served as a pillow on the heavily patched pallet. Her nightgown was no more than an old flour sack—the upside-down logo of the company, although lightened after several washings, was still very apparent. Across the room, another girl slept peaceably with thick quilts piled around her.

"Nessa…Nessarose…Nessie…" the girl shook the other—her sister—gently to wake her.

"A few more clock ticks, Elphaba…" Nessarose cracked one eye open to be met by the familiar green face of her older sister.

"No, Nessa. Father told me last night to have you up when I get up every morning. We're going to get new clothes for you today." Elphaba pulled the covers off of the younger girl.

From the corner of the room the green girl pulled the heavy wheelchair next to the bed. A pile of freshly pressed clothes sat in the middle: a deep red dress and a crisp white pinafore.

"Fabala?"

"Yes Nessa." The green replied as she dressed her sister with great care.

"Why do you never get new clothes?"—she lifted her arms to be put into her chair—"But Father gets new clothes for me every month."

"I don't know, Nessa," said Elphaba as she slipped into her dark gray dress.

In truth, she wondered about this as well. Over the years the first born child of the Governor of Munchkinland had been all but hidden from the public eye. The sleeves came to just below her elbows and the dress barely reached her knees. Three years ago when she had first gotten it, there was room to breathe.

"Fabala, I need my shoes and leg braces," Nessarose dragged her older sister from the daydream.

"Oh, right, sorry…" Stockings, then shoes and finally leg braces covered the thin legs.

The two girls walked—well, Nessa wheeled—in silence down the hallway to the dining room for breakfast. A sharp pang of smoke hit their noses when they entered the room. Much to the older girl's dismay smoke and steam was pouring from the pan on the stove top. Frex stood raving that the Unnamed God would have His vengeance against the itinerant stove. Once the air in the room was clear once more, he took notice of his two daughters.

"Good morning, Father," smiled Nessarose sweetly.

Frex placed a kiss on the forehead of his favorite child, "How did you sleep?"

"Oh, I slept wonderfully last night, but El—"

He noticed the disheveled look of her hair, "Elphaba!" he barked.

"Yes, Father." The green girl stood in front of him at attention.

"Why didn't you brush your sister's hair?" He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and turned her to look at the other girl.

"I'm sorry, Father. I forgot to. I'll brush Nessa's hair after breakfast—"

"No! You will not have breakfast this morning because of your laziness! While we eat you will brush your sister's hair."

"Yes, Father…" Elphaba walked back to the bedroom she and Nessa shared.

The brush sat on the small, mirrored vanity. Despite her best intentions, the verdigrisian child caught her reflection. She turned her focus to her hair instead. To ensure that Frex wouldn't yell at her for taking too long she gave herself a cursory brushing as she walked back down the hallway. But still...

"Elphaba! Why did it take such a long for you to get your sister's hairbrush?!" the girls' father shouted.

Nessarose let her fork drop with a clattering sound against her plate, with a disapproving tone she said "Father. It isn't Fabala's fault. She didn't sleep well last night—she doesn't any night—and the room was so cold that I could hear her teeth chattering."

"Were you alright? Do you need more quilts and blankets?" Frex turned his focus back towards his favorite child.

"I'm fine at night, Father. But Fabala needs to not suffer so severely from the cold. If I give her one of my blankets and you find out, she is always the one at fault."

While all this was transpiring, Elphaba dutifully brushed her sister's auburn hair.

"Does any of this about that green thing concern me at all? I couldn't have fathered something so hideous that brings such horror and destruction." Only because it was the younger of the two girls did he keep his volume in check.

Nessarose rolled back from the table, and over Elphaba's foot in the process. She presented an ultimatum: "Father, when we go shopping you have to get Fabala new clothes, or I'll roll myself into Restwater."

A/N: It's short. My first chapters tend to be like that. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. In a review of course. Or just a plain old review. So...please review!