A/N: In the immortal words of one Thomas B. Collins, computer genius, teacher, and vagabond anarchist who ran naked through the Parthenon… MERRY CHRISTMAS, BITCHES! And in honor of Christmas or whatever other winter holiday you may celebrate, here is my gift to my beloved readers – a loverly new Elphiyero oneshot! Enjoy, and my best wishes for a happy, healthy, and very merry holiday season!
Disclaimer: Angel Dumott Schunard in Santa drag is SO much better-looking than the real Santa. She totally ought to take over the job. And if Angel were Santa she'd probably give me the rights to Wicked like I asked, because she's super-incredibly nice like that. I asked last year, but I didn't get them. We'll have to see about this year…
A heavy snow had fallen the night before, covering the campus of Shiz University in a glistening white blanket. The general mood was one of great relief and celebration as the students poured out of the class buildings, finally freed from their last classes before the winter holiday began. Voices rang merrily through the frosty air as people called out to their friends, wishing them safe travels and a happy Lurlinemas before they left to return home for the break. Near the Suicide Canal a group of students began rolling the snow into large balls to build a snowman, and a snowball fight ensued on the commons.
In room twenty-two on the second floor of Crage Hall, Elphaba sat at the window, taking in all the activity going on outside. She had dodged the well-intentioned but (thankfully) poorly-aimed snowballs that Crope and Tibbet had lobbed in her direction on the way out of Life Sciences, and was now ensconced safely in her warm and dry dorm room. And that was precisely where she intended to stay for the rest of the day, more likely than not with a book, several shiny red apples, and perhaps a mug of hot cocoa all within easy reach. She sighed with pleasure. The thought of having several weeks in which to do whatever she pleased all day every day, uninterrupted by classes, schoolwork, or other people, was an extremely welcome one.
Unlike most of the students, Elphaba was not planning to return home for the vacation. With Frex's approval, Nessa (and naturally Nanny as well) had accepted an invitation to spend the break with one of her friends from Gillikin, and so it had not taken much convincing on Elphaba's part to persuade her father to let her simply spend the holidays at Shiz. Her family did not celebrate Lurlinemas, what with her father's vocation as a Unionist minister, so there was no reason to journey back to Munchkinland to be together for a holiday that they did not observe in the first place. Lurlinemas meant nothing to her, considering her Unionist upbringing and Elphaba being the free-range agnostic that she was, and she really found all the fuss that people made over it to be quite foolish.
Glinda, however, had been scandalized when she learned that Elphaba had never received a Lurlinemas gift before, and so, despite all the green girl's protestations that she had never observed the holiday and didn't care to begin doing so now, she had insisted that they were going to exchange presents. Deciding that if Glinda was going to buy her something, then she had better return the gesture, Elphaba had rather resentfully dragged herself into town one afternoon to find her roommate a gift when the Gillikinese girl thought she was at the library. Glinda had been thrilled with the matching earrings and necklace that Elphaba had chosen for her, both boasting gems the exact blue of her friend's eyes. And the green girl had been pleasantly surprised by Glinda's offering of a book she had been wanting. She'd seen the volume once in a shop in town, but hadn't had the money with her to buy it at the time, and she was touched that the Gillikinese girl had remembered her interest in it. Now Glinda had left for home, and although Elphaba was looking forward to some peace and quiet, she did allow herself to admit that she already missed her roommate's cheerful company.
Thinking of her friend's gift reminded Elphaba that the book the blonde had given her was still in her satchel, waiting to be read. Although she had unwrapped it this morning, she had forced herself to wait until winter vacation officially began at the end of classes this afternoon to start reading it. Well, winter vacation had now officially begun, so she needn't hold off any longer. She stood and crossed the room to where she had left her satchel on her bed, eager to crack the book open and lose herself in its pages.
However, when she reached into the bag, her hand encountered something that she was certain she had not put there. Puzzled, she propped the satchel up so she could peer inside, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise when she discovered a package wrapped in brightly-colored seasonal paper. What in Oz was this? She was positive it hadn't been there when she packed the bag this morning. Had Glinda somehow contrived to put it there? No, no, they had already exchanged presents; the blonde wouldn't have gotten her something else. And even if she had, she would have given it to Elphaba directly rather than secretly like this. Glinda hated secrets, mainly because she was terrible at keeping them.
Well, then, the only other possible explanation was that it had come from someone else in their little circle. They were the only other people who Elphaba could possibly fathom giving her any sort of gift. She supposed it wouldn't have been too difficult for one of them to slip the package into her bag when she had set it down and wasn't paying attention to it, most likely at some point during class. The only class they'd had today was Life Sciences, so it must have been then. But who could have done it? She tried to think who would have had easy access to her bag without her catching them, and came to the conclusion that it really could only have been one person: whoever had sat directly to her left, the side of her chair where she always set her satchel down.
But who had sat on her left today? Their little group switched seats every class period; one could never predict who would be sitting next to whom during any given session. She rarely paid attention to who was seated around her; she was always too absorbed in the class to care. Frowning, she racked her brain, trying her hardest to remember who had been on her left today. Her eyebrows shot up once again as she realized that she distinctly recalled catching a glimpse, out of the corner of her eye, of blue diamonds. So it had been Fiyero sitting to her left. But then… did that mean that the present had come from him?
She instantly shook her head at the thought, dismissing it with a derisive chuckle. Of everyone in the group, she knew Fiyero the least of all of them. He had only arrived at the beginning of this school year, and the rest of them had been together for a full year before that. The two of them had hardly spoken outside of the meetings of their circle of friends. Even if it was Lurlinemas, what reason could he possibly have to give her anything? No, it couldn't possibly have been Fiyero who had snuck the package into her satchel.
Elphaba stood there for several more minutes, puzzling over the identity of the mysterious giver, but could come to no plausible conclusion. Finally it occurred to her that gifts were generally meant to be opened, not solved like a riddle. She still wanted to know who it was from, naturally, but she decided that perhaps a gift could still be enjoyed without the recipient being aware of its origin. So she laid the package on her bed and began to undo the wrapping, proceeding very carefully, as she had no idea what she might find inside. Even now, she wasn't entirely certain that it wasn't merely a cruel prank played by one of the numerous students at Shiz who seemed to despise her for no apparent reason whatsoever. But any suspicions she might have had died instantly when she pulled away the last of the paper surrounding the gift.
She found herself examining what seemed to be a folded length of fabric, silk by the feel of it. She picked it up and unfolded it curiously, and couldn't hold in a gasp of surprise and awe. In her hands was a traditional Vinkus silk scarf. She had noticed them before in one or two shops in town, and had even sent one to her sister once last year, but she had never been fortunate enough to own one herself, and never had she seen one as breathtaking as this. It was dyed a deep purple, edged all the way around with black fringe, and shot through with delicate threads of shimmering silver. She ran her fingers reverently over the supple fabric, liking how it felt against her skin, and asked herself who could possibly think her worthy of such a beautiful and valuable gift.
She was so entranced by the scarf that she almost missed the small half-sheet of paper that had fluttered out from between the folds when she picked it up. After a moment, she noticed it lying there on her bed, starkly white against the brown commissary blanket. Picking it up with a puzzled frown, she read:
Dear Elphaba,
I know this sounds cliché, but I saw this and thought of you. I also know you don't celebrate the holiday, but I hope you'll still allow me to wish you a very happy Lurlinemas.
The note was unsigned. But Elphaba suddenly realized with a start that she recognized the handwriting. A few weeks before, she'd had to miss Life Sciences to take care of Nessa and Glinda, who had both been feeling ill on a morning when Nanny had gone out, and she'd gone in search of someone's notes she could borrow to find out what she had missed from the day's lecture. Crope and Tibbet were always too busy flirting to remember anything the professor said, and neither Pfannee, Shen Shen, nor Milla took notes that were worth anything. Avaric might have been able to give her what she needed, but there was no way in Oz she was going to ask him for help. And while Boq took faithful and detailed notes, his handwriting on a good day was indecipherable to anyone except himself. So the only person left to her had been Fiyero. He had been more than willing to let her copy his notes, which she had been pleased to find were both accurate and legible, written in a firm, confident script. A firm, confident script that, if memory served her, had looked almost identical to the penmanship on the note she now held in her hand. The corners of her mouth turned upwards very slightly as she realized that she had uncovered the identity of the mysterious gift-giver after all.
She never quite managed to catch him alone to thank him for the unnecessarily extravagant and exceedingly thoughtful present. But after the winter holidays ended, she wore the scarf several times when the lot of them went out to one tavern or another near campus. He never commented on it, and neither did she, but more than once she caught him watching her when he obviously thought she wouldn't notice. The first time or two that it happened, they both looked away immediately, embarrassed. But finally she grew disgusted with her lack of nerve, and the third time she felt his gaze fall on her, she allowed herself to meet his eyes, and graced him with a small but genuine smile.
Years later, when he arrived at the door of her flat in the Emerald City one evening with several of the colorful scarves in hand, she couldn't help but smile. She accepted his offerings enthusiastically, thanking him with both words and kisses. And although neither of them mentioned it, both somehow understood that she was also expressing her gratitude for that purple scarf he had given her all that time ago back at Shiz.
Once again, I hope everyone has an absolutely FABULOUS Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!
Hey, you know what would make MY Christmas fabulous? REVIEWS! Tee-hee.