Elphaba walked toward the group gathered on the hilltop, preparing herself. So many years hidden, yet her reputation had lived on despite her "death." Even Glinda had not known the truth, though that lie had broken Elphaba's heart. Risking it all, she steadied herself as she neared the crest. The crowd drew back as she approached, giving her the respect she had long earned even if that respect was borne of terror.
She had no thought to spare for them, not even a stray glance to answer their stares. Her eyes trained on her goal, her head high despite her aching sorrow, she strode with an eerie grace that was more strength than she felt. Finally at the summit, her eyes found their target. Oh Glinda. So long…too long. With deep tenderness in her eyes, she reached her friend, brushing a finger over the beautiful girl's cheek. The clear blue eyes that returned Elphaba's sad stare were eternally unblinking.
She placed the rose in Glinda's hands, fighting the tears that threatened at their sad reunion. All her apologies, pleas of forgiveness, unspoken words of love and regret, all were bound in the petals of the flower. No words spoken, only tears. No one around them understood, not realizing the depth of friendship between the two. Luckily, they held enough fear for the infamous witch to leave them this reconciling without interruption.
Overwhelmed with the memories of their life together, so long past and left tattered in the outskirts of her mind, she knelt before her friend. Why had she waited so long to return? She lowered her head to rest against the cool skin of her friend's arm. Tears fell from her eyes like the rain she so dreaded. Her heart poured out with them, leaving only the broken emptiness behind.
She remained there, motionless despite the scrutiny of the others. Finally, she rose, sorrow permeating her entire being. She whispered her goodbyes with one last longing look. Then just as she had arrived, she retreated, leaving the others to their false mourning. Her grief more alive than she, she didn't turn to watch her friend leave them all behind. They had never been good enough to deserve the goodness of Glinda, and finally she had gone.
Once past the witnesses, Elphaba let the woe in her compel the weeping that she knew could not be stopped for long. She heard their chorus of mourning, fueling the grief that ached in her.
"Tis the last rose of summer
Left
blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and
gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To
reflect back her blushes,
To give sigh for sigh.
I'll
not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the
lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I
scatter,
Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the
garden
Lie scentless and dead."
She rose into the air, wishing as she flew through the heavens that she was somehow nearer to her friend here, bound only by air and spirit. They had finally both defied gravity, reaching beyond the earth to seek their destiny in the skies. Leaving the scene below, she heard the final stanza in the wind.
"So
soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
From Love's shining
circle
The gems drop away.
When true hearts lie withered
And
fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit,
This bleak world
alone?"
AN: The song is from a poem by Thomas Moore, and I fell in love with the version by Hayley Westenra. Please let me know how you liked it.