Hi! I'm back! So ever since I finished The Little Witch, I've gotten a few requests for a sequel. And at first, I was opposed to the idea because I wanted to move on to other things, and I didn't really have any ideas for a sequel. But then, I was bored one day and watched some clips of The Little Mermaid II online, and I had a eureka moment. And this story is the result.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

"And then what happened, Mama?" I had told my six year old this story many times, but she always behaved as though she was hearing it for the first time.

"Well, your father caught up to me," I said. "And he tried to tell me who he was, but I didn't believe him. So I slapped him."
Melrina giggled, like she always did when I got to that part. "You slapped Daddy?"

"I did. I didn't have my voice, so I couldn't scream at him, so slapping him was the next best thing. But then he started telling me things only he would know, and I realized it was him."

"And you kissed him?" Melrina asked knowingly.

I smiled at my daughter's straightforwardness; she was just like me in that regard. "Yes. Yes, I did. And now, I'm going to kiss you." I stood up and did so, tucking her in tighter as well. "Good night, Mel."

"Mama?" Melrina called as I was approaching her door. "Can you tell me about the time Auntie Glinda made you wear one of her dresses?"

"No, sweetie. It's getting a little late. Maybe tomorrow night, okay?"

She sighed. "Alright. Good night, Mama."

"G'night." I quietly closed her door and made my way down the hall to the master bedroom. I entered to find Fiyero propped up on his side, grinning from ear to ear. I let my lips curl into a smirk. "What're you so happy about?"

"I overheard the story Mel wanted you to tell her," he answered. "That was pretty funny. I remember you complained through the whole party." We laughed together at that, but then Fiyero's smile faded as he apparently thought of something. "And I also overheard the story you actually told her."

I nodded. "It's one of her favorites. I think that's because I slap you." I sat down beside him on the bed and put my arm around him.

"Right. Y'know, my face is still smarting from that slap …"

"Oh, pigspittle! You and I both know you couldn't feel anything! That was the whole point of my spell."

He smiled in acknowledgment. "True. So true." We both laid down on the bed, I read for a little bit, and then I turned off the light. Fiyero, as usual, went to sleep almost immediately. I, also per the usual, needed a little time for my mind to calm down. It had been twelve years since we had left Oz. We had settled in Ix, a very sheltered country that knew precious little about anything in Oz, let alone my reputation. Fiyero soon began to plant corn to make money, and I got a teaching job at the local primary school. And yes, it took Fiyero more than five years to convince me to have a kid. Honestly, I didn't think I could take care of myself, much less another little person! But once I first saw Melrina, I knew that I always wanted her, however subliminally. In my mind, she seemed to have the best of Fiyero and I: his optimism and looks, and my brains. And twelve years after leaving Oz, my past there appeared to be very distant.

But I still thought about it every once in a while. I read about all of Glinda's accomplishments in the papers: better water conditions for Munchkinland, sorcery scholarships to Shiz for disadvantaged Quadling students, and most of all, the reversal of all of the Wizard's Animal laws. I knew she did that last one for me, to honor my "memory." But I tried to replace my dismay that she could never know that I was alive with pride of my friend's career.

And I thought of Manek. I had told Fiyero about him, an edited version of the truth, leaving out the hand-kissing and the dancing and our almost-kiss in Southstairs. After all, nothing really romantic happened between us, at least not on my side, and what Fiyero didn't know wouldn't hurt him. I often wondered if Glinda had gotten around to releasing the Wizard's political prisoners, including Manek. If so, I hoped he had reconciled with his mother and finally gotten the chance to spread the ideals he valued so much. If not, I hoped he was at least comfortable in Southstairs.

The next morning, it was a Saturday, so we all slept in. Still, I was the first one to get up, because that's just how my mental clock works. I made pancakes, and just as I was finishing up, my nightowl husband and daughter finally stumbled into the dining room. Melrina unfortunately had also inherited Fiyero's aversion to getting up any time before 9 in the morning. On weekdays, it was a job to get her up for school.

But most of her sleepiness went away when she saw what was for breakfast. "Pancakes!" she exclaimed happily. "Daddy, look! Mama made pancakes!"

"So I see," Fiyero said drowsily, practically falling into a chair. He looked about ready to fall back asleep on the dining room table.

"None of that this morning, Mister Tigulaar," I scolded him lightly. "Didn't you say you wanted to weed the fields today?"

A glimmer of recognition flashed in his glassy eyes. "Oh yeah. Screw when I said that."

"Fiyero! Language! And in front of Melrina!"

"It's okay," Melrina said with a giggle. "Yesterday in school, Pinn said an even ruder word, and Mrs. Glossai didn't even notice."

"But you would never use a word like that, I hope," I said to her.

She scrunched up her nose in disgust. "No! Of course not! I think Pinn's a smug boar!" She, naturally, had learned that expression from me, during the many times she requested that I tell her about my old tormentor from Shiz: Avaric of Tenmeadows.

After breakfast, Fiyero was much more awake. He went out to weed while Melrina started on her homework. Yes, primary schoolers had homework now, a notion that was unheard of in my day. Since I worked at the same school Mel attended, I was required to give my students homework, but I always gave them the minimum amount. Children should be allowed to be children.

I had just finished washing dishes when Melrina called from the dining room table, "Mama?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I'm stuck. Can you help me?"

"Of course." I went over to her and looked over her set of subtraction problems. "Where are you stuck?"

"It's this one," she answered, pointing to 51 – 17. "I can't remember how to start it."

"Okay, remember we have to add a one to the one's column? What would that leave you with?"

"11 – 7?"

"Which is?"

"4! So, the one's column is 4!" She excitedly wrote that down on her worksheet.

"Right! And then what would you do in the ten's column?"

"5 becomes 4, doesn't it? So, 4 – 1 is 3! So, the answer is 34!"

"Exactly! Good job! I only had to help you a little bit on that one!" We shared a grin, but just then, someone knocked on the door. I quickly put away my dishcloth to go answer it.

When I opened the door, I was a bit stunned to see none other than Ursula. "Elphaba, darling!" she greeted me happily. "How wonderful it is to see you! Your husband told me you would be in here. And, might I say, he is still quite handsome after all these years! May I come in?"

"O-Of course," I said as I ushered her into dining room, still shocked at her presence. "Please have a seat."

Ursula did so, and then turned to Melrina, who was now completely distracted from her homework. "Hello, little one. What's your name?"

"Melrina," she replied cautiously. "Mama, who is this?"

"This is Ursula, love," I said. "I've told you about Ursula."

Mel's face immediately turned into a scowl. "You took Mama's voice, didn't you? Mama's told me all about you!"

"But I've also told you that she saved my life," I reminded her. "And obviously, she gave me my voice back, otherwise I couldn't have told you anything about anything!"

"I still don't trust her," Mel said, looking at Ursula warily.

Ursula seemed to unfazed by all this, and even chuckled a little. "Oh, Elphaba, she is you! It's adorable!" She addressed Melrina again. "You have Mommy's skepticism, don't you, little one?" But Mel was now pretending to be absorbed in her homework. But Ursula, once again, brushed this aside and turned back to me. "I've been so busy with my work. I set up shop in Ev, doing magic for money and … other things. It's been a pretty steady business, so I've had no time to check on you. But it seems like you're thriving wonderfully here in Ix. From his activities out in the garden, I can only assume that Fiyero has taken up farming, but what do you do?"

"I teach," I answered. "I work at the same school Mel goes to. I don't teach sorcery, even though I would very much like to. Fiyero keeps insisting that I make a request to the principal for an elective sorcery class, but I've only been teaching there for a little over ten years, so I don't think I have the … rapport I need to make such a request. Yet."

Ursula waved her hand dismissively. "Ah, primary school kids are too young to learn magic anyway. Don't want them blowing up the school or turning their teachers into frogs, now do we?"

"You have a point there, but what about children who are like you and I were? We never had anyone teaching us about our magic."

Ursula was about to respond when Fiyero came into the house triumphantly. "The fields are officially weed-free!" he declared to us. He went over to Melrina and clapped her on the back. "Hey Melly Belly, how would you like to help your old Dad put these weeds in the grinder, huh?" Yes, he had taken to calling her Melly Belly when she was a baby, partly to get a rise out of me, and unfortunately, the name had stuck.

"I'd love to!" Melrina said happily. "Mama, can I? I'm almost done with my homework, and I'll finish it as soon as I get back."

I smiled at her enthusiasm. "Of course you can. Just be careful; that grinder could take a finger if you're not!"
"Okay!"

Ursula spoke again once Fiyero and Melrina were out of earshot. "There's trouble in the ocean. I've been watching it. I've told you about my half brother, Triton, but I also have a half sister, Morgana. We have the same renegade cephalopod father, but while I got a queen of the sea for a mother, she got some common mermaid hussy. No, I shouldn't say that about Titannia; she was a good surrogate mother to me once I was banished. In fact, sometimes I think she loved me more than her own daughter!" She laughed briefly. "Morgana and I were very close; we did practically everything together as girls. So naturally, since I faked my death, she has become … distraught. And that's a nice way of putting it. Most of the merfolk refer to her as 'Ursula's crazy sister.'" She gave me a knowing look. "I know you are all too familiar with that concept."

"Indeed I am," I said. "Although, most of Oz saw me as the crazy one. Nessa was just a plain old tyrant to them. Ursula, I know you. Despite your good side, I know you wouldn't have bothered to come here unless you wanted something from me, so just tell me."

"You know me too well," she said with a grin. "I want you to help me stage an intervention for Morgana. She's blamed my 'death' on Triton, and she's planning to steal his crown. And much as I sometimes hate my foolish little brother, he is the most qualified person in that ocean to be king. You got me off a wild rampage, Elphaba. Maybe you can do the same for Morgana."

"You're lucky spring break starts next week," I said with a sigh. "I'm in, if only because even if I wasn't, you'd find some way to convince me."

She beamed. "Fantastic! I'll work on making a portal to my world while you put some last minute knowledge into those skulls full of mush, and we'll leave Friday afternoon!" But then, she seemed to remember something. "Ooo, there's one part of this whole thing that you are NOT going to like!"

"What is it?" I asked, bracing myself for the worst.

"Oh, I can already hear you saying how ridiculous this is, and how you're not gonna do it …"

"For Oz's sake, Ursula, just spit it out!"

I could tell she was forcing herself to continue. "You know, of course, that the sea kingdom is, well, in the sea, and you're a human, so you wouldn't really survive in the sea, and so … oh God you really are going to hate this, but you're going to have to be a little … less human. That is … you're going to have to be a mermaid."

There you have it! Thanks for reading this extra long exposition chapter.

Cheers,

Elle Dottore