Elphaba sped through the air, desperate to get to her sister. The vision had been a mix of confusing images, but the premonition of danger to Nessa was so strong it still had her heart pounding. After the tragedy of their meeting a few days ago, Elphaba couldn't let anything else happen to her sister. If something bad happened to Nessa because of her again, she would never forgive herself. She had already caused her sister to be crippled by being born green and it was her spell book Nessa had used to try and possess Boq's heart necessitating his transformation into tin. It was her duty to protect Nessa. If Morrible went after Nessa to get at her, she would officially be the worst sister in all of Oz.
Trying to get her mind off all the awful possibilities, she noticed the storm that appeared to be following her on her journey to Munchkinland had sped up behind her. The entire reason she was trying to beat the storm instead of stopping it was because she had always struggled with weather magic. There was a certain delicacy to properly casting weather magic that was tricky for her considering she still had the tendency to overpower her spells. Putting too much power into a rain spell and getting a flood was just one disastrous possibility. The world hated her enough already, no need to go messing with the weather. A torrent of air almost seemed to reach out and grab at her as she increased her speed. Elphaba felt panic rise within her as she dodged torrents of wind that seemed to have a mind of their own.
Just as she was beginning to think the storm would catch her, Elphaba remembered one of her first sorcery lessons with Madame Morrible, before Galinda had joined them. Morrible had given her a spell that made a gentle breeze. At the time, she had put too much power into it and practically destroyed the classroom. Now, however, a little overpowering would be just the thing. Hoping she remembered the incantation right, Elphaba cast the spell. She pictured a current of wind surrounding and protecting her. As she breathed out the last phrase of the incantation, the tornado caught up with her. Fortunately, the spell worked and a magical wind surrounded Elphaba, protecting her from the forces of the storm.
It was amazing viewing the inside of a tornado. Objects whirled around Elphaba faster than she could track. The most amazing thing was the roar of the wind. It drowned out every other possible noise and she was sure it was the loudest sound she had ever heard. Elphaba briefly wondered if she was the first one to experience the sheer force of nature on the inside of a tornado.
Though it seemed like an eternity, it was not long before the tornado outpaced her and she was left behind by its winds. Still awed by the force of nature she had just briefly been a part of, Elphaba raced after it. Unfortunately, the tornado was moving with uncanny speed and Elphaba could not catch it. She followed behind it, feeling like an ant following behind a lion.
With a heavy heart, Elphaba recognized that she and the tornado were heading towards Nest Hardings. Giving merit to her fears for her sister. By the time she had reached the Governor's Mansion, it was too late. The storm had already dissipated, its mission accomplished. From the air, she could see a house that had landed inexplicably in the middle of a cornfield. Dropping down and landing to observe this strange occurrence, Elphaba saw something that horrified her. Coming out from the house as if they had somehow become attached to it, were two legs, two legs that were wearing those awful shoes. She knew those shoes, her father had given them to Nessa on their first day of Shiz and she had enchanted them to allow Nessa to walk. Those legs could only belong to one person and all Elphaba's worst fears were realized.
Elphaba fell down to her knees in shock and sorrow. Nessa couldn't be dead. She was supposed to be the one who succeeded in life, who lived the blessed life her father had lined out for her. Elphaba was supposed to protect Nessa. How could Elphaba the monster be alive and her little sister dead?
Her litany of denials was interrupted by a voice. "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
Elphaba looked up and saw a young girl with her hair in pigtails carrying a small black dog. Hoping that it would scare her off so she could grieve in peace, she made her presence known. "I don't know where Kansas is, but this is Munchkinland."
The girl startled and turned towards her. "Oh… Why, you're green… I've never seen someone who was green before… Oh, I'm sorry that was terribly rude of me. My name is Dorothy and this is Toto," she moved one hand to indicate the dog. "You wouldn't happen to know how I got here?"
Elphaba was stunned by this fairly calm reply. Everywhere she went, people responded with terror at the sight of her. Where had this girl come from that she hadn't heard of her? Maybe the Wizard's pervasive PR campaign defaming her as the Wicked Witch of the West wasn't as effective as she thought. That didn't make sense though. Still mildly shocked, Elphaba sarcastically replied, "I would have thought that was obvious. Or did you not notice the tornado that just blew through."
Dorothy blushed. "I didn't think it was possible to travel by twister. How am I ever going to get home?"
"That's not my problem." Elphaba grabbed Dorothy by the shoulders and spun her around to face the house. "You and your twister landed on my sister. How am I going to get my sister back?"
Dorothy gasped horrified. She stared at the legs sticking out of the house. "Oh no, oh no, oh no. I'm so sorry. Is there… Is there anything I can do?"
Dorothy's was so clearly devastated to find that her house had fallen on someone that Elphaba's anger towards her drained away leaving her feeling empty and dejected.
"It's not your fault," Elphaba said begrudgingly. It's mine if it's anyone's. "You couldn't control the tornado." More quietly, she whispered to herself. "I should have been here to protect her."
"Oh no Miss, if you'd been here, there just would have been two bodies instead of one. You can't think that. When my parents died…" Dorothy paused struggling with emotion. "Well, you just can't blame yourself for things you can't control."
The genuine empathy and pain in Dorothy's voice touched Elphaba's heart. It called to the protective part of Elphaba that had always put aside her own concerns to care for her sister or more recently for the Animals. It wouldn't do for Dorothy to have no way home. She pushed away the unbearable grief and guilt to grasp hold of something she could manage.
"You said you were from Kansas? I've never heard of Kansas and I've been all over Oz," Elphaba asked, trying to figure out where this girl could have come from, forcing herself to focus on this newest mission.
"I've never heard of Oz, but I've never been outside of Kansas. Is it in the States?" Dorothy questioned.
"The States? If you've never heard of Oz, then your from a part of the world that is yet uncharted." Elphaba's curiosity was peaked. It had been said that the Wizard was from another world. Could this Dorothy be from the same place?
"If that's true, how will I ever get back home?" Dorothy asked, her voice forlorn.
Considering the problem, Elphaba replied. "I suppose I'll have to come up with…" She was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Startled out of her plans, Elphaba realised that she had lingered too long. "I've got to go. I'll come up with some way to get you home and find you later. It will be alright Dorothy. Just don't believe everything you hear." With that, Elphaba disappeared into the nearby woods. Dorothy's voice followed her as she left.
"Wait, how will you find me? Please don't leave me here alone…
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Glinda was so tired of smiling. She might not have been as close with Nessarose as she was with Elphie but that didn't mean she enjoyed celebrating her death in such a garish and vulgar way. Didn't the Munchkins have the common decency to treat the dead with at least a little respect. Glinda supposed she couldn't blame them too harshly. Nessa had been a tyrannical leader by all accounts. Still, it seemed wrong to celebrate the death of anyone in such a way.
Thank goodness, the parade was moving on following that farm girl Dorothy. Glinda hadn't been quite sure what to do with the girl, so she had sent her along the yellow brick road, hoping to deal with it later. With the last sounds of the parade dying away in the distance. Glinda was finally being left alone. Well, except for some Gale Force officers acting as her guard. Not wanting to have to worry about their presence, she dismissed her guards with a quick wave of her hand. Finally alone, she allowed herself to consider the thought that she'd been trying to banish since she'd heard of Nessa's death. Did I do this?
She had felt so sick at heart after seeing Elphie again only for her to be almost captured. Then, just as she thought things couldn't get worse, Fiyero had turned his gun on the Wizard and escaped with her. First Elphaba abandoned her to lead a risky rebellion on behalf of the Animals and now Fiyero, her own fiancé, had gone off and left her as well. Did they have no sense of self-preservation? She'd had a moment of weakness. As if she was once again Galinda, the shallow girl she'd been on her first day at Shiz, she'd responded to the perceived betrayal with a betrayal of her own. She'd always known how to manipulate Elphaba and in that moment of weakness, she had revealed the pathway to Elphaba's heart to the Wizard and Morrible.
Surely, they weren't responsible for this. Surely, even Morrible, with all her skill in weather magic, couldn't conjure a tornado with enough control to land a house on one particular person. However, deep in her heart, Glinda knew the truth. She had caused this with her words to Morrible and the Wizard. Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.
"Why if it isn't the Good Witch of the North. 'Ding dong the witch is dead' really Glinda? She wasn't even a witch. Does no one have a lick of decorum? How could you be a part of this and doing it in front of that poor girl Dorothy?" Elphaba's voice was cruel and pained in its intensity.
All Glinda's guilt left her when she was confronted with the accusing voice of her best friend. "Nessa was a tyrant Elphaba. She may not have deserved to die, but the Munchkins deserve to celebrate their freedom. Anyway, you know that I'm not exactly in control of that."
"And the Wizard isn't a tyrant? You are in control of your own actions and you encouraged them, Glinda!" Elphaba exclaimed.
"You know I don't really have a choice. If the Wizard or Morrible thought I was acting sympathetic, who knows what they'd do." Glinda defended herself.
"I know you're nothing more than the Wizard's puppet but celebrating Nessa's death seems beyond the pale. Also, what were you thinking sending Dorothy off alone to see the Wizard in my sister's shoes? Have you lost all your sense? Not that you had much to start with now that I think on it." Elphaba said with a clear bite in her voice.
"I'm not the only one whose sense should be in question. What were you thinking, leaving Nessa with shoes that gave off such magical power? Morrible wanted them as soon as she heard about them. Maybe it wasn't my best idea ever to give them to that farm girl but I couldn't just leave them there." Glinda said, an edge entering into her voice as well.
"Well, you might as well have given them straight to Madame Morrible what with sending Dorothy off to see the Wizard. Do you really want another girl fooled and taken advantage of by the Wizard like we were? At least we grew up in Oz and had an idea of what we were getting into, Dorothy doesn't deserve to be involved with Oz's troubles." Elphaba quickly responded.
"And I did? I was just a schoolgirl. I wasn't even the one asked to be there, that was you!" Was Glinda's just as quick reply.
"Well, excuse me for trying to comfort a friend. You seemed happy enough for the distraction from Fiyero at the time? It's not like I knew the Wizard was going to turn out to be awful!" Elphaba said, sounding outraged.
"You may not have known what would happen with the Wizard but you knew what you were doing when you flew off with my fiancé? You took him away with you and left me behind to deal with the mess again!" Glinda returned icily.
"What, did you want me to leave him there to be arrested and killed for threatening the Wizard? I didn't encourage that sort of idiocy in him." Elphaba paused and added in a whisper. "Besides, he wasn't the one I asked to come with me."
The whispered words hit Glinda with more force than their volume would suggest. "Oh Elphie, I've regretted not coming with you more times than I can count. I might have all the popularity I ever dreamed of but it's not quite what I thought it would be. Some things have been... lost. It's more lonely than I ever pictured it would be as a girl. I've missed having someone who really knows me. Still, what good would I have done if I came with you? I'm only good at being popular and what use would that be on the run." A tone of self-derision had entered into her voice.
"You're right. I wouldn't want you to have to face the trials I have since I was declared the Wicked Witch of the West but, Glinda…" Elphaba paused for breath and her voice when she began again had an added gravity. "You can do things because of your popularity that I could never do. You're more than just your popularity. You changed my life just by being part of it. I wouldn't be the person I am today if I hadn't met you at Shiz. You taught me there was more to life than taking care of Nessa and meeting the Wizard." Her voice caught at her sister's name.
"You changed me too, Elphie. I'm not the same girl I was at Shiz."
"One thing this day has taught me, you never know how much time you have. So, just to clear the air, I ask forgiveness for all the things I've done that you blame me for. Even though our lives have taken different paths, your handprint will always be on my heart."
"Oh Elphie, maybe, if we work together…" She was interrupted by the voice of one of her guards.
"Your Goodness, are you ready to leave? The men are…" He stopped when he saw Elphaba and a look of terror came over his face. "It's the WITCH! I'll hold her off, get out of here your Goodness."
Glinda looked at Elphaba regretfully but before she could do anything, a shot rang out through the clearing. The Gale Force officer had fired his gun. Glinda panicked and froze, looking over Elphaba for any wounds but Elphaba was moving too quickly for her to tell. Elphaba had already mounted her broom and before she could stop her, she was flying off into the distance. Glinda turned her eyes to the Gale Force officer. She tried to keep her gaze from being accusing but apparently, it still came through.
"I'm sorry your Goodness. The men and I never should have left you alone to be ambushed like that. We'll get her next time."
Dismayed, Glinda realized that the watchful guard were going to be following her every step more than ever now. Upset, she reformed her bubble and gave him an impatient response.
"I'm heading back to the palace. Be thankful you didn't hit me with that ill-advised bullet you fired so near me. The Wizard will be hearing about that."
As she traveled back to the city and the guards she knew would be waiting for her arrival, she hoped that Elphaba was safe and well. Perhaps they would have a chance to finish their conversation someday soon.
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Elphaba left the conversation with Glinda feeling devastated with grief but oddly hopeful that there was still a future to fight for. Sure, they had started out arguing but half of their conversations started out as arguments. It was such a relief to be able to clear the air between them, to have something to pull her back to herself. However, there wasn't much time to dwell on the lingering hope her conversation with Glinda had inspired. She still had to deal with the Fiyero situation. After seeing the pain Glinda felt at him leaving, she was even less sympathetic to his plight. What in the world had Fiyero been thinking, turning his gun on the Wizard and asking to come with her? Elphaba had been in worse situations than that one since being declared a Wicked Witch. She'd had at least three plans on how to get out of the situation, none of which involved bringing along the Captain of the Gale Force.
For a brief moment, Elphaba considered leaving Fiyero in the woods where she'd told him to wait for her. Her life was complicated enough without adding on the problem of sheltering a highly recognizable prince turned traitor to the Wizard. However, she knew that he had put his life in her hands when he had betrayed the Wizard and she couldn't leave him to starve in the woods or be caught by angry Gale Force officers. Curse her kind heart.
There was also the Dorothy situation to deal with and at the thought, Elphaba's eyes unconsciously began searching the yellow brick road even though she wouldn't be able to see her clearly from this height. Dorothy at least was easy enough to help. Elphaba could take her to one of the Animal refugee camps. She had enough friends there that she could trust Dorothy would be safe while Elphaba came up with a spell to send her home.
Still, it was best she deal with the Fiyero situation first. She hoped he'd waited where she told him to or it would be a pain and a half to find him again. What would she even do with him when she found him? Though it was tempting to consider taking him to an Animal refugee camp like Dorothy, she knew that wouldn't work. Fiyero was just not trustworthy enough. Sure, he had been one of her schoolmates. He had seemed to support Animal rights. He had even helped her free that Lion at Shiz. However, his decision to work for the Wizard as a Gale Force officer meant he couldn't be trusted. He could be a spy or a plant. It wasn't like she even knew him that well at Shiz, she certainly didn't know enough about him now that he'd joined the Gale Force to trust him with anything sensitive.
Trying to think of a potential solution, Elphaba arrived in the clearing in which she had left Fiyero. He wasn't there… Drat that man. Couldn't he stay in one place for half a day. Hoping that he had just gotten bored and wandered around in the nearby woods, she shouted, "Fiyero. Fiyero, if you're going to force me to go out and find you, I am going to be most unhappy."
There was no response. Damn and blast it, she was going to have to cast a location spell. Why couldn't people just do what they were told? It didn't take her long to cast it. She was familiar enough with it from searching for beleaguered Animals in hiding that she didn't even need to take out of the Grimmerie. The spell did tire her out after her long day and if he was moving, it would only have limited usefulness.
Heading out in the direction the spell had shown her, she made her decision about what she would do with him. The fickle Fiyero could not be trusted with the location of any of the Animal camps. She would just have to drop him off with his family in the Vinkuns. He was a prince after all. Surely, the royal family could protect their son from the machinations of the Wizard. After she had found him and dropped him off with his family, she would pick up Dorothy. It would be the end of a long day. Tomorrow had all the potential to be even longer. She could not let the death of her sister go unchallenged. The Wizard and Morrible had no idea the plague they had brought on themselves by coming after her family. They wouldn't know what hit them.