In the Thropp household, it was a well-understood fact that when food was placed before you, you ate it without question. While young Nessa understood this well (she never protested the tiny portions spooned into her mouth), Elphaba was much more resistant. Melena couldn't understand why her eldest daughter was so picky, and with her husband rarely home to help, she struggled with trying to feed both children.
"Elphaba, I've told you before to stop reading at the table, now eat!"
The green child looked at her mother, clicking her sharp teeth together almost menacingly.
"Don't give me that. Eat."
Elphaba looked down at fish on her plate. She picked it up with both hands.
"If you throw that on the floor, you won't get anything else."
The green child proceeded to throw the trout on the floor. This in turn caused her younger sister to begin crying.
Melena sighed in frustration before she stood, going over to her older daughter and picking her up. "All right. You're done."
Elphaba wriggled in her mother's arm, making noises of protest as she tried to get away.
"I told you not to throw your food on the floor, and you did. Now you've gone and upset your sister, so to bed with you." Melena reached the bedroom and set Elphaba on the small bed. "Now stay here."
The green child let out a sort of roar, as she did when she was angered, and her long legs stretched for the floor.
"No, stay. No reading." Melena set Elphaba back on the bed. Their gazes met, and Melena could have sworn she saw a wicked grin cross her daughter's face, but Nessa's continued cries pulled her away, so she left her odd child to her own devices.
As so often happened, Melena would find her oldest daughter gnawing on the core of some forgotten apple, or Elphaba's fingers would be sticky blue from some berries she'd discovered. Melena wasn't sure where her daughter found the fruit that she did, but it seemed to sustain and satisfy her, so the Thropp mother left it alone. It was better than having a starving child who refused to eat.
Things would have remained that way, had Frex not decided to make a sudden appearance one afternoon.
Melena was sitting outside with Nessa in her lap. Both were watching Elphaba roam about as she did, moving in and out of bushes or climbing trees. At this moment in time, the little green child was clinging to a tree trunk, catching unripe fruit in her mouth as it fell. When Nessa let out a sudden happy gurgle, Melena looked up to see her husband approaching.
"Well this is a surprise," Melena said as he approached.
Frex leaned down and exchanged a kiss with her before picking Nessa up. "I decided to come home before continuing on. Where is Elphaba?"
Melena looked towards the tree and Frex turned to see his eldest daughter spitting out seeds. "She appears to be in her happy place."
"Indeed…"
For dinner that night, Frex had decided to treat his family with meat he'd bartered for, figuring they hadn't seen much but fish and vegetables.
"Look Fabala," he said, cutting the meat for his eldest daughter while Melena began feeding Nessa. Elphaba looked at her father with dark eyes.
"She won't eat," Melena said, not even having to look.
"Is she not hungry? Did you feed them late?"
"We go through this every night. She never eats anything I set in front of her."
Frex turned back to Elphaba, pulling her wrist away from her mouth to stop her gnawing. "Now, Fabala, come on. Look, this is good meat. It's good for you."
Elphaba looked at her father and let out a small whimper, as if she knew the food before her had once been alive.
"I told you. You can try all you want."
"You've just been too lenient with them."
Melena shook her head and resumed feeding the younger Thropp.
"Now, Elphaba, enough of this. You're going to eat your dinner," Frex said, picking up a piece of meat with the fork and bringing it towards his eldest daughter.
Elphaba let out a small yawping noise, leaning back and pushing his hand away.
"Elphaba, don't be like this. Please eat."
The green child continued to resist her father, and Nessa had paused in her eating to watch with wide eyes.
Frex was beginning to lose his patience with his daughter. "Elphaba, you're going to eat your dinner, now stop acting up!" He finally succeeded in getting the meat in Elphaba's mouth, causing her to instantly start gagging. The green child spit the food out before she burst into tears, which surprised Melena. She'd never thought Elphaba capable of such emotion.
Seeing her sister in distress caused Nessa to burst into tears as well, and Melena gave her husband a look.
"Now do you see what you've caused?"
"I don't understand why she's so upset," Frex said, looking at the still sobbing Elphaba.
Melena rolled her eyes before she stood, going over to Elphaba and picking her up. "You can deal with your precious flower," she said before carrying her daughter to the bedroom. She sat on the bed, Elphaba clinging to her in an uncharacteristic way.
"Now, Elphaba, look at me," Melena said, wiping her daughter's slightly burnt face. "Why is this making you so upset?"
Elphaba didn't reply, but wiped her eyes with a sniffle.
"Look, I'm sorry if you didn't like the meat, but you have to be willing to try things… at least with your father is around."
Still no reply. Melena sighed before she stood, setting her daughter on the bed.
"You can stay here and calm down."
"Animal."
Melena turned around, looking at the source of the soft voice. "What?"
"Horrors…"
Elphaba didn't say any more, but Melena had a suspicion that her perhaps her daughter knew more than she let on… that she was aware of the horrors being committed in Oz… and that not eating meat was her own silent way of rebelling.
"Elphaba?"
The green woman looked up. "Huh?"
Galinda smiled slightly. "You haven't touched your dinner. Something on your mind?"
Elphaba looked back down. "Horrors…"