Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any of the characters from the musical Wicked or and plotlines from both the book and the musical.
Summery: Have you ever wondered if Galinda's story was far more interesting than it appears? A humanization of the good witch of the north from her childhood years to her dying day, in short, Miss Upland, Galinda, and Glinda's story.
Who Will Mourn the Wicked?
Chapter One: Galinda
Miss Upland had grown up privileged. Referred to as Miss Upland her whole life by both adults and her peers left her to believe her name was Miss Upland and since she had never heard her birth name she didn't even know it existed.
Miss Upland had parents but only in the literal sense of the word. She never knew her mother for some reason. Her maids would never tell her why. As for her father, the illustrious Mr. Uphill, he was the ruler and mayor of Uphill, a rather small and pointless piece of Oz. In any case, it kept him away from her for the entirety of her young life.
In fact, the only person Miss Upland ever truly knew was her nana, Eviline. Her contact with nana began at the age of four when Miss Upland was running so wild she broke something. Nana set the example of what life would be like when she spanked Miss Upland. She spanked her every time she did wrong and the terms of their relationship from that day on were made clear.
Nana did not always have good things to say about Miss Upland. She even occasionally called Miss Upland a rich brat. Miss Upland knew she didn't really mean it because Nana loved her. Miss Upland knew Nana loved her because from the time Miss Upland went into her care Nana cared for her and made that clear whenever Miss Upland did wrong.
There was not a single incident where Miss Upland's punishment was not preceded by a talk. This talk analyzed everything that Miss Upland did wrong and what she could have done differently. Miss Upland always had to tell Nana what had happened. These discussions usually led to Miss Upland to tears even before her punishment.
There was one thing that Nana could not stand was a lie. Any wrong thing Miss Upland did would be compounded times ten if she lied about it. Nana would tell her that if she hadn't lied she would not be in anywhere near as much trouble. After every punishment they had a talk.
This talk was an affirmation that Nana did not do punish Miss Upland out of anger or wickedness but out of a want for Miss Upland to become a good girl. Soon, however, she did it because she loved Miss Upland. And by the time Miss Upland figured this out Nana became the greatest example in her life.
Under this strict hand Miss Upland grew up. At least as grown up as any eight-year old girl could be. Her private tutoring was over and she was ready to go into the big world of children. The new experience was unnerving for Miss Upland.
"Just remember, the person you are is far better than any person you can create," said Nana.
"But what if people don't like the real person?"
"Then should they like the fake person? If someone doesn't want you for who you are they aren't worth being around,"
"But what if the real person I am is wicked?" asked Miss Upland.
"How can this happy, loud, funny and charming girl be wicked? You are not a bad person Miss Upland and you need to know that," said Nana holding Miss Upland's hand.
"But don't I need to be really smart?" said Miss Upland.
"But I forgot the best part of you," said Nana.
"What's that?"
"You are so pretty; I have not seen a more beautiful girl in my entire life," Miss Upland's face brightened up tremendously.
"Really?"
"Really Miss Upland really," and on that note Miss Upland went to school.
Miss Upland behaved exceptionally well in school. Her natural beauty and spontaneity quickly made her friends. Almost everyone at the school was new so no one knew well anyone. Every addressed each other by last names.
Soon Miss Upland had a Miss Quintly, Miss, Miss Perfear, Miss Pentera, and Miss Rodigo. They all looked to Miss Upland for what they did. Miss Upland knew nothing about them though.
Miss Upland knew that each of them had a father who ruled some estate. Her own name was not bad but some of the girls were even more privileged than she. A simple watching of their behavior made it clear that a good name was their only possession. She also knew that at least on a surface level they accepted her.
Other than this Miss Upland was well liked by her peers and teachers. Miss Upland was a name being said by teachers, friends and observers. By the time she was ten everyone knew her name.
The school Miss Upland had been attending was an all girl school. A great change was in the books though as boys would be coming next year. The girls were very excited for some of their hormones had kicked in. Even though the boys were still mostly oblivious.
This led to the next year being almost unnoticeably different than the years before. Miss Upland didn't really think much of it. She had bigger issues on her mind. Her body was changing.
This was yet another area where her Nana helped. Nana guided her through it and even helped her when no one else could. The years still passed and Miss Upland got even bigger and older.
At the ripe age of twelve Miss Upland became accustomed to her first backstabbing. The central focus was a boy and a girl told a rumor about her. The rumor was not the problem it was the fact that the boy believed it. This ruined all chances of her and said boy getting together and lo and behold. The girl was with the boy the next week.
After this encounter Miss Upland asked Nana for advice. Not on schoolwork but on friends. With girls, it was easy, and Nana's advice let Miss Upland steer clear of many very bad people. Boys were harder.
The poor judgment on boys came when Miss Upland was 13. The boy, Mr. Wilder, apparently really wanted to go to the final dance of the year. Miss Upland accepted because he was nice. So nice that even Nana approved of him. Apparently, he was with Miss Upland so that he could become the king of the dance, since Miss Upland was pretty much a lock to win. Her popularity was huge.
Mr. Wilder wanted to be king of the dance to impress one of Miss Upland's friends. He broke with her that night and went to dance with Miss Perfear. Miss Upland went home in tears to Nana.
Miss Upland found sympathy and quite a bit of anger. Nana had liked the boy and this was the last dance of the year. Miss Upland had been used again and thrown to the side afterwards. This warned her never to take men at face value again.
One thing worried her about the whole thing. Nana had a terrible cough. Granted she wasn't a young woman but she wasn't too old of a woman either. Yes Nana had her few problems and one of those was she smoked. She never did it around Miss Upland but Miss Upland new she did it.
Nana then got sick. She would cough so hard that she couldn't breathe. When she started to cough up blood Miss Upland called the doctor. It was not the sickness that bothered Miss Upland, it was the fact that Nana wasn't getting better.
Miss Upland soon sat by Nana's bed day and night telling her Nana stories about school. She read Nana books and san Nana songs anything she could do. She saw the maids whisper about her to each other. Talk about how they didn't know what Miss Upland would do when the inevitable happened.
Miss Upland would not believe any of it. She stayed by her Nana's bedside day and night watching her sleep and helping her eat. She would always assure her Nana that she would make it. She had to make it. Nothing could happen to her because Miss Upland wouldn't let anything happen.
Her Nana's coughs got worse and worse. Soon they got longer and longer as Nana was in evident pain every day. Miss Upland cried for so long that the dress she wore was soaked is tears. And even then Nana would put her hand on Miss Upland and tell it was okay, in between coughs.
Soon Nana was in and out of conciseness but in one of her brief times she was awake she grasped Miss Upland by the collar.
"Galinda, Galinda listen to me," she said eyes open wide.
"Who's Galinda?" asked Miss Upland her eyes welling with tears. Her Nana's mind had snapped.
"It's you, Galinda is you're name and I want people to call you that name. You are not you're father, you are Galinda not Uphill,"
"But it is only proper-,"
"Damn propriety, damn ceremony, damn that a child can go through their whole life without knowing their own name?" said Nana as her coughs increased. Blood was starting to come up.
"Nana, you're working yourself up I'll call a doctor," said Miss Upland.
"No Galinda-,"
"Stop calling me that my name is-,"
"I was their when you're father named you, you're birth name is Galinda, and I only want to tell you one thing," said Nana as she hacked up a glob of blood.
"Anything nana," said Miss Upland kneeling at the foot of the bed Nana's hand clasped in her own, it was so cold.
"You are a good person; you are everything I dreamed you would be, you have never made me disappointed in you. Maybe there have been things you've done that have disappointed me but you as a person are the most UN disappointing person I've ever met," Miss Upland could only sob hearing this, Nana's hand was like ice. "Galinda please, you're name is Galinda, Galinda," she chocked out with one last breath she breathed no more.
Miss Upland sobbed on the bed for some time until a maid came in. Nana's dead face met the maid's eyes and she began to speak.
"Oh my, well I should get the doctors, I'm so sorry Miss-,"
"My name is Galinda,"
"What was that Miss?"
"My name, the name you will call me to my dying day, the name that is my own is Galinda,"
"Very well then Miss Galinda." and on that note the maid left Galinda to mourn.
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