-Kiamo Ko-

Chistery was an amazing animal. He may have been a mimic to any word spoken to him, but he was extremely observant. He knew that his mistress could not tolerate water. He saw her use oils everyday, and even if by some accident water came into contact with her skin, she would immediately pat it dry and apply coconut oil.

Chistery watched in horror from a corner as water was thrown at his mistress, putting out the flames at the hem of her dress, but also dousing her entire face and neck. Chistery saw her fall to her knees and crumple into a heap on the ground- her skin beginning to smoke as the water burned into her emerald flesh. Chistery saw her laying motionless and quickly ran to her side. She had lost consciousness from the pain and was undoubtedly dying from the unbearable burning. Chistery found a cloth on top of a pile of clothes and began to pat down her face and neck. He hurried to a shelf and brought back a container of coconut oil and poured its contents on her face and neck.

With the help from a couple more monkeys, Chistery managed to pull her onto her bed. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, and weeks went by. Chistery continued applying oil to her skin, because after a certain amount of time, her skin would again begin to smoke.

Three and a half months went by. The skin on her face and neck had stopped its smoking all together and seemed to heal... but the Witch of the West remained comatose.

-The Emerald City-

Glinda rushed to Fiyero's side and cradeled his head in her lap. She yelled for help and ordered the guards to carry Fiyero up to her chamber, and to have her handmaids clean him as best they could while she fetched the palace's physician. The doctor came swiftly and immediately went to work at dressing the wounds that covered his body. It was easy to tell that he had been underfed. His lips were dry and cracked from dehydration.

Once the physcian finished tending to his wounds, he ordered for water and a chicken broth to be brought to Fiyero, and asked Glinda to try and feed him slowly at first, and as much as he could keep down. Glinda did as instructed, and did not leave his side for four days. On the fifth day the Arjiki prince opened his eyes.

"Welcome back to the world." Fiyero's eyes opened slowly, taking a few moments to adjust to the brightness of the room. He turned his head slightly toward the voice and his vision focused, "Glinda?" She smiled down at him, "Where am I?" Glinda sat next to him on the bed, "You're in the Emerald City Palace. I had you brought here... I found you in the dungeon." Fiyero closed his eyes trying to remember, and sat up suddenly, "Elphaba! Where is she? Is she safe?!"

"Fiyero, calm down. You're still very weak you need to lie back and calm down." She pushed him back down slowly, purposely avoiding his question of Elphaba, "Here," She reached over to the bowl of chicken broth and scooped him a spoonful, "Open." Fiyero obeyed and Galinda spooned soup into his mouth. He swallowed and opened his mouth again to speak, but was met with another spoonful of soup. Each time he tried to speak food was put into his mouth. It took him a while, but he soon finished the bowl of broth. "Now the doctor said you will be fine, and as long as you keep eating, you should be on your feet in a week and then you can..." Glinda got up from the bed and continued speaking. She placed his soup bowl on a table near the door, and then came back to the side of the bed. In the middle of a sentence about the Wizard's departure, she was interrupted by the sound of Fiyero's voice.

"Glinda." Fiyero sat up in his bed and grabbed her arm, forcing her to look him in the eye, "Where is Elphaba?"Glinda took a breath and sat softly down at his bedside. She opened her mouth to speak, but let out a sob, "Fiyero, there was an accident-" tears began streaming down her face and she could not hold back her emotions, "there was a child. A girl from another world. She went to Elphaba... and somehow Elphaba's dress caught fire and this girl picked up a bucket of water to try and help her and-" She couldn't finish her sentence and broke down in tears.

Fiyero couldn't quite put the pieces together. He knew how sensitvie Elphaba's skin was- how even the slightest dab of water, and even the application of cocount oil made her flinch. "What happened? The water-it must have scaleded her!" Glinda shook her head furiously, "No, Fiyero, It.. melted her." Glinda spoke the words, knowing how ridiculous they sounded. Fiyero's eyes scrunched up and he looked at Glinda as if she were crazy, "Melted? That's not possible! How can you be sure?!"

"That is what Dorothy told all of us. She said that the moment the water hit Elphaba, her skin began to smoke and Elphaba fell to the floor."

"I don't believe it. It's impossible-"

"Fiyero stop. Don't you think that I have already asked myself these same questions?! She's gone! If she were alive, she would have sent word-"

"Not with a price on her head! She would have stayed in hiding, and took this so called 'death' as a blessing and as a way to escape somewhere else to safety!"

Glinda did not know how to respond. She sat and stared at him. She saw the passion and fire in his eyes, and she noted how his eyes had swelled up with tears at the mention of Elphaba's death. Glinda looked at him inquisitively, "You loved her..." It was half question half statement. Fiyero looked at Glinda and remembered that his affair with Elphaba had been a secret from everyone. He sat back against his pillow and proceeded to tell Glinda about his meeting with Elphaba five years previous, and the circumstances that surrounded their affair.

Fiyero concluded his tale, descrbing for Glinda the last time he had spoken with Elphaba and the events of that Lurinemas Eve, "Glinda, you must understand that I HAVE to find her. ... Where did that child say she died?"

"At Kiamo Ko-" Fiyero sat up quickly and began to stand up but was immediately pushed down by Glinda, " and if you plan on making a journey into the Vinkus. You WILL need your rest." Fiyero opened his mouth to protest "No! If you plan on trudging through the mountains and forests you need to build up your strength. Stay here another week or two. Get your energy and strength back." Fiyero looked into Glinda's eyes and understood that she was right, "I promise you, in two weeks time, I will supply you with everything you need for your journey." Glinda looked at him pleadingly.

"All right, Glinda. Two weeks. I will stay."