NOTES: Happy New Year! Let's get underway! I know these chapters are a bit short, but I'll try to crank out one a week or so. Keep things moving along. Enjoy!

CHAPTER TWO

The sun had nearly set by the time they arrived in Nest Hardings, faces red and bones weary. Glinda tried not to make her disappointment obvious; it was such a modest village, smaller than any she had ever visited. But she supposed that was better for their current needs than a large, sprawling city.

"It's not much," Elphaba said as they drifted to the center of the tiny collection of buildings. "But I called it 'home'. As much as I ever wanted to call anywhere 'home', that is."

"It's so, um… quaint!" she attempted. Hearing Elphie sigh told her that the attempt was not successful.

They landed in the front garden of a medium-sized, yet impressive, home. Out of all the homes in Munchkinland, in the dull and colourless countryside of corn fields, this was likely the finest. Blue paint clung to the eaves, and green and yellow on the shingles. The door was white, with polka-dots of various colours. Her Gillikin sensibilities recoiled, but she attempted to quash them downward. It was only polite, and if she couldn't be a polite Upland, then she was a disgrace to the storied and prestigious name.

"Well, don't just stand there holding down your gorge, Galinda. Let's go in."

Pouting, she fell into step beside her as they paced along the footpath leading to the door, over which hung a brass plate with the words "COLWEN GROUNDS" engraved upon its gleaming surface. "I told you, it's 'Glinda' now."

"You told Fiyero it's 'Glinda' now," she countered with a smirk. "I didn't know if you meant for me to call you that, too. Hard to get used to it, though."

"I mean for everyone to! In memory of-"

"Yes, yes, Dr. Dillamond."

"Don't you believe me? That I really do want to honour his memory?"

"He isn't dead!" When she saw Glinda flinch, she lowered her voice. "Fine. Glinda."

"Thank you. It has a certain… other elegance, don't you think? Like the word 'glide'."

"Or the words 'gloom', 'glob', 'gluttony', and-"

"OOH!" she burst out, fists clenched. "Elphaba, sometimes you are impossible!"

"Sometimes I'm 'glib'?" Against her will, Glinda snorted, and Elphaba favoured her with a rare smile. It vanished as quickly as she reached the front door, hesitating.

"What's the matter?"

Shrugging, she whispered, "I don't know if he'll be happy to see me or not. The trouble we're in… he might run me off, or just berate me for neglecting Nessa."

"He's your father," she urged gently. "You were upset, and by the time they were chasing us down, you didn't have any choice. I'm sure he'll take your side in this once you explain everything. That's what fathers are for!"

"Right." Her tone was disbelieving. Unable to stall any longer, she knocked.

Within a few minutes, the door was thrown open by an aide of some sort, who asked what business they had. After an instant, however, she recognised Elphaba — for how could one not? — and welcomed them inside. Once Elphaba had leaned her conspicuous broom in the corner by the umbrella stand, the woman led them into a small receiving room to wait for the governor himself.

"Is there any special term of address for the governor of Munchkinland? His Munchkinness? Lord High Munchkineer?"

"Stop," Elphaba hissed, though she seemed close to laughter. Glinda frowned, because she had been asking in earnest; she might not think much of the country itself, but she didn't want to offend the prominent government official. Nor her friend.

Presently, the man came in, and Glinda couldn't have been more wrongfooted. Mostly because, as she realised with some small amount of personal embarrassment, she had been expecting the man to be green. Silly as that seemed now, she had to quickly memorise that this tallish man with pale pink skin and thinning dark hair was the one who had raised Elphaba — and on his own, following her mother's death birthing her younger sister.

"Elphaba, what is- oh, oh my. Who might this be?"

Startled from her own depths of worry, Elphaba said, "Right! Sorry, Father. This is Ga- I mean, Glinda Upland."

"Of the Upperuplands," she elaborated with a curtsy and a cherubic smile. She knew that her fair hair, comely figure and obvious breeding was the quickest way to win any man over. Maybe, if she applied these shallow talents, she could help put Mr. Elphaba in a pleasant enough mood that their story would not alarm him. Talking of which… she certainly couldn't call him "Mr. Elphaba" to his face. "And whom do I have the pleasure?"

"Governor Frexspar Thropp," he introduced himself with a stiff bow. "Charmed. Now, what's all this about, Fabala? I should have at least have appreciated some kind of word sent ahead to let us know you would be arriving, especially during the semester."

Glinda turned toward Elphaba with an overjoyed expression. "Fabala?!" This would bear further investigation. Was it a nickname, a middle name?

"Shh!" Elphie hissed, her cheeks flushing to a deeper forest green. Then she turned back to Frexspar with a clearing of her throat. "Father… something has… happened."

"A good something?"

"Not really," Glinda muttered under her breath, though she felt bad for saying so.

~ o ~

By the time the spindly aide had returned with tea for them, the tale had been told. As they went along, he exclaimed at certain junctures and asked a few clarifying questions, but mostly he remained silent as he listened to his daughter recount their journey. Then, at last, they finished up with their setting down in his garden and awaited a response.

"So… you've come all this way just for fear of how the Wizard might retaliate?"

"Yes," Elphaba whispered, ashamed and dejected as she watched the man turn the Wizard's book, the "Grimmerie", over and over in his hands. "Glinda may have been right when she asked me to apologise, but… oh, I couldn't, Father. Not after how he tortured that poor Chistery — all the monkeys! They didn't ask to be wingified!"

"It's true, they sure didn't," Glinda agreed. This was one of the few points on which she could readily lend her opinion, as with many of the others, she had to keep mum so as not to disagree with her friend in front of another party.

"I see. Well of course, I do sympathise with your cause, but shouldn't the Animals speak for themselves? If they can, that is."

"They won't be able to if things continue the way they are!" Elphaba urged, taking easily to the subject matter. Glinda politely looked down into her teacup. "Don't you see? The Wizard and Morrible are dead-set against them being recognised as legitimate citizens! They already have been, and now they want to take those rights away? If the rest of us don't stand up for them, then… there won't be anyone to stand up for any longer! They'll be reduced to animals instead of Animals, and after having been in Dillamond's class, I can honestly say that would be a true shame!"

"It would be," Glinda added again. "I can't pretend to understand this issue entirely, but… well, isn't it only fair to let the Animals talk if they can talk? The whole thing is most confusitating."

"And you agree that the Wizard is corrupt?" he pressed her, eyes narrowing at the petite blonde as he set the book down on the table. She squirmed. "That he tricked my Elphaba into doing a dastardly deed?"

"Indeed, he do- I mean, did. Though… it could have been an accident, a sorcerous snafu, but not such a small one if it turns so many monkeys into monkey-birds!" Shrugging, she attempted a smile. "But still, you can't blame Elphie for being upset, as much as Animals mean to her, now, can you?"

"Oh, I certainly can."

"Yes, of course not. And see, that's the- wait… you said you 'can't', didn't you?"

"No, I said that I can." Arms folding over his chest, he turned toward his daughter again. "How could you have gone off on this fool's errand? You know why you were sent to Shiz in the first place."

Glinda answered for her. "Of course. To learn. Get an education, make her way in the world. Be the best Elphie she can be!" Neither of them answered. When a moment had gone by in silence, she attempted to field her own apparent mistake. "Is… is that wrong? Forgive my misunderstanditude, but what else on Oz would you have sent her to a university for?"

"To care for Nessa," Elphaba breathed softly, eyes pointed down toward the expensive rug.

"Precisely," he said in a cutting tone — and truly, Elphaba looked as if she were being sliced to ribbons by his words. "Of course, it was expected that you would also study while you were there; only natural, it being a school. But you were never to sacrifice Nessarose's needs for your own. How could you have ignored that when I made it explicitly clear?"

The meek voice with which Elphaba spoke shook Glinda's worldview more than she would care to admit. She'd never heard her talk to anyone in such a nervous, deferential tone — not even the Wizard. "Father, I… that was not my intention! She has Boq now, he dotes on her, and… I was only meant to be away for one short day…"

"No day is any shorter or longer than the other!" Privately, Glinda knew that was a lie, what with Summer and Winter, but she didn't bother to correct the man. "A full day without her sister?! You know she cannot manage on her own, not in her condition!"

"Oh, she does fine on her own, mostly," Glinda tried to reassure him with a small smile that she hoped looked encouraging. "Her arms are getting stronger from using the wheelchair to and from classes, and when…" But his looked withered her, and she went back to sipping from her cup.

"I'm sorry," Elphaba told him, though her tone was getting less gentle. Her anger was rising to smother her fear, little by little. "But as I said, she was not alone, and I could not have predicted-"

"You selfishly went for a holiday in the big city, while poor Nessa remained at Shiz without anyone to aid her aside from that boy. What if she had needed a bath? Or help with her clothes? What if she fell and could not get back into her chair?" Wringing his hands, he stood and began to pace. "I should send word to the school, make sure she has not been in an accident of some kind…"

"Father…" Letting out a humourless laugh, she said, "Don't you care that I'm in danger? Can't you… well, intercede somehow? Get them to listen if I apologise on behalf of myself and Glinda? It galls me, thinking about apologising, but I don't want her reputation to be completely ruined by my actions!"

Rounding on her, he glared down with beady eyes, completely disgusted. "You even put this blonde tart's welfare over Nessa's! I might have known not to trust you out of this house!"

"Well!" Glinda couldn't help gasping at the offhand insult.

"I want to do what's right!" Elphaba countered, cheeks the darkest green she had ever seen them. "For Nessa, and Glinda, and the Animals! Why does one have to be more important than the rest?!"

"Because she is your sister! She needs you! Your friends and those creatures will get along just fine without the great Elphaba Thropp to advocate on their behalf!" Wagging a finger at her, he followed up, "This is selfishness and pride! You ought to be ashamed of thinking so highly of yourself!"

Setting her jaw, she pushed to her feet. Her voice was completely stricken, but she was doing a good job of keeping her eyes dry. "Fine! Father, I… I really had thought I could come here for some support, even though we've always been so- but I s-see now that I was mistaken! I'm… I'll just pack some things, and be on my way!"

"Running away now! That's your plan? To flee in the face of your problems? You've already done it to Nessa, why not to your father, as well?!"

"Please," Glinda said gently from her seat, "can't we discuss this like civilised-"

"You have no idea!" Elphaba shouted, and Glinda recoiled. "No idea what it's been like, living with the two of you! The delicate flower and her enabling gardener! Just because my thumbs are already green didn't mean I wanted to obsess over the Rose's welfare like you do! By the lost Princess Ozma, I… I did everything to please you, to protect her, to… my whole life has been about Nessa, and you begrudge me this one day?! You really are the absolute worst parent a green girl could have!"

"She needed the both of us! There isn't any 'want' or 'wish' about it!" Tears were in his eyes, though they did not fall as Elphaba's were by that juncture. "Do you have any idea what will become of her now that you aren't there to support her?! She'll have to come home, to abandon her studies, and all because you-"

"NO!" Breathing deeply, she forced herself to stand stock-still for a few long seconds. Then she said in a hollow voice, "No. She… will be fine. Someone else can look after her, and of course they will. Everyone loves her. I was the mistake, I was the one who you couldn't…" With a crooked, bleak little grin, she bit out, "At least now, there isn't any chance I'll be around to make another mistake that hurts her directly. Count your blessings. I hope you two are a lot happier now."

As Elphaba strode to the door, Glinda scrambling to pop up and join her and barely remembering to scoop up the Grimmerie along the way, Frexspar snapped, "You walk out of this house right now, in the middle of this conversation, and you will never be welcome here again."

"Very well," she breathed, positively trembling where she stood. "If you say it is so, then it is so… Governor." Then, without another word, she stormed out into the hallway.

"It's been very nice meeting you," Glinda told him with another curtsy as they retreated. "The tea was tea-vine!"

To Be Continued…