Ugh.... I lied. Not on purpose, but I did. There was sort of a moment of clarity... why work on stories that are giving you Writer's Block when you can work on a story you are feeling inspired for? And that are getting fabulous feedback? *hint hint*

I promise Born To Be Forever has not been dropped, after a single chapter. I do... Mehh.

As much as she hated to admit it, Maera was finding it very difficult to find any sort of non-biased information on the Witch. The best she could come up with was the fact that the woman was a champion of Animal Rights, that that was what caused her to initially go against the Wizard. Maera tried looking up Animal rights groups, even animal rights groups, but couldn't find anything. Animals didn't want to be associated with her, even now, after years of peace and safety. It had taken her a surprisingly long time to realize that the Witch had attended the ancient Shiz University, the very same school Maera was studying at.

Maera was tempted to change her mind about her topic and switch to something easier- or, if she kept the basic topic of propaganda, to switch to an easier focus. But then she would have to admit that she was wrong, and she hated doing that. She had also grown oddly fond of the Witch. No one can be born evil, no little girl says she wants to be a terrorist when she grows up. You have to be pushed to that point.

The Wicked Witch of the West had been pushed. She had a history, something horrible had happened to her. She had a story to tell, and Maera was determined to tell it for her.

So, determined to find her story out, and to not be wrong, she set off to Shiz's library, dragging Grazina with her. The Morrible Library was in one of the original buildings of the school, and had be named in her honor after she retired from the school in favor of becoming the Wizard of Oz's press secretary. Although Maera was aware that looking for positive information on the Witch in a library named for one of her fiercest adversaries wasn't the best option, it was the only idea she had.

Besides (as Grazina kept reminding her), she had several library books to return. "Can I ask why you don't bother checking the books out? In a way, it's stealing when you just take them."

"I'm a student of the University, I have the right to borrow books from the library."

Grazina frowned, smoothing a chocolaty curl of hair out of her face. "You have the right to check out books. You just take them off the shelves and stuff them into your bag!"

"I just do it because I'm bad at remembering to return books on time, and I don't want fines... They always come back."

"Several months after they mysteriously disappeared!"

"Either way, it's not stealing," Maera insisted as the two walked into the library. When no one was looking, Maera slipped her 'stolen' books onto the shelf containing the other books needing to be shelved. "And now it's done!" She hissed to Grazina. And then she squealed, feeling a tap on her shoulder.

"Something I can help you with, miss?" She whirled around, coming eye to eye with one of the library aides. A young, male aide with caramel-blonde hair and bright green eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you... is something the matter?"

"No," Maera said, breathing a sigh of relief. Really, even if she wasn't supposed to just take library books... all she'd been doing was returning them! "Umm, I don't

"Wait, weren't you going to ask for help finding information on the Witch?" Grazina asked, sliding up beside Maera now that she no longer had 'sensitive materials'.

Maera swallowed hard against an unexplainable lump in her throat. "Oh, I should be able to find what I need on my own."

Grazina rolled her eyes theatrically, humphing at her friend. "Yeah right. Maera, this library is huge. We could be here all day and you would never find what you're looking for. Ask that guy to help you, it's his job. It's not like you'd be putting him out."

"No, really I-"

"Oh, for Lurline's sake, are you seriously not going to ask him to help you because you think he's cute?" When her friend didn't immediately correct her, she ran up behind the boy, "Hey, excuse me!"

"Yes," he said, turning around. Maera considered hiding behind a shelf, but knew there was nothing more immature she could do. "Can I help you ladies after all?"

"Yes, please." Grazina dropped her polite tone when she shot a glare her best friend's way. "Maera!" Maera walked over to the pair as slowly as if she'd been walking through quicksand. "Now tell him what you're looking for," she commanded.

Maera smoothed a stray strand of dirty blonde hair out of her eyes and forced herself to say, "I'm doing a paper on the Wicked Witch of the West, and I was planning to look through the Library to find information on her, as well as Oz during the time in which she..."

"Terrorized Oz?" he supplied. "Or so they say?"

"Exactly..." She smiled a little, slightly surprised by his second comment. "Do you doubt that she was the terror everyone claims she was?"

He shrugged. "I doubt anyone was the terror they claim she she was. Did you know she went here?" Maera nodded and Grazina looked appropriately shocked. He was already walking through the stacks, finding the section he was looking for, and pulling books down. "Anyway, I'm from the Vinkus- I was born in a village not too far from the Witch's castle." He put the books on a nearby table, flipping one open and showing the girls a picture of the castle. "They just call it the Witch's Castle now. It's a tourist trap, but it seems to be every Vinkun teenager's right of passage to spend a summer working there or in a shop in the little town around it. It used to be owned by the royal family, they called it Kiamo Ko. After the Witch lived there, and more importantly died there, they wanted nothing to do with it." He looked up from the book and frowned. "Is everything alright?"

The short answer was no. As soon he'd mentioned the Castle, a pounding headache had come on and she felt like she was going to throw up.

It was storming, how appropriate. Kiamo Ko was not anyone's image of a castle owned by a King and Queen. The castle had spikey towers, jutting out against the sky. Bricks were missing, giving it a half-hazard look. She could see why Fiyero's family had never lived there. She didn't particularly want to, but she matched the castle's looks than any member of the royal family.

"I'm fine!" she blurted out, glad it was words, not bile flying out of her mouth. She certainly wasn't fine, but she really did not want this boy to know that. The image in her head was not the sort of thing you could get from a picture in a textbook. "Just felt a little dizzy for a second."

Grazina frowned, clearly not buying the 'a little dizzy' explanation. "Thanks so much for helping us. We should be getting home. Would you be so kind as to check these books out for us?"

"Of course," he said, nodding. He led them over to a counter and scanned the books, handing them to Grazina. "If you... either of you, that is, need any help, come on by, I'll do whatever I can."

"Why than you..."

"My name is Conley."

"Why thank you, Conley," she said with a smile that belonged in a toothpaste commercial. "I don't think we ever introduced ourselves, but I'm Grazina and she's Maera."

"Nice meeting you two, and I hope you feel better, Maera." He said, also with a toothpaste commercial-worthy smile. "By the way, she wasn't always the Witch. When she went to school here, she was called Elphaba Thropp."