"I can't do it, I can't do it, what if it doesn't work, I know I can't do it…" Elphaba was worrying herself with put-downs, which annoyed Fiyero to no end.
"Yes, we can. You're in disguise, no one but Glinda will recognize you." encouraged Fiyero. They were close to the beautiful castle where Glinda chose to take residence. Their plan was to act as though they wanted desperately to meet Glinda The Good, then perhaps a guard would let them in. Although it was late at night, Elphaba and Fiyero hoped they would still be let in.
"Come on Fae, we're this close!"
Elphaba took a deep breath, then another, and yet another. "I thought you said deep breathing was a way of calming myself, not sounding like a panting dog." she muttered.
Fiyero ignored the remark and put his straw arm around her. "Let's just go."
Together, they walked towards the castle door slowly. The entire way there, Elphaba was acting unsure and Fiyero was trying to comfort her, although deep down he was extremely nervous too.
Elphaba knocked on the door with a trembling hand. A muscular man answered it. Elphaba turned her face away from him by reflex before remembering that she was in disguise.
"We have come a long way from here too see Glinda the Good. We- we heard of how she's lovely and kind. We wanted to meet her for ourselves."
He looked at Elphaba and Fiyero skeptically until finally telling them "Come back tomorrow morning, do you know what time it is?" and slamming the door in their faces. The two looked at each other with downtrodden expressions before shuffling off.
"So, where are we going to stay for the night?" wondered Fiyero.
"I really hadn't thought of that." murmured Elphaba.
"Why don't you try Brown's Hotel?" called out a familiar voice. Red.
"What are you doing here?" wondered Fiyero.
"Simple. I tend to stay up late, and I'm meeting someone special here, when I noticed you and Elle here! Brown's is a good place to stay the night. I'm a frequent traveler and I tend to find it the best place!" boomed Red obnoxiously loudly.
"Good to know. So, where is it?" asked Elphaba.
Red gave them directions and they set off to Brown's.
"Don't you think it's weird how whenever we don't know where to go, he shows up?" Elphaba asked Fiyero.
"Not really. It only happened twice, it must be a coincidence. After all, it's a small world."
Elphaba sighed. "I suppose you're right." she told him. Yet in her mind, something just didn't seem right. It was almost as if he was following them. Was he someone important? Her thoughts tended to trail off, so she shook her head to clear it and kept walking until they reached a beaten-up looking building with a wooden sign that said "Brown's Hotel."
"This place looks disgusting." she said.
"At least it'll be cheap." Fiyero was certainly an optimist.
They entered Brown's. Inside it wasn't as bad as outside, though still hardly the #1 choice of a hotel. There were some tables and chairs around the room, and a flimsy-looking flight of stairs that presumably led up to the rooms. Behind the counter (the only nice-looking thing in the building) was a rich-looking man with smooth black hair and silk clothing. Elphaba wondered why he didn't spend some of that money fixing this place up, and decided to chalk it up to greed. She went up to the man, who was reading something, and said as non- witchlike as possible "Excuse me…" she shot Fiyero a look, "Fikru and I would like to book a room for the night."
He nodded and told them up front that it would be expensive, much to their annoyance. He then pointed them "up the stairs, room twenty- three." They went to their room: Two single beds that looked as though they could fall apart at any second, a pile of wood that was supposed to pass for a table and a mirror. It was hardly comfortable.
"They could have at least taken SOMETHING out of their budget and gotten blankets for the beds!" complained Fiyero.
"Good thing we're only staying the night. At least the beds have mattresses." Elphaba sat down on one of the beds, only to discover the mattresses were about as soft as steel.
"Ugh! Let's just try to get to sleep." offered Fiyero.
"Agreed. Good night… Fikru!"
"Night."
