Author's Note: I am very much enjoying everyone's reactions to this, ranging from confident conclusions to excitement and even to frustration. Keep it coming, guys!
MyLittleElphie: Now you've tempted me to rewrite the whole thing so that Elphaba gives up and you never find out who it is. :P Luckily for you (and everyone else), I couldn't do that, because I'm too proud of what I've already written.
Ultimate Queen of Cliffies: Trust you to be the only one to pick out my favourite part. :P Must be the twin thing.
Detective Marx: Thankyou! I'm really glad you like Boq. I'm quite fond of him, myself. ;)
CHAPTER 4:
"I'm so sorry, Elphie," Galinda said sadly that night when the girls were preparing for bed. "I couldn't find anything out at all about who might be sending you those letters."
"It's okay, Glin," Elphaba comforted her. "I didn't really expect you to be able to find out anything. He seems to be a good secret-keeper."
"I failed," Galinda muttered miserably. Then she brightened. "So, did you go to the courtyard?"
Elphaba hesitated, before nodding. "Er, yes. I did."
"And?"
"He left me these." Elphaba brought the latest bunch of flowers around from the far side of her bed to show Galinda. "I hope you don't mind; I borrowed your vase."
Galinda's eyes widened at the sight. "Oh, my, Elphie! They're gorgeous! He must really love you. And of course I don't mind, silly," she added with a giggle.
Elphaba blushed. "I really don't know what to think," she confessed.
"And the note?" Galinda prompted.
"Who says there's a note?"
Galinda rolled her eyes. "Elphaba, he's already sent you two notes; I'd hardly think he'd stop there before we know who he is."
Elphaba sighed. "You're right," she admitted, pulling out the letter and handing it to her friend.
Galinda quickly read the note and let out a loud squeal. "Oh, my Oz, Elphie! This is totally the most romanticest thing I have ever heard of! This beats out all those romances hand-down!"
"It's not romantic," Elphaba retorted, still attempting to, at least outwardly, hold to a firm belief that this was some cruel joke. "It's downright creepy. I mean, that thing about my first kiss…wait," Elphaba said, putting into motion her plan of how to get Galinda to admit she told someone that Elphaba had never been kissed, "you didn't tell anyone, did you, Glin?"
"Tell anyone what?" Galinda asked, confused.
"That I've never been kissed. You're the only one besides Nessa who knows that, and Nessa would never tell. So who did you tell?"
Galinda's eyes darted around the room nervously. "I didn't tell anyone…"
"Glin…"
"Okay, okay!" Galinda burst out after a moment. "You're right; I did tell. But I didn't mean to! Swear to Oz! It just kind of slipped out one day and –"
"Who did you tell?"
"I didn't mean to!" Galinda wailed.
"Was it Fiyero?" Elphaba demanded sharply.
Galinda nodded, sniffling slightly.
Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Oh, stop being melodramatic. I'm not angry with you."
Galinda raised her head to meet Elphaba's gaze. "You're not?"
Elphaba shook her head, squeezing Galinda's arm. "No, I'm not. It's just…well, now it's got around, hasn't it? I really didn't want anyone talking about that sort of thing."
"I'm sorry!" Galinda cried, flinging her arms around Elphaba's neck.
"Glin, do you mind?" Elphaba asked, prying the smaller girl's arms away. "You're crushing my flowers."
"Oh, sorry!" Galinda squeaked, hastening to step away.
"Look, if it will make you feel better, I'll be angry with you later. For now, I just want to figure out who has been bothering me with these ridiculous letters."
"They're not ridiculous!" Galinda protested. "They're –"
"I know, they're romantic," Elphaba interrupted. "Whatever. I have to figure out the next step."
"Wait for the next gift!"
"But where?" Elphaba asked in exasperation. "The note just says when – an approximate when at that – not where! How am I to know? I don't read minds! If I did, I'd probably have figured out the culprit by now."
"Don't call him that," Galinda said in distaste. "It sounds like he's some sort of criminal or something."
"For all we know, he could be!" Elphaba ranted.
"Oh, Elphie, you have no sense of adventure," Galinda scolded her lightly. "Come on, let's go to bed. Then you can get up bright and early tomorrow morning and look for your next gift."
"Who says I'm going to get another gift?" Elphaba asked as she hopped into bed. "There might just be a letter. Or the punchline of the joke."
"Elphie…"
"Okay, okay, it's romantic." She paused. "Did you tell anyone else?"
"No! Of course not! I only told Fiyero."
"Swear to Oz?"
Galinda nodded vigorously. "Swear to Oz."
"I wonder who Fiyero could have told, then?" Elphaba pondered.
"Elphie?" Galinda asked timidly.
"Yes, Glin?"
"You don't…" She swallowed hard. "You don't think it's Fiyero…do you?"
Elphaba looked at Galinda's wide, worry-filled blue eyes and shook her head. "No, Glin. I don't think it's Fiyero."
Galinda breathed a sigh of relief, and Elphaba guiltily tried to push down the wish that it was Fiyero.
The next morning, the girls both woke at sunrise and immediately began discussing their theories about the mystery writer…at least, they would have, had they actually had any.
Elphaba sighed, her head resting on one hand as she rubbed her eyes with the other. "I just don't understand it," she mumbled sleepily. "No-one has ever shown an interest in me before. It has to be a joke."
"Elphie, stop thinking like that!" Galinda admonished as she opened the curtains. "There's a first time for everything."
"Not when it comes to that sort of thing, there isn't." At that moment, a soft gasp was heard from the direction of the window and Elphaba turned to look at Galinda. "What is it?"
"Oh, my," Galinda said, opening the window, "they're beautiful!"
"What?" Elphaba repeated.
"These." Galinda turned around and presented Elphaba with a bunch of white flowers. Each flower had six pointed petals of varying widths and a long tendril protruding from the base of the flower head.
Elphaba frowned as she accepted the flowers. "Yes, they are, but…what are they?"
Galinda shrugged. "Who knows? Who cares? They're pretty, and that's all that matters. Oh, here's the note." Galinda pointed to the envelope attached to the stalks of the flowers.
Elphaba retrieved her glasses and began reading.
If you've figured out my system,
Rather obvious is this clue;
If you've figured out all of them,
Then there's nothing I can do.
But even so, I'm having fun,
So I'm making this a longer one:
The next clue regarding me
Is hidden in the tulip-tree.
"I'm glad someone is enjoying this," Elphaba muttered as Galinda snatched the note from her hands. "You know, Glin, I think I'm going to have to disagree with you."
"About what?" Galinda asked distractedly.
"What you said about the type of flowers not mattering. I'm getting the feeling that perhaps they do matter afterall."
Galinda looked up from the note with a frown. "What do you mean? He might just like the idea of giving you flowers."
"I don't think that's it. I mean, it's a nice idea and all – providing this isn't a joke, of course," Elphaba added, prompting Galinda to roll her eyes, "but if he knows me as well as he seems to, he should know that I'm not really a flower type of girl. So why does he keep sending me flowers? And moreover," she continued, seeing Galinda open her mouth to give some no doubt flimsy explanation, "why these particular flowers? If he just liked sending me flowers, don't you agree he would probably just choose one sort and stick to it?"
Galinda reluctantly had to admit that was true.
"So why all these different types? He seems to have carefully selected these flowers – one per note. There has to be something about these flowers. Look at those last two lines of the note." Elphaba pointed to said lines. "'The next clue regarding me' – the next clue, Glin. That means that this" – she gestured to the most recent addition to her flower collection – "is some sort of clue to his identity. It has to be the flowers; there is nothing of note in the first six lines of his letter. So, somehow, these flowers say something about him. And perhaps the tulip-tree does, as well. At any rate, these flowers are a clue. I'm going to find out what they are. Are you coming?"
"What, now?" Galinda squeaked. "It's six-thirty in the morning! The library isn't going to be open yet, if that's where you're heading."
Elphaba sighed. "True."
"Why don't you go look in the tulip-tree while you wait, hmmm?" Galinda suggested. "The letter doesn't say to look there at a particular time, so maybe it's already there waiting for you."
"Okay," Elphaba agreed. "I'll just get dressed and then I'll go and have a look."
"Can I come?" Galinda asked tentatively.
Elphaba flashed her friend a fond smile. "Sure."
