~*~

Some say eat or be eaten

Some say live and let live

But all are agreed as they join the stampede

You should never take more than you give

~*~

The sun was wonderfully warm as it spilled down onto the grass from the azure blue sky up above them. The clouds were brilliant white against the deep blue of the sky and looked like scads of cotton of the freshest picked white variety. It was warm in the grass where she was laying and she was shaded by the nodding golden tops of the grass that reached past her knees when she was standing. It was so tall that now, easily, it towered over her head since she was laying down and thus she was learning, just as the Arjiki children did, to lay down in the grass and allow it to shade her given that there were few trees. In this particular place they were near enough to the Pass and the Great Kells that there were forests to their east within easy reaching distance, but everyone in the tribe was so used to living without the coverage of a 'real' forest and dealing with only the few square miles of trees they sometimes come upon growing near natural water sources, that they never bothered to go searching for a true forest even when they were camped within distance of one. Privately, Elphaba wondered to herself whether they would be moving while she and Peerless were there. Their lives were entirely intent upon following their prey wherever it went an so what if it should come time to pick up camp and move she wondered if she and Peerless would be going along, for he had never told her how long their visit would be and when she had asked he had said something to the effect of that it was unwise to plan these things out too thoroughly because things always came up when you least expected them to and it was better just to go into something with an open mind rather than knowing what you'd be doing every day- especially, he had said, when you were on a diplomatic visit.

She shifted positions a little bit to sink down further into the grass. Had one not known she was there it would have been rather hard to find her given the color of her skin was almost a natural camouflage. She was laying now in her skirt and blouse- which was stifling hot as always. She had been shocked the first morning at breakfast to find her Grandfather walking around wearing tribal pants and a shirt obviously sewn for a man of honor, but, as no one had offered her any tribal clothes, she continued to wear her own, unaware that they generally wanted you to ask to be begifted with their clothes as they saw giving them to you a sign of forcing their culture onto others who didn't want it. Sometimes the Arjikis would present a woman or man with clothes without being asked, but they usually had to get to know the a bit rather than to risk offending them by giving them a gift they did not want.

Her position was one that was fairly natural if one is laying in the grass with an arm tucked behind her head and folded so that her face was resting on her bent elbow and her fingers were clenched loosely around the collar of her shirt in the back. Her other hand was outstretched through the grass a few inches. Just enough to feel the warmth of Fiyero's fingers against hers, just verily touching at the tips and creating a nice contrast of rich brown and green mingling almost. They were laying only perhaps a foot apart, but could not really see each other through the denseness of the golden grass.

That was until Fiyero reached over with his free hand and tamped down the grass between their faces, proving that they were only just a foot or so apart, each laying, looking at each other as their eyes connected. Neither of them felt the need to speak at the moment and Fiyero, in fact, felt grateful that Elphaba was not like the girls who chattered incessantly. It wasn't that he didn't like girls who talked, but sometimes there were moments when it was meant to just be quiet and it should not be awkward to be so. One didn't need to be conversing endlessly in his personal opinion. It was alright to just be quiet and at one with nature. He shivered a bit when he looked down and saw the proximity of their fingers, for it wasn't something he had done and he did not think that she realized how close her fingers were to his or she probably would have pulled away. Well, he certainly wasn't going to tell her, for this advent sent his stomach into butterflies and his heart pounding. It was perhaps one of the most wonderful sensations that the young man had ever had as he looked over at Elphaba, laying there. Her eyes were intense in his until she closed them quietly and went back to her former imaginings and dreamings sleepy from the sun that poured down on them from up above.

He studied her features without moving and in a sneaky way so as to keep her from noticing he was staring. His eyes traced along her hand first. Her fingers were long and very slender. She wore no jewelry on them. Her skin, he had noted, was all of the exact same lovely shade of green. To him it mattered little that she was green and, in fact, he thought that it gave her face a kind of soft ethereal glow to which he had only before been able to attribute to the beauty of a growing thing. It attracted him because it reminded him of the earth. Her wrist was slender and then her sleeve cut off his view. He did not know how she could stand dressing in such a manner here always always with her long sleeved shirts buttoned all the way up to the throat, knee length stockings that went up past the bottom of her skirt to keep all of her legs hidden and those infernal little boots with those tiny buttons. At her throat there was a tiny gap where he could see the hollow at the base of her throat, shaded in dusky violet and greenish hues. There was the line of her jaw and her long, slender neck currently exposed due to her head being laid back. Fiyero continued his exploration of her striking facial features and moved backwards towards where her face was now turned towards him since he'd pushed down the grass in between them so they could see each other. His eyes traced over the curve of her cheek and her dark brown, nearly black but not quite, hair spilling in thick, straight waves over her shoulder. He could see a hint of her ear in beneath that long swath of hair. He was surprised, looking at her up close, to note that she had a tiny piercing hole in the lobe of her ear. He was most certain she had not had it when they were eleven and he wondered when she had gotten it. He recalled, vaguely, seeing her recently with a tiny pair of pearl earrings but today there was nothing. It just mounted his curiosity as to all of the secrets about her to a greater degree. He avowed that he would somehow know everything about her, someday.

Elphaba tipped her face up a bit towards the warmth of the sun and quietly, so quietly, she began to sing. ""It's the Circle of Life And it moves us all Through despair and hope Through faith and love Till we find our place On the path unwinding In the Circle The Circle of Life..." She stopped at the end of the lyric, her voice fading quietly off into nothingness and Fiyero watched her with new, surprised, respect. Few people could have sung in such oppressive heat as this, let alone lying flat on their back in it. And she did not just sing but her voice hit each note with such a ringing clarity, each word beautifully enunciated and spun in just the right way to strike the ear with favor. Her notes were perfectly clear and she hit them more precisely than a tuning fork could have done. Her voice was beautiful and it struck a chord within him he simply could not describe.

"Elphie?" He murmured softly.

She looked over at him and he could see that her face had gone that familiar green in the cheeks that said she was blushing. Whyever was she blushing? "What is it?"

She just shook her head, "I don't normally sing around other people." She admitted softly, having surprised even herself. She didn't know where the small burst of song had somehow come from within herself or if she should be expecting more. Elphaba loved to sing and it was one thing she was actually gifted at as far as talents went. She had a beautiful voice, also powerful. It was not a horribly high voice it was, instead, what she had thought she heard called a mezzo soprano, but even so she knew how to use her range to add to her abilities and knew exactly what to do with it to move people should she want to do so, though for the moment she had been singing simply for herself and, she supposed, Fiyero since he was there, but she hadn't been thinking of it that way and when he questioned her she felt her cheeks begin to turn a nice emerald color.

"Well, you can sing around me any time. That was lovely." He said with an appreciative and honest smile. And he meant it.

She blushed more, "Well.. maybe." She said, her usual shy amount of self confidence taking its usual toll on her. However, he seemed to honestly like it so perhaps she wouldn't be quite so insistent on not singing around other people if it was him she was going to sing for, or around. She looked over at him again for a brief moment. "I've been singing since I was young I just… well my father, Frex, used to want me to sing to the people he was attempting to convert and I suppose it rubbed me the wrong way to be used like that. He used me as an example of the Unnamed God's ability to write a cruel situation with a gift." She scoffed slightly. "as if a mere ability to sing in such a way would make up for being born as I was." She just shook her head, "I have believed for most of my life that he had his priorities rather messed up honestly."

Fiyero nodded, "It sounds so. However, you shouldn't look at your voice as merely a gift to make up for something but as a gift just for the sake of having a gift. It would not hurt you so much if you thought about it as just something that was done for you with no strings attached, so to speak." He pointed out thoughtfully.

She looked over in surprise, "You speak with intelligence I wish I had." She murmured with a slightly envious look.

Fiyero chuckled slightly, "Well maybe I do, but I could never sing the way you do. I suppose I can sing just alright, nothing like you do."

"We'll just have to be envious of each other then." She pointed out.

He nodded, slowly moving to sit up. "It's getting late, we should probably find our way back to camp. I want you to come with me and meet my mother. I want to introduce you properly." He said, another strange feeling passing over him for a few seconds. He was not sure what exactly had caused it, but he just knew in the past couple of days since her arrival he had noticed it more and more frequently when she was around and a bit of him suspected what it was even though he couldn't put this feeling into words yet. He had a good idea that he knew what had caused this sensation he got around her and he was afraid to admit to it yet should it go away. However, no matter what, he wanted her to meet his mother and a few other prominent members of the tribal council properly. He had been waiting for the last two days for an opportune moment to meet with her and introduce Elphaba. Or reintroduce her. It was technically an introduction. They had met at Colwen Grounds, briefly, but the two children couldn't be bothered with paying attention to all of the minor details that the adults were so concerned with and they had avoided everyone over the age of about 17 or so with quite astonishing ease during the time the talks were going on in the main house. This would be a true introduction and he wanted it to be through him rather than someone else, however, finding a time where more than one of them were in one place and not discussing business for hours on end could be difficult and he wanted to soak up every last bit of this wonderful last month or two of summer before they would return to Kiamo Ko and he would be cooped up for the winter. It rarely got cold in the Vinkus, but when the rainy season was upon them the entire savannah turned to a mucky nasty thing and all east of them in the Great Kells it snowed relentlessly cutting them off from any news from the east including wagon trains entirely and it was impossible to go out of door without losing yourself knee deep in mud and getting bogged down in completely innocent looking places.

"But.. I've already met your mother silly." Elphaba pointed out, slowly bringing herself to sit up as well, though regretfully as she had been laying there for quite some time and it had been wonderfully comfortable.

"Well, not since you were eleven really properly and, anyway, I just want to do it."

Elphaba smirked, "Fine." She acquiesced. "Though I still think the whole idea of introducing me to someone who has already met me and obviously know me is a little bit silly."

Nevertheless, the two walked together through the grass to the main tent. Elphaba had learned after the first night that this tent was so large because it was the diplomatic tent, the headquarters of everything. Many of the council without families of their own or whose families were gone or those who served to guard Baxiana slept here as well and all of the records and things that needed to be brought with them came with this tent, so, being the very center of the tribe, it was not simply one Queen's home but almost like Colwen Grounds in that people could go there to seek an audience with the ruler and that it served multiple functions beyond being a place to live. Fiyero, however, knew his way through it easily and he led her into a long, low room. His mother was signing a document with a pen dipped in ink at the far end of the room in the vine thrown she had been sitting upon a couple of evenings before at the feast. Elphaba noticed, from up close, she looked a bit wearier than she had at the feast and she wondered if the effort of keeping up her own nation away from the powers of Central Oz and the Wizard caused that tired looked about her eyes. She also took in the fact that Baxiana was not alone but this time had a companion sitting at the table not far from her with another stack and the two were talking.

Fiyero coughed slightly to get both of their attentions. When the man turned Elphaba noted that he was tall as well and strongly built and that he had not shaved his head but let his hair grow to his shoulders. His skin was lighter than most and, the most noticeable, a gash like scar running down one cheek that looked like his face had been attached with a butcher knife due to its length and how severe it looked being raised and slightly darker than his other facial features. He had dark eyes that traveled over her and he blinked.. too often.. The moment she laid eyes on this man Elphaba was overcome with a strange sensation of worry which she couldn't explain. All she knew was that he made her uneasy and she cast her eyes downwards, trying not to stare at the gruesome scar that covered the whole side of his face.

"That's my Uncle Sefu." Fiyero whispered quietly to her. "But everyone calls him Scar. I don't expect I need to tell you why that is." He muttered with a slightly amused grin. She just shook her head slightly in return as she felt the man catch her eyes and hold them, refusing to break the contact so that she could look down or away or anywhere but at him, not wanting to do so while he was still staring at her. Something about this simply didn't feel right, but she didn't have the time to question it now.

"Mother, Uncle." Fiyero said, addressing the both of them as he stepped forward. Elphaba hung back behind him and he was surprised that she knew of this custom of not stepping forward until one was properly introduced to the other person. He shot her a quiet look of surprised thanks.

"Ah my boy.." His uncle said in a voice that was somewhat oily, the way he always spoke which made Fiyero's senses all stand on the wrong end. However, there was very little that he could say about this, so he merely kept quiet about it. He had often felt like Scar was trying to replace his brother, Fiyero's father, by sliding into his place in the tribe. He didn't appreciate this insinuation of the man trying to take his father's place in he and his mother's life and he hoped that she saw through him as well. Little did he know, the man had much more on his mind than Baxiana or getting into her private affairs, for that was certainly not exactly what he had in mind.

"I want you to meet someone properly now that we've a little more time as you were all otherwise occupied at the feast and I didn't want to interrupt." He said, reaching back and motioning for Elphaba to step closer, to which she complied, her brown eyes moving between the two people in front of her but really, comparatively, saying very little indeed, just observing everything that happened here. "Mother, I know you have met her but it has been so long it must be a reintroduction. This is my friend Elphaba Thropp the Thropp Third Descending." He said rather calmly. Elphaba felt a small hint of pleasure and of worry when he managed her title so easily and confidently. It was said with a confidence and ease that she herself far from posessed and it made her wonder that he sounded so very at ease with it. She wondered if he accepted his lot in life to rule the Arjiki tribe one day as something taken for granted as much as one takes getting dressed each morning- something he was used to, ready for, excited about and the idea sent another shiver down her, for she had far from accepted her own mission in life as of yet.

She stepped forward, pushing these thoughts aside in order to give a small curtsy, but Baxiana immediately rose her up. She noticed when Fiyero introduced her he had spoken in an Ozian dialect, but he did not now as he spoke to her and Scar and Elphaba felt herself wondering once again what was being said. Though she was picking up on more of their confusing tongue each day that she was here that didn't meant that she understood it all yet, far from, and she wanted even more so to understand. It seemed that Baxiana was not entirely fluent in Ozian dialect, for she responded back much more freely in the Arjiki tongue. Elphaba was beginning to gather from seeing everyone speak to her, aside of quick or easy to understand thing, in Arjiki that perhaps she was not very fluent with the Ozian and felt somewhat ashamed that she did not know it well enough to speak it with her if it would have put her more at ease.

"It is a pleasure to see you again, Elphaba dear." The woman said, though her thick accent made the words almost unmanageable she did do it and Elphaba was touched by the effort. Like any other Arjiki the woman was an excellent hostess and knew the rules that lay therein about welcoming anyone from any walk of life into one's own community as though you would welcome a long lost relative you had not seen for years.

"And you." Elphaba said, curtsying again, her brown eyes taking on a new warmth as the woman put her at ease. The man, however, the man gave her strange shivers all over that, as a rule of thumb, were not a good feeling by any means. She just didn't understand how someone she had only met could exude such a sense of unrest on her and her eyes kept flicking across the large tent to him still trying to figure it all out but, thus far, having little success doing so. She would have to think on it for a while, she decided. She needed time to process everything that had happened in the last couple of days including this introduction.

The woman said something to Fiyero which, again, Elphaba found said too quickly for her to understand, but whatever she had said, Fiyero agree with her for he nodded and murmured. "Jya." The Arjiki word for 'Yes'.

"In which case, it is such a pleasure to meet you Miss Thropp." Scar said as he extended his hand to shake with her in a very easternized way not generally practiced here in the Vinkus. She was surprised to find that his voice was not as heavily accented and every word was said perfectly in Ozian. He was obviously quite familiar with the dialect and she filed this piece of information away for further research as she shook his hand, finding this touch, despite its brevity, rather awkward, and, almost immediately letting go of his hand after she had shaken it. His eyes, she noted, were as cold as black eyes, for they truly were black, unlike Fiyero's rich deep brown ones. They were glittering and filled with absolutely no emotion that she could find similar to warmth or friendliness. His debonair attitude and swift words had no means by which to reach his eyes making her shiver. That was certainly what had left her ill at ease and, likely, she would not have been impressed had she known that the man, who was staring at her with a cold, calculating glance, was shrewdly thinking his own less than kind thoughts about her.

Fiyero spoke for a few moments with his mother before he bade her goodbye and turned to Elphaba. "Come, I have a message for your grandfather. Why don't you tag along with me?" He suggested.

Elphaba shook her head, "I do not think so. I'm suddenly feeling sleepy. I think I will lay down and take a nap before we reconvene for dinner." She said.

Fiyero looked at her a bit strangely, for she had never before admitted that she was tired in the last two days and the previous afternoon they had been on quite a hike and it had not tired her out, moreover, they had been laying around in the grass all afternoon doing little but resting. However, it was not his prerogative to comment and so he merely nodded hoping that he had not done anything to offend or upset her as he watched her walk away through the tamped down grass in the middle of the camp to the tent she was sharing with a few of the other girls.

Elphaba, for her part, lay herself down in her hammock reveling in the feel of just being alone in the tent for the first time in about two days. The other girls seemed to follow her, though she could guess it was not she they were following but, more accurately, Fiyero and it was just that she always seemed to be with him and then the fact that she and the girls were sharing a tent, or well, some of them, did not seem to help matters for the amount of times she saw them during the day. However, for now she was alone and it would give her an opportunity to mull over her thoughts. They were certainly varied and reaching to many different extremes. The last two days and her uncomfortable meeting with Fiyero's Uncle had given her quite a few new things to worry about though she wasn't exactly sure why it should be so worrisome to her, just that it was. All of these things bore need for careful consideration and she felt glad that it was still a little while until dinner. Elphaba also knew that, no matter what happened, she could not tell anyone- even Fiyero, about her observations of his uncle. Making herself an enemy to an important man of the tribe, the Prince's Uncle no less, would be less than prudent. Even she was diplomat enough to know this. No, she had no further recourse but just to watch things as they played out and try to figure them out on her own.

So yes this chapter was shorter and more manageable I think.. I hope. What do you guys think of Scar? Hehhehe What about Baxiana for that matter? More to come soon as the plot here in the Vinkus just seems to be thickening.