AN: Enjoy little Elphie, Yero, Cohvu, and Galinda for another chapter, because after this, I'm going to fast forward a few years ^_^.
Elphaba'sGirl: No, Elphaba didn't fall from a star, she's not from an alternate universe, she's not a princess of a secluded Vinkun tribe who got lost when her brother abandoned her, and she's not part fairy. Just keep guessing, just keep guessing... ;)
Artsoccer: ...Interesting... Do you happen to read minds?
LifeinWatercolor: Your review made me laugh so hard... LOL but you're right, she does look like a fish, right? :P Who knows? Maybe she really is part fish...
Chapter 4. We are family
Galinda and her parents went home after that, with spring break being over; and Fiyero picked up his job as Elphaba's teacher.
He had introduced her to Cohvu as well, and she seemed to take quite a liking to him. Cohvu often went home with Fiyero after school and they would spend the rest of the afternoon teaching Elphaba all kinds of things: not just the common Ozian language, but also things like eating with a knife and a fork, which she seemed to find quite strange, and they introduced her to all the little games they played.
She turned out to be an excellent climber, lithely and easily clambering up trees and walls. She also seemed to be in good shape, for she could run for a very long time, though she couldn't really keep up with the two boys – she was rather small and her legs were much shorter than theirs. But she was improving quickly; she had been very unsteady and wobbly on her feet at first, tentatively taking step by step, but now she was running through the gardens with Cohvu and Fiyero without a second thought.
The more Elphaba started to speak, however, the more questions the teacher they had hired had started asking her; and soon it became clear that she didn't remember anything at all.
'She's a very peculiar girl,' the teacher had told Lori and Hamold quietly. 'The only two words she seems to understand coming from her own language are 'Papa' and 'Mama', but those words are so universal, it could be any language she's grown up with. She never says anything in her mother tongue, so I have no idea how we're supposed to figure out what her homeland is… She's willing to learn Ozian, though – she even likes it. In fact, she's very eager to learn anything. There seems to be nothing wrong with her… but she can't remember anything, beside her name and her age, and basic things like that. It's like her past, her memories, have been completely wiped from her mind.'
Hamold and Lori had debated for a long time about what to do with the little girl. They had no idea who she was or where she was from, and so they couldn't very well send her back; they had briefly discussed finding her a suitable home themselves, perhaps with a nice couple here in the Vinkus. However, it didn't take them long to realise how much Fiyero had changed since she'd appeared – how much happier he seemed now that he continuously had someone to play with. They knew he had been lonely, but after Fiyero was born, the doctor had told Lori that she wouldn't be able to have any other children or it might become the death of her.
'So isn't this the perfect solution?' Hamold had offered quietly. 'If we let her stay here…'
'Hamold…'
'Look at our son, Lori,' he had said gently. 'Just look at him. He's not lonely anymore, and it's not just him – the entire staff dotes on her, you know that. Do you really want to send her away?'
Lori had sighed and conceded. 'No. Alright, then. Let's keep her here.'
Fiyero had been overjoyed, and Cohvu had been enthusiastic, too. They had written a letter to Galinda; her reply came in pink ink on pink paper, and when he read it, Fiyero was glad that squeals didn't come off that well on paper or he would have been deaf right now.
One day, when Cohvu had gone home after school for a change - to help out his mother – Fiyero came up with a, in his eyes absolutely brilliant, plan: he was going to take Elphaba to the beach.
'I'm not sure about this, Fiyero,' Hamold told him seriously when he presented his parents with the plan. 'It's a big responsibility. She's a traumatised little girl that's only barely starting to open up, which is a reason why I'm not too keen on letting her off the castle grounds in the first place; but to take her to the beach? When she's allergic to water?'
Fiyero looked crestfallen and a bit insulted. 'I wasn't going to take her for a swim or anything,' he defended himself. 'I just wanted to show her the beach itself, and the turtle's eggs. Please, Dad? Mom? I promise I won't let her go anywhere near the water and we'll be back soon!'
Hamold looked at Lori. Lori sighed. 'I'm sorry, Yero,' she began, but just then, Elphaba came running in. 'Yero, Yero!' She skidded to a halt in front of him and looked up at him excitedly. 'Are we going to the beach now?' She turned around to face the King and Queen with a big grin on her face. 'Fiyero said that he would take me to the beach today!' she said happily. 'He says it's really beautiful and he's going to show me the little turtles!'
Both his parents gave him pointed looks, and he shuffled around, staring at his feet. 'Alright, yes, so I might have promised her that I would take her before I asked you guys,' he muttered.
Elphaba's face fell. 'We're not going?'
Lori grumbled something under her breath, then caved at the pleading look on the small girl's face. 'Fine,' she said with a sigh. 'You can go. But please be careful,' she said, and Fiyero jumped up to peck her cheek. 'Thank you so much, Mom!'
'Don't let her anywhere near the water!' Lori warned her son, and Fiyero rolled his eyes. 'I remember, Mom.' With that, he and Elphaba ran off.
The moment they stepped outside, they had a breathtaking view on the beach itself, with the sparkling blue sea right behind it. Elphaba sucked in a surprised breath, her eyes wide as she took in the picture.
Fiyero grinned upon seeing her reaction. He was glad she liked it. He himself, having grown up here, was still awed by the view sometimes, and especially today, it was beautiful. The sun was shining, illuminating the golden sand and reflecting off the splashing waves. The wind was still cold, and Elphaba pulled the vest she was wearing a bit tighter around her, hugging her small waist. 'It's really pretty.'
'I know, right?' Fiyero took her hand and pulled her with him. 'Come on.'
They ran across the beach for a while before Fiyero stopped, motioning for Elphaba to do the same. He brought his fingers to his lips. 'Ssh.' Then he slowly, quietly, moved forward.
The green girl watched his movements with interest, trying to follow just as silently. Finally, Fiyero knelt down in the sand and peered over a thick branch that had washed ashore. He hung over it and carefully brushed some of the sand away. Then he smiled and looked over his shoulder, beckoning her. 'Come.'
She inched closer and he pointed at something in the sand. She held her breath and Fiyero grinned at her. 'Sea turtle's eggs.'
'Wow,' she breathed. Fiyero nodded. 'Awesome, right? My Dad always took me to the beach to search for the eggs when I was younger,' he told her. 'Now I usually come here to search for them by myself, you know, since Dad is busy ruling the country and all.' He sighed, then shook his head. 'Anyway, I found this nest about two months ago, maybe a little less – seven weeks or something. Sea turtle's eggs take about two months to hatch, so when I found them, they were probably only there for a few days or so… They could hatch any moment now.'
Elphaba nodded. 'Do you think they'll hatch now?' she asked excitedly, but he shook his head. 'They usually hatch at night.'
She looked crestfallen. 'I wish I could see it.'
'Me, too.' Fiyero sighed, but then his face brightened. 'Maybe…' he said thoughtfully, a mischievous grin appearing on his face. 'Maybe we can.'
She looked at him questioningly.
He jumped to his feet. 'Come on, let's go back. I'll tell you later,' he promised, before breaking into a run towards the castle, Elphaba right behind him.
'Dad?'
Hamold looked up from the conversation he was having with one of his advisors. 'Yero, I'm busy right now,' he told his son sternly. 'I told you not to disturb me when I'm in a meeting.'
Fiyero pouted. 'But it's really important.'
The advisor laughed. 'It's okay, Your Majesty, I don't mind,' he assured Hamold.
'What is it, Yero?' the King asked with a sigh.
Fiyero bounced up and down. 'Those sea turtle eggs I showed you the other day,' he began, and his father quirked an eyebrow at him. 'You're disturbing me because of sea turtles?'
The prince looked indignant. 'Yes. When do you think they'll hatch?'
Hamold sighed again and removed his reading glasses, rubbing his forehead. 'Fiyero…'
'Dad, please?'
The advisor looked amused. 'Oh, Your Majesty,' he said sympathetically when he saw Hamold's exasperation. 'It's good to know that our young Crown Prince is interested in the wildlife of the Vinkus, isn't it? Sea turtles are a very important part of the Vinkun ecological system.' He winked at Fiyero, who grinned back at him. Hamold looked like he was resisting the urge to bang his head against the table.
'I'm guessing in a few days, Fiyero,' he said after thinking it over for a while. 'But I don't know exactly when the eggs were laid, and so there's no predicting when exactly it will be. I think it will be Friday or Saturday night, but I can't be sure, of course.'
'Alright.' Fiyero nodded. 'And, Dad?'
'Yes, Fiyero?'
'At what time do you and Mom go to bed?'
The advisor was stifling a laugh and Hamold looked stunned. 'What?!'
Fiyero crossed his arms indignantly, not understanding what was so funny. 'You heard me.'
Hamold shook his head. 'Around eleven, usually. Why, Yero?'
'Oh, just because.' He grinned at his father and waved at both men. 'Bye, Dad. Bye, sir.' Then he left the room.
On Friday, when he came home after school, he stopped by Elphaba's room. 'Elphaba?'
She looked up from the book she was reading. Speaking common Ozian was getting easier and easier for her, and now she was eager to move on to the next challenge – reading it. Within the past week or so, she had learned how to read the most basic Ozian words, but she was going at top speed – just another month or so, Fiyero thought unhappily, and she'd be better at reading than he himself was.
'Hi, Yero,' she said, and he stepped into the room. 'Make sure you're ready tonight around half past eleven,' he whispered to her. 'Dress warm.'
She looked incredulous. 'Half past eleven? At night?' she asked him, shocked, and he nodded proudly. 'Yes. We're going to watch the sea turtles hatch.'
Her face turned excited. 'Really?'
'I'm not sure,' he admitted. 'Dad doesn't know when they'll hatch, exactly, but he's guessing tonight or tomorrow night, so…'
'But…' Elphaba sat up straight. 'Are we allowed to do that?' she asked quietly. 'Sneaking out of the castle at night?'
'It's not sneaking!' he protested. 'It's just…' He thought about a good way to word it. 'Leaving when everyone else is sleeping,' he finished lamely.
She smiled. There were dimples in her cheeks when she did that, he noticed. 'Alright. I'll be ready.'
'Elphaba, are you ready?'
She slipped out of the door, quietly closing it behind her, a thick woollen vest pulled tightly around her. 'Yes.'
'Come on.' Fiyero went in the lead, peering around corners and doorways as he sneaked through the castle, with Elphaba right behind him. It was dark and quiet everywhere, and he shivered a little. 'I never knew Adurin Iir was so creepy at night,' he said unhappily. 'What if there are ghosts here?'
Elphaba snorted softly. 'Ghosts don't exist.'
He cast a look in her direction. 'How do you know?' he demanded, and she shrugged. 'I read it in a book.'
He huffed, but didn't say anything else as they moved towards the front door. When they reached it, Fiyero let out a relieved breath and reached for the bolts on the heavy door, but he froze when a throat was cleared behind him. 'And where do you think you're going?'
Fiyero gulped and turned around. His parents were standing against the wall opposite him, arms crossed, and expressions on their faces that didn't promise much good.
'Oh. Hi, Mom,' he said weakly. He swallowed. 'Hi, Dad.'
Hamold shook his head. 'I knew it,' he declared. 'I knew it the moment he started asking me about sea turtles and at what time your mother and I usually went to bed. Really, Fiyero? You were going to sneak outside in the middle of the night because you wanted to see the turtles hatch?'
'Not to mention taking Elphaba with you?' Lori added. She didn't look mad; she looked disappointed, which, somehow, was far worse. 'I would have thought better of you, Fiyero,' she said quietly. 'This is very irresponsible behaviour, surely you understand that.'
'I'm sorry,' he tried. 'She just wanted to see the turtles hatch so badly, and I wanted to see it, too, so I decided to do this and… and I'm sorry. Really.'
'It wasn't his fault, Aunt Lori,' Elphaba said quietly. 'I agreed to come with him.'
Lori sighed and knelt down to level with the two children. 'I know, Elphaba,' she said gently. 'And I understand why you wanted to go.' She looked at her son again. 'But do you understand why this was a bad idea?'
Fiyero nodded. 'I'm sorry, Mom,' he said in a small voice, and she hugged him. 'That's alright, Yero. Just don't do it again, okay?' He nodded and she smiled at him, offering him her one hand and Elphaba her other. 'Well, let's get outside to the beach then, shall we?'
Both kids looked up at her with wide eyes. 'Really?' asked Fiyero breathlessly, and Lori chuckled. 'Yes, well, we're all up and about now, anyway, so we might as well see if those baby turtles feel like hatching, right?'
Elphaba beamed at his mother and Fiyero threw his arms around his mother's neck. 'You're the best Mom ever!'
Hamold shook his head, but he was smiling, too. 'Let's go, then.'
Together, the four of them walked along the beach. The moon was almost full, illuminating the sand so that they could see where they were walking, and reflecting its light off the waves of the ocean.
Elphaba shied away from the sea; she thought it looked beautiful, but the enormous amount of water frightened her. Lori noticed and put her arm around the girl protectively. 'Don't worry, sweetheart,' she reassured the small girl. 'We're not letting you anywhere near there.'
Fiyero, on the other hand, did run towards the sea, standing as close to it as he dared before quickly jumping back when a new wave washed over the sand, approaching his feet. He knelt down and picked up a big shell from the waves. 'Hey!' he called excitedly, running back towards his parents and Elphaba. 'Look what I found!'
He showed them the shell, which they all admired. 'It's really beautiful,' Elphaba said quietly, and Fiyero held out both his hands with the shell still in it. 'Here,' he offered. 'You can have it.'
She looked at him with wide eyes. 'Really?'
He nodded. 'I already have so many of them. Here-' He tried to put the shell in her hands, but Hamold quickly snatched it away. 'Be careful, Yero,' he said warningly, gesturing towards the water that was still dripping off the shell.
Fiyero flushed a little. 'Oh. Right. Sorry.'
Hamold carefully dried the shell with a handkerchief, examining it for any more drops of water before handing it to Elphaba. She cradled it in her hands, admiring it and beaming at Fiyero. 'Thank you.'
They moved on to the spot where the eggs were and all lay down into the sand on their stomachs, peering over the thick branch that marked the spot. Hamold gingerly brushed away the loose sand covering the eggs. Then they all watched and waited.
Time passed by slowly, and nothing happened. Finally, Lori shook her head. 'Kids, it's getting really late now, and nothing's happening. We'd better-'
'Mom, look!' Fiyero whispered excitedly, pointing at the eggs. One of them was slowly cracking open, and they all held their breaths as a tiny turtle head poked out of the hole in the egg. 'Aw,' said Elphaba softly. 'It's so small!'
'They're cute, aren't they?' Fiyero agreed. They made sure to keep as quiet as possible as slowly, one by one, the eggs in the turtle's nest hatched, revealing tiny turtles that wiggled their way out of the eggshells, then started making their way through the sand towards the ocean. It really was an awe-inspiring sight, and all four of them were completely entranced by it.
'You know what?' said Lori quietly. She wrapped one arm around her son and the other around Elphaba, pulling them a little closer as she looked down at them. 'I know I was a little angry with you for trying to sneak out of the castle to see this – and don't get me wrong, I still don't approve,' she added sternly. Then she softened. 'But honestly? I wouldn't want to have missed this for the world.'
Hamold smiled and ruffled Fiyero's hair, then placed a hand on Elphaba's shoulder. 'None of us would have, I think.'
Elphaba raised her gaze from the turtle's nest to look at the hand that was lying on her shoulder, and Lori's arm around her. She glanced up at Hamold's face, then at Lori's; they both looked content and happy, and so did Fiyero. A warm feeling flooded through her.
For the first time since she could remember, she felt like she was part of a family.
Galinda returned to Adurin Iir with her father in summer vacation, and upon arriving, she immediately went to find her 'bestest friend'.
'Elphie!' she squealed, throwing her arms around the startled green girl in a hug. 'I've missed you so much! Tell me, Elphie,' she tossed her blonde curls and batted her eyes, 'what am I?'
Elphaba looked at her in exasperation. 'You do know that I actually know what I'm saying now, don't you?' she asked the blonde pointedly. 'And if you think for a clock-tick that I'm going to reply with 'pretty and smart', you're going to have to think again. Besides, I think it was kind of mean of you to teach me to say that in the first place while I had no idea what I was even saying.'
Galinda blinked at the other girl. 'Wow. You have changed!' She gasped. 'But this is so amazifying! You can really understand what I'm saying now! Can I take you shopping some day, Elphie? We should go out and do some girl stuff together! I don't know what that means, really, but Momsie always says that's what she does with her friends, girl stuff, so it must be fun!' She bounced up and down. 'Just you and me!'
Elphaba looked a bit bewildered. 'But what about Cohvu and Fiyero?' she asked, and Galinda shook her head. 'Just girls, Elphie. No boys there. Boys are stupid.' She wrinkled her nose. 'Well… except for Cohvu. Sometimes.'
'Boys aren't stupid!' Elphaba protested. 'I always play with boys during lunch break at school. I like them.'
Galinda gasped. 'You play with boys at school? Wait a clock-tick,' she frowned, 'you're going to school?'
Elphaba nodded proudly. 'I'm officially going to start after summer vacation,' she announced, 'but I've been there a couple of times already to get used to it. Uncle Hamold and Aunt Lori said that they thought I was ready. I've been reading a lot, too.' She held up a book and Galinda moaned. 'Oh, no! Elphie, you can't do this!' she complained. 'You can't play with boys and read books! You have to go shopping with me and… and do girl stuff!' She brightened. 'Can I do your hair?'
Lori and Hamold were watching the girls from the sitting area, sipping their tea. Cohvu and Fiyero came storming in with a fish they'd caught, showing it off proudly; Galinda shrieked and fled to the other side of the room when she saw it, while Elphaba got mad with them because she thought it was wrong to kill animals just for fun.
Hamold shook his head, amused. 'I think we're going to have to brace ourselves for when those kids get older,' he said to his wife. 'Can you imagine them as teenagers?'
Lori moaned. 'I don't want to,' she said, only half-joking. She studied the children for a moment. 'I think we're going to be up for a great challenge.'
