Chapter 6
It was chilly, but at the same time, it wasn't. There was this constant warmth he wasn't used to, but holding on to it seemed like a smart idea. Something felt soft against his chest so he snuggled closer to it, slowly opening his eyes.
An emerald shoulder was the first thing that caught his sight. He smiled, realizing it was the first time he was waking up beside her. He wrapped his arm tighter around her waist, wondering whether he should wake her or steal a couple of moments to watch at her as she slept. Pretty soon he decided against waking her, though. She looked so peaceful, laying there with her back against his chest, the tips of her hair tickling his arm. It was at that moment when it had dawned on him. It worked. It really worked. The exhaustion of the past several days was gone as if it was never there to begin with. It felt as if he was ready to start over.
He leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her shoulder. She stirred, but didn't open her eyes. He kissed the same spot again, lingering his lips against her skin, slowly and persistently trailing his kisses to the crook of her neck.
"What…" she murmured, eyes still closed.
"Wake up, green girl."
She grunted softly, but hadn't shown signs of opening her eyes just yet. "Why?"
"Because it's morning," he pointed out, running a finger up and down her arm. He felt her shiver. "And because I said so."
That did it. She looked over her shoulder, trying to conceal her amusement with an irritated brow. "Just so you'll know, I can turn you back into a scarecrow just as fast."
"And why would you want to do that?"
She turned and laid back, and he propped himself on one elbow so he could look down at her. "First of all, because you seem to wake me with no apparent reason."
"Oh, but I did have a reason," he said, pretending to be offended.
She raised an eyebrow. "Well, you left it out before. Care to tell me what it was?"
"I rather show you," he replied, grinning.
She frowned. "Go ahead then. It'd better be good."
He smiled and leaned down, silencing her resentment with a kiss. It seemed to have caught her off-guard, but shortly afterwards he felt her arms snaking around his neck, drawing him closer. Pretty soon they were both out of breath, a tumble of arms and legs amidst twisted sheets, kissing fervently, giggling with no apparent reason. He almost didn't hear the knock when it came on the door. Well, in fact, he did not hear the knock when it came on the door.
"Someone's at the door," Elphaba said all of a sudden, pulling away from him.
"Ignore it," he murmured, gently grabbing her arms to hold her in place.
She seemed as if she wanted to. She closed her eyes, grasping the sheets as he leaned down to kiss her neck, but then, just as suddenly as before, she opened her eyes and sat up. "It might be important," she said, reaching for her cloak and wrapping it around her. She turned to look at him then, and approached the bed again. She tousled his hair and smiled fondly. "I'll be right back."
He just sat there, in the middle of the bed, somewhat puzzled by her sudden leaving. He ran a hand through his hair and wrapped a sheet around him against the sudden chill. He heard the squeaking noise the door made as she opened it, and then hissed sounds of conversation he couldn't quite make out. He wondered who it was. It seemed to be very early in the morning, but he had completely lost track of time by then. He didn't quite remember which day it was, as well.
He laid back then, resting his head against his hands, staring at the ceiling. It felt so strange to be himself again. Of course, he felt relieved beyond compare, to be able to sleep and eat and feel again, yet at the same time he was so used to the constant lightheadedness, the lack of weight, that with them gone, things just felt… wrong. He knew he'd just have to get used to that. Just as he did before.
He smirked to himself, thinking back of that day he regained consciousness on that pole in the middle of the corn field. But how was it back then? Now, try as he might, he just couldn't remember. Surely he was scared, confusified even; rare were the times when one woke up to find himself a scarecrow hung on a pole.
His thoughts were cut off abruptly by a familiar sensation. He felt like smirking again, but held back and just smiled to himself. It was like going back in time, almost. He sort of missed those dreams. Of course, he didn't miss the tormenting thoughts, the sleepless nights, the confusification and hesitation that always followed, but he couldn't deny that the dreams in themselves were definitely an inseparable part of who he was, and more importantly, who he came to be.
He opened his eyes to see Elphaba, kissing her way up his chest, her cloak still wrapped loosely around her. He cupped her cheek, bringing her closer to him again, and her cloak draped over both of them as she lowered her lips to his.
"Who was it?" he asked, a moment before their lips touched. He almost burst out laughing at the discontent that was momentarily reflected in her expression, before she managed to hide it with a frown.
"I thought you didn't care."
He pulled off his most innocent expression. "I didn't, but since you found it so important, I thought I might express some more interest, which is what I'm trying to do."
She frowned, obviously displeased with the way things had turned out, not quite in her favor. "Well, if you must know, it was Siergan. She stopped by to-" she stopped mid-sentence, gasping, as he turned them over.
"You were saying?" he asked, still looking as innocent as he possibly could, before he leaned down to kiss her neck again, pinning her to the mattress she was now laying against.
"What are you doing?" she asked through closed lids.
"Nothing. Just listening intently, as is expected from me."
She huffed in discontent. "You're distracting me."
"Why, I'm not doing anything," he said, keeping his voice neutral. "So why Siergan stopped by?" he asked in-between kisses.
"She brought you some clothes and-" she moaned as his lips hit a sensitive spot, "asked us for dinner tonight, if you're feeling strong enough. She wanted to see you, but I told her you were asl-"
"Do you ever let anyone else talk?" he cut her off, his fingers working to untie the knot of her cloak. But then he realized that directing a question at her would make her talk again. He shook his head just as her lips parted open, possibly in order to reply. "You know what, just forget it," he murmured, his lips brushing against hers, silencing her once more.
XoxoxoxoX
Their walk through the village that evening attracted more attention than ever before; ironically enough, not because of Elphaba. Everyone has heard about Elphaba's attempts to perform a spell from the Book of Reversals, and whereas they respected them and allowed them some privacy in the previous several days, they were clearly curious to witness the consequences. It felt strange, and slightly uncomfortable. For once, he was the target of public stares and whispers. Now he knew how Elphaba must have felt all that time. He wasn't sure he liked it much. Well, if fact, he didn't like it at all. It felt awkward, to be in the center of attention that way.
Elphaba flashed him an encouraging smile before she raised her hand to knock on the Dillamonds' door. There was a rustle on the other side, and then Neir stood on the threshold, staring at him jaw-dropped.
"I'd say I can read that book after all, don't you think?" Elphaba asked, breaking the silence, a hint of arrogance in her voice. She looked amused by Neir's reaction. "I'll take it as a 'yes', then."
"Neir, who is it?" Siergan asked from an inner room. A moment later she showed up by her son's side. Something in her eyes brightened when she noticed them. "Oh! It's you, darlings! Come on in!" she rushed them in, and turned to give him a closer look once they were inside. "You look just as handsome as I imagined you'd be," she beamed at him. "Well done, Elphaba. I knew you could do this."
"Thank you," replied Elphaba, smiling meekly. Then she looked up, her eyes set on the hall. "The children are not in?"
Just as she said it, Rheil and Rhiyo dashed into the main room, throwing themselves at her. She laughed, almost toppling over by their sudden weight. It's been four days since they last saw the children, before they went into enclosure to perform the spell. The children were obviously very excited to see Elphaba. They started speaking together, as they always did, and he just stood there watching them for a moment. It never ceased to amaze him, the way Elphaba acted with them. There was something so soft about her at those times, as if she let herself open up to them completely and entirely, in a way she didn't even allow herself to do around him.
Then Rheil caught sight of him and her excited chatter stopped at once. Rhiyo was soon to follow. They looked at him for a moment, a bit suspicious, it seemed. Did they recognize him? Would he have to regain their trust? Would he have to explain things to them?
But just then his worries worn off at once as Rheil let out a joyous giggle and threw herself at him, more or less as she did with Elphaba moments ago. "What happened to your scarecrow costume?"
"I decided I didn't like it much," he shrugged, smiling at their reactions.
"It's better without that costume anyway, don't you think, children?" their mother asked as they both let him go.
"It's confusifying," said Rhiyo with a worried brow.
"No, it's not. It's still me, I just look a bit different now, that's all. It's just looking at things another way, children," he said, flashing a small, secret smile at Elphaba. She flushed and looked away.
"Come along now," Siergan said, looking at him fondly as if she detected the wordless exchange that passed between Elphaba and him. "Dinner is getting cold."
He offered his arm to Elphaba, and she took it with a shy smile. As they made the familiar way to the dinner table, a small smile curled on his lips. Things finally seemed to move in the right direction. All of a sudden, he felt so wonderful; as if there wasn't a thing he couldn't do, as if everything was possible. Even saving Dr. Dillamond.
Once they were seated, he reached for Elphaba's hand under the table and gave it a little squeeze. Their eyes met, and she smiled at him, as if reassuring him everything he had come to realize just moments ago. Yes. Everything was going to be just fine.
XoxoxoxoX
It took several weeks before his recovery was complete. He didn't believe Elphaba when she first told him it might take a while before the after-effects would wear off; he had to experience it to believe it. Of course, it made sense that he'd have such after-effects; she was having them weeks after that melting charm, why wouldn't he? There were mornings he just couldn't bring himself to wake up. He was constantly dizzy or exhausted, and he spent most of the day at home while Elphaba helped Siergan running errands at the marketplace and all around the village. Everyone knew about the spell by now. They treated her with utter respect. Everyone always came to seek her advice, over everything, starting with the tiniest problems, such as sleeplessness or nightmares. He was happy to see that change of attitude; she was finally treated as she deserved, as a gifted young woman whose sole wish was making good.
And she was. The progress she has made in reading the Book of Reversals was astonishing. It took her many hours and sleepless nights, but it seemed to be worth it. She got through most of it by now as she worked fervently into the nights. Truth to be told, he didn't like it much, although he kept his thoughts to himself. He didn't want her to drain her strength entirely. However, ironically enough, instead of looking exhausted and warn out she looked radiant, almost glamorous. It was laughable.
They decided to invite the Dillamonds to dinner, to celebrate his recovery. Of course, it was quite a challenge for both of them. By the time he had recovered, Elphaba had already learned a thing or two about cookery; not to mention the time she had lived underground and had to take care of herself, on that field among others. He, on the other hand, had no experience in anything whatsoever. At the Vinkus there were always people who looked after those things for him. And then at Shiz, if he had skipped dinner at the great dinning hall, there were always the cafés the surrounded the campus. There was no need for him to learn how to cook, how to do anything, because things were always done for him.
"I'm afraid we might kill them," he joked, as Elphaba and him left the marketplace, loaded with provisions.
She laughed and shook her head, as if to dismiss his concerns. "You'll do fine."
"That's easy for you to say."
"I can always do the cooking and let you have the credit," she said, looking at the path ahead instead of at him.
There was something quite casual by the way she was saying it. It wasn't like her to suggest such a thing; not Elphaba, the great believer in learning, and self-learning of all things. No. There must have been a hidden purpose there someplace. She wouldn't just say that. "Will you really do that?"
She threw him a look from over her shoulder. "Of course not, I was just testing you."
He knew there must have been a reason. "Oh."
She stopped then, and laid her parcels on the ground as she moved closer to him. "You'll be fine. Trust me. It's not as difficult as it seems, alright?"
He frowned. Thinking about it alone gave him chills. "Fine. But I'm warning you. I don't learn that fast."
"Fair enough," she smiled, but it didn't last long. Before he knew it, the smile faded from her face as she lost her balance. It happened so fast he didn't even realize what was going on. There was this frantic gleam in her eyes now, as she was looking around her, searching for something to grasp at, it seemed. And then, just as fast, it appeared she had given up on it, as she slowly dropped to the ground.
