Another day, another chapter, another reminder that I will never ever own Wicked. That's Gregory Maguire's job. I wonder if I could write a 'Wicked'-like story... Maybe turn around Snow White or something... -Totally will not look like a rip-off...:)-

Read, review, and favorite if you find it worthy! -LostOzian


Fiyeraba stayed moodily silent all throughout dinner, trying to end Glinda's attempts at conversation as quickly as she thought of them. Grinnie, on the other hand, was anxious to talk to Glinda, and chattered on and on when Glinda tried to make Fiyeraba speak.

"How do you like the pasta?" Glinda asked Fiyeraba directly. Grinnie immediately jumped on the question.

"'S really, really good!" she exclaimed, waving one noodle around on her fork. "We've had pasta before at the orphanage, mostly because it's so easy to cook a lot of it, but there's never been this red sauce with it. It's usually white and tastes like cheese, or there's no sauce at all. This tastes like….tomatoes," Grinnie decided at last, eating the noodle. Glinda smiled at how much Grinnie talked, but looked back to Fiyeraba. Why won't she speak to me?

"I like it," Fiyeraba said softly, picking at her sauce-covered pasta, hoping it would placate Glinda's want for conversation. Glinda barely heard her speak.

"Do you like it better than the pasta at the orphanage?" Glinda pressed. Fiyeraba rearranged her noodles without lifting the fork.

"Well, they were cooking for all of us, at least fifty, counting the little babies. It's all pretty rushed, and usually undercooked." Grinnie said quickly and made a face at the memory of hard pasta. Fiyeraba set down her fork, having barely touched her food.

"May I use the bathroom, please?" she asked politely. Glinda nodded, and was standing up when Fiyeraba spoke again.

"I can find it myself. I'm twelve. You don't need to worry," Glinda looked at her, trying to find some sort of reason that she wanted to go alone. The girl's face was blank.

"All right," Glinda said at last. "The bathroom's down the left hallway, then the third door on the left." Fiyeraba nodded in thanks, and practically ran out the door. Glinda sat back down, having a brief moment where she felt older than she was. To her dismay, they were becoming more and more frequent.

"Something wrong, Lady Glinda?" Grinnie asked, soft chocolate eyes staring at her concernedly. Glinda tried to smile.

"I'm fine," Glinda said, before looking back after Fiyeraba. It hurt her to have to make her stay, but it was for her own safety. If Fiyeraba found Elphaba, others would, and there would be another Witch Hunt. The only way out of that would be to clear Elphaba's name and break the promise, or be forced to stand by and watch her die again.

And this time, Fiyeraba would die with her. Silence grew between the two.

"Glinda, why do people lie?" Grinnie asked abruptly. "Because Fiyeraba lied to me before that if I didn't eat my vegetables when they were served at dinner, they would come and get in my ears at night and turn me into a vegetable." Glinda couldn't help but laugh. That was like a story her mother had told her when a toddler Galinda had stubbornly insisted that if she ate her broccoli, her hair would turn green. But she tried not to think about green much anymore.

"And you just lied a clock-tick ago and told me you were fine," Grinnie set down her fork. "And you're not. I can tell." Glinda couldn't help but marvel at how perceptive children were.

"It's…strange." Glinda started. "Elphaba was the biggest influence in my life. And when Fiyeraba's here, if almost feels like she is, too." Glinda paused as she tried to find how best to say what she wanted to say next. "I don't want her to get hurt searching for Elphaba. It's wrong for me to keep her, but if she goes the consequences will be too great."

"But you have magic," Grinnie said. "Could you give her something to help?" Glinda turned to Grinnie, tears welling up in her eyes.

"She'd never make it," Glinda said, starting to sob. "Elphaba spent the last years of her life on the brink of destruction, and she barely made it that long. It was the broom that kept her alive, I would say. They would find her, and then just like that," Glinda snapped her fingers. "She would be miles away. Fiyeraba doesn't have that. She'll get caught. I'm afraid for her." Grinnie combed her fork through the noodles, mulling over Glinda's speech.

"But she'd be happy," Grinnie said. "No matter how dangerous, Fiyeraba would only be happy if she was searching." Glinda sniffed, trying to pull back the tears before they smudged her makeup.

"I can't let her. Elphaba would want her safe." Wouldn't she?

The door opened again, and Fiyeraba returned to dinner. Her face looked rather red, as if she had been running.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I got lost." Grinnie and Glinda stared at her, trying to see if she was lying. Only Grinnie could tell she was.


"Fiyeraba, you didn't go to the bathroom at all!" Grinnie accused her when they returned to their room. "And you need to stop this stuff about finding your mother!" Fiyeraba turned, not used to Grinnie being so commanding.

"What?" she said incredulously. Grinnie folded her arms, taking control.

"Glinda's right to keep you here," she stated. "If you find her, you're dead. You're both dead." Fiyeraba met Grinnie's eyes, daring her to continue to tell her 'no'. "The only reason your mother didn't get caught was because she had a flying broomstick!" Fiyeraba smiled the knowing smile of someone with a secret too good to not tell.

"So do I," she reached under the bed skirt, a luxury the orphanage never had, and pulled out an old broom. "I took it while Glinda thought I was in the bathroom." Grinnie stared at the broom, knotted handle to bushy twigged end.

"It…it flies?" she breathed. Fiyeraba looked at it sadly, holding it in front of her as if that would make it take wing.

"Well…not yet. It's not my mother's broom," Fiyeraba admitted. "Tonight, I'm going to go through the door in the throne room. My mother went that way after she found the Wizard lied. She made her flying broom up there," Fiyeraba was sure the imprints would help her enchant this broom, too. Grinnie stared at her in amazement.

"You're…going to do it. No matter what Glinda says." Grinnie said. Fiyeraba nodded.

"I will find her. I need to find her." Fiyeraba stashed the broom under the bed again. "I'm sleeping in the chair, so I wake up. Then I'll go up to the tower and magic the broomstick, and I'll be on my way." Grinnie felt helpless, Fiyeraba's plans spiraling away from her and reason. Fiyeraba checked out the window at the almost complete sunset.

"And it's probably time for us to go to bed, anyway." Grinnie let Fiyeraba change her for bed, all the while thinking of how Fiyeraba could do this. She would defy all of Oz for a chance at the one dream she treasured, forsaking everything else. The minutes passed in silence as Grinnie was tucked away in the bed and Fiyeraba was curled up in the armchair, still in her frock and boots. Grinnie lay there, picking at the fine sheets and thinking of Fiyeraba across the room from her.

"I…I hope you'll be happy," Grinnie said to the silent room. Fiyeraba didn't answer.