Part 1 chapter 6

A.N: Alright! You lot really rise to the challenge. Now this chapter is a little bit longer, (maybe not the best, but longer)so how about 5 reviews this time? Answers to the ones for this chapter at the bottom.

The coach moved surprisingly quickly, skidding to a halt right in front of her. It was evening, close to curfew, so it would take a little longer than usual for crowds to gather. The tall young girl stepped back a few paces as the door opened and a footman hopped out to help the "important" occupant out. Rhonaraye felt her blood run cold at the sight of the fat little fish-like woman.

Madame Morribe, unfortunately, noticed her before the redhead could slip away.

"Excuse me." She said, "Stop right there, yes you in the shabby coat." Raye stopped and turned slowly, but didn't meet her eyes "I need help carrying my bags to my suite."
"Um, I will help with some of them-" Raye began. Morrible laughed

"You will help with all of them."
"But I need to be back in my dorm room before curfew, or else I will get a detention and possibly privileges revoked." Morrible seemed surprised at this. Raye knew that she probably sounded selfish, but she did not like this woman. Besides, showing selfishness would probably make me blend in. She thought ruefully.

"You're a student?" Morrible asked after a moment as Raye picked up two large bags.

"A scholarship student, yes Madame."

"What is your name?"

She was spared from answering as Liir of all people came over.

"Madame Morrible! A pleasure as always! You look as fabulous as ever." he said, sweeping a low bow. Raye had to hold back a snort. This creature? Fabulous? Clearly he'd hit his head somewhere.

"And I see you are still as flattering as ever." Morrible replied as she extended her hand palm down for him to kiss it. Raye nearly gagged, but hoisted up two more of the bags from the back of the coach to the small pile that was to be moved later. To Rhonaraye's surprise, Liir offered to help. With manual labour. Her surprise vanished when Morrible waved him off with a chuckle.

He never intended to help. He knew she would refuse any actual help from him in such a menial task. The redhead thought with a roll of her eyes. Morrible then led the way to her suite, after which to the student's surprise and dismay, Jack was sent up to help. Upon seeing her friend was going to be made to carry so much on his already-strained back she stayed to help with the whole load. What the heck. She'd sneak into the dorm, it wasn't like Annette hadn't done so about 4 times already, and they'd only been there a week and a half, so if the hair-dye-blonde tried to blackmail her, the taller girl would fight fire with fire. After the last piece of baggage was finally in the grotesquely luxurious and downright tacky set of pre-prepared rooms, Rhonaraye made to leave when that slightly shrill voice called after

"Tell me child, what exactly are you protesting?" Morrible asked, only just managing to hold back laughter

"I'm sorry Madame?" she asked, turning back slightly, but not looking her in the face.

"Your hair and clothing." The fat little woman chuckled "What are you protesting?" None of them heard or saw a tiny crack appear in the window behind the heavy curtains. This time the teenager did look her in the eye

"Genetics and over-taxing apparently." She replied dryly, "I was born with this hair and am a scholarship student. I hope you find the rooms to your liking, now that is what I as a "servant"" she air-quoted the word, "Am supposed to say right? Enjoy your time and don't worry you won't be hearing much more from me." She finished and crossed the distance between her and the doorway in two long strides. When Morrible reached the place she had been standing it took her 4 to get to the door to close it. Who did that girl remind her of? Shrugging it off with the decision that it was probably something she was wearing that reminded her of some of the shabbier cross-country messengers, she walked over to the window to pull back the curtains and noticed the thin line across one of the panes. With a tsk-tsk, she pulled the bell connected to the servants quarters to have someone come and fix it.

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"What was with that?" Jack asked his slender human friend as they walked out of the elaborate building together.

"I lost my temper a little, alright?" she replied, "I'll try to keep a low profile from here on though. I don't like the idea of having to spend that much time with her."

"Why?" the Donkey asked. She gave him one of her 'looks' at which he added "Well for me its understandable, she's notorious for her dislike of Animals, but your human."

"Yes, and not one of her rich little princesses. She's a complete snob, I don't know what it is about her, I just don't trust her. Why did she come so late? Almost everyone was inside already because it had started raining, and then she turns up and it stops, clearing up immediately. Why didn't she want a public greeting? Somehow I doubt it's out of shyness." Jack let out a low, whinnying chuckle

"I knew there was a reason why I liked you."

"Other than the fact that I'm always putting my opposable thumbs to work for you and slip you a-p-p-l-e-s?"

"Well, that stuff too. I have to admit, for a human, you aren't too bad. Don't go getting an ego though. If you do I'm never associating with you again."

This time it was the human's turn to chuckle as the two went their separate ways to their living spaces.

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Liir had also been a little perplexed about Morrible's timing. She was usually as much of a Drama Queen as she accused G'linda of being. He sneaked into his room easily. He had originally started out with a private suite, but right now, he was not alone.

One of his mother's Winged Monkeys had flown in the night before last. He wasn't sure what its name was, it was one of the younger ones, but he didn't want to run the risk of anyone finding out that it was with him. He wrote a letter to his mother and put her seal on it. Now this Monkey would hopefully be okay, if it didn't get lost again. But it should leave tonight. Morrible hated Animals almost as much as the Vizier loved them.

He wondered what people back in the Emerald city were doing now…

Well Glinda could be doing any number of things.

His Grandfather was probably tinkering with some new hair-brained invention, or bothering the Vizier…

And his mother was probably reading that stupid book and hiding from the Wizard in her tower. Thinking of her stirred up an emotion all right-frustration. Why was it that she never answered any of his questions? He hardly knew anything about his father, except that he had been in the Gale Force, captured by the Wicked Witch and presumably killed, though he never got any more than vague references to those events. Oh no wait, he was Handsome. That was what Glinda had told him, that and that Liir looked a lot like him.

Not one to let something bother him for long, the teenage boy hopped onto one of the long couches with his hands behind his head casually.

"Ahhh." He sighed out loud, "This is the life." He actually fell asleep like that. Life really was painless for the brainless. And as long as he kept himself that way, he would never be stressed out…

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Glinda watched the events at the school unfurl through Elphie's crystal ball. It was running out of power, so she didn't have many more peeks left. It was why Elphie had let her use it. Why did things seem to be repeating themselves? Or was it just that every spoiled little princess demanding a private room was doomed never to receive it? The whole thing was like some sort of Karma or teaching tool. She would wait now to check up on them again though.

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Morrible's purpose at the school became clear in the assembly that was held the very next day.

"Jack?" Raye hissed to the Donkey as he started to pass by her. She had hung back from the rest of the line, but could catch up if need be. "What's going on here? Why are we all being sent to the auditorium?"

"There's an assembly to officially welcome Madame Morrible. She wants to make her announcements in public." He said. His friend nodded and then walked faster to catch up with her classmates.

The assembly was…educational. Hardly interesting, but educational. If one bothered to listen for the "fine print", they would know what she intended. Oddly enough, Liir also picked up on that as she droned on with other pointless information. The handsome young man also found himself watching the peculiar redhead.

She intrigued him. That was the only word for it. She didn't seem to fit in, but it wasn't just that. She was in several of his classes, one of the top students in fact, (which was one of the reasons that many scorned her) she would probably be at the top in academics if it weren't for one subject, history. That was where she seemed to have trouble, and where several members of his crowd watched her to wait for her to slip up.

The girl had such weird ideas though. Like, she seemed to be under the impression that a Dog had been the diplomat that had negotiated the very first treaty with the Gnome king after the 1st war with them, and that a Mouse of all things negotiated the second.

There were several events that she just didn't seem to get right, but other than that, she was a straight A+ student, which was why he had not argued when, in the Life Sciences class just before the assemble, she had been assigned as his partner for the up-coming project.

"Hey! Throular!" he called after her as the assembly was ended and everyone began to head to their next class (they'd only skipped two periods). She stopped and waited for him to reach her before replying

"What do you want Wizantier?" she said, purposely using his last name the same way he'd used hers.

"When is our project going to be done then?"

"Sorry?" she asked dryly, a tiny amount of disbelief in her voice.

"When will our project be done?" The girl let out a short laugh

"When you decide to drag your sorry behind over to work on it." She replied, leaning in towards him and jabbing her finger into his chest with every emphasised word. She then straightened, pushed her large round glasses further up the bridge of her thin nose and continued past him on her way to class. She had hated being assigned to the Vizier's kid. He was lazy, arrogant, selfish…but then again, he wasn't as bad as some of the others in his crowd. And why did he seem so familiar? It was odd, but at the moment irrelevant to anything in particular, so she filed that feeling away in her memory, for the time being.

The rest of the classes that day were boring, but she still listened and made notes, not putting it past the professors to throw in a test question about something in these lessons. Other than the aftermath (or rather after-chat) of the assembly, nothing more surprising happened, or at least…

not until she reached the library…

So,

Drop Your Oboe: I'm glad you like it, but I'm a little unclear about one thing you mentioned in your review- "hey aren't really Elphaba and Glinda's daughters. I mean, I know Raye is (she is, right? Sorry, it's been a long day), but she doesn't know it and neither does anyone else there. And Annette is only Glinda's cousin." Was that something you liked, or didn't like? Is it something you want improved or altered? Yeah, Liir is a bit like Fieyero, but I'm hoping to make him a character unto himself. He isn't as brainless or unobservent as people think, which might shine through a bit in this chapter, (he is Elphaba's son afterall) but it's more of a case that he doesn't want to see or know it, so he convinces himself that he doesn't see it. And as to who he thinks his father is, well if they made it common knowledge, than people might connect the dots, so the Wizard purposefully makes it vague, (for other reasons as well that will come up later in the story) and both Elphie and Glinda find it too painful.

darkfirechain: I'm flattered that you took so much trouble to review, thank you! Also, 4 is a random number, yeah, but I'm trying to work you guys up. You may have noticed that the number of requested reviews has gone up one (hint hint)

Cohen101: As usual, your an awsome reader for reviewing. Of course Morrible had to meet Raye, I hope that the meeting was satisfactory.

crazyhomeschooler: Yeah, she is a bit. Hopefully, she like Liir, will become her own character later on and not a mini-Elphaba, but I currently make no promises. I'd hoped you guys would like her answer to the bully's rude and descriminatory comment. I know I don't like it when people seem to get away with that kind of thing because no one is willing to take them to task for it.

Also, as usual, there's that lonely little review button just waiting to be pressed...I feed off of comments, questions and suggestions, so leave some!