Chapter 9
Glinda the Good
Glinda slowly walked around the outside of the house as the rain pelted down at her. It had been raining non stop ever since they arrived at Nessa's house and Glinda knew it was Morrible trying to flush them out, literally!
"Oh you damn old bitch." Glinda hissed under her breath as no sooner than she rounded the corner to the house she was soaked to the bone even through her cloak and jacket.
They had been here for weeks now and Elphaba couldn't even leave the house without fear of melting!
Glinda hurried to the market, her hood up her wings tight against her back and her arm tied in place to her chest so she couldn't jostle it. She ran along the streets scrunching up her nose and making a disgusted face at the feeling of the mud cover her lower feathers but knew there wasn't much she could do.
Glinda tried to keep her face hidden as she bought food and supplies for the group in hiding. She had managed to make many trips without being caught so she wasn't too worried. A pain shot through her wing as someone stepped on the feathers pulling them when she tried to move forward.
"Ah!" She cried out in shock at the sharp pain.
"I'm sorry Miss!" the young boy said hurriedly, he looked up and saw her face before she could adjust her hood to block his view. His eyes grew wide as dinner plates as he froze in place. "M-Miss Glinda the Good!" He cried softly, old enough to recognize that she was trying to hide. "Why are you hiding? Do you need help? Where is the Wicked Witch?" the questions were quick and quiet but Glinda feared someone overhearing anyway. Quickly she grabbed the boy's shoulder and scurried into an alleyway out of earshot of others.
"Yes I am Glinda, I'm hiding because if Morrible or the Wizard find me they'll have me killed." The boy's wide eyes grew wider as his eyebrows drew together in confusion.
"But they say you saved the Wizard from the Wicked Witch and she kidnapped you! I've grown up with the stories!" Glinda looked to him in shock as she heard that he had grown up with the stories, how long they had been at Kiamo Ko settling in as she hadn't truly realized it had been so many years that the children of Oz would only know them as the fable told.
"I need you to listen to me, do not tell anyone of this meeting, you will be in dire trouble if you even speak one word. Can I trust you?"
"Yes, Your Goodness,"
"Call me Glinda," she smiled as she ruffled the boy's hair gently, "Now you must go and I must continue with my shoppi-"
"Miss Glinda," the boy interrupted sounding like he couldn't contain a burning question. "Is it true? That the Witch kidnapped you and cursed you with a terrible deformity? Is that why you are wearing such a long coat?"
Glinda started at the questions, wondering just what tale had been spun. "Elphaba did not kidnap me, and it's hardly a deformity young man," she shifted her cloak to show him one of her wings. The boy's eyes grew even wider and Glinda laughed quietly. "She gave me wings, it was an accident but I love them and yes I'm wearing the long coat to hide them and keep the rain out."
"Amazing!" the boy whispered.
"Now you must go, and remember to never speak a word of this to anyone! Can you promise me that?" the boy nodded many times more than necessary.
"Yes Ma'am I promise, I wont tell anyone and I wont let the Wizard get you!" he ran off further down the alleyway and Glinda sighed, praying the boy will stay quiet as she readjusted the cloak and decided to head back to Nessa's.
Elphaba sat in what they had been using as their room. Nessa had restricted them to the recesses of the house, where not even the servants go, to keep them out of sight. Fiyero bravely stoked the fire swatting out the end of a straw that had gotten a touch too close to the flames.
She stared at nothing as she was lost in thought. The Wizard and Morrible knew that they were hiding. What were they waiting for? She knew they couldn't stay here too much longer, everyday they were here they were putting Nessa in danger.
"You will never guess what happened at the market!" Glinda announced as she entered the room, hanging up her soaked cloak by the fire before peeling off her dress and undergarments to hang up also before she slipped on a dry night gown.
Fiyero turned away quickly as Elphaba still stared off into her own thoughts.
"A young boy recognized me! He said he wouldn't say a word about me to anyone and Oz I pray he doesn't!" She sat down right on Elphaba's lap, cupping her face in her hand and making her look to her.
"Stop, I feel like I'm losing you." She said softly as Elphaba's eyes focused on hers. "Don't look so lost, I can't have you lost on me." She wanted to lean into the green woman but stopped herself as she knew her hair was still wet.
"My sweet, you will never lose me, I was simply thinking about how to get back to Kiamo Ko. How was your trip?"
Glinda huffed. "You would know if you would listen to me, I just said, a boy recognized me, but I made him promise to not speak a word to anyone about me. I hope he holds his promise. Also it appears we are quite the old legend. He said he 'grew up hearing the stories' guess we're older then we thought." Glinda laughed at the thought. Elphaba smiled at her laugh.
"What did he think seeing you away from the Wicked Witch's grasp?"
"Oh he was so shocked! His eyes were as wide as the moon I swear I've never thought eyes could grow so big!" Glinda laughed. Elphaba pulled a throw blanket over her arms and wrapped the blonde in an embrace. Glinda leaned into her chest while she could; she knew the water from her hair would soak through soon.
"When can I take this binding off my arm Elphaba? It's feeling better?!" She whined softly into her chest, she wanted to wrap her arms around her Elphie again.
"When we get back to Kiamo Ko I'll be willing to risk it." Elphaba said just as softly before she started to wander off into thought again.
Nessa came into the room then.
"I have a meeting in the Gillikin and will be leaving tomorrow, you three will stowaway in the carriage as servants on the way there and can go your merry way after we arrive." She said formally.
Glinda leaned back away from Elphaba quickly as Nessa came in and caught the face Nessa made at seeing her sitting on Elphaba's lap. The blonde sighed and turned away, her and Nessarose having never really been friends, but it wasn't worth causing a stir with Elphaba right here.
"May the Unnamed god help you on your way, Elphaba. Goodness knows how much trouble he's gone through for you already." She said before briskly walking from the room, her spelled silver shoes clicking on the floor as she walked down the halls.
"What's wrong?" Elphaba asked Glinda softly after Nessa had left.
"She doesn't approve of us, Nessa hasn't ever really liked me has she?" Glinda looked back up to Elphaba's gaze, her green eyes filling with tears and she didn't know why. Well that was a lie, she knew why, she was upset that Elphaba's sister didn't like her and she knew that must hurt Elphaba to know her sister and her lover don't exactly get along very well.
Elphaba smiled gently and kissed her lips.
"Her religionized opinions of us don't bother me, my sweet." The green witch smiled as she pulled back a touch to speak. "I love you deeply and I know you love me in return, that's all I consider when it comes to us."
Glinda smiled at the answer, blinking away the tears and she leaned back into Elphaba's embrace.
"I do love you, so much Elphie." She then leaned back quickly as she remembered her hair and wings were still wet from the rain. "I need to go dry off now, so we can cuddle without the blanket and you getting burned."
"Go prepare Glinda, I'll be here when you return." Elphaba smiled and watched as she scurried off into the bathroom to dry herself off.
"You know I'm still trying to get use to you two also," Fiyero chimed in.
"Oh shut up Yero, you know you're a dear friend to us, don't go begging for attention like a stray dog." Elphaba laughed. Fiyero faked a pout but it didn't last long before he laughed himself.
"Yeah I guess you're right," He said as he moved to lie on his mat, being stuffed had its perks, like being able to sleep anywhere and feel you're on a pillow. "Well I'm heading off to sleep, make sure you keep your… activities tonight quiet, even Scarecrows need rest." He laughed as a small pillow from the couch was tossed at him and he placed it under his head. "Thanks!" he called back chuckling to himself at the sounds of Elphaba grumbling something over the couch.
~OZ~
The morning soon came and the sunrise found the three sitting in Nessa's carriage across from her as they made their way across Oz.
"How long is the trip?" Glinda asked, she had never had to ride from Munchkinland to the Gillikin.
"Two weeks at this pace, and you should add a day or two for stopping for some nights." Elphaba answered.
Nessa kept her gaze decidedly out the window and her lips a tight line. A heavy air settled in the cabin as everyone knew what would become of them if anyone should find out who the Governor of Munchkinland was hiding with her.
Glinda pulled her cloak tighter around her and leaned into Elphaba.
"I don't know what to do for two weeks!" she said softly.
"Shut up!" Nessa called quiet but sharply. "That's what you can do for two weeks! Work on holding your tongue!"
"Nessa!" Elphaba scolded as Glinda buried her face in her shoulder and tried to bite back her angry tears. "That was cruel and unneeded!" Elphaba wasn't shocked her sister snapped at the blonde but she was angry nonetheless. "Whether you like her or not Glinda is my best friend and lover and I expect you at least treat her civilly!" She moved to rest her arm over Glinda's shoulders, it was awkward given the already odd position the blonde had to sit in due to the wings.
The group was silent for the rest of the first day. Glinda moved so she was sitting sideways on Elphaba's lap, a much more comfortable position with her wings. The blonde was asleep against the green woman's chest as Nessa had fallen asleep against Fiyero who was watching the land pass by outside the window from the crack in the curtains.
"Fiyero," Elphaba said gently careful to not wake the two sleeping women.
He looked to her as his name was called. "How are going to get from the Gillikin to Kiamo Ko?" Elphaba continued.
"There isn't much between them, people wise, we could make our way to the boarder and then fly off?" he said just as quietly.
Elphaba shook her head the negative.
"Hunters would see us, they have before," She held back her shudder at the memories and held Glinda closer for a second. "We may have to walk,"
"Fine by me I don't have muscles to wear out now," he pointed out jokingly. "Glinda may want to borrow your broom and just glide along next to us; you can walk the whole way since it's your ide-"
"Okay fine shut up! We can try to fly there, but you'll be on the edge of the broom because we'd all have to fit on it in some way, I don't want Glinda flying when I don't know how healed her arm is."
"Fine by me, I don't think it will hurt if I fall…" Fiyero looked back to the passing landscape. "Elphaba will you forgive me?" he looked back to her suddenly serious.
"For what Yero?"
"For everything I said against you while I was working for the Wizard, I honestly only ever said what they told me to or what I had to too keep up my cover."
"It doesn't bother me in the slightest, I know you didn't mean whatever you may have said for them and if it will make you feel better then you have my forgiveness." Elphaba shifted Glinda's weight in her arms as Nessa yawned in her sleep and Fiyero pulled the blanket that had fallen to her hip back up over her shoulder.
"Thank you Fae," he smiled before the cabin fell still again and his gaze fell back to the window.
"No problem." Elphaba said softly as she leaned her head back into the cushion and tried to relax as the cabin moved along the Yellow Brick Road.
AN -
Only planning about five more chapters
