Chapter Nine: Opening Up
They were discussing genetics when she found the opportunity to open up to him. "Everything we are is passed down from our parents, at least physically," she explained.
"I knew that. I also understand that some of it comes from farther back than that. It may have been in our parents' genes, even if our parents don't necessarily display that trait. It may have been from our grandparents or even great-grandparents. It's not necessarily all our parents."
"Like my skin," she said softly. "I wonder where that came from."
"I never wanted to ask about it, but I did notice that your sister doesn't share your coloring."
"No one in my family does. It could be a mutation. Or an environmental factor. My father always said it was because green is the color of sin."
"You don't believe that, do you?"
"Of course not. But my allergy only gave him more ammunition to that."
"Allergy?"
"Fiyero, have you noticed how careful I am to cover up in the rain? I'm allergic to water." Only her family and Glinda knew that. She didn't like to expose her own weaknesses.
"How…?"
"I don't know. There's never been another documented case, as far as I could find. It was a surprise to my family as well. The first time my mother tried to bathe me, she put me feet first into the water." At this point, Elphaba removed her shoes. "When my right foot touched first and I shrieked, she pulled me back." She always wore slippers in the dorms. Glinda had never seen the bottom of her foot, but she showed him. The skin was eerily smooth, a purplish pink color. It was closer to a normal color than the rest of her skin was.
"May I…?" He reached a hand towards her.
"Yes."
He touched her scar carefully. "Wow. I never knew. That must've been painful."
"I was much too young to remember."
"Then, pardon me if this is a bit personal, how do you bathe?"
"Oil. The less diluted, the better. Sometimes it stings a bit, but it doesn't burn or leave a mark."
"Can you drink water?"
"I prefer not to, but I can. But there's too much of a risk of spilling, which I also found out the hard way." Elphaba pulled the skirt of her dress up and over her thigh, where another small burn was, the size of the tip of her forefinger.
Fiyero looked concerned, and gently ran his finger over her thigh, which made her shudder just slightly. "Do you remember that one?"
She took his hand and drew it away from her leg. "Yes."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to touch…"
"Fiyero, it's fine. I run my hands over it all the time. It doesn't hurt."
"It's just a rather intimate area." He flushed.
She shrugged. "I think you mean it's close to an intimate area. It wasn't like you had the wrong intentions. And even if you did, I'm not sure I'd have a problem." Elphaba tossed her skirt back over her legs, though. For some reason, him touching her scar in a non-sexual way felt more serious than what she assumed sex would. His touch was so gentle and soft.
He put his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. It was oddly comforting. "That must've been a strange childhood," he commented.
"It was. People were confused or afraid. My skin is a mystery, and people don't like things they don't understand. But I hid the water allergy from them. I didn't think it was a good idea that anyone else know. I worried that people might use it against me."
"You really think that someone would do such a thing?"
She nodded. "People can be violent when they feel threatened, Fiyero, and my strangeness is threatening to some people."
"I like your strangeness." He smiled down at her, kissing her briefly.
"Thank you. You're a little strange yourself," she smiled back at him. "Let's stop talking about that. What about your childhood?"
"I had several younger brothers and a sister. Once they were old enough to realize that I was crown prince and they would never get the things I was given, though, they became jealous. I'm the only one my parents sent off to school. I don't think they liked that."
"That's not your fault."
"They didn't see it that way. Only my sister and I are close, mostly because as a girl, she had much less of a chance at the crown to begin with."
"How old is she?"
"She's just a year younger. I wish she could've come out here, too. She's so intelligent. I always thought she was smarter than me, kind of like you are."
"What have I told you about saying that? You are smart, Fiyero. Sometimes you surprise me with the things you say, things I never would've thought of."
He kissed her again. "You surprise me a lot, too. In a good way."
"Did you have other friends or just your siblings?" Elphaba wanted to know more about his past.
"Mostly just my siblings. There were a few servants, girls mostly, who tried to get close to me. But it wasn't because they liked my personality or anything like that."
She raised her eyebrows. "And what happened?"
"Power is a drug to some people, and they do what they can to get close to it. I didn't even realize it at first. But one day one of the girls said something that made it very clear."
She got the feeling that more had happened with those girls, but she didn't need him to tell her that. "I didn't have any friends, either, Fiyero. The reasons were different, of course."
"Here I am complaining about being royalty when you actually had things to struggle with. I feel silly now."
"No, everyone has their struggles, no matter where they were born."
"Well, both of us have friends now. It doesn't matter. And we have each other."
That was too sweet for her to respond to. In a case like this, she supposed she'd make a comment about how corny that sounded, or remind him that they wouldn't have one another for very long, but she bit her tongue. "I just got lucky I got placed in a room with Glinda."
"Like I did with Crope. If he hadn't brought me to dinner that one night, I never would've made any friends."
"I'm sure you'd have find some friends."
"After my entrance during life sciences class? I'm surprised Crope even dared to associate with me after that."
"That was a stupid display. You could've been killed. Dr. Nikidik should've been fired for that." Of course, that would never happen. And maybe she could use that to her advantage. The man had almost killed Fiyero. If he knew what side he was on, it might strengthen his feelings. "But Morrible adores him. Says the Wizard sent him here. After Dr. Dillamond died…"
"You think he's a pawn?"
"He has to be. If you heard some of the things he was saying in class before you showed up. And even now. He has an agenda." The lion cub came to mind.
"I'll have to listen more carefully. I haven't been doing as much listening to my professors lately, at least not in the classes you're in."
"Stop that." Even if she didn't want to push him away, she needed to be herself. "You're too nice sometimes."
"I'm pretty sure that's what I'm supposed to do. This is a relationship, isn't it?"
"I know, it's just… you're…" He was making it difficult to not actually care about him. But she couldn't say that. She kissed him heatedly. "You're too damn good to me."
