Guest: I can assure you that Elphaba will not allow anyone to walk all over her like a rug. She is much too strong for that. She just has to pick her battles. And in terms of Nessa, she is the family jewel, even if she isn't in a wheelchair in this story. She is still the "perfect daughter" and she would never really be "punished". If Elphaba had told on her, the most that would have happened would be that Nessa would have been forced to apologize.

Ultimate Queen of Cliffies: Of course Fiyero has a cunning scheme. But don't worry; he will get what's coming to him soon.

Satilliteheart: Don't worry. We'll get our Fiyeraba!

And yes, the names are from Jane and the Dragon. I used to LOVE that show! Shoutout to Wanli8970 and AirHawk19 for guessing correctly.

Also, thank you to everyone who caught my typo in the last chapter. And yes, I do know the difference between "conceited" and "conceded". It was a typo that I missed in proofreading and the mistake is now fixed.


Elphaba felt all of the air leave her body. She couldn't lie, but she couldn't possibly tell the truth. How did they even know about the breeches? Only Nessa knew about…

No.

Nessa couldn't have told. She promised she wouldn't. Why would she do something like that?

"Miss Elphaba, answer the question," the king said impatiently.

Elphaba looked from her mother to her father, then back to the monarchs. "I… I have been… using them, Your Majesties."

"For what purpose?"

"To…"

"Elphaba," Melena said sternly.

The green girl closed her eyes. "To learn how to fence."

Everyone gasped. Elphaba slowly opened her eyes to see all four adults glaring at her. If she was in hot water before, it was now boiling.

"Fencing?" the king asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty… and horseback riding."

Melena looked like she was about to faint. Frexspar stood as still as a statue, his eyes never leaving his daughter.

"And where did you get the breeches?"

"I… I don't know, Your Majesty."

"You don't know?"

Elphaba couldn't tell that Hann had gotten them for her. She couldn't let him get in trouble for something that she begged him to do.

"Elphaba, we are waiting for an answer," the queen said.

"I know!" a voice from the corner said.

Elphaba turned and saw Prince Fiyero approaching his parents. When and how did he get in there? Had he been standing there the whole time? And why did he know?

"It was Hann," Fiyero said, not even bothering to look at Elphaba.

"Squire Hann?" the king asked, surprised. "How do you know this, son?"

"I saw him take an extra pair of riding breeches from the loft. And he never put them back. Plus, my fencing sword has been missing."

Elphaba bit her lip. Hann would have never given her Fiyero's sword to use. This didn't make sense.

"Bring Squire Hann to us," the king said to the guards, who bowed and left the throne room.

Elphaba held her breath. She glanced at Fiyero and found him smirking at her. She bit back a frown. She had to think of a way for the prince to pay for this.

The throne room door opened and Hann walked in. "You sent for me, Your Majesties?"

"Squire Hann, have you been teaching Miss Elphaba knightly activities in secret?" the king asked.

Hann blinked and slowly glanced over at Elphaba as if to say, 'Are we lying?', but Elphaba slowly shook her head. It was no use.

"I… I have, Your Majesties."

"And is there a reason the two of you chose to defy our traditions and rules?"

"I never intended to train to become a knight," Elphaba said. "I just… I wanted something different."

"Are you not grateful for your position in society?"

"I am very grateful, but I wanted to… have more adventure in my life."

"Here in the Vinkus, we have a set order," the king explained. "And if that order is upset, it could throw everything into chaos. We can't have a girl riding a horse and we can't have a young man doing needlepoint. It is simply not the way things are done."

Hann and Elphaba exchanged a nervous look.

"We had no intention of upsetting the balance, Your Majesty," Hann said softly.

"But you have. And now we must correct this before it becomes any worse. Squire Hann, you are relieved of your knighthood training. You will work in the stables from now on."

Hann looked shocked and absolutely crushed. "But –"

"Your Majesty," Elphaba tried, but the king held up his hand to silence her.

"You will be on laundry duty, Miss Elphaba," the king said, glancing at the green girl. "Until you have learned your place in society."

"Your Majesty, please –" Hann begged, but was cut off.

"This is not up for discussion. This is my word. It is final," the king said. "You are both dismissed."

A dejected Hann bowed and quickly left the throne room. Elphaba looked up at the king in the hope of trying to speak, but the king waved his hand at her to go. She looked at her parents who looked extremely disappointed. With a curtsy, she left the room and ran to find Hann.

"Hann!" she called when she saw him.

The ex-knight-in-training stopped, but then picked up his pace.

"Hann, wait!" Elphaba called again, but Hann didn't slow down.

Hann still continued to ignore her.

Elphaba finally caught up to him and gently grabbed his hand. The teenager immediately pulled away with a grunt.

"Hann, I'm so sorry," the green girl said, knowing it would be of little consolation. "Hann, speak to me. Please."

"I told you we would get caught," Hann said, finally turning around to look at the green girl. "I knew this wouldn't end well. And I've worked so hard on my training."

"I know you have."

"I wanted to make something of myself. I thought that… I thought that I would be able to make my parents proud by becoming more than they ever dreamed for me."

Elphaba bit her lip. "I…" There was nothing she could say to that.

"I feel like I'm disappointing them."

"You're not," Elphaba tried to convince him. "They would be so proud of you. You've accomplished so much."

"And it was all for nothing."

The green girl felt guiltier than ever. "This is all my fault."

"Yes," Hann said sourly, glaring at the green girl. "It is."

"I'll try to talk to the king again. I'll try to –"

"You've done enough." And with that, Hann marched down the corridor and out of sight.

Elphaba watched him go with tears in her eyes. She didn't mean to get her best friend in trouble. She just wanted… Well, now it didn't matter what she wanted. She had to find a way to make it up to Hann. There had to be some way.

"Oh, laundry maid!"

Elphaba froze and closed her eyes. Prince Fiyero was the last person she wanted to deal with right now.

"Laundry maid, do you not hear me speaking to you?"

The green girl slowly turned around and plastered a fake smile on her face as she curtsied. "Yes, Your Highness?"

"I have a riding lesson tomorrow and my riding uniform is still unclean. Don't you think you should be washing it instead of roaming through the castle?" Fiyero asked, slowly approaching the green girl like a predator hunting its prey.

"As much as I would love to, Your Highness, I'm not on laundry duty until tomorrow," Elphaba said.

"I did not ask you when you started your duties. I told you that I want my uniform cleaned."

"And I shall personally forward your message to the laundry maids."

The prince's face grew red with anger and Elphaba had to fight to keep the smirk off her face. She didn't know why she was getting satisfaction out of angering the prince, especially knowing that making him mad would only make things worse for her.

"What's that?" he asked, looking at her necklace.

Elphaba placed her hand on the large crystal. "A gift."

"Who would waste a girl like that on a frog like you?"

"It's an engagement gift."

The prince paused briefly. "What blind man were you sold off to?"

"I was not sold, Prince Fiyero. I am not cattle. And I am betrothed Lord Cuthbert Caradoc." Elphaba felt like throwing up during the latter part, the mere thought making her cringe.

Fiyero glared at her before reaching forward and snatching the necklace off her neck.

"Hey!" Elphaba frowned, her neck burning.

"Why would an upper-crust family want to add a lettuce leaf to their family?"

"Lettuce leaf?" Elphaba questioned incredulously. "I must admit, that is a new one. You are very creative. Bravo, Your Highness."

Fiyero reached back and cracked Elphaba hard across the face. The green girl fell to the ground with a yelp, covering her cheek. She pulled her hand away and when she didn't see blood, started chuckling. She slowly rose to her feet, genuinely not knowing why she was laughing after being slapped. Fiyero looked confused, wondering why the green girl was laughing instead of crying and begging for mercy.

"Feel better?" Elphaba asked in a low voice, still chuckling.

Fiyero looked shocked, then quickly switched to angry. He raised his hand to slap her again, but this time, Elphaba was ready. As his hand approached her face, she reached out and grabbed his wrist. She could have twisted his arm and really hurt him, but she didn't. She simply pushed it away so it wouldn't make contact with her cheek.

"Cease at once!" Fiyero growled.

"Prince or not, you have no right to slap me," Elphaba said softly, yet darkly. "You have no right to tease me and make fun of me." She took that opportunity to grab her necklace back. "I have had to deal with you being mean to me my whole life, and I refuse to tolerate it any longer."

"Release me!" the prince barked. "Guards!"

"Not until you swear to stop bullying me."

"I am the prince and I will do as I please! Guards!"

"Swear it!"

"No!" Fiyero managed to break free and grabbed Elphaba arm and twisted it behind her back. Elphaba cried out as the prince forced her to her knees. "Now, this is better, isn't it?"

Elphaba whimpered, struggling to get free. The necklace clattered to the ground, the crystal cracking.

"Now, listen, lima bean," Fiyero whispered. "You will not speak to me in such a disrespectful manner."

"You cannot just go through life treating people like rubbish," Elphaba grunted. "No one wants a friend like that."

"And you know so much about friends… seeing as you have none."

"I know that if you keep on pretending to be shallow and self-absorbed you pretend to be…"

"There is absolutely no pretense here. I happen to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow."

"No, you're not. Or else you wouldn't be so unhappy."

Fiyero froze and slowly relaxed his grip on Elphaba's arm. The green girl scrambled free and turned to look at the prince.

"You don't know the first thing about me or how I feel, spinach sprout," Fiyero frowned.

"No, I do not," Elphaba said as she grabbed her necklace and slowly rose to her feet. "I can't know. And honestly, I can't want to know. I'm not going to try and figure you out because I know it's not my place, but no matter how much to deny it, you are unhappy. And since you're unhappy, you try to make yourself happy by belittling others, namely me. I have tried to give you the benefit of the doubt our entire lives, but I see that no matter what, you are never going to change. So, continue insulting me if you wish. I have simply stopped caring. I hope you continue to have fun." Curtsying, she turned and walked away from the prince. Fiyero stood rooted to the spot, frozen.

"Prince Fiyero!" the guards said as they rushed towards him. "Are you alright?"

It took a moment for the prince to respond. "Yes," he said. "Yes. Everything is fine."


Elphaba grunted as she turned the dirty laundry in the barrel of hot water with a washing bat. She hated doing laundry, but knew she had to do this chore and lay low if she wanted to get back into the monarchs' good graces.

"Let me help you."

Elphaba turned and saw her sister standing behind her. With a frown, she turned back to the barrel. "I can do it myself."

"Fabala, I promise you that I didn't tell a soul your secret. I don't know how Prince Fiyero found out, but I didn't tell him."

"You are the only person I told. If you didn't tell him, who did?"

"I also told you that you weren't very good at hiding those breeches."

Elphaba was silent.

"Is Hann –"

"He is not speaking to me. He's furious with me, and he has every right to be." A drop of water splashed Elphaba and hit the back of her hand. With a gasp, she pulled her hand away and rubbed the small burn.

"Well… please don't be furious with me," Nessarose said, positioning herself to help her sister. She grabbed the washing board and dipped one of her father's shirts into the hot water and began scrubbing.

"Nessa?"

"Yes?"

"You swear you didn't tell anyone?"

"I swear it."

Elphaba nodded. "Okay."

"You believe me?"

"I believe that Prince Fiyero is very sneaky and would have found a way to find out."

"Have… the prince hasn't been very kind to you, has he, Fabala?"

Elphaba scoffed softly. "Is he kind to anyone?"

"True, he is rather…"

"Callous and heartless?"

"I was going to say mischievous."

"That is a kind way of putting it."

"Have you… told anyone?"

Elphaba looked at her sister. "He's the prince, Nessa. And right now, I am a scullery maid. Who would believe me?"

"Someone would have to. You can't be the only one he mistreats."

"You missed it. Recently, he came up with 'lettuce leaf'. I must say, that was a new one."

"He… calls you names?"

"Basically everything from 'frog' to almost every vegetable he doesn't eat."

"And it… doesn't bother you?"

"It used to, but now I've decided to stop caring. Maybe if I just feign disinterest, he'll stop."

"And you never thought to tell anyone… not even Mama or Father?"

"Even if I did tell, what could have been done?"

"They could have told the king and queen and they would have told the prince to stop. It's impolite for him to be insulting you or anyone else like that. Prince or not, he can't just go around doing whatever he wants."

"Honestly, out of all the things, that was the last thing I expected you to say," Elphaba said, glancing over at her sister with a soft smile.

"He needs to learn that he cannot just go around calling people names."

"He does more than just that," Elphaba said quietly before she could stop herself.

Nessa stopped scrubbing laundry and looked up at her sister. "What?"

"Nothing," Elphaba said quickly, turning the laundry faster than she intended.

"No, not nothing. What do you mean by that? Has the prince…" Nessa trailed off, answering her own question. "Has he been… physically hurting you?"

Elphaba didn't open her mouth.

"Elphaba, answer my question!"

"He's mostly stuck to name calling."

"But has he... hit you?"

"… Yes," Elphaba said very softly.

Nessa gasped, horrified.

"I admit, I might have angered him a bit, but –"

"But he should not be hitting you!" Nessa said.

"I thought you would have sided with the prince."

"Elphaba, I am your sister! I might be a bit more traditional and virtuous than you – and don't deny it – but I am still your sister."

"You… believe me?"

"Of course I believe you. Where did he hit you?"

"My cheek. I'm fine, though. It was only once."

Nessa quickly rose to her feet. "I'm going to tell Mama and Father."

"No!" Elphaba exclaimed, her eyes widening as she grabbed her sister's hand. "You can't!"

"Why not?"

"It will only make everything worse."

"And what if it makes him better? You want the prince to continue treating you like this?"

"Well, no, but –"

"Then we must put a stop to it!"

Elphaba could only watch as her sister ran to tell their parents what she had said. She realized that she had to keep the laundry turning or else the clothes would shrink, and the last thing she wanted was to get punished for something else she did wrong.