Tale As Old As Time
With a Not So Wicked Witch
Hallo, thanks for those who reviewed last chapter, including Eve, who sent an email, they seriously make my life.
Boq caught Glinda, but not very gently. He winced when he felt her underarms crash against his sharp joints. There was no helping it however, and in any case she would appreciate being dropped to the cobblestones less than she would waking up with a few bruises. He swept her up as tenderly as he could and cradled her as he looked for someone to glare at. He couldn't bear to look at Elphaba, or Fiyero, that left the Dragon who'd startled Glinda in the first place. And the second his gaze caught the Dragon's mercurial eyes he decided it was not in his best interest to be glaring at it.
"Oh dear," the Dragon said, in its lyrical voice. She didn't quite look apologetic, after all Dragons rarely apologized for anything, but Boq decided he wasn't versed enough in reptilian facial expressions to say for sure. "I suppose she wasn't expecting me."
Boq gaped, utterly devoid of a response.
"I think she was overly worked up to begin with," Gerad commented. Elphaba glowered at him, but he ignored it.
"Pardon me, Master Tin Man," the Dragon addressed him. "I am Voreil, Queen of Ev if you want the full glory of it, but you may address me as Voreil. I trust no further introductions are necessary?"
"No," Boq said, finding his shaky voice.
"Good, then I suggest we all head inside. It's only going to grow colder, and I don't care for that sort of thing."
It all seemed so reasonable when Voreil said it; Boq couldn't help but put aside his discomfort with the situation and follow her across the courtyard. Gerad followed at Boq's heels as if it were the only natural thing for him to do. Elphaba and Fiyero stared after them incredulously.
"Well," Fiyero said, he opened his mouth to continue and found that he had absolutely nothing tactful to say.
Elphaba turned her gaze to him expectantly, her attempt at a stern glance failed miserably however, as he could easily discern the concern and hurt behind the façade.
"Well what?" She demanded.
"I guess we should've warned her." He fumbled the words out in his haste to find something, anything to say. But it was the wrong thing, and now the glare his wife fixed him with was real to the core.
"About what exactly, the issue of a Dragon being in her midst or the little fact that her former best friend and fiancé are, in fact, alive?" Elphaba snapped, her temper flaring defensively. "Well thank you very much for being so eager to disclose both of those truths. I'm sure she appreciates it."
With that she stormed after Voreil and Glinda. Fiyero sighed and followed her. He should have known forcing Elphaba Thropp to hide from her best friend would come back and bite him in the ass.
"I appreciate your generous hospitality," Boq said politely as Voreil led him through the dimly lit palace.
The Dragon's lips pulled back in a smile, which was oddly not menacing even though it showcased two perfectly sharp rows of teeth.
"You'd be wise to reserve you gratitude for those who have earned it Master Tin Man," she admonished pleasantly. "I assure you, I had very little to do with your rescue and certainly would not be playing concierge at this hour of were it not for the express wishes of Lady and Master Tiggular."
Boq winced and shifted Glinda just a bit.
"Of course I'll thank them as well," he said stiffly. "Will they be following?"
"I imagine," she replied with what passed for a smirk. "I look forward to the explanation for all of this at a more reasonable hour and when your friend is feeling better."
Boq forced a smile and nodded acquiescently.
"Here we are," The Dragon said, sounding positively pleased with herself. She paused at the entryway of a pavilion-like room. Candles hung from the dome ceiling on golden ropes, spaced evenly between the pillars. An enormous bed, laden with a colorful assortment blankets and pillows, stood on the far side of the room, gauzy curtains draped around it, suspended, Boq guessed, by magic. A blue and gold sofa set added another splash of color to the otherwise white room; it was arranged to the right of the entryway, the space to the left was occupied by a wardrobe and privacy divider.
"It's stunning," Boq said truthfully, but he worried about how…airy…it was.
"The candles are enchanted," Voreil informed him, as if she'd hear his thoughts. "They create a shield around the room, keeping the temperature comfortable as well as making it impossible for those outside to see in; as long as the candles are lit this room might as well be enclosed in stone walls. Elphaba will show you how to snuff and rekindle them tomorrow."
"Why don't you put her on the bed Boq," Elphaba herself suggested firmly as she breezed passed him with a basin of water in her hands.
He didn't need to be told twice, since he was going to do that anyway. Elphaba set the basin down on the nightstand and pulled a wet cloth from the water. Boq stared at the liquid running painlessly off her skin and was embarrassed at his willingness to believe the empty-headed superstitions that had powered the Witch Hunt two years prior. It all seemed so ridiculous in hindsight he wondered how he'd ever found it within himself to believe it. Anger did strange things to a person he supposed.
"If you won't be needing anymore," Voreil spoke from the doorway, since her stature prevented her from entering the comparatively small room.
"No," Elphaba said, turning to the Dragon, with a grateful expression. "Thank you for everything."
"Of course, good night my dear," Voreil replied evenly and glided away silently.
"Is she always like that?" The question was out before Boq could censor himself.
"Usually," Elphaba allowed herself an amused smile as she dabbed the dirt away from Glinda's face. "You'll find most other Dragon's aren't nearly as serene, but Voreil has an uncanny ability to sweep into a room and defuse even the most heated situations."
That explained why Boq felt so calm when he had expected to have an unfailing urge to finish the job he'd led the mob to do two years ago. Even though the Dragon was long gone he watched quietly, thinking himself rather useless, as Elphaba tended to Glinda. He was amazed at the care she took to wash the blonde's face and arms, and then, placing the cloth back in the basin, gently arrange waves of golden hair across the pillow.
"You aren't going to wake her?"
Elphaba nodded, "I'll keep an eye on her, but I think she's lapsed into normal sleep now and I imagine she needs it."
"She hasn't had much since leaving the city," Boq agreed. "And after her near miss last night she needs it more than ever."
"What happened?"
"Well, there was a brush with a wild cat, and then we got caught in a rainstorm. I don't know how she did it but she managed to get herself, our horse, and me, into a cave for shelter. She started a fire magically, and de-rusted me. By the time she finished she was nearly blue from the cold, but it didn't stop her," Boq said with obvious admiration as he carefully pulled Glinda's boots off and tucked her feet beneath a blanket.
He turned to Elphaba, trying to summon the hatred he'd felt for her very memory only a few days before, and found himself vacillating between anger, confusion and desire to understand. Elphaba folded her arms, finding she'd run out of work to busy them with, and stood uncomfortable under the Munchkin-turned-Tin-Man's scrutiny.
"Why did you do it?" He demanded suddenly.
"What?" She asked, though she had a feeling she knew what he meant.
"You took away my life, I never meant to hurt your sister!" He whispered loudly in an attempt to keep his voice from disturbing the beauty on the bed. He might as well have yelled for the effect that it had on Elphaba, her eyes suddenly filled with regret, and she couldn't even look at him; which only served to encourage him. "You act as though you're not wicked, and Glinda spent the majority of our, albeit limited, conversations defending you. But look at me! You took everything from me, and left me in this Tin prison! Why?"
He wanted to be mad, his words reflected that, but they had no emotional backing. He wanted to feel something, and found he couldn't. It was so confusing, his head kept telling him he was angry and yet he couldn't feel it.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Elphaba told him definitively.
"Try me," he grumbled.
"I did it to save you."
"You imprisoned me! You took away the only thing I had! For what? Your sister? "
"No," Elphaba said sharply. "Nessa took your heart, I gave you a way to live without it. I thought you might prefer life to death. I apologize in that serious lapse in judgment on my part, if you'd like I'll gladly reverse it and you can take up the remainder of this discussion with my dearly departed sister."
Boq backpedaled, and looked horrified with himself.
"Glinda was right?"
Elphaba rolled her eyes. "I have no idea; it would depend entirely upon what she told you."
"What you told me," Boq admitted, and with a remarkable impression of your temper to boot. Wisely he did not vocalize the last bit of the thought.
"Then yes I suppose she was. My offer still stands though, I'm sure Nessa would love to see you."
Boq tried to glare at her and failed miserably, but then he realized something and the conversation took a dramatic turn.
"Wait, you can reverse it?"
Elphaba frowned, "If you would like to be a human without a heart? Yes, it's possible. But, unless you've had a breakthrough in science I haven't heard of, you would find yourself quite dead quite quickly if you tried being human without a heart."
As quickly as he'd let himself hope, it was dashed.
"You can't fix that? There isn't a way to turn me back into a normal human? You must have done this before, you're a witch."
"I don't make a habit of turning heartless munchkins into Tin Men Boq."
"Well no," Boq quickly corrected himself. "But you haven't changed a human into something they're not supposed to be and then back again before? How did you know it would even work to change me then?"
"I didn't," Elphaba said icily, willing herself not to mention that she had in fact, been able to successfully reverse one of her botched spells. But even Dragons couldn't save Boq if he had no heart. "I took a chance, because it was your only chance and you had nothing to lose."
"I lost everything Elphaba," he told her despondently. "I can't feel anything. And if nothing else, this adventure outside Oz has taught me that I'm completely useless because of that. Do you know that I sacrificed nearly twenty men four days ago? Without a thought, without remorse I left them to die, because I saw a way to get Glinda out of the line of fire."
"You think that makes you unfeeling? Because you protected her in the only way you could think of?"
Boq let out a frustrated groan. "No, what I did was unforgivable; Glinda would even agree with that."
"Three of your men are alive," Elphaba revealed, finding herself wanting to comfort him. "We found them earlier today. They told me what happened. All they care about is Glinda's safety, which is the only thing they're even thinking about. Still, after four days. You kept her safe, and for that they will sing your praises."
"They're not dead," Boq pointed out.
"No, but their friends are," Elphaba said bluntly. "What you did was necessary or you wouldn't have done it. You're a good man Boq, even if you're a Tin Man."
"That's beside the point," Boq insisted, trying to save his failing argument. "One thing kept me going through years of slavery and that was my love for Glinda. The memory of it is the only thing that keeps me going. I'm just a tick-tock without it. But it's not enough, I can't feel it. I can't feel love."
"You mean you can't feel the rush of hormones invading your system and making you act like a love-sick schoolboy," Elphaba corrected him. "That's not love, that's only science and chemistry. Boq you have emotions, your body just no longer reacts to them."
Boq realized she was right. It didn't make him feel any better.
"You can't imagine how awful it is," he whispered.
"No, I can't," Elphaba agreed solemnly.
Boq reached out and grasped one of Glinda's hands, and held it gently.
"The only thing in the entire world I want is to be able to do this and feel her hand in mine. Not just the weight of it. I want to feel her skin, to know if it's cold or warm; if it's as soft as it looks," his mouth conformed to a triangular, self-deprecating grin. "I suppose that was never for me though was it?"
"Boq," Elphaba ventured, placing her own hand atop his. "I'll try."
"Try what? You've already said there's nothing you can do."
"You were right; you're not the only one whose life I botched in an attempt to save it. I turned Fiyero into a Scarecrow. They tortured him to find me, he would have bled to death, but my spell changed him so he would live without it."
"Fiyero?" Boq gasped surprised. "But he's a man!"
"The problem with spells is that when they're reversed, whatever was enchanted reverts to the exact same state it was in before the spell was cast. When I reversed the spell on Fiyero he just changed into a dying man again. We had to give him a massive amount of blood. It wasn't without side-effects though, good ones and horrible ones. I will try to find a way to reverse you without killing you, but there will be terms and conditions that apply. There's a chance it might not be worth it."
"Anything is worth it."
"Even if she never loves you back?"
Boq slumped. "She nearly died because I couldn't keep her warm. The others were right; anything that will protect her is worth it."
"Very well," Elphaba said.
As if he'd been waiting (and he probably had been) for their conversation to end, Fiyero picked that moment to bound into the room with a white sheet rolled up in his left hand. He handed it to Elphaba, who unfurled it and revealed that it wasn't a sheet at all but a clean nightgown.
"It'll be big, but it'll do," she decided. She met his eyes, guilt for her outburst in the courtyard surfacing in her expression. "Thanks."
He flashed her a roguish grin, to let her know her know all was well.
"We found three of your comrades in the forest. They're relieved that Glinda is safe and well. They'd like to hear it from you though," he told Boq. "I don't think they trust me."
Boq nodded, but hesitated when his glance caught Glinda's still form.
"She'll be fine, I'll get her into the nightgown and sit with her," Elphaba told him, noticing his uncertainty.
"I'll show you how to get to your men's quarters," Fiyero offered, and then turned to Elphaba. "Then I'm heading to the hatchery."
She nodded and he dropped a kiss to her lips quickly.
"C'mon Boq," he said in a tone altogether too cheery, and took Boq's arm to steer him into the corridor.
Elphaba waited until she couldn't see them anymore and turned to her unconscious friend, wondering if Glinda was going to wake up as mad as she'd been in the courtyard.
A/N: And this is the part of the story where I throw away all my morals (what little is left) and shamelessly demand reviews. So review and ye shall have…a lengthy conversation between Glinda and Elphaba, some Elphieyero, and possibly if there's time after that a little dash of UST for everbody's favorite rather short couple. I'm serious. Review, go!
