Ten
"Elphaba," Galinda whined, closing a book with a snap. "I'm bored. I don't want to study anymore."
"Galinda," Elphaba mocked her roommate's voice. "I don't want to fail. So stop pestering me."
"But I'm bored!" Galinda elongated the last syllable and pouted.
"Have Illyria entertain you." Elphaba flipped a page in her notes, nibbling on her thumbnail.
"But what if she's does," Galinda mouthed the word magic, "again?"
"Then learn from her." Elphaba rolled her eyes. "You wanted to be a sorceress, didn't you?"
"Well, yes, but,"
"Galinda!" Elphaba finally snapped. "Stop bothering me! Go find yourself something to do!" The blonde scowled at the green woman and stalked into the other room. A few moments later, Elphaba felt her lips curve into a wry smile as she heard Illyria's giggles that undoubtedly meant that Galinda was playing with her. Elphaba buried her head in her book, secure in the knowledge that she had at least a half hour to study.
Galinda's squeal interrupted her barely ten minutes later.
"What is it?" She groaned.
"Elphie!" Galinda squealed again.
"What?" Elphaba repeated, irritated.
"Elphie, come here!"
With a long-suffering sigh, Elphaba stood up and walked slowly to the nursery. Galinda was sitting on the floor with Illyria a few paces away.
"What s so important?" Elphaba asked.
"Watch!" Galinda clapped her hands and beckoned to Illyria, who looked at her.
"What?" Elphaba watched, unimpressed.
"No, she was doing it earlier." Galinda's brow furrowed. "Come here, Illyria. Come on over to Auntie Galinda." To Elphaba's surprise and Galinda's delight, Illyria scooted forward about a foot then stopped.
"Look, Elphie!" Galinda cooed, picking up the small princess and hugging her. "She crawled!"
"Cool." Elphaba blinked once. "I'm going back to my books."
"But, Elphie, this is a momentous event!" Galinda said, standing up, still cuddling Illyria.
"For her, it's just one step… or one crawl… towards her marriage." Elphaba sighed and looked at her daughter pityingly. "When she starts walking, we start looking for potential husbands."
"Oh." Galinda cocked her head to the side. "When do girls normally get married?"
"Depends on how old the groom is and their age difference. The marriage contract is signed when the girl is roughly five. They have to… consummate the marriage when the boy turns eighteen."
"Oh." Galinda said again.
"Yeah."
"What about boys?"
"Again, it depends." Elphaba shrugged. "It also depends on the availability of princesses or the like."
"Huh?"
"The Vinkus is the only land with an actual monarchy. So there aren't any actual princesses for them to marry from within Oz. Of course, they can marry into the ruling family of Ev." Elphaba started explaining. "In Munchkinland, they have the Eminent Thropp, so any daughters are like princesses. In the Gillikin, you have the ruling clan, and those daughters are the princesses of the Gillikin. There's no sort of royalty in Quadling Country or the Glikkin." She finished, hoping she had hit all of the lands.
"Oh. So who is Fiyero supposed to marry?" Galinda asked, forced casualness evident in her voice.
Elphaba paused. How on earth was she supposed to answer that? She could either raise Galinda's hopes or crush them. Fortunately, she was saved by a quiet knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Glinda called out.
"It's Nessarose. May I come in?" Elphaba darted over to the door and opened it, less thankful for the distraction when she saw her sister's tear-stained face.
"Nessa, what is it?" Elphaba wheeled her into the room and closed the door. "What happened?"
"F-father wrote to me." Nessa said, taking deep breaths to quell her newly-risen tears. "Boq has announced that he isn't going to marry me."
"What?" Elphaba asked, gob-smacked. That had never happened, in any of the lands, for as long as royal marriages had been taking place.
"Boq wrote to Father. He said that he had found true love here. And that it wasn't me." Nessa's tears had spilled over by the second sentence.
"But I thought you didn't like him much anyway?" Elphaba said, a little confused.
"I didn't." Nessa confessed. "But… he was my last chance at a husband."
"Why?" Elphaba laid a hand on her sister's knee.
"I'm handicapped, Elphaba!" Nessa cried out. "Nobody wants a handicapped wife that might not even be able to produce their heirs."
"But you're the Third Eminent Thropp Descending!" Elphaba said, her eyes wide. "For a commoner like Boq, even a rich one, that's a huge step up! And he doesn't need heirs!"
"He's in love!" Nessa buried her face in her hands. Elphaba put rubbed her back, trying to comfort the wheelchair-bound girl
"And I'm the Second Eminent Thropp Descending now." Nessa sobbed out brokenly.
"What?" Elphaba fell back on her heels.
"Grandfather took you out of the line when you moved to the Vinkus. He said no that no Wink–" Nessa stumbled over the name, sniffling. "No Vinkun would preside over Munchkinland."
"Elphaba, what does she mean by that? That you had moved to the Vinkus? Weren't you born there, same as Fiyero?" Galinda stepped in, her eyes wide, her lips trembling.
"Well what do you think she means?" snapped Nessarose. She was not as silly as many of the other girls at Shiz; she knew that the girl that Boq had fallen in love with was Galinda. And, even though she knew it wasn't Galinda's fault for being so perfect, she couldn't help but resent this girl that had all she had ever wanted, plus things she didn't want.
"Nessa, no. I haven't told her." Elphaba begged in a panicked undertone.
"Haven't told me what?" Galinda actually stomped her foot.
"Elphaba is my sister, not Fiyero's." Nessa said nastily, enjoying seeing this woman's life crumble in front of her.
"Elphaba, is this true?" Galinda turned to Elphaba, her eyes filled with tears, face pale, and hands trembling.
Elphaba hesitated. What should she do? She had said that Fiyero should tell Galinda, but, if she lied now, Galinda would still be hurt later. But it seemed that her silence had answered Galinda's question.
"You… you… how could you? I trusted you! I thought we were friends!" Galinda's face turned an ugly shade of red.
"I am your friend, Galinda." Elphaba said quietly, hating herself, hating this situation… why had she let it go on for so long? She knew that it would end like this. "But Fiyero is also my husband."
Galinda seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilation. "You… he… I can't… marriage…. And Illyria!" She fixed on the baby in Elphaba's arms. "You've been having sex with my boyfriend! You have a child!"
"Yes, I have, but, Galinda, please…" Elphaba pleaded, hoping against hope that Galinda would understand. Nessa watched this, wide-eyed.
"You liar! Freak! I hate you!" Galinda screamed at Elphaba and threw open the door. Unfortunately, Fiyero was there, his hand raised as if he had been about to knock. Elphaba assumed he had been called down to deal with his screaming girlfriend.
"I thought we had a future!" She screamed at him. "And it's all a lie!" She slapped him, hard, then slapped him again. "I hate you! I hate all of you!"
She shoved past Fiyero and disappeared into the hall.
"What. Happened." Fiyero growled at Elphaba. She clutched Illyria closer to her.
"Galinda knows."
"How." It wasn't even a question.
Elphaba half-glanced at Nessa, not wanting her sister to feel Fiyero's wrath, but also not wanting herself to be under Fiyero's wrath, either.
"I told her." She finally said. "I was tired of pretending."
Nessa shot her sister an odd look but didn't argue.
"Nessa, you should go." Elphaba said as Fiyero's hands clenched. Nessa obeyed.
"I still had two days." He growled at her.
"I know, I'm sorry." Elphaba backed up a bit. "It slipped out when we were talking about my marriage."
"You said you wouldn't tell." Fiyero advanced further.
"I'm sorry!" Elphaba repeated, truly scared of Fiyero for the first time since they had first started living together.
"You lost me my girlfriend." He said, so close now that Elphaba could feel the heat radiating from his body. She closed her eyes, waiting for the blow that she knew would come. Moments later Illyria started crying as Elphaba crumpled into the bed, curled around her daughter.
A/N: I know I've given you many reasons to hate me, but please don't kill me? Please just be patient for a while. Also, I will not have access to a computer this summer, so from roughly the end of May to the beginning of September, I will not be updating. I will be writing, though!