Author's Note: Have you noticed that we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? Really, it's amazing. I wonder why that is…
Okay, so my sad attempt to distract you from the fact that I haven't updated in over a month isn't working. But you have no idea how sorry I am! I'm serious – I feel horrible. And it's not that I haven't had the time to (although it's not like I had tons of time, either). It's just I've had the worst case of Writer's Block ever (still kind of do) and I'm going through one of those times where your interest in the story decreases – but not all my interest, because I really do want to finish this. I hope this longer-than-usual chapter can compensate for my Fanfiction Sin.
Read, review, and enjoy :)
(Note: this chapter is unbetaed. Sorry to my betas and - hopefully not - to you guys.)

Boq smiled to himself as he followed the footprints on his horse. They were a little smudged, sure, and sometimes there were a few missing, but they were footprints. Solid footprints. He felt like a detective for the OAK (Ozian Agency of Knowledge), what with all his great intuition he'd been having lately. He'd found the cottage! He'd found the footprints! He was on a roll.

Feeling that his wonderful work deserved some acknowledgement, Boq began to sing to himself. "Follow the footprints in dirt. Follow the footsteps in dirt. Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the footprints in dirt." He repeated this mantra multiple times, each sequence louder than the previous.

He continued on with his traveling, still singing, only to discover that the footsteps were growing fewer in number and had less of an imprint in the dirt. Sometimes he'd go a minute without seeing a single footstep; in this case, a minute was a pretty long time.

Next thing he knew, the ground was bare. Boq sighed and, clenching his fists, willed himself to remain calm. He had come this far and no one would be heartless enough to leave him there. However, darkness would be approaching in a few short hours, meaning the time he had to search for his long-lost friends was dwindling. Even Boq knew that inconspicuous traveling was best done by night and, since Elphaba was a very inconspicuous person, she would be long gone by the time he reached her resting place. Even worse (or better, if you were Elphaba), she had that magicked broom.

Calm was hard to maintain if the chances of getting what you wanted were not so good.

Boq sighed once again and resumed his searching, looking for subtler clues that could lead him to Elphaba and Fiyero. Oh, Unnamed God, why did this have to be so difficult? Why was help so hard to find? It wasn't as if he was constantly asking for favors – although he admitted Glinda had been quite a large one. Maybe she'd used up his ability to be granted favors. But if that was the case, that wasn't fair at all! His luck was as short as his height. If only he were taller…

But that was irrelevant to the subject at hand. Putting a hand up to his eyes to shield them from the afternoon sun, he took a brief scan of what lay before him. Lurline, he would have to put himself in the shoes of a fugitive, wouldn't he? So…where would a castaway hide? He rescanned his surroundings and found only the trees to be of interest – or rather, of un-interest. Boq brought the horse farther along through the forest before coming across a large clearing. Up ahead was a cornfield, and down below were…footprints. Boq grinned, ecstatic, and fought the urge to jump off his horse and do a gleeful dance.

He should so apply for a job at the OAK.

- - -

Elphaba woke up with a start and surveyed her surroundings. Judging by the sun's position, it was late afternoon; she wasn't supposed to be up yet, and that was unusual for her. Sure, she was a light sleeper, but when she was focused on something, it got done. And she was very focused on sleeping. So something must have woken her up, and it wasn't Fiyero's constant snores. Sweet Oz, speaking of which, she had intentions on stuffing a ear of corn in his mouth to shut him–

There was a soft rustling of stalks. Elphaba froze with fear and she sat there, listening as the sound grew slightly louder in volume with each clock tick. Soon the short thud of hooves touching soil joined the rustling. Someone was here, and it wasn't a farmer.

They had to get out of there.

"Fiyero," she whispered harshly. When the only reply she received was an exceptionally loud snore, Elphaba said, louder, "Fiyero! Oh Oz, come on, wake up." She shook him once, twice, her body surging with adrenaline. When he resisted still, she slapped him across the face.

That did it. Fiyero shot up from his sleeping position, his eyes wide and fearful. "Are you okay? Am I okay? Are we okay? Are–"

"No, no, no, we're very not okay. There's someone here. They've found us again. Lurline, you said we'd be safe here!" Elphaba hissed.

Fiyero blanched. "Um, well, they're just really smart?"

"Or we just weren't careful enough," Elphaba shot back. "That's the last time I ever listen to any of your 'master plans'."

"Oh, don't–"

"We have no time for arguing; let's go." Supplies in hand, she took off toward the opposite direction and Fiyero had no choice but to follow.

"Stop! Wait, wait up!" a man's voice called from behind them, followed by a whinny – a loud whinny. Elphaba turned around and waved frantically at Fiyero to get down on the ground. They both dropped to the earth right before they came into their adversary's line of sight. The horse pounded toward them and the sound of hoof steps echoed around their heads before growing softer, and then…silence.

Elphaba breathed a heavy sigh of relief; they had escaped whomever had been chasing them. But, just to be safe, she motioned for Fiyero to maintain his lying position. They remained there for a few more minutes before getting back up again.

However, Elphaba's heart continued to pound against her chest and her stomach had that unsettled, nervous feeling. "Who's after us?" she asked.

Fiyero shrugged. "The Gale Force, I guess. But why does it matter? Everyone out there is against us–"

"Me."

"What?" Fiyero said bemusedly, giving her a look.

"You said everybody is against us when, in fact, they're only against me."

"Fae, it's me, too."

"But you would never have been in trouble if you weren't with me," Elphaba pointed out.

"But it's all the same in the end," Fiyero said. "They hate you, they hate me for being with you; they're after the both of us."

Elphaba ignored him and instead started a new topic. "So, where should we go now? The person will be back for us any minute now."

"Um…I say we follow that person."

"Why would we do that?" Elphaba asked, furrowing her eyebrows. "Like I said, he's bound to come back for us."

"Oh. Yes, you're right." Fiyero grinned sheepishly. Elphaba only sighed and started walking back toward their entrance point. But unfortunately for them, their theory proved to be true: the person had returned for them. She swore loudly and cursed herself for having allowed them to linger for so long. Elphaba had a strong feeling they'd been seen.

"Hey!" the person screamed as the couple made a last-minute attempt to run away. "Wait up! I said, wait up!"

Elphaba willed herself not to look back, only to keep moving, keep moving. The cornstalks whipped her face, leaving behind small red cuts. She no longer cared where she was going – all she wanted to do was escape. But she didn't see the pile of fallen cornhusks in front of her, and, as a result, tripped and fell flat on her face. She composed herself as fast as she could, but it was too late – the person had swung around in front of them. Elphaba braced herself for the worst.

As her gaze fell on the horse and its rider, however, Elphaba's expression turned to one of shock – not fear. Fiyero finally caught up to her, panting, but when he looked up at their offender, he gasped. Because there, sitting on the horse…was Boq.

Silence, and then, "Elphaba? Fiyero?" the Munchkinlander breathed. "Oh, sweet, sweet Oz, you have no idea how happy I am to see you."

Elphaba and Fiyero were speechless. They hadn't associated with anyone who knew who they were – well, Elphaba hadn't associated with anyone beside Fiyero at all – and who were actually glad to see them in a long time.

"Um, hello?" Fiyero said tentatively.

"Hello! Hello!" Boq dismounted the horse and pulled Fiyero into a "manly" embrace. Fiyero hugged him back, albeit in a very awkward fashion. After all, he had been expecting a hateful Gale Forcer, not a warm and touchy-feely Boq. "I am so glad to see you two," he repeated.

"How did you know where we were?" Elphaba then asked, curiosity surmounting her initial caution.

Boq was so overcome with happiness that he'd finally found them that her question took him by surprise. "Um…well…it was a dream. Really, it was just a dream. But I just knew, and I…oh, it's a long story."

"And what do you want with us?" Elphaba asked. "Do you not realize that, by associating with us in a friendly manner, you've put yourself in danger?"

"I know. But right now I have bigger things to worry about, which brings me to why I came here. Glinda–"

"We know," Fiyero interrupted.

Boq was taken aback. "Oh. Really? But how?"

"I have my sources," Fiyero said in an attempt to sound mysterious and important. But after looking at Elphaba's facial expression, he guessed he'd only come off as ridiculous.

"I'll just cut to the chase, then: I need your help to find her. I thought that, if you two helped me – you have your little magic book, right, Elphaba? – then we would be able to find her. I can't do it on my own."

Elphaba gave a small smile. "You're in luck, because that's exactly what we planned on doing."

"Really? Are you serious?" Boq grinned and sighed happily. "Sweet Oz, that's good news – that's great news! Can we leave as soon as possible?"

Elphaba looked over at her husband and he nodded. "I don't see why not. How about right now?"

"Oh, yes!" Boq exclaimed, then paused his celebration. "Listen, guys, thank you so much for helping me. I know you two must have been completely confusi – sorry, confused – when I came here, saying I found you with the help of a dream. Though I'm sure you two have been through so much that there isn't much to faze you anymore. But seriously, thanks again."

"Um, you're welcome," Elphaba said, becoming uncomfortable with all the mushy words. "But there's only one problem: you have a horse and we don't."

"Well, I'm short, so we all can–"

"No," Elphaba cut in and rolled her eyes. "It doesn't work like that. Fiyero and I are perfectly fine walking. Right, dear?" She ignored the furious shaking of his head and continued. "But do you have any educated guesses as to where she might be?"

Boq sighed and Elphaba noticed for the first time that his eyes were dull, no longer full of the boyish innocence – an oxymoron in its own way– he'd had back at Shiz. His face had considerably matured as well; a change she wasn't sure pertained to the simple fact that he'd grown older or the recent events he had experienced.

"Yes, I do. She's across the border in Quox. Or at least, that's what Lopcan said…" He sighed again. "Whatever the case, there's no way you two can walk the whole trip." Boq realized that was a bad choice of words – why was he calling this a trip? This wasn't some fancy, relaxing vacation at a quaint little cottage along Lake Chorge. It was an expedition, a Mission: Glinda.

Elphaba thought for a moment. "Well, we could fly, but I haven't flown the broom in ages." She didn't mention it was because she had been too afraid to, too afraid to be seen. "But we would have to go back to the house, and that's just wasting precious time."

"I'm fine with that, but the two of you will have to ride with me so we can save as much time as possible."

"But–"

Boq held a hand up. "It'll do for a short amount of time. Come."

Elphaba's shoulders dropped in defeat and she climbed onto the horse. Fiyero followed and, without further ado, they were off.

- - -

Two and a half cramped hours later, the trio arrived back at the cabin. Now that they were free of the danger of being discovered, Elphaba and Fiyero were able to spend more time packing the essentials they would need for their "adventure". And, of course, they would find that broom.

It took Elphaba a couple minutes to find its hiding place. The broom was in the back of their small – and only – closet, concealed beneath shards of wood from broken furniture (Fiyero had insisted on keeping them just in case a need for scrap wood arose) and pieces of fabric that he'd picked up at a textile shop. The broom itself was covered in layers of dust, but after a quick wiping it looked about as good as a wooden broom could get.

Elphaba then closed her eyes and, waving her hands around in flowing gestures, chanted a string of foreign words. Within clock ticks the broom was levitating a few inches off the ground. She grabbed it before it could fly away on its own (that happened once and was an experience she didn't wish to repeat) and walked back out of the cabin.

"So we're going to follow you?" Fiyero asked once they came to Boq.

Boq bit his lip. "Well, um, I don't know exactly where we're going, so–"

"He'll follow us," Elphaba finished for him. "Lurline, Boq, for the spouse of an esteemed Ozian leader, you don't know much about Oz."

Boq opened his mouth to protest but decided it would be a waste of energy; Elphaba was the most stubborn person he'd ever met. Instead he mounted his horse and waited for his friends to lead the way. Although he was definitely aware of the fact that "Elphaba could fly", he couldn't help but gape as she…well, as she flew. It looked scary. Then again, it looked fun. Maybe one day he would try that thing out.

Gathering the reins in his hands, he began to trot after the flying couple, filled with newfound hope. Not only did he have his old friends back, but he had found the help he'd wanted – and needed – and that made him Boq very, very happy.

Everything was going to work out just fine.

Author's Poll: Agh! I've even neglected this, too. So this chapter's questions are:

1. What was the first story you remember reading on here? (Mine was Annibelle White's "New Boy at Shiz")
2. And – make this short, please :P – what are your plans this summer? (I went to Disney World a week ago – FUN! – am going to a CIT camp at my JCC, and am going to the British Virgin island of Virgin Gorda for a week in late August).