AN: Oh, wow, I already finished one story on here, and now I'm only two chapters away from finishing this one! Just a heads up, it is VERY likely that I'm going to be making a sequal, though I haven't decided on a title yet. Oh, and Elphaba's mystery sickness is revealed next chapter, so the poll is about to come down. If you would like to cast a vote and haven't done so already, hurry in to do so while you still can, before it's too late, my pretties!

xoxo,

Maggie the Mad Majesty of Muchness n_n

PS: This is the next to last chapter, by the way. I told you I was determined to finish this one! When I completed the final chapter in ToD Jr., I was so proud of myself, and I said to my mother, "Mama, guess what, I finished WRH, just like I said I would! It's the first story I've finished since I wrote Fiyero's Essay, hooray!" Oh, "Fiyero's Essay" is a story I haven't posted yet. Very short, only 2 chapters and an epilogue, along with a little "Oh god, the situation's about to repeat" thingy and...Well, you'll see if I decide to post it. If I do, though, I have to post all 3 versions, lol! The actual story, the rough draft that Fiyero wrote by hand, and the final draft that he did on his typewriter and turned in to Dillamond.

Dorothy was more shocked than she could ever remember being in her life, but she didn't have time to react. She was standing near the huge window, and saw something in the distance that made her blood run cold. "Uh, guys?" she said. "I hate to ruin the moment, 'cause believe me, I love sappy romantic reunions as much as the next girl, but I kind of think we might have a small problem here."

Elphaba joined her by the window. Dawn was just breaking on the horizon, painting the sky beautiful hues of pink, orange, and purple. "What do you mean?" the green girl asked. "I mean we've got an axe-wielding problem made out of tin with an agenda for bloody vengance being accomanied by three-fifty plus pounds of fur and sharp deadly teeth headed straight for us," Dorothy said blatantly, pointing at the very issue in question.

"Shavna!" Fiyero smacked himself. "I knew I should've gotten rid of that damn axe before I left! Why don't I ever listen to myself, I'm such an idiot!"
"It's not your fault, love, he would've come even without it. What we have to do now is come up with a plan."

"Sic Chistery and Hahnai on 'em!" Dorothy said excitedly. She had met a small gaggle of Elphaba's Monkey companions a few hours prior and was no longer terrified out of her wits of them.

Fiyero shook his head as he took his dagger from where it was still embedded firmly in the wooden table surface and slid it back into his boot. "Boq is virtually immune to their attacks as long as he's made of metal. That and the axe are both a major advantage, and sending Monkeys after him would be like sending them on a suicide mission. The only ones who would be put at risk with that strategy would be Chist and Hahn themselves, they could be badly wounded or even killed by that damn axe."

"Oz, where the hell did he get that thing, anyway?" Elphaba asked nobody in particular. "He's developed some major anger issues and really does not need to be allowed within a ten mile radius of sharp objects, especially weapons."

"We need a battle strategy, and fast," Fiyero said. Elphaba sighed. "Well, then it's a good thing you're cut out for the task, Captain."
"Captain?" Dorothy repeated questioningly. "Of the Gale Force, very briefly," Elphaba replied. "Remember the story earlier?"

"Oh yeah. So what is our battle strategy?" the brunette asked. Both girls looked at the scarecrow, who was deep in thought. He looked back at them after a moment. "I'm open to any suggestions you guys have, you know," he said.

"Sorry," Dorothy said, blushing lightly. She thought for a moment, then raised her hand. "Drop an anvil on his head!" she exclaimed. Fiyero held out his fist. "Yes, that is what I'm talkin' about! Gimme some!" Dorothy fist-bumped with him. "Okay, great," Elphaba said, "except where the hell do you two expect to find an anvil around here, exactly, huh?"

The other two looked at each other. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
"I got i!" Fiyero shouted. "Boiling oil!"
"Fiyero-!"

"No, listen! We can dump a huge bucket of it on him, it's a really effective military strategy for defending things like castles and forts, it's been in use for centuries, and it's actually really useful and most importantly, it works!"

Elphaba shook her head. "The intense head would melt him, Fiyero, and mentally unstable as he may be at the moment, somewhere deep down, he's still the Boq with that sweet, sunny disposition that used to be such a good friend to us both in college. I'm not about to do anything that would be the basic equivilant of killing him."

"Well, you got me on that one. But you have to admit, it was a pretty good idea."
"Touche."

For several minutes, the three sat in silence as they thought. It was Fiyero who eventually broke the silence. "Fae," he said, "you wouldn't happen to have a way to get in contact with Little Miss Pretty-in-Pink, would you, love?"
"Yes, but I don't see what that has to do with-Oooh. I see where you're going with this."

Fiyero nodded. "Let's find out just how devoted he really is, shall we?"

"I don't get it," Dorothy said, looking back and forth between the pair as they exchanged knowing grins. "Dorothy," the green girl said, not taking her eyes from her lover. "How would you like to meet the real Glinda?"

AN: Okay, I'm going to go straight back to the Document Manager and work on editing and revising the final chapter so that I can get it posted (I'm so excited!), but I do have to do the translation for the only Arjiki word in here, shavna, so I'll do that real quick. Oh, speaking of translating the tribal language, I've decided not to post The Arjiki Tribal Language for Dummies (ATLfD) after all, because it's such a complex language and there is absolutely no way in Ev (ten points and a giant cinnamon pretzel for anyboyd who can tell me where I got the phrase "no way in Ev!") that I will be able to fit it all into just one story/guide, let alone an entire series of volumes thicker than the thickest book ever written, though I've no clue what that would be (Encyclopedia Britannica? lmao, leave a review or PM me if you know, because I'm clueless, but now I've gone and gotten myself all curious and wondering!)

Anyway, I'll quit blibber-blabbering and give you that translation so I can go work on the final chapter. Here it is:

Shavna: "Shit!" ...That's all I have to say. O_o There aren't really any root words or anything for this one. It's just..."shit." O_e

xoxo, love ya'll, my pretties (lmfao, it totally shows that I'm an Oklahoma girl right there, doesn't it?)

-Maggie the Raven of Lenore