After cleaning herself up, and trying to come to terms with what had happened that day, Glinda spent the next few days keeping to herself.

She did not see the creature that attacked her the night she arrived, nor did she inquire after it. She did, however, have the distinct feeling of being watched at times, if she was not so certain that El – The Witch kept to herself, she would have assumed it was her. In the end she put it down to her paranoia of being in an unfamiliar place, and the constant worry caused by knowing of the group heading there, but not knowing when they would arrive. So she continued to remind herself that it would take them far longer to arrive than it had Glinda – for they would either have to take a carriage of their own or walk. Perhaps even a mixture of both.

She decided to leave The Witch for a while, it was possible she would come to understand Glinda's words if left to mull over them. Instead, Glinda told Nanny what she knew, hoping it would somehow get back to the intended recipient. Who would hopeful finally begin to understand the words for the truth that they were.

Glinda did not like the hesitation, the waiting, but what more could she rightly do with E – The Witch behaving in the way that she was?

And Glinda had to refer to her as The Witch, for she could not accept that woman stalking about at the top as the castle with the woman she had once known.

On her first full day there she had explored the other rooms in the castle. Despite The Witch's words she had seen no one else save for her and Nanny, and it was with a sustainable amount of embarrassment that she admitted to 'raiding' the bedrooms that she was certain were abandoned, for want of a better word. Finding thicker sheets and furs to take into the room she occupied, after that came the finding of 'tools' to aid her in making her temporary room more inhabitable.

Stringing up a thick sheet in front of the window cut out the light that came through the thin curtains considerably, but it also helped to maintain the heat from the fireplace in the room. That was a sacrifice that she did not particularly want to make, but it was the lesser of two evils in this case. Giving up natural light in favour of heat.

It was suffocating, to have the weight of so many sheets and furs on top of her – she had become accustomed to the thin sheets and heated homes of the City – but if it kept her warm she would reduce her complaints to herself to the bare minimum.

She had only been in a few of the rooms, and had left the ones that clearly belonged to someone alone, despite the dust that covered all the surfaces. There was no sign of anyone else still living there, which only made her concerns for Elphaba's state of mind all the worse.

She needed to ask Nanny at some point, but she feared that the old woman's mind was not in the best of conditions either. Glinda did not know where the old woman was staying, only that she spent almost all her time in the kitchen hunched by the fire writing out illegible lists.

There was not much in the way of food stored there, except for a few jars of honey which looked to be rather old. The limited amount that was there which wasn't honey, was either nearing the end of its edible lifespan or there was simply very little left of it. If she had known she would have stocked up on some choice foods while she was in the village, if she even knew what was edible in the Vinkus – some of what was stored did not look like food to her. Not at all.

She added the meagre supplies she still had on her from the carriage ride to the pantry, making a note to herself to keep an eye out on the road, to see if she could not find someone to collect some food stock for them before their supply ran even lower. Luckily for her, she saw such a person a few days after her discovery, and managed to pay him to collect some food for them. She just hoped she had not be conned, for if the farmer (at least that is what he appeared to be) did not return she would have to make the trek on foot with very little money left, and not much strength to carry the little she would be able to afford.

On occasion she would retrieve the book and look over it, but was unable to conjure anything legible with her mind whirling as it often was. More often than that, she would retrieve the small carving of a Pfenix and cradle it, running her fingers over the wooden image of the creature she had always felt drawn to as a child. She recalled vaguely an old tale of Lurline her mother had told her, where the Mother of all Pfenixes had been blessed by the Goddess, Lurline's own life giving water bestowed upon the bird. From then her tears would fall and heal all wounds, would even bring the Pfenix back when she died. To be reborn as the Ozma was said to be, over and over. The Pfenix represented life and rebirth, as well as something honoured in the hope of curing ills.

And that was precisely what Glinda found herself doing – she had never truly believed in Lurline like her parents did. Nor had she really prayed often, if at all. Now, however, she was reminded of those she had lost. Her dear Ama; Nessarose, who she had never truly had time to grieve over. And now, there was the possibility that she could lose Elphaba. If she had not already.

All she would have left were her parents, and she was rarely able to visit them. Now, with the title of Eminent weighing her down her sparse visits would spread even further out. If she was even able to return home…

What if the assassins arrived and took her prisoner, or killed her outright after deeming her as a traitor? Her parents, nor Shell nor even Ella, knew where she was. Would they ever know if something befell her? Would she be treated as a betrayer? Her name and image dragged through the mud.

Glinda's head dropped back against the headboard of the bed, her eyes sliding shut.

She was not made out for all of this. What in Oz was she going to do?

To her relief the man she hired to collect supplies returned just over a day later, luckily too as soon after he left the snow began to fall. A heavy, thick and constant flurry of snow.

Winter approached rapidly there, the already frigid temperature dropping even lower with the arrival of the snow, leaving Glinda shaking and her teeth chattering.

With no choice, Glinda found herself pawing through more of the rooms – perhaps it was a good thing there were so many she had not touched prior – in search of more sheets and furs to warm her. In the back of her mind she thought of the tower where The Witch resided, or so she assumed, and how awful it must be in there, not just with the conditions she had already witnessed, but also with the worsening weather. She could only hope The Witch had the common sense not to stay in there.

Glinda had tried to speak to her again, but the door to the tower was locked and she received no answers to her knocks and calls saved for the sounds of the crows.

It left her in a constant state of concern, but one she had to ignore. For she had to keep a constant vigil for those that were coming there, the ones she feared for more than just Elphaba's life.

Would any of them be spared?

Glinda regretted raiding the rooms closest to her own so soon, for now when she found items that she could use she had to make an ever lengthening walk back to her room to place them there, before returning to her 'quest'.

She stood in one such room now. She had found some furs wedged in the small storage space in the top of a wardrobe, she pulled at them to free them, but they remained steadfastly stuck. Huffing to herself Glinda reached up, clutching the furs with both hands and braced herself strongly against the floor as she tugged aggressively.

They came loose unexpectedly. She cried out, the contents of the wardrobe tumbling down on her form, sending dust up her nose and down her throat.

"Sweet Lurline!" She managed to cough out, forcibly calming herself as she did, "What a fool."

"Cool, tool, drool, ghoul."

Glinda whirled around at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, her eyes wide and casting about, unable to find the source.

A flash of white that had nothing to do with the weather outside caught her eyes, her chest heaving as she tried to steel her nerves. She focused her gaze, tightening her hands into fists in order to free herself of some of the anxiety burdening her form.

Her brow scrunched when she saw just who had interrupted her.

A Monkey had wandered in, though he wore no clothing, and there was something about his gaze that looked, well, wrong. As if he was not capable of understanding what was occurring around him, the few words he – for she was certain the voice had been male – had said had rhymed. Which did not sit well with her either, it made a voice in the back of her mind scream that something was very wrong.

Glinda cleared her throat, expelling the last of the dust stuck there, and bowed her head in greeting, "Hello?"

He tilted his head, his pink face showing no reaction.

"Do you have a name?" She tried again.

He seemed to perk up at that, his eyes gaining some clarity as he took in the question.

"Name." He parroted, "Name. Ch..."

His head tilted to the other side, the skin besides his eyes furrowing as he appeared to struggle within himself.

"Ch – Chistery," He finally managed to finish, his features smoothing as pride swelled up his small chest at his achievement.

His speech seemed awfully basic for an Animal – perhaps it could be due to a lack of interaction with his own kind. No… actually that would not affect the ability to speak would it now? Not if he was around humans. Glinda had not interacted with many Animals in the course of her life, but she knew that they existed on the same plane of intelligence and speech capabilities as humans. Despite what so many say.

Then, perhaps, he was not an Animal after all. Was it even possible for an animal to learn to speak? She knew there were birds that could learn to talk… or did they just mimic the words they heard? It was all confusing, and most definitely not something she knew much about. Elphaba would… Glinda's gaze dropped to the floor, a wave of sorrow washing over her.

She needed to try again with the woman. Elphaba was in there somewhere, she just needed to get through to her.

Lifting her gaze, something caught her eye. A singular feather lying near the door. Glinda looked to the wardrobe, raising an eyebrow, then down to the furs that had tumbled out. She did not see anything that contained feathers, even if she missed something that had burst than surely the feathers would not have been able to travel clear across the room, nor would there only be one to see.

The monkey (Monkey?) twitched, shaking his form. Glinda tensed at this, for something seemed so very off that it set her nerves on edge once more.

Her form stiff she took careful, calculated steps towards the monkey, her bottom lip tugged between her teeth in anxiety. The monkey remained still, his eyes following her as she edged around him to see if her eyes were deceiving her or not.

They weren't.

Wings?

Glinda blinked, rubbed at her eyes with her fist, and then blinked again before stepping closer.

The monkey remained in place, bizarrely not even flinching, as she found herself leaning forward, touching the feathers there as if to check that they were actually real, and not a figment of her imagination.

They shifted beneath her touch, sending her jumping back with a squeak.

Chistery made a cooing sound in his throat, almost as if he were trying to calm her. Glinda lowed her hand from where it had pressed to her mouth, her eyes wide.

Once she managed to calm herself once again (oh what a child she was being!) she leant forward again to study the wings.

Indeed, they were attached to the monkey, just the acknowledgement of that fact made Glinda's head spin. Chistery shifted his wings again, as if they were a weight that irritated him, revealing to Glinda angry red welts and scars where his fur was sparse around the base of the wings. It almost looked as if surgery had taken place. As if…

Her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to come to terms with what thought had just entered her head. For that could not be true, could it. No it couldn't possibly be true.

But the evidence was there, even if she was misunderstanding it, at that moment it said to her that someone – and she feared she knew who – had attached the wings to the monkey. They had performed a grotesque experiment that made her stomach churn nauseously.

Surely Elphaba hadn't…? Surely she couldn't?

"Oh…" Glinda whispered, running her hand through the fur on the monkey's head. "You poor thing."

Determined to get some sort of answers for what had been going on in the castle, and knowing The Witch would not answer her (something Glinda would be quick to fix shortly, if it was the last thing she ever did), she made a beeline for the kitchens. Nanny could be difficult, but Glinda had – so long ago it now felt – dealt with the walking difficultly of Elphaba. She could make the old woman talk, and she would.

Marching across the entranceway, her breath visibly puffing out before her, Glinda fisted her hands at her sides. Her nails dug painfully into the fleshy palms of her hands, not that it bothered her. What did bother her however, was the sharp, echoing bark that made her faltered, losing her posture and composure in one fell swoop.

Her head snapped to her right just in time to spot that accursed creature from her first night there. It observed her with a cocked head, its tongue lolling out of the corner of his mouth. She eyed it with a stern glare in the weak daylight that filtered in through the high windows.

Too late did Glinda realise her mistake, as frozen to the spot appeared to signal that she was receptive to the animal approaching her. The dog bounded up to her, sniffing her skirts, she attempted to put some distance between them, but the animal seemed to be determined to dirty her clothes again. Strange, he seemed smaller now than when they had first met. Not that she felt any less fearful of the beast.

"Shoo!" She hissed, pushing her leg forward to try to force the mongrel away, doing her best to do so without touching it.

"I said go." This time she gestured with both her hands, but the dog seemed to like that, jumping at her arms as if it were all a game.

Glinda's expression darkened, if she attempted to run to the safety of the kitchen it would no doubt view it all as another game and chase her down. How unseemly would that be? Just the thought reminded her of her childhood, when she had been chased by a group of ducks. That had started the war.

And now she had made herself sad, she scolded herself at that. Even though her Ama was long gone, just thinking of the happier times with her hurt.

She was definitely not used to a backlash of conflicting emotions like this. What was next? Burst into laughter for no reason?

"Hey! Leave Killyjoy alone."

Glinda snapped from her thoughts, to find herself still gesturing aggressively at the mutt, an action she promptly stopped to turn to the source of the squeaking voice – though she still kept a cautious eye on the dog from the corner of her vision.

She jumped back as gracefully as she could to avoid being knocked over by a young boy as he rushed past her, dropping to his knees and wrapping the dog in his skinny arms.

"This is your dog?" Glinda asked stupidly, far more baffled by a more pressing question, where had the boy come from? She had been there for a significant length of time and had never seen even a hint of him before – excluding Elphaba's confusing use of 'others' during their conversation.

Well… perhaps he had disappeared into the same place the dog had, she thought, attempting to add some humour to the situation in order to lessen her flat out bewilderment.

He looked up at her with narrowed eyes, the familiar lines of his face fighting against the pudge of youth. She worked her suddenly dry throat, forced herself to remain still and reasonable.

A child. She never expected to see a child here.

"No. Well kinda." The hard look in his eyes melted away as he looked at the smelly beast, "He's my only friend."

Perhaps she did not have to pressure Nanny for answers after all. Forcing answers from a child, or rather using her words to receive what no one else would tell her, did leave a bad taste in her mouth. Her intentions were for best, however, so she would have to stomach it. That was the simple fact of the matter.

"This place was not always empty," Glinda prodded with her words, "Surely you had friends before?"

His head gave a sharp jerk, his face twisting in fear or sorrow, she was not certain, "There used to be others. They were my friends, I think. Maybe. I don't know."

Perhaps now she could get a straight answer from someone about what had occurred there. Put to rest her worries, long forgotten and quickly remembered as they were, that Elphaba – The Witch – had something to do with it. For the woman she knew would never harm an animal, yet she had seen with her eyes just that. It was possible that it had been the work of someone else, but the monkey's fur around the… additions was still short. Nanny with her shaking hands and this boy with his chubby fingers could not possibly be the culprits. That left only one person.

"And what happened to those people." She lowered her voice, injecting her tone with as much softness as she could manage, adding a kind smile for good measure.

The boy stood leaving the dog panting as it lay on its side, he scuffed at the stone flooring with ill-fitting shoes. Now she looked closer she saw his clothing was old and everything seemed too big, the sleeves of his shirt hanging to just below the first knuckles of his hands, at least he was keeping warm, "They were taken away."

Glinda's hands tightened in reflex, her nails pressing into her palms in the bad habit she had picked up in her youth to hide her panic or anxiety over a situation.

The boy, however, simply shrugged, his bottom lip poking out in his visible sorrow.

"It made me sad. The soldiers that came here were great!" His eyes brightened, shinning when he met her gaze, "They let me practice with them, well sort of, but I did get to help them! I didn't want them to go."

Soldiers?

"Your… friends, or the soldiers?"

He did not answer, not that he needed to for Glinda to conclude the correct answer. He pulled at the bottom of his shirt, one she was sure would take a year or so to fit him correctly, much like the trousers that bunched over his knees awkwardly from when he had been crouched on the floor, baring a sliver of ankle and a scratchy sock.

"Why are you here?"

She was taken aback by the question. The… servant boy's question as demanding as his eyes suddenly were.

"To speak to Elphaba."

His brow drew close together, his lips pursed, "The Witch?"

Glinda swallowed, her jaw lifting arrogantly, "Yes."

Her answer was sharp, bitter perhaps; it did seem to affect the boy, who stared resolutely at her.

"Why?" His tone was suddenly too young for his frame, like a toddler that would pester and pester for answers to the most nonsensical questions. She wondered briefly just how old he was. It seemed he had just reached adolescence, yet he seemed to behave rather childishly, either she had matured rapidly as girls were said to do, or the pressure of eventual adulthood were not forced upon the children here, unlike in Gillikin.

At least, judging from his skin he was from there. Though it was rather paler than what she had seen on her journey, but still much darker than her own.

"Simply because I am." His mouth opened in question, she continued before any more words could escape him, "Do you have a name?"

"I'm Liir."

Her head inclined, her mind swirling with questions she knew better than to verbalise. Partly for fear of who would hear, and partly for fear of the answers themselves. If she was even able to get a straight answer from anyone in the hellish place. At least she had managed to get the basics from him.

The servant boy looked poised to ask more prying questions, his eyes filled with a hunger for knowledge, perhaps, simply of the outside world, the world beyond the walls of the castle, for she doubted he had ever truly left them in a very long time.

Luckily for her, the ratty dog jumped up, his front paws landing on the boy's chest. Attention caught by something else, he looked down to the dog, his face lighting up as he hugged the animal, looking generally joyful.

Safe in the knowledge that he was distracted for the moment, Glinda took her leave as silently and swiftly as she could.

It was not in cruelty that Glinda could not face any more questions from the boy, nor the reason she could not stomach looking at him. At least that is what she told herself as she moved quickly through the castle to the kitchen.

While she now knew the basics of what had happened, the more information one had the better for constructing an argument. She just hoped the boy did not follow, that was all.

He had mentioned soldiers, she tried to calm her racing thoughts, relax the tension running through her form. They could have been local soldiers, that was a plausible possibility wasn't it?

But then why would they take the previous occupants? Unless it was simply a local dispute, or something similar. That type of thing happened in the Vinkus, didn't it? They were not as civilised as the Gillikin or the City.

She found Nanny where she expected her to be, hunched by the fire in the small kitchen.

"Who were the soldiers?"

Oh. That had not been how she wanted to approach the topic, not at all.

Glinda took a breath that was supposed to steady her nerves, glad that dealing with Nanny did not require the subtly she was brought up and expected to be an expert in. A benefit of the Munchkinlanders being so… culturally lacking.

Nanny jumped in her seat, wobbling dangerously as she turned around with a hand pressed to her chest.

"Really Dearie, I have enough of that one terrifying me on the rare occasion she wanders down."

"Who were they?" Glinda repeated, seeing no point in switching to proper behaviour as the reason she was now there was already out in the open.

Nanny scratched at her side, her murky eyes narrowing in thought. "Suppose they were Gale Force. Not sure really –

"Why did they take the others but not you and Elphaba?" The Wizard's army had been there, her fear had been correct. But what did it mean? For surely if the soldiers had been there they could have easily disposed of Elphaba, a far easier method than sending a group of announced assassins a significant time later. "And the boy."

The last part was an afterthought, but she was not about to be rude and ignore him completely.

Nanny's face scrunched up this time, deepening her wrinkles immensely, "Now I don't rightly remember."

Glinda bit back a sigh, of course she didn't.

"That sourpuss wasn't here though."

Glinda straightened up at that, making her way to the chair opposite Nanny, but not sitting down, "Where was she?"

"Saying goodbye to Nessie."

Oh.

Glinda was not sure what to do with that information. If the soldiers had come for Elphaba than surely they were have waited for her to return, rather than taking the previous residents. Glinda swept her right hand through her hair (she had not bothered with properly styling it since she had arrived, something that was both freeing and yet left her feeling decidedly uncomfortable).

There was still a persistent voice in the back of her mind asking what in Lurline's name was she doing there? She did not know how to deal with all this, she was just a woman. She had no job, her treasured title did not give her any special duties. She had only just been dubbed the Eminent and most of what she had done there was her 'winging it'. She was simply something attractive to look at while her husband went about his business to provide them an income (and she still was not sure what it was he did). Now she was dealing with political assassinations and terrorist plots.

Sweet Lurline; what would young, naïve Galinda think if she knew what awaited her in the future? Probably scoff, before fluffing her hair in ignorance, disbelieving.

At some point Glinda had placed both hands on the back of the chair before her, gripping the wood tightly enough that her knuckles turned white from the strain. So that is how Elphaba came to rule this place…

No, that was not right. Nanny had been here while Elphaba was at the funeral, implying that Elphaba and Nanny had been possible guests of the previous occupants. And now Glinda was reminded of a rumour she had heard, one that caused her heart to clench painfully as she recalled the details. It was plausible, too plausible for her liking. So much so she shoved the thoughts to the back of her mind, not daring to dwell on them for a single moment longer. Except for –

"What about the boy?"

"Oh him." Nanny muttered, "Guess he didn't trust you, probably why he hid."

Well, that hopefully explained the eyes she had felt watching her. That or it was the dog waiting to pounce on her again.

"He hid from my sight for this long?"

"Never said he was right in the head?"

Glinda quirked an eyebrow at that statement, but did not pursue Nanny's words this time. She doubted she would be able to get a clear answer about that sort of thing from the woman. Glinda's hands slid from the back of the chair as she straightened up.

She might not be skilled at this type of thing, about dealing with events so much larger than she. But she could at least manage to do what she came there originally for.

"I think you should prepare for a few extra mouths to feed."

"What?" Nanny huffed, her cheeks puffing out in annoyance.

Already moving towards the door, Glinda paused with her hand hovering over the handle. Turning back to Nanny with a look she hoped would be taken seriously, "You know who is coming here, Nanny."

"And I know where you are going," Nanny said in a sudden, unexpected burst of clarity, "Careful with that one. Used to chew on everything she could get her hands on."

Chew…

Glinda bid goodbye and headed towards the tower, this time intent on speaking to The Witch, no matter how much she may try to ignore her or argue. She would see her point, come to understand her.

But then what?

Glinda pushed that thought away for later, she could figure that out after she had spoken sense into Elphaba.

But first, she needed to get something from her room.