Glinda wasn't sure what to feel as she walked out of the sorcery building. She didn't feel angry, or uncertain, or scared, like she thought she would. She didn't really feel…anything. Resigned, maybe, but mostly just empty.
It wasn't that late. There was a chance the boys would still be at the café, lounging around after dinner. Glinda sighed and changed her path to head there. Part of her thought that, if she didn't tell them everything now, she never would. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest and walked a little faster. An hour ago, Elphaba had been in her room. Now…
As soon as she walked into their view, the boys knew something was wrong. Fiyero was already at his feet, the others also moving to stand, but she waved them off and sank into the empty chair next to Boq. Her eyes darted around, but the building was nearly empty. The only other movement was in the kitchen, where dishes were clanking around noisily.
"I need to tell you something," Glinda said quietly. "Actually, I need to tell you a lot."
Crope and Tibbett looked grave. Fiyero watched her intently. Boq opened his mouth, then thought better and shut it again. Glinda stared down at the table and tried not to shift under their gaze.
"I was just in Morrible's office. I…I told her I'd take the job." Her neck prickled with heat, but to her surprise, none of them made a sound. They just waited, holding their breath. Glinda's mouth went dry, but she tried to keep going. "You know I didn't have much of a choice, but there's more to it than that. I feel like… I couldn't…" She huffed, rubbing her forehead.
"I don't understand," said Boq. "There has to be some other way—something other than working for Morrible."
"I—"
"And the Wizard!" Boq curled his hands into fists and glared down at the table. "How can you agree to help them?"
"Boq, calm down. Let her talk." Crope reached across the table and covered Boq's fist with his hand, then looked up at Glinda.
She pressed her lips together and shook her head, eyes already stinging.
"See? You have no answer." Boq's voice darkened. "You want to go, don't you?"
Tibbett scowled at Boq like he was about to scold him, but Glinda shook her head again. "Yes," she squeaked.
Fiyero jerked a little in his seat, his eyes wide. She could feel them all staring at her, she could feel the shock and the hurt—especially from Boq. She gasped for air, struggling, needing to explain.
"I know—I'm not trying to—if I do this—"
"I need some air," Boq muttered, pushing away from the table. Glinda reached desperately for him, but he jerked away from her and walked quickly out of the building.
"I'll get him," Fiyero said. He gave Glinda one last look, but she couldn't read his face. Then he, too, was gone.
Glinda no longer felt empty. She felt terribly, overwhelmingly full of emotion, and she didn't know how to let it out. She sucked in a breath, but it did little to help.
"Whoa, hey." In an instant, Crope and Tibbett were on either side of her, their hands on her knees. "Glinda, breathe, okay?"
Glinda lowered her head to her hands. Her fingers dug into her hair, scratching painfully at her scalp. She felt like she was suffocating. Her breath caught in her throat and she choked, coughing hard. Crope put his hand on her back, and she struggled not to flinch away. He wasn't the one she wanted.
It took a few moments, but they eventually got her breathing again. Almost immediately, she pushed their hands away. It still felt like she was suffocating.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "You should go find Boq."
"But—"
"It's okay. I'm okay."
She watched, numbly, as they glanced at each other. They had a brief, silent conversation, and it made her wince. But then they each rose to their feet, kissed the top of her head, and left.
Glinda propped her elbows on the table and fell forward until her head was in her hands. She ran her fingers through her hair, wincing again at the sting her nails had made, and sighed. She could still hear the clanking of dishes and running water from the kitchen, but it felt strangely out of place. She felt out of place.
She stayed there for a long while.
"Fae!"
Elphaba didn't even make it through the door of the corn exchange before Peric flew at her, knocking her back. She managed to get the door closed and fell against it, slumping to the ground. Peric hopped back enough to give her air, but still hovered close. His eyes were hard, and more than once she heard him snap his beak.
"Where in Oz were you? What happened?"
Malky appeared, giving Peric a stern look. "Are you hurt?" he asked her.
Elphaba felt terrible. Her limbs were shaking from exhaustion. The burns on her side and back were throbbing with every move, and the scar from the bullet hurt so bad she was blinking away spots. She shook her head ever so slightly.
Peric settled a little. "You're lying. What is it? What can we do?"
Elphaba shook her head again and tried pushing herself to her feet. Peric hopped to her side and helped nudge her up. She stumbled over to her bed and did her best not to collapse on it.
"My—"
Malky appeared with the bottle of oil she used for burns. She mumbled a thank you and held it in her lap. She couldn't use it without taking off her dress, she couldn't do that until Malky and Peric left, and they weren't going to leave until she gave them some sort of explanation.
"What happened?" Peric asked, softer this time. "We heard the gunshot, and then I saw you on the broom, and we thought you had gotten away, but you didn't come back and—"
"I passed out," Elphaba said. "Kind of. I wasn't controlling the broom. It just took me away."
Peric tilted his head. "You were heading north when I lost sight of you. Where…?" He blinked as comprehension dawned. "Shiz."
Elphaba sighed heavily. "I honestly don't remember getting there. I woke up in my old bed. Apparently Glinda found me collapsed by the window in our room."
Malky murmured something about that poor thing, but Peric was shaking his head. "I don't get it. You were burned. You were shot, weren't you? How did you manage to make it there? How did you make it back after just one day?"
"Glinda." Elphaba twisted her fingers together, then pulled them apart again. "She used magic. It's nothing but a scar now. Well, a painful scar."
"She used magic?" Malky's eyes were wide. Peric studied her, and she shifted around at the knowing look in his eyes.
"Fae." She hated the concern in his voice.
"I'm fine," she said firmly. "Things…didn't go that well. But she's okay, and I'm here, so it's fine."
"F—"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"You never want to talk about it."
"Yeah. And now I really don't want to." Because it was worse now. It was so much worse. She could still see Glinda across the room, turning away from her, not saying the words back. Not saying anything. "I can't," she whispered.
There was something in her voice—some vulnerable sort of honesty—that made Peric back off.
Malky cleared his throat. "I should go report, let them know you're okay." he said. "I'll ask for a few days off, too."
"We don't need—" Elphaba stopped at the look Malky gave her. "Okay."
He nodded and left, leaping up a stack of crates to the window before disappearing through it.
Elphaba turned back to Fae. "What have I missed?" she asked. "You two made it back here okay, right?"
"Yeah. We were fine. We left all the trouble with you." Peric huffed. "Just so you know, you're never doing that again."
"Doing what?"
"Risking your life for us." Peric glared at her, silencing her protest. She sighed, her lips twitching into a tiny smile.
"Noted," she said. "Not that you can really stop me."
"We'll see about that," said Peric. "I'll let you sleep, though."
Elphaba's eyes instantly felt heavier. She nodded, and he nipped lightly at her braid before flying out of sight.
Elphaba forced herself to pull the top half of her dress off and take care of her side before falling asleep. It was a fight to keep her eyes open, and she kept imagining Glinda's hands instead of her own, rubbing oil into the burns. "I'm sorry," she breathed, not caring that she had said it out loud. "Glinda, I'm so sorry."
She grabbed fresh bandages from the cluster of bottles and jars sitting by her bed and somehow managed to redress the burns before falling back. It hurt to curl up, but she did it anyway, needing the tiny comfort it brought.
Elphaba grew restless over the next few days. They didn't have any work, but Malky went back and forth between the underground and the corn exchange, and Peric often left at night to stretch his wings and check out what was happening around the city. Meanwhile, she was stuck in the corn exchange. And though she was still healing just fine, it was at a much slower rate than when she'd been with Glinda.
She tried not to dwell on that too much. It didn't matter. She was here, and Glinda was at Shiz. Nothing was going to change that.
Peric came back late one night, a scrunched up stack of papers in his talons.
"Check this out," he said, landing near Elphaba and dropping them into her lap. Malky padded over, his head tilted curiously.
Elphaba smoothed the papers out in front of her. They were all pages from various newspapers over the past week, and they all had some story about the Witch. She skimmed a few.
"This is brutal," she muttered. "Normally they're just exaggerations, but this—look, 'Witch Burns Apothecary, Leaves Child Injured'—that's from a few days ago. I wasn't even here."
"It's funny," said Peric. "We haven't done anything all week, yet they're talking about us more than ever."
Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the stories. "They're trying to create more hysteria against me. But…why now?"
Another title caught her eye, and she pulled the paper out from under the rest. Rumors Surround Wizard's New Protégé—cont'd. The article was incomplete, missing its first page, and only consisted of a short conclusion paragraph:
Not much is known, as the public awaits an official statement from the palace, but it seems that this apprentice will be training under some of Oz's greatest sorcerers, including the Wizard himself. It is unclear whether they are meant as a future Gale Force officer, an Emerald City ambassador, or even a possible successor to the throne. Either way, Oz's citizens eagerly await the arrival of what will undoubtedly be a figure of hope in these disturbing times.
Malky stretched up, placing his front paws on her arm and peering over her shoulder to read. "That would be why," he said. "Whoever the Wizard has hired, their job is to be your opposite."
Elphaba felt uneasy—far more uneasy than she should. Was this why the Wizard made her a public enemy in the first place? So he could create a new figure to oppose her? She shook her head. She didn't know what all of this meant, but she was sure they'd find out soon, and she was sure that it wouldn't be good.
Glinda stood in front of her open wardrobe. She willed herself to pull out a dress and take it over to her suitcase, but her arms remained still at her sides. It wasn't a new occurrence. Morrible had given her a week to pack, and all week she had been shut in her room, trying to convince herself to do it. The farthest she had gotten was cleaning the blood stain near the window and tossing a single pair of shoes into her bag.
She hadn't seen the boys since that night at the café. Tomorrow, she would be on her way to the Emerald City with Morrible, and she had almost nothing packed and no idea if she would be able to say goodbye.
A knock on her door made her jump. She unfroze and turned away from the wardrobe, frowning.
The expression slipped into shock as she opened the door. Boq, Fiyero, Crope, and Tibbett were there, hovering in the hallway.
"What in Oz are you doing?" Glinda asked, her voice hushed. "You can't be in here, Morrible will kill you."
Boq rolled his eyes. "Does it really matter, at this point? She's already gotten what she wants, and I'll be damned if she gets to take away our last day together, too."
Glinda blinked, then brushed at her eyes, unable to say anything. Boq gave her a gentle smile.
"I'm sorry I got mad at you."
"N-no, it's okay," she stammered. "You have every right to be—"
"Even if that were true," Fiyero interrupted, "there's nothing we can do about it now."
"Except maybe help you pack," said Crope, peering through the doorway. He made a disapproving noise. "Seriously, Glinda. Don't you leave tomorrow?"
"I'm…having trouble finding motivation."
"We'll help!" Tibbett exclaimed. He hooked an arm through Crope's and all but skipped into the room. Glinda smiled and stepped aside to let Boq and Fiyero through. Fiyero wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she closed the door and leaned against it. She smiled up at him, then turned her attention to Crope and Tibbett, who were already judging her wardrobe.
"I'm guessing you're not taking everything, correct?" said Crope. He glanced at her bed, where only two suitcases sat, mostly empty.
"Morrible made it sound like I could go with just the clothes on my back, and they'd provide everything else."
"Some job," Fiyero said, raising his eyebrows. Glinda just shook her head.
"Okay, but we don't trust Morrible. So, clothes." Tibbett pulled out a plain, cream-colored dress and made a face. "Glinda, dear, this will never work."
"I like that dress!" she protested, walking over to them.
"Look, Tibbett and I are Emerald City fashion experts, okay?" Crope took the dress from Tibbett and placed it firmly back in the wardrobe. "Just trust us." He pulled out another dress and held it up against Glinda. Tibbett tilted his head, then nodded.
"Acceptable."
Glinda rolled her eyes but couldn't quite bite back her smile as she took the dress and folded it into her suitcase.
While Crope and Tibbett took apart her wardrobe, Fiyero and Boq helped her gather everything else. There wasn't much. Fiyero pulled her soaps and perfumes and makeup from the bathroom and wrapped them carefully in her clothes. Boq picked apart her desk, though he did more reading than actual packing. Glinda wandered over to him as he grabbed an old, faded architecture book.
"Elphie gave that to me," she said, recognizing it. "Ages ago. Our first semester here, in fact. The library was about to throw it out, so she took it."
"So that's a must," he said, handing it to her. "Do you want any of your other books?"
Glinda clutched the book to her chest. "Um. Sorcery. And math." Boq grabbed the books she pointed out and stacked them. She took them over to her bed and tucked them into one of the suitcases.
Crope and Tibbett came over, each with an armful of outfits, and helped her fold them away. Crope held up her favorite, worn sweater, giving her a smile.
"For comfort," he said, handing it to her. "But, please, don't wear it in public."
The exasperation in his voice made her giggle. "You forget, I used to be the queen here at Shiz. I think I can handle myself." At least, when it came to fashion.
With the boys' help, it only took an hour or so to pack away everything she would need. When they were done, her side of the room looked a lot like Elphie's: empty, but with just enough stuff to tell that someone had once lived there. Glinda knelt next to one of her bags and tucked a few final things into it—her sketchbook, the set of pencils, and the jar of burn cream that was still sitting on the table between the beds.
Fiyero walked up beside her and held out a little glass jar. "We…thought we'd have a picnic tonight. I know your magic makes you nervous, but…one last time?"
Glinda took the jar from him and held out her hand. It shook a little, but she took a deep breath and cupped her fingers. She focused on the center of her palm, where the bones of her fingers began. For a moment, she was lost in the memory of the first time she had conjured flames. She could feel Elphaba squeezing her hand, running back and forth over her palm, how her skin had tingled beneath Elphaba's, how she had stared at her in wonder as Glinda went on about magic.
She smiled a little then, and the middle of her hand heated up until a tiny fire appeared, flickering an inch or so above her palm. The flames were still tinged pink, and Glinda felt herself tear up as she noticed the color.
She scooped the flames into the jar and held it to her chest. "Let's go."
Crope and Tibbett ran off to get food while Fiyero, Boq, and Glinda pulled the blankets from her bed. They met up near the main square of campus and walked together to the far side of the lake, where their usual small groves of trees were scattered across the ground. The campus was bare, dreary, and cold, but once they spread the blankets out and Glinda let the fire grow a little, they were perfectly cozy.
It was all so familiar. They didn't eat much, and they didn't talk about anything important. Crope and Tibbett announced their recent idea of opening a bar in the Emerald City after graduation, and Boq mumbled something about calling it. At Tibbett's urging, Fiyero told a couple of legends he had heard growing up, most of them about the Kells and Kumbricia's Pass. Glinda added another story about Kumbricia that she had read in one of the sorcery books in the library. Boq rolled his eyes, but Crope and Tibbett looked delighted.
"We need a good storyteller for our bar," Tibbett said, looking at Crope. "Don't you think?"
Crope nodded. "Fiyero, you're hired."
"Sorry. I'll be busy being a prince after graduation."
"Well, on your days off, then."
At one point, Boq moved around their little circle and sat cross-legged next to Glinda. His eyes were sad as he turned to her.
"I really am sorry, you know." His voice was too soft for the others to hear. "I won't pretend to understand why you're doing this, but I…I want to support you. I know you're doing what's best."
Glinda set her chin on her knees. "I just keep thinking that…maybe this way, I can do something. I can help her. I can help Oz."
"Maybe you're right." Boq sighed. "I still think you're crazy."
"I know."
"I'm going to miss you."
Glinda glanced up at him. He would have to leave soon, too. With the secession being announced any day now, and the Eminent making arrangements to meet with the Wizard—possibly even now, as they spoke—he had until the end of break, maybe a little longer. She looked around at the rest of them. Fiyero seemed to sense her gaze and looked up to meet it. Crope and Tibbett noticed, too, and fell quiet.
It really was the end, wasn't it? Maybe it had been for a while, but now they couldn't draw it out any longer. She looked back at Boq.
"I'll miss you, too."
Glinda woke early and with little sleep, but she was instantly awake. Her heart pounded and her stomach felt knotted, but she changed into the outfit Crope and Tibbett had picked out for her the day before.
"Arrive in this, and they'll love you," Crope had said, holding out a knee-length emerald dress.
"Isn't that a bit cliché?" Glinda had asked as Tibbett pulled out a pair of small golden earrings.
"Maybe, but it's better to play it safe. Besides, I'd like to think of it as a small act of spite. You're not matching the city, you're matching Elphie."
Glinda pulled on a thick pair of tights and grabbed her coat, shoes, and hat. For a moment, she gazed at her reflection in the mirror and pictured herself next to Elphaba. She would look nice. Maybe Elphaba would be wearing that dark purple sweater and her black pants, and maybe she would have let Glinda do her hair, and her eyes would shine so that the gold flecks in them stood out, and…
Glinda shook her head and stepped back. She turned in a slow circle, looking around the room, but she didn't have the energy to be sentimental. It had all been spent last night, when she was saying her goodbyes to the boys. She took a deep breath and grabbed her two bags, then left the dorm.
Madame Morrible was already at the front gates, her luggage already loaded into the carriage. The driver took Glinda's bags from her and went to put them away.
Morrible looked her up and down. "You're making the right choice, my dear."
"Every time you say that, my resolve wavers," said Glinda.
Morrible made a disapproving noise, then turned her back on her and climbed into the cab. Glinda let out a breath and looked over her shoulder. Shiz stretched out behind her, cold, empty, and somehow peaceful. The sky was dreary and a little darker than usual. She wondered if her friends were awake yet.
"Madame? What will happen to Shiz, if you're in the Emerald City?"
"Does it really matter?"
"I'm curious."
Morrible scowled and looked like she was about to snap at her, but the driver appeared and started climbing up to his bench to take the reins. She narrowed her eyes.
"If you must know, an interim headmistress will be put in my place until she is replaced or decides to stay."
"Will you never come back?"
"You are my priority now, Miss Glinda, and it would seem that we are both moving on to greater things."
Glinda wasn't so sure about that. She looked back one last time at the campus. Past the main square, over the tops of the closer buildings, she could see just a corner of Crage Hall. She wondered if Elphaba had looked back, too, before she left.
"Come now, Miss Glinda. It's several hours to the city, and I would like to get there before nightfall."
Glinda turned away and, wordlessly, climbed into the carriage. She curled up into the corner, as far away from Morrible as possible. The driver clicked his tongue and, after a moment, they were off.
Glinda stared out the window as they rolled away. Just before Shiz faded from sight, it began to snow.
It was late afternoon when they arrived at the Emerald City. Glinda shrank away from the window, though she still looked dully out. She was sure the city was wondrous, but she didn't bother taking it in—not even as the carriage pulled through an elaborate gate and up to what was unmistakably the Wizard's palace.
A small crowd of people had gathered around the carriage, and they immediately set about collecting their bags and taking care of the horses. Morrible led her up the front steps to a tall, golden double door. Two Gale Force men stood in front of it, and they both shouldered their guns to push the doors open and let them through.
A couple of servants had followed them, carrying their bags, and now one stepped in front of Morrible.
"Where to, Miss?"
"Glinda's quarters first," said Morrible. He nodded and led them through a grand, open foyer and up a staircase. Just the entrance hall was a mess of hallways and stairs and balconies and ornate doorways, all glittering and pristine, all blurring in Glinda's mind. She was immediately sure that she would never learn her way around.
They stopped and the servant leading them unlocked a door. Morrible nudged Glinda through, and she stepped inside, her jaw dropping despite herself. The chambers were luxurious beyond anything she could imagine. A giant bed was made up with beautiful, perfectly folded sheets. The room was cluttered with furniture, all dark, plush, and shining. A wardrobe even bigger than the one she had in Frottica was open in the corner, revealing rows and rows of clothes Glinda would have once drooled over.
Galinda would have been ecstatic about all of this. The more she looked around the room, the more extravagant it was. The servants were eyeing her with kind curiosity. Outside her window, the Emerald City glowed in the sunset.
Morrible watched her carefully, but she hid any contempt. "You have the evening to yourself, to rest and get settled. In the morning, you and I will meet for breakfast."
One of the servants slipped into the room and set Glinda's bags down at the foot of the bed. Glinda watched her, then turned to Morrible, blushing a little.
"How will I—I don't know—"
"Someone will escort you," said Morrible, waving her hand dismissively. The woman who had brought in Glinda's bags looked up at her and smiled kindly, nodding a little.
"O-okay."
Morrible gave her one last look, then left, most of the servants bustling out after her.
"Would you like help unpacking?"
Glinda started a little and turned toward the woman by her bags. She was still smiling kindly. "I can help you get settled, if you wish. Of course, you may be tired from the trip and want some alone time. It's up to you."
Glinda was torn. She wanted to be alone, but everything was so overwhelming, the thought made her nervous. The servant seemed to understand her hesitation.
"How about we get your clothes hung up and I'll draw a bath, and then I'll leave you alone. Sound good?"
"Yes," Glinda tried to say, but no noise came out. She pressed her lips together and nodded.
The woman made quick work of her first bag, and in no time all the clothes Glinda had brought were tucked neatly into the wardrobe. She made for the second bag, but Glinda covered the latch with her hand. The suitcase was mostly her books and makeup, but it also had her worn, comfortable sweater, the jar of burn cream, and her sketchbook. She gave the servant a small smile.
"I'll get this one later," she said. "It's been a long day."
The woman nodded. "Of course. I'll leave you be. I can send someone up with dinner, though, if you'd like."
"That sounds lovely. Thank you."
She smiled a little and shook her head. "There's no need to thank us, Miss Glinda. We're at your service here."
Glinda frowned slightly, but the woman left before she could respond. Sighing, she pushed herself to her feet and lifted her suitcase onto the bed. She took her time unpacking. She spread her bottles across the counter in her bathroom, organizing and reorganizing them until a man arrived with a tray of food.
"Your dinner, Miss Glinda," he announced. "I apologize, I hope I'm not interrupting."
"No, of course not," said Glinda, hurrying back to the main room.
"Just leave the tray outside the door when you're finished, and we'll take care of the rest," he said warmly. He set it on the bedside table and bowed out before Glinda could properly thank him, leaving her standing in the middle of the room, feeling overwhelmingly lost.
She ate a little as she took out her books and set them in a row on her desk. The sketchbook she tucked into the drawer on the nightstand, along with the jar of burn cream. When she was finished she sat down carefully on the bed, looking around. Morrible had been right. She could have arrived with nothing and still have everything she would ever need. Her room was beautiful. The food was amazing. The view from her window was stunning.
She looked down at the fluffed pillows and soft blankets that were all too inviting, and she realized how long it had been—almost a year—since she slept in a bed that didn't smell like Elphaba.
"Pathetic," she mumbled to herself, shoving the now-empty suitcase off the bed. She pushed the blankets down and curled up against the pillows, facing the window. It was night now, but the city was still bright. The light shone through the window and kept her room from becoming completely dark. Glinda scowled and, after a moment's concentration, the curtains slid shut.
Just as Morrible said, a servant knocked on Glinda's door the next morning to take her down to breakfast. She tried to pay attention to where they were going. Left down the hall, down a half flight of stairs, to the right across a walkway that stretched above an open room on the floor below, right again—but it was too much to remember. She was never going to learn her way around. Glinda blinked a few times and tried to compose herself.
The servant opened the door to a small dining hall and curtsied as she passed, bowing her head. Glinda did her best not to shift around, uncomfortable with the attention, but she was snapped out of her thoughts by the sight of Morrible at the table, reading a newspaper.
"Sit, my dear, sit. They've already brought out your food."
Glinda shuffled over to sit across from Morrible. A man came and set a glass of water in front of her.
"Can I get you anything else to drink? Juice, tea, cocoa?"
"Cocoa, please," Glinda said quietly. "Can you make it with milk?"
He smiled a little. "Of course."
She looked up to see Morrible narrowing her eyes at her. Now Glinda did shift uncomfortably. She didn't know what happened next. She had no idea.
"Are you settled in, Miss Glinda?" Morrible asked.
"I'm unpacked," said Glinda. As if it was the same thing.
Morrible nodded, though, and folded her paper. Glinda tried to read the headlines, but Morrible set it too far away.
"Now," said Morrible. "Let's talk about your schedule."
"My…schedule?"
"Most of your time will be spent training, of course. You and I will continue our daily lessons."
Of course, Glinda thought. "Will I only be training with you?"
"There will be other instructors, but most of your time will be with me, yes." The man returned with a mug of cocoa, and Morrible waited for him to set it beside Glinda and leave before she continued. "We will begin right away, but that is not all you're doing. We have to work on your public image as well."
Glinda paused and looked up at her. "What do you mean?"
"I'm sure you've seen some of this." Morrible slid the newspaper over to her. It was from the day before, and the front page story was about Elphaba. "The Wicked Witch of the West is spreading unease throughout the city," Morrible said. "The Wizard needs a public figure to bring reassurance to the people."
Glinda automatically shook her head. That was Elphaba. She couldn't oppose her, least of all for the Wizard.
But Morrible leaned in. "May I remind you, Miss Glinda, that Elphaba Thropp is a traitor to Oz."
Glinda shoved the paper back at her. "I don't understand," she said. "If the Wizard didn't want unease in his city, why did he create this image for her in the first place?"
"She created it for herself."
"That's a lie, Madame, and you know it."
Morrible sat back and glared at her. "Thus far I have tolerated your defense of Miss Thropp," she said darkly, "But the people here are far less lenient."
"You're threatening me." They hadn't even been here for a full day.
"Really, my dear, I don't know why you're surprised." Morrible rose from the table and gestured for Glinda to follow. "Come. Your first public appearance is in a few days, and we have a lot of work to do before then."
Public appearance? Glinda didn't like any of this, but all she could think of to say was, "I haven't even eaten yet."
"And whose fault is that? If you hadn't wasted your time arguing with me, you would have time to eat."
Glinda looked back at her plate of food and the rich, steaming hot cocoa that sat next to it.
"Glinda." Morrible's voice harsh. Swallowing, she turned and followed Morrible out of the dining hall and further into the maze that was the Wizard's palace.