It hadn't taken long, after her desperate flight from the Emerald City, for Elphaba to fall in love with the Vinkus. She felt an odd kinship with Oz's brusque, western territory. It was a wild, opinionated land; certainly not for the faint hearted. However the Vinkus's aura of danger couldn't disguise its fierce, heart wrenching beauty. When the blazing sun pricked itself on jagged mountain peaks and bled across the sky Elphaba was floored by its vastness. Winkie Country was epic and unrelenting. It did not apologize for its revolt from the safe and conventional.
Elphaba was soaring over Kumbrica's Pass, reveling in the western sky's unending blue, when a vision struck her. Like all the witch's premonitions this was an unspecific surge of emotion. Fear drowned her heart and for a moment Leyen's unconscious face rolled over the far off skyline like a wind driven cloud.
Elphaba yanked her broomstick to a shuddering halt so quickly that she was almost thrown forward into a freefall. Adrenaline flooded the witch's system with sudden urgency. Oz's wicked witch, for all her rebellious freedom, was a slave to who and what she cared about. No matter how rational Elphaba's head strove to be her heart burned with enough passion to always overrule it.
So, even as she berated herself, the green woman turned towards the den of her most hated enemy.
/
Leyen felt cold air ripple across her limp features. The good witch squinted as stingingly frigid air pried her from slumber's warm embrace. "Ozian poppies," a steely voice mused. "I never took Madame Morrible for the kind to grant her enemies a peaceful death. Of course I suppose it could've been someone else. Or you could've been possessed with stupidity and locked yourself in a room of potentially deadly flowers, but I never took you for a fool."
"It was Morrible," Leyen murmured sleepily, still slightly disoriented. She could feel something hard pushing against her thighs and arms encircling her middle.
"Wonderful," Elphaba commented. The good witch could hear a humorless smirk in her voice. "Now I've got another reason to wish that woman a horrible death." She sighed wearily. "I can't imagine why in Oz you came back here so trustingly. Everyone was suspicious after you spent so long away from civilization; did you really expect to be safe?"
"I didn't think they'd try to kill me," Leyen muttered, still finding it difficult to move her eyelids.
"Your absolute naivety and total lack of negative sentiment both impresses and disgusts me," Elphaba replied. Her voice had lost its livid, bitter edge. The blonde witch grinned drowsily.
"Well we can't all be cynical rebels." Elphaba chuckled and Leyen's eyes finally flickered open. "Thanks for saving me," she said sheepishly. "Someday I'll pay you back."
"I sincerely doubt that," the wicked witch retorted. "And you should probably look around before you thank me." When Leyen proceeded to take in her surroundings she seized Elphaba's waist in a fit of instinctual panic. The two witches were sailing through a starry, night sky far above Oz's sprawling city of emeralds. Below thousands of jeweled, jade lights glittered like a thousand captured fireflies. However Leyen's mind was less concerned with the view and more concerned with the fact that only a flimsy broom handle separated her from a flailing death miles below. Elphaba cackled at the good witch's reaction. "It's really something isn't it?"
"Sure," Leyen muttered. "It's definitely something." This only drew another chortle from the green woman.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of heights."
"I have no irrational qualms about high bridges or cliffs," Leyen responded. "But any rational person would be frightened by this."
"I'm not."
"That's probably because you are, in practice, the farthest person from rational that I've ever met."
"You'll get no argument from me," the wicked witch replied. For a moment the two companions were silent as the night washed over them. "Where would you like me to drop you?" Elphaba wondered moments later.
"I'm not sure," Leyen admitted. "If I don't return to the Emerald Palace it means that I'll have to stop helping you."
"Which, after your life was just in jeopardy, would be the rational option."
"I can't leave you to lead this crusade of yours alone."
"Yes you can. In fact I'll be quite relieved if you do."
Leyen glared stubbornly at her friend. "Drop me down the street from the Emerald Palace," she demanded. Elphaba sighed in exasperation.
"Don't be ridiculous," she insisted. "You can't go back there with Morrible out for blood. After your stint in Quadling Country the Wizard won't take your word over that of his press secretary."
"I'll pretend as though I thought it was an accident," the good witch decided.
"I'm sure that will work," Elphaba snorted. "'Oh Madame Morrible please don't feel bad about accidentally locking me in a room full of poisonous flowers. I got my good friend the Wicked Witch of the West to rescue me; no harm no fowl.'"
"Or I could tell her that I got out with a lock picking spell and assumed that she'd gone for help."
"Leyen it's too dangerous."
"No it's not," the blonde argued. "I'll avoid Morrible and ask the Wizard if my next trip can be to the Governor of Munchkinland. No one will be suspicious of me for going there." Leyen could see Elphaba's determination waver at the chance to get news of Nessarose.
"If you think you're in danger get out of there," the green girl muttered, backing down. "And don't do anything stupid. I don't need your death on my conscience."
/
"Your Wizardship?" Leyen rapped tentatively on Oscar's door.
"Come in," was his muffled reply. Inside Oz's ruler was reading a scuffed, leather book beside his crackling fireplace. "Ah, Leyen," he greeted warmly. "How are you?"
"Fine," the witch replied. "A bit shaken, but fine."
"Shaken?"
"I had a bit of an accident earlier," she explained. "There was a room full of Ozian poppies in the storage quarters and while Madame Morrible and I were poking around I somehow managed to get myself locked inside."
"That's dreadful," Oscar exclaimed sympathetically. "I trust you managed to escape safely."
"Yes; I've learned several lock picking spells over the past weeks," Leyen assured him. "Madame Morrible ran off to find the keys and I've spent the better part of the day searching for her. She must be wondering how I got out."
"Oh, well I'll let her know if I see her. Now, what was your reason for visiting at this late hour?"
"Well I was just thinking that it's been awhile since I've visited Munchkinland," the good witch explained. "Governor Thropp seems like a reasonable man but he is the father of your greatest enemy. A visit to Colwen Grounds wouldn't be totally misplaced."
"That's a splendid idea," Oscar exclaimed. "Though you didn't have to rush down here in the evening to tell me."
"Well I was hoping to depart in an hour," Leyen admitted. "I prefer to travel overnight so I can sleep in the carriage."
"Oh," the Wizard responded. "Well that's quite alright. Just be sure to keep me updated. Your reports from Quadling Country were getting a little few and far between these last few weeks."
His words were more a friendly warning than a threat, but Leyen suddenly felt cornered. After her earlier encounter the blonde was still terribly jumpy. "I apologize," she muttered, already backing out. "I'll be sure to keep things as up to date as possible." With another polite bob of her head Leyen departed.
Before she left the Emerald Palace and all its infinite resources Leyen stopped by the library. In one of its dustiest corners she quickly selected a book on trap doors. It was the very one she'd used to build her trap for Kucharo, and would make a perfect present for him when she returned to Fede. No one would care if one obscure book went missing from the archives.
The blonde also felt obliged to check on Chistery. From his first words she knew something was wrong. You've got to get me and my family out of here! The Monkey's usually neat handwriting was jagged and desperate. It flailed across the parchment like the death throes of a tortured animal.
"Why?" Leyen demanded. "What's wrong?"
I'm forgetting myself. I've started thinking like a dumb animal for hours at a time. My thoughts are going blurry. The blonde's heart thrummed with anguish and rage in equal parts. She couldn't lose Chistery. He was the last tie to her old life and, more importantly, it was in her power to free him. One word to Elphaba and she would swoop in to rescue the Monkeys. If Chistery lost himself because Leyen was unwilling to risk her green friend she would never forgive herself.
"I'll talk to Fabala next time we meet," she promised.
Is there any way to get word to her faster?
"No. She's never in one place for more than a day," Leyen replied. "Just hold on; it won't be long until our next scheduled meeting."
I'll try Yenlay.
/
One of Colwen Grounds' first owners had been quite fond of exotic flowers and as a result the manor possessed an impressive garden. It was an artful maze laid out with plazas of brilliantly colorful blooms no more than ten paces from more subdued, melancholy corners. Leyen could feel life and balance thrumming through the very soil as she and Nessa roamed the grounds.
"Isn't it lovely?" her friend inquired, gesturing to a dazzling array of vivid blossoms. "Of course Elphaba always said these displays of color were conceited and frivolous. She preferred shadowy, depressed hideaways."
"To read in?" Leyen guessed.
"No," Nessa sighed as they passed one such dim corner. "That was the funny thing; Elphaba just sat there quietly. I was always envious of how satisfied she could be with solitude."
"Hmm." The blonde had learned that it was best not to respond to these nostalgic comments. Nessarose missed Elphaba, but pride would not let her admit it. That's why each musing on her sister's past was quickly followed by some short of admonishment of the green girl's actions.
"Elphaba always did seem to have an issue with people," Nessa continued, voice harsher now. "All that senseless solitude taught my sister to shun society and look where it's gotten her. Look where it's gotten me. Everyone assumes that I'll make reckless decisions because of my crazy sister. As if my disability wasn't already such a hindrance."
"Nessa your chair is not a hindrance," Leyen argued. "Most people hardly notice it."
"I doubt that," the invalid retorted. "I haven't had a suitor in years."
"That's because you're intimidating," her friend chuckled, grinning.
"How am I intimidating?" Nessarose demanded. Her ignorance on the subject was almost comical.
"Where for one you're always dressed in those stern, black outfits," Leyen explained. Her words were accompanied by grandiose hand gestures, a habit she'd picked up from Kucharo. "And for another you roll around in that throne of a wheelchair. Plus you frown like some nanny about to scold a naughty child."
"I do not," Nessa argued as her face twisted into the exact expression Leyen had just described. The blonde couldn't help but snort. "What?"
"You're doing it again," she giggled.
"Doing what?"
"The angry nanny scowl." The brunette screwed up her face.
"Is this better?" she teased.
"Much," Leyen replied, still laughing. "You'll have men lining up at the door with a smile like that."
"Well Boq could do with some competition," Nessarose chuckled. She tossed the Boq comment out with a practiced air of nonchalance. Leyen rose to the bait.
"You're seeing Boq?" she squeaked excitedly.
"Well his family has fallen on hard times so he's working here," her friend elaborated. "We've just been chatting a bit and taking walks together. I think he likes me."
"That's wonderful!" Leyen exclaimed. "I'm so happy for you." Nessarose surveyed her friend expectantly. "What?"
"Don't play dumb with me Miss Leyen," the brunette chastened. "I'm know I'm not the only one whose romantic fortunes have improved." Blood rose to her friend's face.
"You win," she sighed. "I met someone."
"What's his name?" Nessa demanded, allowing a little girlish immaturity to leak through.
"Kucharo," Leyen replied.
"That quadling boy you keep telling me about?" Nessa gasped. "You two are courting?"
"Well we've progressed past courting," the blonde hinted.
"You mean you two have been…dragonsnaking?" Nessarose could hardly contain her pious horror.
"No, no, no!" Leyen exclaimed as her face flamed. "I meant engagement."
"Oh." Now it was the invalid's turn to blush. "He's asked you already?"
"It's pending in the near future," Leyen clarified. Something akin to awkwardness filled the space between them. Nessarose averted her eyes.
"You'll be marrying a quadling?"
"Yes," the blonde confirmed, totally lost. "What of it?"
"Well it's not exactly…conventional," Nessa whispered. "People will talk." Leyen's eyes narrowed.
"Let them talk," she challenged. "I'm not gonna go shout it from the rooftops but if someone deems it necessary to root around in my personal life I will not hide from the fact that I'm in love with Kucharo. Those who don't like it can deal."
"I'm glad you've found someone!" Nessa defended. "I just want you to be prepared." Leyen sucked in a deep breath.
"I know," the blonde murmured. Suddenly she realized that her friend was staring. "What now?"
"You sounded like Elphaba just then," Nessa mused fearfully.
"I'm not about to fly off and become a fugitive if that's what you're worried about," Leyen teased in a gentle, peacemaking fashion. She apologetically took the invalid's hand. "After all people would talk."