Hi! Long time no see, for any readers who actually do genuinely enjoy this story, I really do apologize for my horrible updating non-existent schedule. I know how frustrating it can be, and I do apologize. I've started a new job a month ago and am getting ready for my freshman year of college, but it's no excuse! To any readers I have somehow managed to retain, thank you for your continued interest and to new readers, welcome and I hope you enjoy this installment!)
"You've been quiet lately."
"I haven't had much to say."
"Is it because Miss Elphaba's gone?"
Avaric finally turned down the paper he was reading to look at Linny, who was perched in front of him next to his feet which rested on a maroon ottoman. He stared at her for a minute, trying to think of the answer to her question. He finally sighed and flipped his paper back up before answering.
"Maybe." he huffed. Linny nodded understandingly.
"I've been quiet too lately," she said, "in case you haven't noticed."
Avaric sighed, flipping his paper back down again, because for as much as Linny liked to chatter, she had been chattering less than she used to.
"I've noticed." he said.
"Miles, Liir and Nor don't talk as much either." Linny said, picking at the fabric of the ottoman, "It's really depressing." she added matter-of-factly.
"Maybe you kids just need to go outside more. Just because Miss Elphaba's gone doesn't mean you can't go outside, does it?" Avaric asked, trying to keep his own melancholy mood out of his tone.
"We already tried going outside. It's just more depressing because Miss Elphaba's not there like she used to be." Linny's voice drooped in contest with her posture which had slumped into gloomy form.
"You could draw pictures?" Avaric suggested, reaching forward to right Linny's posture.
"Even more depressing." she slumped back down, her face falling into her hands. Avaric sighed.
"You're a depressing child." he said.
"I want Miss Elphaba back." Linny muttered into her hands. They were both quiet for a moment, only the sound of a nearby ticking clock and a summer breeze from outside rustling the curtains. In unison they breathed in deeply, before letting out equally miserable sighs of discontent.
"Well, aren't you two just the picture of excitement."
Avaric and Linny looked up as the King entered, an amused smile tempting his lips.
"He thinks he's so funny." Linny dropped her face back into her hands, muttering loudly enough for both Avaric and Fiyero to hear. Fiyero rolled his eyes before proceeding further into the sitting room.
"Linny, the new tutor is arriving today, you'll return to your summer lessons this afternoon."
"I told you I don't want a new tutor!" Linny snapped, her hands flying from her face as she glared up at her father. Fiyero sighed in aggravation.
"Linny, we've talked about this. You're taking lessons with the others from Miss Hampton and that's final." Fiyero said sternly, "I don't know why you're being so difficult about this!"
"Of course you don't know why! Just because you forgot all about her, doesn't mean I have!"
Fiyero shut his eyes briefly, knowing without question who Linny was referring to. Of course he hadn't forgotten her, but he was trying. It was all he could do. Remembering her was out of the question.
"Linny, I don't know how many times I have to tell you this," he began, "but Miss Elphaba is no longer a topic of contention in this home. Do you think she'd appreciate you using her memory as some sort of excuse to get out of new lessons from new tutors?"
"Her memory?" Linny made a face, "It's not like she's dead or something."
Fiyero seemed startled by her comment, as though he'd never considered his words would be taken in such a way. He blinked a few times, "I—well—of course she's not dead, Linny! For Oz's sake!"
"It's not as though you'd notice if she was." Avaric murmured under his breath, "And if you did, you probably wouldn't even be bothered to care." Fiyero's eyes snapped to Avaric's brooding form.
"Linny, why don't you go play outside or something. Master Avaric and I have something adult to talk about." Fiyero said shortly. Linny's response was a silent look of indignity before she stormed out. Avaric stood up after Linny was gone to stand right in front of Fiyero.
"Why bother sending Linny out? You going to curse at me or something?" he asked nonchalantly. Fiyero's gaze turned stern.
"For what you said, I just might." he settled Avaric with another reproachful look before backing away from his friend as he headed towards the parlor liquor cabinet. Avaric scoffed.
"If I'm to be cursed at every time I speak the truth, perhaps I should invest some time into finding myself less cowardly friends."
"You had no right to say something like that Avaric, it was uncalled for, especially in front of Linny!" Fiyero said, ignoring Avaric's comment.
"Oh and since when did you become the keeper of my rights? I can say whatever I want Fiyero, that's one of the beauties of an independent Vinkus, is it not?" Fiyero scoffed at Avaric's comment, which seemingly infuriated him, "You know, Fiyero, ever since she left, it's as if she never even existed to you. She did a hell of a whole lot for this family and for you. That's quite a bit to be ungrateful for if you ask me."
"Ungrateful?!" Fiyero turned, seething, "Tell me exactly how ungrateful I'm being by not spending my days being a senseless, useless, unproductive sloth like the rest of you. How ungrateful am I to actually try to be positive, to keep this household moving whilst the rest of you seem content to mope and whine and complain now that she's gone? Tell me how much I spit on her memory by forcing myself every morning to get out of bed and try to move on with my life now that she isn't in it!"
Avaric was quiet after that. He had had no idea. Fiyero seemed alarmed at his own outburst and he visibly deflated, a shaky hand fluttering to his eyes. When he looked up again it was with a hardness and pain that Avaric now realized had always been there, veiled thickly by his attempts at cheer and positivity, attempts to keep the rest of them from falling apart.
"You know Avaric, I think there is one essential piece of this puzzle that you and everyone else in this damn castle seem to have forgotten. Just remember that before you attack me for my ungratefulness, that she is the one who left. She is the one who abandoned this family. She is the one who packed her bags one day and disappeared without even saying goodbye."
Avaric had no rebuttal to that. He'd known Fiyero for many years, and he didn't think he'd ever known him quite as well as he did now. As he watched his friend sweep from the room he realized how truly unfair he and the children had been. Of course Fiyero wasn't going to complain and whine; of course he would be the one to step up and try to salvage the happiness of a family he'd only just regained. And of course, he was hurt by Miss Elphaba's abandonment. Avaric might even say that out of all of them, the King was hurt the most. And while they had all loved Miss Elphaba dearly, what they had failed to realize, and what Avaric had forgotten, was that Fiyero had actually fallen for her and when she left, she had quite possibly broken his heart.
3 months later
As time passed, the castle grew warmer and warmer, the coldness that Elphaba's absence had plunged it into seeped away little by little each day. The children had begun to accept her absence and no longer spent the days depressingly inside the castle. Laughter returned and sadness and bitterness was pushed aside. All seemed well, but Avaric knew there were still days; days when Fiyero could not shake the loss and would lock himself in his study. And while he laughed a lot more and smiled and joked and seemed for all the world beyond satisfied with life, Avaric suspected he faked it quite a lot.
When Lila told him that Fiyero had proposed and they were to be married, Avaric could tell that something was off. She of course was glowing with happiness, but Avaric knew, from the microscopic lilt of her smile that this was something she had wanted for entirely too long, and it did not happen at all as she had imagined. But she was trying so hard to be happy about it and Avaric couldn't bring himself to tell her it wasn't right. He congratulated her and Fiyero, distracting them both with jokes and jibes and talk of the wedding. It was the way Lila's eyes often brimmed with confusion, a sad show of how lost she was in this engagement; it was the way Fiyero's smile strained against his own battling mind, the way he clearly had no idea how he felt for the woman he had just pledged his life to. It was the way they weren't right for each other at all, but wanted so desperately to be. Many people thought a man like Avaric didn't know the meaning of loneliness, but he did and he could recognize the dark wells of it with unsettling precision in his two closest friends.
He congratulated them despite his observations, and dealt the same artificially forged smile the castle had grown used to seeing in its three months of what Avaric coined as "post-Elphaba reconstruction". As he began making calls and telegramming old acquaintances, he knew that no matter how much they'd rebuilt since Miss Elphaba had left, it was precarious in structure and liable to certain doom. They'd cheated their "reconstruction" by going for cheap in the foundation, with false cheeriness and counterfeit smiles, grasped for in desperate want of their genuine counterparts. And while they could all live like this comfortably, the forgery of happiness was always better than debilitating sadness, his friends deserved more. Lila deserved more and Fiyero certainly deserved more. Which was why after nearly three weeks of searching and calling and telegramming, Avaric had finally found her. And as he boarded the train to the countryside, he only hoped he was doing the right thing by bringing her back.
(A/N: And that's all for today! Thank you again for reading, I warn you I shall not make any grand promises of a fast approaching update, but I DO assure you that I WILL FINISH THIS STORY if it is the last thing I do! (but hopefully it won't indeed be the last thing I do) Thanks again!)