AN: Okay, I'm at the new place. Not quite settled yet… lots of shopping to do and lots of unpacking. Still, I did write a little the other night, and I'll probably write some this morning before the boyfriend wakes up. Which reminds me, I do worry about this, because I have a tendency to want to write this stuff when I am either single or far away from the boyfriend for more than a week. Since we were long distance until yesterday, writing was an issue. Hopefully it won't be an issue later, either.

Chapter 26: Morrible's Tests

Elphaba was walking back from her first day of politics class with Fiyero when the two of them ran into Madame Morrible. Elphaba glanced at Fiyero's arm to make sure his wound was covered and stared at him as he came to a stop, worried he might still show the slightest hint of a limp. "Hello, Madame Morrible."

"Greetings, Ms. Elphaba. Glinda informed me that I would be seeing you this afternoon in class. I was just going to stop by your room to ask if you could arrive several minutes early so that you can demonstrate your talent."

"I would be glad to."

Fiyero smiled at Elphaba, clearly amused that she was behaving so politely to Madame Morrible. "Good morning, Madame Morrible."

"Morning, Master Fiyero. It is good to see that you have made friends with Ms. Elphaba. One of the things I like best about Shiz is to see students from all over the place becoming friends. The diversity on this campus pleases me greatly."

Elphaba had to bite her already bruised lip to keep from snorting.

Fiyero nodded. "I have made many friends from many places here. I like it here very much."

"I hope you take your experience back to your kingdom with you when you graduate."

"I will." Fiyero eyed Elphaba. He was hoping to take more than just the experience. He wanted to take home his queen, too. He blinked and shook his head. "I hope that the friendships I have made here will benefit me throughout my life."

"I'm sure they will. Did you know that Ms. Elphaba is the Third Thropp Descending? That means she's to be Eminent Thropp upon graduation. I'm sure it'll be extremely useful for the two of you to stay in touch."

"Oh, I intend to stay in touch with Elphaba. She's an incredibly smart young woman."

"That she is." Morrible smiled down at Elphaba. "I will see you early this afternoon, Ms. Elphaba. Have a good lunch."

Elphaba made a face as Morrible walked away. "You sounded like such a kiss-up."

"You acted pretty polite yourself."

"'I hope that the friendships I have made here will benefit me greatly throughout my life.' Seriously, Fiyero?" Elphaba laughed.

"I was pretty surprised you didn't snap at her little diversity speech."

"I have self-control, Fiyero. Although it was hard not to at least laugh at that. But I need her to think I'm on her side right now. You know that."

"I do. But I also know sometimes you get caught up in the heat of the moment when it comes to certain subjects."

"You're probably right about that. Look, Fiyero, I have to meet Glinda in the room for lunch. She was going to go over a few spells with me one last time before class."

"Come see me this evening?"

"I shouldn't slip out after the first day of classes. I'll see you later this week." Elphaba headed back towards Crage.

"Love you…" He called after her.

She turned around, smiling, and put a finger to her lips, mouthing the words back at him. Elphaba smiled as she made her way back to her room. For once in her life, it felt like she might actually be happy, genuinely happy. She was learning what she needed to learn. She had friends. She had Fiyero. The only thing that was missing was justice for the Animals. Her face fell at the thought. Dr. Dillamond… If only he were still alive. Maybe he'd know what to do and where to go from here. Things were too easy for her, and she knew they weren't for everyone, and that irked her. She wanted to change the world. Maybe she wanted too much. There was only so much she could do. But she had no idea where her priorities should lie, or where they did lie.

After lunch with Glinda, Elphaba took a deep breath and headed over to the small building in which Morrible taught her sorcery class. The building housed several arts classrooms, as well, along with Morrible's office. Madame Morrible was already in the classroom when Elphaba stepped inside.

"Ah, Ms. Elphaba! There you are. Come, come. I have a small list of spells I would like you to demonstrate for me in this beginner's book." Morrible handed Elphaba the book Glinda had given Elphaba. "Let's start with something simple, eh? I would like you to light that small candle on the desk."

Elphaba didn't need to look down at the book. She chanted to herself and wound her hands around, pointing at the candle. It lit up.

"Good, good. Next, I want you to change the color of that piece of paper to the color of your choosing."

Elphaba again muttered some words and the paper on the desk turned a blue strikingly similar to the color of the diamonds on Fiyero's skin. She doubted Morrible realized this, but she flushed a little.

"Impressive. Only one spell left. Please tie that string in a knot."

Elphaba once more chanted and waved her arms as though she was tying a knot. From across the room, the little white string was tied into a lovely bow.

"Ms. Elphaba, why did you not tell me about this talent of yours earlier? You performed those spells better than some of my third year students who have taken class with me since arriving here."

"I didn't know I could do it. I, um, accidentally took one of Glinda's books with me once and when I opened it I just tried it for fun, and it worked." Elphaba lied, looking Morrible straight in the eyes.

"Well, I'm certainly glad I placed you in a room with Ms. Glinda, then, because if not, we may never have discovered your affinity for sorcery!"

Elphaba cringed at the word "we." Morrible was already taking credit for Elphaba's skill. It didn't surprise her, though. That was why she had to hide the extent of it from her. She could never know about the Grimmerie. Never. "Glinda is a good friend and roommate."

"Yes. Who'd have thought the two of you would've taken to each other so well? As I said to Master Fiyero earlier, it truly does please me to see people from different parts of Oz bonding." Morrible smiled, the creases in her face deepening. "Let me get you a more complex book to work on, something akin to what Ms. Glinda is working on. She's a rather talented sorceress herself, you know."

"Oh, I know." Elphaba watched Morrible leave the room. She walked over to the desk where all the items she'd had to enchant had been placed and fingered the blue paper. How had that happened? She hadn't even been thinking about Fiyero and yet… she blinked several times to clear her head. That boy was getting to her head more than she ever thought she'd let him.

"How'd it go?" Glinda stood in the doorway.

"You're early." Elphaba smiled at her roommate.

"I wanted to see how you did."

"She's getting me a more complicated book. I would assume that's a good sign."

Glinda jumped up and down with a little squeal. "I knew you'd do great, Elphie!"

Morrible returned to the room. "Oh, how lovely to see you Ms. Glinda. I was just telling Elphaba how glad I was that the two of you talented young ladies ended up as roommates. I must have had some sort of psychic intuition when I placed the two of you in the same room!"

Elphaba rolled her eyes at Glinda when Morrible wasn't looking.

Glinda nodded at Elphaba and replied to Morrible. "Elphaba is really smart."

"I've heard that twice today, now. Master Fiyero was also praising Ms. Elphaba's intelligence when I stopped the two of them in the quad today."

Glinda raised her eyebrows at Elphaba, a knowing smile on her face. "Oh, you'd hear that from everyone. Fiyero and Boq are always begging to study with Elphaba. She's the smartest person I know at Shiz."

"You have gotten remarkable marks in all of your classes, Ms. Elphaba. And you as well, Ms. Glinda. The Wizard has been looking for talented young adults such as yourselves and he asked me personally to send them his way. How would you like to take a trip to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard between after this term during the winter holidays?"

"That'd be wonderful!" Glinda exclaimed, grabbing Elphaba's hand. "It would be an honor."

"It would." Elphaba agreed. "I'd be proud to represent you and Shiz."

"Well, keep that in mind then. If the two of you continue to display such intelligence and talent as you have been these first two years, I will certainly be sending you to the City come winter." Morrible handed Elphaba a book. "Here is the book I was looking for. Now, if the two of you will excuse me, I have to go make sure my lessons are prepared for our upcoming class." Morrible left the room again.

Glinda turned to Elphaba and giggled helplessly. "Can you believe it, Elphie? The Emerald City!"

"I have to admit that it would be quite an experience."

"We better keep working hard! I'll bet your father will have to be proud of you if you get to meet the Wizard!"

"Oh, somehow I doubt that."

"Well, at least your sister and Nanny will be. And Fiyero, for sure. And what was that about you two running into her?"

"She came up to us while we were leaving class, babbling about how happy she was that people from all around Oz were connecting here at Shiz."

"She certainly seems to love this place."

"I think what she really loves is being in charge of it."