The sun had yet to rise when Elphaba rose to dress herself for the journey ahead. She slid the Grimmerie into her bag and put her cloak on before reaching for her hat, only to find it missing.

"You're leaving…"

The green woman turned towards the voice, finding Two standing there, clutching the black hat in her hands.

"It is time."

"You're not coming back, are you?"

Elphaba didn't reply; it would be a lie to deny it.

"I knew you would leave one day… and I have made peace with it." Two approached her and set the hat on her head gently. "Just know that this place will always welcome you."

"It has been a second home to me, and I thank you." Elphaba took her hand and kissed the back of it gently. "I will never forget this place."


"So, are we to make this entire journey on foot?" Shell asked as they left the camp behind.

"We have plenty of provisions. Do not worry, my brother."

"I'm not worried about anything related to that. By foot, our journey will take a week at least! Fiyero's guards will reach the Gillikin within days, and alert him to the fact that you're still alive."

"And that concerns you?"

"No one expected you to survive in the Vinkus. If Fiyero discovers that you are returning, he will have time to prepare something even worse."

"Let him prepare what he wishes. I will not be driven away so easily."

"Elphaba, do you really plan to fight your brother for the throne?" Galinda asked.

"I care not to have his throne."

"Then how will you free the Munchkins? Fiyero will never negotiate with you," Shell said.

"I will find a way." It was true, Elphaba did not wish to fight her brother, for it would only end in death for one of them. Still, she knew her brother would not reason, for he cared for his throne too much; she knew that first-hand.

I will find a way to end this as peacefully as possible… I will not kill my brother.


"Hurry, mother, or we will miss the ambassadors!"

"There is no need to rush so, Irji." Sarima followed her eager son to where Fiyero sat waiting in the audience chamber. Sarima took her seat beside her husband while Irji stood beside her. Just as her husband had wished, she had provided him with a son, an heir to his cruel reign. She tried to keep Irji from adopting his father's beliefs, but the bond between father and son was a strong one, and it appeared that even she couldn't change the person her son was meant to be.

"The ambassador from Fliaan."

The ambassador approached and bowed before Fiyero, who gave him a nod back.

"Lord Fiyero, I have come to deliver the payment agreed upon to keep our border safe from the exiles in the Glikkus."

"And with it, your border shall remain safe."

The Fliaan ambassador gave another bow before heading for the exit. Sarima watched him go, and she knew that were she younger, she would have commented on Fiyero's blatant extortion of the other lands. By playing on their fears of being attacked, Fiyero took their wealth, raising the power Oz held.

"And what kingdom has sent you?" she heard the guard ask.

"No kingdom sends me. We come of our own agenda."

That voice… it was the same that haunted the queen's dreams. Sarima leaned forward, hardly daring to believe her eyes.

"And what gifts do you bring?" Fiyero asked, though a smirk played across his face.

Elphaba stood before Fiyero, removing her hat. "I bring you the word of the Kumbric Witch. She uses me to speak to you, and I say 'let my people go'!"

"The slaves are mine. Their lives are mine. All that they own are mine. I do not know your Kumbric Witch, nor will I let the Munchkins go."

"Who are you to make their lives bitter in hard bondage?" Galinda asked.

Elphaba put an arm out to hold her wife back. "Men should be ruled by law, not by the will of other men."

Sarima could do little more than stare, noting the simple gem-decorated bracelet that the blonde wore; the traditional Vinkan sign of marriage. A pang of jealousy shot through her, an emotion she hadn't believed she was capable of anymore.

"Who is this Witch, that I should let your people go?"

The green woman cast down her broom before the ruler of Oz, her gaze never leaving her once brother.

"Mother! Mother!" Irji said, pointing at the broom, which had begun to levitate. "The broom is flying by itself!"

"Nothing of hers will harm you, my son," Sarima said, holding her son close, her eyes on her former lover.

Fiyero, however, seemed unimpressed. "The power of your Witch is a cheap magician's trick," he said. He picked up his staff, using it to push Elphaba's broom down. The broom refused to stay down after a second or two, and brushed the staff aside before rising again.

"Mother!"

"The broom acts on its own," Sarima said, looking from the object to the green woman.

Elphaba took the broom back into her hands. "You sent me into the Vinkus to rule over the tribes, but the Kumbric Witch has sent me back to rule over you. Hear my words, Fiyero, and obey."

"Obey?" Fiyero smiled at that. "Elphaba, Elphaba. When I sent you into the wilderness, I had every intention of leaving you to rot in Southstairs, should you ever return. But I am wiser now, and you merely entertain me. I will give your broom a greater wonder to perform. Bear it before your idle people and bid them make bricks without straw."

"How can people make bricks without straw?"

"Let her broom provide them with it. Or let them glean straw in the fields for themselves. But their tally of bricks shall not diminish." Fiyero stood, giving Elphaba a smug look. "So let it be written. So let it be done."


"Elphaba! Are we free?"

"May we abandon the Emerald City?"

"Let her speak," Shell said, quieting the crowd of Munchkins who had gathered around the once emerald prince. Her return had been a miracle, and they were convinced she was the one to free them from Fiyero's reign.

Elphaba sighed, looking down at her broom. "I have brought more evil upon you. Kumbricia forgive my weak use of her great power."

"Weak use?"

"Elphaba, what have you done to us?"

"It is Lord Fiyero's order that you be given no straw to make your tally of bricks," Elphaba replied.

"No straw? Impossible!"

"He doubles our burden!"

"How can we make bricks without straw?"

"You will glean the stubble of the fields by night," Boq said, and the Munchkins turned to look at him, raised above the crowd in his gold-plated throne. "And your women and children, too."

"You've brought the wrath of Lord Fiyero upon us."

"You put a sword in his hand to kill us!"

"Stone her! Stone her!"

Galinda clung to Elphaba as the green woman raised her broom, prepared to defend herself and her family from the desperate mass.

"Stand aside," a guard said, cutting through the crowd, followed by three other guards. "Come." He grabbed Elphaba's arm and pulled her into their formation before starting for the palace.

"There goes your deliverer," Boq said. "Now, go find your straw. Remember, the tally must be the same, not one brick less." His servants carried him away, and with much grumbling, the Munchkins disbanded to collect their straw.

Galinda looked at Shell, who wore the same worried expression. Things had to get worse before they got better…


"I cursed you... each time Fiyero took me in his arms. I cursed you, not him, because I love you."

Elphaba sighed. She hadn't expected to be brought to Sarima's chambers, and wished that the queen would learn to let her go. "The Elphaba who loved you was another woman."

"No, she was not." Sarima turned to face the green woman. She knew that this was fruitless; Elphaba had married Galinda. Still, years of being subjected to Fiyero's whims had no doubt had its affect on her mind… and sanity. "You believe you've changed, but you haven't. You call yourself a woman of Kumbricia, but I know better." Sarima laughed. "Oh, Elphaba, Elphaba. Why, of all people, did I fall in love with a prince of fools?" The queen grabbed Elphaba's arms, putting them around her. "But I'll believe anything you tell me when I'm in your arms. Why must you deny me and yourself?"

"Because I am bound to the Kumbric Witch," Elphaba said, pushing Sarima away. "And to a people… and to a water girl."

"A water girl. What can she be to you? Unless the desert sun has dulled your senses." Sarima leaned in close, and Elphaba recognized the old lust in her eyes. "Does she grate garlic on her skin? Or is it soft... as mine? Are her lips chafed and dry as the desert sand, or are they moist and red like a pomegranate? Is it the fragrance of myrrh that scents her hair… or is it the odor of toil and sweat?"

"There is a beauty beyond the senses, Sarima, beauty like the quiet of green valleys and still waters. Beauty of the spirit that you cannot understand."

"Perhaps not. But beauty of the spirit will not free your people, Elphaba." The queen moved to sit on the couch, crossing her legs as she looked at the green woman. "You will come to me, or they will never be free."

"The fate of Munchkinland is not in your hands, Sarima."

"Oh, isn't it?" Sarima stood and approached the once emerald prince, gently cupping one cheek. "Who else can soften Fiyero's heart…" her nails suddenly dug into flesh, "or harden it?

"Yes," Elphaba said, catching the brunette's wrist. "You may be the lovely dust through which Kumbricia will work her purpose."


As Elphaba left Sarima's bedchambers, her presence did not go unnoticed.

"Elphaba."

The green woman turned, seeing her mother approach her. "Mother…"

Melena's eyes filled with tears at the sight of her eldest daughter, and she ran a hand through her raven hair. "What miracle has returned you to me alive?"

"The miracle that I am the humble servant of the Kumbric Witch."

"The Kumbric Witch? But Elphaba… her power is that of darkness. You are nothing like her."

"She uses me to free the Munchkins."

Melena sighed. "Why do you insist on pursuing this?"

"Because it is not right that my people be forced into bondage just because they are different. Kumbricia has spoken to me, and I am bound to this." The green woman started to turn away, but her mother caught her.

"Wait. There is someone I wish for you to see."

Elphaba followed her mother to her bedchambers, which were much smaller than the one she had previously occupied as queen. Melena gestured for her to enter, and the green woman did.

"Nessa? Are you awake?" Melena called softly.

"Nessarose…?"

A few moments passed before the middle Thropp came out, sitting in an odd contraption that looked like a chair fitted with wheels. "Elphaba… could it be you?"

"Nessa…" Elphaba approached her sister before kneeling before her, hardly daring to believe her eyes. "Shell told me you were dead."

"Shell is alive?"

"Yes… he came to the Vinkus to find me, and returned here by my side."

The Thropp sisters paused here, not sure what else to say. There wasn't much else that could be said, for each could hardly believe they were seeing more than a ghost. Elphaba moved first, pulling her sister into a tight embrace.

Melena smiled at the exchange, never imagining she'd see her daughters together this way. It had been a struggle over the years, but Nessa had proved strong, and though her legs would never heal, she had defied the odds and lived.

"Elphaba, why have you come back?" Nessa asked once they broke apart.

"I am to free the Munchkins from bondage."

Nessa looked at her with wide eyes before nodding. "You can… I know you will. For Father."


"Hail to thee, Great Time Dragon."

This was the scene Elphaba came upon: Fiyero and his men blessing the river. She remembered the ritual well, having seen the Wizard do it himself.

"Fiyero, you have not yet obeyed the Kumbric Witch," she said. "Let my people go."

"Let her rave on, so that the people will know her as a madwoman," Fiyero said.

"I tell you, obey Kumbricia's words, or I shall raise my hand against the river."

"I have to come to bless these waters, and you come to curse them. This power you claim to have really does come from darkness then, does it not? How can you call yourself a savior?"

Elphaba drew her sword, pointing it at Fiyero. "Hear me, Fiyero. For seven days, the river will run red with the blood of my people; those who have died under your cruel reign. It will bleed, as the men we killed did." The green woman lowered her blade to the waters.

"Look! The water! It bleeds!"

Fiyero looked down at the river, which was indeed turning red. He looked back at Elphaba, his eyes narrowing as she sheathed her weapon.

"Fill every jug and jar!"

"Pestilence will be everywhere!"

Fiyero's men fled to gather what fresh water they could, and the ruler of Oz scowled at his once sister.

"Were it seven times seven, it would not matter. No trick will free your people, Elphaba."

"So be it, Fiyero. You may harden your heart, but you will not be able to ignore the cries of your people. I will return in seven days."