Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!
Three days went by quickly. Soon, it was the morning of the day the Winter Ball was to take place. Galinda had been excited to try on all the dresses that had been brought from Center Munch for her to try on, but Elphaba had proceeded with her usual complaints, giving everyone a hard time and driving them up the wall. She had finally found a dress, which she refused to let Galinda see, and helped the blonde pick out a dress for herself.
The dress-fitters were thrilled with Galinda, who gave them no complaints as they measured her for adjustments on the dress she had chosen and actually talked with them. They jokingly teased Elphaba about taking a leaf out of Galinda's book, and the green girl just smiled and shook her head, walking over to her girlfriend when the fitting was finished and kissing her gently.
"Elphie, the ball is tonight," Galinda said, bouncing up and down excitedly as she burst into Elphaba's room. The green girl looked up from her book and smiled, shaking her head. "Aren't you excited?"
"More nervous than excited, I suppose," Elphaba said, closing her book and standing up. She pulled Galinda into a hug, kissing her softly and resting her chin on the top of her head. "This will be the first time that I'll be publicly addressing all of the nobility of Munchkinland. Everyone will be there, and they'll all be assessing me, trying to see if I'm worthy to become Eminent Thropp."
"But you're going to become Eminent Thropp anyways, aren't you?" Galinda asked. "They can't do anything to prevent that from happening, can they?"
Elphaba shook her head. "No, they can't prevent it, but they can make my reign very difficult. They've done it in the past and they won't hesitate to do it in the future if they think that the Eminent Thropp ruling isn't fit to rule."
"What would they do?" Galinda asked.
"They can bring a whole bunch of stupid things to the court, which would hold up all the important things that need to be brought to attention," Elphaba said. "In the past, the leaders have stirred up mobs of people to surround the grounds and keep the Eminent Thropp from going anywhere or really doing anything. And, in the most extreme circumstances, they've hired assassins to kill the Eminent Thropp. But that's only happened twice. The first time because the Eminent Thropp on the throne had killed his sister in order to come to power and the second time because the Eminent Thropp had taken half of the nobles captive, thrown them in his dungeons, and stolen from their mansions."
"So they'll kill you?" Galinda asked, looking up at Elphaba with wide eyes.
"No, they won't kill me," Elphaba said, smiling slightly. "If they really don't think that I'm fit to become Eminent Thropp, then they'll tell me so. In that instance, I'll give up my title to Nessa or Shell, preferably Shell because Nessa is too religious to rule fairly."
"You aren't in any danger, then?" she asked worriedly.
"I'm perfectly safe," Elphaba reassured her, running her fingers through Galinda's hair. "I can't tell you how much I love you."
"Not as much as I love you," Galinda said, leaning her head on Elphaba's chest.
"When we're at the dance, I want you to do me a favor," Elphaba said.
"What's that?" Galinda mumbled.
"Don't leave my side," Elphaba said, pulling away to look Galinda in the eyes. "I don't want anyone stealing you away for a private interview. There are going to be many people there, not all of them are honest, and some of them might not be invited. We're going to do the best we can to make sure nobody gets in that isn't supposed to be there, but there's a chance that we might not catch everyone."
Galinda looked confused. "What type of interview?" she asked.
"Nothing that you need to be worried about," Elphaba said. "They'll just want some inside information on the Heir Apparent, and some about you, as well. These people are very devious and can sneak it out of you. I don't want you to become subject to one of these reporters' newspaper scandals. We both want to stay off the front page. Just stay close to me."
"Will people be trying to get you away, too?" Galinda asked.
"The most they'll want to do with me is talk about politics or get a dance," Elphaba said, shaking her head. "I'll do my best to politely refuse dances and keep the political discussions to a bare minimum, but I can't promise anything. If I am required to dance with someone other than you, Karim will be there to make sure no one tries to take advantage of my not being there."
"This will be… safe, right?"
"There will be no one there who will try to take advantage of you in an inappropriate way," Elphaba said. "If that's what you're worried about, then you don't need to be concerned. My grandfather is taking extreme precautions to make sure that nothing… improper takes place."
"Who all will be there?" Galinda asked.
"You're just full of questions, aren't you?" Elphaba asked, laughing. "No one that you or I really know. Mostly ministers, mayors, and others in political positions along with their husbands or wives. Many of them won't really be interested in talking to you, no offense. They just want to get a good look at me and get onto my good side if they can."
"And how do they get onto your good side?" Galinda giggled, kissing her gently.
"They acknowledge you and don't drone on about boring politics," Elphaba whispered, kissing Galinda. Elphaba moaned when Galinda buried her hands in her hair and pulled her closer.
There was a knock on the door and the sound of someone clearing their throat and Elphaba and Glinda jumped apart, both of them blushing. Chris was standing at the door, clearly surprised by what he had seen. His mouth was hanging open and he looked flustered.
"Yes, Chris?" she asked.
"The Eminent Thropp said that breakfast is going to be informal today," he said. "The same goes with lunch. He said that there is going to be enough formality with the ball tonight that he's going to give you a break. I've been instructed to ask you if you would like me to bring breakfast up for you."
"Galinda, do you want to eat now or later?" Elphaba asked, turning to her girlfriend.
"Um, I'm kind of hungry," Galinda whispered.
"That means you're really hungry," Elphaba said. "Chris, what's being made for breakfast? And don't you dare tell me anything I want."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Chris said with a grin. "I think they were making pancakes, would you like me to bring some up for you or would you prefer something else?"
"Do you want something else?" Elphaba asked Galinda.
"Pancakes are fine," Galinda said.
"Then I'll be right back with your breakfast," he said, bowing his way out of the room and heading down the hall.
"Well that was embarrassing," Galinda said after he had left.
"Me kissing you was embarrassing?" Elphaba asked, a hurt look on her face.
"No, it's just…" Galinda started, but Elphaba turned away, crossing her arms over her chest. "Elphie, please, I'm sorry."
Elphaba didn't say anything.
"Please talk to me," Galinda said.
The green girl's shoulders started shaking.
"Don't say you're crying, please," Galinda said.
She took Elphaba by the arm and turned her around to see that she was trying to keep herself from laughing. Galinda playfully hit her on the arm. "Elphie, you had me scared for a moment!" she yelled. "It's not funny, stop laughing!"
"You thought I was serious?" Elphaba asked, tears streaming down her face. The water was burning her skin, but she couldn't stop crying because she was laughing so hard. "It is too funny!"
"No it isn't, I thought you were really upset," Galinda said. "I… I was scared because I thought you were going to run off and hurt yourself like you did the last time I hurt you. Have… have you always done that? Physically hurt yourself when someone hurt you emotionally?"
Elphaba took Galinda's hands in her own. "Look, can we talk about this later?" she asked. "I want… I want today to be a good day. You're going to have fun, and I don't want to ruin it with talking about… about stuff like that. I promise that we'll talk about it later, I just don't want to ruin anything right now, and I really don't want to dredge anything up."
"You promise?" Galinda whispered.
"Yes," Elphaba said, kissing her lightly.
But she would never bring it up again, if she could help it.
Hope you liked it! Sorry that it took so long. Life took over and then my muse ran away. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter:
Jamie
Megyn129
Rtarlesteen
moodified
Paige Halliwell
Thank you to all of my other reviewers and to my readers. I really appreciate all comments and suggestions, so please REVIEW!!! Thanks again!
ReallyObsessiveWriter
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