Part 3 chapter 5
I feel really bad; Such a long wait followed up by a pretty quickly (therefore likely poorly) edited chapter. Sorry about that but I didn't want the wait to be even longer and I've been insanely busy and still am insanely busy. But, now we get some answers to a couple of questions brought up earlier though and have some (hopefully) good dramatic moments.
Liir was the one to find his sister the next afternoon. She'd told him what she had done to Glinda's ex through their connection an hour or two previously. Zach was with Dr. Dillamond and Ralimla when he found her huddled in a corner of her workroom. She'd showered recently; her red hair was still wet.
"You okay?" he asked as he sat down next to his twin.
"What do you think?" she asked quietly, her voice hoarse as she looked at him. "Liir, what's happening to me? A year ago…Lurline a week ago I would have even dreamt of doing something like that..."
"I don't know how different I would have been in your position." Liir offered, though both of them knew it was a somewhat half-hearted attempt at consolation. He was more than a little unsettled by what she'd told him. As usual, she knew his feelings.
"Yeah you do. You would have done it very differently."
"I don't have the power at my disposal that you do." Her brother pointed out.
"Exactly." She replied "I do have power, automatically. I'm not being arrogant when I say that you can count on one hand the number of people who can match me in a showdown of magic. I can't just throw that around like its nothing! And up until last night, I don't think I'd ever intentionally shirked that responsibility. But now…"
"Look, I'm not going to condone what you did and that's not what you're looking for me to do anyway." Liir said as he put a hand on his twin's knee comfortingly "But I will say that pretty much anyone who has ever met Glinda would love to have seen that, including me. If anyone's earned a good licking, it's Chuffery. And he pushed you. That doesn't make it right, per se, but it makes it…understandable. And the fact that you feel bad—"
"That's the problem." Raye cut him off, "I don't. That's what scares me. That's what I feel bad about. Not that I did it, but that I don't feel any remorse and I know that I should. I meant every one of those threats, Liir. And if Sir Chuffery ever goes anywhere near Zach he will live just long enough to regret it. I know that attacking a prisoner is wrong but I can't make myself feel sorry about it and that's what I feel bad about!"
For a long time neither of them said anything. Rhonaraye looked at him with eyes that were slightly wide, but not popping out of her head. She was scared, but far angrier than anything else. Angry and eternally weary. After a few minutes, Liir decided what he was supposed to do. With a sigh he took her hand in his own and held their laced fingers between them, a silent reminder of the pact they made years ago. He would never turn his back on her, nor she on him. Whatever happened, they were in this together and that always seemed to make things a little easier.
"Thanks, brother." She whispered. Liir nodded and smiled.
"Look on the brighter side, we have a few days off before dragging our butts over to that stupid meeting." He said in a half-hearted attempt to cheer her up before rolling his eyes "Uggh. Both grandfathers in one room. Why is it that we have so many people in our family on this council? It's like some kind of messed-up Kumbrica-cursed reunion or something."
Raye shrugged.
"I don't know. But you can see why people are a little wary of us. We're considerable political players for, what? Half of Oz? Two thirds? We do look like would-be Emperors to some."
"I know what you mean. But still, I mean, do you want to be a queen?" Liir asked. The redhead snorted
"Lurline, no!" she scoffed "I just…I just want to be left alone most of the time. I'm so tired. All the time. I just want to disappear. Start again and live my own life."
"You know what? I don't think I want the royal life either, not anymore." Her brother agreed after a pause. He had done the prince act in theEmeraldCityand had enjoyed it back then. But that was a long time ago and he hadn't gotten that since he joined the rebellion; no one did except for princess Nastoya who could legitimately claim much of it for health-related reasons. If you lived at the base you got a set of quarters which varied in size according to the number of occupants. If you were temporary, you slept in the barracks. And Liir actually kind of liked that. Quite simply put, he wasn't the same person he had been all those years ago in the Emerald city.
And quite frankly, he wouldn't have it any other way.
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They jinxed it with the thought of time off.
The next day they got the news; the Emerald City had fallen.
Some of the Monkeys had told them; they'd seen the people fleeing and the houses go up in flames. There were very few who had successfully managed to escape so far, but it was very early days yet. They weren't quite sure how it had happened either but it was a serious blow to have been dealt, especially so soon after the Gate had been destroyed and they had lost one of their mountain strongholds. TheEmeraldCity's rather spectacular defeat could just turn the tide of the war away from the allies.
So now the Goblin King had his foothold and an entire city to occupy. Oh joy.
Glinda was aghast; she had lived there for decades and bonded with those people even if they did have certain sheep-like tendencies. Liir was disturbed; he'd grown up walking those streets and knew people there! Besides, even if he had very little contact with the Wizard these days, the man was still his grandfather and there was no news of him! Rhonaraye did her best to comfort her brother and felt the fear for the old man vicariously even if she had a hard time synthesizing it individually. Elphaba was difficult to read. She seemed concerned but kept her emotions to herself.
It quickly became apparent that Morrible had made a break for it, but there was no word on the Wizard for several days. Then, out of the blue, he turned up: practically on their doorstep.
Elphaba, Rhonaraye and Liir had been summoned to the council in the middle of the night (technically the wee hours of the morning) with no time to get dressed. They had all rushed to the chamber in their nightclothes and dressing gowns and weren't the only ones who had clearly come directly from their beds to the council chamber. Said chamber consisted of a a semi-circular ground level with continually raised seats surrounding it, like some kind of theater almost with a large booth-like spot in the middle of the raised levels fashioned for the Council members. Rhonaraye had never liked this set up, with them looking down on whoever it was, for she remembered all too well what it was like to be on trial and forced to look up at her accusers. She felt it was a petty intimidation tactic.
In the center of the ground level was an old shell of a man. He sat hunched over in the chair with his elbows resting against his knees and his fingers reaching limply to the floor. He had lost considerable weight over the course of the war, his clothing hanging off him loosely. He wasn't quite bald- he might look better if he was; instead there were only a few limp strands of white hair across his head. The old man's face was scratched and his trouser knees were stained. He looked up when Elphaba and her twins walked in and they could see that his eyes were sunken and shadowed by dark circles. His face was full of misery.
"I found him hiding in the woods an hour ago. He hasn't said anything." Ijiri stated for everyone to hear, for there was a small audience. Raye nodded in acknowledgement to him. She knew that Liir would be grateful that it was his uncle who held no personal grudge against the old man and therefore would not have hurt him. The green woman looked down at the old man and then away again, walking to her seat as though she couldn't see him. He wilted at this clear rebuke when she took her seat and regarded him as though she didn't know him and he were just another case.
"So. The Wizard managed to survive his city being overrun." Kynot said, enjoying the sight of his enemy so entirely defeated. Princess Nastoya (present for once) turned her massive, wise, grey head towards the old man.
"Wizard," she said "We would like to know what happened in your city."
The old man shrugged lifelessly. He didn't know. He didn't care. Nothing really mattered to him anymore anyway.
"How did you get out?" someone asked. He wasn't sure who.
"Secret tunnel. Some Gale Force are still loyal to me." He said, his voice a hoarse monotone. It was about that point that Fiyercrow slipped in and slid into a seat next to Glinda. There weren't a large number of people watching; the council had done their best to keep this from becoming a spectator sport and were trying doing everything they could to avoid the accusation of 'unfair prejudice' from their allies. Though, really, it was a very difficult thing to keep in mind when faced with the architect behind the attempted enslavement and/or genocide against their people.
"Why did you come here?" Elphaba asked. None of the Animals had any problem with the green witch serving on the council or even on this case, nor had there ever really been any arguments about it. Within weeks of her defection it became clear even to the staunchest of doubters that she would not be sympathetic towards the Wizard because of their blood tie. If anything, it made her more hostile towards him.
The old man clearly seemed to know this on some level, perhaps even consciously. He looked directly at his daughter.
"I had no where else to go." He said, speaking directly to her. Elphaba clenched her teeth and said nothing a low murmur went through the occupants of the room.
"So what exactly are you expecting us to do with you?" Princess Nastoya enquired. The Wizard looked at the She-Elephant and shrugged again.
"Well…we can't technically hold him prisoner." Muhlama's father said "We signed a treaty, remember? We can't prosecute him for his crimes until after the war is over."
"That doesn't mean we have to keep him here." Raye remarked, silently offering up an apology to her brother through their magically-enforced twin bond. She was in impartial-councilor mode and felt a minimal tie to the wizard anyway, but knew that her brother was another story altogether.
"I see no reason why we should baby the man who sought to exterminate us!" Kynot scoffed
"So you'd rather lower yourselves to his level?" Glinda asked from the non-councilor seats. She felt a lingering sort of fondness for the old man in spite of everything; the years she had spent in his service had not all been bad for her. Besides, it was unlikely that anyone else besides his grandson might even consider taking his side, admittedly for very good reason.
"Glinda…does have a point." Muhlama's father said reluctantly after a pause.
"Besides, we have bigger problems right now then worrying about him." Elphaba threw in suddenly.
"He'll just take up space."
"We don't want him here!"
"He's made his bed, now he has to lie in it!"
The din grew louder until yelling filled the room. The few onlookers jeered, people argued, but the man in the middle remained silent. Fiyero watched Elphaba and his children. The green woman's face remained a hardened mask. Liir looked completely torn and Raye was just…well…relatively indifferent, though she looked quite concerned about her brother. Every once in a while she glanced over at him worriedly. It was Nastoya who called the room to order in the end.
"Enough!" she ordered. She only had to repeat herself once to quiet them down.
"The Wizard shall remain here in protective custody until after the alliance meeting when he shall, with any luck, take up residence with the Gillikin delegates."
"What?" Elphaba demanded, bright eyes flashing
"As per the treaty he will not be placed in a cell, but we shall still be putting a guard on his door."
"Your majesty, you can't be serious!" Kynot hissed.
"He will not be harmed while in our…care until the war has been declared over, as per the treaty with our allies."
"You know, I'm pretty sure we could probably win without the Gillikins…" someone mentioned suggestively; everyone knew that that was the ally that would really have a problem with an accident befalling the Wizard. The Vinkus didn't particularly care they suspected. This comment was not responded to and the session was ended decisively. Liir let out a whistle of air through his cheeks and sagged in his chair, relieved. Several of the members of the council seemed angry, others were too tired to care. Raye shrugged, unable to muster up enough energy for an outraged outburst. Elphaba remained in her seat for several minutes, staring at nothing in particular her long, slender fingers dug into the table, clenching it into a fist before standing and making her way to the door.
The Wizard watched her and suddenly stood. He called out her name and she ignored him, disappearing out the door. Glinda looked from the old man to her old roommate and then back again. Fiyero glanced over to see a thoughtful frown on her face. Her full, painted lips pursed, the blonde got to her feet and started making her own way out. As soon as she was outside she caught sight of her green friend walking down the corridor.
"Elphaba! Elphaba, come back here!" Glinda yelled at her friend as she chased after her, her heels clicking on the stone floor. Unlike the others, she was not in her nightgown but a regular day dress, albeit not a fancy ballgown "Elphaba!"
"What?" The green woman snapped as she whipped around, "What do you want?"
"Elphaba, talk to him!" the blonde implored. The Green woman paused and looked at her with incredulity and anger before scoffing and continuing her charge down the hallway.
"You've got to be kidding! That man destroyed my life!"
"That man was a wonderful grandfather to Liir!" Glinda snapped
"And you think that makes everything okay?" The green witch demanded furiously "Sweet OZ you're unbelievable! He's a tyrant! He's getting exactly what was coming to him! Do you know what he did? What he had other people do in his name?"
"I'm not condoning what—"
"It sure as hell sounds like you are!"
"Oh will you listen for one minute for once in your life?"
"Not on this topic!"
"That man took care of you when you were sick, protected you from Morrible after—"
"After what? After sending a massive witch-hunt after me? After nearly killing me and forcing me to serve him for nearly twenty years? After what he did to Dr. Dillamond? After he lied to everyone in Oz? After he dragged my name through every kind of mud and shit he could find? I've more then repaid any debt to him you could possibly construe! If anything he still owes me!" Elphaba cut her friend off mid sentence and rounded on her, her fury palpable, though Glinda was not afraid. Unlike her ex-husband, her green friend would never harm her.
"I'm not arguing that!" the blonde snapped "But are you really going to nurse this grudge all your life?"
"It's amazingly therapeutic!" The green woman retorted tersely as she whipped around and set off again at that incredible pace which forced Glinda to jog just to keep up with those long strides.
"Elphaba, he just wants to talk! That man loves you!"
"That man nearly destroyed me and held me hostage through my son for nearly 2 decades!" the taller witch roared as she started up the stairs.
"For Oz' sake, Elphaba he's your father!" Glinda yelled as she leaned forward, one hand gripping the railing as she tried to catch her breath. The other which whipped around and glared down at the blonde with fury.
"Let's get one thing straight, Glinda. That man will never be my father! He didn't raise me! He didn't teach me anything! He was never there to hold me when I needed someone's shoulder to cry on, he didn't protect me, he didn't contribute to any part of my being! His…semen may have played a part in my conception but that is it! His blood contributed to mine but that is all we share and that is all we ever will share! He had nothing to do with the woman I am today! He. Is. Not. My. Father! ARE WE QUITE CLEAR?" Elphaba's volume slowly increased throughout her speech to the point where she was bellowing at the end of it. The blonde was visibly taken aback by the force of her argument and for a long time neither of them said anything, nor did anyone else in the vicinity. After a few moments the green witch turned and started to resume her climb up the stairs.
"Elphaba," Glinda beckoned, a new, strange tone to her voice that made her prickly friend hesitate even if it didn't halt her.
"Elphaba, you've always been the smart one. The one who likes to think. Well, if you ask me, you should think about what you just said." Glinda stated as she straightened and turned to go back down the stairs, fixing her tiara and dusting off her skirts unnecessarily before looking over her shoulder again "And then tell me that you have nothing in common with that old man there."
The green woman's bright eyes were wide and ablaze with fury, her nostrils flaring with each breath as she turned to watch her friend stalk off. She caught sight of Fiyero coming up and then continued her angry march up the stairs and into their rooms, slamming the door behind her. The Scarecrow flinched at the sound and then sighed.
"Are…you sure you want to go in there, Farro?" Rhonaraye asked from his elbow. Liir was by her side and both of them looked dubious. The Scarecrow huffed and shook his head as he went after his lover. The pair's twins exchanged looks and shrugged wearily.
"I guess I'd better try and get some shut-eye." He said, "You know, before it really hits the fan."
"More than it already has?" she asked sarcastically.
"You got a point." He replied as he rubbed his neck. "Still…things are starting to get a little chaotic. We could probably weasel out a whole evening to ourselves at this point. Raye stopped short at this.
"What did you say?"
Liir looked back at her and blinked.
"Well, there's a whole bunch of protests about the Wizard gathering now. It's going to be chaos. I don't think anyone would fault us for lying low for a day or two while it dies down. They're our friends, but we do now have a walking reminder of who we're related to right down the hall. It might not be wise to draw attention to ourselves."
"You're right." Raye agreed absently before continuing suggestively "So…if Candle can get a day off it might be a good time to slip away." She watched with satisfaction as her brother's face lit up with the possibility, so cheered and caught up by the idea of the chance at a date which could last longer than half an hour that he didn't notice his twin was guarding against him again. She watched him set off towards the infirmary a little guiltily before glancing around and melting into the shadows discreetly.
She made her way back to her room and dressed quickly, scrawling a quick note for Ralimla to take care of Zach the following morning. It was nothing out of the ordinary, she often had to leave suddenly and no one would think twice about it. Besides, she may be back before anyone would notice she was gone. That was the goal, anyway. With any luck no one would know she had left and if they did they wouldn't question where she went, for if they found out, well…
There was a good chance she'd find herself on trial for treason.
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Fiyero had gotten very little out of Elphaba when he had first gone to her after her fight with Glinda, though admittedly he hadn't put tin that much effort. Sometimes Elphaba required patience and when she was in a mood that bad it was not a wise idea to press the matter too much. She would merely become aggressively defensive. So, he waited for her to calm down.
He was surprised that it only took a few hours. He'd expected her to seethe and rage for days, but instead she walked into their room at dawn. Fiyero looked up when she appeared at the threshold of the door that connected their bedroom to the small living room in their quarters. She leaned against the frame slightly, her disheveled braid draped over her shoulder, the black a stark contrast to the green of her skin and the white of her dressing gown. Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest and she stared at her feet for a few minutes. Finally, she looked up at him.
"You want to know what that shouting match with Glinda was about." She stated
"Elphaba, I think everyone heard…" he stopped when she put an emerald hand up to stave off anything further.
"I haven't been completely honest with you." She said, making direct eye contact with him "Firstly, you should know that I'm angry with Glinda for what she said, yes. But I'm also angry because she had a point and she knows it."
Fiyero noted that Elphaba hadn't managed to admit that Glinda was right in any way per se, but held his tongue. He had a feeling that his lover's friend knew more than he did on this matter, but that that was about to change. The Witch sighed and walked over to the chair across from their bed and sat down in it, facing him. She took a few moments to collect her thoughts.
"The mere suggestion that I have anything in common with that man is utterly repugnant to me, as was made abundantly clear with that shameful spectacle I made of myself back there. However, Glinda is…right. We share more than just a bond of blood now. We…how do I explain this?" she sighed again and looked out the window before shaking her head, her silvery eyes shining slightly as she took a deep breath.
"When I first found out that I was pregnant, I was terrified. I didn't even know if I wanted to go through with it."
"I remember. I was there."
"But afterwards…I was scared, sure, but I actually wanted it. I wanted it even more when they born, even though I thought I was dying. I wanted to be their mother. I wanted to be Rhonaraye's mother even though for a decade and a half I didn't know she still existed…just like the Wizard didn't know that I existed and was desperate to be a father, period. I didn't raise her, just like he didn't raise me. And now, just as he will never be my father, never be papa to me, I will never be mamma to Rhonaraye. I want to be, more then anything, but I never will. I can be her colleague, I can be her teacher, perhaps I can even be her friend. But I won't be her mother. Not really. She won't…she won't want me when she's sick or when she's hurt. I'm not the one she'd be bursting to tell first if she, say, got engaged or if she was expecting. She won't mean to shirk me, and she doesn't. The fact is that I wasn't there for her. I missed her first steps, her first words, her first everything. Oh, please don't look at me like that, I know it was the same with you and Liir but, well, Liir never had a father. And...Rhonaraye did. A good one."
Elphaba looked down at her hands as she spoke her last statement. Suddenly something clicked for Fiyerow.
"That's why you don't want to see Ralimla, isn't it?" he asked her slowly. His lover nodded and stood. She started to pace.
"She's my friend. I don't owe her my life; I owe her something worth much more, I owe her my child's life. I'll forever be grateful to her for taking Rhonaraye in as an infant and will always ove her for it. And yet…part of me hates her! And I hate myself for it. And part of me wonders if it was only the universe's way of balancing the scale; If I hadn't delayed in rescuing her all those years ago then her cub wouldn't have died. So instead, she got mine. Seeing Ralimla just reminds me that she's the one Rhonaraye associates with safety and comfort and love, she was the one who was there for her. And I'm also reminded of the fact that she was a lot better at it than I ever was with poor Liir. I know that its horrible, but there it is. I'm a hypocrite and a terrible, jealous person."
"Elphaba…" Fiyero said as he got to his feet and encircled her with his arms. She didn't cry, but she wasn't really much of a weeper to begin with. Instead she returned the hug (something she didn't do with everyone) and held onto him tightly as he stroked her hair, offering her eloquently silent comfort.
"It's horrible, I know! But...even then. Frex was an always will be my father and he hated me! That was no secret, everybody knew it. He didn't want me as his daughter. But Ralimla loves my daughter and everyone knows that. If I can't ever accept the Wizard as my father, and I never will, when Frex would have happily watched me drowned, how can I ask Rhonaraye, whose adoptive mother would rather die then hurt her to accept the Emerald Vizier as her mother? Quite simply, I can't. I shouldn't even try and yet I do. I'm just like him, I'm just like the Wizard..."
Fiyero hugged her more tightly.
"I promise you, you're not a bad person and you are nothing like the Wizard." he told her firmly.
Elphaba only wished that she could believe that herself.
Now for My Anonymous Reviewers:
GoodWitchesOfOz: Yes, dark and dangerous it certainly was, though I got to tell you, it was kind of fun to write...not quite sure what that says about me... Yeah, I also like cliffies, I'm glad you're cool with them too! Sorry for the long wait here, but thanks for pointing out the typo. I'll go back and fix it at some point if I haven't already=). Next chapter you'll see the meeting between the two mages, so I hope you'll like it!
FriFro: I definitely missed you! And no worries, i can definitely relate to computer problems and heavy schedules!
Why wouldn't you get a reply? I always reply to you guys! I've just started PMing the other reviewers as soon as I get their reviews but I still leave anonymous reviewers with a reply on the next chapter. I'm really, really glad to get your review, thanks so much!