"I apologise, but I will not ever not come looking for you, Miss."
Elphaba steamed, stomping up and down her room. At least he had used an honorific. She kept telling herself, but to no avail. She was jealous, she knew that, she admitted it – if only to herself – and she knew she was acting ridiculously. She could not help it.
How dare a servant like him invade his mistress' space and dare to talk and act the way around her he did? Addressing her without her title, touching her as if being a close friend and barging into her personal life? Elphaba had watched them on their way back to the Emerald City, not believing Glinda to be letting the boy go through with his actions. Not that he was being inappropriate, but she was, by allowing it.
She was herherher best friend! Elphaba's! For a long time, they had been inseparable, and the minute she vanished, the blonde had someone new. How dare she? How dare he? True, Elphaba was 'dead' to her best friend – in a literal sense –, but the green-skinned woman still felt like it was her good right to be claiming their friendship as the most unique. Too unique to share with anyone else.
Groaning, the witch slammed her hands down on the stony windowsill, staring down into the courtyard, still seeing the carriage in front of her inner eye. A childish thought crossed her mind – her having Fiyero, ha! – but she disposed of it before having finished it. She really was being ridiculous. Didn't the blonde deserve to be happy, too? There was no one else she called her 'friend', but a servant. That boy? Elphaba shuddered, baring her teeth like an animal would its fangs. She could not stand him, not even knowing his name, but not caring anyway.
The blonde witch's newest problem did not do any good to Elphaba's temper either. Ever since she had been visited by a crying Glinda in Kiamo Ko – letting Chistery deliver the hat from window to window – she had broken the promise to herself and stalked her best friend in her magicked orb. Fiyero called it stalking, she called it observation. For safety reasons only, of course. Not that Fiyero knew of her habit – he merely teased her by calling her a stalker when catching his girlfriend with one of the glass objects, her making him believe she had been watching over him. Safety reasons. Naturally.
Huffing to herself, Elphaba pushed off the windowsill, resuming her pacing around. Stopping when a swishing sound reached her ears, she turned to see Chistery coming in through the window. Smiling, though impatiently, she greeted him, crossing over to the window.
"Did you deliver it?" he grunted, nodding by dipping his head, almost hopping up and down. "Good." She sighed in relief, scratching the top of his head, causing a purr-like sound to rumble in his throat. Glancing out the window, the green witch watched the sun crawl up the horizon. She had Chistery drop small notes in the blonde's room, helping with the spells she obviously had problems with. Though they aided with a stunningly quick success, it had been too late and even Elphaba did not know how to fix the mistake her best but untalented friend had made.
"Fae?" Fiyero poked his head inside the room. He was being cautious around her lately, which she did not like. She did not want to keep secrets from him, but knew he would only try to get her attention off the blonde again. For good reasons.
She turned. Chistery complained at her lack of attention, jumping onto her shoulder, hugging her head. Not taking her eyes off the Scarecrow, Elphaba scratched the monkey's chin.
"Yes?" She walked up to him, feeling the stress wanting to leave her, not quite as fast as she would have liked. Reassured by her tired smile, Fiyero entered the room, meeting her in a loving embrace.
"I've decided to go to the abandoned farm; I was there often enough, no one ever comes back."
"You want to get the animals?" She asked, stroking down his arms, resting her forehead against his. He nodded. "Let me help you." She offered, already sounding offended, before he shook his head. "If it's abandoned, I can come, right?"
"Elphaba, you know how dangerous it could be. We can't risk you being seen, please don't argue on this." He said, softly yet urgingly, hands on her waist. She curled her lips.
"Don't you dare drop the nicknames to punish me, I wasn't arguing." She said, turning her head away slightly. She knew he would be smiling right now, coming closer to bury his strawy face into her neck. Chistery grunted, pushing the Scarecrow away. Retreating, he exchanged a glance with her, glad that she did.
"I'll be back soon, but it will take a couple of trips." He informed, to which she nodded. "I love you." He said, almost questioningly. She heard the smirk in his voice, giving in, unable to supress her own smile.
"I love you, too. Be careful." She advised, watching him leave in her orb. When he was out of the courtyard, Elphaba hurriedly took the other one out, gaping at the images shifting inside. She still had not found a way to hear anything from the scene presented to her, but knew her target well enough to guess, reading her mood with ease.
"It's a note, it doesn't say anything, really…" Avaric picked up the piece of paper. Glinda almost slapped it out of his hand, clutching it and staring at the strange arrangement of letters. Another one! She thought, starting to think that they did not appear at random. But why? How? Who? She wondered, frowning, freezing for a second, then grinning innocently at Avaric, knowing he had been perfectly able to watch her expression. Of course, she had played it too obviously, but he did not ask. He never did.
"Let's get some lunch." She proposed, more decided, pulling him along with her through the corridors downstairs to the kitchen. Avaric had not mentioned her actions in her sleep, pretending to have been sleeping, though his tired eyes told her otherwise.
The whole morning, they had been sitting in the study, doing paperwork, skipping her duties in town. She could always call in sick with a headache later on, but she felt bad for not working at all, especially with the boy constantly around. Debating with herself, Glinda had decided on searching through the Grimmerie for any hints of salvation from her bonding – he already knew almost everything about her, why not let him see it? –, having forgotten about it after finding the note and her stomach grumbling aggressively. Her precious breakfast had had to be skipped.
Unknowingly linking her fingers with his, the blonde strode down to the kitchen, where they had their lunch, eating in silence. I don't want to force him to hunch beneath my desk again… She pondered, pitying the servant. She wiggled her toes, making him look up, regarding her thoughtful expression. Glinda hated having to sneak around on bare feet, since she was quite short, but she had to in order to be safe. Unseen by the young witch, he smiled, adoring her despite their problematic situation.
Getting up, Glinda took hold of his hand again, finding it nicer than grabbing his wrist. She knew she could never imitate the incredible way of his tenderness – also she felt her stomach give a twist when being aware of holding his hand, which she ignored –, but felt like owing at least that much to him. She tried.
"Oh, Your Goodness!" Glinda froze upon being called, almost having reached the stairs. She turned, smiling politely, supressing her discomfort upon recognising the Tinman.
"Bi- Boq." She greeted, remaining on the first step in order to appear at least a little taller, though he still towered her.
"Sorry to be bothering you. I had hoped to get a minute after the service, but was told you had not come." He pretended to overhear her mistake. "I was merely coming by for a signature, here," he pointed at a sheet of paper, "for the associate." He informed while the blonde hectically scanned the page for the line where she would sign. The Tinman provided a pen and she swiftly put her name at the bottom of the document. "He would have come himself, but has been suffering from a light flu." Boq said without being asked to, probably to make clear that he himself would not ever be impeded due to illness.
"How very unfortunate," she lied, straightening, "please give him my regards and wish him a soon recovery." She embellished, nodding as he bowed, continuing to flee upstairs. Bumping into Avaric, who had been waiting behind the corner, she stopped. Boq's steps faded, but the young witch was too confused by her servant's almost intense gaze.
"What?" She asked impatiently. He was scaring her. Slowly lifting his hand, Avaric returned her gaze. Eyes widening, the sorceress stared at his palm, then at hers. Not touching. Mouth standing open, a smile crept onto her lips. He mouthed a 'how', but Glinda was too relieved to think about it, grinning brightly, taking his hand nonetheless and pulling him after her to her room.
Elphaba watched them discuss, her heart melting at the enthusiastic smile on her best friend's face. How she missed her. Did she not deserve to be happy, even if it was with someone else? Someone who was not her?
She paused, the orb in her hands sinking. Sighing, Elphaba put it away, then took it again, without looking at it. Had the spell merely dissolved into nothing? If it had been a side-effect, which the green witch assumed, it could have subsided. How she wished to have been watching over night to see if there had been a hint of amelioration.
Elphaba sometimes played with the thought of staying awake to observe her best friend. She had nothing to do, she could sleep at odd times, if there was not the issue of monitoring Glinda, whose life was more interesting during the day. Also, she was busy with pretending not to be watching Glinda to Fiyero. Though choices, Elphaba… She rolled her eyes.
Pushing her lips forward, the talented witch tried to recall the spell she had used on the orb. Perhaps there had been something else, something she had not paid attention to while enchanting the orb.
Chistery had crawled onto her lap as soon as she had sat down, rubbing against her until she petted him. Smiling, she relaxed a little, seeing how the animal – if not Animal – enjoyed the attention.
"Oh, Chistery, I'm sorry, but would you deliver another one?" She asked, receiving a short glance, then a loud purr-like grunt, pushing his head up to be cupped in her palm. "She's so helpless…" Elphaba sighed, looking straight at nothing in particular. I miss you, Glinda… She thought with a rueful frown. Would the blonde ever forgive her? Would they see each other again? Would I dare? She asked herself, not getting an answer.
"Meow." Glinda pitter-pattered through the ajar door, being greeted by Chistery with a low grunt. The two seemed to get along, though friendship was far. Neither wanted to give up the attention on themselves. Would Glinda still be mad at me about Fiyero? Elphaba wondered, using her other hand to scratch the cat's back, who had jumped onto the bed next to her.
Chistery took the hand, dragging it to himself, receiving a hiss from Glinda. Elphaba could not help but feel as if this would be the outcome of the two most important people in her life meeting again, slacking with bitterness. It shouldn't be, Yero is right…
"Come, help me." She said, raising. The winged monkey clung onto her like a baby with strong, long limbs, looking over her shoulder and stuck out his tongue towards the cat, baring its tiny fangs in return. She sat down at the desk, Chistery sitting on the desk. Guiding him, mostly by instructions, though sometimes by taking his hand in hers – Glinda could not become suspicious by recognising the witch's handwriting –, she let him write a combination of letters, that would make a spell. A useful one. She noted down the page of the Grimmerie; her memory was outstanding when it came to books.
"Please get it to her, but don't be seen, okay?" She requested. The mammal hopped up and down on the desk, taking the small note into his firm hand, taking off, switching it to his equally nimble foot in the air. "Oh, Glinda…" Elphaba sighed, walking back to the bed, where the cat felt addressed. Sitting down, the green witch tried her spell once more, toying with the enunciation, varying on pronouncing each facet differently than before, to no avail.
Not giving up, Elphaba stared into the small object for hours, excited when the image started to shift. It blurred, focused, blurred again, zoomed in and out a couple of times, vanished and reappeared.
"Aa-a-aah…" LGlinda stretched the vowel, singing it full blast in an almost hypnotic way – like a siren luring in a sailor –, as she stretched out one leg from the bathtub. It worked! Elphaba almost jumped off the bed with joy, clinging onto the glass orb, not risking it to fall. She could see and hear the blonde almost perfectly. How very convenient! She frowned bittersweetly. The nostalgia almost won her over, and she barely missed the noises coming from downstairs, if the cat had not paid attention, jumping down from the bed.
Elphaba stuffed the orb between the pillows, where the sounds could not reach their ears.
"I'm back." Fiyero once more poked his head in. In response – and because she only now noticed how late it had gotten – Elphaba's stomach gave a grumble. Crossing her arms over it, she heard her boyfriend chuckle, coming in. "How about dinner then?" He asked, but she shook her head, ready to complain. "I was talking to your tummy." He joked, receiving a defeated and amused snort.
Hugging him, the green-skinned woman listened to his report of the day as he told her of having brought a chicken, which turned out to be far more complicated than anticipated. He did not think it would hold up very long, to which Elphaba commented on not eating meat, though she knew he would not make her.
Chistery! Glinda stared at the winged creature in her window. He dropped something that slowly floated down onto the ground. The young witch had just returned from her trip to the Glikkus trolls, tiring her out, but the nightmares would not allow her even one night of sleep. She was exhausted. With the help of a previous note, she had impressed them by causing small firework-like explosions, followed by a strong gust of wind, carrying off the bubble she had taken off with.
Upon being caught, the monkey hectically retreated, screeching into the night sky and flying away, towards the west. With a determined expression, the blonde slipped into her bubble dress, being the first thing there was, jumped into her heels and clutched her wand. Grabbing the piece of paper, she hectically scribbled something onto the back, leaving it on her bed. She did not care about her jewellery or tiara, the curlers falling out of her hair when she leaped into the air, pursuing the animal as rapidly as her combined spells would allow her.
She's here. Elphaba felt the arrival of her best friend, even before a nervous Chistery had flown in. She hid in her room, locking the door to the tower, she could hear the small whimpers of the blonde from. It tore her heart apart. Squinting her eyes, Elphaba kept herself from pacing and thus, making any noise. She wanted to go out – this time herself – hug her friend, beg for forgiveness, make herself known. But she could not. She must not.
For both of their sakes.