Elphaba reluctantly opened her door when she heard someone knocking, only mildly surprised that it was her girlfriend. At this point Galinda was sobbing.

"Oh my Oz, Elphie are you ok?" She cried. The green girl wrapped her up in her arms and closed the door behind them.

"Shhh. My sweet. I'm alright, I promise. Shhh." Elphie said. The blonde continued speaking but her words were incoherent so Elphie just held her until her tears died down a little. She hugged her girlfriend tightly then kissed her softly on the lips and guided them to the bed.

"He slapped you so hard." Galinda cried. Her own parents had never even attempted to hit her before so she was very shook.

"I know, Lindie. But I'm ok."

"Has he done that before?"

"Well he hasn't hit me that hard in a long time." Elphie said and Galinda's eyes watered again. "I'm embarrassed that you had to see that."

"Elphie…"

"But I'm even more horrified that you had to hear all that he said." Elphie said miserably.

"The things he was saying were so terrible. How could someone be so hateful? I knew people like that existed but…"

"You've never experienced it first hand." Elphie finished and the blonde nodded. "That's what I've grown up with. Now you see why I'm so concerned about my family finding out."

"When you said your father would kill you if he found out you were a lesbian...you weren't kidding were you?" Galinda said, about to cry again.

"Lindie, no. If he was gruesome enough to kill his own daughter I feel like he would have done so a long time ago. He won't literally kill me but I would definitely be disowned...among other things."

"Thats terrible. I just can't with all of this. His words were so cruel. He was making me so mad and scared. And you didn't deserve to get hit. You didn't say anything that wasn't true."

"I'm so sorry you were upset and scared Lindie. I just… UGH! That narrow-minded, ignorant, benighted, illiberal, bigot!" Elphie said angrily. "He was indirectly attacking us as well as your nationality. Gilikinese people are most certainly not imbecilic. They are some of the kindest most accepting people that I have had the pleasure of encountering. Munchkinlanders on the other hand are the conservative ignoramuses. Or to be more specific, devout Unionist priests who go around corrupting the minds of everyone in their path with the preposterous word of the Unnamed God. It's all complete and utter BULLSHIT!" Elphie yelled. She was up pacing around and continued ranting as her anger was rising. Various things around the room started levitating and spinning around in a tornado-like fashion.

"Elphie!" Galinda exclaimed once she realized what was happening. Elphie stopped and gasped when she looked around. Her concentration broke, therefore everything that was levitating eventually plummeted to the ground.

"Oz dammit!"

"Calm down, sweetheart. It's alright."

"I'm calm." Elphie said unconvincingly. Galinda made her take a few deep breaths before she was entirely convinced.

"I hate these stupid powers. They're always making such a mess." Elphie sighed as she looked around.

"At least you didn't hurt yourself this time." Galinda said as she started picking things up. "Elphie? What are you doing?" she asked when she noticed Elphie concentrating very intensely on one of the books that fell. The green girl raised her hand and was able to levitate it back onto the shelf.

"Whoa. I didn't know you could do that." Galinda said, surprised.

"I didn't either." Elphie said then tried it on a few more items. "I was able to intentionally raise that tray to fall on Feana so I figured I must have some control over this. Also I'm still slightly worked up about what happened downstairs...maybe that's why it's working. I don't know." Elphie said but was able to clean up the rest of the room without physically picking up anything.

"What if you're a witch?" Galinda asked.

"A witch?" Elphie said, sounding offended.

"I don't know much about it. Sorcerer's are almost useless without a wand but witch magic tends to be more mental. Mommy knows more about it then I do." Galinda said.

"I don't know what I am Lindie, but I don't want to think about being a witch. It's just another reason for my father to despise me if he ever finds out." Elphie sighed.

"I'm sorry Elphie. I won't bring it up again." Galinda said taking a seat on the bed. Elphie sat beside her and pulled her close.

"Don't worry about it my sweet. We only have one more full day to get through then we're out of here by Sunday morning."

"Speaking of traveling, I should probably update you about our plans." Galinda said, perking up.

"Um okay. I wasn't aware that things were changing."

"That's why I need to make you aware. Jemma called me last night and invited us to her and Sylvie's engagement party in Settica next week!"

"That's wonderful. I was wondering if they were going to have a gathering of some sort." Elphie said. "But I thought we would be at Chloey's house next week?"

"We will. I texted Chloey earlier today and we worked everything out. We're leaving here Sunday morning, so we'll arrive in Wittica Sunday afternoon/evening. We'll stay at Chloey's until Thursday then on Friday all three of us will leave for Settica because Jemma said Chloey can come to the engagement party as well. The party is on Saturday by the way. Jemma said we can all just stay until Sunday to catch our train to Frottica." Galinda explained.

"Wow you guys really thought this all the way through." Elphie said.

"So is it all okay with you?"

"Yes. It sounds like a good plan." Elphie gave Galinda a soft kiss on the lips.

"Good." Galinda returned the kiss and hugged her. Elphie laid back on the bed, bringing Galinda on top of her as they kissed some more.

"You know, I'm happy about seeing our friends of course… but I think I'm mostly looking forward to going back to your house." Elphie said.

"Really?" Galinda smiled.

"Yeah. Your house feels more like a home then this place ever could."

"Thats sweet Elphie. I'm very bias, but I agree with you." Galinda giggled and Elphie smiled.

"Oh! I have something for you." Elphie exclaimed.

"You do?" Galinda said, excitedly.

"I can't believe I forgot." she got up and went to her closet to retrieve the bag. "It's an anniversary gift. I should have given it to you yesterday but things were kind of hectic with Nessa's birthday party and all."

"Oh my Oz! Yesterday was our two month anniversary. How could I not remember!" Galinda said distressed.

"Lindie my sweet, it's quite alright. Please don't worry. I almost didn't remember myself. Like I said, things have been pretty hectic lately."
"When did you even have time get to me a gift?"

"When we went shopping on Tuesday."

"How did I not notice?"

"I'm sneaky, remember." Elphie chuckled. "Now open it."

"This is so beautiful! Oh my Oz!" Galinda gasped when she pulled out an antique floral makeup pouch.

"Look inside." Elphie smiled. The blonde gasped again when she opened the pouch. It was filled with about ten different lip balm flavors. Watermelon, cherry, bubblegum, lemonade, mint, peach-mango, candy apple, pineapple-coconut, vanilla, and strawberry-banana. Galinda smelled each one and squealed.

"Thank you so much Elphie! I love all of it!" she hugged her girlfriend so tight she almost knocked her down.

"You're very welcome my precious girl." Elphie smiled and kissed her forehead.

"I wish I could have gotten you something."

"No need my sweet. Trust me, you being here with me has been enough of a gift. Honestly, I don't know how I would have gotten through this week without you."

"Maybe we can go on a date once we're back in Frottica." Galinda suggested. "That can be our new monthly anniversary tradition. One person buys the gifts while the other plans a date."

"I like that." Elphie smiled. "We don't go on dates very often."

"Hopefully we can make that happen more this summer." the blonde grinned. "Now I don't know about you but I want to try out these lip balms and I could definitely use your help."

"Oh of course I'd love to help." Elphie grinned once she caught on.

"Hmmm, which should we start with? You pick."

"I kinda want to taste the pineapple-coconut one." Elphie said. Galinda applied that one to her lips then kissed Elphie vigorously. They spent the next 30 minutes or so trying out Galinda's new lip balms. It eventually turned into a game of mixing up the flavors and guessing with lots of kissing.

xxx

They spent the rest of the evening upstairs since Elphie wasn't allowed to be seen for the rest of the night. At one point they had Maribelle bring them up some snacks and they watched a lighthearted movie on Ozflix. It was later in the night when they decided to wash up. Elphie had a jacuzzi bathtub in her bathroom that she never used for obvious reasons so she told Galinda she would run her a bath in there. The blonde enthusiastically went back to her room to grab her necessities so she could bathe with Elphie.

Galinda helped Elphie 'wash' her hair before getting in the tub. Elphie sat near the edge of the tub and chatted with Galinda while her hair 'dried.' She watched Galinda wash her own hair. She was always fascinated with that process. After a while she got up to wash the rest of her body with her oils.

Galinda got out of the tub and started to dry off. The wall beside the bathtub was a full length mirror so she spent a few seconds looking at her naked body as she did every now and then. She looked down at her blonde bush and figured it would be time to trim it again soon.

"Elphie have you ever done anything to maintain your hair….down there?" Galinda asked candidly and Elphie looked up from what she was doing.

"This hair?" She blushed slightly referring to her nether region.

"Yes."

"Um nothing extreme. I trim it every so often. I obviously haven't done that recently."

"Same. Mommy said that shaving and waxing those parts isn't healthy. My cousins say that I'm lucky that all of my body hair is blonde because it's not very noticeable. But I know girls who shave down there all the time because their partners like it smooth." Galinda said. "Do you have a preference?"

"Well the only girl I've ever been with is you therefore the only vagina I've seen in person is yours and I love it just the way it is." Elphie said.

"That's so sweet Elphie. But Oz, you're so direct."

"What do you mean?"

"Because you said that."

"Vagina?"

"Yes." Galinda smiled.

"That's the scientific term for our reproductive organ Lindie. Would you rather I say 'hooha' or 'coocoo roll' or some other crazy slang?" Elphie asked and Galinda burst out laughing.

"That's hilarious. From now on we call it a 'coocoo roll'" she laughed.

"Lindie I refuse to refer to either of our vaginas as a coocoo roll." Elphie said, trying to remain serious.

"Fine, fine." The blonde giggled as she finished drying off. "By the way I love your coocoo roll just the way it is too."

"Galinda if you say that term one more time I swear to Oz."

"Don't be like that Elphie. You've called my breasts 'titties' before."

"That was a one time thing that you started." Elphie said.

"Well you're the one who started talking about vaginas."

"On the contrary, you're the one who brought up the topic of pubic hair. And my mistake, the vagina is internal, therefore I was technically referring to your vulva." Elphie corrected.

"Fine, Miss I Got an A in Anatomy Class." Galinda said with mock annoyance.

"You're so cute my sweet. But put some clothes on before I start getting ideas." Elphie chuckled. That was something Galinda would usually say.

"In my defense, you're naked too." Galinda giggled.

"But in my defense, I'm still in the process of washing up. You're just looking at your sexy body in the mirror." Elphie said. Galinda smirked and started jiggling her breasts. Elphie couldn't look away. The blonde gave her breasts a squeeze then started massaging her nipples.

"Lindie, please." Elphie blushed deeply and finally averted her eyes.

"Am I turning you on?"

"Yes!"

"Good." she smirked and waited for Elphie to look at her again before pinching her nipples.

"Lindie." Elphie said, blushing again.

"I'm sorry Elphie. I know we can't do this here, I shouldn't tease you. I just miss it… I've been worked up for a while."

"I know how you feel. I miss it too." Elphie confessed then thought for a moment. "Can we compromise?"

"What do you mean?"

"If we stay in this bathroom, promise to keep quiet and one of us is in control at a time." Elphie said and the blonde's face lit up.

"Are you saying we can have sex in here?"

"Not sex...more like mutual masturbation."

"I'm in! Who goes first?" Galinda said a bit too quickly and Elphie laughed.

"I think you would like to go first."

"How did you know?" Galinda giggled.

"Lucky guess." Elphie chuckled and kissed her deeply. Her green hands soon found her beautiful full breasts. She spent a generous amount of time rubbing, kissing and massaging her girlfriend's perky, pink nipples. Galinda was moaning as quietly as she could. Elphie brought her hand between Galinda's legs and cupped her center. The blonde gasped and Elphie started to gently massage her. Elphie began to rub a little faster and Galinda started panting heavily. Elphie guided her to sit down on the bench beside the bathtub as she continued to not so gently rub her delicate area. Galinda buried her face in Elphie's shoulder, moaning and crying out softly.

"Elphie...I'm gonna...I'm gonna..." she whimpered between breathy moans.

"Come. Let it happen." Elphie breathed. She felt tingles throughout her entire body. Galinda turned her on so much. It wasn't long before she brought her over the edge and the blonde nearly collapsed against her.

"I… I really needed that. Thank you." Galinda said after catching her breathe then kissed Elphie passionately.

"It is entirely my pleasure, my sweet girl." Elphie said as she kissed her and ran her hands over her breasts again. Galinda ran her hands over Elphie's breasts without breaking the kiss. She let the small, soft, green mounds fill her palms as she gently gave them a squeeze. She brushed her thumbs back and forth over the tight green nipples and Elphie gasped softly. Galinda's hand soon found its way down the green stomach to the area below Elphie's belly button. The blonde's fingers glided across Elphie's nether region. The green girl let out a very breathy moan and jerked slightly.

"Does it feel good?" she asked and Elphie nodded.

"Say it."

"Yes." the green girl managed to say.

"Yes what?"

"It...feels...good."

"How good?"

"Really good." she whimpered.

"Look at me." the blonde said. Elphie's cheeks darkened but she was reluctantly able to make brief eye contact with Galinda. The blonde started rubbing faster. She absolutely adored the flustered look on Elphie's face as she got closer. It wasn't long before Elphie was panting and whimpering. The pleasure exploded into waves throughout her entire body.

After they both had calmed down they felt the need to wash up again. Galinda's bath water had already drained so she hopped in the shower for a few minutes, purposely making the water colder than usual. Elphie quickly rewashed with her oils, paying extra attention to her nether region. When they were done they left the bathroom and finished getting dressed in their pajamas.

"I cannot believe I just had an orgasm in Colwen Grounds." Elphie said, still trying to process what had happened.

"We did homosexual things in the place where homosexuality is tolerated the least. It feels very freeing." Galinda said.

"I have to agree with you." Elphie said. Galinda laughed and kissed her.

xxx

"I hope you had time to think about your behavior last night Elphaba. You really upset Papa." Nessa said at breakfast the next morning. Nanny had excused herself from the table briefly and Shell was sleeping in.

"Nessa please, I'm really in no mood to talk about last night at all." Elphie sighed.

"You were disrespectful and I feel like you should apologize to him." Nessa said

"I will do no such thing! I said nothing to warrant an apology. If anything father should apologize to Galinda." Elphie said. Galinda nonchalantly ate her breakfast, not sure if she should jump in this conversation or not.

"That's not true. You blatantly made a mockery of fathers teaching. You always do this. You give him reasons to be angry with you and you do nothing to make a amends. Then you wonder why he hates you. You wonder why I'm the favorite. Because I have the decency to not disrespect my father!"

"Nessa stop it. We all know damn well that you're the 'tragically beautiful' favorite around here. And the core reason why father hates me is much deeper than you will ever understand. I do not regret a single word I said last night and I'll continue to 'make a mockery' of father's teachings because it's all just ridiculous nonsense!"

"How dare you say such a thing! He's right all those times he said you were a disgrace to the family. The Unnamed God will never forgive you if you keep this up!"

"Girls, whats going on?" Nanny said when she came back to the table, hearing to commontion.

"I've had enough to eat Nanny. Take me back to my room. I can't stand to be around her right now." Nessa said.

"Wow…" Galinda finally said once Nanny and Nessa were gone. Elphie sighed.

"I really don't want her to turn out like him when she's older but that's the path she's headed down. She's completely brainwashed."

"I see. It's actually disturbing."

"Indeed it is. Also I never understood why my little sister feels like she has the authority to reprimand me the way that she does."

"I've noticed that a lot this week. I find it ironic." Galinda said

"She's almost always been that way. She's terribly spoiled and just thinks she's the boss of everyone around here." Elphie shook her head.

xxx

The rest of the morning was pretty relaxed. That afternoon, Elphaba and Galinda spent some time with Shell. Galinda was starting to notice that Shell was somewhat neglected around here. Nessa was pampered like a princess, Elphie had the most relevant title out of all of them and then there was Shell; the left out little brother.

Frex left Colwen Grounds later that afternoon. He had an important event to speak at the next day in another part of Munchkinland so he would be staying at a hotel in that area for the rest of the weekend. He said appropriate goodbyes to everyone except Elphaba, which wasn't a surprise.

Elphaba and Galinda briefly met with Ingrid after dinner so she could give them the rundown for tomorrow. They would need to be up by at least 6am, which Galinda wasn't happy about. There would be a small breakfast buffet set up in the main hall, they could take it to-go if they didn't have time to sit down and eat. Their private transportation would be leaving to take them to the train station at 7am. Masters Keith, Gus and Carl would be accompanying them and their train to Wittica would leave at approximately 8am.

"Will we see you tomorrow before we leave?" Galinda asked.

"Of course. I'll be up bright and early to see you girls off." Ingrid smiled. "It was such an honor meeting you and getting to know you this week Galinda. You're a wonderful girl."

"Thank you Ingrid, same to you."

"And Elphaba, I'm glad that you made time to come back, even if it was just for Nessa. I hope you girls enjoy whatever you have planned for the rest of your summer. Elphaba, if we do have back before your break is over please know that Galinda is always welcome. Just let me know and I'll make the arrangements."

"I really appreciate that Ingrid." Elphie said.

"Me too." Galinda grinned.

"Anything for the best friends." Ingrid smiled. She had been sensing something between them ever since they first arrived. She wasn't sure what it was. Elphaba was naturally a very stoic person so she could never tell with her. She was starting to think that Galinda had what appeared to be a small crush on the green girl. She didn't want to make such assumptions, especially with all the strict rules and opinions about such things in Munchkinland. She wasn't homophobic at all but she knew if she openly supported such behaviors then she would risk losing her job. If the girls actually did have feelings for each other then she thought it was cute. To be honest, she had never pictured Elphaba with anyone, especially not a man. But in the back of her mind she could see her with Galinda. I ship it! She thought to herself. Is that what the kids say these days? But maybe they were just very close friends. Either way, she liked it. They balanced each other out in a very amusing way.

xxx

Later that evening, Elphie and Galinda were in their rooms packing. When Elphie was done she checked in with Galinda, then went down to Nessa's room. They hadn't talked since their argument that morning. As irritating, stubborn, bratty and annoying as her sister could be, she didn't like leaving her when they were on bad terms. She felt that way about both of her siblings, although she never argued with Shell. Deep down she loved and cared about both of them. She was almost always on bad terms with her father and didn't want it to be that way with them.

"Can I help you?" Nessa asked when she saw her sister standing in the doorway.

"Can we talk?"

"I guess." Nessa rolled her eyes as Elphie came in.

"Look, you and I obviously have very different views and opinions on things and I guess that's just how it's gonna be. You can still be mad at me if you want but I'm leaving tomorrow morning so I just wanted to say that I love you because you're my sister and that's never gonna change."

"I don't entirely forgive you but I'll be mature and drop it for now." Nessa said reluctantly.

"Now you know how I feel pretty much all the time." Elphie said.

"I'm still upset with you." Nessa crossed her arms.

"Why?"

"Because." She huffed.

"Because…?"

"Because!"

"Talk to me Nessie."

"I just am!"

"Nessarose." Elphie said sternly.

"Because you're leaving again! You finally came back and now you're leaving! For who knows how long. You use to always be here for me and now you literally never are. Am I that unimportant to you? You seem to only care about Galinda now." Nessa said.

"That is not true Nessa. You're obviously very important to me otherwise I wouldn't be in here trying to talk to you right now. You have to understand that I'm basically an adult now and I have my own life outside of this place so I'm not going to be here all of the time. But when I leave I'm not leaving for good, I'll always come back whether it's for political obligations or just for you and Shell."

"Will you return before the end of the summer?"

"I shouldn't make any promises, but maybe. I don't know what else Galinda and I have planned for the summer." Elphie said then saw the look on her sister's face. "Nessa, Galinda is my best friend. I know you're not use to the concept of me having friends but I do. I have a companion who likes my company and who I can do things with. I wish you could accept that."

"I do. I like Galinda as a person and I like the fact that you're friends. But…"

"But what?"

"I feel like she's taking you from me." Nessa said turning her head slightly.

"Nessa, that's not true." Elphie said as she saw her sister's eyes fill with tears.

"I think it is." she reluctantly let her tears fall. Elphie sighed.

"Please don't cry Nessie." Elphie said as she hugged her. She hadn't seen Nessa cry in a while. When she was younger she use to throw tantrums and cry all the time when she didn't get what she wanted but she somewhat grew out of that and became a more composed person. Nessa was consciously careful not to get her tears on Elphie. "Nobody is taking me from you. Like I said, we'll always be sisters. That's not gonna change."

"If you say so." Nessa said wiping her eyes. "I apologize. Did I get you wet?"

"No, I'm fine." Elphie said. "Are we good for now?"

"I think so."

"Do you need anything before I go back upstairs?"

"Would you help me into my night clothes? Nanny won't be back for another 20 minutes."

"Of course." Elphie said and as she helped Nessa change they were able to have a lighthearted, sisterly conversation, which didn't happen often.

xxx

Elphie and Galinda were up and ready to go the next morning. It was a struggle on Elphie's part getting Galinda up, but she managed. Nanny and the other kids were up as well. They were preparing to head to the early church service that morning so they were able to say appropriate goodbyes to Elphaba and Galinda. The girls had a little time to spare so they ended up eating breakfast with Ingrid until Master Keith came to retrieve them. Their private ride was out front, their luggage was already loaded so they boarded the limousine van and got settled.

"What a week." the blonde said as the van started moving. She was looking out of the window and Colwen Grounds was fading out of sight.

"I know right." Elphie said.

"Wittica, here we come!" Galinda bubbled.