Title:
Entertaining Destiny
Author: Aerohead
Email:
In my profile
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer/Dedication: For L. Frank Baum, Gregory Maguire, Stephen Schwartz, and Winnie Holtzman who own this idea that I'm extending. Thank you for giving me the first part.
Warning: spoiler for the ending of the musical Wicked, but that's pretty much about it.
Genre: Romance, adventure (book/play amalgamation)
Summary: The Vinkus is being used as a way for Quadlings to be taken to the Gillikin emerald mines. When a Quadling boy helps her daughter, Elphaba decides to stop the Gale Force from using Kumbricia's Pass as a way to smuggle people.
Epilogue
Fabala yawned as she rolled over. She wasn't usually a heavy sleeper – she usually only slept until the East Window started to glow with the sunlight over the Grasslands and she couldn't hide from the next day anymore.
Why she had chosen to sleep in the High Tower, she'd never know. It was one of those impulse things she usually didn't go by.
She dressed and closed the bag she had packed before she walked down the stairs and rapped on the door at the landing.
"Get up Aran, before I decide to leave without you."
"Evil Winkie." came the reply from the other end of the door. Fabala shook her head, surprised that he was still in bed. She started down towards the kitchens, when Mellesse stopped her.
"Miss?" said the Arjiki woman, and Fabala turned to her. "I was wondering...well...are you sure you'll be alright that close to the Emerald City?" Fabala smiled, nodding. She walked into the kitchen, looking around at the food in the cooking area. Careful not to repeat her mistakes from two years ago, she kept her hands to herself until she saw an apple. She picked it up and took a bite out of it.
"Goodbye, Miss!" Tempress called, standing next to her father in the main foyer. Fabala smiled and hugged both Tempress and Pfen, before going out of the foyer and into the bright sunlight of the Vinkus.
She blinked back the light, staring blankly at the carriage waiting there.
"Surprised?" asked The Scarecrow from behind her. She turned, nodding. The Scarecrow smiled. "I thought you and Aran should travel to Shiz like normal students." Fabala peered over her shoulder at the carriage, just to make sure it was real. The Scarecrow shrugged – she could hear the straw shifting as he did so – and said, "It's the thought that counts, right Faeba?"
She turned, hugging him tightly. "Of course." She laughed. He looked over her shoulder, before putting his mouth near her ear.
"You're mother's working, but she sends her love. She says she's on the right track this time." Fabala pulled away, delighted by the news.
"That's...wonderful!" She said. She disentangled herself from The Scarecrow and moved to the back of the carriage, putting her things away. There was shuffling behind her, and a bag went sailing over her head, landing slightly neatly on top of her own.
She turned, eyeing the yawning Aran critically.
"Sorry, Fae." He said. She winced at the nickname, but he was delighted to see that she didn't say anything. He moved past her into the carriage, and Fabala followed.
"Be careful!" The Scarecrow called as the carriage left.
"We will be!" Fabala promised as she waved goodbye to the slowly shrinking figure. She settled into her seat, ignoring Aran's shifting, and she soon drifted off to sleep.
Aran was having a difficult time keeping calm, though. He watched Fabala for a few minutes, biting his lip as he thought, before he stared out the window. He watched the Vinkus slowly shrink away, and Gillikin come into view, and only occasionally asked the driver where they were to make the silence in the cab go away.
There was five or so minutes left until they reached the Vinkus when Fabala stirred.
"Where are we?" She asked. He jumped, not expecting her to be awake, and kept looking out the window to hide his blush of embarrassment.
"Oh...we're in Gillikin." He said mildly, watching as the treeline changed and a foreboding group of buildings came into view. He gulped, watching them come closer. Fabala was quiet, so he continued to prattle. "We've been following the Vinkus River until it became the Gillikin River. We've been traveling about, maybe, twelve hours? According to the sun, anyway." He sighed, feeling for something in his pocket, before pulling it out. "Faeba...Fabia...er, this should be easier." He turned to her with a sigh, before taking out a necklace and giving it to her. She seemed shocked, but he couldn't look at her face – especially not her eyes – or he wouldn't be able to talk at all. "My-my mother made this...It's the only thing I can remember about her – her making this necklace and using the only two emeralds she had. It was when I was five, and she told me to give it to the one person I...well, I can't remember the exact words...but she told me to give it to someone I love...and, well...after everything you've done for me, Fae, you're the closest thing I can remember to ever having a sister or a friend and this is the only way I can repay you..." She just looked at him, stunned, and maybe there was a pang of something flickering across her face, but Aran figured that was just wishful thinking – Fabala kept her emotions very close to her, and didn't emote much. "Please, take it?" he begged.
Fabala took it carefully. It was a silver and brass witch's hat with two emeralds on either side. It had been made for some rich Gillikin or another on the anniversary of the death of the Wicked Witch of the West, but Aran barely remembered his mother giving it to him at the last moment.
"Thank you, Aran, it means a lot to me." She said quietly after a long period of excruciating silence. She pulled him close and hugged him tightly, and he could tell that she meant every word she said. When she pulled away, he could barely catch his breath. She...she hugged him!
She touched his hand, and he looked up at her. She was holding out the necklace in front of him, and his heart sank for a moment, before he looked up into her confused blue eyes. Oh...right...put it on her. He blushed to himself at his own ignorance, before taking the necklace back. She turned and he put it on, careful not to snag her braid in the clasp as he did so. She touched it around her neck, and as she turned, he smiled, nodding. "Beautiful." He whispered.
Neither had noticed that the carriage had stopped, and Fabala jumped, looking out of the window. "Well, here we are." She said, and Aran couldn't help but to pick up on the disappointed tone in her voice.
"Yes, here we are." He repeated, not sure what else to say. She slid out of the carriage, and he followed. They both moved to the back of the carriage and grabbed their bags in unison, before facing each other, not sure what to do. He smiled weakly, before stepping towards Briscoe Hall. "Oz bless you, Fae." He muttered.
She smiled at the sentiment. "We'll see each other in class, but Oz bless you as well, Aran." She said, kissing his cheek in a friendly gesture before fleeing towards Crage Hall.
Aran touched his cheek gently, watching her walk with determination in every step towards Crage Hall. He heard snickering from behind him, and he flushed, trying desperately to imitate Fabala's glare in the boys' direction. It failed miserably, and with his head down to hide his childish embarrassment, he slunk off towards Briscoe Hall.