CHAPTER SIX: "Nothing worth talking about"
The sun had more than risen when Elphaba woke him the next morning. She'd obviously been awake for some time, her skin was shining and she'd pulled on a simple black dress. He hopped to the ground, finding that there was no morning dew beneath his feet. He noted that they were starting the day a bit late, but they had time.
"You never told me how you ended up in the city. What was your life like before that?" He asked casually.
"Nothing worth talking about," she responded offhandedly. "Why?"
"You must've had some sort of life."
"No. I just appeared out of thin air one day. Or better yet, I'm just a figment of your imagination." She laughed sarcastically.
"I knew you were too good to be true."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course I had a life. But it wasn't what I'd call interesting."
"Tell me how you ended up in the city with nowhere to go."
"Why does it matter?" She was clearly not happy with the direction in which the conversation was headed.
"It doesn't. I'm just curious. You intrigue me, what can I say? Just satisfy my curiosity, please. We've got time, so tell me. How'd you end up here?"
"I should be asking the same of you."
"You tell me about your life, and then I'll answer any of your questions."
"If this is what conversation is going to be like for the next six weeks, I think I might just die." Elphaba sat down in the wagon, visibly uptight.
"Come on, what is there to hide?"
She looked at him, alarmed. "Nothing."
"Then how can it hurt?"
She shook her head in defeat. "Fine. I'll tell you." She paused. "To begin with, I don't think my father thinks I'm his daughter."
"Because of your skin?"
Her lips thinned at that. "Not only my skin, but because my mother was… oh, how else do I say this? She was sort of… unfaithful, among other things."
"Well, are you your father's daughter?"
"Good question. I can't answer it. I don't know." She shrugged.
He gaped at her. "Didn't you ask your mother?"
"Madikien, my dear, my darling, my mother couldn't remember what she'd eaten for breakfast, much less how many men she slept with, who they were and when she slept with them. It was the same way with my sister. Though, at least they were able to narrow it down to two possible fathers."
"Was one of them your father?"
"Yes."
"And the other…?"
"When I was little, my father would often go off alone to 'find himself'. One day, while he was out, a Quadling man by the name of Turtle Heart came by, and he just became part of the family. I'm told I took to him quite well, being as I practically bit most people who came near me."
"I don't believe that."
"Believe it. I was a fierce little child." She grinned widely and clicked her teeth.
He laughed. "I guess I can imagine that. But how'd you know all of this? I'm sure no one told you, you were too young, right?"
"Right. But things were a bit obvious. My Nanny stayed with us for a long time after I was born. She didn't miss a thing. And she'd always grumble about it. I guess she thought I couldn't understand her. To be honest, she raised me more than my mother did. From what I can remember, my mother was always chewing pinlobble leaves and lying in bed. I was lucky anyone bothered to raise me."
"What about your sister?"
She became more uncomfortable with the topic, shifting restlessly. "She wasn't green, if that's what you want to know. But she got about the same upbringing that I did. I believe I mentioned that I grew up in Quadling Country. My father was determined to convert all of the Quadlings to unionist, being the 'great believer' that he was. That's where both my sister and I grew up."
"Do your father and your sister still live there?"
"My sister's at Shiz. Well, she may be home now that summer has come. I don't really know."
"Did you lose touch?"
"You could say that." She said softly, "No more questions."
"You haven't told me how you ended up at the 'shelter' yet."
"It's a long story."
"Elle, we have a very long time." He said, moving next to her and lightly touching her hand.
She leaned into him. "I know that. And I'll tell you eventually, but not now. It's your turn."
"What do you want to know?"
She thought for a moment, realizing she could wheedle information out of him with this tactic. But she had a few questions of her own. "How'd you end up in the city?"
"After my parents died, I ended up in an orphanage. They fed us and taught us, though only the bare minimum. I was lucky to receive a higher education."
"Where'd you go to school?"
"I'm not answering specifics until you tell me more."
"Fine. But how'd you end up staying in the city?"
"After I graduated I just got stuck here. Where else was there to go?"
"I see." Elphaba was thinking about Shiz once again. She hadn't graduated and probably never would. It suddenly occurred to her that he must be at least a year or two older than her, but she didn't know how much older. She studied his face for a moment. He couldn't possibly be older than his mid-twenties, at the highest. "How old are you, anyway?"
"Twenty-four," he answered, looking at her. It had just dawned on him, too, that she was younger, but she couldn't be much younger, could she? "What about you?"
"I'm nineteen." Suddenly, she felt incredibly young and inexperienced. "I find it a little absurd that we didn't think to ask this before," she commented, her cheeks flushed.
"Why aren't you at Shiz with your sister?"
"I was, for a while. But I wouldn't return from a visit to the city. I couldn't go back."
"That's how you ended up in the city?"
"Yes."
"But why?"
"There are a lot of reasons. One of the main reasons is the same reason I ended up at the 'shelter'."
"The Animals?"
"A professor at Shiz, a Goat, was murdered and I was (and still am) positive that the headmistress set it up, probably following orders from the Wizard. The Goat was the only Animal left on the staff. Maybe he was causing a disruption; maybe people are ignorant, I don't know. But I do know that I am not going back."
The conversation ended there. But Madikien continued to prod Elphaba about her past, and she did the same to him. Their journey back was much easier to endure and more entertaining with the conversation, anyway. When they returned and began to lead the second caravan, though, neither of them pursued the topic. Only when they were alone again on their own did Madikien bring up the subject of her past again.
"Tell me," he began, "what Shiz was like. Aside from the Goat, what were your classes like? Your friends?"
She smiled, remembering. "Well, my roommate was a stuck-up, ignorant girl by the name of Galinda. She later changed her name to Glinda in response to the murder of Dr. Dillamond. After that, she became much deeper and thoughtful than I thought possible of her."
"Were you very close?"
Elphaba paused. "There were times when I could've called her my friend. She was the last to see me before I disappeared into the streets of the grungy old city."
"You miss her, don't you?"
"Madikien, you don't give up do you? You still insist on thinking that I have much more emotion than I actually do. Why would I miss her? I left, never to return." She sighed. "It's my own fault that I'm here and it's pointless to miss her. Why mourn my own actions?
"There were others, too. Boq was I boy I knew as a child in Munchkinland and her developed a huge crush on Galinda; not Glinda, though." She laughed lightly. "And then there were his friends, Crope and Tibbett. They were always a source of amusement, with their occasional outings in drag. I was never quite sure which was they swung, if you know what I mean."
Madikien laughed, seeing that she'd brightened up a little. "What about your sister? Wasn't she with you, too?"
"My sister, Nessa, was part of our group, too, always ranting on about religion just like father. There was a whole group of us…" She almost lost herself in thought. "Oh, and Fiyero! The poor thing almost got killed his first day during a lecture. Our life sciences teacher was teaching a lesson that went wrong and poor Fiyero, he walked in late, so people were already staring at him, not to mention he's a Winkie prince, so, he looked at little different than most of the other students. Avaric commented on his skin color, of course, which he knew got on my nerves because… well," she gestured to herself, "Avaric was always mocking me and was relentlessly disdainful about my skin. He seemed to think he was a little better than the rest of us, superior and haughty.
"The night before I decided to leave, all of us had a drink or two at the café. After that, Avaric got the bright idea to go to the Philosophy Club. I refused to allow Nessa to go and just barely managed to drag Glinda away. Nessa went back with Nanny and Glinda and I set out for the city. That was the last time I saw any of them." She struggled against the sadness in her voice and pretended she didn't care.
Madikien could hear the hint of sorrow in her words, but decided not to say anything about it. He only kissed the top of her head and held her tenderly. She was silent the rest of the trip.