As Fiyero had promised, the trip to the Vinkus was short, three days in all. Elphie wouldn't let him do more than take her hand, and sometimes she'd even balk at that. Fiyero said nothing; he knew he was lucky to even have gotten her to come with him in the first place. Though, at times, he found it difficult not to let his imagination run wild.
When they reached the castle at Kiamo Ko, Fiyero found the castle strangely foreboding. Leading Elphie inside, he realized he barely remembered the layout – he'd been in the Emerald City for months. He brought her upstairs to the guest room (somehow it seemed disrespectful to sleep with her in the bed he'd shared with Sarima, though whether disrespectful to Sarima or Elphie, he wasn't sure).
"We will be sleeping in here." He told her as he entered the room. The bed was hardly fit for two, but the bed in the abandoned corn exchange back in the city hadn't been very big, either.
She sat down on the bed, gazing intently out the window. It had begun to get dark; Fiyero had lighted a candle and placed it on the nightstand. "I think I'll go to bed," she said, simply.
"All right." He said, not moving from the room.
Suddenly, she seemed very awkward. "Uh, Yero?"
"Yes?"
"Since we left so quickly and I obviously was unable to take anything with me, I need some sort of oil…"
"Will do." He wandered back down the stairs. But how was he to know what items they had? He hadn't been in his own home for so long. It took him fifteen minutes to find anything even remotely close to what he knew she used. After another twenty, he climbed the stairs and went into the guest room. "This is the best I could do for now." He told her, placing two bottles on the table.
She was already beneath the blankets, reading an old book he supposed she'd dug out from somewhere. Its pages were yellowing and the spine had many creases. Looking up at him, she said, "Thank you."
Fiyero sat on the edge of the bed, removing his shoes. He was waiting for her to tell him off or pull the usual "not tonight" routine, and she hadn't. "What in Oz are you reading, Fae-Fae?"
She put the book down on the bedside table, dust flying up from the impact. "You amuse me. Did you not know that the closet in this room seems to be a storage area for documents on old Vinkus religion? It's quite intriguing."
Shrugging off the rest of his clothes, he blew out the candle and got in bed next to her. "We never had much of a religion."
"That's what you think. And, in a way, you're right. It's pretty much basic religion, but there are some interesting myths woven in. Myths of magic and scandal."
"That sounds like appealing reading material." He commented.
"Believe me, dearie, it is." She turned and pressed her body to his, finally welcoming him to her again.
Zealously, he responded, entering her smoothly and eagerly, ecstatic to love her again. Together they became entangled around one another, taking a good long time.
In the morning, Elphaba woke up earlier than Fiyero and crawled out of bed, rubbed some oil on her skin and realized she had nothing to wear. So she crawled back into bed, waking Fiyero in the process.
"Good morning, Elphie." He turned to her, grinning, and began to kiss her. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine. And from what I can feel, you're feeling fine, too." She arched her back against him and they sank beneath the blanket. When it was over, Fiyero and Elphaba looked at each other for a moment and something flashed in Elphaba's eyes.
"Fae…"
"What?"
"Is something wrong?"
"Why in Oz would you think something's wrong?"
"Nothing. I haven't seen you enough recently to really guess, anyway."
"Fiyero, what do you mean?"
He ran his hands across her rib cage and abdomen playfully, noticing how one of her hands always slid to block him should he try to touch her below the waist. "Nothing. Nothing at all."
She looked at him curiously but he didn't speak again. "Yero?"
"Mmmm hmm?"
"I have nothing to wear."
"Oh, right. Um… Sarima's a little dumpy and you probably wouldn't fit right in her clothes. Maybe one of her sisters' clothes." He got up and motioned for Elphaba to follow.
"No." She still refused to let him see her. "Please, just, find something – anything."
He realized that being with her so often would cause difficulty, with her rules and all. "All right. One moment." Fiyero went into number Three's room (who was the slenderest) and pulled out normal day clothes. "Here you go, try this." He handed them to Elphie.
"Leave the room."
"Fae-Fae…"
"I said leave the room. Please, Fiyero." All of the sudden she looked greener than usual, and her expression changed from aggravation to pained. "Never mind." She dashed out of the room, forgetting her self-consciousness for a moment
"Elphie?"
"One minute."
He had no idea what room she was in – not that she did. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." She sounded like she was coughing. "I… think I got some oil in my mouth or something," she said, shrugging, when she came back into the room, uncomfortably covering herself up with her arms.
Fiyero averted his eyes out of instinct and stared at the ground. She tugged on a dress and stretched out her arms. They stood there in an awkward silence for a moment until Fiyero said, "Breakfast?"
Three weeks later, waking up with a stiff neck due to the fact that the bed was not fit for two, Fiyero woke up next to Elphaba and roused her from sleep. "Elphie?"
She opened her eyes; she was comfortably in his arms, no neck pain for her. "What?"
"Is there anything you'd care to tell me?"
"No…" She looked at him curiously.
"Oh, Fae-Fae, don't make me bring it up."
"Fiyero, I have no idea where you're going with this." She turned away from him, obviously not completely oblivious to his intentions.
Fiyero made a gesture with his hand. "This is what I'm talking about."
"I still don't understand."
"I've seen you enough in the past two months to know you haven't bled at all. Not since at least two months ago. I had three kids with Sarima. I know how pregnant women act, Fae."
"You're wrong. I… I did bleed, it was just a very short spell of time and you didn't see me during that small period of time."
Knowing what to say, Fiyero asked, "Is it mine?"
"Fiyero! Of course it's yours! What sort of…" She trailed off, only then realizing what she had just admitted. Sighing, she said, "I hate it when you trick me like that."
"I hate it when you don't tell me that you're pregnant, so we're even." He turned her to face him. "So, my darling Fae, what are we going to do?"
"There's nothing to do, Yero. If you're asking about what will happen once you've found the tribe and Sarima is back, I'll go off on my own and take care of the child myself. I understand the situation."
"No, no. I want to be with you and I want to be a father to that child; I never was much of a father to Manek, Irji and Nor."
"And what are you going to do about your real family, Fiyero?"
He saw in her face that she wanted to be with him just as much as he wanted it. Though she told him to leave her, to walk away, her eyes were begging him to find a solution in which neither one of them would have to go. But she didn't want to cause trouble or to be a burden. Tenderly, he caressed her cheek with his thumb, smiling at her reassuringly, though he didn't know what to say. "Well, if… if we do find the tribe, then we'll find my family, and I don't just mean Sarima and the children. I had three younger brothers. One of them can have the throne."
"But you are married to Sarima."
"Do you remember me telling you how the taboo against things like this disappears once you enter the Vinkus? She can just marry one of them. There isn't even something to unmarry her and I, she could just remarry if she so desired."
"What if she doesn't want to?"
"It's not as if she loves me. I don't think she'll object. I'll just have to neglect to mention why I'm giving up the throne and leaving the Vinkus."
"Wait, no. Where would you… we… go?"
"Somewhere, anywhere."
"Right." Elphaba was disbelieving. She shook her head and pushed his hands away when he tried to touch her. After a pause she said, "And, if there is nothing wrong to you about committing adultery with me and being unfaithful to Sarima, tell me how I'm supposed to believe you're not just going to do the same sort of thing to me?"
"Fae-Fae, you know me better than that!"
"No, I don't. We've been together, what, three months? How do I know you don't just fall in and out of infatuation easily and that I'm not just a phase?"
"Elphie, look at me."
She didn't move.
"Elphie!"
When she didn't turn back to him again, he tried to turn her head towards his but she kicked him, almost grazing the groin.
Fiyero took a deep breath. "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that was the hormones because of the baby."
"Sorry." She muttered over her shoulder, the closest she would come to an apology.
"If you won't look at me, at least listen. Elphaba, don't you remember Shiz? Don't you realize, Elphie, that I loved you even then?" Not only did she not move, but also she froze, caught her breath. "Remember the last night all of us were together? And Avaric got that idea to go to the Philosophy Club and you refused to go or let Nessa and Glinda go. I had no idea what the Philosophy Club was, so, I, ignorant as I am at times, begged you to come with us. I didn't want you to go to the Emerald City. I wanted you with us. I know you remember that, Elphaba."
Finally, she moved a little, though she still refused to look at him. She stared at the ceiling pensively for some time. After what seemed to Fiyero to have been an hour, she spoke. "When you caught me in the Emerald City, one of the first things we talked about was that day in life sciences with the antlers. And I said something about how intrigued I had been by 'those beautiful markings on your face'. The next time I saw you, you…"
"Purposely wore something open at the neck to seduce you, provoke you?" Fiyero laughed. "Yes, I did."
At last she let her gaze rest on him, her eyes amused. Playfully, she hit him. "You little…"
"What? I only did it because I loved you."
"Ugh! You could've just made a move first."
"I'm not an idiot, love. When it comes to that sort of thing with you, you have to make the first move. I just hurried it along a little."
She stretched out in the bed, smiling. "I can't believe you…"
"Oh, you can believe it. You wouldn't have done anything had you thought I wasn't asking for it."
Elphaba shook her head and laughed. "Yero my hero, I love you." She reached for him and kissed him sensuously.
"And I love you." He told her, looking at her eyes. "And I mean it."
Elphaba tousled his hair and put a hand behind his neck so that they were nose-to-nose. "Prove it."
The next week, Fiyero began the search for clues on what had happened to his tribe. He explored abandoned huts, hunted for trails and still couldn't find anything. There had been no struggle, or at least a very, very small struggle. If it had been the Gale Force, they would've left something, a sign. They would've left a ransom note: Give us Elphaba and you can have your tribe back. He shuddered at the thought of losing Elphie and shook his head, almost glad that there was no sign.
During the days, Elphaba rummaged around the castle for books, read them and then repeated the process of searching for them. Occasionally, she would wander the rooms and discover the personality of Fiyero's family.
The five sisters seemed virginal, just from the clothing they wore and the fact that they were living with their sister. It looked as if they'd become old maids, at this point, especially if they were trapped somewhere.
Sarima had been a little pudgy, Elphaba found, looking at her dresses. The bedroom Sarima and Fiyero had shared ignited no jealousy in Elphaba, just curiosity. She wondered if Fiyero was the same with Sarima as he was with her. She wondered if he spoke to her differently. She wondered if he touched her differently. She wondered if he loved her differently. She wondered if she'd ever ask.
Something tugged at her heart when she glanced around the children's rooms. One of the boys, the elder, she supposed, was into masculinity and proving himself. The younger boy left no interesting evidence of his personality. She imagined that he had been quiet. And then the girl, she had dolls, worn and used. She liked to draw. She had a drawing on her desk labeled: Nor by Fiyero.
Feeling guilty, she eventually stopped wandering the bedrooms and explored the other rooms in the castle. There was almost a library of books in one of the towers, entirely covered with dust. She realized that the Arjiki tribe was what some people would consider less civilized. But she didn't approve of civilization, so perhaps they were better off uncivilized.
She saw that, as detached as he was of his own, Fiyero loved the concept of family. He must be so distant from his because he'd wanted a family that he loved, and Sarima had been the first member of his 'adult' family, and he didn't love her in the way he wanted to. She saw this and she wondered if he loved her the way he wanted to, and if he would love their child, which she hadn't wanted. She had only begun to want the child when she realized how much Fiyero craved a family he could love.
When they were alone together doing something aside from making love, Fiyero and Elphaba acted very much like a constantly quarrelling elderly married couple, especially when Elphaba's moods began to change.
She was very emotional. Little things would upset her and bother her like big things wouldn't. And she was less angry. The downside to that was that she was more sensitive, more likely to break down into tears. He got in the habit of carrying a handkerchief in his pocket at all times in case he should say something that made her cry.
Other times she was giddy and excitable. He suspected that these emotions existed normally in her, but she refused to let them show. He loved when she was giddy; he loved her smile and her laughter. She was glad about the baby, much of the time, and he was happy for that, too.
She could be shy and quiet. A lot of her time was spent curled in a corner with a book, but not reading. He suspected, seeing her hand on her stomach, that she was hoping to feel the baby move. Of course, he never accused her of such a thing. She'd be horrified if he accused her in the wrong mood.
He tried not to laugh at her womanly concerns. At moments, she would muse over whether she would become plump like Sarima after having the child. Fiyero doubted it. Sarima had a figure that was waiting to become chubby, Elphie didn't. Hormones were interesting things, he had to admit.
They did get into many fights, of course.
"Elphie…"
"I said 'not tonight'."
"That's not the problem."
"Then what is?"
"I can't touch you at all."
"Gee, Fiyero, I'm glad you're trying to understand that I'm pregnant right now and maybe I don't want to be touched."
"No, I do understand. I know you don't want to make love, I accept that. I understand that. That's not the problem. You won't even let me hold your hand, Fae-Fae."
"Yero, everything we do leads to sex."
He looked at her, lying on her side and huddling as close to the edge of the bed as possible, to keep away from him. This was difficult, of course, since the bed was meant for one. "It does not."
"But it could, and I really don't feel like it right now."
"How far along are you now?"
"Somewhere between two and three months."
"This is going to be a long next six or seven months."
"Why, no sex? Or the anticipation? Or…?"
"The anticipation and so much more. Your moods are amusing, though."
"I'm glad you think so." She snapped, huffy.
"Speaking of moods…" He mumbled, loving the way he could get a reaction to rise in her.
"I'm not that bad!" She protested, offended. "Am I?"
"You're awful."
He was being sarcastic, but she was in her sensitive mood suddenly. "Well, I'm sorry, I can't help it. I'm trying. I don't want to be so terrible."
As he thought he saw tears well in her eyes, he hurriedly took back his words, reaching for a handkerchief (he always kept one on the bedside table, too). "I was kidding, Elphaba."
"Don't kid like that, it hurts."
"I didn't know you could hurt." That had just slipped. "I mean, that joking was hurtful. I'm sorry, my darling Fae."
"Humph!" She turned away.
He tried not to laugh at her dramatic attitude. "I said I was sorry." Desperately, he went for the over used soften-up trick, "I love you."
She caught his eye, smiling softly. "I love you, too."
"Good."
As he reached for her, she glared at him and snapped, "But that doesn't mean you can touch me!"
"That doesn't matter. I still love you." He was having way too much fun with her emotions.
"Really?"
Almost snorting, he said, "Yes." He meant it, but her reactions were so out of character.
"That makes me feel a little better. Thank you."
He wanted to bring up the issue of her thinking he only wanted her for sex, but he thought he'd wait a little while…
As in, seven months.