Interlude

Darkness. Yes, it definitely was her best suit.

Elphaba had been locked in her tower for days, without leaving the room. Six had looked for her, after she hadn't appeared to several meals following the days of her arrival. Elphaba had claimed she felt sick, and didn't feel like being around people, so Six just brought her some left over from each food. There were days she ate. There were days she didn't. the last were the most frequent.

Thoughts of joyful memories in the city invaded her head, as well as those ghastly years at the mauntery. She had not expected to live this long when she had reached the building; but life had proved that not everything she expected was to become true.

Now, she couldn't help but think on blue diamonds. Yes, the ones that had mesmerized her so many times, and still did. She was astounded at how their pattern and simplicity could amaze her with such easiness. She closed her eyes to recall the beautiful outlines. How they went up and down, back and forth, and how they used to curl in every corner of his body. The playful diamonds led to a clear face, which she dare not qualify. Elphaba smiled at the picture, and couldn't help but wonder about her lost lover. The darkness tempted her to let herself go and imagine an ideal world, where she could just be. But the thought of it only brought more angst and anguish to her, for she knew it would not be possible. She just avoided. Like she always did when things got tough.

Strength. Such a powerful word. But such a weak one too. She had thought she possessed it, but was proven wrong when considering certain matters, like the one it was presented to her now. No, she would not surrender. But she wouldn't deal either. All of her nights were carried with exhausting thinking and irrational solutions. Her brain was drained out. Yet, she could not figure herself out of this one. She cared for the man too much. But did he?

No one answered that. Or her pleas for a reply for that matter. Whether she was affected by this or not, she could not say. She heeded, she knew—but not in the same way she had almost a decade ago. Her life had changed in so many ways. Her mind had changed… but not her resignation to the fact that she would never be let live happy. 'No,' she reminded herself every time. 'I am not meant to be happy.' And that was the only thought that she concluded from all her night sessions, with only the Unnamed God and the moon for witnesses.

Her grieving, she would not show, though. Her heart had melted at the sight of him, but she would never tell. Why would she? It would all bring an unwanted chain of reactions for it… and she was tired of been stuck in the same sequence over and over again. Chaos, disconsolation, bloodshed. But above all, tiredness. Yes, that was the sensation she suffered the most this days. Tiredness… and something else. She couldn't place a finger on it, so she just shrugged at the thought and let it go. She could not identify it… or she didn't want to.

Never mind. The story that Fiyero had told before had left her stunned and awestruck. Elphaba had not known how to react at such tale, so she just countered how she thought it best, and what her conscious screamed. Let him go. Her heart would kill her for that, but this wasn't their time. Their time had passed nearly ten years ago, and now was the time for him to move on. As for her, she would deal in her own way. She would figure it out. Elphaba did not want to be the reason for him leaving his family –especially his kids. She had seen how glad he had been with his little girl…. And she regretted not been able to be part of that now.

So this was her decision. She believed that everything happened for a reason in its own time and place, and theirs had long expired.

These were the hours when she most felt alone. The hours of the cold, lonely night when her husband would get up and look out the window, hoping. For what, she did not know, but she anticipated it was some kind of secret. A secret she was not meant to know of; not now, not ever. But he would not trust her. He never did.

Fiyero would always get up in the middle of the night, but Sarima stayed as if she were asleep. She would not tell him how bothered she was by his outlandish behavior. She was not bothered— but was she … jealous? He would never share with her, and she was kind of resentful to the one who did know of him. Sarima had tried several times to talk to the man who shared her bed, but he would always reply, "It's nothing, dear. Only the wind blowing." or something of the sort. However, Sarima always had an eye for lies. And this was the case.

The emerald city and its grand adventures. The big, green majestic buildings of its set, making the central figure of Oz. She had never been there, but Fiyero had told magnificent stories about the going-ons of the city. But not to her—to the kids. Of course she would be present, and listened in every little detail of the telling. She loved stories, even as a child. So she would sit, with baby Nor at the time cuddled in her arms, and listen to the outrageous tell. She was fascinated by the people there. And he would tell it with such passion!

The second time he went there, he had written a letter for them, and had sent delayed Lurlinmas presents. But the tone of the letter had been different. It was a stricter one, a more distanced one. She didn't take note at the time, but when he had disappeared, she had become obsessed with his vanishing. Maybe she was looking too much into it.

The new guest seemed weird. Why was it she had come here? Oh, yes! She had wanted to talk to Sarima about her husband, and how she had met him in the city. In the grand City of Emeralds. When Nor had entered the kitchen announcing that their visitor had fainted, and that Fiyero demanded some kind of oil immediately, she had thought the little girl had gone mad, so she decided to take a glass of water, as she would do in such case. But the reaction he gave to the plain gesture! He had seemed almost furious about it. She didn't understand, as she did most of the time he would be around. Sarima just shrugged the situation away. Auntie Guest seemed tired and confused. About what, she didn't know either, but that was none of her business, wasn't it? Anyway, she had wanted to talk to Fiyero that night about his day, but he was awfully quiet, as he had been the last couple of months. He hadn't talked too much during dinner, so he left to their room, and fell asleep even before Sarima could follow him to the bedroom.

When Fiyero had arrived to the door, several weeks ago, her heart had jumped of joy to see her husband was finally home. He was dehydrated and needing of desperate medical help. Thank the Unnamed god, Three knew some medicine specialties because of her readings and because the tribe they had lived in had taught her how to handle cases similar to this. Fiyero had rested for the first week, and later on, he didn't want to talk about what had happened. And he still didn't. Nevertheless, she had been happy for his return. Maybe not for herself… but for the kids. They were so content to see their father again. And he did too. Fiyero loved his kids above all. Or so she thought.

Such a horrid night. Nothing but troubles and unsolved situations. And this night was not any other different than the ones before. Fiyero had wondered around the castle for days and nights to see if he could catch a glimpse of her. His green beauty. But she was reluctant to leaving her dormitory. And she was right—in some way.

He could understand why was it she was mad. After all, he hadn't been able to contact her after his escape from the Gale Force, and he could see how hurt she was from that. Believing that your loved one has died… it's not easy. He was amazed at how she had been able to survive. If the roles were inverted, he would have probably killed himself… the thought of not having her by his side killed him yet.

However, he believed that wasn't the main reason why she was upset. He could see it in her eyes. She had been surprised and unwilling to consider him being alive. True, it probably was because she had been through so much pain that if he let her guard down, she would find a much cruel reality to what she thought was happening. But no, this wasn't the case. She had suffered, yes. But it was unlike her to keep a grudge against him for so much time. Usually, she would be annoyed at first, and after a while –usually a day or two- she would give in to her passion, were it for need or for loving him too much she couldn't resist been mad at him. But more than two days had passed. Almost… five, was it? He couldn't resist knowing she was so close, yet so far. He had watched from the bottom of the stairs, and he had observed her from down there. That would have to do for the time, since she refused to come down, and ignored any attempt he did at talking to her. He had asked Six what was it that had happened with their new guest. Six, as stiff as she was in front of a man, she answered, "Well, that is none of your business. But if you shall know, she claims she's not feeling well. In my opinion, she seems miserable over a subject matter. But, oh well… that's just me." The last comment with a sarcastic tone. Fiyero had dismissed the commentary, except for the part were Six had mentioned that the woman felt miserable. He didn't like Six at all, but the woman had some intuition for this kind of things, he had to give her that.

Miserable. And he was probably the cause for it. Fiyero hated himself for that, and he cursed every fiber of himself for been the reason.

He waited, though. He would always remain. In his life he had only known one true feeling, and one true person. And this was his Fae. He would not give up on her, not until he knew what was happening with her, and not until he cleared some issues out of the way. He loved her. No matter what.

Sarima, on the other hand, was exactly the opposite. She felt different, as he had told Elphaba once. Fiyero had never loved this woman; he had only shared the bed because he had to. He had loved her in the way he would have loved any other woman who had had his children. Even if Sarima tried to approach him, he would reject her in the politest way possible. But she sensed something was wrong. The woman wasn't that dim.

She didn't even come close to his Fae. His sharp Fae. He loved everything about that woman, and he would never regret his time at the City of Emeralds. If he regretted something, was to have been born Prince of the Vinkus, and therefore, being married at the age of seven, with no say whatsoever. But he had to live with that, though he would never stop adoring his green secret.

Playing wasn't one of his best skills. But then again, what was he good at? All of his life was spent in a mauntery full of old and working maunts. The women weren't the friendly kind he had wished they would be. Liir spent most of his times watching the maunts deliver their prayers, and occasionally sing and play some kind of instrument. Those were his favorite. On a rare occurrence, he had heard Elphaba sing-- though she didn't know he had listened. She had run to the quiet temple, all alone, when the maunts were fast asleep, and had sang the most beautiful melody he had ever heard of. He had made himself comfortable behind a bench at the distant end, and had fallen asleep with the sweet song. Liir was startled at her outstanding voice and skill, but he would never reveal that to her, because she would never listen to him, less pay some attention at his talking. This was done one night near Lurlinemas. Elphaba usually got more mindless and melancholic during this time of the year, and would not speak to anyone, not even the Superior Maunt, whom she spoke once a week.

Liir had been mocked and teased on since he arrived by the other three children. By Manek especially. Irji just played along his older brother, though he had no purpose but to copy his elder sibling. Nor, on the other hand, just shrugged the idea of having joy out of bothering others. She would laugh when Liir was played on, though, but she wouldn't participate or approve of any of their games. Partly because she herself had been a victim of the bulling child and his follower. But she also felt related to that kid. She felt sympathetic for the boy. He was the youngest and slimmest of them, and so Manek would take advantage of that. And that disturbed Liir and Nor very much.

Liir found that he liked spending time with the girl, more than he did with the boys. When Five had seen them together, she had mentioned they looked alike, but didn't all children look alike? Besides, it could be because he was spending so much time with her. The comment was soon forgotten by the children.

Nor had stated that she would never like another boy that wasn't her dad. She spoke wonders of him, like if he was some kind of hero. Liir had never met his father, and he hadn't met his mother either, he suspected. Everyone at the castle spoke of Elphaba- or Auntie guest- as his mother, but he didn't think so. She was never one for affection as he saw Sarima do with her children. But he shrugged every time anyone mentioned it. What he did care about was having a father. He had never seen how one acted or was supposed to act. Nor had described hers as an ideal father. But Liir could not tell, for he hadn't seen him around the castle. Fiyero -as he had heard mention- had been skipping the meals, and he would eat alone, in his room. However, their children went to see him. Sarima had explained the sisters and the children that Fiyero felt exhausted and he would be laying down for a couple of days, so he would not be around too much. Liir just looked at Nor's disappointment, and was a little let down, because he was hoping to see what a father really was. Even if it was for Nor.

Elphaba had been distant. Even more missing than usual. She would tell him to get out early in the morning and to come back late, and he would wonder around, not having anything to do until the other young awakened. Sometimes he would stare into the woman's window, only to find her thinking and looking on the outside, or maybe reading some books she had found. Liir had also found some books. They were about the ancient tribe, the family's ancestors. They were written in the Arjiki language, and Nor said she could understand little herself. But Liir had been taught how to read early in age, and had read a lot of material, because there was so little to do around the mauntery-- with no kids and all. He found these books fascinating, and he understood most of the wording and scribbling. He didn't know why, but he just did. They talked about ancient tradition and such. The boy did not find this interesting, but he just kept going, only to kill time. He thought he had taken this habit from spending too much time with the green woman. And maybe he wasn't wrong.

A/N: sorry for the late update! Just keep R&R, for that keeps me motivated! I hoped you like it, and please leave some feedback! Thanxs:-)