Glinda was stunned. She retreated back out of site, placing her back against the wall for support. 'It can't be! She's dead!' Glinda thought frantically. 'Is it possible?' Glinda had to think for a moment. 'No, it's not possible. I was there that night. She's gone………..but still.'
Glinda thought she must be going crazy, but she had to find out. She slowly paced herself to the library door, and opened it with trepidation. The entry was dark, but there was a light cast at the end of the hallway. Glinda entered and quietly closed the door behind her, making her way towards the light. She peered around the corner apprehensively, and saw the cloaked figure once again, quickly pouring over book titles on the shelf in front of her. As Glinda silently made her way towards the cloaked figure, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. The figure was so intent on their mission that they didn't notice her at all. She was within ten feet of the person in front of her when she saw it again. She was sure of it this time. It was a green wrist.
Her heart threatened to jump out of her chest. She stopped breathing. Finally, swallowing so hard she thought she'd choke herself, she took one deep breath and uttered the name that had haunted her dreams for years.
"Elphie?" she managed weakly.
Elphaba stopped in her tracks. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? Did she imagine it?
"Elphie, is that you?" Glinda said, stronger and more hopeful this time.
Elphaba felt her pulse quicken. There was no mistake. She slowly turned around towards the direction of the voice and saw the figure of a woman only ten paces away from her. She couldn't believe her eyes. There stood Glinda, more radiant and beautiful than ever. The woman that she'd dreamed about for the last six years was only steps away.
Glinda tried to look inside the hood of the cloaked figure, but a shadow played across the face, keeping it hidden from view. Still she knew. She took a couple of tentative steps forward.
Elphaba raised her hands to her head and removed her cloak.
Glinda, upon seeing Elphaba's face inhaled sharply. There she was, the woman she loved so fiercely, the woman she believed was dead, the woman she'd wished for more than anything else in life was standing directly in front of her. Tears began to form in Glinda's eyes. Her heart was pounding. Her breathing became shallow.
"ELPHIE!" she cried, and ran to Elphaba throwing her arms around her waist and pulling her into a hug that was so intense it threatened to crack a few ribs.
Elphaba hadn't even taken her hands off of her hood yet. Glinda ran to hug her and she was so stunned, she was momentarily motionless. Slowly, she brought her hands down and embraced Glinda. Silent tears ran freely from both women.
"Oh Elphie, I can't believe it. I can't believe it's you." Glinda cried.
"Glinda, I…." Elphaba began, but Glinda pushed back from the embrace and suddenly slapped the green woman across the face.
"How dare you! You let me go on thinking you were dead, and all this time you were alive?" Glinda shouted.
"Glinda please, I wanted to tell you."
"You wanted to tell me? Elphaba Thropp how could you? How could you do that to me?"
"Glinda…" Elphaba had no words for the moment. Her eyes were pained and she just shook her head.
Glinda raised her hand again, but Elphaba raised an eyebrow and pointed right at her, silently letting her know that she wasn't about to take another blow. Glinda lowered her hand. She was furious.
"I thought you were dead. They came after you. I heard you scream, saw your silhouette as you melted. All that was left was your hat. Elphie, I thought you were dead."
"I didn't mean to…."
"I DIED THAT DAY!" Glinda shouted. Then she broke down and started to sob.
The comment caught Elphaba off guard. They were best friends, but she had no idea that Glinda cared that much about her.
Elphaba gathered the sobbing woman in her arms and tried to comfort her.
"Shhhh! I'm sorry Glinda. I'm so sorry." Elphaba whispered to her.
Glinda tried to compose herself. She looked up at Elphaba's face and saw the concern. Suddenly, no matter how mad she was, her heart melted. Her Elphie was alive.
"Oh Elphie" Glinda cried.
"Glinda, I want to tell you everything, but I can't do it here" Elphaba said.
Just then Fiyero came around the corner. "Elphaba, we have to g……..go." Fiyero was stunned at the scene in front of him. Seeing Glinda was the last thing he'd expected.
"Glinda!" Fiyero said with surprise.
Glinda looked up at Fiyero, not recognizing the scarecrow as being the man she used to know.
"Glinda, this is Fiyero." Elphaba said.
"Fiyero!" Glinda said puzzled. She walked over to him, examining his new face and form. "Fiyero" she cried, once she recognized the man through his eyes. They hugged briefly before Glinda pushed back and raised her hand to Fiyero. But her attempt to greet him the same way she greeted Elphaba was circumvented when Elphaba intercepted her arm, grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards the exit. Fiyero just stood there, stunned.
"Come on, we don't have time right now. We have to get out of here." Elphaba stated matter-of-factly.
Elphaba released Glinda's arm, and grabbed her hand to lead her out of the library. Fiyero and the other men followed. As they exited the concourse across from the library, they could hear the guards returning to their post. They had just managed to escape undetected.
As they exited the castle, they took the time to lock the gate and replace the grate. They would need to re-enter this way again, and they didn't want to draw attention to the fact that the castle had been breached by these means. Glinda had also retrieved her meager toolset which, in its lack of usability, produced a few chuckles from the group.
Safely in the woods, Elphaba reluctantly released Glinda's hand.
"Glinda, where are you staying?" Elphaba asked.
"Well, I didn't exactly make those arrangements." Glinda replied sheepishly.
Elphaba looked puzzled. "You mean you thought you were going to saunter in here, get what you came for, which I'm assuming is the same thing we came for, and bubble your way back to Oz in one evening?"
"Uh, yeah! That was pretty much the plan."
Elphaba just smirked at Glinda and shook her head. "Come on, you can stay in my room tonight"
"Elphie," Glinda stopped. "I don't think it would be a good idea for me to stay in the same room with you and Fiyero."
"Fiyero?" Elphaba said quizzically. "Glinda, Fiyero and I don't share a room. He has his own."
"You mean, you two aren't together?"
"We haven't been for four years now. Come on, we have a lot to talk about once we get back. How did you get here? I'm assuming, or hoping that you didn't bubble your way here."
Glinda smiled. "No Miss Elphaba. I took a carriage. Drove it myself, thank you very much. It's hidden just over the next hill. I had to let the horse go though. I couldn't keep him tethered to the carriage when I had no plans to take it back to Oz."
Elphaba smiled. "Leave it there for now. You can ride on the back of my horse."
Glinda smiled broadly at the thought of riding with her Elphie. "Elphie, we do have to stop by the carriage. I left my wand in it."
Elphaba rolled her eyes then mounted the horse and held her arm out to Glinda who took it eagerly. Glinda mounted the horse behind Elphaba and wrapped her arms around the green woman's waist. Elphaba put her cloak on and took off back towards Glinda's carriage and then the safe house while the rest of the group followed.
Glinda was experiencing a flood of emotions as she rode behind Elphaba. She was amazed, delighted, confused and exhilarated. It was dizzying. As she let the feelings wash over her, she grabbed Elphaba even tighter around the waist and put her head on Elphie's shoulder.
Elphaba felt like she would explode. The woman she loved was riding with her. Arms around her and head on her shoulder. There were times during the ride back that she was so thrilled that she thought she might just jump out of her skin. Thankfully the cloak was thick, or her rapid heartbeat might just give her away.
They arrived at the safe house shortly after retrieving Glinda's wand. Elphaba dismounted, and then helped Glinda down. Fiyero offered to take the horses to the stable, and Elphaba gratefully accepted. Elphaba and Glinda's eyes locked for just a moment. Both still in disbelief at how the evening had transpired. Neither knowing exactly how they should feel or what they should say. Elphaba smiled and held her hand out to Glinda who smiled back and took the offering. The two walked, hand in hand, to Elphaba's room.
Once inside, as Elphaba took off her cloak, Glinda took a look around to see how her Elphie had been living. The room was cozy. There was a small entryway after the door. Immediately to the right after the entry was a queen-sized bed with green plush pillows, and a green satin comforter. Elphaba saw Glinda looking at her bedding.
"I like to blend in." she quipped.
Glinda giggled.
'It's so good to hear that laugh again' Elphaba thought.
Glinda kept examining the room. On the side of the bed was a nightstand with an oil lamp that Elphaba had already lit. To the immediate left of the bed was a bureau. It was waist high with beautifully stained cherry wood. Across from the foot of the bed was a fireplace, which Elphaba was already attending to as well. There was a small writing desk in the corner to the right of the fireplace. To the right of the bed were sliding glass doors which lead to the patio. 'A nice touch' Glinda thought as she look out to the patio and saw the double porch swing.
The bathroom was directly left of the fireplace.
"I don't suppose you have anything to wear. I have a night shirt you can use." Elphaba stated. She went to the bureau and pulled out an oversized, pink night shirt.
Glinda squealed with delight. "Elphie, I can't believe you own anything pink."
"Don't get too excited. It's the only article of clothing I do own that's pink. Besides, wasn't it you who said pink goes good with green?"
"I did, didn't I?" Glinda replied with a smile. "I'm so observant sometimes."
Elphaba smiled and rolled her eyes as Glinda headed towards to bathroom to change. Elphaba changed also. A pair of white cotton shorts and a tank top where the chosen bed wear. Glinda emerged from the bathroom with a puzzled expression.
"What!" Elphaba asked.
"You have a great garden tub in there" Glinda replied.
"Yeah?"
"It looks like it's being used. There are bath salts, oils and cleansers. How do you take a bath?"
"Glinda, I have no aversion to water. I didn't melt. The whole thing was staged."
"Staged?"
"Come on, sit down." Elphaba sat on the bed and Glinda took up the spot next to her.
"You see" Elphaba began "Fiyero's life was in danger. When he saved me from the Wizard's guards, I knew they would beat him to death unless he told them where to find me. I also knew that he would never give me up. So I used the Grimmerie and conjured a spell to protect him from any physical pain. The results aren't what I had intended, but it saved him nonetheless."
"Can't you change him back?"
"No. Once you cast a spell, it can't be reversed. Anyway, Fiyero learned of the witch hunters and the all out attempt to kill me. He formulated a plan based on everyone's fears and misconceptions. If they believed I melted, the witch hunt would be called off and we could go on helping the animals and changing things for the betterment of all Oz. We just couldn't let anyone know it was us."
"The animals that were being mutilated, they were saved by a group of activists. Was that you?"
"Among other things. Interestingly enough, our friend Baraq was responsible for their mutilations. So I have a bit of an agenda getting this book back from him."
"I understand having an agenda with that monster. I have one myself."
Elphaba shot a look at Glinda imploring her to go on.
"I'll tell you about it later, but please continue with your story."
Elphaba nodded and continued. "That night that you came to see me, the night I was 'melted'" Elphaba said using air quotes around the word melted, "Fiyero sent me the note that Chistery delivered letting me know that they were just outside the castle. I didn't have a lot of time, but I knew I wouldn't be seeing you again, so I wanted to tell you how important you were to me. I hid you to keep you away from the witch hunters. They would have wondered what you were doing there with me, and they might have hurt you as well. I couldn't take that chance. So Fiyero lead everyone exactly where he needed to. We did a bit of acting, and the end result was, I let that Dorothy girl throw a bucket of water on me at which point I pretended to melt. There was really a trap door directly beneath me. No one knew, and Fiyero eventually came back to let me know the coast was clear."
Elphaba could see tears forming in Glinda's eyes. "I wanted to tell you Glinda, but Fiyero felt that we had to let everyone think that we were dead. I agreed. We would be safer that way, and you would be safer that way. Needless to say, you showing up now has complicated matters a bit."
"Elphie, you should have trusted me. I would never have given you up."
"It wasn't an issue of trust. Please understand that. It would have been such a burden on you. That wouldn't have been fair to you. And if, Oz forbid, someone found out about us, then found out that you knew, your life would have been in danger. I wasn't willing to risk your life." Elphaba looked intently at Glinda. Her eyes were pleading for understanding.
Glinda cupped Elphaba's cheek with her hand a placed a polite kiss on the other cheek. "I understand Elphie. I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the exact same thing in your shoes."
Elphaba breathed a visible sigh of relief. She put her hand on the back of Glinda's and leaned into it, closing her eyes. As Glinda brought her hand down from Elphaba's cheek, she locked fingers with the green woman.
"Elphie, I'm just so glad that you're alive. You can't imagine how hard it's been for me thinking you were dead. Sometimes it was all I could do to make it through the day. I just kept thinking there was something I could have done or should have done differently. Something I could have done to save you." Glinda blinked and the tears that had been threatening to fall finally acquiesced.
Elphaba wiped Glinda's tears then pulled her into a soft hug. "I do know how hard it's been Glinda. I've felt the same way keeping the fact that I was alive from you. I wanted to see you so badly, but I couldn't. I thought about you all the time, but knowing I could never see you again was the hardest thing I've ever had to face."
Glinda lifted her head slowly from Elphaba's shoulder. Their eyes met for a moment once again. "Oh Elphie, I'm just happy to be here with you now."
"Me too" Elphaba replied. The two women shared their embrace in silence for a moment longer before Elphaba hesitantly released. "Come on, let's get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
Elphaba doused the light from the oil lamp and the room was filled with the glow from the dying embers in the fireplace. She crawled into the bed next to Glinda and settled in. Glinda pulled herself next to Elphie, putting her arm around Elphaba's waist and nestling into the crook of her right arm before settling on her shoulder. This was heaven for her. She was almost afraid to go to sleep, fearing that this was all a dream. But she was here, sleeping next to her Elphie, the woman she loved with all her heart. And it was real.
Elphaba felt more content than she had in years. She put her free arm around the blonde woman before resting her cheek on Glinda's head. A smile played across Elphaba's face as she soaked in the fact that her Glinda was really right beside her. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Within moments, both exhausted women fell asleep.