"Come here at once, you foolish girl!"
Elphaba, who had taken a moment to rest in between her chores, reluctantly rose from the windowsill and followed Madame Morrible's infuriated voice.
"You called for me, Madame?"
"Of course I called for you, you lazy wench!" her stepmother spat angrily. "What has gotten into you lately? You have been acting more dim-witted than usual, and now you're loafing about when you haven't even finished a half of your chores?!"
"I apologize," Elphaba said. "I was just really tired and needed to take a moment to catch my breath."
There was a good reason for her being tired. A few nights before, she had discovered that the way from the royal palace to her home was longer than it seemed, and that running that distance barefoot was exhausting and painful. The road was covered with sharp rocks which left burning cuts in her feet, and the few days of hard work had not done anything to help the wounds to heal.
"Oh, you were tired?" Morrible asked, her sickeningly sweet voice dripping with sarcasm. "Well, let us hope that no one decides to reinvigorate you with a solid beating, shall we?"
Elphaba clenched her teeth and got back to work. She would not be able to go on that way for much longer, she knew. If she could not find a solution soon, Madame Morrible would get suspicious, and who knew what she would do to her then. There was only one person Elphaba could think of that might be able to aid her. That night, once again, she set out to visit her mother's grave and beg for the help from her fairy godmother.
Swiftly but carefully, she made her way into the forest, wincing in pain at her aching feet; and as she neared the clearing, she was surprised to see a faint glow stream through the trees. The realization hit her like a thunderbolt. She had not expected him there. True, she knew he had tried to find her. She had heard about the search party asking Nessarose to try on the jeweled shoe; but she had assumed Fiyero would give up on her after the slipper search came to naught. What was he still doing here?
She took a careful step backwards, then another one; then suddenly, a twig cracked beneath her foot, and his head immediately turned in her direction, and she met his eyes, those beautiful blue eyes, and she could not bear the look into them, and she wanted to stay, and she knew she could not stay – and so she ran. Despite her burning feet, despite his pleading voice calling out her name, despite her heart crying for her to stop – she ran. She ran, because she loved him. She ran, because she did not deserve him. She ran, because to run was all she had ever known.