The beautiful green one
"Don't tell me you have a thing for the little green girl!" Avaric shouted at Boq some hours later.
"Please," Boq said dismissively. "We both know there's only one girl for me." As he said this, he glanced in Glinda's direction, where she sat eating lunch with a few girls from her sorcery class.
"We saw the way you were looking at her in old Niki's class, didn't we, Yero?" Avaric said, elbowing Fiyero. Ever since the girls had started swooning over the new kid, Avaric had decided he would make a good addition as a friend.
"The beautiful green one?" Fiyero asked, who had obviously not been following the conversation.
Avaric snorted into his milk and Boq looked slightly taken aback. "Her name is Elphaba," he said, somewhat indignantly.
Just then, Glinda brushed past and Boq forget what they were discussing. "Hey, guys, want to come with me to the café?" he asked.
"Alright, whatever, you lunatic." Avaric laughed.
• • • • •
The three of them arrived at the café a few minutes later and Avaric and Fiyero could see why Boq had wanted to come. At a table in the corner sat Glinda, her friends from lunch, Crope, Tibbett, Nessarose, and the green girl, who was seated slightly distanced from the others at the table.
Boq walked over and squeezed in next to Glinda, and Avaric took the empty seat next to one of Glinda's rather beautiful sorcery friends named Raylene. Fiyero sat himself in next to Avaric, across the table from the green girl. Elphaba, that was her name.
"Hello," he said politely. "Elphaba, is it?"
She seemed slightly taken aback that he knew of her already, but collected herself quickly. "Yes. And you are the prince from the Vinkus?" she said.
He was not surprised that she knew this and he smiled. He could hardly fade into a crowd here any better than she. "Actually, yes. And you, where are you from?" he inquired.
"Well… I was born in Munchkinland, but I spent many years of my childhood trekking around Quadling Country with my family." she said.
At hearing the words "Quadling Country," Nessarose, who was seated next to Elphaba, turned to listen to the conversation. They glared at each other for a number of moments until they seemed to reach an unspoken agreement, and Nessarose turned her face back towards the other end of the table.
"And what about you, Mister Prince Vinkus?" she asked him.
"Please," he said. "Call me Fiyero."
Then he began to tell her about himself.
That night, she left slightly earlier than the others, bundled tightly to guard from the cold. He hadn't gotten her to speak of her childhood again. He smiled as her back faded around a corner. What a mysterious person she seemed to be.
Morning Wanderings
Fiyero awoke quite early the next morning and stayed in his warm bed, relaxing in the sleepy silence. There was a cold chill to the air and he could hear the wind howling against the window. He slid out of bed and slipped into some house shoes. He walked distractedly to the window and gazed out into the courtyard. There was a thin layer of snow covering the ground, and everything was still except for the trees shaking slightly in the wind. His mind began to roam when suddenly a glimpse of movement caught his eye. He focused his eyes in the direction of the movement in time to see a figure climb over the shed and jump lightly into the vegetable garden.
"What in the …?" he muttered to himself. He hurried out of the room to follow the figure, realizing as he did so that Boq had not been in his bed. What he could be doing in the girl's vegetable garden was a mystery to Fiyero, but he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to find out.
• • • • •
Boq hurried through the courtyard in the snow, shivering. What could be so important that Elphaba had felt the need to ask him over so early? He was feeling slightly aggravated with her as he climbed atop the shed, still not fully awake.
As he jumped lightly over the shed, he saw Elphaba standing near the doorway to the garden. She was wearing large rubber boots and a heavy coat, but it could be no one else.
"What in the name of Oz do you need me for this early in the mor--" Boq began, but stopped when he saw the look on her face. Though her eyes remained dry, they appeared to be full of pain. He hurried over to her and wrapped her in his arms. She cringed slightly at his touch but did not pull away. "Oh, Elphie, what's wrong?" he whispered in her ear. He had never seen her so vulnerable and her sudden lack of reticence frightened him.
At that moment, Boq heard a sound in the brush behind him and turned to see what it was. For a moment he could not comprehend what he saw. Why would Fiyero be present in this moment? But, Fiyero it was, dressed in a housecoat. Elphaba quickly pulled away from Boq and buried her face in her hands as she sat down upon the bench. Boq was confused and torn between which individual to confront.
As he hesitated, Fiyero approached him, and he asked him why he was there.
"I'm here for the same reason you are, I suppose," Fiyero replied. Boq was unsure as to what Fiyero thought was going on. Why would he climb over a shed early in the morning to meet Elphaba and hold her in his arms? His mind racing quickly, he asked, "Elphaba asked you to come?"
"Well, no," Fiyero admitted. "But seeing as I'm here now, what is going on?"
"Nothing," Boq replied, too quickly, and Elphaba got up and slipped through the door before he could catch her arm.
"Now look what you did!" Boq whispered, exasperated.
"I was just trying to help," Fiyero said defensively. "What's the matter with her?" he asked, cocking his head in the direction of the door through which Elphaba had just left.
Boq's frustration was replaced instead with worry. "I don't know," he answered sadly. "I just don't know."
