A trip to the city
Elphaba stomped down a road in the Emerald City, seething. How could the Wizard have been so dismissive, so crude! After all the work she and Doctor Dillamond had done! And lately, she and Doctor Nikidik as well. Doctor Dillamond gave his life for the cause (though perhaps with the way things seemed to be going, an Animal life wouldn't amount to much for much longer). And yet, the "wonderful" wizard refused to listen to a word she had to say! She stopped walking suddenly and gathered her bearings. She was in a remote area of the city. Nearby, she saw a haphazard playground. She strolled over to the swing set and sank down upon a swing, lacing her slender arms around the chains. She kicked at the ground sporadically to sway herself slightly as she pondered her predicament. She was in the middle of a city she didn't know, friendless, foodless, and homeless. She also couldn't help but think "hopeless," but pushed the thought from her mind.
She supposed that the only way she was going to be able to survive in such a city was to form some alliances. But, it wouldn't be a simple task. She couldn't simply wander around and put her political views where all could see. Especially not in the
Wizard's city.
She stood up and began to wander back down the street from which she had just come.
• • • • •
"Do you see her anywhere?" Boq asked anxiously, turning his head in every direction.
"Well, I don't suppose she would be sitting in the train station awaiting our arrival," Fiyero answered, smirking despite the situation. In fact, now that he thought about it, the situation did look rather grim. He had never been to the Emerald City except the time he had passed through on his way to Shiz. He suspected that Boq knew little about the city as well. He sighed. The idea had seemed so foolproof at first. Go to where Elphaba was, and bring her back. He wished it could be so.
"So. Where to begin?" he asked Boq, trying to mask his uncertainty.
"The palace, I suppose," Boq said, and off they went.
• • • • •
As Elphaba sat to rest on a bench in the shadow of a bakery awning, she heard familiar voices nearby. She paused with a roll halfway to her mouth, listening.
"She can't have gone far! I mean, really, where else could she be!" she heard Boq half-shout, exasperated, to whomever he was walking with.
As the pair came into sight, Elphaba gasped and dropped the roll she was holding. Boq and Fiyero! What in the world were they doing here? Looking for her! What a thought! She had half a mind to run to them and hug them tightly… to return with them to Shiz where her future, though not guaranteed to be happy, seemed more sure than the future she had, or rather, didn't have, as she sat here next to the bakery. And yet, even as she thought it, she knew it simply could not be so. She could not return to the school of Madame Morrible… the terrible place of Doctor Dillamond's death and his (not if she could help it) lost cause. She shuddered at the thought. No, she decided. She could never go back. Instead, she drew further into the shadows and pulled out a piece of paper to begin writing.
• • • • •
"I give up, I'm leaving," Boq said wearily after hours of searching. "I'm sure she'll return as soon as she's done doing what she needs to do."
Even as he said it, he was quite unsure as to whether or not it was true. The look on her face that morning…
"I'm not leaving. Not yet. You go," Fiyero answered him in a determined way. Boq was surprised. Fiyero hardly knew Elphaba at all. Why was he going to such lengths for her? But, then again, it had been he that had broken up his discussion with Elphaba that morning. Maybe it was his fault she was here at all… perhaps she could have been persuaded not to come.
"All right, do what you must," he told Fiyero as he boarded the next train to Shiz. He sat down in a seat in the most deserted part of the train and sighed. It had been a long day.
Fiyero's search
Elphaba walked swiftly down the road, weaving in and out of crowds of people and pulling her jacket tighter about her as she did so. She was not in a mood to be confronted by anyone, and wanted more than anything else at the moment to sit in silence and mull over the day. She entered the deserted storehouse and locked the door behind her.
"Malky… c'mere boy…" she crooned softly. He came prancing into the room as she laid her jacket on a crate. She sat down and pulled him onto her lap, scratching him behind the ears.
• • • • •
Fiyero wandered the streets of the city, somewhat helplessly. He had come to the city once a week to search for Elphaba ever since her disappearance from Shiz two months ago. Everyone in Shiz had tried to dissuade him from coming, but he would not listen. Today he had been searching a remote area to the southeast of the city. He had not taken to searching much in the hustle and bustle of the city, for he figured that Elphaba would avoid most mainstream places. He had been visiting local places in the different areas, asking if anyone had noticed a peculiar green girl in the past few weeks, but to no avail.
Today, however, he seemed to have a lead. An old woman sitting on a street corner told Fiyero that she did indeed remember seeing a young green woman. Fiyero's heart soared, although he remained unsure as to the credibility of the woman.
"Where?" he asked her, unable to disguise his eagerness.
"Somewhere that direction," she replied, pointing a shaking finger.
Fiyero followed the mostly-deserted road and came upon a small slums area. There was an old, worn-out Lurlinist church, a few shabby shops, and some old factories and storage buildings. Fiyero sighed, disappointed. Maybe the lead had been false after all. Nobody else in the area had been able to provide him with any information on Elphaba.
He sat down upon a barrel on the roadside and gazed off into the distance. A sudden flash of movement caught his eye. A young woman dressed in black had emerged suddenly from one of the storage buildings, her long black hair dancing in the wind. His heart leapt and his breath caught in his throat. He knew it was her. He fought the urge to run after her. What if she became frightened and he lost her again? No, he decided. It would be best for him to wait.
He followed her a short distance back up the street, where he stopped to wait for her return.
• • • • •
Elphaba walked quickly down the street, anxious. She had the unnerving feeling that someone was watching her. She shrugged it off and continued to her destination.
She rounded an alleyway fence and opened a side door to a building cautiously, peering in. She entered, and didn't reappear again for about an hour. She emerged, closing the door softly behind her, and left the shadows of the alley with a glum look on her face.
• • • • •
Maybe it wasn't her after all. Maybe it was someone else. Maybe he was just imagining things.
Not much time had passed since Fiyero had seen the woman leave, and yet it had been long enough for him to begin to doubt himself. It was getting late- he had never stayed this late before. It was about time for him to return to Shiz, or others would start to worry. As soon as he began to think of leaving, he pushed the thought from his mind. He wasn't going to give up after coming so close.
As he thought it, a figure came skulking out of the shadows. It was her! He began to follow a short distance behind her. She glanced back as if she detected his presence and began to walk faster. By the time she reached the door, she was nearly jogging. He sprinted to catch the door before it closed behind her.
"Elphaba!" he cried.
Her eyes opened wide. Whoever she had been expecting, it wasn't him.
