✉ Chapter Twenty-Two: She's Off To See The Wizard ✉
"Another go! Another go!" Elphaba clapped her hands encouragingly after Glinda successfully managed to teleport.
"No more," Glinda said with a dainty cough, waving off the cloud of smoke. "There has got to be a better way to come and go!"
"Shall we try joint teleportation again?" Elphaba offered. "I'll do all the work."
"You don't have to tell me twice."
"Remember it's all about the timing," Elphaba instructed as she outstretched her hands towards Glinda.
The cloud of red smoke billowed from Elphaba's feet and Glinda swiftly moved forward to grip Elphaba's arms in time for the smog to envelop them both. Moments later the pair were spit out onto the opposite end of the training hall, already in stitches.
"Bumpy landing much?" Glinda giggled.
"It's harder with two people!" Elphaba swatted at her.
"Miss Glinda! Miss Elphaba! Please mind the frivolity, this is a place of learning," Madame Morrible's voice echoed through the hall.
Elphaba and Glinda got to their feet as their instructor approached them.
"Sorry, Madame," Glinda snorted.
"Sorry, Madame."
"Miss Glinda, may I have a private word with Miss Elphaba? You may be dismissed."
Glinda, never one to pass up the chance to leave class early, nodded eagerly.
"Yes, Madame," she curtsied before bolting to grab her things. "Dinner with Fiyero tonight?"
"We'll be there!" Elphaba called after Glinda as she pranced out of the hall. Elphaba straightened up and turned her attention back to Madame Morrible. "You wanted a word?"
"Why, yes. How are you feeling these days, Miss Elphaba?" Madame Morrible asked.
"Honestly? Wonderful, Madame," Elphaba breathed. "I feel…wonderful. Like I'm exactly where I need to be."
"Such happy news!" Morrible chirped. "In that case, Miss Elphaba, let it be my privilege to simply bestow an additional blessing upon you."
"Madame. Do you mean…"
But she didn't finish her thought. Instead, Elphaba's mind went blank and her voice box choked as Madame Morrible reached into her dress pocket and calmly presented her with her future in the form of an emerald envelope with a grand, golden seal.
Dinners between Elphaba, Glinda, and Fiyero had become a regular thing. Elphaba had never felt so sought after. She had not one but two people regularly vying for her attention. Having Glinda back in her life was as exhausting as it was heartening and balancing her time between the two of them became a tricky thing to juggle. Despite the growing pains of having more people in her corner than she knew what to do with, Elphaba couldn't be happier.
Elphaba was buzzing by the time Fiyero arrived at their dorm and she flung the door open in a tizzy the moment he knocked.
"Well, hello! That happy to see me?" he jested.
"Hush now, come inside."
"She's been acting so terribly antsy all afternoon!" Glinda reported to Fiyero with an air of mystery. "Says she wants to tell us something."
"I do want to tell you something," Elphaba breathed, guiding Fiyero to sit at the foot of her bed. She took a deep breath and stood between them. "Glinda…Fiyero…it has finally happened. The Wizard wants to meet me!"
Glinda crashed into Elphaba for a hug with an earsplitting squeal. "How splendiferous, Elphie! I knew you could do it!"
Fiyero did not jump up, however, and rather stayed sitting with a guarded expression.
"Well? Anything to say?" Elphaba prompted. She pulled out The Wizard's envelope and held it up. "It's real. The Wizard of Oz wants to meet me! He even provided my train ticket. I leave before the week is out."
"By the end of the week?" Fiyero stood. "That quick?"
"Yes, it's rather last minute, but imagine what his schedule must be like! To think that he has specifically requested me!"
"Oh, Elphie! You're going to have the most marvelous time in the City! The shops, the hustle and bustle—oh I'm simply green with envy!" Glinda gushed.
"Come with me," Elphaba offered spontaneously.
"What?"
"Come with me to The Emerald City!" Elphaba beamed. "Come on! You've never been, I've never been, it can be just the two of us."
Elphaba linked arms with Glinda and gave Fiyero a superior look.
"Particularly because some of us here think The Emerald City is 'just okay'," she said in a mockingly masculine tone.
"Yeah, nothing special really," Fiyero played along with a half-hearted shrug. He took in Elphaba's larger than life expression and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Dinner's on me tonight. We're celebrating, after all."
Elphaba awarded him a grateful kiss and Glinda sighed dreamily at the pair.
"Where can I find myself a relationship like yours?"
"You should have signed up for The Ozian Pen Pal Service," Elphaba joked. She turned and Fiyero wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed the top of her head. "Worked for us."
"Oh that? Psh," Glinda waved a hand. "I signed up for a bit. My pen pal kept going on about how mysterious and important he was. Claimed to be famous!"
Glinda opened a drawer and casually handed a piece of stationary to Elphaba.
"Glinda—" Elphaba frowned, turning the letter over a few times. "This is on the same stationary as my letter from The Wizard. Same penmanship too."
Elphaba held it up to the light and she and Fiyero squinted at it.
"It has the official watermark. Glinda…I think your pen pal was The Wizard!"
"Ooooh…really?" Glinda winced. "Do you think he'll be mad that I never wrote him back?"
Elphaba and Fiyero gaped back with baffled expressions.
"What?!"
With such strings being pulled on Elphaba's behalf to meet The Wizard, there were inevitable loose ends to tie up before her departure. Her brief hiatus from classes was disappointing but ultimately a small price to pay. Madame Morrible personally informed each of her professors of Elphaba's opportunity and they were all understanding if not elated. The train ticket was open ended but Morrible predicted that Elphaba would return before the end of semester exams if everything went according to plan. The day after hearing the news, Elphaba made an excursion to the post office and sent two letters, one to Father and one to Doctor Dillamond. The letters, though tonally quite different, served the same purpose. To inform the recipient of her success.
Doctor Dillamond's was returned to her as undeliverable.
However, earning Father's approval was not the highest priority on Elphaba's agenda that week. Following the restored harmony between herself and Glinda, forgiveness was at the forefront of Elphaba's mind. This mentality motivated her step towards the tea house the afternoon before her departure to sit across from her sister.
"Thank you for meeting me, Nessa."
"Well, we certainly have much ground to cover," Nessarose acknowledged.
"I'm certain Madame Morrible has told you of my good news," Elphaba asked.
"Yes, she did. It's an accomplishment indeed."
"Thank you. I suppose I…well, I suppose I was hoping to make good before I left," Elphaba said. "Between us."
"I see."
"It has been a whirlwind of a semester," Elphaba sighed. "When I think about all the change we've endured since this summer it's no question why you and I have had so many, shall we say, highs and lows?"
"You could say that."
"I sense a great change in the air for us, that's why I urged you to come today. Let's wipe the slate clean, Nessa. Can't we start again?" Elphaba requested earnestly. "I feel like I'm in a really good place between Glinda and Fiyero. I so want to include you in that circle, Boq too—"
"Boq and I are no longer together," Nessarose said flatly.
"You're not?" Elphaba raised her eyebrows. "Did he break up with you?"
"I with him. It became increasingly clear that he was never going to return my feelings. What was I supposed to do? Sit around and beg him to love me?"
"Of course not! Oh, Nessa…I'm sorry that things ended in disappointment," Elphaba sighed. "Perhaps it's for the best."
"Perhaps so," Nessarose sipped at her tea.
"But don't you see? This is all the more reason to let me back in."
"I'll be candid, Elphaba. I have been considering this at length and I'll agree to reconcile on one condition," Nessarose said smoothly.
Elphaba paused. "Condition?"
"Yes. I will mend things between us…if you agree to give me Mother's green bottle. I think that is only fair."
Elphaba stared.
"Elphaba?"
Elphaba stared more.
"Elphaba? I have told you my—"
"No."
Nessarose raised her dainty eyebrows in alarm, having heard that word pass through her sister's lips for perhaps the first time in her life.
"What did you say?"
"I said no. You cannot have it."
"Elphaba!"
"If I gave it to you today, what would you ask for tomorrow? What would your conditions be then? Are you actually sitting across from me and asking me to give up the one thing from our household that has ever been mine?"
"You deliberately hid it from me! The only thing that belongs to my mother!"
"She was my mother too!" Elphaba said in a severe tone, smacking the table with her hand causing Nessarose to jump.
"Don't cause a scene," Nessarose warned.
"Don't cause a scene," Elphaba parroted, making no effort to dissuade onlookers. "Don't cause a scene. Don't embarrass me. Don't do this, don't do that. Nessa, I have bent over backwards for you my entire life. I have worked my fingers to the bone to serve you because I thought that's what sisters were supposed to do. And you take advantage of that, Nessa! You—you toy with me! You push me away, you reel me back in, you push me away, you reel me back—Oz! It goes on and on and on. How do you think that feels, Nessa? How do you think that feels?!"
Elphaba, stunned and numb, sat back against her chair and shook her head.
"I'm through," she realized. "I'm through making myself more palatable for you. I am through shrinking myself for you, Nessa. I have already done everything I can for you and it hasn't been enough. Nothing will ever be…enough."
Elphaba stood and removed her bag off the back of the chair.
"Of course," Nessarose snorted. "There you go walking off from a dispute. You'll come to your senses when you cool that hot head of yours, I know you will."
"You know something, Nessa? I have been afraid for so long. I have been afraid of losing your love. But now I see that if your love comes with conditions…I never had it in the first place," Elphaba shook her head. "And how can I lose something that I never had?"
Elphaba calmly turned for the exit and Nessarose called after her, lost and floundering.
"Elphaba—stay put!"
Elphaba turned.
"No. No, Nessa," she repeated, the word surpassing her lips with greater ease than before. She took a deep breath and met her sister's eyes. "My life will always hold enough room for you, dear sister. If you care to find me, I am at your beck and call. But I am not going to sit around and beg for someone to love me either, Nessa. Not even you."
Elphaba turned her back and left her sister behind with her head high and her spirit low. She trudged numbly towards her destination, her heart crying out for help. She was visibly distressed as she knocked on his door, and his face fell as soon as he saw her.
"Are you okay?" Fiyero asked.
"Can I come in?" she asked weakly.
Fiyero stepped aside to let Elphaba in and looked after her with concern as he closed the door.
"What happened?"
"I don't want…I just want…"
She failed to piece together a full thought, but Fiyero understood anyway. He slid his arms around her and nestled her tightly against him in a secure hug. He pressed his lips to the soft hairs on the top of her head and he said nothing. He didn't prod, he didn't pull away, he didn't look at her face. He just held her until she'd had enough. When she at last leaned back she examined Fiyero inquisitively. What set Elphaba apart from others was plainly visible on her skin, but Fiyero's anomaly was not visible. Yet he was different, so very different from anyone she'd ever met. Her mind tried to make sense of him, as it often did, but nothing about Fiyero nor his love for her was sensical.
"Why can you see what no one else can see?" Elphaba wondered aloud, her fingertips delicately brushing over the features of his face as if the answer lied beneath.
Her telltale efforts to refrain from crying began rattling her body. Fiyero caressed the sides of her face, his thumbs poised to wipe away any fugitive tears.
"Let it out, Fae," he said. "Screw your streak."
His encouragement elicited the opposite response as she scowled and paced away from him.
"No. Why should I cry now? I won't. Not when I'm on the doorstep of…of my dreams," she emphasized. "It's happening, Fiyero. Everything I've been working and waiting for is happening at last! Then why do I feel so…so…"
Her words failed again.
"Don't go then."
Elphaba looked up.
"What?"
"Don't go see The Wizard."
"You can't be serious."
"You've still got time, Fae. You've still got so much time to change the world. Isn't it enough to just enjoy your life? Isn't it enough to be where you're at right now?"
"So, you're saying I shouldn't go after my dreams? Is that it?"
"Of course not! But all of this stuff about your life totally changing and—and I don't know! What if it doesn't work out?" Fiyero blurted out.
"Are you saying that The Wizard won't see who I really am or are you saying he will and that I'm not good enough?!"
"Of course, you're good enough! You're good enough—hell, you're better! Why do you need The Wizard to make these things happen? Why should you have to prove your worth to anyone when it's Oz that should be proving its worth to you!"
"I can't believe I'm hearing this."
"What if it isn't everything you need it to be, Elphaba?" Fiyero asked desperately. And then, in a quiet tone, "And what if it is?"
Elphaba stared.
"I can tell I'm not explaining this right," Fiyero complained, sitting on the edge of his bed and putting his head in his hands. "I never do."
Elphaba took him in for a long moment before crossing to him calmly and tilting his face upwards with her fingertips. Something shifted in Fiyero and he slid to his knees to humbly wrap his arms around Elphaba's waist.
"Don't go, Elphaba," he said. "Don't go where I can't follow."
"Buy a ticket, then."
"That's not what I mean."
Elphaba lowered herself to her knees as well to meet him at eye level.
"Where is this coming from?" she asked patiently.
"You said it yourself," Fiyero chuckled sadly, taking both of his hands in hers. "I don't know why I'm the only one that can see you for who you are, but I'm fortunate I am. Do you think if all of Oz loved you like they should that you ever would have looked twice at me?"
"Fiyero…" Elphaba whispered incredulously. "That's the most brainless thing you've ever said."
"That's just it!" he pointed out. He got to his feet and began pacing. "The most powerful man in Oz has summoned you to meet him before you so much as finished your first semester. What if you're right about everything Elphaba?! What if he names you Vizier, degreenifies you, what if everyone finally sees what I see?! How can I deserve you or even be worthy of you then when I'm barely worthy now?!"
"Do you think that little of me, Fiyero!?" Elphaba snapped.
Fiyero shut his mouth as Elphaba rose to her feet.
"Do you think that I'm that desperate or weak willed? Do you think that I'm that pathetic? To pour my affection into someone merely because they were the only option? Do you?!"
"No!" Fiyero backtracked.
Elphaba grabbed a fistful of his shirt.
"Apologize. Apologize for cheapening what I feel for you, Yero. Apologize!"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!"
"Damn right, you're sorry," she hissed as she released his shirt. "You love me because I let you love me. I let you kiss me, hold me, make love to me because you're worthy and special and dearer to my heart than I can say. And whether I have one admirer or thousands of them that will not change. Do you understand me?"
"I understand you. I'm sorry, Fae," Fiyero repeated. "I'm sorry."
Elphaba's temper began to soothe and she met his eyes with tenderness.
"I am yours, Fiyero," she whispered. "There is nowhere I could go where that would change."
"Then stay."
"I can't," she reasoned softly. "You know I can't."
"…I know."
Elphaba pulled him into a long, tight hug and Fiyero buried his face in her shoulder. He memorized the scent of her hair, the feeling of her somehow sharp yet soft frame, the sound of her delicate breath in his ear.
"You act as if I'm going away for good."
"I'll just miss you, is all."
"Well…whenever you miss me you know what to do," Elphaba leaned out of the embrace to meet his sad eyes. "Write to me."
It was an early train. Extremely early.
Terrified of missing it, Glinda had convinced Elphaba to stay in their dorm rather than at Fiyero's in case she slept through her alarm. Which she did.
"I knew I should have gone to his dorm. He's no early riser either," Elphaba muttered, her eyes darting anxiously about the station.
"He'll be here," Glinda insisted, rubbing Elphaba's arm comfortingly as they stood side by side on the platform.
The train began to steam and whistle and Elphaba felt her stomach twist in panic as the station's clock ticked dangerously close to departure time.
"Damn it Yero, always late…" she complained.
"All aboard!"
"Elphie…" Glinda said slowly. "We should…"
Elphaba released a long breath before nodding and solemnly boarding the train with Glinda. They ducked into their compartment and tossed their suitcases aside before gluing themselves to the window.
"Oh, here he comes! Right there," Glinda, who had better eyesight, pointed.
Elphaba tore out of their compartment and dashed towards the train door, waving a frantic arm to get his attention.
"Here! I'm here!"
Fiyero ran forward to meet her, sweaty and winded, an untidy bouquet of poppies in his fist.
"I thought I wouldn't make it," he panted, all but thrusting the flowers up into her hand.
"You made it."
Elphaba leaned down from the compartment to meet him in a hurried kiss.
"I'll make you proud, Fiyero."
"You already do."
Elphaba's chest rose and fell with exhilaration as she soaked in her prince.
"Yero…Fiyero…" she breathed as words she'd long held hostage in her heart suddenly poised to pass her lips. "I—"
The train gave a great lurch and she grasped the frame of the entrance to steady herself. Fiyero thrust his arm forward and Elphaba reached for it but the tips of their fingers were the only thing that managed to touch as the train chugged forward.
"What were you going to say?" Fiyero called over the whistle and churning wheels, striding along the tracks to keep up for as long as he could.
"I'll tell you later!" Elphaba promised.
The train picked up speed and Fiyero ran out of track to run alongside. Elphaba blew him a kiss goodbye and soon faded from his view as she accelerated towards her inevitable fate.
Elphaba always kept her promises. Perhaps not always in the way she expected, but she always kept her promises.
