When Elphaba awoke the morning of the garden party, she was greeted to her windows and walls covered in multicolored flowers and vines. She pushed herself up with a groan, but plopped back down, feeling a post-magic headache.
"Elphie?" came Galinda's voice from the other side of the door.
"Come in, Glin."
The blonde slipped inside, gave her friend a quick curtsy, but froze when she noticed all the flowers. "Whoa. Okay."
"Please tell me you did this as a practical joke."
"I wish I could take credit. Whatever you dreamt about last night must've been very –"
"I'm supposed to have my magic under control." She rubbed her eyes with a loud yawn. "And now I have a headache."
"Out of all the things your magic does, magically turning your bedroom into a greenhouse isn't the craziest. The newest, but not the craziest. You know how much I love pink lilies." She flitted around the room, creating a large bouquet and presenting it to her friend.
She made a face. "I'm going back to sleep."
"Oh, no, you're not." The blonde precariously tossed the bouquet over her shoulder and quickly pulled the covers out of Elphaba's hands. "We have to start our day. And by that, I mean 'My day has already started, because if I don't start, you can't start, so let's get started'." She grabbed her arms and pulled her up, ignoring her grunts of protest, and pushed her into the bathroom. "I had three cups of coffee before I came in here, and I'm ready to fight you or die trying. If you're not out in twenty minutes, I'm coming in. And we both remember how well that went last time."
"Glin, please lower your voice. Headache, remember?"
"You'll feel better once you get ready! Now, go!"
Elphaba grumbled and shut the door behind her, emerging exactly twenty minutes later with her wet hair in a braided bun and her undergarments, admitingly feeling a bit better. She looked at the dark purple dress with long sleeves and lace overlay the blonde had laid out on her bed. "What if I don't want to wear that dress?"
"You'll take what I give you, and you'll like it."
"I don't recall giving you the power to do that."
"Minor details," she scoffed with a dismissive hand wave. "Saying 'no' was never an option, Elphie, and you know that. Miss Doiir made this for you, and will be very put-out if you don't wear it to this major public appearance."
"My first of many on a never-ending list." She knew arguing over dresses wasn't the hill she wanted to die on, so she quietly conceded and put on the dress. It fit well and was flowy, allowing her to keep cool in the warm outdoors. But she put her foot down when Galinda approached her with an emerald tiara on a small pillow.
"Elphie, we both know that if you don't wear this, your father is going to kill me." She dramatically flopped back onto the bed, neatly resting her hands on her stomach. "Here lies Galinda Upland, age eighteen, dead… because her best friend refused to wear her heir-to-the-throne tiara, and His Ozness decided to punish the girl he believed to be responsible, even though it wasn't her fault."
Elphaba rolled her eyes, but decided to play along. "She had her whole life ahead of her. Poor girl."
"All gone, in a single moment." She swept the back of her hand across her forehead. "She was so young, so brave, so unbelievably fashionable." She fixed her crystal headband. "Please make sure they give me a twenty-one gun salute send-off."
Elphaba carefully fixed the tiara into her hair with a chuckle and slipped into a pair of flats. "Is Father –"
"Waiting for us downstairs."
She opened the door, surprised to not see a guard waiting to escort them. "Should we…?"
"Wait for the guard and keep His Ozness waiting, or go and risk his wrath for not having a guard? Hmm… it's a lose-lose situation, so let's just go."
As expected, the Wizard was waiting for them in front of the double doors leading to the expansive garden. Both girls greeted him with curtsies, and he responded with a wordless nod before they went out.
"His Supreme Ozness, the Right, High, Honorable, Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Her Royal Highness, the Princess Elphaba Melena!"
The doors opened with a fanfare, and the guests cleared the way for them as they passed, all genuflecting with the utmost deference. The Wizard gave a short speech, and Elphaba looked around, looking for familiar faces under the guise of polite eye contact. There were a few people who were aware of her verdigris, and she could easily spot them from the people who had no clue.
Once he finished, everyone was free to mingle. Everyone except her, of course. She had to spend her time being introduced to and engaging in conversation with all the dignitaries, heads of state, communicators, great thinkers, inventors, and people who were rich enough to buy an invite.
After a whole hour of conversations and having to pretend she wasn't aware of people trying to intellectually dance around her, she was finally allowed a break and booked it to find Galinda. She found her sitting at one of the far tables with her parents and siblings, and meandered over as quickly and gracefully as she could before someone called her back to introduce her to someone seemingly important.
"Princess," the Upland family stood and genuflected once they noticed her.
"Lord Upland, Lady Upland, Thomi, Kaat," Elphaba smiled as she sat in the empty chair next to Galinda. "I'm very glad you were able to come."
"This will be the biggest spectricle celebration in ten years," Lady Upland smiled as they reclaimed their seats. "We wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Nothing could compare to your parties, Lady Upland."
"You flatter me, Highness." She let out a flourished giggle.
If she didn't know the Uplands as well as she did, Elphaba would have thought the laugh fake. But she knew it was her genuine laugh, and she didn't know if that fact made it sound better.
"I saw you're competing in the dressage competition on Thursday afternoon, Kaat."
Lady Kaatiny Upland, just like her older sister in manners, grace, and magic, though significantly shyer and more sheltered from society, smiled, pushing her ringlets of dark blonde hair away from her face. "I am, Princess. This is my first year qualifying."
"Then I wish you luck." She looked up, meeting her father's stern gaze, and stood. "I'd love to stay, but I think I've hidden from introductions long enough."
"Of course, Princess. Thomi, why don't you take your sisters on a turn about the gardens? Try promenading past that group of young, handsome, men playing the ring toss game," Lady Upland said, pointing to the men with her fan.
"Of course, Mother," the Marquess nodded, offering his sisters his arms.
Galinda gave her friend an encouraging smile, and felt her discreetly slip a note into her pocket as she took her brother's arm. As they walked away, she snuck a quick peek at the note.
'Find me if you think I need you.'
She paused at the phrasing, and turned around to see Elphaba still trapped speaking to her parents. She wasn't worried about her friend. She knew she would do what she needed to, and had confidence she would do it well. She probably wouldn't need her as much as she thought she would.
After a few more parting words that had much-too-much flourish for Elphaba's liking, she was finally able to slip away and join her father. He didn't look pleased that it took her so long, but said nothing about it, instead introducing her to a group of ministers' wives. She was bombarded with names, titles, and associations for over an hour. By the time she was given another break, she could barely remember the blur of people who were thrown in front of her. She made a mental note to ask Galinda to review the guest list with her.
She blinked a few times to clear her vision and look for her friend, who she found in a deep conversation with a very dapper, princely-looking Fiyero. She almost didn't recognize him in his royal garb, but she had to admit, he looked very handsome in his sleeveless dark blue vest and pants, with his ruffled collar tucked neatly into his white shirt. She made her way over, as quickly as she could without tripping.
"Wow…" Fiyero gaped when he saw Elphaba. This was his first time seeing her look like her title, and he reminded himself to close his mouth.
"Yeah?" Elphaba smiled at rendering the talkative prince speechless.
"… Wow…"
"People are watching," Galinda reminded in a quiet sing-song.
"Hello. I don't believe we've been formally introduced," Elphaba said, casting a sweet smile at the prince.
"My Princess, I am Fiyero Liir Tigulaar, Crown Prince of the Vinkus," he said, flourishing his wrist as he bowed deeply. "It is the highest honor to be in your presence."
Galinda snorted under her breath, and Elphaba fought to pretend she didn't hear her.
"It's an honor to officially meet your acquaintance, Prince Fiyero." She extended her hand, fighting a blush when he took it and gave it a delicate kiss.
"You two are the worst," the blonde grumbled, and the two laughed. She turned to Elphaba. "Have you seen my sister?"
"Isn't she supposed to be with Thomi? Wait... aren't you both supposed to be with Thomi?"
"Yes, but Thomi wanted to play the game, I wanted to compliment Prince Fiyero's outfit, and Kaat wandered off. I should find her before my parents realize Thomi left us alone."
"Why would he do that?"
"We asked him to. And it took some strong convincing and blackmailing."
"Of course you did," Elphaba hummed, scanning the crowd for the youngest Upland. "She's over there, talking to that man with his entire face hidden behind thick facial hair."
She followed her gaze and frowned. "Not him." She curtsied to the royals and hurried away to her sister. "Master Downute."
The man turned, with only his piercing blue eyes visible, and bowed. "Lady Galinda. A pleasure."
"I see you've met my sister."
"Yes. We were just entertaining some very stimulating conversation."
Kaat's mouth tightened into a thin line, and Galinda recognized the silent cry for help. "Thank you, sir, but if you'll excuse us… I need my sister's help looking for… our cousin."
"Oh?"
"Our cousin?" Kaat frowned.
"Our veeeerrrrrry looooooveeeeeeely cousin." Galinda dragged out the words as she aimlessly looked around. She wasn't coming up with a lie fast enough and it was driving her crazy. She'd created trumped-up illnesses to fool with Wizard; why couldn't she find an excuse to leave an uncomfortable conversation?
"Who's your cousin?" Master Downute asked, also looking around.
"She's the daughter of our aunt," Kaat supplied, then looked at Galinda for approval. She didn't get it.
He huffed out a single chuckle. "And your aunt is…?"
"The mother of our cousin."
"Kaat, be quiet," Galinda hissed in her ear, giving her arm a hard squeeze.
"Well, I should like to meet them both."
"You've already met them," she said quickly, then paled, fighting a facepalm. It was Kaat's turn to give her a disapproving look.
"Oh?" He leaned in. "Where?"
She had to think quickly. "At… the thing."
"The thing?"
"Yes. The thing."
"Which thing?"
She wasn't thinking fast enough. "The thing… where you met our cousin." She wanted nothing more than to walk away, but knew she couldn't be rude, so she had to wait for him to end the conversation. "Perhaps if we split up, we'll find them faster. We'll go this way, and you could help search by the fountain."
"Of course, my lady," he bowed and made his way towards the fountain as Galinda steered her sister in the opposite direction.
"You're horrible at lying, sister," Kaat frowned.
"You're no better." She absent-mindedly patted her hand and they walked around on their own, talking and continuing the faux search for their "cousin" until they were sure Master Downute was engaged in another conversation and forgot all about them.
Elphaba and Fiyero watched the exchange from afar, and once they were assured their friends were okay, continued their conversation.
"How does it feel?" Elphaba asked, giving Fiyero's outfit a once-over.
"Weird. Heavy."
"It looks nice."
"Looks can be deceiving. That's something you taught me."
"A lesson I'm not regretting as much as I thought I would."
He tugged at his collar. "It was stiff from being sent over and the fabric feels scratchy. It's more of a façade than anything else. If you pretend that everything's normal, then the problems will go away on their own."
"This isn't part of what you wanted?"
"Well… I don't know. I suppose it's nice to be able to eat all the finger foods instead of having to serve them. And it's been a long six months without this dashing ensemble." His lips curled, but quickly dropped. "But now that I'm here, everyone wants updates on the economy. They don't know that I've been working here the whole time, and I'm certainly not gonna tell them. I've just been saying general answers like 'It's improving' or 'My parents are very close to fixing everything' or any variation thereof. There's been no official news from them."
"Is no news good news?"
"I never know. I don't think it's bad news. I knew it'd be too much to hope for a break. The only reason I'm surviving this is because muscle memory has taken over."
"It's not because of my sparkling presence and stimulating conversation?" Elphaba blinked.
He had to resist the urge to kiss her pouting lips. "Of course. I am having a significantly better time at this party than the ones back home. Mostly because my parents aren't watching my every move and breathing down my neck."
"So you admit that being here has given you this freedom?"
"You caught me." He raised his hands in mock surrender, neither of them being able to fight the urge to burst into laughter. "Looks like we're not the only two who were allowed a bit of fun."
Elphaba followed his gaze to see a group of children, squealing and laughing as Galinda created little pink bubbles for them. Galinda looked like she was having the time of her life as she danced and twirled around, her magic gracefully flying from her fingertips and creating a steady stream of multisized bubbles.
"Lady Galinda really loves bubbles," Fiyero smiled.
"A few years ago, she did that with flowers. She accidentally grew a large weed that punched a Quadling senator in the nose. Bubbles are the safer option," Elphaba chuckled, looking at the rest of the Upland's reactions.
Lord Upland had an arm around his wife's waist as they both proudly watched their daughter display her magic talent. Kaat smiled and eagerly joined in the fun, ignoring the soft chides from their mother. Thomi looked on as a stern, older brother, but even he couldn't keep up the façade when his sister gave one of the High Ministers a bubble beard. The older man gave a gruff grunt, but softened when his granddaughter, wearing a bubble hat, said he looked silly.
A new face caught her attention and she stiffened slightly. The Wizard stood next to the Uplands, watching Galinda with a neutral expression. He didn't look upset, simply observing the moment. Every so often, the Uplands, minus Galinda, would look at him, as if waiting for a verdict on their daughter's performance. After a few more magic bubble tricks, he gave what everyone who knew him called 'the approval smile'. 'Smile' was an inaccurate word to describe the look, but it was as close as he'd get. It meant he approved of whatever he saw, and wasn't going to actively put a stop to it. Which meant it must continue.
Her gaze shifted back to Galinda, but something was different. The sparkle in her eyes was starting to fade as her energy waned. When she started to slow, protests and encouragement to keep going forced her to keep the smile on her face. The show was forced to go on.
"She should take it easy," Fiyero frowned.
"She can't. Not when everyone, including my father, is watching. I don't know if he told her to perform, or if her parents did, but either way, she's trapped until they tell her to stop. She always does this for him, at dinner parties, when entertaining foreign dignitaries, and at any other official event. She does what she's told."
"Doing as you're told can be both the easiest and hardest thing to do. The path of least resistance isn't always the easiest path."
Elphaba smiled at the profound statement. "She can handle it. She's stronger than she looks. It's one of the things I admire most about her. She loves the attention performing brings her, and she'll be alright. Completely exhausted, but unharmed."
"Your father kept frowning at me every time we made eye contact. I tried to avoid it as much as I could, and he must think that I think he has the most interesting grass in all of Oz, since I spent most of the time staring down at it." He looked back, seeing Kaat helping Galinda by occupying the children with multicolored flower petals flying from her fingertips. Using less magic allowed Glinda to recuperate, but not as fast as it would've been if she were sitting down and relaxing.
"There's something you must understand, Fiyero." She looked up at him with fear she allowed only him to see. "That is why I must keep my magic a secret from my father, and everyone else. I don't want to go down that path. If I was forced to do what Galinda is forced to do, I might never recover."