A/N: Thank you guys for reading :) I know we're slow going with this story compared to the fast pace of A Million Dreams... I promise it will get better. I know I promised an update every week, but I'm going on vacation next week and I may not be able to have the update up next Sunday, but I will give you the next update as soon as I am able. Happy reading! Don't forget to review! Love you guys!

Sadness and Secrets

A few weeks later, the seasons began to change and the weather grew colder as Autumn set in, and as predicted, the upheaval settled down and schedules were back to normal, and with it, saw the arrival of Elphaba and Glinda's new sorcery teacher.

"How did your first class go?" Boq asked when he saw the two girls enter the canteen, the rest of the group looked up curiously.

"I love her. She's so much better than Morrible ever was!" Glinda grinned.

Elphaba nodded. "Yeah, she works to our strengths. She works better when calm under pressure, and it comes as no surprise to anyone that I work better when I feel what I'm doing."

"What was it she called us...? Oh! A perfect chaotic balance!"

Fiyero laughed. "Well, I could have told you that." He grinned as Elphaba sat beside him.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" she smirked.

"You balance each other out, probably always have done, you just never realised it until you became friends. Even when you're emotional, sometimes she's the catalyst that calms you."

"There's only really been one exception to that." Ollivander pointed out with a nod. "You don't necessarily have to be lovers to be soul mates, you know." He winced as she kicked him, and Glinda giggled beside him. "What? I just mean that there's a special kind of bond between the two of you, and you connect magically."

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Anyway, what are we doing in here?"

"We were playing a card game while we waited for you, we're just waiting for Nessa now," Boq answered.

Elphaba nodded, shifting a little closer to Fiyero.

"Elphaba?"

She looked around to see Nessa wheeling herself towards her.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

She paused, looking at her sister with tired, bored eyes. "Can't you talk here?"

"Please, Fabala."

She sighed and stood up, as did the others. "Fine."

"We'll meet you both outside." Fiyero kissed her cheek, Boq avoided Nessa's gaze as the four friends left the canteen.

"Well?" Elphaba looked at her sister.

"I've been out of order... I'm sorry," Nessa reached for her hand, and tentatively lowered it back to her lap when her sister withdrew her own hand. "Fabala... I really am sorry..."

The green girl nodded, folding her arms across her chest. "I've no doubt you are." She looked at her. "Nessa, I can't keep dealing with your tantrums. I love you, 'm not leaving you, but if you keep doing this, you will push me away. Haven't I demonstrated enough by distancing myself from you?"

"I realise that..."

She kept her cold gaze on Nessa for a moment longer before the facade dropped and she bent to hug her. "I forgive you."

Nessa hugged back, relieved to have her sister back. "I'll be better."

She nodded and stood upright. "Come on, before Fiyero eats everything."

The younger Thropp giggled and wiped her eyes, and the sisters left the canteen and headed outside.

"Still breathing then?" Ollivander teased.

"Not sure she will be if she pulls another stunt like that, again, though, sister or not," Elphaba smirked and Nessa hung her head.

Ollivander and Fiyero laughed.

"How did you and your teacher figure out the balance between you and Miss Glinda?" Boq asked as they headed off-campus.

"As strange as it sounds... she told us to go into separate rooms and pick a memory, and we were to come back together and say it at the same time," Elphaba spoke as she was pulled back to Fiyero's side. "Now, it could have been anything at all, from childhood to anything quite as recent as our friendship."

"And we both chose last Autumn's dance at the Ozdust." Glinda put in. "We had to explain why we picked it."

Elphaba nodded. "And, as you know, that was the night we became friends. Although in fairness, for Glinda it could have also been the night this idiot showed up," she smirked, squirming against his side as he jabbed her. "Somehow, knowing that made it easier for her to plan what to do with us, and her methods worked. I came away with no injuries tonight."

Boq looked confused up at Glinda. "So, you feed off Miss Elphie's chaotic energy and she feeds off your calm energy?"

Glinda nodded. "Something like that... Ooh! Speaking of dances-"

"No!"

"Elphie!"

Fiyero laughed again, gently rubbing her arm. "Come on, Fae, it'll be fun this time."

"Funny, that's what she said last time. As I remember, it was a prank."

"A prank that gave you your best friend. What's the problem?" He grinned as she elbowed him, he jabbed her side in return.

"Oh, please, Elphie. It would mark a year since we became friends! Ooh! And a year since Fiyero showed up!"

He paused for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, it would be... Hah!" he grinned again.

Elphaba groaned. "Fine... Only if it would shut you both up."

Glinda squealed happily. "Great! Now, we only have three weeks until the Ozdust dance, oh, we have so much to do!" she giggled.

"I'm not dancing."

"If you say so," he smirked.

The group of friends made their way to the Dog in the Roses, and for once, dinner was back to normal, there was no tension among them as they were laughing and teasing one another as if the last two months of tension hadn't happened. Forgiveness was easy among friends.

They stepped out into the chilly October air a few hours later, and Elphaba cursed herself for forgetting to pick up her jacket from her earlier sorcery class, leaving her in her thin uniform.

"Here," Fiyero slipped off his coat and put it around her shoulders. "Fae, it's okay, I can manage without it." He smiled.

"But...- oh, fine," she smiled at the warmth enveloping her thin frame, and she put the coat on properly, slipping her hand into his waiting one, and she pointedly ignored squealing from Glinda who found the action to be 'the most adorablest, romantic thing in all of Oz.' before she was pulled along the street by Ollivander before Elphaba could smack her. "One day I'm going to murder that bubble witch in her sleep." she smirked.

He laughed and kissed her temple. "No, you won't."

She scoffed. "Wanna bet?" she commented and looked behind her at Nessa. "Nessa, are you coming?"

Nessa blinked, looking up at her sister and Fiyero and then back at the spot she'd been staring at, a darkening alleyway across the street. "Did you see that?"

"See what?"

"There was somebody over there," Nessa pointed. "They were dressed all in black and I couldn't see their face... They looked like they were watching us."

A chill ran up and down Elphaba's spine as Fiyero held her hand tighter. "No, I didn't... Come on, we should get back." The three of them caught up with the other half of their group.

"How can you be sure they were looking at us?" Glinda asked as the six of them huddled close together, almost circled around Nessa's chair.

"I don't know... Just a feeling I got."

The figure hid herself away in the darkness, her dark brown eyes following the friends until they were out of sight, and she left the scene with a heavy heart.

"What are your plans for today, Elphie?" Glinda asked the following morning as she and her roommate got ready for the day.

Elphaba shrugged. "I was thinking of going into town to see what books I could buy... And try and get an idea of what to get for Fiyero's birthday." She spoke.

"Ooh, that'll be nice!"

"Also my aunt wrote to me and agreed to meet me not far from school."

"You're not going alone? Elphie you've only been writing for two weeks."

"And why not? I'm a big girl, Glinda, I don't need anyone to hold my hand."

"But... But she's a stranger! What if something happens to you?! You said it yourself after you got that note, we need to be careful... And with Nessa saying she felt like we were being watched..."

"Glinda you're fretting about what-ifs. I'll be alright. Besides, most people run away from the green girl, not try to actively abduct her." She raised an eyebrow as she pinned her dark hair into a bun on the back of her head.

"Why won't Fiyero go with you?"

"Two reasons. One, it makes it difficult to get a present for him with him actually there. Two, I haven't told him. He knows I'm going to the bookstore and he'd rather stay here."

"But..."

"I'll be fine. I promise. Now, can you button the back of this dress please?"

Glinda pouted and slid off her bed, crossing the room and fastened the buttons of her friend's black dress. "What's her name again?"

"Kasmina Hertland... I'm assuming she married or she changed her name to avoid her family name being recognised." she looked at her friend. "Aren't you going to be late for your friends?"

The blonde looked at the clock and gasped. "Oh, Oz I am!" she flew around the room like a pink hurricane, finishing getting herself ready and grabbed her purse. "Be careful, okay?" she kissed her cheek and fled the room.

Elphaba shook her head with a laugh, observing the mess her friend left behind, and without sparing a glance in the mirror, she slipped on Fiyero's coat and slung her bag on her shoulder and headed out to the canteen for breakfast. She sat down beside Boq and Ollivander with her pancakes. "Boq, you look like someone's just told you Fairy Lurline doesn't exist!" she smirked. "What's wrong?"

"He's still moping," Ollivander interjected.

"I'm not moping!" Boq huffed, stabbing scrambled eggs with his fork.

"No, you're just murdering those poor eggs." the green girl said sarcastically.

Ollivander rolled his eyes at his friend. "Are you going to the book fayre today?"

"I didn't know it was on..." She admitted. "But I was going into town soon anyway."

He nodded. "Yeah, it's in the town square. I was thinking it might have some of the books we need for class."

Her eyes lit up and she nodded with a smile. "Sounds like a good idea. Boq, do you want to come?"

Boq shook his head. "I'd better not... It would leave Fiyero with Nessa."

"That's sweet of you to worry, Boq, but I think he can handle himself with my sister." She smirked. "Besides, it's Saturday. He'll sleep in until at least noon."

He nodded, conceding her point. "Alright, I'll join you."

"It'll do you good to get out. Stuck in Nessarose's shadow isn't good for anyone." Ollivander told him, chuckling when Elphaba nudged him with a smile of her own.

"Oh, I have to meet somebody at the Horseshoe Café at lunchtime."

"Who? And why?"

"A few weeks ago my mother's sister was found, and we started writing to each other two weeks ago, anyway, last week she asked to meet me. So I was thinking, while you two wander around town I could go and meet her."

"Elphie, you can't simply go alone?" Boq's eyes were wide. "What if something goes wrong? Or your father finds out?"

"Are you sure she isn't responsible for that note?"

Elphaba shrugged. "Then let him. That man can't hurt me anymore. He's disowned me, so it's not like he can pull me out of school and lock me away as a prisoner. I'm not his problem. And yes, I'm quite sure, the handwriting is completely different." She looked between them both. "Look, it's a public place. Even if I wasn't green and repulsive, it's the safest way to meet her. Would you rather I brought her to the school itself?" she stood up after she finished her food. "So, are you still coming or not? And the first of you two to mention Fiyero gets castrated. I don't answer to him, nor do I need his permission."

They both paled and nodded, knowing she would carry out her threat.

"Understood." Ollivander choked out.

"Good!" she grinned and they left, getting into a carriage and headed into Shiz town.

The trio happily spent the morning perusing the books that the book fayre had to offer. Boq found several books on agriculture and businesses surrounding it. Elphaba and Ollivander found several books from their Literature reading list, the green girl adding a few extras to her pile, mainly history, law and political books, including one on Vinkun history.

The three friends were laughing and joking amongst each other as they eventually ventured off to the other stores.

"Oh... I need to figure out what to get Fiyero for his birthday..." Elphaba said thoughtfully after a while.

"When is it?" Ollivander asked.

"December nineteenth." She answered, and looked at Boq's wide-eyed expression. "What?"

"You barely even remember mine, how do you know that?"

"He told me once. And it's three weeks after Glinda's. And I do so know yours. It's April-"

"March!"

She grinned sheepishly. "So I got the month wrong."

He grumbled a response, to which she shook her head.

"Oh, be quiet and help me find something. You're a boy, what do I get?"

Ollivander laughed. "You're asking him?"

"You help me then."

"Elphie, you've got a few weeks yet, we're just barely in October... Besides, it's close enough that you could even consider Lurlinemas shopping too!" Boq complained. "Come on, let's go eat."

She nodded. "I suppose you're right. Oh, I have to get going! I'll be late."

"Do you want us to take your books?" Ollivander asked.

"No, thank you, I'll be alright," she smiled and walked off towards the Horseshoe Café, unaware that the figure from the night before had returned and had been following her. The green girl steeled herself and walked further inside, stopping at the familiar face, only she hadn't met the woman, sat at the table before her. "Kasmina?"

The copper-haired woman looked up to face her, recognising her instantly, and she stood up. 'Good God, even green as grass, she looks like her!' she thought. "Oh, Elphaba." she smiled, her eyes widening in shock as she took more of the green girl in. Yes, the green was as much of a shock as it had been the day she'd been born, but it was the likeness to her long-dead sister that stunned her more. "I'm sorry... I hadn't realised you were so..."

"Green?" Elphaba supplied, assuming the end of her sentence. "It's fine, most people don't, I'm used to it by now."

She stepped forward and held out her hand for her, which Elphaba shook and they both sat down. "Lurline, it's like I'm looking at my baby sister again and she'd playing dress-up," she spoke softly, without thinking.

Elphaba bit her lip at the comment, unsure whether to be insulted or not.

The other woman, to her credit, seemed to realise her error. "Oh! I'm sorry, it wasn't meant to offend! Oz, I say things and I don't realise until it's too late... My husband is forever telling me about that..."

And like that, the tension was broken as Elphaba laughed. "I do that too..." she nodded. "It's normally Glinda, my best friend, who tells me off and it's my boyfriend who encourages it, I think he finds it funny... Until it's directed at him that is."

Kasmina noticed the bag of books on the floor at the young woman's feet. "Buy anything interesting?"

"Just some books for school." Elphaba smiled a little.

A waitress came over to take their orders; Kasmina ordering herself a coffee, Elphaba went for the hot chocolate.

"I want to thank you for meeting me, Elphaba. It can't have been an easy decision to make... and I'm only sorry it's taken so long."

Elphaba shrugged, still feeling a little uneasy despite the lack of tension. "I guess it can't be helped... My father is not the easiest man to reason with."

"No, he's not," Kasmina agreed, deciding against correcting the girl on her parentage, it was not the time nor the place. "I'm glad you're out of there, though. I know that the cottage won't make up for the times I could have been there for you-"

"You don't have to..." Elphaba shook her head. "I'd have found somewhere eventually..."

"I'm sure you would have," she smiled at her niece as their drinks were brought to them. "You've got your mother's spirit, I don't doubt for a minute that you would have," she added.

"Thank you for offering it, though." Elphaba gave another reluctant smile. It had been hard for her to accept help, but she was not stupid enough to mock it when it presented itself.

"You're welcome, Elphaba," Kasmina nodded. "Now, tell me about yourself, what are you studying?"

A genuine smile graced the green girl's face as her entire being lit up, and she told her about school and the classes she'd been taking. She talked about her sister and her friends.

Ollivander risked a peek through the café window and grinned at the sight of his friend talking so animatedly, before jogging back to Boq. "She's fine."

"Good." The munchkin grinned with relief and they both headed off to get something to eat, walking right past the figure hidden in the shadows.

Kasmina smiled as she saw the girl light up, the same thought over and over in her mind; if this girl wasn't green, she could swear that it was her sister back from the dead, or the very least, reincarnated in her daughter. She missed Melena so much that her heart hurt. She was glad that her soul and her spirit lived on in her daughter. "So, you mentioned a boyfriend." her hazel eyes flashed teasingly as the young woman suddenly turned coy and her smile became shy.

"I did?"

"Mhm, and I do hope he's treating you well."

Elphaba blushed a darker green and she nodded, refusing to reveal his name. "He is... Oz, he does... And I don't know what I did to deserve him."

"I'm sure he's supposed to be the lucky one," she smiled.

"He tells me he is. I don't see it myself, but who am I to argue."

Kasmina nodded and didn't question it, putting it down to the usual insecurities of a young adult just outgrowing adolescence.

"Can we talk about you, now?"

"Of course," she smiled. "Being the first-born, I was meant to take up Eminence after our grandparents passed, however, things didn't quite go to plan." She started. "I met Jandel when I was twenty, and your mother loved him, she approved right away, and she couldn't have been happier for me. It was our grandparents who disapproved; because he was what they considered lower in status. Which was true, he was a mere carpenter and below social status... They tried to force me into choosing between family and him, naturally, I chose him. I gave up Eminence for him, gave up all of my teachings and training, and that all passed down to Melena at sixteen. She was the favoured granddaughter, after all," the smile on her face, the tone of her voice held no bitterness, only love and affection for the memory of the dead.

Elphaba's eyes were wide as she listened to the story. Having no memory of her grandparents, she couldn't form the correct picture in her mind of them.

"I continued to stay with him and to guide Melena through the teachings that were once bestowed upon me, which seemed to please the family. But I didn't do it for them, I did it all for her for two years." she continued her story. "Eventually Jandel and I ran away to marry, your mother was our only witness, and we left for the Quadling Country while Melena returned home. She wrote to me endlessly, and eventually, her letters grew sadder. She begged me to return home a year or so later, so unhappy with the recent arrangement... I thought it was Melena huffing at the changes. It was Wenna's final letter that convinced me. I left Jandel holding the home together to return back to Munchkinland. Upon my return, I learned that it was our grandfather's doing, the arrangement between the over-zealous preacher and my baby sister."

The green girl looked up at the first sign of bitterness in her tone. "Why?"

"He was to try and tame her wild spirit. And she loved him enough to try and change, only she couldn't, and she was unhappy. I pleaded with her. Mother did. Morwenna told her countless times... our grandmother did. We all begged her to leave him, but she wouldn't. She'd do anything to make the old fool happy!" she scoffed. "The only thing left was to encourage her to 'keep her options open' as it were... And then you came along, and I found that I was banished from the family home- the home I grew up in with my sister. Frex told me cruelly on the doorstep on that unusually stormy evening in June that you'd died. Morwenna wrote to me later with the truth, and I enlisted her help to try and get you both out of that place."

Elphaba remained quiet for the rest of the story, a silent snort of derision leaving her at the revelation of her mother's affairs, and she attempted to process the information given to her.

"At last, it wasn't to be... Melena and I kept in touch secretly until she died. I moved to Quox just before it happened, and I trained as a nurse. I've worked in the same hospital I did my training in for the last eighteen years. I could never have children of my own so we've taken in orphaned children over the years."

"I'm sorry..."

The auburn-haired woman smiled. "It's quite alright. I made my peace with it years ago. Enjoy being young and happy, Elphaba. Do not let this rotten world turn you into a bitter old maid. If you're unhappy, find a way to change it, don't, I beg of you, don't make your mother's mistakes."

"I..." she started and trailed off, unable to think of what to say. "Alright, I won't..."

Talk then turned to lighter topics, and Elphaba finally revealed Fiyero's name to her after much teasing and cajoling.

"We don't get much news from other parts of Oz in Quox, but I do know that name, and the reputation preceding him." Kasmina raised an eyebrow. "And judging by how you speak of him, he's nothing at all how he's portrayed."

"Oh, no, he is a hopeless flirt, and some of it is true, he's a lot more... experienced with women than most. Most of it was acting out though."

"And you're alright with this?"

Elphaba shrugged. If she was completely honest with herself, she was not, but there was nothing she could do to change it now. "Regardless of if I am or not, I can hardly change the past, can I? But he is changing his old ways. It's very odd knowing how he used to be and then see him looking at me like I'm the only girl for miles." she smiled and shook her head. "I know he loves me. I know he'd never do anything to hurt me, and that's all I need to know."

Kasmina nodded again, this time smiling. "Alright, as long as you're happy."

"I am," Elphaba nodded. "Anyway, I should be getting back, I'm surprised my friends haven't-" she was cut off when the cafe door opened with a yell of "Elphie!" from Boq, causing her to sigh and smirk to herself. "There they are..." she turned in her seat. "Have you grown and become a blonde woman?"

Boq paused, thinking about what she'd meant and Ollivander laughed. Then the jab clicked in his head. "There's only one Miss Glinda."

"And trust me when I say that's enough," Elphaba commented dryly and she stood up.

"I'd like to keep writing to you, Elphaba. Take care of yourself." Kasmina smiled.

"I'd like that too. Goodbye." Elphaba waved at her and was lead out by her friends, book bag in tow.

A few hours later, Elphaba and Fiyero were walking along the canal, hands entwined together as they walked.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

She nodded, smiling. "I did. I got a few history books too."

He chuckled softly. "For someone who no longer takes history you read an awful lot of it." he teased.

"What can I say, it interests me. I got a few other books too." she grinned. "Actually, there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember me telling you about the letter Morwenna sent me?"

"When you asked how the papers saw us?" he looked as she nodded. "What about it?"

She shrugged. "In that letter, she also said that my mother's sister had been found, and we've been writing for a couple of weeks. She asked to meet me."

"Okay." he nodded, confused as to why she was telling him, as though expecting him to lecture her.

"That's what else happened today. We met in a cafe in town."

"Oh," he blinked. "How did it go?"

"Fiyero, she looks just like my mother, it's almost scary." she laughed a little. "We talked, I told her everything that's happening here, and she told me a bit of the past, and she's given me a place to stay when I need it, a small cottage near to where she lives. We're going to keep writing to each other." she smiled.

He grinned and kissed her head, raising their linked hands and spun her around to make her laugh. "I'm glad you've found her, Fae. At least not everyone in your family is lost to you. I'm happy for you."

She smiled up at him after her laughter died down and she nodded. "I'm glad too... I'm hoping she can tell me more about my mother too. I get the impression they were close when they were younger."

"How so?"

"Her first comment to me was that I looked like my mother, only she was playing dress-up."

He laughed. "That's definitely new."

She giggled. "It certainly is."

He grinned and listened as she told him more about her meeting.

"I want her to meet you one day," she told him once she'd finished her tale.

He grinned again and kissed her. "And we'll make it happen, Fae. One day, we will," he promised. He eventually walked her back to Crage Hall long after sunset and the stars appeared. "Keep it," he told her when she made to give him back his coat.

She smiled and kissed him goodnight before she headed inside to her dorm.