A/N: a shorter chapter than the last ones have been, I sort of... reached a dead end. hopefully the next one will be better. I love you guys.
Sadness and Secrets
The group of friends waved Ollivander off the following day, and a few days later, Elphaba and Glinda wound up at the train station waiting for their train that had been delayed due to the persistent snowfall.
"Glinda! Will you stop fidgeting?! We will get there this side of Lurlinemas!" Elphaba scolded with a smirk.
"I know, but I really don't like travelling." she pouted, playing with the faux fur covered muff that was meant to keep her hands warm.
"No, you just don't like the fact that you can't play in the snow anymore." her friend commented, leaning against a stone pillar.
Glinda ignored the smirk and shook her head, bouncing on her toes to try and stay warm - with little to no effect and she looked around and then gasped. "Elphie look! Fifi came after all!"
"What?" Elphaba looked up to see Fiyero and Boq climbing the steps to the platform and she smiled, rolling her eyes when Glinda called them over excitedly and then threw her arms around Fiyero in a tight hug which he returned with a grin.
"Anybody would think you were never gonna see me again!" he laughed.
"What do you think will happen? That you'll get stuck in the snow for two weeks?" Boq put in.
Glinda gasped. "Don't even joke!"
Elphaba rolled her eyes at her friend's dramatics. "I thought you'd left already."
"He's making his driver wait so he can say goodbye to you," Boq told her while Fiyero shrugged, handing over the bag of presents to Glinda.
"You sap." she teased, his reasoning made her heart flutter.
"Love you too, Fae." he grinned and pulled her close to him and kissed her.
She grinned and kissed him back. "Je t'aime. Je te verrai dans deux semaines."
"Deux semaines," he repeated softly, resting his forehead on hers. At least the next time he saw her now she wouldn't come home to him hurt.
She gently touched his face. "I'm okay. I'll be safe now," she whispered. "Yero, he can't get to me now."
He nodded and said nothing else. He could just be content with holding her in his arms forever.
A few minutes later they heard the whistle of the train ringing in the air. "Elphie! Come on, it's here!"
"You'd better come back to me in one piece," he told her, not entirely joking.
Elphaba smiled at that. "I will. I can't promise that Glinda won't have her way with me though."
He rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant."
She kissed him again before she was dragged off by Glinda, and Fiyero and Boq helped them on with their bags and waved them off as the train slowly left the station.
"Come on, at least this time Miss Elphie's gonna be safe. Government officials won't do anything over the holidays, and as far as I'm aware, Frottica has nothing to do with Munchkinland." Boq told his friend as they both cautiously left the platform.
"I know... I just..."
"Worry? I know. But just keep remembering that she's safe, she's too far away for him to do anything even with the snow as bad as it is. I don't think even Miss Nessa knows Glinda's address. It was Miss Elphie who wrote the letters over the summer." The two friends shared a hug before Fiyero got into the waiting carriage and he too headed for home, leaving Boq to make his way back to Shiz alone.
Three days later, the day before Lurlinemas Eve, the girls arrived in Frottica, having been delayed even more by the weather, leaving Elphaba complaining that they should have stayed at school.
"Elphaba, just how exactly would you have coped with the cold weather if you had run off that day in the Emerald City? How would you have coped being a fugitive on the run?" Glinda raised an eyebrow at her green companion when they left the empty train station.
A pause. "Shut up." She shook her head walking with her and their bags on a stolen luggage trolley until they reached Glinda's home.
The house looked no bigger than Colwen Grounds, but the exterior was a lot cleaner, a lot more inviting than the dusty old mansion back in Munchkinland, and was decorated with multi-coloured lights.
The petite blonde burst through the door with a loud, dramatic sigh and a wide smile on her lips. "I'm home!"
Elphaba couldn't help but laugh as she watched her. She was then forced to leave the luggage in the foyer as she was dragged through the large house. She barely listened as she was given the tour of the house and they eventually caught up with Glinda's parents.
"We're here!" Glinda giggled.
"Yes, I can see that." Callistra smiled softly at her daughter and her friend. "How was your journey?"
"Long. And cold." Elphaba didn't hesitate to complain.
Glinda rolled her eyes with a grin and hugged her mother. "Elphie hates the cold. You'll get used to the complaining."
Glinda's father laughed and nodded. "She's got the right idea! Stay warm, Miss Elphaba."
The green girl smiled a little and nodded. "Glinda likes the snow."
"Makes sense. We had the first snowfall of the season the day she was born." he smiled.
"Hmm, that's about the only thing he remembers from that day," Callistra smirked lightly. "Are you both hungry?" she got a nod from the two girls. "Well, your rooms are all ready and dinner will be done in about two hours. I should imagine your bags have already been taken upstairs."
"Come along, Elphie!" Glinda grinned and dragged her out of the room and up the stairs.
The rest of the day passed by in a blur for them both, they didn't settle until later that evening.
"Elphie, you don't have to clean up here." Glinda smiled and pulled her friend away from the kitchen.
"But-"
"Nothing. We have people here for that, and you're a guest here."
Elphaba nodded and allowed herself to be dragged away, the feeling of guilt never leaving her.
Old habits are hard to break I guess... Glinda thought. "Come with me."
"Where are we going?"
Glinda ignored her and dragged her through the house until they reached the attic, grabbing a couple of old coats and handed one to her, she then climbed out of the window and hauled herself up on to the roof, Elphaba followed closely and cautiously behind her.
"What are we doing up here?" she shivered, pulling the coat tighter around her.
"I come up here when it gets a bit overwhelming in there." the blonde admitted. "And I could see that happening with you."
"You don't get overwhelmed or panicky." Elphaba scoffed as she sat beside her friend. "You're Glinda, you thrive in front of people and you glow like a string of Lurlinemas lights when you talk about your family."
"I know. But yes, even I get scared and it does get too much for me sometimes." Glinda smiled. "You know as well as I do... from Nessa's perspective at least, the duties put on a woman of societal status."
Elphaba shrugged. "Maybe if I was a normal colour, Frex would be pushing me to marry, yes. And with Nessa, he's more... protective. He didn't need to worry with Boq, but now they're no longer together, I don't know what he'll do... To carry on the line she is required to marry, and my grandfather wouldn't have allowed her to claim governor status unmarried."
Glinda nodded. "And when Fifi asks you, and we both know he will, and you'll say yes, you'll be a princess." she grinned. "But that's what most of those balls I've had to attend in the past have been for. To find a match for me, and those men can range from our age to old enough to be our grandfathers." she shuddered. "Just as long as I married into good money, it wouldn't have mattered how I felt about the whole thing."
"Sort of explains why you latched on to Fiyero like a limpet the second you met him." she smirked.
Glinda giggled at that. "And the fact that he is a very good looking man. And an amazing kisser." she nudged her blushing friend.
"Well, yes, there is that." Elphaba agreed.
"And don't think I didn't notice that mark on your neck, Miss Elphie."
She subconsciously rubbed the spot where the hickey had been. "No idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, really?"
"And anyway, you're a fine one to talk, you're covered with them."
Glinda giggled again.
"At least tell me you're safe."
"Yes, mum, I am." the blonde sighed dramatically with a grin. "I'm much too young for a screaming child and I have the perfect figure."
Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Young and immature, yes." she smiled. "But you ought to know by now that I don't really care about looks."
The two friends stayed close together to stay warm, talking for a while longer sat on the roof beneath a cloudless, starry night sky, and they eventually retreated to their beds, their rooms next door to each other.