During the trip, Fiyero told Elphaba more about his family. "I think you and my mother will get along very well. You see, she doesn't look anything like my father or me. She's different."
Elphaba, who'd been drowsing, sat up. "How so?"
"You're going to wonder why I didn't tell you this before. It sounded so oddly fairytale-like that I couldn't. But now I might as well, since you're about to meet her. Most men and women in the Vinkus have skin like mine, minus the markings. The markings are different for everyone, depending on status. However, my mother's skin, though it is dark, is not that shade, and there are no markings."
"She's like me, isn't she?"
"In a way. Her skin has a very distinct shade of violet."
"Please tell me that you're not in love with me because I'm like you're mother."
"It had nothing to do with that, I promise." He kissed her forehead. "I wasn't very accepting of my mother's skin… until I met you."
"It took you that long?"
"My mother, unlike you, isn't confident. Nurses raised the kids, including me. She barely took care of us as children, because she thought that even we would hate her for her skin. Because this was the reason she never paid attention to me, I hated it."
"Is she allergic to water?" Elphaba wondered.
"No. She's not allergic to anything."
"Are her parents violet?"
"Not at all."
"Did her mother have an affair?"
"Not that we know of. And believe me, in the Vinkus, we'd know."
"She just looks different."
"Right." Fiyero told a brief version of the story of his parents' marriage. "My father fell in love with her one day when she was hiding out around the tall fields of grass between the village and the castle. He was wandering, alone, and she was sitting quietly and thinking. Actually, he almost stepped on her. They were fourteen. This was before my father's parents had even decided who his arranged bride would be, so he was doing no wrong. My parents got married before turning fifteen, they had me when they were sixteen."
"Why'd your father fall in love with her?"
"He admired that she was shy and obedient, actually."
"So she's not like me, in personality."
"Right. But I still think, because of a common, uh…"
"Deformity?" Elphaba supplied.
"I will not call it that. Let's call it a common physical trait. I think that because of this, you two will get along, even if you're very different otherwise."
"At least I know she won't look down on me for my color."
"And my father won't, either. It would be hypocritical."
"But they can look down on me because my natural color wouldn't be dark, Fiyero. I'm not from the Vinkus. They might not like that."
Fiyero wrapped his arms around her. "Any girl I love, they will accept."
"Then they must be wonderful parents."
"Aside from my mother's little mistake with raising us, they're great."
"If you can love your family, then I can, too." Elphaba said decidedly.
"They'll take some time getting used to you, of course, and your stubbornness. But I think they'll grow to love you."
Fiyero's confidence was infectious and Elphaba stood in the doorway of the castle with no major worries. When the door swung open, she followed Fiyero inside and allowed a servant to lead them into the recreation room, where most of the family was sitting. He'd obviously prepared them for her, since no one was remotely shocked at her appearance.
Fiyero stood in the center of the room, in front of the couch his parents were lounging on, and said, "Mother, Father, I'd like you to meet Elphaba, my girlfriend and, though we have no real or final plans, the love of my life."
Elphaba buried her face in her hands, self-conscious. Everyone thought it was simply embarrassment, but she wiped a tear from the side of her eye before revealing her face again. No one saw or noticed, for which she was grateful; no one should. She felt unexpectedly shy, all of the sudden. "Um, hello."
Fiyero's mother stood up in a flash of dark violet. She hugged her son and then turned to Elphaba. "It's nice to meet you."
Fiyero's father nodded distantly, eying the seven children of various ages who were running rampant around the room. All of them looked distinctly like him.
Fiyero's mother said, "Fiyero's told you about his siblings, I assume?"
Elphaba shook her head.
"Well, the oldest three are upstairs being hormonal, but that's…" Fiyero's mother went on to name all of the children as Elphaba stood with her mouth hanging open. The woman then noticed how tired Elphaba seemed and said, "It's late. Why don't you rest before dinner? I'll have a servant show you your room."
"I can do that, mom." Fiyero offered. "Which guest room is it?"
"The nicest one for the girl that my son, the crown prince, is in love with." She smiled and held out her hand to Elphaba.
Elphaba took her hand and shook it. "Thank you, ma'm. I appreciate being invited out here."
"We were dying to meet this amazing girl Fiyero kept talking about." She waved them away. "Go on upstairs. If I can't have a servant show you the way, I'll at least have someone bring your bags up." Fiyero's mother looked at the bag in Elphaba's hand. "Is that all?"
"I never had much more." Elphaba replied honestly, feeling disturbingly underclass.
"It's better than what I had, I'm sure." Fiyero's mother tried helpfully. "At least until Fiyero's father, here, took me out of the shack I was living in and married me."
"You never had enough, not even now," Fiyero's father argued.
As Fiyero led Elphaba upstairs, she whispered, "Your father treats your mother kind of the way you treat me."
"I'll treat you even better than that." He said solemnly.
"Fiyero…"
"Here we are." He stopped at the doorway of a room half way up a long, winding corridor. "This is where you'll be sleeping."
She opened the door. "This is nicer than my own bedroom," she commented. It wasn't as elegant as the hotel had been, but it was, after all, simply a guest bedroom. Elphaba wondered what the master bedroom looked like, or what Fiyero's bedroom looked like.
"Are you going to take a nap?" Fiyero asked.
"I think so. But it's so damned hot."
"It is the middle of the afternoon."
Elphaba shrugged and put her suitcase on the floor. "Well, I need some rest, though, so I'll have to bear it."
"It gets cooler, I promise."
"I believe you."
"Come lie with me," Fiyero pleaded. "Just sleep in my bedroom next to me."
"What'll your parents think of that?"
"They won't be the ones to come get us, the servants will."
She sighed. "If you want."
"No, if you want."
She thought for a moment. "I do."
He took her hands again and brought her to his bedroom, right down the hall. His bedroom was spacious, clean and fit for the royalty he was, Elphaba thought. Fiyero kissed her on the cheek. "Look, I don't know about you, but I'm not wearing a shirt to sleep during the day."
It didn't faze Elphaba much; she'd seen him naked before. She watched as he stripped down to his shorts. "Would I get shot if I just slept in my bra and underwear?"
"I'd like it." Fiyero grinned.
She hit him with a pillow and undressed. "Screw you." Elphaba bounced onto the bed with him. "Not literally."
"Hush," he mumbled, wrapping her in his arms. "You said you were tired. Get some sleep."
After a few sluggish long kisses and embraces, they fell asleep.
"You barely said 'hi' to your son," Fiyero's mother said to her husband some time later.
"It's been a long day."
"Well, why don't you go wake him up and tell him that dinner's going to be ready in ten minutes?" She suggested.
He nodded and trudged up the stairs to his son's room. Quietly, he opened the door. Within a moment, he closed it again and went to the edge of the stairs. "Elyria, you might want to come up here."
She joined him in a moment's time. "What?"
"Take a look at our son and his girlfriend." He carefully pushed the door.
Fiyero and Elphaba were lying on top of the blankets facing one another, wearing scarcely anything. The strap of Elphaba's bra had fallen from one of her shoulders and Fiyero's hand cupped her breast, thumb and forefinger at the tip; his other hand around her waist and firmly on her bottom. Elphaba's had one arm braced against Fiyero's chest and the other propping her head up slightly. Their legs were tangled around one another's, though it didn't look as if they'd had sex. They were both fast asleep.
Fiyero's mother walked into the room and gently shook her son awake. Being so close to him, Elphaba woke as well. She looked down at herself and hid behind Fiyero as best she could. He grumbled, waited for his senses to come to him and then grinned up guiltily at his mother. "Hi, Mom."
Elphaba squirmed around trying to pull the shoulder strap securely. "Um…"
Fiyero dropped his hand from her breast and slipped the other one from around her waist and rubbed his eyes. "It was hot. We were sleeping."
"Funny," his mother said, "because if it was hot, I'd think you wouldn't be holding onto your girlfriend so tightly. In fact, I'd think she'd be in the guest bedroom where she's supposed to be sleeping."
"I'm sorry. This isn't what it looks like, I swear. We're not like that." Elphaba apologized. "It's just… after the trip here with only one bed we've gotten really used to sleeping next to one another."
"In your underclothes?" Fiyero's father asked.
"Yes, actually. It's very humid and heat rises up here." Fiyero said defensively.
"Fine. Give me the reason for the placement of your hands," Fiyero's mother said, hands on her hips.
Elphaba concealed her face in Fiyero's shoulder.
"Mom, we're twenty-one. Just because we're not married doesn't mean we're not going to touch each other. It's not like we were having sex in my bed or something. Besides, I begged her to come in here. It's my fault."
Fiyero's father said, "He's right, Elyria. They're much older than we were, they aren't having sex, if they can behave responsibly and only touch one another, let them do what they want." He bent down over the bed. "Fiyero, welcome home. And Elphaba, it's good to meet you."
Elphaba wouldn't look up; she felt a bit exposed.
Fiyero's mother nodded and took her husband's hand. "Honey, let's go downstairs and let them change for dinner."
Just before the older woman closed the door, Elphaba glanced at her and smiled gratefully. When the door had shut, Elphaba scrambled over Fiyero and pulled her dress on. "That was the most embarrassing moment in my entire life."
"Why? Other people know more than the fact that we've touched one another."
"They've never seen us! At this point, I'm thinking the amount of people who have seen me in only my undergarments or less is getting a bit too high."
He chuckled. "True. I don't want anyone else setting eyes on that body of yours."
Elphaba kicked her heels. "Your parents have eleven kids?"
"Either they have sex too much or my mom's very fertile." He shrugged.
"If we did get married, we wouldn't be expected to have that many kids, would we?"
"No," Fiyero said, and then added jokingly, "only ten."