AN: Hi all, thank you for reading and reviewing.

First of all, I think I need to explain what I mean when I said that this story is "silly". There's abit of humour there, but it's definitely not slapstick. When I said "silly", I meant that it is a strange bunny plot for a fiyeraba - it's a boy-meets-girl story but not your typical boy-meets-girl story (since there is a cute kid right smack in the middle from the beginning). So I guess we'll see what happens next.

Part of this chapter is edited with two fingers on a virtual keyboard covering half the screen; my physical keyboard died on me :(

He turned up at five minutes to eight after a detour to a friend's place.

The green girl opened the door, and he caught a glimpse of the child all dressed up and ready. But she slipped out and closed the door behind her before he could call out to him.

She handed him his jacket wordlessly.

"Are we ready to go?" Fiyero asked when she did not make a move.

"He woke up at six this morning," she said after a while.

The Arjiki beamed. "I won't disappoint him."

"You shouldn't have turned up."

"What?" Fiyero did not understand.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, her head tilted slightly to the side as she scrutinised him. If she were any other girl, he would think that she was flirting with him, but she looked too serious to be flirting.

"Doing what?"

She struggled to find the words. "Offering to bring us around." She wanted to say more, but she bit her lower lip to stop the words from coming out.

"Why not?" he asked.

"What's your motive?"

"I don't have a motive."

"You're not his father. You're not related to him."

"I know."

"We don't need you."

Fiyero clasped his hands over his heart. "So am I supposed to cry?"

She shook her head. "We don't need you, your presence or your kindness."

"I didn't say that I wanted you or Liir to need me. This is your first visit to Emerald City. I've been here for a few years. I'm free, so why can't I offer to be a guide for a day? I've brought my other colleagues around when they first came to the city. I'm just playing host."

She looked at him, as if she was trying to assess his sincerity, and then he knew that she had given in when she straightened. "Alright, just for a day. Just give us a minute."

She opened the door, revealing the boy who was already standing next to the door, his backpack slung over his shoulders, his tiny jacket in his arms.

"Are you that eager to start the day, Liir?"

The boy nodded, beaming.

The green girl raised a finger – one minute - and closed the door behind her. He heard murmurs, a pause, followed by a single word from the boy. The door reopened soon after, and they were ready to go.

They made their way down the metal stairs, the boy racing down and jumping off the last two steps before turning around.

"Hurry, hurry," he called to the adults, and Fiyero laughed. He heard, rather than saw, her stopping beside him. He turned to her.

"Mommy!" Liir groaned from the foot of the stairs. "You are so slow!" He buried his face in his hands in a dramatic move, as if he was embarrassed by her.

But she stayed there.

"Mommy?"

She turned to the man beside her. "You're not his father. He's not related to you."

"Yes, I'm fully aware of that fact."

"I told him that we'll go only if he stops calling you Daddy."

"I'm fine with that. I'm fine with whatever he calls me. What are you afraid of?"

She did not reply, but her body turned slightly, as if she was ready to shoot up the stairs and back into the motel room any moment.

"Look." He could not help the slight frustration that crept into his voice. "I don't know what you are afraid of, what's your concern. I don't have any motive. I only want the little boy to have a great time. I will not devise a scheme to separate you from him. I'm not going to kidnap him, or you. Maybe whatever little travel book that you have read told you to be wary of strangers, that there are kidnappers and pickpockets here. No place is crime-free, but I am not a bad guy." He dug into his pocket and swore when he could not find what he was looking for.

"I have my name card in the car," he answered the questioning look in her eyes. "It's a decent company. I have a great job, a comfortable income." He did not add that he had income from other sources including a trust fund. "I don't have any strange habits, and my apartment is too small to house a dungeon to torture the tourists that I have abducted."

"Mommy?" the boy was whining. "Daddy?"

She let out an exasperated breath. "Liir, do you remember what you've promised me?"

The boy looked down sheepishly.

"Look, it does not matter what he calls me. What's important is that he has a great day. And you can take the opportunity to have a good day too."

And yet she hesitated.

"And I promise that I'll show you my name card the moment we reached the car park. And if you still don't trust me by then, we can call it a day."

She did not say a word, but she did make her way down the stairs to her excited son.

He opened the rear door of the car for the boy.

"A booster?" She raised her brows.

"Borrowed from a friend. I'm a law-abiding citizen."

"Name card."

"You really should cut down on those kidnapping movies," he teased her, but he did open the car door and retrieve his name card from the map pocket.

"Red Windmill Corporation. It sounds like a gentleman's club," she deadpanned, but he knew from her voice that she recognised the name, and he tried to stifle a smile from forming.

"What's a gentleman's club?" Liir, who had been listening, asked.

"It's a place where men go to for entertainment and relaxation," Fiyero explained in the simplest term.

"Are we going there?" the boy asked.

"No!" both adults chorused.

Fiyero chuckled at their timing. The boy's mother did not.

"Keep it," he told her when she tried to return his name card. "In fact, take a picture, and send it to your parents or your friends. Send them a photo of my car and car plate number too. That's the same advice that I give to female friends who are going out with a stranger. You can take a photo of me too if you want."

She worried her lower lip as she considered his offer, obviously tempted, but shook her head after a while. She did keep his name card though.

"We're going to one of my favourite places for breakfast," Fiyero announced. "It's a nice place. There're seats outdoors where you can watch the people go by while you eat, or you can sit inside if it's too cold. The owner has a dog, and they serve pancakes in far too many different sauces. I'm sure you have read of this place in some of the travel guides."

"Pancakes!"

"Yes." Fiyero ruffled the boy's hair. "And the pancakes will be sold out soon if we don't hurry."

"Mommy, pancakes! Let's go before they run out! I want pancakes for breakfast!" Liir climbed into the car by himself.

She shot him an annoyed look as she got into the car.

"So what's your name?" Fiyero asked when he started the engine.

"You don't need to know."

"I just can't call you Mommy like Liir - you're too young to be my mother. Or should I call you darling?"

He chuckled at the horror on her face and drove off.

She spoke again two traffic lights later. "It's Elphaba."

"Aelphaba? Like Saint Aelphaba?"

"A variation." She did not explain further.

"So where have you visited so far?" he asked.

"Nothing much. We arrived yesterday afternoon and checked in to the motel before we went to the city centre at night. That was when Liir and I got separated." She looked at the rearview mirror, as if reassuring herself that her son was still with her.

Fiyero had to park his car a distance away and they walked over to Pancakes and Scones. Most of the outdoor seats were already taken, but the waitress on duty managed to get them a table inside. A terrier barked the moment they entered the place.

"Good morning, Toto," Fiyero said as he took out a doggie biscuit for the dog. The dog took his treat and ran to a corner.

"It's your fault that dog puts on so much weight," a woman came up to their table with a menu and a tiny notepad.

"Good morning, Dorothy."

The woman smiled in return. "Good morning, Fiyero. The usual for you?"

He nodded. "The usual."

"And what about you, Madam, and you, young mister." Liir smiled at being called young mister.

Elphaba ordered for both of them, though she let Liir dictate the sauce that he wanted, and the food arrived soon after. The pancakes were warm, topped with ice cream for Liir, and he drowned his pancakes with maple syrup and sugar sprinkles before he took a bite.

"It's yummy, Daddy."

Fiyero glanced at the counter and saw Dorothy smiling. He supposed he had a lot of explanation to do the next time he dropped by.

They started off at the city centre, where the government administrative offices were located. Fiyero led the way, walking backwards occasionally like a tour guide and waving a serviette in the air, which amused Liir to no end but only a faint smile from his mother. He pointed out the different buildings, the functionalities of the different offices. There were steeples on one of the buildings, a previous place of worship that was later converted into an office building, while other buildings were newer and more modern. Several people entered one of the buildings, briefcases in hand, and Elphaba was reminded that it was still a weekday even though she was on holiday.

"Don't you have to work today?" she asked her tour guide.

"It's the holiday season. Most of the companies in the Emerald City close for the last two weeks for their staff to go home for the season, including mine."

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"Are you going home for the holidays?"

He shrugged. "Maybe next week. I like it here. It's more festive. Back home, we don't really celebrate Lurlinemas. I'm always busy, and it's good that I get to spend some time walking around when I am not in a rush. Speaking of which, I'm sure you would like to do some Lurlinemas shopping here."

She shook her head.

He could not hide his surprise. "No shopping?"

"Maybe later," she said. "Do you know if there are any bookstores nearby?"

"There're a few in the city." He tried to recall where they were. "Are you looking for something in particular?"

Again, she shook her head. "Not really. I would like to see how the bookstores here are like."

"So you're a bookworm." He smiled.

"Is there something wrong with that?" There was a flash of anger in her eyes.

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Of course not. I didn't say that it's something bad. Just that the ladies I know usually prefer shopping for dresses and makeup, not books."

"You need a wider circle of friends."

"Yes, like you." He beamed.

She rolled her eyes. "Mr Tiggular, I'm not – "

He raised a hand and stopped her mid-sentence.

"Hold on. I think I know where we can find the nearest bookstore, and it's big."

He drove them to the bookstore, and Elphaba broke into a smile the moment they stepped into the place. There were bookshelves lined up against every wall, rising to the ceiling and filled with books. There were baskets for customers to put their books before they pay, and armchairs for sitting while they browsed and read. Next to the entrance was a café selling cakes and drinks, and soft Lurlinemas jingles could be heard over the announcement system.

Elphaba looked at the signs and made her way to the non-fiction section without hesitation, pulling Liir with her.

"Not crime novels?" Fiyero asked, but she was too focused on going to her destination and did not hear him.

She went to the history section, her finger raised as she read the title of every book on the shelf. She traced a finger down the spine of one of the books, and Fiyero stepped forward to read the title.

"'How The Great Drought Changed Ozian History'. So you love history?"

She nodded, turning to face him, and he noticed how her eyes had lit up. She tapped on the tiny publisher logo at the bottom of the spine.

"I work here. And I co-edited this book." Her voice was soft, but the pride in her voice was unmistakable.

"You're an editor." He nodded appreciatively. He liked it, the way she unknowingly revealed bit by bit of herself in their conversation. This was another nugget, and he filed it in his mind, a tiny piece in a puzzle about this intriguing woman. She tapped on the books published by the company that she worked for, a smile on her lips.

"it's a new publishing house, just two years old, and we are always wondering how the bookstores in the major cities display our books, if they are being displayed at all."

A Munchkin woman walked into the aisle and picked up a few books, among them a copy of the book that she had edited.

"It seems that it's a favourite among the customers too," Fiyero observed.

"It's just one customer," Elphaba said, but Fiyero could see the smile that she was trying to suppress.

"Mommy, my legs are tired." Liir tugged at her coat and reached out both hands. She scooped him into her arms and nuzzled his nose.

"Do you mind if I look around?" she asked Fiyero. The discovery of the book had obviously put her in a good mood.

"Sure," Fiyero replied. "Look, why don't I take care of Liir and you can enjoy some me-time." Her hand around the boy's head tightened slightly, and she frowned.

"I'm not going to kidnap him. It's just that books are not my tea of tea and I'd like to rest my legs too. We will go to the café – " he pointed at the café just inside the entrance. "I'm sure you can see us no matter which corner you're at." He dug into his pocket and took out his car key.

"Here, you can have this as collateral."

She flushed, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "No, I'm sorry. I don't mean that. I just don't want to trouble you. I'm sure you'd like to shop around too."

"No trouble at all. I don't think I know anyone who'll appreciate getting books for Lurlinemas anyway. They might just think that I hate them." He deadpanned, and she smiled at his comment. "Liir and I will get along just fine, right?" He clapped his hands and took over the boy, placing a hand across his shoulder blades, supporting him. The boy rested his cheek at the crook of his neck and curled an arm around his neck.

He brought Liir to the children's section and let him pick out a book of his favourite superhero before they went to the cashier. After paying, they went to the café, where he ordered a slice of cake and hot chocolate for the boy and a soda for himself. Elphaba was still at the history section by the time they brought their food to one of the couches and made themselves comfortable. He doubted that she would be going anywhere.

As he watched, the green girl took a book from the shelf and flipped through it. She took another book and looked at its table of contents. She looked up, as if she had suddenly remembered something, and her eyes scanned the room until they rested on them.

"Mommy's looking at us," Fiyero told the boy, and the two of them waved at her until she waved back.

"So, buddy, tell me more about yourself. What's your full name?" He was sure that Elphaba would not appreciate him poking his nose into her business.

Liir cocked his head and looked up at him.

"My name is Liir, silly Daddy," the boy replied with a smile that reminded him of the smile that Elphana had given him earlier.

Fiyero shifted in his seat. "What I meant is, my name is Fiyero. But my full name is Fiyero Marillot Tiggular. It's the name that appears on computers and all the important documents about me. So what is the full name that is printed on your important documents?"

"It's Liir, Daddy. L-I-I-R. I knew how to write my name when I was two years old."

Fiyero slumped back in defeat. Either the boy had no idea what he was asking, or his name was just one word, like many of the Ozians he knew.

"So who do you stay with?" Fiyero asked the little boy as he cut a slice of the cake for him, his eyes watching Elphaba when she moved to another shelf, a book in her hand.

"Mommy."

"Is that all? Is there no one else?"

Liir shook his head.

"It's your turn, Daddy. It's delicious," the boy tried to feed Fiyero. He obliged.

"What about your grandparents?" he asked when he had taken a sip of his drink to wash down the cake. "Or do you stay with your aunts, uncles or cousins? Or Mommy's friend?"

The boy shook his head again. "It's just me and Mommy."

"Then who takes care of you when Mommy is working? Do you have a babysitter?" He hoped that she did not have to leave him unattended at home.

He took the spoon out of his mouth. "Mommy works at home, and I do not disturb Mommy when she is working."

He ruffled the boy's hair. "You're such a good boy."

Liir crawled onto Fiyero's lap and read the book. He knew many of the words, and Fiyero taught him the ones that he was not familiar with.

"I'm impressed," he said after a while. "You really know a lot of words, Liir. Who taught you to read?"

"Mommy taught me." Somehow, he was not surprised by the answer. "Mommy wants me to be ready when I go to school next year."

He looked at the green girl again, who was engrossed in yet another book. He could see the way her lips moved as she read a passage in the book, and how the words brought a smile to her lips. He had no idea how old she was, but he guessed that she should be a few years younger than him. And now that he knew more about her and her circumstances, he could not help but admire the tenacity that she possessed. It must not be easy for a young mother to bring up a child on her own.

They exited the bookstore two hours later with just two books, and Fiyero brought them to Main Street. While it was called Main Street, the shopping district consisted of a stretch of shopping centres that branched out to several other streets, looking almost like a Lurlinemas tree when viewed from above. The shopping centres were decked with festive decorations of green, red, silver and gold, and cotton and pellets imitating snow. At one of the street corners, a group of children dressed in white robes sang joyous melodies for the season.

"It's less crowded than I thought," Elphaba commented.

"It's still early. The crowd will come during dinner time. We'll come back later for the night parade, but now let's do some shopping."

Elphaba nodded. She remembered how crowded it was the night before, when Liir was next to her one second and gone the next. She tightened her grip on her son.

He noticed the change in her expression. "Is everything alright?"

She nodded but could not help but look at her boy.

"Don't worry. Between us, there's no way he'll go missing tonight," he tried to assure her.

She nodded again, an unconvinced look on her face.

As it was close to Lurlinemas, many of the stores were selling things for the holiday season. There were the latest kitchen gadgets to cook the perfect Lurlinemas dinner, a wine chiller to hold all the alcohol anyone would need for their parties, green rugs and curtains with pictures of Lurline, and the latest suits and fashionable dresses to steal the limelight when attending the party of the year. Fiyero did not really plan to get anything, but he enjoyed walking around and looking at the goods on display, and that usually meant that he would end up buying something. There was a shop selling candles, and he bought three green and three gold candles on impulse. Elphaba steered them to another aisle when she saw the toy section ahead. He raised his brows, and she met his eyes with a challenging glare.

They had sandwiches for lunch (which Elphaba insisted on paying), and then Fiyero brought them to the Emerald Tower, the tallest tower in the Emerald City. There was a short queue for the tickets, consisting mostly of tourists who wanted to go up and see the early sunset, and the trio joined the queue.

"You'll be so high up you can see a lot of things," Fiyero told Liir when they got their tickets.

"High up like a superhero?"

"High up like your superhero," Fiyero agreed, and the boy grinned at him just as the lift door opened.

The lift brought them to the lower deck, and they took a series of travellators that brought them to different rooms. The first room had a video on the history of Emerald City, while the video in the second room was a documentary on the building of the tower. In the third room, there were glass displays showing the different materials that were used in the construction of the tower. There were steel and glass, crystal, cables and wires. There were writeups on how the different parts were constructed and put together, and pictures of the tower at various stages of construction. At the end of the room, there was a ten feet model of the Emerald Tower with a poster at the back for photo taking.

Fiyero took a picture of the mother and son pair standing next to the model tower, the boy grinning until his eyes were just slits, his mother's eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights.

They went up to the viewing tower on the top floor which offered a 360 view of the surroundings. The chill caught them by surprise the moment they stepped out of the enclosed area.

"It's cold," Elphaba commented as she knelt and buttoned up Liir's coat before she pulled her coat tighter around her.

"It's winter!" Liir exclaimed.

"Hold on, kiddo." Fiyero grabbed the boy before he could rush to the edge. "You're not going anywhere without us."

"Then let's go together!" he tugged on the older man's hand.

"You don't happen to have a fear of heights, do you?" he asked Elphaba.

"You're only asking me now?"

Fiyero laughed sheepishly.

Liir could not see above the steel wall, and Elphaba had to carry him so that he could look out at the surrounding areas.

"See that? That's Main Street over there." Fiyero pointed out for Liir. "The bookstore that we went to just now is behind the red building." He turned in the other direction, pointing far away to a zone that consisted mainly of low buildings that had seen better days. "And there, I think that's where your motel is."

"And over there," he pointed to a building far away, the blue wavy patterns on its external walls visible even from a distance, "is the City Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the land of Oz. And inside the aquarium, you get to see fishes and marine animals that you will not see unless you dive deep into the ocean. And they have an artificial beach too and a pool filled with marine fishes for snorkelling."

"I want to be a diver when I grow up," Liir announced.

"You don't want to be a superhero?" Fiyero pretended to be surprised.

"I can be a superhero and a diver."

"That's true."

Behind them, a group of tourists were complaining about the cold, and one of them wondered aloud if it would snow soon.

"Will it snow?" Elphaba asked.

"Is it going to snow?" Liir repeated the question with glee.

"I don't think so. It's too early in the season for snow in the city, though it might snow in the mountains."

"Awww." The boy was clearly disappointed.

"On the other hand, if it snows too heavily, the tower may close, and the Lurlinemas Parade will be cancelled, and isn't that sad?"

The mention of the Lurlinemas Parade brightened the boy's mood.

The sky was clear near to the horizon, and the trio stayed on the deck as they waited for the sunset.

Fiyero took out his handphone and snapped a few photos of the view.

Liir wiggled out of his mother's arms and went to Fiyero.

"Show me the pictures," the boy commanded he was in the Arjiki's arms. Fiyero swiped through the pictures that he had just taken.

"Can I take a picture too?"

"Sweetie, maybe that's not advisable," her soft words belied the warning underneath.

"It's alright, my phone is pretty shockproof. I've tested it out myself. Unintentionally, of course," he added with a laugh before he passed it to the boy.

The boy snapped a few shots in succession, giggling when he showed Fiyero what he had taken. He showed one of the photos to Elphaba. The view was slanted at forty-five degrees, and a bird was caught in mid-shot, its white wings mostly a blur against the reddish-blue sky.

"This is my favourite," he declared to his mother. "Can I print this out and hang it at home?"

"Of course."

"Daddy?" he whispered into the older man's ear.

"Yes?"

"So where are we going tomorrow?" The boy thought that he was whispering, but Elphaba looked at the duo sharply. Fiyero noted the way she narrowed her eyes in warning.

"The day's not over and you are talking about tomorrow? Who knows, you might be so tired tomorrow you'll stay in bed the whole day."

"I won't," he insisted.

"We shall see. Look, Liir, don't you think Mommy looks beautiful today? Makes you want to take a photo of her, doesn't it? And maybe another photo of both of you together?"

The Lurlinemas Parade took place twice a week, with the last parade taking place on Lurlinemas Eve. On those nights, the street would be cordoned off for the parade. There was something different for each night of performance, which brought the tourists back again and again.

The crowd thickened as more and more people joined in the crowd, and Fiyero offered to carry the boy.

"Hold on to me," he said, "No way I'm going to the police station again tonight." And Elphaba had no choice but to hold onto his coat like a child as he cut through the crowd looking for a good spot.

They found one that Fiyero deemed good enough and settled down just as the music could be heard from a distance.

The tourists cheered and clapped when the floats came into view. There were floats of different shapes, sizes and colours, each led by a troupe of dancers. There was one with a sea theme, with the dancers dressed as whales, sharks and jellyfishes. There was another float with Flatheads, which caused a child in the crowd to cry and Liir's grip to tighten around Fiyero's neck. Next was a float with dancers wearing green, black and white, drawing patterns in their air with their ribbons or throwing confetti and blowing bubbles at the audience. There was also a float that was loaded with cheerleaders doing their stunts on the moving vehicle. Last, but not least was the last float that brought the loudest cheer, with Lurline (or rather, a woman dressed up as Lurline) herself.

Some of the tourists followed the last float, wanting to follow the performers to their destination, but Liir shook his head when asked.

"I'm hungry," he declared as he deflated like a balloon against Elphaba, and she had to carry him.

The crowd flowed into the nearby restaurants after the parade had ended, and so they went in search of a place that was still empty. Liir walked between them, holding their hands, and once in a while, he would grip their hands tightly as he lifted his feet off the ground to swing in the air.

"Weeeee," came the sound effects.

They finally found a café selling noodles and soup that was still open and with seats available. Some of the items were sold out, but there was enough variety left for Liir to make a choice.

"It's hot," Elphaba reminded the boy as he quickly dipped his spoon into the soup.

"I'm hungry," came his excuse.

"You'll burn your tongue."

"I won't," the boy replied, and he showed her his unblemished tongue. Elphaba chuckled and cupped his chin affectionately.

"This sounds like a conversation that has taken place many times before," Fiyero observed.

Elphaba smiled. "He remembers most of the time, but I still have to remind him once in a while. He got his tongue burnt once and could not eat properly for a week, but I guess he has forgotten all about it."

"Of course, I remember Mommy," Liir told his mother. "It was a nightmare," he drawled on the last word.

And the adults laughed.

They walked around Main Street and its surroundings after dinner, admiring the festive decorations that were strung high up in the trees and buildings. The place was as crowded as the night before, and Fiyero and Elphaba took turns carrying Liir so that he could see the decorations and would not be swept away by the crowd. It was cold, which added to the festive atmosphere, and Liir giggled when vapour formed in the air when they exhaled.

It was way past Liir's bedtime by the time they reached the motel. The boy took a short nap in the car but was woke up the moment the car came to a stop.

They let the boy hop on ahead as they crossed the dark courtyard with Elphaba's phone in his hand with the torchlight turned on to light up the path.

"Thank you for all the help today, Mr Tiggular. I really appreciate it."

"Mr Tiggular?" he looked at her. "You made me sound like a semi-retired teacher."

She laughed softly.

"And I'm so sorry that he called you – " she mouthed the word Daddy " – so many times today. I wanted to ask him to stop, but I don't want him to fuss and make a scene outside. I hope that it's alright and he has not embarrassed you."

"He didn't," he assured her. "In fact, I have a great time today. I'll never go to the tower or the parade on my own. It's fun to play tourist for a while. He made me feel younger by at least five years. By the way, I've just checked out the weather forecast, and they are predicting a sunny day tomor…"

"We can't trouble you anymore. I'm sure you have other things to do."

"What about you?"

"There are some places that I am planning to visit, and the aquarium that you mentioned today sounds interesting too. We have never been to the beach, so maybe we'll go there tomorrow."

"Well, actually I don't really have anything to do in the next few days so …"

"No," she shook her head. "I can't take your kindness for granted. And … " she looked at Liir who was running up the stairs, the light from her phone jerking everywhere and bouncing off the walls. She lowered her voice. "I can't let him get used to the idea that you're his father, that he has a father who will be around."

"So who is his father?"

She shook her head again. "It's a long story."

"Another long story?" He wanted to hear her long stories.

She gave a sad smile.

"But won't he ask for me tomorrow?"

"I'll manage it," she promised. "He's a child. He will turn his attention to other things. He'll – "

"… forget me." Fiyero completed her sentence with a shrug that he did not feel. Even though he had only known the boy for twenty-four hours, the child had endeared himself to him. He was never keen on children, but there was something about Liir….., the way he clung onto him, his smile, the way he behaved as if they had known each other forever, and Fiyero's heart sank at the thought of not seeing him again.

They climbed the stairs in silence to the third floor.

"What's your number?" he asked. "I got to send the photos that Liir has taken –." She shook her head, and he prepared himself for another rejection, another string cut.

In front of them, Liir suddenly quickened his footsteps.

"Liir? No!" Elphaba called out and then ran towards her son. It took Fiyero a moment to realise what was wrong. He broke into a run and caught up just as Elphaba dragged the boy away.

"Liir, wait. No, you can't go in."

The adults looked at the opened door to the room and then at each other.

AN:

I miss going on holidays, and so have incorporated some of the places that I have visited in the story, so some of these places may be familiar to you too.

Today, a household member is confirmed to be infected with COVID, which means that I have been exposed to the virus for some time (we are both vaccinated). So the next chapter may be posted late. #fingerscrossed :) So stay safe, everyone!