A/N: Shout out to my anonymous reviewer and James Birdsong! Glad you liked the last chapter. More on the mischievous Munchkins this chapter. :) Thanks!


Chapter 15

Glinda called the Council together. Elphaba, Fiyero, and Lieutenants Zetti and Bayram joined them in the now completed new Council Chamber. Boq, Mopsi, and Popsi were looking in the library trying to decipher the other symbols using the maps they found there.

"What is going on Lady Glinda?" Councilman Fekri asked. The Councilmen were seated at one side of the large rectangular Quoxwood table and the current leader of Oz, along with her guests were on the other side

"I think I better let Miss Elphaba fill you in. She is working with Boq, Mopsi, and Popsi to figure this out," the blonde told them.

"Our break actually came from Lieutenant Zetti, so credit where credit is due," Elphaba smiled and stood up. She went to the large board at the end of the table, closest to where everyone was seated so what she had could be easily seen.

"Our thanks to the Lieutenant, what did he come up with?" Councilman Chalumpo wanted to know.

"Some of the symbols on the sheet we copied are actually map symbols," Elphaba tacked the map they had found the two symbols on, up on the board with some small finishing nails.

"Ok so what exactly are we looking for?" Councilman Barat inquired. Elphaba quickly went through the discovery. She also alerted them to the fact that Boq, Mopsi, and Popsi were still working to figure out the other symbols.

"What has our Munchkin helper said?" Councilman Arif spoke up for the first time since the meeting had come to order. Fiyero stood from his seat and moved next to Elphaba. Everyone's focus shifted to the Captain of the Gale Force.

"He admitted that he was helping the Munchkins for the money, but he has no idea of their plans," Fiyero explained.

"How did they reach out to him?" Fekri wanted to know.

"Well, it would seem that Elphaba's assessment of President Jinjuria is indeed correct. He is quite the snake in the grass. Our helper, whose name is Malik, was approached by a man asking if he would do him a favor. This man knew that Malik's wife had had a tough pregnancy and that their baby was sickly. Malik wasn't interested at first, but when the man produced the uncut emeralds, he sat down for the conversation. Those emeralds were going to pay a lot of doctor bills," the Captain explained.

"I trust this man isn't facing charges. Technically, his only crime would be the theft of the medical equipment," Councilman Arif pointed out.

"Technically, since the Wizard caused the upheaval and we're trying to negotiate to have the Munchkins come back into the fold, no other charges will apply. Doctor Talib has said that he will not press charges as long as Malik brings his family in for a checkup and then spends the next year helping him in the infirmary after his day job," Fiyero told them.

"Good. How do you think that Jinjuria found this poor man?" Barat wanted to know.

"Well, that is the thousand-dollar question. We must have another mole in the mason program or we have another mole in the Gale Force. I've got Malik working with our best artist trying to give us a sketch of the man who approached him. Maybe that leads us somewhere and maybe it doesn't. The point is, whatever is said in this room, cannot leave it. Since the Munchkins seem to have eyes and ears everywhere, we cannot take any chances," the Arjiki Prince emphasized.

"So how do we go at this? We don't want the Munchkins to know we're onto them, but we also can't just let them make deals with the Glikkuns. This seems like a bigger problem than the one we started with," Chalumpo frowned.

"I think we need to proceed as if nothing has changed. We must bring Munchkinland back into the fold. Our long-term survival depends on it. While we have been subsisting on the crops grown outside of Munchkinland, the rest of Oz is not really suited for mass food production. These food supplies will grow short in the winter months without stores of Munchkin food to help us," Glinda spoke up. Before anyone else could get a word in edgewise, there was a knock on the Council Chamber door. Bayram opened the door to find the Munchkin trio outside of it. He quickly let them in and Boq announced,

"We think we have the rest of the message!"

To Be Continued…