Thank you all so much for the great response to the first chapter!

Guest: I can assure you that this story will NOT be a "copycat" of 'To Protect and Serve'. First, it has a completely different summary, story line, plot, and many other elements are completely different. The only thing that was the same was Fiyero's arrival at the palace in the first chapter. I hope you will continue to read the story.

Wanli8970: And what combination do you think this will be, my dear reviewer?

Ultimate Queen of Cliffies: All of your questions will be answered in due time, I promise. Just… not right now.

As soon as Fiyero entered the back dining room, the other officers immediately stood and saluted to their new boss. Fiyero saluted back and they all took their seats, leaving Fiyero with the only empty seat at the head of the table. As their food was being served, the officers hounded Fiyero with questions, from his childhood to his training. The Vinkun did his best to answer their questions, and even answered a few questions about his family, but stopped before it could get too far.

It was the liveliest dinner the Vinkun had had in a while, and he quite enjoyed it. He really liked his fellow officers and they seemed to like him. He was briefed on his first official duty, which was going to be the Autumn Ball the following week. He wasn't going to be on guard duty, since the guards were chosen prior to his arrival, which meant that he could socialize and rub shoulders with some very important and influential people. After all, he felt that everyone should know who the new captain of the guard would be.

"If I may ask, what happened to the old captain?" Fiyero asked as everyone stood to leave.

"His wife recently had a baby, and they decided to move back to Ev to be closer to her parents," one of the officers answered.

Fiyero nodded. "Well, it's been nice to meet all of you, and I look forward to working together."

The guards smiled and shook his hand before leaving. Fiyero sighed. Hopefully, he would be able to find his way back to his room without bumping into someone. He did, however, get lost, but still managed to find his way. He suspected it would take him a while before he got used to the huge palace. Even though he had lived in a relatively big house, almost as big as a manor, he had never gotten lost. His mind wandered to whether the princess had ever gotten lost. He imagined that since this was the place she grew up, she knew where everything was. But she probably got lost when she was little. There's no way no one would get lost in this big palace.

He pulled out his key and unlocked his door. He wanted nothing more than to collapse onto his bed and sleep for a week. He closed the door behind him and changed into his pajamas. He laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about the following day. It was his first official day on the job, and he was sure he was going to meet the princess. In truth, he didn't know that much about her. He never really paid attention to the royal family news. He never really saw the importance of reading about a ball the Wizard had thrown or anything of that nature. His allow his thoughts to pull him into a deep sleep, his last thought about how he was, for some reason, dreading meeting the princess.

The next morning, Fiyero woke up to the sun shinning directly in his face. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to blind himself. He turned away and slowly opened his eyes again. Groaning, he pushed himself up and rubbed his face. He crashed down against his pillow before pushing the covers away and slowly rolling out of bed. Yawning, he shuffled into his bathroom and quickly brushed his teeth and showered. He dressed in his emerald green guard uniform and combed his hair, checking himself over in the mirror before deeming himself ready to greet the day.

After eating breakfast with the guards, Fiyero was informed that he would have to meet with Madame Morrible to receive his assignment for the day.

"Ah, good morning, Captain," Morrible said as the captain approached her desk. "Did you have a restful night?"

"Good morning," Fiyero smiled. "I did, thank you."

Morrible flipped through the papers on her desk before pulling out a cream sheet of paper. She handed it to Fiyero before pulling out three large packets and also handing them to him. "Today is mostly paperwork for you. And Ambassador Typhen from Quox will be arriving for afternoon tea with His Ozness. Follow me, and I will show you to your office."

Office? I get my own office? Fiyero wondered as he followed the older woman down the hall and around the corner. She stopped at the second door on the right and, turning the knob, pushed the door open. The captain noticed that his office looked a lot like his bedroom, minus the bed, closet, nightstand, and dresser. His office was a sizable room with a desk, chair, large window, and a very large bookshelf, complete with books on Oz's history, politics, and encyclopedias.

"I shall leave you to your work. A maid will come for you when lunch is ready," Morrible said as she left.

Fiyero walked over to his desk and plopped the papers down before pulling out his chair. He sat down and immediately began to scan through the papers. He didn't know when he had fallen asleep, but the next thing he knew, he was awoken by a maid knocking on his door to inform him that dinner was ready. Grunting, he pushed himself up and rubbed his face before going out to the back dining hall.

After lunch, Fiyero prepared to meet with the ambassador from Quox. He bit back a yawn as he waited at the front of the palace doors. Soon enough, the gates were opened and a dark red carriage came through and stopped in front. The ambassador, a middle-aged man with a balding head and thick-rimmed glasses stepped out, fixing his dark red robes before ascending the stairs.

Fiyero bowed. "Ambassador Typhen."

The ambassador nodded to the captain and allowed him to lead him inside. Fiyero brought him to Madame Morrible, who excused him and said that she would handle it from there.

Not wanting to go back to the paperwork just yet, the captain decided to walk around. He was walking around the second floor when he came across two large, double doors. Curious, he pushed them open and walked inside, quickly realizing that he had found the library. He looked around in awe. He was never a big library person, and never really set foot in one. He took another step inside and inhaled deeply. Maybe he would just sit in here for a while. He walked over to one of the bookshelves and began scanning the thick bindings. He felt like someone was watching him, but brushed it off. It was probably due to the fact that he was in a big library (or any library in general).

He grabbed five books and turned to go find a seat, but came face-to-face another person. Startled, he let out a not-so-manly squeal and his back crashed against the bookshelf, causing him to drop his books. But crashing into the bookshelf only caused books from a few shelves above his head to come tumbling down on him. The captain fell to the floor with a grunt, an open book on top of his head.

"You seem like the graceful type."

The captain groaned again and removed the book from his head to get a better look at who had scared him. It was a young woman with long black hair and sharp features. Her chocolate eyes stared down at Fiyero, and he caught a hint of a mischievous twinkle in them. She was wearing a dark violet gown with long sleeves and a bit of tulle under the long skirt. But that's not what caught Fiyero off guard. What caught him off guard was her skin… her emerald green skin.

"I would have thought that the new captain of the royal guard would be supple on his feet," she continued.

Fiyero didn't say anything. Not only was he trying to recover from his almost heart attack, but now he was trying not to faint from coming face-to-face with a green face.

The green girl tilted her head to the side a bit, wondering why the captain wasn't speaking. Then she frowned. "What are you staring at?" she snapped.

Had he been staring? Well, what else was he supposed to do? Blinking, he reoriented himself and gathered as much of his bearings as he could. He pushed himself up, realizing that the woman was only a few centimeters shorter than he was.

"Well?" she asked, her narrowed eyes boring into Fiyero's hazel-green ones.

"What?" Fiyero asked, having forgotten the original question.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Graceful and articulate. How charming."

"What?" Fiyero asked again after a brief pause. Oz, what was going on?

"You were staring at me. And I would like to know your reasoning behind it. Although, I already know. So we might as well get this over with. No, I'm not seasick. Yes, I've always been green. No, I didn't eat grass as a child."

Now Fiyero was very confusified. Who was this woman, and why was she yelling at him? "You scared me," he said simply, trying to keep his tone and his anger under control. "And…"

"And what?"

"You're…"

"I'm what?"

"… Green…"

The woman stared at him before letting out a dry, humorless laugh. "I'm green. Wow. Well, thank you for informing me. I had no idea."

All right! That's it! He opened his mouth and was about to say something he knew he would regret later when the library door opened, stopping him. He and the green woman turned and Fiyero saw the blonde girl he had run into the previous day, what's-her-face, hurry in and curtsy.

"Your Highness, there you are!" she said, a bit breathlessly. She must have been running around trying to find her.

Fiyero bit his lip. Your Highness…? Uh oh…

"What is it, Galinda?" the green girl said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice.

"Your father is calling for you," the blonde said, her eyes slightly shifting towards Fiyero.

"Thank you," Elphaba said, nodding to the blonde and walking away.

Galinda stayed rooted to her spot, looking from Fiyero to the books that were still on the ground. She opened her mouth to say something when a loud, "Galinda!" stopped her. Blushing, she curtsied to the captain and hurried away with the green woman.

Fiyero sunk back against the bookshelf, hitting it a bit too hard again and another book toppled down onto his head. Grunting, he slid down and buried his hands in his chest. He couldn't believe that that was the princess! Someone should have given him a warning or something! How was he supposed to know that the princess was green! How in Oz could a person have green skin? He just felt so stupid. Now the princess hated him. And after their first encounter, he wasn't very fond of her, either.

"So, you've met Captain Tigulaar," Galinda said as she helped Elphaba out of her dress.

"You could say that," Elphaba sighed.

"You don't like him?"

"He was staring at me."

"He was just probably –"

"Don't try to defend him," Elphaba said as she slipped out of her slip. "It was the green."

"Elphaba –"

"What?"

The blonde sighed. "He was probably just a bit shaken. You can't expect people not to stare the first time. Did he say anything rude to you?"

"No, but his whole attitude was… I don't even have a word for it. Turn around."

Galinda rolled her eyes, but turned so Elphaba could take off her underclothes and put on her nightgown. "Why were there books on the floor?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"Because I'm curious, Elphaba. Can I turn around now?"

"No."

"So tell me why there were so many books on the floor."

"It's none of your business."

Galinda sighed, then smirked. Her smirk turned into a snicker, which soon grew loud enough for Elphaba to hear.

"What's so funny?"

"Well, it seems to me that you really hit it off with the new captain, since the books were… all over the floor."

A clock-tick later, Galinda felt one of Elphaba's pillows hit her in the back of the head. She turned around and saw Elphaba blushing furiously and it only made her laugh even more.

"Because he's a clumsy oaf and he dropped the books!" Elphaba snapped.

"But why?" Galinda asked through her laughter. "You didn't scare him, did you?"

"The green can be very scary and off-putting."

The blonde immediately stopped laughing. "Elphie, you know I didn't mean it like that."

"Did you?" Elphaba asked as she crossed her arms over her chest and turned away.

"Of course I didn't." Galinda walked over to her and gently placed her hand on the princess' shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Elphaba pulled away and sat down on the edge of her bed. Galinda blinked before going over to Elphaba's dresser and grabbing her hairbrush. She walked over to the bed and positioned herself behind the green girl, just like she always did, and began to brush out her hair.

"I'm sorry," Elphaba whispered as Galinda ran the brush through her hair. "I know you didn't mean it like that. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"It's alright," Galinda said, since this wasn't the first time the girls had this argument.

"You're right. I did scare him," Elphaba said softly. "I scared him and now he probably hates me."

"Oh, Elphie," Galinda said as she put the brush down and began to braid her hair. "He doesn't hate you. He just… didn't have the easiest first… and apparently second, day. Just go easy on him. He's new."

"Alright," Elphaba said as Galinda finished her hair.

The blonde slid off the bed. "Do you need anything else?"

The princess shook her head.

Galinda smiled and gave her friend a hug. "Good night, Elphie."

"Good night, Glin. Fresh dreams."

"Fresh dreams."

Elphaba watched as the blonde walked away and closed the door behind her. She was right. And she should probably go apologize to the captain. Hopefully, maybe, they could start over.

So, the almost-potential future Fiyeraba finally met. Yay for them! Reviews make Fiyeraba (and me) very happy!