Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Written: 2006, Found: 2018.- Licia

Breakfast was quiet; everyone looked up as Elphaba entered, smoothing the skirt of her raspberry-colored dress and tucking a loose strand of black hair into her twist. "Sorry. You didn't have to wait for me."

She slipped into her seat beside her husband, catching his eye as she unfolded her napkin into her lap and reached for her coffee cup. "You feeling all right?"

Their gazes locked, and she set her cup down after taking a sip. "Of course I am. Why do you ask, my king?"

"Because I found you outside, prancing around in the middle of the snowstorm last night. I was half afraid you'd lost your mind or caught your death being out in that weather. What were you thinking, Elphaba?" She narrowed her gaze at him; she didn't appreciate being chided like one of their children. She was a queen, an empress, the most powerful woman in all of Oz, damn it, and yet, here she was, visiting her mother-in-law in the Vinkus, being chastised like a... a child by her husband for spending a little time outside.

"I got tired of being cooped up in the palace." She took a bite of her toast, and her husband snorted softly rolling his eyes as he cut into his omelet.

"Nearly caught your death out there, the way you were running around in that snow. If it wasn't for the color of your coat and your hair, I never would have found you."

She swallowed, the toast beginning to taste like sawdust. "I spent my early formative years under house arrest, forbidden to go outside with my sisters into the grounds of our own palace, and then was spirited off with my parents to an even more stifling form of house arrest, where they painted the windows black and guards followed us everywhere, where we weren't allowed to go outside except for fifteen minutes a day, living with my siblings and my parents and our loyal servants and a handful of guards in an exceedingly cramped house that would become our death chamber. It was my family to two rooms on the top floor, with next to no privacy, and no permission to go outside, lest someone see us through the fence and get back to the supporters of my father. Forgive me if I found being in the palace a little too stifling for my liking, and wanted to spend some time out in the fresh air. I won't do it again." She bit into the toast, and her husband set his knife and fork down, screwing up his mouth in annoyance.

The children shared glances, unsure of what their parents were talking about; Locasta sighed, turning to her grandchildren. "It's all right, my loves. Mama and Daddy just aren't seeing eye to eye this morning. I don't think either one of them got enough sleep last night." She turned a pointed glare to her son and daughter-in-law, and the two had the decency to look slightly ashamed. "Finish your breakfast, darlings."

"After breakfast, can we go play outside?" Havni asked, as Fechin finished her milk.

"No!"

"Yes!"

Their parents shared a glance, neither willing to budge on the issue. Faola's blue gaze darted between her parents; being the oldest of the eight, she was exceedingly perceptive to certain things. Perhaps it was because she spent so much time at her parents' sides- being the oldest, the Vinkun Crown Princess, and the next in line for her mother's throne in Fliaan- that she was able to pick up on the small things that spoke of her parents' shifting moods. She knew when her mother was in a 'black sadness'- as Daddy called it- by the way her eyes seemed to dull and she seemed to pull in on herself. She knew when Daddy was in no mood for talking, by the way he buried himself in whatever had landed on his desk and needed his attention as king at the moment. She knew when Mama and Daddy were sweet for each other, because he would often slide his hands down her sides or brush a kiss to her neck when he thought no one was there to witness, and Mama would, in return, often trail her hands along his waist and down, brushing her fingers against the area between his legs; the forbidden area that her brothers also possessed.

It was those moments when Faola would watch her parents in silent fascination, for she was just getting to that stage when most children became curious about their bodies and the bodies of their friends. Though she had a few playmates, the majority of her time was spent with her siblings- not because Elphaba and Trism refused to socialize them, but more because they were royalty- more because other children were intimidated by her status as the oldest child of the Fliaanian empress, the King and Queen of the Vinkus. And she, herself, didn't exactly know how to act around others. It was more a constant fear that they didn't like her for her, but because they had to, because of who her parents were. The only children Faola and her siblings were truly close to were the Governor's children- Tip was fast becoming her best friend, despite the age difference, and it wasn't uncommon for the two children to be spotted together when the Governor and his family were visiting the royals.

Now though, Faola's gaze shifted quickly back and forth between Mama and Daddy, unsure of what to make of whatever was going on between them. Daddy was clearly still upset with Mama about something that had happened the night before, and Mama, for her part, didn't seem to care. She sighed, grabbing her cup and taking a sip, muttering quietly under her breath, "I thought I married a decent man, not one of the guards who kept tabs on me at the House of Special Purpose like I was some criminal, awaiting execution."

The cup slammed onto the table, coffee sloshing onto the tablecloth. "Really, Elphaba?"

She met his gaze. "Why are you so upset, Trism? I didn't go far! I was just outside-"

"In a raging snowstorm! A snowstorm that hasn't let up once since I brought you back inside last night! Elphaba, think! If I hadn't gone out and gotten you when I did, I could have lost you! It's a wonder you haven't gotten sick, being out as long as you were!"

"Don't chastise me like I'm one of our children! I'm a grown woman, I can do what I wish-"

"But not at the risk of your health, Fabala." He replied, pushing his plate away and standing. "Yes, you're a grown woman, but you're also my wife. You're the mother of my children. We're lucky you haven't contracted pneumonia." And without another word, he stormed off, leaving the breakfast table without a backwards glance; the sound of a door slamming echoed through the palace. Elphaba rolled her eyes and tossed her napkin onto the table, standing. She pushed her chair in, before hurrying after him.

"Trism, you're being ridiculous!" Without a word to her children or mother-in-law, she disappeared up the stairs; minutes later, the same door slammed, causing those left at the table to jump. With a glance at her grandmother, Faola asked to be excused, and Locasta nodded. She slipped out of her chair, hurrying out of the room, silently making her way upstairs. If Mama and Daddy weren't going to talk to each other, she'd make them talk.