They met again weeks later, Fiyero and Glinda and Elphaba and Crope. They weren't in the same tavern; Elphaba didn't want to risk it. Instead, they were in a well-lit cafe, one Glinda and Milla had frequented back when she barely pretended Elphaba existed. The cafe was empty except for a few older students who'd elected to stay, a family with a small child, and an Owl sitting in the corner, sleeping.

"Should he be here?" Glinda asked, brow furrowing. "I mean I know he has a right to be, but for how long?"

"Not long," Elphaba murmured. "The Banns haven't quite reached the city yet."

"You think they'd start them in a metropolitan area."

"No, they'll do it quietly. Less of an uproar," Elphaba said. "Start out in the Vinkus, in Munchkinland, and by the time they reach here… Well. Why protest when it's already happening everywhere else?"

Glinda fell silent. The rest of the table did, too.

"What does everyone want to drink?" Glinda said determinedly after a second. "It's my turn to treat this time."

"Cappuccino," Crope said.

"Chai latte."

"Hot chocolate no water, please," Elphaba said, not even bothering to look up at Glinda.

"Whipped cream anybody?" Glinda asked, trying to muster up a smile. "Come on. My treat."

"Well, if you insist," Crope said, and he grinned at her. Elphaba and Fiyero shook their heads, both staring down at the table.

Glinda grabbed her purse and headed to the counter, clutching it to her side. And then—

She thought it wasn't them but there they were. Pfannee and Milla and Shenshen, dressed in jewel tones for winter, cheeks flushed from the cold. Glinda kept her head down as she ordered.

But they saw her anyway.

"Galinda?"

Glinda turned, and in a flash she wasn't Glinda in a rainy cafe with Elphaba, plotting resistance, she was Galinda, the girl who hadn't cared about any of this last semester.

"Girls! How are you?" Glinda said, faking politeness, not forgetting their last encounter.

The girls smiled, no teeth. Glinda watched as Pfannee's gaze flickered to their table, where Elphaba was sitting and scowling, Fiyero was staring out the window.

But Crope, bless him. Crope was staring right back at Pfannee, grinning as big as Glinda had ever seen him.

And then he stood up, and bounded towards them. He held out his hand to Pfannee, who did nothing but stare until he shook her hand.

"Pfannee. Shenshen. Milla," Crope said, and Glinda herself couldn't help but gawk. The girls hid their giggles behind their hands.

"I don't believe we've had the pleasure," Shenshen said, and Glinda could swear she actually purred.

"Master Crope, of The Pine Barrens. I do believe my father has done business with your families."

"Really?" Shenshen said. "How marvelous. And what does he do?"

Crope grinned. "He's a tax collector," he said, and Shenshen's face paled.

"How dare—" she started, but Glinda pushed Crope behind her and gripped his elbow.

"I will magick you," she said, her voice low, "if you don't leave this cafe and my friends this instant."

Shenshen's nostrils flared, and she opened her mouth to reply, but then Milla grabbed her arm.

"She's not worth it, Shen," she whispered, and the girls turned on their heels and left, skirts flouncing.

Glinda found she was shaking as she let go of Crope, and then it was his turn to grab her elbow and gently steer her back to the table before going back and getting their drinks.

"Are you okay?" Elphaba asked as Glinda sat down.

"I'm fine," Glinda said as Crope reappeared with a glass of water and their drinks. "Really."

"Who were they?" Fiyero asked, and Glinda felt her face burn with shame.

"Just some girls I used to hang out with. Former friends."

She couldn't believe it now, sitting here with Fiyero and Elphaba and Crope, how blind she'd been, how little those girls meant to her when their opinions had meant so much before. She found herself blinking back tears suddenly.

And then there was a warmth on her hand, and she looked over, hoping. But it was Crope, smiling gently at her.

"Does your father really do business with their families?" Glinda asked, sniffing.

"Oh—Pfannee and Milla, no. Their records are far too clean for my father to have any sort of dealings with them. Shenshen, however…" His voice turned wicked. "Let's just say her father owes quite a fair amount of money to the wrong people. She'd never let you know it, of course, but her family is in debt up to their ears."

Glinda felt herself grin at the rightness of it.

"I always wondered why you hung out with them," Elphaba said suddenly, and Glinda turned to look at her. Her expression was sour.

"Because I had to," Glinda said. "Or—I was expected to."

"Who was expecting you to?" Elphaba frowned.

"I—everyone. My family. Their families. There's an intricacy to these things—" Glinda started, and then found herself cut off when Elphaba laughed. Glinda's temper flared.

"Just because you give no thought to social graces doesn't mean the rest of us don't have to," she said hotly.

"Why would I care about hanging out with girls like that just to improve my image?" Elphaba spat.

"No, that's right, because you don't care." Glinda's voice grew shrill, and she barely registered Crope's hand on her arm. "You don't realize how difficult it is, how some of us have to worry about navigating this world because of what everyone else expects of us."

"I know plenty about expectations," Elphaba said, her voice low, her eyes burning into Glinda's—the first time she'd really, directly looked at her since they'd kissed. "Just because I'm not some air headed society girl—"

"Stop" Fiyero said, and he stood, slamming his hand down on the table. Glinda jumped. Elphaba flinched like she was about to be slapped. "Both of you. You're being ridiculous. Can we focus on the matter at hand?"

Glinda nodded, dumbstruck. Elphaba's nostrils flared like she was going to protest, but she too stayed silent at a look from Crope.

"So," Fiyero said softly a moment later, "What's our plan? What do we do next?"

"I suppose it's finding the rest of Dillamond's research," Elphaba said. "Finding where he hid it."

"And then what?"

"We finish it," she said. "I don't… He had a breakthrough, before he died. But I don't know how truly close he came to finishing his work, so… we need to. We need to complete it and we need to publish it, and then everyone—everyone will know. They'll know he was right and that the Banns on Animals are wrong and illegal and the Wizard…" Her voice trailed off.

"What are we doing?" Elphaba asked, looking around at each of them in turn. "What do we hope to accomplish by doing this? I know what I want, but I… I want to hear what the rest of you think."

Glinda frowned down into her drink, her mind whirring.

"You want to take down the Wizard," she said, when none of them spoke. She lifted her head and looked at Elphaba. "That's right, isn't it?"

Elphaba said nothing, but Glinda knew she was right.

"I told you, you can back out," Elphaba said after a long moment, fixing her gaze on each of them. But Fiyero nodded stoicly and Crope flat-out grinned and Glinda met her gaze and she knew there was no turning back from this.

"We're not leaving," Crope said, and he reached across the table to place his hand on Elphaba's. "I think it's time we start looking for the research, don't you?"

"Where could he have hidden it?"

Elphaba frowned, a memory running through her head, sharp and sudden.

"I… the library," she blurted out suddenly, if only to keep herself from talking about her roommate. "It was locked, and normally it isn't, and when I was in there the other week that thing was in there. It's curious, isn't it?"

Doctor Dillamond made a sound something between a bleat and a snort.

"Curious? Come, Elphaba, you're far more intelligent than that."

"Sinister, then," she corrected. "But I don't… forgive me but I don't see why she's got that thing lurking around the Crage Hall library. It's the only one open to women, therefore there's not a lot of information…"

The Goat studied her, smiling. "Yes, Elphaba, but it's the only library open to you."

"I think I know," she said, and they all looked at her. "I think I know where Dillamond hid his research."