A/N: I'm so pleased with all the positive response to this, which was honestly just something I did because I was bored and it seemed like fun. LillyFae and Elphiepopular have been especially wonderful. Thank you for sticking with me despite horrendous gaps like this.

I'm the Witch 3

The two Witches were sharing a comfortable silence. Jayla was reading some of the books on Oz that had been laying around in an effort to educate herself. The other woman was leaning out the window, clearly waiting for something. As yet, Elphaba was not ready to divulge exactly how she was attempting to save Oz and Jayla felt it tactful to refrain from asking, despite her curiosity. Finally, some sort of flying Monkey swooped into the room and started chattering erratically to Elphaba, who listened intently.

"Bred. Shed. Dead." The Monkey repeated over and over, growing more frantic.

"Shush, my Sweet." The green-woman said in the softest voice she'd ever used. Chistery quieted and Elphaba spun around and to the door of her tower. She reached out a slender arm and yanked Liir into the room. The boy looked sheepish, the woman seemed indifferent.

"Liir, you always said you wanted to meet another Witch. She was bound to be better than me. Here's your chance. I will be back in a few days, provided all goes to plan. If not, feel free to boil the boy." With that, she grabbed her broom and flew out the window.

Suddenly alone, neither individual quite knew what to do with each other. It was entirely unclear who was more intimidated by the other. Jayla overcame it quicker, realizing the boy was less closed than the woman he lived with, she thought she might be able to take advantage of it.

"Liir, is it? How did you end up with Elph… the Witch?" The Witch asked casually.

"Don't know. Followed her from the mauntery. Nanny says she's my mother."

"Oh? Is she?"

"Don't know. Could be. I'm not green."

"No, you're not. I just wonder, why would she keep you around if you weren't her son?"

"I don't think she knows."

"Are you sure about that?" Jayla enjoyed watching all the thoughts run across the boy's face.

"She says she doesn't know. But she's nicer to me than any other human being. She even killed another kid for me." The boy clapped his hands over his mouth. "Probably shouldn't have said that."

"Sounds like a mother lion protecting her cub."

Once again, silence reigned over the tower. Liir's silence was borne out of confusion at the ideas that had been placed in his head. Never before had he been required to face the fact of his parentage. If he was honest with himself, he was forced to admit that it seemed likely the green woman was his mother. The next question was how he would broach the subject with her when she returned home. Although, that would depend on how the mission had gone. If she hadn't succeeded, the Witch was usually even more terrifying than usual. He would simply wait.

Jayla's silence was due to her current occupation with watching the small boy have an identity crisis. It wasn't a nice thing to do, for the boy or his mother, but she wondered if it might have been a good thing to do. It was the fastest she'd ever dismissed an idea. There was nothing to be gained from being good. She was simply right and a boy would gain a mother from it, a woman would become a mother and know the love that came with it. Probably the first love the green witch had ever known, Jayla suspected.

"Do you have a child?" The impertinent boy asked and Jayla suddenly understood the other woman's sentiment about boiling him.

"What chance have I had to meet a man, let alone carry a child, since being here?"

"You could have had a child where you came from. You look old enough."

"It is hardly polite to comment on what my age may or may not be. Didn't Elphaba ever tell you even that much?"

"I never ask her, but we don't see enough other people to talk about what to do when I meet them. Do you wish you had a child?"

Jayla snarled at the boy who at least had the decency to cower. Though something about it seemed mechanical, learned and she sat back down. Liir recovered too quickly for it to have been genuine fear, more a gesture to appease her.

"I don't scare you?" Jayla asked, slightly shocked. She was used to causing terror everywhere she went. The boy shook his head.

"Not as much as Elph…Mum… the Witch."

"I'm a Witch."

"Have you ever killed someone?" Jayla stopped dead at the question. So this was what it came down to. This was the source of his fear, the knowledge that Elphaba had killed someone. He was afraid she would kill him. Jayla doubted the other woman would kill the boy. Even if Elphaba was denying she had brought the boy into the world, the woman had been protective of Liir. Even keeping him away from a stranger who was more than likely dangerous.

"Why do you think she would kill you?" Jayla questioned, genuinely curious at what the boy had seen that she had not. Liir regarded her cautiously. He was weighing her up, trying to see if she was trustworthy enough to reveal a vulnerability in his protector.

"She wouldn't." He responded slowly. "The Witch might."

Green eyes flew wide open and the boy all but flew out the door with Jayla watching him, deep in thought. Somewhere in the boys mind Elphaba had fragmented into two different people. It was curious and generally taken as a sign of madness. Nothing about the boy seemed unstable though. Which meant there had to be some fact to it. Perhaps the green woman had a sister. It seemed unlikely, particularly for there to be two green woman so alike the boy who was potentially the son of one, couldn't recognize her. Elphaba herself didn't seem unstable enough to have two completely split personalities. And surely her own unexpected arrival would have triggered the snap. If that were the case, she would have seen something of note in the last few days, but there was nothing. Perhaps in the next few days she could learn something more from Liir. If not, she was sure Elphaba would be in an emotional enough state when she returned that she could learn something pertinent.