A/N: A massive thanks to LillyFAe and Elphieispopular for reviewing the last two chapters.
A huge amount of gratitude goes to Elphieispopular for doing the cover art for this story! How beautiful is it! Thank you for taking the time to do it. This chapter is dedicated to you my amazingly talented friend. Enjoy!
I'm the Witch 5
Pacing as she was with the wind rising around her skirts, Jayla was forced to admit the other Witch could be quite formidable. She wasn't entirely sure if Elphaba was working herself up to a sudden, furious onslaught or if she was trying to calm herself down. It seemed unlikely the green Witch had made up her mind on the matter either. Jayla was beginning to get an idea of what Liir had meant in dividing the woman into Elphaba and the Witch. Elphaba was governed by reason and logic, the Witch was a storm of emotion and desperate actions. At the moment, she was somewhere in between the two.
"You believe Liir to be my son." Elphaba had apparently decided to try and calm down. Though her voice suggested that the 3 feet of stone wall would not stop her throwing Jayla out of the castle where she sat, should she be provoked any further.
"Yes." Jayla replied cautiously. The other woman simply nodded. It was not an acceptance of the statement, simply an acknowledgment. Having the idea out in front of them, between them, seemed to settle the green woman's nerves. They could approach it and paw at it until it unravelled and the entire mess made some sort of sense. Cats playing with a ball of string.
"Based on?" This was the key issue in the discussion. And the part Elphaba least wanted to hear. If Jayla could give her a feasible reason to believe Liir was her son, beyond her own speculation, she would have to take responsibility for him. Things she took responsibility for, always seemed to go wrong.
"Aside from the timing of your relationship with who you believe to be the boy's father? There is your behaviour towards the boy. You talk of boiling him and yet, every action you take is to protect him. He told me you even killed another child. That doesn't line up with the moral high-road you have taken elsewhere. Perhaps he doesn't look like you precisely, though his eyes are the colour of your skin, but he is like you and, will only grow to be more so as years pass."
"Manek was a bully to rival the Wizard and nearly killed Liir himself. Though I might yet do that for telling you. I wonder how he found out. That is nothing! Many people have green eyes and of course he will be like me. Son or not, I have raised him. What would you know?"
"I have a daughter who is not my own and, I wish she was with every fibre of my being. You have a son who is yours and, you deny with every fibre of yourself." Jayla responded quietly and Elphaba's eyes flew wide open. She stopped pacing and stared intently at the woman before her. After a moment she simply collapsed into a chair. Both women were exhausted and, it was beginning to show in their tones. Elphaba's most of all.
"There was an old maunt where I was before I came here, Yackle her name was, would whisper every time I was in her vicinity. I ignored her as a raving old woman. But, she was there when I came and fell into the coma. If anyone was to know, it would be she. Probably long dead by now. I left the mauntery some years ago and she was past death even then."
The two women fell into silence. Jayla could do no more for the woman and her son. She had said her piece, it was up to Elphaba to own it. The green woman would not do that with the other woman present. Yet, she was still sitting there, her face clearly indicating she was deep in thought.
"Your grandmother, Aelphaba, had a daughter Melena here in Oz?" Queried Elphaba.
"Indeed. Thropp, I believe was that last name. She went by Phaba, it often got misheard to Partra. Why do you ask?"
"I did not tell you my last name." She responded quietly. "Elphaba Thropp. Daughter of Melena, granddaughter of Lady Partra. But that's impossible. Saint Aelphaba lived hundreds of years ago, if at all."
"The life span of a Witch is significantly longer than that of the average human. Besides, we have already proved the gate way between worlds is through water. Perhaps she was simply able to gain some control over it." Jayla's tone suggested she hadn't made the leaps the other woman had. Despite supporting the idea, she was still playing catch up.
"That would make us sisters of a sort." Elphaba said, not entirely sure she liked the idea. Her family being what it was, she wasn't sure she wanted to add to it. Jayla for her part seemed too astounded to form an opinion on what the green woman would be like as a sister.
"It would explain our respective vibrancies." The blue woman said eventually, opting to try and lighten the situation. Elphaba glared balefully at her.
"I was thinking more along the lines of language. You are reading books in Ozian with no instruction and both Liir and I understand you though I can tell you are not speaking the dialect. If you were Chistery would have tried to speak to you by now."
"Further evidence Liir is your son. He would not be able to understand me if he didn't have some sort of tie to my world. We have had sufficient conversation to prove otherwise."
"Evidently."
"It might be beneficial to us if we examined the water I came through. I might return to Munchkinland tomorrow to look. You need not come, you will simply get hurt I wager. Munchkinland is to the east, yes?"
After indicating Jayla was correct, the green woman made to leave the room. She was tiring of the meddling that seemed to come so naturally to the other woman. Anyway, it was time for a long overdue conversation with Liir. Although, he had probably been lurking outside the door and heard most of it anyway. She would have to ask Jayla for a spell to prevent him doing that when she got back from Munchkinland.
Munchkinland.
In the east. Another Witch in the east. Those stupid Munchkins would bow to her the minute they saw her.
Elphaba whirled around at the door and stared intently at Jayla. Once again there were three Witches in Oz. Galinda in the North. Herself out here in Vinkus, in the West. Jayla about to return to Munchkinland in the East. Who could forget Madame Morrible in the Emerald City. Controller in the centre of the South. But it was the outposts that were important. Always had been, even back when she was in Shiz. It was the outer regions the government was so interested in. Now here they were, each protected by a different Witch. The memory burned through Elphaba's skull. She could no longer stand to look at the third Witch and left the room in a violent flurry. But still the thought pounded against the confines of her mind. It refused her attempts to ignore it. A matter of the highest urgency.
Three Witches, more than Adept at wielding their respective powers, had control over Oz.