Thank you SO much for all of the amazing reviews

Thank you SO much for all of the amazing reviews! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in months, please don't kill me for this. I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter, and hopefully it'll make up for the horrendous wait. I'm so sorry again.

Chapter Eleven: A new big sister

When Clyara woke that morning, she had a strange feeling that something was going to happen. She didn't know what, but she felt really happy inside, and she just knew that something good was going on. This had happened before, she caught snippets of people's emotions around her, but generally she didn't mind it. Today however it frustrated her, she wanted to know what was happening that was making people so happy.

She didn't have to wait long to find an answer to that question. A tap came at the door of her playroom and her nurse entered with a smile on her face.

"Miss Clyara, your brother and Miss Elphaba would like to speak to you, if that's quite convenient. Shall I show them in?"

Clyara jumped up and hugged the stout, motherly woman who had been her companion for as long as she could remember.

"Yes please Nursey, shall I stay here for them?"

Her nurse kissed her on the top of her head and nodded.

"I'll just go and fetch them Miss Clyara, they'll be here in a moment."

Clyara smiled and then ran to the looking-glass on the wall to tidy her hair. She was still examining her reflection when she heard her brother's soft voice murmur "she is so like Galinda!". She spun around and ran across the room, forgetting her dignity for a moment as she flung herself into her beloved brother's arms.

"Morning Fiyero, love you."

He hugged her small body closely to his, remembering how much he had missed his little sister while he was away.

"Morning Cly, sweetie, love you too."

He then lowered her to the ground, and she turned and hugged Elphaba too.

"Good morning Elphaba."

Elphaba hugged the little girl back, grateful for her unconditional acceptance of her as Fiyero's girlfriend.

She then turned to Fiyero, who abandoned his princely decorum and sat down on the floor, indicating for Elphaba to join him. She sat down next to him, and he put his arm around her. Clyara, sensing part of the mystery was going to be solved, sat down facing them, her chin on her knees.

Fiyero looked at Elphaba and then spoke.

"Cly, Elphaba and I have something to tell you. Last night I…we…"

Elphaba smiled at his stuttering words and took over, taking both of Clyara's hands in hers.

"Clyara honey, Fiyero proposed to me last night, and I said yes. We're going to…"

But the sentence was never finished as Clyara flung herself forwards into Elphaba's lap and hugged her tightly, firing off a thousand questions at once.

"Congratu- I'm so- when…"

She gave up with the sentences and settled to just hug her brother's fiancée again, then her brother.

He sat her down on his lap, facing him, and then spoke seriously, but with an irrepressible twinkle in his eyes.

"What do you think about this, Cly? I mean if you aren't happy…"

He broke off as his little sister put her hand over his mouth as she always used to when she was smaller.

"Yero, be quiet!"

He looked at Elphaba and they both started to chuckle.

"See, she has me completely under her thumb."

Clyara watched this exchange with interest, feeling their happiness building up along with her own until it made her chest ache.

"Yero, can I talk to Elphaba please? Alone, I mean?"

Her brother looked at his fiancée to make sure she was comfortable with this arrangement, and then nodded. He got up, kissed Elphaba tenderly and then kissed Clyara on the top of her head.

Once he had left, Clyara looked at Elphaba, twisting her hair in her fingers as she searched for the right words to express what she wanted to say.

She found herself being drawn close to the elder girl, and wrapped her arms around her waist, burying her face in her chest. Elphaba lifted the little girl up in her arms and moved over to a chair, settling her down in her lap.

"What is it, Cly? You can say anything, I'm going to be your sister now, remember? Anything you want to say, that's ok with me."

Clyara curled up in the elder girl's lap with her arms around her neck, and then hesitantly explained what was worrying her.

"I – I – "

Elphaba held her tightly, rocking her body close to hers.

"Icanfeelwhatotherpeoplearefeelingiftheyrereallyhappyorsadanditsscarybecauseitisntmefeelinganyofitreally."

Elphaba looked puzzled, and continued to stroke her hair.

"Sweetie, I can't understand you if you talk that speed. I need to know what's wrong if I want to help you here."

Clyara gulped, and repeated her previous sentence at a more moderate speed.

"I can feel what other people are feeling if they're really happy or sad and it's scary because it isn't me feeling any of it really."

Elphaba looked at her intently, still struggling to understand.

"You can feel other people's emotions?"

Clyara nodded unhappily, and rubbed at her tear-filled eyes.

Elphaba looked and felt extremely worried. What Clyara seemed to be experiencing was a very rare condition, sympatheticus empatheticus, in which one feels the emotions of others. It was hard to control, and usually appeared in old sorceresses whose magic began to affect people in different ways. However, she had never heard of it showing in a young child, and as far as she was aware there was no sorcery in Fiyero's family.

She hugged the little girl again.

"Sweetie, we need to go to breakfast. Later I think you and I need to talk about this some more, and we need to talk to your parents as well. Is that ok?"

As Clyara nodded, Elphaba kissed her and then lifted her in her arms again, heading for the door.

"Come on then, you can get us to the dining room. I'm not going to be able to find it on my own now, am I?!"

AN: I hope this chapter makes up for the wait! The idea for Clyara's condition comes from a real life experience with my two of my friends, where one started to cry for no apparent reason, and discovered later that it was the time her friend had just discovered her pet had died. So anyway, please review and tell me what you think! Reviews make me type faster!