"He's already explained this to you." Fiyero sighed. "Why do you insist on beating a dead horse?"

"Nice choice of metaphors."

Fiyero sighed at the stallion sitting next to him. "You knew what I meant. Why can't you just let this go?"

The Squirrel he was questioning glared. "Did you suffer at the hands of this man?"

"I was beaten and tortured and would have died if Elphaba hadn't turned me into a scarecrow, does that count as suffering?"

"If any of that actually happened."

"Are you calling my credibility into question?"

"Maybe I am."

Fiyero shot to his feet. "Maybe I should..."

"Let's all just calm down, shall we." The Wizard gave a wan smile, knowing his word carried very little clout with anyone else sitting around the massive table.

"No, I think we should let him finish." The Squirrel continued to stare at Fiyero.

"That's enough Rupert." A Dog nearby shook her head. "We all know Master Fiyero has been nothing but a friend to the Animal community. And this bickering isn't getting us anywhere."

"If they would..."

"I wasn't through." She interrupted him. "The Wizard presented some very convincing evidence earlier by bringing in former members of the Merchants Council he spoke of."

"And that's just supposed to make it all better?" The Squirrel gave his version of a chortle. "Doesn't it seem a little too convenient that suddenly there was someone else in charge to blame his atrocities on?" He leered at the Wizard. "If you'd take responsibility for what you did these talks would be going better."

"He has." Fiyero growled. "He asked you here so he could explain how things were but you're not willing to listen. How can we ever have peace if you keep pointing fingers?"

"You're both right." An ancient Cow spoke up. "Pointing fingers isn't doing anyone any good. But it is hard to believe that he had nothing at all to do with the way we were singled out and brutalized simply for being different."

"Especially when he did the same thing to his own daughter." The Squirrel added.

"Now just a minute." Fiyero tried again. "Everyone knows Morrible spread the lies that made people think Elphaba was evil."

The Squirrel shrugged. "Or so you say."

"Speaking of Miss Elphaba, I thought she was supposed to be here." The Dog spoke up again.

"And Miss Breena." An Ox nodded.

"They will be." The Wizard confirmed.

"But why aren't they now?" The Squirrel questioned. "Do you have them locked up somewhere being brainwashed into saying what you think we want to hear?"

"That's enough!" This time it was the Wizard who rose to his feet. "I will sit here and take as much abuse as you want to dole out for what happened when I ruled before, but I will not have my feelings toward my daughters called into question!" He tugged on the lapels of his jacket, willing himself to calm down. "They were called away unexpectedly and will be here soon."

He waited a beat but everyone kept staring at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose my temper."

"You had every right." Lion looked around at the others angrily.

"And it's the first thing you've said that can't be called into question." The old Cow smirked. "Too much conviction not to be true."

"I can assure you everything I've said since your arrival has been true." The Wizard sat back down tiredly. "But I refuse to yell to make you believe me."

"Good." The Squirrel groused.

"Excuse me sir." Cade bowed ever so slightly at the waist as he walked into the room before proceeding to the Wizard. "The kitchen requested I let you know dinner is ready."

"Everyone's or just his?" The Squirrel asked snippily.

"The kitchen already apologized for the mix up at lunch." Cade gave him a look. "The cooks worked together to make sure everyone can eat at the same time."

"Which cooks would that be?" The Squirrel continued.

"Now Rupert, you know very well we brought our own cooks to prepare our food." The Dog shook her head.

"Teamwork in the kitchen." The Cow commented before the Squirrel could say more.

"We could learn a lesson from them." The Wizard mumbled as he stood again. "Can we hold a vote on adjourning for dinner?"

"Father?"

Everyone turned when they heard the new voice coming from the open doorway.

"Elphaba." The Wizard forgot about everyone else in the room as he hurried over to his daughter. "I told you she would be here," he commented as he pulled her into a hug. "And not a moment too soon," he whispered in her ear.

Various "Hello Miss Elphaba"s and "It's nice to see you again"s filled the room as the Animals greeted her as well.

"Hi Elphaba." Lion sheepishly ducked his head as he and Fiyero joined the Wizard.

"Thank the Unnamed God you're here Fae." Fiyero took the Wizard's place in hugging her. "Maybe things will go a little smoother now that you're here to set these knuckleheads straight."

"Let's not burden her with any of that right now." The Wizard waved away his comment. "You look tired my dear. Why don't you go upstairs and rest a bit?"

Elphaba shook her head. "I..."

"She just got here." The Squirrel narrowed his eyes. "What's the matter? Afraid she got away from whoever was brainwashing her before they could finish the job?"

"Brainwashing?" She frowned.

"Ignore him." Fiyero shot the woodland creature a look.

"Indeed." The Wizard agreed. "Some of your things are still in the room you used the last time you were here. Why don't you go freshen up?"

"But..."

"We were just about to adjourn for dinner."

"I need..."

"Someone can come get you once we're done." The Wizard used the index finger of his right hand to tap her on the nose when she opened her mouth to try to speak again. "No arguments young lady. Go."

"You don't have to listen to him." The Squirrel continued to frown. "He's not the boss of anyone here. Unless you count his lap dog guards." He looked distastefully at Cade.

"Do be quiet." The Cow sighed. "You're giving me a headache."

"Yeah." Lion nodded. "Not to mention you're making yourself sound like an idiot with all that brainwashing stuff."

The Squirrel's jaw dropped. "Who are you calling an idiot you traitor?"

"Traitor?" Lion growled. "I'll show you who's a traitor!"

The room erupted in a cacophony of voices as everyone tried to side with one or the other of them at the same time. The Wizard instinctively stepped in front of Elphaba, not wanting her to get caught in the crossfire if fists started flying.

"Stop." Elphaba couldn't believe what she was seeing. "I said to stop!!"

Everyone froze when she raised her voice to make herself heard.

"What in Oz is wrong with all of you? You're supposed to be here to bring piece between the government and the Animal community, not bickering and starting fist fights."

"He..." The Squirrel's voice trailed off when she leveled a gaze at him.

"Sorry Elphaba." Lion hung his head.

Elphaba ignored the comment as she returned her attention to the Wizard. "Father, I need to speak to you in private."

"Great," the Squirrel shook his head. "Now he has you keeping secrets too."

The Dog looked at him in disbelief. "Rupert."

"If she's here for the talks why does it have to be in private?" The Squirrel persisted. "Why can't we all hear what she has to say?"

The Wizard clinched his jaw. "She is my daughter and can speak to me whenever she wishes."

"Maybe it's none of your business." Fiyero glared at him.

The Squirrel glared right back. "No one asked you."

"No one asked you either." Lion countered. "But that hasn't stopped you from running your mouth has it?"

Everyone started weighing in again.

"We don't have time for this." Elphaba gripped her father's arm. "Bree is missing."

He frowned. "What? I can't hear you." He leaned in closer.

"I said Bree is missing." She closed her eyes for a moment when he leaned closer still, obviously not hearing her. "Breena is missing!"

"What?" The Wizard looked as if someone had slapped him.

"Did she say Breena is missing?" Lion realized he was asking the Squirrel and turned toward Elphaba. "Did you say Breena is missing?"

"Miss Breena is missing?" The Ox echoed his words.

"This is awful." The Dog whined.

"Everybody pipe down." The Squirrel gestured with his little paw. "Give her a chance to tell us what's going on."

"Here." Fiyero put his hand on Elphaba's shoulder, steering her to one of the chairs. "Sit down and tell us what happened Fae."

"Thanks." She gratefully sat down. "Now that I have everyone's undivided attention I'm not sure where to start."

"From the beginning." Her father prompted.

Elphaba chuckled humorlessly. "If I did that it could take all night."

Fiyero frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It's complicated." She couldn't help but think what an understatement that was. "Far too complicated to get into now."

"Why?" Lion stared at her intently. "What happened?"

"Didn't she just say it was too complicated to go into right now?" The Squirrel sighed. "Moron."

Lion frowned. "You didn't just call me a moron."

"I didn't?" The Squirrel pursed his little lips. "Because I could have sworn I did."

"She did say it was too complicated to get into." The Ox agreed.

"That doesn't mean Rupert has to keep interrupting." The Dog argued.

"I'm not the one who interrupted her with a stupid question." The Squirrel's tone was indignant.

"Oh, so now I'm stupid?" Lion roared angrily.

"Shut up!" Elphaba sprang to her feet. "Didn't you hear what I said? My sister is missing! And all you seem to be able to do is argue! What's wrong with you?!"

"Elphaba." The Wizard kept her from saying more.

"I..." She looked around at the shocked faces. "I'm sorry. It's just, the more I say it the more it sinks in." Her eyes finally settled on her father. "She's gone."

"It's all right." He drew her into another hug, looking at the animals over her shoulder. "Could we have a moment alone?"

"No." The old Cow answered. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we'd like to know what happened to Miss Breena."

"Maybe we can help." The Squirrel agreed.

"I doubt that." Lion scoffed.

"It's all right." Elphaba pulled back to look at her father. "They can stay."

"Are you sure?" He couldn't resist the urge to stroke her cheek.

"Yes. The more people who know the better. Maybe then we'll find her."

"What happened Miss Elphaba?" The Cow prompted her to continue.

"We went to Upland Manor to see Glinda and Addena. They're our girlfriends," she added for the Animals benefit. "They received word that their mother was sick and went home to check on her rather than coming to join us here for the talks. Bree and I decided we should stop in to make sure everything was all right before coming to the Emerald City. Just after we got there Breena got upset and took off on a horse.

"Why she got upset isn't important right now. What is important is that when Glinda and I went to look for her we ran into a Wolf pup who told us about some attacks that have been taking place on Animals in that area. There have been five so far and no one can find the men responsible or the people who are taken by them."

"Great Oz." The Ox exclaimed.

"Trappers." The Squirrel whispered.

"Yes." Elphaba nodded. "The cub was on an outing with his teacher and a few of his classmates when they were attacked. He managed to get away and told Breena what was going on. She sent him to find me and went to see what she could do. The other children escaped safely but Breena and their teacher were taken."

"Those poor babies." The Dog gasped.

"And you couldn't find them?" The Cow asked.

Elphaba shook her head. "None of the children could remember exactly where they were in the woods. Even if they could have there was a storm. Any evidence of the struggle would have been washed away. I summoned a flying monkey to take one of the children back to his village to get help and came here to do the same."

"And you'll get it." The Wizard gripped her shoulders. "I'll send the entire Gale Force guard to search if I have to."

"We'll help too." The Squirrel confirmed his words by looking at his counterparts. "We'll send as many as you need."

"Thank you." Her emotions finally got the better of her as tears clouded her vision.

"We'll find her Elphaba." The Wizard held her close. "Cade, pull as many men as you can spare. If they ride all night they can be to Upland Manor by morning."

"Right away." Cade hurried out of the room.

"And we'll get word to our villages." The Cow spoke. "Volunteers from several can be there by morning as well."

"I, uh..." Elphaba wiped at her cheeks as she pulled away from her father again. "I can take a few back with me tonight. If the weather holds we might be able to start the search. If not we can head out at first light."

"I'll go with you." Fiyero offered.

"Me too." Lion nodded.

"I was hoping you'd both say that." Elphaba gave them a grateful look.

"But I can't." The Wizard spoke sadly.

Elphaba frowned. "Father?"

"They've offered to help." He nodded toward the Animals, who were now huddled together, talking amongst themselves. "I need to be here in case they need anything. I'll leave with the guards and whatever Animals head out in the morning."

"I'm sure they would understand if..."

"I have a lot to make up for with them Elphaba." He gave her a half hearted grin. "I need to do this. But you should go."

Elphaba nodded her understanding. "The sooner the better."

"Exactly." He kept a tight grip on her hand. "But you had better be careful. If anything ever happened to one of you girls." He shook his head as his voice trailed off.

"We're going to find her, Dad."

The Wizard didn't trust his voice to answer so he pulled her to him again, praying she was right.

She tried to open her eyes but they wouldn't cooperate. Neither would her body. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't make so much as a toe move. It was like the lights were off but someone was home.

"You used what on her?"

"A tranquilizer dart."

So she was drugged. That certainly explained a lot.

"But those are meant for animals."

"We didn't have anything else."

Hands started poking and prodding as the voices got closer.

"You could have killed her. Do you realize that?"

Her right eyelid peeled back but her vision was too blurry for her to be able to make anything out.

"She damn near killed all of us. I've never seen a woman fight like that before."

She would have smiled if she could.

"What did she do, slap you and try to claw your eyes out?"

"No. But she did use magic."

She could sense the first guy's interest was peeked.

"Magic?"

"Yeah. She said something and threw a bunch of the guys around before we even realized she was there."

"Really?"

"Why would I lie about something like that?"

"So we have a witch on our hands?"

Damn straight they did. And she couldn't wait to show them exactly what she could do when her body started cooperating again.

"A witch?" Trepidation was evident in the man's voice. "I hadn't thought of it that way."

"Calm down. I have something that will take care of her."

"You do?"

The man voiced her question for her. What did he mean he had something that would take care of her?

"I have something for everything don't I? Now where did I put it?"

Bottles rattled and something fell on the floor as he obviously tried to find something.

"Ah, here it is. Hold her mouth open will you?"

"What?"

"Hold her mouth open." He repeated his instructions.

"But..."

"It's not like she can hurt you. She's unconscious." He laughed. "You're forcing me to tell the others about this, you know that right?"

"Damn it."

She tried to pull away as a strong hand gripped her chin but her body still wasn't responding.

"That's a boy."

Something cool flooded her mouth as soon as it was open, sliding right down her throat.

"There. No more witch."

"What do you mean no more witch?"

"I just gave her a binding potion. She won't be able to use her powers anymore."

Those were the last words she heard before the blackness closed in around her again.