Elphaba awoke to find Selky gone. For a moment she panicked, until a light breeze from the open door to the balcony caught her attention. She quietly slipped out of bed and joined her daughter on the deck. "I'm sorry," Selky whispered without turning around. "I'll understand if you hate me." She paused and let all her confessions flow out in a messy rush. "I was trying to do the right thing and help your cause by tricking Nessarose into trusting me. You never would have let me do something so dangerous if you'd known I was alive. I guess I just wanted to prove that I could get over my surly attitude and do something brave and useful for once. Instead I gave Nessa a way to get to you."

"Well I can hardly blame you," Elphaba pointed out, moving to stand directly behind her daughter. "Not too long ago there was another young girl in Oz leaving behind all those she loved in order to pursue what she thought was right."

"That was different," Selky insisted, determined to blame herself.

"Not very," the green girl chuckled. "And I could never hate you." Silence filled the night air. "How did you survive the fall?"

"I had a piece of the broken broom tucked into my belt," the teenager explained solemnly. "A few feet from the ground it pulled up and I was left hovering in the air." Elphaba let out a shaky breath. "Are you sure you aren't mad?"

"I never said I wasn't mad," the witch growled. "In fact if you ever do that to me again I swear I'll ground you for all of eternity."

"Don't worry," Selky muttered. "I'll never do that again."

"Good."

"Can I…um…go sleep in my bed now?" the teenager wondered, not trying to hide her discomfort at the present sleeping arrangement. "I know I've got a lot of explaining to do but right now I just need some rest."

"Actually Curyn's in your room," Elphaba informed her. "Nessarose is in Oscar's prison suite and Oscar is in the guest quarters. All the other rooms are full with visiting dignitaries and negotiators. Everything's a bit shuffled around." Selky scowled and stalked towards the door. "Are you going to kick your friend out?"

"No," the raven haired girl replied. "I'm going to join her. We've slept in the same bed before you know." Elphaba resisted the urge to make a snide remark; now was not the time.

"Alright then," she sighed, grudgingly watching her daughter leave. "I love you."

"I love you too." There was no hesitation this time.

***

Curyn was sure she was dreaming when Selky told her to scoot over in a not-so-polite tone. "You woke up?" the blonde murmured sleepily, having already been informed of her friend's ruse.

"Unfortunately," Selky muttered, shuffling her way under the covers. "And this is my bed. Therefore, since I am too tired to be argued with, you are going to share."

"Ok." There was a pause. "Why'd you inject me with some sleeping drug and lock me in a tower?"

"Could we discuss this later?" Curyn pondered that for a moment.

"No."

"You were never meant to follow me into the forest," Selky explained wearily. "I hoped that you would find the sword and take it to Elphaba. It was clear that things in Oz were going to get dicey and I wanted you at the Emerald Palace where everything would be safer. Unfortunately you had to go all 'detective' on me and go venturing into the woods alone. I had no choice."

"You could've left me a note," the blonde pointed out. "'Take this sword to Lady Elphaba' or something like that."

"Clearly I put too much faith in your deductive reasoning. Now can we please go to sleep?"

"Fine." The intense silence was soon punctuated with a giggle.

"Curyn!" Selky complained.

"Sorry," she whispered, suppressing another burst of totally uncalled for laugher. Moments later her friend had joined in. Neither girl knew why they were laughing, but they did know that if felt good to let the weeks of stress pour out in unrelenting giggle fits.

"We aren't going to get much sleep tonight are we?" Selky asked between chuckles.

"Nope."

***

Having found Munchkin Land utterly empty of Nessarose's troops Fiyero directed the Ozian army into Quadling Country. He was surprised to discover that the sand people seemed to have vanished. Their tents lay empty and abandoned like creamy sheets of the desert from which they came. Perhaps possessing Oz wasn't worth all the trouble.

***

Things were looking up. Selky was back and Curyn had become a regular guest at the Emerald Palace over weekends. Oscar was slowly earning a place among the rest of the gang, though he still caught resentful stares from certain people. Shay and Izo were thrilled to have a new adventure to relate to their friends at school. The panic of Nessa's reign was slowly wearing off. However Glinda couldn't shake the feeling that she'd left something important undone. Elphaba noticed the blonde's distant expression and understood the problem before her friend did. "She's locked in Oscar's suite," the green girl informed the good witch during dinner. "If you go quickly no one with notice."

***

Nessarose was surprised to hear her door open. The servants were terrified of her and everyone else was too peeved to drop in for a casual visit. She was grateful to her sister for providing this luxurious prison, but that didn't make captivity any nicer. The witch of the east was surprised to see Glinda of all people standing in the parlor. "Hello," Nessa greeted cordially, her eyes measuring the blonde. "What can I do for you?"

"You can talk," Glinda replied, her voice hard and sharp. Again the demonic doll began to come forth. "I know bringing this issue into contention again is petty and more than a little catty but I honestly don't care." She took a deep breath to stead herself. "I want to make it unquestionably clear to you that Boq is mine. He has never, nor will he ever, belong to you. In fact the only reason he took you to the OzDust was because I convinced him too." Glinda resisted the urge to conclude her rant with 'so ha!'. Before Nessarose could respond she stomped towards the doorway.

"He only married you for your power and money!" the brunette called after her. Glinda's shoulders tensed and she turned with exaggerated slowness.

"You were such a nice girl," the blonde sighed with false regret. "But somehow you turned into this nasty little *****the following is not appropriate for a T rated fan fic*****." Nessa's mouth hung open. Never in all her years would she have expected such language to come from Glinda's mouth. With her need to re-establish boundaries satiated the blonde exited. Her face wore an oddly fulfilled smile. If only Elphaba could have seen the look on her sister's face.

Yeah this was kind of a nonsense chapter but I figured you could use some upbeat material after all that dark stuff…

There will be one more chapter and en epilogue...also check out 'The Good Witch of the South' for more wicked fun (pun intended)…

Please read and review the Hunger Games fan fic I co authored with Tinted Windows…it's called 'Nobody in the Mist'…