"She was back Galinda," Fiyero exclaimed while their captive was taking a shower in the soggy inn bathroom. Her absurdly high pitched singing oozed through the door like nails on a chalkboard.
"Who was back?" the blonde demanded, totally at a loss.
"Elphaba," the Winkie explained. "While you were gone I was sitting next to her on the bed and suddenly…she was back."
"Well where did she go?" Galinda queried, somewhat put off that she'd missed her friend's reemergence.
"I don't know," Fiyero admitted. "When you came in she got distracted and snapped out of it."
"Oh…sorry."
"It wasn't your fault," he insisted. "This just proves that the real Elphaba's still in there."
"I knew Elphie wouldn't go down without a fight," Galinda chuckled.
"But she needs help," Fiyero pointed out. "So we've got to keep trying to bring her out."
"And we've still got to see if the Wizard can fix this permanently," Galinda sighed. "I'll go hire another coach."
/
Elphaba was still in a flirty mood when she exited the bathroom, as evidenced by the fact that the green girl wore nothing but a towel. "Um, hi," Fiyero greeted tensely as he tried to keep his disobedient eyes from wandering.
The formerly green girl sauntered forward. "Where's Glinny?"
"She went to hire a coach."
"So we're alone?" She seated herself forwardly on his lap.
"I'm sure she'll be back any minute," Fiyero informed her with a gulp.
"Are you sure?"
"Elphaba please put some clothe son," the Winkie all but begged.
"Why? Am I making you uncomfortable?" She pressed herself up against him.
"Well don't you want to try on the new outfits Galinda got for you?" Fiyero asked, finally finding a good excuse.
"Fifi that's a great idea!" the thin witch squealed, leaping up to search through a small mountain of dresses. Fiyero slumped to the bed in relief.
/
"I'm bored," Elphaba complained loudly as their carriage bumped along. "How long until we get there?"
"Two days counting today," Fiyero repeated for what felt like the millionth time.
"Where are we going?"
"We already told you; we can't tell you," Galinda moaned. Elphaba crossed her arms and glowered. It took only two minutes, a new record, for her to find something else to complain about.
"I'm hungry," the thin witch announced loudly. "When do we stop for lunch?"
"It will take longer to get there if we stop," Fiyero explained helpfully.
"But I'm starving," Elphaba whined.
"Actually, I'm a little hungry too," Galinda admitted sheepishly. The Winkie sighed. Females.
"Driver!" he shouted, sticking his head out the window. "Can you stop at the next village?"
"Of course sir."
/
"What's taking him so long?" Elphaba demanded, gazing out the carriage window to see if Fiyero had returned with food yet.
"Oh Elphie will you please shut up!" Galinda nearly shouted. "All day you've been whining about your clothes and fussing with your makeup and flirting with Fiyero and complaining about…" Suddenly the blonde trailed off in shock. A trembling hand moved to her mouth. "Sweet Oz, that's how I act most of the time isn't it?"
"Well only some of the time," Elphaba chuckled with a simpering grin. Then her expression soured too. "I'm sorry Glinny that was uncalled for."
"No, no it wasn't," Galinda cried. "You can make fun of me all you want as long as it's in that smirking, superior voice of yours."
"I don't know what you're talking about," the formerly green girl teased.
"Was that sarcasm?" the blonde asked incredulously.
"I don't know Glin was it?"
"Elphie, you're back!" Galinda threw her arms around the thin witch.
"Where've I been?" Elphaba wondered, giving her friend the I'm-questioning-your-sanity look.
"I don't know," the blonde responded. "But it was awful. I felt like I'd permanently Galindified you."
"And that's a bad thing?" her friend giggled. Abruptly the preppy mask was back in place, as though it'd never disappeared. A little later Fiyero returned with cheese, apples, and pork rolls in a nice thatched basket. "Thanks Fifi," Elphaba squealed, cuddling into the Winkie's side as soon as he was seated.
Although Fiyero desperately wanted to pull away from the creepy doll that had replaced his Fae, he instead pulled her closer. Last time this sort of contact had brought out a shred of the real Elphaba. However, as their on-the-road lunch continued, it seemed that his experiment had been a failure. Then Galinda leaned tiredly against the Winkie's other side in a totally platonic manner and ate the last pork roll.
"How can you be sure that didn't come from some poor Pig?" Elphaba demanded with narrowed eyes.
"Elphie I'm pretty sure the Animal banns don't include murdering sentient beings," Galinda assured her, too exhausted to realize the significance of her friend's statement. Fiyero, on the other hand, was already putting his unused brain to work.
Once the trio of Shizians get to the Emerald City the action will really pick up…for now you'll just have to be satisfied by a slow chapter…sorry