Chapter 3, Part 2
Fiyero moved about the small kitchen as quietly as he could, putting the kettle on for tea. Once two steaming cups of the sweet tea were waiting, he went outside and gathered some of the leaves he knew grew there. He placed a few of them into one of the cups, let them steep for a few minutes, then removed them. He felt guilty about easing Elphaba's pain in such a sneaky way. But he knew she would never accept any remedies that were offered to her directly.
In the bedroom, Elphaba lay quietly, listening to see if she could tell what Fiyero was doing. She had her suspicions, but was too tired to call out and ask. At least now that the room was very dim, things were more bearable. When Fiyero returned to the room a few minutes later, Elphaba met his eyes but asked him nothing, then slowly sat upright. He handed her a steaming cup of tea, which she began to drink even as she watched him put his own cup down on the bedside table and leave the room again. When he returned once more, he was carrying several towels, one smaller cloth and a large bottle of oil. Elphaba frowned, knowing why he had brought them.
"If I get that sick, none of those things are going to matter, you know. The wizard may just get his way. We both know that." Elphaba was surprised at the coldness in her voice, and winced when she saw Fiyero draw away uncertainly.
"That doesn't mean I shouldn't do anything, does it? You aren't the only one who can speak their mind, you know. I'll admit, in a lot of ways you're stronger than I am. But when someone I love is in trouble, I don't just walk away. And I won't now. So you are just going to have to accept that I'm going to be here taking care of you. No matter what happens. Do I have to be any clearer than that?"
"No," she answered quietly. She sipped at the tea again, and realized there was an odd flavor to it. She glanced at Fiyero and saw him watching her, as if he were making sure she was going to drink all of it. It wasn't hard to guess why he was so anxious. Elphaba didn't hesitate to finish the entire cup, because she understood that whatever Fiyero had done, he had done it out of love.
Not even a half hour later, Fiyero watched Elphaba fall into a peaceful slumber. Her breathing was gentle and even, undisturbed by any pain. He was surprised by how quickly the remedy had taken effect, but he wasn't sorry. Once Elphaba was resting, Fiyero gently placed the small cloth on her forehead, then used one of the large towels to wipe the rest of her exposed areas of skin clean of perspiration. Then, he carefully oiled her skin. He did this very gently, afraid he may wake her up despite the painkiller. After he had finished his caregiving, Fiyero simply sat watching Elphaba sleep. There were still days she tended to belittle herself because of her skin color, but Fiyero never tired of looking at her face. He thought her outer beauty matched her interior. Though at times Elphaba had a biting tone in her voice and could be easy to anger, Fiyero knew that was all part of what had made her who she was. Those things had helped her survive a youth where she was unwanted by anyone.
Fiyero found himself wishing Glinda were here already. He expected their meeting to be awkward, but their own feelings were not the issue, and he hoped things would go well. He had no way of knowing whether Glinda still harbored bitterness over the way things had turned out. He guessed that her recent engagement had helped heal things a bit... but the worst of Glinda's loneliness probably still remained. Fiyero was no fool, he knew that a friendship such as the one Elphaba and Glinda had shared wasn't replaceable. He saw the pain in Elphaba's eyes sometimes, too. Though she would never admit to what was on her mind, Fiyero needed no help to guess. At times, he had tried to imagine having a childhood like the one Elphaba must have had. It made him very sad to ponder it for more than a few minutes at a time.
Fiyero knew Elphaba had seen his sadness when she asked about his family, too. Even after these several months, he had offered her no explanation, and doubted he ever would. He didn't want to hurt her any more than she already had been. When they had first arrived at this house, Fiyero had written a letter to his parents and asked Colverus to deliver it for him. He had only been bold enough to do this because he knew his parents were discreet and often outright secretive about family matters. He had asked them not to say a word to anyone about himself or Elphaba, and knew he could trust them not to.
To say the letter he had received in reply was a disappointment didn't even begin to describe his reaction. His mother and father had told him in no uncertain terms that while they would never deny him his rightful place in the family, and hoped one day it would be safe for him to come out of hiding, as long as Elphaba was at his side they wanted nothing to do with him. He had known his parents tended to be followers. In fashion, social trends... and gossip. They ate it up eagerly, and like so many others, they had believed every word of the lies Madame Morrible had spread about Elphaba. Foolishly, Fiyero had held out hope that that because the explanation had come from him, their only child, it would be believed. After reading through the letter only once, Fiyero had thrown it carefully into the already blazing fireplace, to avoid the risk of Elphaba seeing it. The words it had contained were burned into his soul like deep, angry scars. He knew that letter meant he no longer had parents, for he would never choose them over Elphaba. They had a life they were happy with as it was. Elphaba, on the other hand, had to struggle constantly to hold onto the joy that should be part of everyone's life. It felt like flattery, but Fiyero had to admit that he was the source of most of Elphaba's happiness now. She likewise was his... Leaving her was unthinkable.
Elphaba stirred slightly in the bed, and Fiyero watched her intently until she was still again. She seemed to be sleeping deeply, and he was glad. The air in the bedroom was a little close, but the dimness didn't bother him at all, so he left the curtain closed and settled for opening the bedroom door. Night would be coming soon, and he could open the window to the fresh air then. Fiyero remained where he was, barely moving, doing nothing but watching over Elphaba until past dusk. When there was a sudden loud rapping at the door, Fiyero was more than a little hesitant to answer, considering who their last visitor had been. But after a moment, he hurried to the door. He did pause to ask who it was before opening the door. It was a great relief when it was Colverus who announced himself.
Fiyero quickly pulled the door open and invited his longtime friend in. The other man took one look at Fiyero's face and frowned deeply. "What's the matter, Yero? You don't look very well."
"I'm fine... I mean, it's not me. Elphaba is sick, Cole. There's no point in calling a doctor. It's not that kind of illness."
"Then what kind is it?" Colverus asked this only to give his friend time to gather himself for a reply. He knew very well what was probably wrong with Elphaba, and suddenly felt extremely helpless.
"A spell," Fiyero answered ominously. "The wizard... he came here and cast it on her. There was nothing I could do, and now she is probably dying. I gave her some medicine for the pain. That won't work forever though... I don't know what to do. I have no magic, I can't find a counterspell to whatever the wizard did to her."
"Wait a minute. THE wizard? He's one of the people you're hiding from. How did he find you? I haven't told anyone... Not anyone." Colverus sounded very worried that he was being accused, but Fiyero gave him a gentle smile, resting a hand on his right shoulder.
"I'm not blaming you, Cole. I don't know how that... that beast found us here. It doesn't really matter now. I need to take care of her, that's all. She's asleep now, but I don't like being away from her. If you'd like to stay, we can go in there and talk."
Colverus sighed and nodded his head wearily. "Sure, I can stay a while. How is she? I mean, what has the spell done to her?"
Fiyero waited to answer until they were both in the next room at Elphaba's bedside. Now that it was dark outside, the room was nearly pitch black. Only the moonlight reaching them from the living room provided illumination. Fiyero studied Elphaba's face a moment before answering Colverus's question. "Before she fell asleep, she had a bad headache. It made the light hurt her eyes. That's why it's so dark. I could open the curtain now. I don't think she'll wake up for a long time."
"It's all right. I won't stay long, just in case she wakes up. I know I make her uncomfortable, and she has enough to worry about already."
Fiyero sighed, moving beside the bed to gently tend to Elphaba as he spoke. "She doesn't dislike you... She's just extremely leery of people. She's spent most of her life suffering rejection that you can't imagine. It's not her fault she looks like she does. It's very hard for her to let me love her sometimes. But she has a wonderful heart, and I hope someday you can get to know her."
"I hope so, too. I have some things out in the carriage for the two of you, I can bring those in then be on my way. I know I was just here a few days ago, you probably don't need all the things I've brought. But I got this horrible feeling that something had happened out here. I had to come... but I needed a better reason than paranoia. I hate it when my intuition is right."
Fiyero sighed, then leaned over to kiss Elphaba's now-bare forehead before walking out of the room with Colverus. "You never need a reason to visit, Cole. It gets very lonely out here, and we need to see other people sometimes. Let me help you bring the food in, then you can go if you're ready."
In a few minutes, the two friends had completely unloaded the carriage and placed the food in the proper places. Colverus then said goodbye to Fiyero and looked in on Elphaba one more time. She slept on, and looked reasonably comfortable. She wasn't sweating, or even stirring in her sleep. Therefore, Fiyero felt comfortable taking a short walk once Colverus had gone. Fiyero didn't walk far. In fact, he made sure the small house was still in his line of sight, so his return would be faster.
As he walked, the thought back to the day he had first met Colverus. He had been vacationing with his family. Though it was normally the family's habit to stay the summer at their castle in Kiamo Ko, this particular year they had chosen a more socially advantageous location. Fiyero had been terribly bored, as his parents spent their days gossiping and their nights at interminable parties. He wondered why they had brought him along instead of leaving him at their usual residence with the staff. At just ten years old, spending his time with the household servants hadn't yet taken on the stigma it usually bore. He liked to spend afternoons with the cook, learning to make things like stew, or helping with the household baking. The cook seemed nervous allowing the boy to spend so much time with her, at least at first. It was strange enough to allow the female children of a household into the kitchen, let alone a son.
On a day that Fiyero was especially longing for home, he had wandered away from the large resort, looking for something interesting to pass his time. He knew his parents weren't likely to look for him for hours, and he was starving for some adventure. Not far from the resort, he scaled a large tree to get a better look at the surrounding land and see what might be nearby. After some moments, he thought he spotted a small lake in the distance, and quickly decided a swim sounded like a fine idea. When he had struck out along a path toward the lake, Colverus had been walking along as well, headed in the same direction. As was usually the way with small boys, they quickly struck up a conversation, and by the time they reached the lakeside they were laughing at each other's jokes.
Cole had explained that he too felt like a tagalong on his "family vacation," and that he usually spent his time reading or getting up to typical boyish mischief around the inn. Today though, the suite of rooms he was staying in had been stuffy and uncomfortable, and everyone he liked to pull his pranks on was otherwise occupied. So it was that the two boys ended up at the lake together. Both were good swimmers, but on that day, Fiyero had been too daring for his own good, and gone out too far. The stronger undercurrents further from shore kept tugging at him, but he paid no attention. Suddenly, one had pulled him under completely. All he remembered of the next few moments was a crushing feeling of being trapped, his chest burning from lack of air, and struggling to reach the surface, which seemed to be miles above his head. He began to panic and struggle more, which only made matters worse.
In that instant, he felt himself being grasped around the middle and thrust upward. At first all he was aware of and cared about was that he was breathing air again. He drew in as deep of breaths as he could manage in between fits of coughing. Colverus had dragged him along back to shore. Once the two boys were sprawled on the sand, both very out of breath, Fiyero had turned to Colverus and thanked him earnestly for saving his life. Cole had blushed deeply, but otherwise accepted the thanks gracefully. They both swore not to tell their families what had happened, simply because they guessed neither of them would care very much. For the remaining week of their holiday, Fiyero and Colverus had been together nearly every waking moment. They were delighted to discover how near their homes stood to each other, and promised to visit often once summer ended. Even with their schooling, they spent much time together... particularly since Fiyero cared not one bit about his studies, and much preferred spending his time with his new best friend.
Fiyero was just shaking himself from his reverie and turning toward home when a frightened, shrill scream tore the air.
When Elphaba first opened her eyes, the bedroom was so dark she couldn't see anything at all. She called Fiyero's name, but got no answer. She tried again, and when she was met with the same silence, Elphaba struggled to get herself into a sitting position. By now, her eyes had adjusted to the blackness enough for her to be able to tell Fiyero wasn't in the room.
Elphaba sat there, perfectly still, listening for sounds of him moving around in another room. There was nothing, though she waited a solid five minutes. She hadn't heard the house this quiet since they had arrived here. Fear began to nibble at the corners of her mind, but Elphaba ignored the feeling and forced herself up out of the bed. Each step caused pain to shoot up and down each leg, but she just grimaced, gritted her teeth, and kept walking.
She looked all through the house, even in places she knew he would never be. The horrible pain she suffered with every move made the search seem to take ages, though it was only several minutes. A horrible thought suddenly occurred to her. While she had slept, perhaps the wizard had returned and unleashed whatever remained of his wrath on Fiyero. Elphaba wondered if he might be badly hurt, or paralyzed as she had been. Maybe he was even... dead. This thought drove her to move faster, to go out the front door and look all around their property. She stepped out the door onto the first stair, and nearly stumbled and fell. She called Fiyero's name again, louder now. She knew she sounded frightened, and this only made her curse herself for being so emotional. But after just a few moments of going all around the exterior of the house, with still no sign of Fiyero anywhere, Elphaba was very frightened indeed. Her legs felt rubbery, and she knew they wouldn't hold her much longer. She suddenly felt extremely warm, and she felt a sweat break out on her forehead. She returned quickly to the entrance of the house, and searched the horizon again for any sign of Fiyero. She once again saw nothing. Her pain, fear and worry consumed every thought, and Elphaba did the only thing she could think of. She opened her mouth and screamed louder than she ever had in her life. There were no words, just a single piercing, heartbreaking sound that it seemed could never come from a person.
Fiyero had never heard Elphaba scream... until that moment. Though he couldn't yet see her, he knew that dreadful sound had come from her. He began to run toward home, a cold core of fear settling into his heart at the thought of what he might find. Well past the point of being quiet for the sake of caution, Fiyero cried out Elphaba's name as he ran, dearly hoping she would answer. By the time he heard her voice in reply, he was near enough to see her. Her reply was weak, and he could see that single scream had left her very spent. She was on her knees by the doorstep, now covered in dust. In the strong beams of moonlight he could see the perspiration glistening on Elphaba's skin, even through the thick layer of grit.
"Fiyero..." she called weakly. "I thought you might be hurt... or dead. I woke up... You weren't there, and I..." She had no breath to continue, and focused instead on gathering her energy to stand. Fiyero saw this and knelt beside her, wrapping his arms around her neck.
"I'm sorry, Elphaba," he whispered, sounding ready to sob. "You were fast asleep. I needed some fresh air and decided to go for a walk. It's only been ten or fifteen minutes. I'm so sorry. Did you hurt yourself trying to get out here to find me?"
"I'm fine," she said, her tone suddenly biting. In several small, rapid movements, she was on her feet. Fiyero rose, and took Elphaba's hand before turning toward the door. She followed him in, but then tugged her hand from his. He glanced at her, puzzled. "You're here now, that's enough. You don't have to treat me like a child. It was silly to get so upset... I should have known you'd be back soon." She looked down, staring at the floor, refusing to lift her head again even when Fiyero said her name in the most forceful voice he had short of yelling. He was the one that sounded angry now.
"Elphaba," he repeated. "I don't ever want you to apologize to me again for the fact that you want me here. It's all right to need other people sometimes, to let them take care of you. I'm glad I'm here, and caring for you is all I am thinking about now. I'm so sorry I frightened you. I won't leave your side again, at least not until you're recovered."
Elphaba began to make a reply when she suddenly swooned, as if she were about to faint. "It's so warm... Why is it so warm in here?" Fiyero put a hand to Elphaba's forehead, but knew even as he reached out that there would be no fever.
"It's just the exertion," he said quickly. "Come on, you need to get back to bed. I can help."
Elphaba followed after Fiyero with no argument, and looked relieved beyond measure once she was resting in the bed again. Fiyero acted rapidly to help remove the sweat and grime from Elphaba's overheated body. Once he had finished everything, including applying a fresh layer of oil, Elphaba made a surprising request.
"I'd like the window open... My head still hurts terribly... But it's only the moon out now. It will be better. That way you can stay, and still get your fresh air."
"Oh, Ivy..." he said, bursting into tears. "It's not that important. It will hurt you. I'll leave things as they are. You just rest now. I'm not going anywhere."
Elphaba took a moment to say anything more. Her breaths were now very labored, as she struggled to endure the stabbing pains that tormented her whether she moved or not. At last, she was ready to speak.
"What was it you put... put into the tea? I could taste something. Tell me, please."
Fiyero hung his head. He wanted to deny he had done anything, but knew Elphaba would see through the lie. Until now, he had held out hope that she hadn't noticed. "I only wanted to ease your pain, for a while. It didn't help for as long as I'd hoped, but there are more of those leaves growing outside."
Elphaba only scowled and shook her head. "Once was enough. The pain is awful... But I'd rather stay awake. There are things... Things I want to say."
"Now? You can take a nap first and tell me later. You'll exhaust yourself."
"What does that matter if I'm DYING, Fiyero?" she cried, meeting his stricken eyes with her angry ones. "There are things I want to say... Important things." She reached for his hand before continuing. "I want to thank you for taking care of me... For trying to help. If it's... too late by the time Glinda gets here, tell her I knew she did the best she could, that she tried... Tried to get here in time. She'll think everything is her... her fault. Don't let her say those things... Please don't let her..."
"Ivy, you are not dying, and I want you to stop talking like that right now. I know you're scared... So am I. But we can't give up yet. Glinda might get here in time and know just what to do. Rest now, save your energy. She'll want to talk to you when she gets here."
"She always does most of the talking, anyway... But she's going to be frightened when she gets here and sees me like this. She doesn't... doesn't handle stress very well. Promise me you'll try to be gentle with her."
"Of course. Of course I will. Sleep now, Ivy. Please try. I don't know how long it might be until Glinda arrives, but you have time to rest."
Elphaba only nodded and closed her eyes. Fiyero remained there beside the bed, holding her hand. Her breathing as she slept was strained and shallow, and at times Fiyero was sure he heard Elphaba whimper softly from the pain. It seemed like years until dawn was due to break, and even then Glinda could be hours away...