Chapter 10

In the early afternoon, once the dressmakers had left for the day, Glinda announced that her parents would be coming in time for dinner. Everyone present had little doubt there would be heaps of questions asked about the day's wedding preparations. The four friends sat talking in the cozy living room until close to the time the rest of the dinner party was due to arrive. Most of the discussion centered around the decisions that had been made that day concerning the clothes.

Surprisingly, Glinda had decided on a yellow dress rather than a pink one, while Elphaba decided upon purple velvet. All of them, herself included, realized her choice was perfectly suited to her natural skin color, and they were all pleased Elphaba had essentially forgotten her disguise when making her choice. Travion had chosen a white tuxedo, while Fiyero's was going to be ash grey. The tedium of measuring had been completed earlier that day, and the garments would not be ready for final fittings and adjustments for some weeks yet. Elphaba in particular was glad; She would be satisfied never to see any of those women again, though the second pair she'd been introduced to had been extremely helpful and patient. They had not been put off at all by Elphaba's uncertainty and shy demeanor. Within an hour, her decision had been made.

As they sat chatting, Fiyero could see the shadows in Elphaba's eyes, and knew her pain had increased since earlier in the day. He wanted to suggest that she go rest before dinner, but knew that would lead to questions from Glinda. Though it would be simple enough to lie about the cause of Elphaba's fatigue, the idea of being untruthful was too distasteful. So he kept silent, but was ready to suggest Elphaba turn in early should she grow anymore weary or tormented by the pain.

Moments later, the doorbell sounded, followed soon after by a maid entering the room to say Glinda's parents had arrived. Dinner was announced almost immediately following their entry, so the first real chance anyone had to speak came after they were all seated at the table. Glinda's mother, Symana, wasted no time in making it clear what was on her mind.

"What is HE doing here? the woman said, as if she had just discovered a bug with far too many legs crawling through the food on her plate. "How dare you invite him here when you knew we were coming! Don't tell me you're still friends with him after everything he put you through!"

Glinda's father, Riordan, looked like he wanted to get up from the table, but knew better than to say anything and place himself in the line of fire. Fiyero also sat silently, realizing that at least for the moment, this matter was Glinda's problem alone.

"He is my friend, Mama," Glinda began calmly, and Fiyero knew instantly that Glinda was accustomed to dealing with this sort of outburst from her mother. "I won't say I wasn't angry things didn't work out, but that's all past now. Fiyero and I are still very good friends. In fact, that's partly why I asked you both here. I've asked Fiyero and his new fiancee to have their wedding ceremony with me and Travion, and they've accepted."

Everyone waited, seeming to sense what was coming. For a few minutes, Symana was so dumbfounded she couldn't speak. Her face reddened, and Fiyero began to wonder if steam might actually come out of her ears. This image made him want to laugh, but fortunately he kept a straight face.

"You did WHAT?" Symana boomed. "Have you lost your mind? Not only does he throw you over for someone else, but now you ask him and whoever this common little thing he's with now to SHARE your wedding day? I realize he's heir to that throne, but really dear, no one deserves that much forgiveness. Not even someone as rich as he will be one day! Choosing a hussy like her over you!"

Fiyero had felt very small and humbled while listening to Glinda's mother berate him, but at her cruelty toward Elphaba, he felt instant anger. Knowing nothing he said would matter anyway, Fiyero simply stood and prepared to retreat from the room. Travion was about to follow suit when Elphaba spoke. She didn't rise from her chair, and didn't even raise her voice above conversational volume.

"You think I'm so common, do you?" she said, looking directly at Symana. "You couldn't be more wrong about that!"

Fiyero had just an instant when he realized what Elphaba was about to do, and cried out for her to stop. Even as he did, she uttered the words that reversed the masking spell. She looked very satisfied with the results. Across the table, Travion was smiling to himself. Glinda's parents were in such shock that both of their jaws dropped. Elphaba laughed to herself, thinking they looked like puppets with broken strings. Fiyero and Glinda were the ones that saw this turn of events as a problem, but secretly, Fiyero was happy too. He was glad to see Elphaba's true face again. It was Glinda who was angry.

"Elphaba, what do you think you're doing? I told you no one could see your face, not even my family. It isn't safe!" Glinda quickly cast a spell that immobilized both of her parents. Fiyero and Travion could both sense the anger emanating from their respective fiancees, and left the dining room for the study before they could be trapped in the crossfire.

"I'm tired of pretending!" Elphaba raged back, rising to her feet. "She hates us anyway, what difference does it make if she has another reason? It was a bad idea to come here at all. Fiyero and I will leave as soon as possible. You and Travion can have your wedding alone. SHE won't want us there!"

"I don't care what she wants!" Glinda retorted, growing angrier with each passing second. "I invited you to share the day with us. If you decline now, it's ME you'll be hurting, not her! Doesn't that matter to you? I can talk to her, get her to accept things as far as you and Fiyero are concerned. I know how to manage her. It's you I don't understand! I've tried to be nice to you, to make you happy. And now, all you want to do is leave. Well, this time I WILL have my way! You are not leaving here after only one day. And if you aren't going to be part of the ceremony, there won't be one!"

Elphaba laughed out loud, a bitter, resentful sound. "You can't make me stay here," she challenged. "Let's see you try."

Much to Elphaba's surprise, Glinda did just that, uttering the words to a spell Elphaba did not understand and therefore could not counter properly. The spell hit with the force of a large object thrust directly into her midsection. Elphaba actually flew backwards, knocked completely off of her feet. She struck the wall and landed awkwardly, looking broken and in great pain. She tried to rise and found she could not even get to her knees without collapsing again.

"Elphie, I didn't mean to hurt you," came Glinda's voice in a whisper. She was already at Elphaba's side, and she hadn't even seen her approach. Elphaba tried again to get up, and failed. By now, her breath was coming in painful and somewhat angry gasps. Despite the pain, Elphaba met Glinda's eyes, all the will to argue her point gone now. "Fine, you win," she conceded. "We'll stay. No dinner for me though. As soon as I can get up from here, I'm going to bed. It hurts to breathe..."

"I didn't mean to hurt you," Glinda repeated. "I never thought... That spell wasn't even that strong! I shouldn't have been able to best you. You're still more powerful than me, at least normally. Are you sick?"

"Not exactly," Elphaba hedged, volunteering nothing more.

"Then what exactly is it?" Glinda pressed, sounding afraid, as if she could guess what was coming.

Elphaba looked away as she replied, not wanting to see the hurt in her friend's eyes. "The pain... I know you did the best you could for me when you came to see me. You saved my life. But the spell still holds some power over me, some days more than others. Today has been a bad day... I didn't want you to know. I'm sorry. Don't blame yourself, I think it was all part of the wizard's plan. He wants me to suffer."

"What kind of man does that to his own daughter?" Glinda spoke though she knew there was no answer to her question. She wiped away sudden tears, then moved to help Elphaba up. She shook her head vigorously. "I can't stand up. You'll have to ask... Ask Fiyero to carry me. Where did he go?" Elphaba sounded frightened, which made Glinda afraid as well.

"I'll go find him," she reassured quickly. "That spell I put my parents under should last as long as I choose, but please Elphie, mask yourself again. It's going to be hard enough making them forget seeing you once. I'll be right back."

Glinda left the room nearly at a run, and Elphaba was sorry for frightening her so badly. By the time Glinda, Fiyero and Travion returned to the dining room, Elphaba had at last gotten herself into a fully upright position, though her breathing was slightly labored, and her false face had gone extremely pale. Without a word, Fiyero walked to her side and carefully lifted her into his arms. Travion followed them upstairs in case there were anything they might need.

Glinda was left to release her parents from the immobilization spell, and at the first sound of their questions about Elphaba's appearance, to wipe any recollection of her unmasking from their minds. This had to be done carefully so it didn't erase all memory of who Fiyero and Elphaba were. Glinda was tempted to erase all memory of the failed engagement from her mother's mind. In the end though, she decided against it, since it could lead to unanticipated problems later.

Once all three of them were seated at the half empty table, Glinda wanted to try her best to make her mother understand why sharing her wedding day with her best friends was so important. But she sensed any words she might say to her would be wasted. Instead, she decided to ignore her mother's presence and speak only to her father.

"Papa. I know I should have told you before I was planning this double wedding. But since we were all going to be here together this weekend, I decided to wait. Elphaba was afraid you wouldn't approve. She's been my best friend for years, and she's been through more than I could explain even if I took all night to do it. I will tell you that she has no surviving family, and I am her only friend. She adores Fiyero, and all I want is to do this for them, to give them some happiness. They both deserve it so much. If you don't like them, I can't change that. But please, be nice. Elphaba is very shy of strangers, it took a lot for her to stay here and meet you both. She did it mostly because she knew it's what I wanted. She's upstairs now, because she's very sick. She doesn't need to cope with such rejection, on top of everything else. Please understand."