"Could you loosen your grip a little? You're hurting my arm."

The non smiler barely glanced at her in answer.

"Never mind." Glinda chuckled nervously, muttering, "A bruise on my arm will be the least of my worries once I get to Southstairs anyway," under her breath.

If she had her wand she might have stood a chance of escaping, but she didn't. It was wherever she left it in her rooms when she managed to run in for a moment between the last celebration she attended and Nevin's ceremony. And magic didn't work very well for her without it to center her energy. She was still too new to the whole spell casting thing to risk trying one solo. Especially when her life depended on it.

She flinched as the death grip on her arm tightened. Well, the non smiler's death grip anyway. The grinner barely had a hold of her at all. She looked at him again, shocked when he winked at her. Her resulting frown amused him so much he grinned again. The sick bastard. He was really enjoying the part he was playing in ruining her life.

"Glinda?"

Her heart leapt when she heard the lion's voice somewhere nearby.

"Glinda? Where?" Boq's followed close behind. "Where's Glinda?"

"Right there." The feline sounded exasperated.

Her two potential saviors came out of a room she and the guards had just passed.

"What are you doing?" Boq's tone was accusing. "I thought you were tired."

"She's not just tired, she's exhausted. Look at her." Lion gestured with one paw. "But he's right, what are you doing out here? You should be in your room resting."

Boq nodded. "And why are these two hanging on to you. Are you sick or something?!"

"She's fine." The non smiler answered. "Go away."

"That certainly wasn't very nice." Boq gave him a look. "Glinda is our friend and we're concerned."

The guard frowned at him. "And I said she's fine."

"She doesn't look fine."

"Looks can be deceiving."

Boq chuckled. "Not where she's concerned."

"She's fine!"

"Oh, the big bad Gale Forcer says she's fine so we're just supposed to go away." Lion joined in. "Well I don't think so, buddy."

"Yeah." Boq nodded. "We demand to know where you're taking her!"

"That's none of your business."

"If it has to do with her it's our business." Lion nodded toward Glinda.

"Since when?"

"Since now!"

"If you don't get out of my face I'm going to…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Boq stepped between them. "Look, we don't want any trouble here. Like I said, Glinda is our friend. Is that some kind of crime?"

The guard frowned. "As a matter of fact, yes it is. Now either go away or we'll haul you off to Southstairs too."

"Southstairs?!" Boq's jaw dropped. "You're taking her to Southstairs?!"

"You're joking, right?" Lion caught the look on Glinda's face and growled. "You're serious!"

"This is official Gale Force business." The guard looked back and forth between them. "It has nothing whatsoever to do with you."

"Like hell it doesn't." Lion glared at him. "You're not taking her anywhere!"

"Yeah." Boq tightened his grip on his ever present ax.

"Oh really?" The guard moved lighting quick, snatching the ax from the tin man and brandishing it at Lion, who stepped back so fast he hit the wall. "Now I said to go away!"

"Don't hurt them." Glinda finally spoke up. "Please. I'll do whatever you want, just leave them alone."

"You were already doing what we wanted." The guard sneered. "And I don't think we can leave them here. This little confrontation isn't going to make Captain Nevin very happy." He looked at his partner. "Go get some reinforcements. I'll keep an eye on them."

"I'd rather do this." The grinner let go of Glinda and hit the guard with a perfect right hook.

The guard sprawled on the floor, his hand going to his bleeding nose as the initial shock of what had just happened wore off. "What…" He looked up at the other guard. "What are you doing?!"

"Taking control of the situation." The grinner shook his head as he picked up the ax the guard dropped when he punched him, tossing it to Boq. "It figures you two would show up."

The guard stared at him. "Whose side are you on?"

"Hers." The grinner indicated Glinda.

"But," Boq frowned. "You were taking her to Southstairs."

"No, I just wanted certain people to think that's what I was doing."

The other guard frowned too. "You did?"

Glinda was just as confused as everyone else. "Why would you do that?"

"A mutual friend asked me to keep an eye on you. I was going along with the whole Southstairs thing until we got to a less conspicuous place to ditch him." He looked at Lion and Boq. "But you two made that impossible."

"You're in big trouble!" The guard nodded. "I hope you know that. When Captain Nevin finds out you…"

"To hell with Captain Nevin." The grinner spoke over him. "And I've had just about enough out of you." He pointed at his counterpart. "Quiesco."

Boq gasped as the man's eyes rolled back in his head. "Great Oz! He killed him!"

"No I didn't."

Glinda looked at the grinner. "You didn't?"

He shook his head. "No."

Lion frowned down at the guard. "Then what did you do to him?"

"Does it really matter? He won't be bothering us anymore." The grinner sighed when Glinda continued to stare at him. "Relax. He's just asleep."

"Does that mean he'd feel it if I kicked him?"

The grinner quirked an eyebrow at Lion. "I admire your spunk, but I wouldn't recommend it."

"You used magic." Boq took an involuntary step back. "And you didn't use a wand."

"So?"

"The only person we've ever seen do that was the Wicked Witch." Lion answered for him.

"She wasn't wicked!"

"She's not wicked!"

Glinda and the grinner spoke at the same time, drowning each other out but getting the gist of what the other said.

"You knew her?" Glinda was shocked.

"You could say that." The grinner took off his hat, running his hand through his short sandy brown hair, turning it jet black.

Glinda's breath caught in her throat. She had only met one other person with hair that particular shade of black. Elphaba.

"Wow!" Lion seemed impressed.

"Wow?" Boq looked at him like he was crazy. "That's scary!"

"That's nothing." The grinner started unbuttoning his uniform jacket.

"Hey!" Lion furrowed his brow. "There are ladies present!"

"You don't know the half of it." The grinner continued, obviously amused by his captive audience. "These things are a lot heavier than they look." It didn't take him long to shrug the jacket off. "Aperio."

His lean, lanky form changed from masculine to feminine before their very eyes. Glinda continued to stare in anticipation, half expecting the girl's skin to turn green and her best friend to suddenly be standing before them. But it didn't happen. She wasn't nearly as pale as Glinda, but she wasn't emerald colored either. She was just a woman.

"Oh my!" Boq's legs buckled.

"Take it easy." Lion steadied him.

"But he's a she! She's not a boy! I mean…"

"I got it." Lion eyed her. "And I can see she's a girl."

"Who…" Glinda was having a hard time shaking the image of Elphaba from her mind. "Who are you?"

"The name's Breena." Even her voice had taken on a softer quality. "And before any of you ask, that was a glamour. A rather complicated one, but a glamour just the same."

"That was evil, that's what that was!" Boq interjected.

"Listen up because I'm only going to say this once." Breena shot him a look. "Magic is not evil. It's a gift some people are blessed to be born with. I've never tolerated anyone saying differently and if you push the issue I won't hesitate to leave you here. And considering what that jackass said," she gestured toward the downed guard. "That probably wouldn't bode too well for you. You'd make an awfully nice wash tub for Captain Nevin."

"A wash tub." Lion chuckled. His mirth was short lived when he saw how Boq was looking at him. "What?"

"You think that's funny?"

"Kind of."

"How could you?" Boq's voice was full of disbelief. "After everything we've been through together?"

"Oh come on." Lion rolled his eyes.

"Are you all right?" Breena ignored them, concentrating on Glinda instead. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Glinda was taken aback by the genuine concern she saw in the woman's eyes. They weren't the same whiskey brown color as Elphaba's. They were green. Emerald green. She realized she was staring again and quickly shook her head. "No."

"Good. I'd hate to have to do something unmentionable to him." Breena smiled as she grabbed the guard under the arms. "I'm sorry for the secrecy, but being in the guard allowed me to keep a closer eye on you." Her voice faded as she dragged her burden into the room Boq and the lion came out of. "I mean, I could have been a chambermaid or something, but girly jobs don't really suit me." She rejoined Glinda, her smile still in place and the guard's clothes draped over one arm. "And this way I heard a lot more gossip." She stuffed the clothes in a huge decorative vase sitting outside the doorway of the room.

Glinda found herself smiling for the first time all day. "I understand. And I want to thank you for helping me. I thought I was a done for when Nevin..." Her smile faded. "Wait a minute, I thought the Gale Force was under Nevin's influence."

"What do you mean by influence?" Lion stopped bickering with Boq to rejoin their conversation.

"Apparently Nevin has magical abilities." Glinda responded. "He can persuade people. I assumed he would have the Gale Force under his control."

"As far as I know, he does." Breena agreed. "There was some big meeting before his ceremony tonight where he addressed just the guard."

"Then why weren't you affected?" Boq frowned.

"I wasn't there." Breena shrugged. "I was with Glinda as soon as she got back to the palace. I followed her to her suite and then to the throne room."

"That's true." Glinda's frown deepened. "But the other guard was with you too."

"And he seemed pretty intent on doing Nevin's bidding." Boq piped in.

"That's because he was in the throne room for Nevin's speech."

The Lion was thoroughly confused. "What?"

"I'm pretty sure he was using his speech to influence the people at his ceremony." Breena clarified.

"Then why aren't we under his influence?" Boq gestured with his ax. "We were all there."

"Glinda was completely zoned out and didn't hear a word he said. You were too busy staring at her to pay attention and Lion…" Breena smirked. "He was too interested in playing with his tail to know what was going on."

"Well, those things are always so boring." The tail in question twitched nervously as the lion spoke. "And it's not like I hurt anyone."

"But what about you, Breena?" Glinda looked at her.

She shrugged. "I'm with Lion, gatherings like that are boring."

"She meant why weren't you affected?" Boq's tone was accusing.

"I wasn't inclined to listen."

He eyed her. "How do we know you didn't?"

"I would hope my actions would speak for themselves, but if not, I guess you don't."

"She did take out the other guard." Lion pointed toward the room where snoring could now be heard.

Glinda pursed her lips. "And she got me away from Nevin and Morrible."

"That's all fine and good but… Morrible?" Boq repeated the name. "Morrible as in Horrible Morrible? But she's in Southstairs!"

"Not anymore. Someone freed her." Breena wrinkled her brow. "Probably Nevin considering he's her son."

"What?!" Lion frowned.

"Morrible told us he was her son and he didn't deny it." Glinda supplied more details. "Now that he's the captain of the guard, he's next in line to rule if something happens to me."

"He was going to throw her in Southstairs to get her out of the way and avenge his mother being there so long." Breena added her two cents worth.

"They can't do that!" Boq was practically hysterical. "They can't rule Oz!"

"I have no intention of letting them." Glinda tried to soothe him.

"You're going to let them do whatever they want."

Three sets of eyes looked at Breena in disbelief.

"For now." She added.

"Are you saying you expect her to turn her back on the people of Oz?" Lion asked.

"Because she can't do that." Boq continued. "She's Glinda the Good."

Glinda nodded again. "Oz needs me to…"

"The people of Oz need you to stay alive to rule another day, that's what the people of Oz need." Breena spoke in a no nonsense tone. "You're no match for Morrible and Nevin."

"I might be if you help me." Glinda reasoned.

"You're going to need more than me." She barreled ahead before Glinda could say more. "I was sent here to keep you safe and that's what I'm going to do. Staying here isn't an option."

"It seems awfully coincidental that you just so happened to be in the right place at the right time to rescue Glinda from Morrible." Boq narrowed his eyes, his suspicions of the newcomer sparking again. "Who sent you?"

"Coincidental?" Breena chuckled in disbelief. "I would hardly call putting my life on hold for almost a year to come here, glamour myself into a guy, infiltrate the Gale Force and take on more shifts than any of the other guards assigned to watch over Glinda a coincidence. Now I don't know about you two, but Glinda is coming with me even if I have to throw her over my shoulder to carry her out of the palace."

Great, now she even had the same fire in her eyes and determination in her voice as Elphaba. Glinda couldn't put her finger on why the woman reminded her so much of her friend, but she did know one thing. She trusted Breena.

Boq cocked his head. "Are you threatening her?"

Breena sighed. "Do I have to take your ax and beat some sense into that head of yours to make you realize I've only got Glinda's best interest in mind here?"

"No." Lion answered. "But it would be fun to watch if you want to do it anyway."

"You really went through all that for me?" Glinda interrupted.

"Truth be told, I live for this kind of thing." Breena gave her another grin. "But yes, I came here because I promised to keep you safe." She raised her hand to keep Boq from bombarding her with more questions. "Who sent me will have to wait for another time. For now we need to get out of here before someone finds us."

Glinda nodded. "Lead the way."

"What?!" Boq's eyes were wide. "You're actually going with her?"

"Yes she is. And so are we." Lion grabbed his arm.

Boq squirmed to get away. "Unhand me!"

"Fine." Lion let go. "Be a wash tub for all I care. I'm going with the girls."

Breena started to walk away, followed closely by Glinda and the Lion.

"But you don't know where she's taking you!" Boq watched as they disappeared around the next corner in the hallway. "It could be a trap!" He waited for a response. "You're going to wish you had listened to me!" Still nothing. "All right, I'm coming too!" He hurried after them. "But only so I can make sure nothing happens to Glinda!"

Breena chuckled as he caught up with them. "I'm sure that makes her feel so much better."

Glinda found herself smiling again.