"Glinda?"

"Five more minutes." Glinda mumbled as she rolled from her back to her side.

"Glinda."

"I don't have class this morning."

"Glin…"

"Elphaba, I said…" Her voice trailed off as her eyes opened. "Elphie?"

Elphaba grinned. "Hey."

"Elphie!" Glinda had her blankets kicked off and was at her friend's side in an instant. "You're awake!"

"Kind of." Elphaba half groaned half chuckled as Glinda threw her arms around her.

Glinda instantly pulled back. "Did I hurt you?"

"Not at all." Elphaba blinked tiredly. "I shouldn't have woken you, but I wanted to see you." She looked panicked for a second. "I mean I wanted to see if you were all right." She furrowed her brow as she stared into Glinda's eyes. "Are you all right?"

"I should be the one asking you that." Glinda held back tears of joy at hearing her friend's voice again. The last thing Elphie needed was her getting all emotional. "You're still tired."

Elphaba nodded.

"Then rest." She tucked a lock of black hair behind a green ear.

"I don't want to." Elphaba fought to keep her eyes open as Glinda continued to play with her hair.

The corner of Glinda's mouth turned up. "I don't think you have much of a choice."

"But…"

"Elphie you're still recovering. Please just relax and go with it."

"But we need to talk."

"And we will. When you're feeling better."

Elphaba sighed. "All right."

"I'm not going anywhere." Glinda moved her hand to cup Elphaba's cheek. "I'll be here when you wake up again."

"Promise?" Elphaba leaned into her hand.

"Yes. But only if you promise to come back to me soon."

"I'll always come back to you."

Glinda smiled at the sleepily whispered words. She stared down at Elphaba as her features relaxed and her breathing leveled out.

"How's Bree?"

She almost jumped out of her skin at the question, thinking Elphie had drifted off again. "She's fine."

"Sleeping?"

"Yes." She nodded as she glanced over at Breena, not at all surprised to see she hadn't moved a muscle since the night before.

"Good." Elphaba sighed.

Glinda stayed where she was, carefully studying the green woman so she wouldn't get scared again. "Elphie?" After almost a minute she spoke her name. "Are you really asleep this time?"

No sound came from her friend.

"I'll take that as a yes." Glinda spoke softly.

"How are they?"

She looked up when she heard Milynn's voice. "Breena hasn't moved. And Elphie woke up! It was only for a few minutes, but she woke up!"

"I saw that." The redhead grinned at her excitement. "Grandmother made me wait until she thought she was asleep again to come over. She wanted me to let you know we're about to eat if you'd like to join us."

"Breakfast?" Glinda brightened even more. "I'd love some."

"Actually it's more along the lines of lunch."

"Really? I can't believe I slept that long."

Milynn smiled. "We all did. As a matter of fact the rest of us still might have been asleep if Lion's stomach hadn't started growling."

Glinda giggled as she got up. "That must have been quite the wake up call."

"You have no idea." Milynn shook her head. "I thought a bear was coming after us or something." She watched Glinda laugh as they made their way toward the others. "It's nice to see you in such a good mood."

"It's great to be in one. I'm sorry if I was a pain before."

"You weren't." Milynn was quick to reassure her. "Especially considering everything that happened. I can guarantee I wouldn't have handled things nearly as well as you did."

Glinda grinned. "Thanks."

"There she is." Leto spoke as they finally reached the table.

Glinda was still amazed at the 'kitchen.' There was an old wooden table with mismatched chairs and a half barrel on a pedestal for a sink. Plates, cups, saucers and glasses of all shapes and sizes were carefully stacked in niches on the stone walls. Another similar hole held cutlery. Betak even had a long stone slab that was the perfect height to serve as a sideboard. Add several boxes of supplies and the older woman had the perfect spot to prepare food.

"Hello Leto. Lion." She nodded at the big cat, who was taking plates from Betak and putting them on the table.

"Hi Glinda." Lion avoided her gaze bashfully. "How did you sleep?"

"Very well, thank you. I think my bedtime story helped." Glinda sat down next to Milynn, who sat next to Leto.

"Bedtime story?" He frowned. "Someone was telling bedtime stories?"

"Not really." Betak motioned for Lion to sit down as she joined them. "Sorry. It's not the best meal I've ever prepared, but I didn't want to use the fire to cook." She put a platter of sliced bread in the middle of the table. "The girls need their rest."

"Are you kidding? This salad looks better than the ones you can get at any restaurant in Frottica." Leto dug into his with gusto.

Lion followed suit. "I'm so hungry I could eat the bark off a tree."

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was some in here." Milynn gave Betak a teasing look. "Grandmother can be very resourceful when it comes to making due with what she has to work with."

"Stop flipping your lips and eat." Betak teased her right back. "Leto and Breena made sure I had plenty of supplies to cook with."

"Speaking of which," Lion took three pieces of bread. "How are Breena and Elphaba?"

"They're both fine." Glinda answered. "Breena is out like a light and Elphie woke up for a few minutes."

"That's great news." Betak nodded.

"I bet we won't be able to say the same for Breena anytime soon."

Leto frowned at his wife's mumbled words. "Why? Did she get worse last night?"

"No, thank Oz." Milynn sighed. "She was just up half the night chatting with Glinda."

"She was up? After what she did yesterday?" Leto whistled. "I'm impressed. I mean, she was only out for what, a half a day after she healed me? But my injury wasn't anything compared to Elphaba's."

"She was out for two days, thank you very much. And your wound wasn't anything to sneeze at." Milynn corrected him.

Glinda looked up from her plate. "Breena healed you?"

Leto nodded. "That's how we met. To make a long story short, I made a rather misguided attempt to free some horses from the Gale Force Cavalry."

"No." Glinda looked shocked.

"Oh yes he did." Milynn nodded.

"The guards didn't appreciate my efforts and shot me in the leg. The bullet went clear through my thigh, shattering the bone as it went."

"Ouch!" Lion winced, absentmindedly rubbing his own leg in sympathy.

"Luckily Breena and a group of others from what would become the underbelly had the same idea and showed up in time to save me. Milynn tended to my wound." Leto gripped his wife's hand. "I'd never felt a more heavenly touch in all my life."

"Cut that out and get on with the story." Betak didn't bother to look at any of them. "I'm trying to eat here."

"He lost a lot of blood." Milynn continued. "Breena had a hard time healing him." She blinked back tears. "I almost lost them both."

Betak cleared her throat.

"But Breena did heal me and we were both fine. I joined the underbelly, fell head over heals in love with Milynn and somehow convinced her to marry me. The end." Leto grinned. "There, was that better?"

"Much." Betak nodded.

"So was that before or after Elphaba told off the Wizard?" Lion asked as he chewed.

"Before."

Glinda frowned at Milynn's answer. "You were fighting for Animal rights before Elphie met the Wizard?"

Milynn nodded. "The government started its agenda against animals and Animals alike long before Elphaba went to the Emerald City. She just became the most public figure in the fight because she had the opportunity to go straight to the source and the guts to tell him what she thought of the situation."

"Even then she wouldn't have been as imfamous if that Morrible bitch hadn't dubbed her the Wicked Witch of the West." Betak frowned when she felt everyone looking at her. "What? As Breena would say, tell me I'm wrong and I'll take it back."

Everyone continued to stare at her for a moment before Leto started laughing. Pretty soon the others joined in, except Betak, who was looking at them like they were all crazy.

"I'm going to have to have a talk with Breena when she wakes up." Leto was still chuckling. "For introducing such color phrases into your vocabulary."

"I knew how to say bitch before she was even born." Betak scowled as everyone started laughing again. "You'll get your chance to talk to her sooner than you think if you don't pipe down."

"She's right." Milynn wiped tears from her cheeks. "We need to change the subject."

"All right." Leto complied. "How about the topic of discussion around the fire last night?"

"Glinda finally found out Breena and Elphaba are cousins." Betak answered curtly.

"Cousins?!" Lion's eyes got big. "You mean they're related?"

Betak rolled her eyes. "I forgot he didn't know either."

"Yes they are." Glinda stepped in, happy to impart some of what she had learned. "Their mothers were sisters."

"No wonder Breena can perform magic so easily without a wand." Lion said in awe.

Glinda furrowed her brow, something about what he just said nagging at her. She quickly dismissed it and looked at Betak. "Breena said she and Elphaba were born around the same time."

"On the same day." Betak corrected her.

"Really?" Glinda looked surprised.

"Yes. Leandra pulled one of her disappearing acts. No one saw her for nearly four months. When she finally came back, she was pregnant. Her father was livid. When she told him she had no intention of getting married and refused to tell him who the father was, he broke off all contact with her. They never spoke again. A few days after she had Breena she got a message from Melena saying she gave birth on the same day."

"Wow." Lion interrupted. "They're twins."

Leto frowned at him. "They came from different mothers."

"Oh. Right." Lion blushed. "I meant practically. They're practically twins."

"It was too bad Melena and Frex lived so far away." Betak ignored the exchange. "The girls were close growing up and I think Elphaba and Breena would have been the same way. Leandra was devastated when Melena died having Nessarose. She even contacted Frex about taking Elphaba for him."

"What?!" Glinda chocked on a bite of salad.

Betak nodded. "She was already dealing with Breena being different. She figured it wouldn't be any harder to do with two little girls."

Lion frowned. "Different because of her magic?"

"No, different because she has green blood." Milynn answered distractedly. She had never heard about Leandra wanting to raise Elphaba.

"Green blood?!!" Lion realized how loud he was and clamped his paw over his mouth.

"Of course Frex turned her down." Betak kept right on ignoring him. "She tried several more times to convince him it was a good idea. And I think maybe she had made some headway. At least he said he would think about it in the letter he sent to her just before she died."

"Breena mentioned she was gone." Glinda's tone was sad.

Betak's eyes matched her tone. "She passed on Breena's thirteenth birthday. A fever epidemic swept through Munchkinland. She considered herself to be a bit of an apothecary and volunteered to help nurse the sick. I was keeping an eye on Breena when we received word that she was ill. She strictly forbid me or Breena to come be with her. She was alone when she died." Her voice cracked as tears leaked down her cheeks.

"Oh Grandmother." Milynn was quick to go to her, wrapping her arms around the old woman from behind. "She and Leandra were very close."

"She was like a daughter and a best friend all wrapped up in one." Betak sniffled. "I had just started raising Milynn, so I offered to take Breena too. But his Eminence wouldn't hear of it." She clinched her jaw. "He said no granddaughter of his was going to be raised by a cook. So he took her in and made her his personal servant."

Glinda frowned. "Are you serious?"

Milynn nodded. "Grandmother ended up taking care of her anyway. She was the only one of the staff Breena would listen to. Breena was stuck at Colwen Grounds until he died. Then Nessarose told her to get lost. She had some boy she wanted as her servant."

"Boq." Lion growled the name.

"The one who stabbed Elphaba?" Leto furrowed his brow.

"Yes." Glinda nodded. "Nessarose tried to cast a spell on him when he said he didn't love her. Elphaba's counter spell turned him into tin."

"Wow." Milynn raised her eyebrows. "No wonder he went after her."

"I hate to cut this short, but I need some fresh air." Betak started to stand.

Milynn helped her up. "I'll go with you."

Betak gripped her hand. "I'd like that."

"Then I guess I'll take my leave too." Leto stood. "I need to make a trip to the city to see what news I can hear. They'll both want to know what's going on when they wake up." He nodded toward Breena and Elphaba.

"Is that safe?" Glinda asked.

"Maybe not if it were you, Lion or Elphaba. But I'm pretty sure I'll still blend into the crowd." He put his hand on her arm. "Look, Milynn's not worried."

Milynn mumbled, "Or so he thinks," as she walked toward the entrance with her grandmother.

"I'll be careful." He stopped long enough to give Milynn a kiss and Betak a peck on the cheek before leaving.

"I guess it's just us." Lion pursed his lips as he looked at Glinda. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Does Breena really have green blood?"

Glinda chuckled and shook her head as she started clearing plates from the table. It wasn't until she was putting the dishes in the tub that she realized Lion was staring at her. She frowned as she turned to look at him. "You were serious."

"Yeah." He nodded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Sorry, I thought you were joking. Yes." She nodded. "Breena has green blood."

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know. But it's true. She showed me."

Lion wrinkled his nose. "Did it freak you out?"

Glinda grinned. "My best friend has green skin. Next to that green blood seems mild."

"I guess so."

"What's this about Lion?"

He shrugged. "It just makes me feel… I don't know."

"OK, let me ask you this." Glinda was trying not to get frustrated with him. "Does Breena having green blood change anything she's done for us?"

"No."

"Then why should it make you feel differently about her? She's still the same Breena who risked her life to get us out of the Emerald City. She had green blood then too, we just didn't know it."

"You're right." Lion narrowed his eyes. "I never thought about it that way."

Glinda smiled. "Well I'm glad I could help."

"And I guess it makes since, right? I mean they're related. It figures they would have something other than magic in common."

Her smile faded as the feeling that she was missing something when it came to Elphie and Breena nagged at her again. But try as she might she couldn't put her finger on it. She looked across the cavern at the two of them. Maybe it would come to her once they were up and around again.

Until then there wasn't much she could do except finish clearing the table and wait.