Twenty-one years later:
About forty-five young people, ranging in age from seventeen to thirty, milled around in the courtyard of Shiz University where all new students had been instructed to wait. Elphaba Hadar leaned against the shadowy side of the building not wanting to draw attention to herself too soon, it had been bad enough being stared at on the carriage all the way from the Quadling city to Shiz.
Still, she thought as she quietly observed the other students. It was hardly unexpected, Mother did warn me how people would be up here.
"Welcome, new students!" a Gillikinese woman, elaborately dressed and made up, appeared at the main door. "I am Madame Morrible, Headmistress here at Shiz University. Whether you are here to study law, logic, or Linguification, I know that I speak for my fellow faculty members when I say that they have nothing but the highest hopes for some of you."
The other students didn't seem to quite know what to do with this statement and waited quietly for Madame Morrible to continue. The Headmistress focused her attention on two young ladies standing together, a small curvaceous blonde standing in front of an enormous pile of luggage and a brunette girl with delicate features and a pretty smile.
"You must be Miss Upland and Miss Thropp, welcome to Shiz University ladies."
"Thank you Madame Morrible," said the brunette politely.
"We're just thrillified to be here, Madame," gushed the other girl. "As you know I, Miss Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands, have applied to your sorcery seminar. Indeed that is my sole purpose in attending Shiz...to study sorcery with you... Perhaps you recall my entrance essay..."Magic Wands: Need They Have A Point."
"Ah, yes, however, I do not teach my seminar every semester," explained Madame Morrible. "And I'm afraid that includes this semester. I hope you will still get the most out of your other classes. Now, regarding room assignments, I have a list here of all the rooms and who will be occupying them. The luggage of those of you who handed it in has already been taken in and for those of you who have luggage with you it will be brought up when you collect your room keys and copy of the student handbook. If those of you who are boarding or living in Shiz City would be so kind as to stand to one side I will give you your handbooks and you may spend some time exploring the campus if you wish. Tomorrow timetables will be handed out and may be discussed if you feel they need altering."
About fifteen of the students separated themselves from the main group to receive handbooks and disappear into the buildings.
"Now, some of you will be joining established rooming groups and others will be forming entirely new groups. As you will see in the guidelines swapping roommates is generally not allowed however if you genuinely can not get along with your roommate and can find someone willing to swap with you it may be allowed."
Oh wonderful, thought Elphaba certain that whoever her roommates were they would be doing that before the first week was over. Something to look forward to.
"Room twenty-four: Miss Rané Hadar Lejeune, and Misses Kara and Syra Batelle-L'ange," began Madame Morrible.
Rané Hadar LeJeune, repeated Elphaba silently. I wonder if she's related to Kerrin's family in the north? Perhaps I'll ask her one day.
Madame Morrible continued to read through the room assignments until only Miss Upland, Miss Thropp, and Elphaba Hadar whom she hadn't seen yet were left in the courtyard. Elphaba was praying like mad that her name was going to be called out to join an existing room but somehow she doubted that her wish would be granted.
It could be worse, she told herself firmly. At least you don't have to meet them in front of forty other people!
"Miss Upland, I believe you and Miss Thropp are already acquainted and your roommate, Miss Hadar, should be around here somewhere..."
"I beg your pardon, Madame Morrible," said Elphaba, stepping out of the shadows. "I am Elphaba Liana Hadar."
All of three of them turned and stared at her in impolite shock, expecting to see a Quadling they were not prepared for her green skin.
"Nessarose Kaleria Torelle Thropp," said the first to recover, the daughter of the Governor of Munchkinland, "I'm delighted to meet you, Miss Hadar, we don't see many Quadlings in Munchkinland."
Truly the Ancestors love irony, thought Elphaba as she realised one of her roommates was the daughter of her mother's former husband.
"I'm very pleased to meet you, as well, Miss Thropp. It is very gracious of you and Miss Upland to share your room with me."
"It's a suite, actually," corrected Galinda. "The Rose Suite."
"Thank you for the correction, Miss Upland."
"I'm sure you can't wait to get to know each other, young ladies," said Morrible. "Here is a key each, and your student handbooks, the maid will show you the way to your rooms and a porter will bring your luggage up. Miss Hadar there is a package waiting for you in the suite, I believe it contains the rest of your uniforms."
"Thank you, Madame, I hope it was acceptable for me to have them sent here, it seemed a waste of time to have them sent home when I would be here so soon anyway."
"Yes, yes, quite," agreed Morrible. "Considering the date posted on your application I am quite surprised you received your acceptance in time to get here. Now off to your room, shoo, shoo."
A quiet, polite, maid led the three girls upstairs with many sidelong glances at Elphaba, who cheerfully ignored them to look around at the rooms they were passing. The Rose Suite, Miss Upland insisted on pronouncing it so and looked ready to pounce on Elphaba when she made the mistake of saying 'rose', was on the second floor down from the attic of the girls' boarding house and shared that floor with storage rooms.
"Here you go, Misses," said the maid, stopping outside a door painted in a tasteful pastel pink.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Upland, Miss Thropp, but is the colour of our door an indication of the decoration of the rest of the suite?"
Galinda mentally translated her words to "is it all pink?" and nodded.
"I'm told that the decoration of Shiz is done in the best taste," Nessarose assured her. "My mother, Lady Arlina Torelle Thropp, is quite particular about such things. She would never allow me to reside in vulgarly appointed rooms."
"Of course Miss Nessarose and I are quite used to luxurious surroundings," said Galinda, rather snobbishly. Elphaba noticed that Miss Nessarose looked a bit embarrassed by that statement and said nothing.
"Naturally," agreed Elphaba, deciding to show that she was not entirely ignorant of Northern families. "After all you are the niece of the Leader of Gillikin and Miss Thropp is the future Governor of Munchkinland. I should be quite honoured to be keeping such august company."
Galinda looked quite pleased by what she interpreted as a compliment but Elphaba noticed Nessarose looking at her with an expression that showed quite clearly the fact she suspected they were being made fun of, in a gentle laidback sort of way.
"Well," said Nessarose, holding up her key. "Let's not loiter in the hallway, let's see what our new home looks like."
"After you, Miss Nessarose," insisted Galinda. Nessarose nodded and unlocked the door, which led into the sitting room.
Once she recovered from the sight of so much pink Elphaba saw that Nessarose was quite right when she said the rooms were tastefully decorated. None of the colours were too bold and there were not too many variations, all in all it was quite pretty – not to mention enormous, the sitting room alone was two thirds of the size of the home she shared with her family. She took a deep breath when she realised the other two girls were watching her and returned their stares steadily, not one to hesitate over such things she spoke first.
"It's lovely but I suppose I shouldn't let myself become too accustomed to it."
"Why, Miss Hadar," said Nessarose, genuinely confused. "Whatever do you mean?"
"I think," said Galinda, not worrying about making such a statement in front of her friend Nessa who already knew she did (on occasion) do so. "That Miss Hadar is jumping to conclusions, particularly the conclusion that we are going to ask Madame Morrible to remove her from our living arrangement."
"You can hardly blame me for making such a presumption," replied Elphaba reasonably. "Is it not true?"
"I've hardly had a minute to think of it," said Galinda honestly, another rare thing for her. "But we were willing to share our room with a Quadling girl, and you are a Quadling girl are you not?"
"By upbringing, if not entirely by blood," agreed Elphaba. "And I don't know why I don't look like one if that was your next question."
"Well I don't see why we shouldn't share with you, do you Miss Nessarose? As long as you don't have any strange Quadling habits we don't know about, like keeping frogs in the bathroom for example."
Elphaba stared at her wide-eyed for a moment then burst into laughter, repeating Galinda's last words between laughs and gasps.
"Frogs…in the…bathroom!"
Her laughter was a shock to the others, Elphaba had seemed very self-possessed up until this moment then Nessarose saw the joke – obviously neither Elphaba or anyone the green girl knew did such things and she found the stereotype amusing.
"Well," said Elphaba, recovering her composure. "As long as you don't have any funny Gillikinese habits that I have to watch out for I promise not to keep frogs in our bathroom. Miss Nessarose?"
"I certainly have no objections. I must say, Miss Hadar, you have much better manners than I expected of someone raised in the middle of nowhere."
"My mother is 'Miss Hadar'," protested Elphaba. "And even then only on rare occasions. Would it be such a terrible thing for you to call me Elphaba? Or even Miss Elphaba if you must."
"It's not really proper," said Nessarose but, seeing how uncomfortable Elphaba looked and feeling sorry for her being so far from home, added. "But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to do so in our own suite."
"Your mother is 'Miss' Hadar," repeated Galinda, picking up the important point – at least it was important to her.
"What of it?" replied Elphaba, with a shrug. "Something else that isn't 'proper'?"
"Most people would not be so quick to admit that their mother didn't have a husband," explained Nessarose.
"She did have one," replied Elphaba, deliberately misunderstanding and winking at Nessarose to make sure she knew it was deliberate. She found herself liking the younger girls already. "They didn't get along so she went home and took me with her."
"And as we have noticed," remarked Galinda, not maliciously. "Miss Elphaba is not like most people. I think living with you will be quite an adventure, I don't think I've ever known anyone quite like you."
"Well you must tell you if I drive you to distraction with my bad habits," said Elphaba. "Because I will surely do the same for both of you."
"I don't have any bad habits," retorted Galinda with a haughty toss of her hair, a statement which made Nessarose throw a cushion at her and call her a 'dreadful fibber' in a good natured way.
"According to my mother I am nothing but bad habits that will only get worse while I'm away," explained Nessarose. "Father was the one who wanted me to come to Shiz University, Mother thought I could learn well enough at home how to govern the country."
"My grandmother insisted I apply to attend Shiz University this year rather than staying at the local University," Galinda joined in. "She so wanted me to study sorcery with Madame Morrible and I just know she'll criticise me when I tell her that Madame isn't running the seminar, she thinks I'm hopeless as it is."
"If she's anything like my grandmother you must be petrified to tell her," said Nessarose sympathetically.
How sad, thought Elphaba. To be frightened of your own relatives, I simply cannot imagine feeling that way about telling Grandfather anything.
It seemed strange to Elphaba that the two girls, obviously already friends before they came to Shiz, should feel so comfortable talking in front of her – she wasn't sure if she should be pleased or offended.
"If you please, Miss Upland, may I make a suggestion?"
"About what?" asked Galinda, feeling cranky now that she had to think about writing to her grandmother.
"About what to say to your esteemed Grandmother."
"It can't be any worse than what I already have to say," agreed Galinda grudgingly.
"According to their information booklet Shiz University has one of the best libraries in Oz."
"So?"
"If it were me I would tell my grandmother that even though Madame Morrible was not running her Sorcery seminar this semester I was still going to find some sorcery books from which to teach myself the basics, in order to prove to her that I was serious about studying Sorcery and that it was not just a girlish whim."
"Why, Miss Elphaba!" exclaimed Galinda, clapping her hands in excitement. "That's just the most brilliant idea! That's exactly what I'll do, do you really think they will have Sorcery books here?"
"If they don't," answered Nessarose. "You could always ask Madame Morrible to make a suggestion or lend you some."
"That's a wonderful idea as well! What a clever group of girls we are!"
Elphaba, deciding to be polite and not take offence at being referred to as a 'girl', smiled at both of them.
"Now that we've all shown off our brains perhaps we could look around the rest of the suite?"
"Isn't this living room divine?" declared Galinda who, much to Elphaba's carefully restrained amusement, seemed to be having raptures of delight over the furnishings. Admittedly it was quite lavish with a huge sofa, armchairs, a coffee table, and a pretty rug in front of the fireplace but not something to get excited about as far as she was concerned.
"It's beautiful!" agreed Nessarose, whose mother believed in spartan furnishings for the bedrooms of young ladies and refused to let her father 'spoil her' with pretty things. "Don't you think so, Miss Elphaba?"
"It's very…nice," agreed Elphaba, feeling slightly helpless in the face of their enthusiasm. Fortunately her lukewarm response revealed her as one of 'those people' who weren't interested in their surroundings as long as those surroundings didn't interfere with their interests.
"No need to look like you're about to be tortured, Miss Elphaba!" Nessarose assured her. "Miss Galinda and I will keep our enthusiasms to ourselves now."
"If you don't mind, Miss Nessarose, I think we can dispense with the titles in the privacy of our own suite – we have known each other for several months now."
"Very well, Galinda, I certainly don't mind if you don't."
Elphaba looked on, absolutely fascinated by the need for a conversation before one was allowed to use someone's first name without adding a title, this sort of thing made her very glad that she was studying Protocol at Shiz.
"The bedroom?" suggested Elphaba, when the other two seemed disinclined to leave the sitting room.
"Yes, of course," agreed Galinda, leading the way.
"Oh Nessarose," declared the blonde girl. "It's just superb!"
"That wardrobe is enormous!" Elphaba heard Nessarose exclaim and amused herself with the thought that, considering the size of Galinda's pile of luggage, it would need to be.
She suppressed a sigh and followed the girls inside, the room was set out simply: the 'enormous' wardrobe at one end, a dressing table in the other and three beds set with their headboards against the far wall.
"So how do we pick beds?" asked Elphaba politely. "Flip a coin, play 'paper, scissors, rock', a pillow fight?"
Nessarose and Galinda looked at her with equally confused expressions, people who had such an obvious sense of humour and actually displayed it were something they rarely encountered in the society circles they inhabited and Elphaba already seemed to have a disconcerting knack for making them want to laugh with her.
"Really, Miss Elphaba, I just don't know what to think about you," complained Galinda.
"Could you start by thinking to make-believe that you've known me long enough to call me Elphaba?"
"Very well, Elphaba, I believe you are making fun of us and you certainly don't know us well enough to do that!"
"Forgive me, Galinda, I was merely pointing out my ignorance with regards to the proper method of allocating beds when sharing a room with people you are not related to or well acquainted with."
"For a start," suggested Nessarose. "Let's not all say we have no preference, even though it's the polite thing to do, because that will just make things take longer."
"I should probably take the middle bed," suggested Elphaba. "I get up early in the morning and it's closest to the door."
"Would you prefer to be nearest the wardrobe or the dressing table, Nessarose?" offered Galinda.
"Dressing table, if you please."
Just as the sleeping arrangements were finalised the porters bringing up the girls' luggage knocked on the door, followed by the maid assigned to the Rose Suite.
"Good day, Miss" said the maid as Galinda answered the door. "The porters are here with your luggage.
"Wonderful! Miss Nessarose, Miss Elphaba, our luggage is here."
"And a parcel for Miss Hadar," added the maid.
"That will be my uniforms," said Elphaba, taking the package. "Thank you, I'll hang these up while the porters bring your things in, Miss Galinda, Miss Nessarose."
"What about the rest of your things?"
Elphaba raised her eyebrows slightly as she looked at the pile of bags and suitcases.
"In there somewhere, no doubt, I'll come back for them."
It seemed like hours later before Galinda and Nessarose had the wardrobe sorted to their satisfaction and Elphaba was able to add the rest of her things, not that there were many of them. In fact Galinda and Nessarose were quite shocked by the fact she brought hardly any "normal" clothes with her.
"But why would I need to?" an extremely confused Elphaba demanded of Galinda. "I hardly expect to do anything other than studying, I only brought a dress with me because Mother insisted I might need it."
"A dress?" gasped Galinda. "As in only one?"
"That's the usual meaning of 'a', as I understand it," agreed Elphaba. "What would I do with dozens of dresses like you have anyway? Not that I could have so many dresses when I clash with nearly everything but you see my point."
"I suppose you haven't had much exposure to any kind of society," conceded Galinda. "What with your…"
"Country upbringing," offered Nessarose.
"Yes, that," continued Galinda. "So naturally you wouldn't know about all of the things there are to do outside of class – besides studying."
"I'm quite hopelessly ignorant," agreed Elphaba pleasantly.
"You are!" agreed Galinda. "In fact I think it is our duty, Nessarose, to take Elphaba under our wing and educate her in the things she won't learn in classes."
"You really don't have to do that!" protested Elphaba.
"I know!" agreed Galinda cheerfully. "That's what makes me sonice! After all it is the duty of every noblewoman to help those less fortunate than herself and who isn't less fortunate than me?"
"You don't have to do anything you don't want to," Nessarose assured her, seeing that Galinda's enthusiasm was making Elphaba nervous.
"Of course not!" chirped Galinda. "I was just offering!"
"And it was very good of you to make the offer, Galinda, thank you."
"I'm absolutely famished!" declared Galinda, flitting onto the next topic that popped into her head. "Who wants dinner?"
"I promised to write to my mother as soon as I got here," said Elphaba, jumping on the first excuse that came to mind. She was hungry but the idea of eating in front of all of those people on her first day made her feel ill.
"I'll come with you," said Nessarose. "Do we need to change for dinner?"
"Only for formal dinners," replied Galinda, the dress requirements were the only thing she had spent a great deal of time learning. "And they have to give us at least one week's warning before those."
Nessarose and Galinda left the room chattering about the prospect of formal dinners and what they might wear to them.
Mother forgot to warn me about how much people talk up here was Elphaba's first thought after the two girls had left and the room was suddenly much quieter.
It occurred to her that she probably should write to her mother, even though Melena was unlikely to receive the letter for several weeks. It had never been a question of 'letting' her go to University in Gillikin but Elphaba had promised to write every week before her mother felt comfortable with the idea, Melena herself had been quite ready to agree that this was a hypocritical attitude for a woman who had done more or less the same thing when she was younger than Elphaba was now.
Dear Mother, Ilerahn, and Kerrin,
I hope you are well and the twins too. I have arrived at Shiz University and find myself sharing a room with two young ladies, whom I gather volunteered at the request of the Headmistress. Miss Galinda Upland, of the Upper Uplands, and Miss Nessarose Thropp.
I can imagine your surprise at the second, Mother. They both seem like amiable young women, if somewhat too formal and enthusiastic about certain subjects than me. Neither of them seem inclined to request a change of roommates so it seems I shall be spending my first year here at Shiz in the 'Rose Suite' – do note the capitals because Miss Galinda got a look in her eye that promised dire consequences if I referred to it as the 'rose suite' again.
Other than that there isn't much to speak of regarding my journey and arrival, as Mother told me the people up her talk and stare a lot but no more than I expected from the brief contacts I've had with Northerners in the past.
I did find it interesting that the Headmistress is also a sometime teacher of Sorcery yet refused to teach Miss Galinda based solely on a written application. I believe I endeared myself to her a little when suggesting that she could study the theory of the subject independently and approach Madame Morrible again next semester. This letter has taken longer to write that it might appear and I hear my roommates returning from dinner.
I'll write again soon.
Elphaba.