Thanks for the reviews :) And yes, youngwarroir955, the book is depressing. Fitting ending....but oh so sad :(
Glinda was wishing fervently that her stupid phoenix would hurry up. She had sent a letter to her beloved husband, letting him know where she was and what she was doing–lying on both subjects, of course. There was also a list of items –all carefully detailed and described- that should be sent back with her bird.
As the sun set on the horizon and Kiamo Ko was swallowed by darkness one more time, Glinda sighed and turned from the window to her sulking companion. Elphaba still refused to talk to them. She sang lullabies to the monkeys, and sometimes talked with the crows when the birds perched around the bed. But her voice was never above a tiny whisper.
Physically, she had improved. Liir had found a physician on the village more than willing to tend to the Witch. And she had not being the only one. Any number of villagers followed promptly, all wanting to lead a hand. They brought food, water from the lake, milk, wine and medicinal herbs. Glinda was touched and hoped fervently that Elphie would notice this show of support on their part.
But everything involving Elphaba seemed destined to be complicated.
As the days went by, Glinda noted that those people were way too attentive. Something on their faces and shows of appreciation reminded her of the people on the rest of Oz and of their sometimes mindless respect for the Wizard. It became a new source of worries. Elphaba was an extremist where politics was concerned. If she someday snapped out of her depression and abandoned her lone-wolf ways to face the fact that this people actually see her as some kind of leader and protector-and if she decided to actually take charge for a change- then the Wizard would find himself facing a very dangerous rival.
If he was still alive, that is.
Liir spent his days snooping around the lines of soldiers camping near Red Windmill. There were rumors of something big happening on the Emerald City. Something related with the Wizard and an execution. It seemed too big to be more than a rumor but also a way too sensitive subject for a soldier to risk talking about for the pleasure of gossiping.
She would find out soon enough what was going on. She just needed to wait for her bird to return.
And she thought the phoenixes were fast…
Elphaba opened her eyes when the monkey stirred. They exchanged a loving glance and then the animal hopped down and spread its wings. Soon, there was a new one demanding attention, and her green arms opened to welcome the beast on her lap. A green mommsie, with furry winged babies.
"I sent my phoenix home for some things." Glinda said, more to listen a human voice -even if it was her own- than expecting an answer. "Maybe when he arrives, we could go to the village and buy some things…like new clothes. Using the same clothe for days isn't really adding to…uh…your scent." She smiled apologetically, but Elphaba didn't seem to mind. She didn't seem to be listening either.
"Cloth. Stink."
Glinda turned to look at Chistery. The creature sniffed the little jacket he had on and bare his teeth in a grotesque grimace, shaking his head.
"What happened to him?" She asked, petting him with her fingertips. "I've never seeing an Animal act this way."
Elphaba's eyes opened and for the first time in days, she acknowledged Glinda's presence.
"Can't see the difference anymore?"
"What?"
"He is not a Monkey."
"But he talks!"
"Yes."
Glinda frowned. She remembered the dream, the headless Doctor Dillamond. He is still an Animal, even if he has no tongue to speak. Were animals, still animals even if they talked?
"Is it a spell?"
"No. What do you care what he is anyway? What difference is there anymore between one and the other if both are slaves and food for you?"
"Hey, that's not true! I don't eat Animals and I don't trade them as if they were property."
"And still you call phoenix your Phoenix."
"What? He is no Phoenix."
"You didn't even bother to ask, I see."
Glinda frowned. The bird….or Bird had never talked to her. And still he seemed to understand most of the instructions he was given. But phoenixes were so smart. Maybe, he was just well trained. Maybe…
Maybe life was just a long stream of maybes. She sighed and turned back to the window. Things would be straighten out once the bird returned.
Curse that stupid bird for being so slow.
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"Nanny is dead. You pushed her off the stairs."
Glinda chocked on her tea. She had managed to drag Elphaba to the dining hall that evening and as they sat in silence- chewing slowly on their rancid cheese and dry bread- Elphie noted the empty chair. Her friend just stared at Liir numbly, and then returned to her plate.
"Oh…"
"Accidents will happen." Glinda said, trying to sooth her and glaring at the tackles…peasant. "We were all so edgy that day, so upset and…"
She stopped. Everyone had their eyes glued to their plates again. Only Chistery seemed to be paying attention and he wasn't even a Monkey.
The old winkie physician murmured something. Liir used to call her Ms Potato. And at first, Glinda just let him be. The woman apparently didn't understand what it was being told to her anyway and there were more pressing matters at the time. But when Chistery took the platonic comparison literally and decided to check how the walking potato tasted -biting the poor woman's ear and almost taking a piece off- Glinda scolded Liir at length and, for once, the boy obeyed and dropped the nickname. He was a good boy most of the time.
"Would you ask our guest where it would be a nice place to do some shopping?" Glinda said, smiling politely at the winkie woman.
Liir translated her question to the Vinkus language and Ms Potato mumbled again.
"She says the village. But I would say the Emerald City." Liir answered. "What if we go there? You and I, I mean…" He blushed. Glinda was old enough to be her mother, and still he seemed baffled with her beauty. It was flattering. "To buy this stuff….and then we can come back."
Glinda sighed. How she wished to go the Emerald City too- to the new market opening right on the center of the city and all that. But leaving Elphaba alone was not an option.
"The village it is then." She smiled with badly faked enthusiasm
Ms Potato kept chewing on her food.
Something jumped on top of her and the Good Witch of the North suddenly sat upright and threw a punch at the darkness with a mighty howled curse. There was a thud and a startled shriek of pain.
"No! Mean! Hurt poor Chist!"
Chistery's voice whined in the dark as Glinda searched clumsily from her lamp on the night table.
"Fae! Witch. Mean!"
The door of the room was slammed shut, and Glinda started. When she finally managed to lit the stupid lamp, Chistery had left and was shrieking and wailing in the corridors outside.
Elphaba was sleeping on the other side of the room, snoring softly. Glinda heaved a quivering breath, her heart slowing its frantic pace. And then she froze. There was a huge eye staring at her from the window.
"I'm putting a bell on everyone's neck first thing tomorrow." Glinda promised with a hiss throwing the blankets off of her and storming towards the window, where the golden head of her phoenix was now poking through. "Down!"
The bird blinked and descended. Glancing one last time at Elphaba, Glinda opened the door and left the room.
Liir bitter protests stopped abruptly when they reached the patio. The sight of the mighty bird seemed compensation enough for the fact of being awaken before sunrise to carry heavy luggage like an ass.
"Are you a boy or a girl?" He asked while un-strapping a rather heavy case off the bird's back.
"He is male." Glinda answered without thinking, but then the echo of Elphaba's words resounded on her mind. "….right?"
The phoenix blinked and then shrugged.
"Why does it matter?"
Glinda's jaw tightened. It was a Phoenix…and it was a she. The Good Witch opened her mouth, closed it again, blushed and then cleared her throat.
"You are the hugest Bird I've ever seeing!" Liir stated in awed. "Well, I'm told rocs are even bigger, but I've never seeing a roc before."
The Phoenix shuddered.
"Dreadful things they are. Not very smart either." Golden eyes fell briefly on the blushing Glinda. "Like some crawling things."
That snapped her out of her embarrassment.
"You forget yourself." She remarked stiffly, coldly. "I still am who I am. And you still are my…uh…servant, I guess."
The Phoenix snorted.
"Servants get paid."
"I do give you food and shelter."
"What about some of the gold coins I brought all the way from the Emerald City to this forsaken place?"
"What would a Bird want with gold?"
"What would one single hairless Chimp want with so many clothing?"
Liir glanced from Glinda to the Phoenix. Then he picked two cases and hurried inside.
It was a game of sorts. She wasn't sure Elphie see it that way, but Glinda did. Either she managed to anger her friend and force her out of her autism, or Elphaba managed to keep her façade of indifference and silence.
Glinda Chuffrey Upland never loosed, though.
The Phoenix sat at the table with them during breakfast. The sorceress questioned her extensively about the situation of Birds in all Oz. The Beasts were forced to either be slaves in so called civilization, or returned to the wild. At the mercy of the crop or the hunters, as they said. Birds, however, had wings and therefore access to places very difficult to reach for humans. Those that stayed were either caged or disabled. Why did healthy and unrestrained Birds stayed?
"It's not all that bad." The Phoenix said. "My owners have always being good to me." She glanced at Glinda. "Even though quite rude at times."
Elphaba kept her eyes down. But they weren't so dull and indifferent anymore.
"But you are a beast of burden. Isn't that annoying?" Glinda pressed on.
The Phoenix clacked her beak and white eyelids covered the golden sockets of her eyes for an instant.
"You humans are only causing damage to yourselves with this stupidity." The Animal finally said. Elphaba raised her eyes from the plate, but Glinda wasn't paying attention to her anymore. The game was forgotten. "I was a guardian, like all of my kind. We protected you with fearsome determination from horrors that had apparently ceased to exist for you. Real threats and not this joke of a war the Wizard is trying to cause…or was. You pulled us away from our duties to be slaves and servants. To be mounts like any vulgar horse. It will come the time when you will look back to these days and regret your foolishness."
"What do you mean?"
They all started. Elphaba wasn't a decorative plant anymore. She had talked.
"We are the Guardians. We are sacred Animals." The Phoenix said.
"Yes…and Dragons and Unicorns and Elephants."
The Phoenix nodded.
"And just who assigned this title? And those important duties?" Glinda asked mildly, although her skepticism was clear on her voice. "Ozma, perhaps?"
"Lurlina herself." The Bird announced proudly.
"Really now?" One of the Good Witch's perfect eyebrows shut upwards making her look more and more like the polite but cold aristocratic lady she was expected to be at her homeland. "Are you and your kind immortal, perhaps?"
"Aren't we all?" The Bird seemed surprised at the question.
Glinda stared helplessly. But Elphaba was there to rescue her this time.
"The soul. When people die, they apparently reincarnate into a new being. The only difference between the phoenix line- and Lurlina's- and the rest of mortals is that they reincarnate on the same creatures, instead of changing forms."
"Yes." The Phoenix nodded pleased.
The Witch sneered.
"For once, Elphie, we agree. This assumptions can't be supported with any substantial proves."
"You humans will realize soon enough the mistake you have made. The world does not end in Oz. What you have as unpopulated desert, it's not. Demons and spirits roam the deadly sands, starving shadows of evil. Without us there to guard and protect the Four Horizons those wicked creatures will come and devour every living thing on their passing. We guardians shall then take our stand and defend those who deserve to live. You humans won't be missed."
The Phoenix rose to her full height, and left the room in huff of gold and red feathers. The others stayed in silence for some time. Ms Potato had her eyes wide open in an expression that would have being quite comical in other circumstances.
"Wicked…" Elphaba murmured, pocking at her food.