Chapter Sixteen: Women and Children

The school year passed without another hitch, and Elphaba began to dread the summer holidays. Even Fiyero almost wanted classes to continue. However, classes eventually ended and the couple headed home to Fiyero's family.

Fiyero's mother greeted them stiffly and announced she'd given birth only days ago to a baby girl, Fiyero's twenty-second sibling. Elphaba struggled not to cringe at this and smile forcibly as Fiyero squeezed her hand. She was even composed enough to say, "That's wonderful."

That night, the two decided to shake off all of the tension of being around Fiyero's family with a heated lovemaking session. Elphaba jumped on top of Fiyero and they both enjoyed one another thoroughly. The only part that was wrong was the fact that right afterward, there was a knock on the door.

Fiyero grumbled, "Come in."

His father opened the door. "Fiyero, can I speak with you for a moment?"

"That requires me getting up, doesn't it?"

"And, preferably, dressed."

Fiyero climbed out of bed, leaving Elphaba to curl up on her side and pout. He pulled on a pair of pants and left the room to speak with his father. "What in Oz is so important?"

"I hoped I'd never have to warn you of this. Son, you should never allow a woman to be on the top during sex."

"What do you mean? And how did you know…?"

"That servant that accidentally opened the door did it on purpose."

"I'm getting a bolt on that door."

"I'm telling you, never give even the slightest illusion that the woman is in control. She'll take advantage of it. That's how women are. Remember my suggestion to you before your wedding night, about taking her from…?"

"Yes and no, Father." Fiyero said quickly. "I will not do that. It's degrading."

"That's the point."

Fiyero shook his head determinedly.

"One of these days you're going to regret not taking my advice earlier. You'll see, son." Pulino walked down the hall and away.

Fiyero clenched his fists, took a deep breath and reentered the bedroom. "Fae?"

Elphaba was gazing at the doorway when he came in and she sat up. "What was that all about?"

"Royal stuff. Nothing important."

Elphaba studied his face. "You're lying."

"Elphaba, for once, you really don't want me to tell you what all of that was about." Fiyero tried to be honest.

Her face fell as she came to the realization of what he could possibly mean. "Well, that's pleasant."

"You shouldn't have guessed."

"I'm going to sleep."

Fiyero kissed her lips softly and pulled her close to him. "I love you."

"I love you, too," she murmured sleepily.

"Fae?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you like that, what we did?"

"What do you mean?"

"How we made love tonight…"

"It was nice."

"Better than usual?"

"I'd say about the same." She blinked and glanced up at him. "What is it?"

"Nothing. Would you like to do that more often?"

"Sure."

Fiyero smiled to himself. "Okay. Then we will."

"It's just a little weird. I get really weak when, you know, it starts to feel really good, and sometimes it's hard to keep going…"

"I'll help you out," he teased, tugging on her hips with his hands.

"If you say so. Do you like that?"

"Same."

"Oh. All right, then." She closed her eyes.

"Elphaba?"

Elphaba was getting frustrated with being poked and woken. "What the hell?"

"I love you the way you are and I'd never do anything to make you feel less, you know that, right?"

"Shut up."

It was a month into their semi-peaceful visit (as peaceful as was possible) that Fiyero's parents sat them both down in the living room. Elphaba did not look very happy about this and Fiyero was not acting all that ecstatic, either. "What is it?"

"We just wanted to talk to you two about planning for a family and children."

"That can wait. We're not done with college," Elphaba said and made to get up.

Fiyero caught her arm. "Fae, I agree, but sit down."

Elphaba sat down. "What?"

"You do understand that your firstborn son will be the heir to the throne after Fiyero?" Benita asked.

"Of course."

"All of your children will be raised by servants. You won't have to worry about them - in fact, you shouldn't. Playing and talking with your children is allowed twice a week," Pulino explained. "When the child turns sixteen, you are then given full care of it."

Elphaba almost flew into a rant. "Are you kidding me? How do you think I'm going to just give birth to a child, a part of me, and give it up with only the chance to 'visit'?"

"It's the way royal Vinkun women have always done it, for centuries." Benita shrugged.

"Including you," Elphaba said softly.

The two women looked at one another and something passed between them. It was more than an understanding, but not quite a connection. Benita bowed her head.

Pulino said, "Why wouldn't she?"

"Exactly," Benita agreed quietly.

Fiyero shook his head. "We're different, and so this will be different, too. Elphaba, I apologize for not mentioning this to you earlier."

"You weren't even raised by your parents and you don't even tell me?" She demanded.

"It's not my favorite subject."

"That doesn't mean you couldn't have told me."

"Look," Pulino interrupted, "if you two are going to be 'different', we'll have to work that out."

"Later, Father," Fiyero warned. "We have time. Elphaba and I have another two years of college left, you know." He stood up. "If you'll excuse me, my wife and I will leave the room now."

Elphaba allowed Fiyero to tug her out of the room. She didn't protest as he dragged her up the stairs and into their bedroom. He sat down on their bed and she sat next to him. "How did you grow up in this place?"

"There are times when I wonder the same thing, Fae." Fiyero ran his hand up and down her back. "I'm sorry I forced you into this place by convincing you to marry me."

Elphaba laughed. "Fiyero, as much as I dislike some of the things that go on here, I don't regret marrying you."

He smiled and wrapped her in his arms. "You don't resent me?"

"Not in the least bit."

Fiyero seemed to brighten up then, and he tackled her on the bed. "You sure?"

Elphaba fought at him and struggled to free her fists from his grasp, "I was…"

He let go of her but kissed her deeply. "I love you."

She stopped fighting. "I love you, too. But Fiyero, how are we supposed to live like this? We can only do so much to stop everyone else from forcing us to live in a way we don't want."

"We will leave here if it gets bad enough."

"Without money? What would we do, Yero?"

He rolled onto his side and took her hand, playing with her fingers. "I don't know. You think your father might let us stay with your family?"

"Not after all of the times you've got us into awkward situations."

"Fae, really."

"Maybe." Elphaba was obviously not to keen on this idea.

"Forget it. We won't talk about that until we come to it. I can only hope that things here will work out and we can live in this place peacefully. Elphaba, I know you insist you don't have a problem with our life now, but things could've been different had I not practically forced you to marry me and I'm sorry."

"Different? You would've had to marry some random tribal woman and I'd be alone. I like this better. Fiyero," she touched his cheek, "there's such a thing as karma. And it doesn't only work for bad things. If we're forced to endure this much hell, I'm sure there's something good for us in the long run."

"You're optimistic."

"I must be in a very strange mood."

"That's certainly not your attitude normally." Fiyero kissed her hand.

"If we didn't have some happy thoughts right now, I think we'd have killed ourselves, love."

"True enough."

Elphaba bit her lip and thought for a moment. "Um, Fiyero?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't mean to sound rude, but your father scares me."

"Doesn't my mother?"

"Your father actually seems, like, dangerous."

Fiyero rolled his eyes. "Don't worry about that. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."

That was an understatement.