Thank you guys for your reviews! This is a bit shorter than the first, but it allows for a bit of a faster pace in the story
"Do you see her?" Nessa whispered to Elphaba.
"I can't tell. It's too dark," Elphaba replied. Her green hand let go of the curtain, allowing the deep blue material fell back into place. "I thought father said she would be here at sundown."
"Wait!" Nessa exclaimed, dropping her own curtain in excitement.
Sure enough, a small black dot was roving over the hill on the horizon. Even from afar and through the pouring rain, the dot bumped along the road. A carriage.
"Hello girls," Ameya announced as she closed her umbrella in the small entry way.
Elphaba and Nessarose were waiting only a few feet to the right of the door, their faces a light with joy in seeing their aunt.
"Girls, why don't you welcome your aunt?" Frex said loudly as he stepped up behind the girls from the nearby foyer.
"Hello, Aunt Ameya," the girls said in unison.
"Hello girls. And please. It's just Ameya."
"Well, Just Ameya," Frex said, pushing Elphaba aside to step through. "Your arrival came a tad later than expected, so we are due for supper immediately, or the food will go cold."
Ameya's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but her face broke into a smile.
"Then please let me go wash up," she stated. Frex pointed to a door down the hall. With a slight incline of her head, Ameya stepped down the hallway and into the washroom.
"Nessarose, go ahead," Frex offered in a softer voice. His voice had been much kinder in the past few days. At least it was to Nessarose. He had taken Ameya's words to heart, and he had no intent on her ever choosing Elphaba over him.
Nessa gave a smalls smile and turned down the same hall. She, however, continued past the washroom and took a right towards the formal dining room.
Frex stood, a smile plastered over his face, until his younger daughter had disappeared from sight. But as soon as she was gone, he pushed Elphaba back a few steps into the foyer.
"I want your aunt to stay in a room close to Nessarose. You will move your belongings down to the basement and prepare the room for her," Frex hissed in a low voice.
"But father we have at least five rooms ready for guests. And Nessa doesn't need anyone to be with her while she sleeps. She can care for herself," Elphaba pleaded in a whisper.
"Was I not clear, girl? You are to your belongings out and hers in. Now," he demanded, picking up Ameya's luggage and thrusting it into Elphaba's arms.
Frex turned in a huff. Elphaba watched as his coattail flashed out of sight just as Ameya opened the washroom door. Immediately, she looked down the hall where Elphaba now stood, holding her suitcases.
"Elphaba, I can take those to my room if you'll just show me where," Ameya offered, extending her arms. But Elphaba shook her head. "Just show me where and then we can go to dinner."
But Elphaba continued to shake her head.
"You room isn't ready yet. And I'm... I'm not very hungry. I can get it ready while you eat. Really. I can," Elphaba pushed as Ameya opened her mouth to argue.
Ameya knew better than to do so. She just gave Elphaba an insincere smile, which Elphaba returned before she swept from view leaving nothing but a slight green streak hanging in the air.
"So," Frex announced as Ameya sat down at the table where he and Nessa had already begun to eat. "How was the trip?"
"Uh, it was a bit long. The horses got a bit spooked by some thunder and lightning. We had to pull aside, which explains my tardiness. For which I apologize," Ameya explained, slightly confused.
"Ah well," Frex said raising his glass to her. "You are here now. To you?"
Nessarose smiled and raised her glass as well. Ameya did the same, though she was becoming more confused by the second.
As they sipped and lowered their glasses, Nessa continued to sip.
"Nessarose, stop drinking so quickly or you'll make yourself sick," Frex ordered.
Nessa lowered the glass from her lips, and swallowed her mouthful of water with a gulp. Frex looked back at Ameya, despite the fact that Ameya was watching Nessarose. Nessa's eyes were saucers, and her mouth looked like it was trying to forms words but couldn't.
"Thank you Frex. But are you not going to ask?"
"Ask what? I just asked you about your trip," he replied, poking his fork into his broccoli and raising it to his mouth. "Isn't that the standard post-travel discussion?"
"Yes, but I'm confused as to why you have not asked of the whereabouts of Elphaba."
Frex looked to Nessarose, who was intensely staring into her lap, and then back at Ameya.
"Elphaba has lost her dinner privileges for a while, Ameya. We do not stand for disrespect in this household, and when you do so, you are punished."
Ameya froze.
"You are denying her meals?"
"Only when she misbehaves," Frex let out a derisive laugh. "I don't think she has had dinner with us in about three months."
Ameya's fork clamored to the floor.
"That is neglect, Frexspar. I will not sit idly by and let you deny her food," Ameya said seething. Nessa pushed her chair back from the table a few inches.
"Ameya, we have rules," Frex said in a calm voice that was somehow still filled with mirth. "Elphaba broke the rules."
The pair simply stared at each other. It was almost three minutes before Ameya finally looked away. Frex sat back in his chair with a smug smirk.
"As for Elphaba, she is preparing your room. I wish you to be close to Nessarose, so she is currently cleaning out the adjacent bedroom."
"But father," Nessa squeaked. "That's Elphaba's room."
"It is now your aunt's room. I wish you to be cared for."
"I did not come to become Nessarose's keeper, Frexspar," Ameya hissed. She quickly turned to Nessa with a softer tone. "Though I am glad to help you shall you need it. But," her neck, and expression, snapped back to Frex. "I will not replace Elphaba. And as long as I am here, you will never punish her like this again."
Frex stood, and Ameya did the same.
"You are our guest, Ameya. This time we are under my roof. I hold the power here."
"No. I am the Thropp bloodline. I have returned to the home of my father, and shall resume power. You may be the Governor Frex, but I am the Eminent."
"No, Ameya. I am. The title was passed to me upon my marriage, and upon the passage of The Wizard's 35th Law."
"Oh yes," Ameya sneered. " I forgot. You received it because the Wizard said so. Not because you come from the most powerful family in Munchkinland."
Ameya threw down her napkin and stormed from the room.
Frex banged his fist on the table, which made Nessa jump.
"Why did I invite her to come?" Frex muttered, completely unaware that his youngest daughter was still sitting next to him.
"Father?" Nessa whispered. Frex looked up from his steak. "May I be excused?"
"No. You need to eat, Nessarose," Frex barked.
Silently, Nessa and Frex ate. Tears streamed down Nessa's face, but she wouldn't dare ask again.
"Elphaba?" Ameya asked as she knocked lightly on the door to the basement bedroom.
Elphaba jumped so high her head nearly grazed the ceiling.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Ameya apologized, as Elphaba collapsed breathless onto the unmade bed. "I didn't mean to scare you. I didn't know I could have that effect on people."
"It's...okay," Elphaba breathed. "It's just... it's just that the only woman in this household who talks to me is Nessa and you understand I'm sure that seeing her standing in the basement doorway would be actively traumatic for me."
"I do understand. Though I'm sure if I were Nessarose that you would end up pleased," Ameya said as she entered the room. "Can I help?"
Elphaba nodded, and then waved the sheet out in front of her. Ameya caught the other side of it and fitted it over the mattress.
"I did not ask for your room by the way. And I will get you back in it. I promise. Trust me. I know how to work your father."
Elphaba's eyes widened.
"No. Please don't. He'll think I put you up to it," Elphaba said quickly.
"No. I'm sure he won't. You should have heard me at dinner. Speaking of which," Ameya tucked in Elphaba's quilt and took a seat on the bed. "I need to know what you did to deserve losing dinner?"
"When?"
"This week. Or, I guess, whichever punishment this is."
Elphaba picked up her pillow and sat down at the head of the bed.
"This time it is two weeks because Nessa came in crying two weeks ago because he agreed to yet another surgery on her legs without her permission. I confronted him about it, and he punished me. And Nessa still has to get the surgery. He gave her two weeks of notice, so I cannot have dinner for two weeks. I'm still allowed breakfast and lunch. Just not dinner," Elphaba explained, using the later lines to try and reassure her aunt, whose expression had become on of horror. "And it doesn't apply when at guest's houses, so I could eat at yours."
"None of what you just said is acceptable," Ameya said, her mouth still hanging open. Elphaba felt she could she the well educated cogs of her brain working.
"Please," Elphaba asked gently, placing her hand on her aunt's arm. "Don't say anything. I'll let you have the next one. I promise."
Elphaba stood smiling, but Ameya was still processing it all.
"I... I can't just let it happen."
"Please," Elphaba repeated sincerely. "Tomorrow is Nessa's birthday, and my punishment will be up. I don't want to miss having dinner with her on her seventeenth birthday. It's an important one. "
"I understand. It's just very difficult for me to do so, Elphaba," Ameya stated, still shaking her head. But then it jerked up in alarm.
"You said she came to you crying two weeks ago?"
"Yes."
"And you said she was given two weeks notice?"
"Yes."
"Please tell me he isn't making her do it on her birthday," Ameya begged in horror. Elphaba shook her head.
"No, no. It's the day after. Though I doubt Nessa would care. She despises her birthday. Father tries to act all happy and nice, but it doesn't change the fact that our mother died on the day Nessa was born. I think Nessa blames herself for our mother's death," Elphaba said as Ameya rose to her feet.
"Well, she definitely did not. And this will be her seventeenth, so we have to hide the ring tonight," Ameya pointed out.
"She doesn't want to find the ring. Before we knew about you, she told me, as I would be the one to hide it. She is nervous she won't be able to find it, and doesn't want it just left lying in the open either," Elphaba explained as they exited through the door. Ameya paused outside in the dark hallway.
"I'm sure I'll be able to set it up for her. Finding the ring on your seventeenth birthday is a Munchkinland tradition. I'm sure deep down that she wants to take part," Ameya turned to go up the stairs, but then turned back to Elphaba. "Wait. If you were considered the woman of the house, who hid yours?"
"No one," Elphaba shrugged. "I don't mind though. I just want to be able to do it for Nessa. I want to make it a birthday she'll actually enjoy."
Elphaba started up the stairs, but Ameya continued to ponder for a moment.
On a girl's seventeenth birthday in Munchkinland, the woman of the house hides a simple silver band somewhere around the house. Once found, the girl is deemed a woman, and the family and friends celebrate. The band is to be worn on the right fourth finger until marriage, when it is then worn as a wedding band.
Ameya looked down at her own ring, still in its place on her right hand. Marriage had never interested her, but the ring was a special part of growing up as a Munckinlander. Hers, though worn and scratched, was one of her most prized possessions.
As she climbed the stairs, Ameya smiled at the thought of her own seventeenth birthday, but was hit with a pang at the thought of Elphaba not getting to find her own ring. But as soon as she started to wonder if there was a way to procure two silver bands in time for tomorrow, Elphaba skidded to a halt at the top of the stairs. Her emerald face shone with fear.
"Elphaba, what's wrong? Is it your father? Tell me what happened," Ameya demanded. But Elphaba just frantically shook her head. "Then tell me. Come on. You look terrified. What's wrong? What's happened?"
"I can't find Nessarose anywhere."