For disclaimer and other stuff, see part 1 and thank you for the review to XxXxIcePrincessXxXx.
Chapter 19
The next couple of days passed in a blur. Fiyero hadn't had time to return to Evergreen and Glinda was busy preparing for a ball.
Two days ago Madame Morrible had told Glinda that it was time to have the wedding. The Ozians wanted something to look forward to and they had promised them the wedding of Glinda the Good and Fiyero, captain of the Gale-Force.
Glinda now stood in her room, getting her new wedding-dress fitted. She decided that she couldn't wear her other wedding dress since Fiyero had already seen her in it. Her new dress reminded her of Elphaba, a simple white dress with threads of emerald green woven into it under a white frock with a long train.
"Not fluffy enough. You, as Glinda the Good, should wear something more stylish." Madame Morrible said as she entered the room.
"I want something elegant."
Madame Morrible only nodded.
"Madame, I have a question. I need a little flower girl and I know that you have Elph-the Witch's daughter."
"You want her at your wedding? As a flower-girl?"
"Yes."
Madame Morrible looked at Glinda for a moment, trying to decide what she should say.
"I am having a meeting with the Wizard soon, we will talk later."
With that Morrible left the room and Glinda was alone again.
Sighing, Glinda sat down on of her chairs. She was worried about Fiyero. Ever since she had discovered the letter in Elphaba's things she started to observe her fiancé, trying to imagine what kind of love affair Elphaba and Fiyero had. Maybe some sordid affair before both attended Shiz. But Elphaba had never said that she knew Fiyero from somewhere. Or maybe they had been together before Glinda and Fiyero had fallen in love.
Glinda decided that she would ask Fiyero about his affair with Elphaba. Maybe he could tell her a romantic story, but first Glinda decided that she wanted to settle the matter about Elphaba's child. Tanith was now an orphan and Glinda wanted to care for the girl. Making up her mind, Glinda made her way to the throne-room. As she walked into the throne-room she saw the Wizard offering Madame Morrible a drink from a very familiar looking glass-bottle.
"Where did you get the bottle?" Glinda asked the Wizard, all thoughts about Tanith forgotten.
"It always belonged to me. I brought it with me from the land far away."
"A similar bottle belonged to Elphaba's mother."
The Wizard turned white. Glinda's words had triggered a memory of a night long ago; a night in which he had been with a beautiful woman, the wife of the governor of Munchkinland: Melena Thropp.
"She was my daughter, Melena's daughter, our daughter." The Wizard whispered but still loud enough for Morrible and Glinda to hear him.
"You let them kill your own child!" Glinda spat.
"No wonder she was powerful and could decipher the Grimmerie. She was the child of both worlds. To think about what her daughter could do with the right guidance, unbelievable." Morrible was happy, delighted even.
The Wizard turned towards Glinda. He now realized that he had destroyed his dream of fatherhood. His daughter, Elphaba, was dead and no one could bring back the dead.
"What should I do now?" he asked her.
"The most sensible thing. You will turn the leadership of Oz over to me and return to the land where you came from. I will tell the Ozians that leadership had been to strenous for you."
Glinda didn't know why she suggested even such a thing, but she was angry with the Wizard. She wanted him gone, out of her life and Oz forever.
The Wizard nodded, still thinking about the fact that he had let the Gale-Forcers torture his only child until she died. Now he would leave Oz and never return. Everything in Oz would only remind him of her if he stayed.
Before he left the throne-room for the last time he turned to Glinda.
"You knew her, my daughter?" he asked.
"She was my best friend."
"Tell me something about her."
Madame Morrible, who had been standing nearby, plotting how to use Tanith for the cause, looked at the Wizard.
"There is nothing to tell about the Witch," she spat.
"I disagree Madame. Elphaba was a wonderful person, only wanting to do good things. She was possibly the best person who has ever lived in Oz and I will honor her memory and make sure she didn't die in vain," Glinda answered.
"I wish I had known her better," the Wizard said as he left the room and Oz forever.
"What was that about?" Morrible said as she looked at Glinda, surprised. She hadn't heard what both had been talking about earlier.
"It's called a change in regime. Guards!"
And as the Guards entered the room Glinda pointed at Morrible. "I guess the Wizard has told you about me ruling Oz from now on. I want Madame Morrible to be thrown into Southstairs and search her rooms for a little girl."
By the next day, everything was the way it should always have been. Oz was at peace with no fake wizard was ruling the country . Madame Morrible was where she should always have been, imprisoned for her sins.
Glinda was standing on the balcony, watching the cheering crowd. She had announced that she would now rule instead of the Wizard, who had taken an indefinite leave from leadership.
Sighing, Glinda turned towards Fiyero, who stood nearby holding Elphaba's daughter in his arms. The Guards had found the little girl locked in one of the rooms in Morrible's quarters. She had taken a liking to Fiyero and clung to his side ever since.
Glinda guessed that Tanith was two or three years old, which meant that Elphaba was pregnant by the time she had defied the Wizard. And with Elphaba dead, she would never know who had fathered Tanith. Maybe a stranger Elphaba had met while she had been in hiding?
"What are we going to do now?" she asked.
"Go on as planned. You will rule Oz from now on and do good."
"And Tanith?"
"She should be with her mother."
"But Elphie is dead. I am going to raise her, teach her about style and etiquette and love her as if she is my own."
"No Glinda. I am taking Tanith with me and bring her to her mother," Fiyero told her.
"Fiyero, you can't take her to Elphie because she is dead. You told me yourself that you found her corpse."
"She is at Evergreen," he blurted out.
Fiyero had always known that someday he would have to tell Glinda the truth about Elphaba being alive but he hadn't planned to tell her like that.
Shocked, Glinda looked at her fiancé. She knew about Evergreen, a small cottage his parents had bought for him. If Elphaba was at Evergreen, it would mean that she was still alive and everyone had lied to her.
"Alive?" Glinda finally asked, needing to know for sure that the friend whose death she had mourned was still alive.
Fiyero only nodded.