(AN: Meanwhile, back in the castle of Worms...)

A New Friend

Glinda was on her way back to her room, with a guard on the right and left walking beside her.

Once they entered the hallway, the two ran towards the bodyguards at the entrance of the room.

Glinda gasped silently at the sight she saw.

They were both lying on the ground, as if sleeping.

"Up with ye!" shouted one of the guards, prodding one of the sleepers with the beam of his pike.

"It's to the stocks you'll go," the other stated, kicking the second guard. "For fallin' asleep on your march."

"To say the very least!" added the first guard.

Slowly, the two rose to their feet.

"We weren't sleeping!" one of the guards said.

"Then what were you doing, laying on your arses?"

"There was an old man," the second guard returned. "He walked up and passed his hand over us, then all was black."

"Uh-huh." one of Glinda's escort-guards said in disbelief. "Well get up and to your posts. And don't expect your punishment to be with-held because you fainted at the sight of an old man."

The other guard laughed at the larger one's jest, and then the two of them pushed Glinda back into the room.

The door shut fast behind them, and the grinding of the lock in the key-hole echoed on Glinda's mind.

She was a prisoner here.

But even worse, she noticed something else.

Fiyero and Elphaba weren't inside.

Once the King discovered this, he sent his guards out looking for them all throughout the castle and the rest of the city of Worms.

Glinda, meanwhile, was stuck in the room, empty and alone, feeling very depressed.

Baggage, alone and without even the comfort of the one she was now starting envy.

Because she got the fairy-tale ending, even though she, Glinda, was the beautiful one.

She rose from the bed where she sat at with a sudden yelp.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Come in." she returned.

Not that it mattered. These people would come and go into her room with or without her permission, she reminded herself.

She was their prisoner, and they did not have to respect her wishes.

The door opened and a young woman entered the room.

It was the young girl she saw behind the throne when they first met the king.

"Hello," she said.

This was perhaps the first kind word spoken to her since her arrival.

"I thought you might be lonely," the young girl said. "Truly, I have not had another woman my age around the castle since I was a little girl. I know it can be lonely here."

Glinda nodded.

"What's your name?" the girl asked.

"Glinda."

"My name is Gudrun," came the answer.

Glinda's eyes examined the young girl carefully.

She was young, perhaps as old as she herself had been when she first met Elphaba all those many years ago. Her golden hair went cascading like a waterfall of sunshine down her back. The face was pale and lovely; a flowering youth at last come into the full blossom of womanhood. A pair of baby blue eyes looked out innocently from the face.

Glinda also noticed a small trinket hanging from a golden chain around her neck.

"You seem troubled, Glinda." Gudrun said, taking a seat across from her on one of the empty beds.

The one that Glinda's friends were supposed to be inhabiting.

"The queen," she admitted. "She has promised me to marry your brother Gott-something."

"Gotthorm." Gudrun answered.

"I don't even know him," Glinda said. "How can I be forced to marry someone I don't even know...someone I may not even like?"

"My brother is a good man," Gudrun answered. "He can be violent at times, and he eats a lot, and drinks much mead, and when he's aroused, he can be deadly. But he's a good man, nonetheless. He'll make a fine husband."

"I don't know," Glinda continued. "But there's something else too."

"What's wrong?"

"My friends..."

"We'll find them," Gudrun assured her. "Don't worry."

Glinda did not know whether to wish that they were found or wish that they remained un-found.

"No, its not that."

"Then what is it?"

"Elphaba, well, she sort of stole Fiyero from me." Glinda answered. "I told myself I could get over it, since it was just a silly crush, but that's not it."

She sniffed, trying hard to choke back tears.

"I've always been the pretty one," Glinda stated. "The beautiful one, the popular one. But now Elphie...Elphaba...she's pretty, and she has the prince...and a baby at that."

Tears came to Glinda's eyes.

Gudrun produced a kerchief from within the folds of her dress and offered it to Glinda.

"I mean," Glinda said through sobs. "I was supposed to have the fairy tale ending, not her. What do I get? I get to marry a total stranger!"

Glinda was now sobbing aloud, just like that day at the train station.

Gudrun placed her hand on Glinda's hand.

"I will talk to my father," she said. "We shall hold a banquet tonight, where you shall eat and drink with the King and Queen. There you shall meet my brother, and perhaps things will be different."

Taking the kerchief from Glinda's hands, Gudrun wiped the tears from the blond's face.

"Why are you doing this?" Glinda asked. "You don't even know me."

Gudrun's hand reached down to her lower neck and pulled out the little golden trinket.

Glinda noticed that it was in the shape of a cross, with the likeness of a man stretched out upon it.

"Our LORD tells us not to be forgetful to entertain strangers," Gudrun answered. "To love thy neighbor as thyself."

"It's your obligation," Glinda said, her head lowering.

"Even if it weren't," Gudrun answered, lifting Glinda's head up to her eye level. "It makes me sad to see you cry. Please, Glinda, will you be happy tonight at the banquet?"

"I don't know," she answered, shaking her blond curls about.

"Well, then, will you at least try to be happy?"

Glinda hiccuped a yes.

"Then I shall be happy as well." Gudrun smiled.

(Long time no update. Well, thought I should, since I've been away for so long. And look at me, making Gudrun a sympathetic character. In the myth, I really hated her and preferred a Sigurd/Brynhildr. However, this is not 100% Norse mythology [if you want that, check out "Heroes of Asgard" on FictionPress], and on that note, I'm considering changing this from a tragedy into something else...hmmm.)

(Oh well, it will give our heroes something else to do besides just observing. Like in the previous installment, they need to take an active role, but not overly active. Ideas and suggestions are welcome, and I hope to have the next chapter up a.s.a.p.)