(AN: Hello again, Wicked-fans! It's been a very long time since I've updated this story, because I've had lots of hang-overs about continuing it. Part of me wants to leave this story, while another dares to leave it unfinished and continue it in a separate story [as you may see later on].)

(Original title was "A Feast for the Vain" after the Kamelot song of the same name. However, since it's not going to present the actual feast, I decided to change the name. Now enjoy!)

Glinda

Glinda couldn't remember the last time she had eaten such rich food.

Chicken, quail, porpoise, pheasant, herring, pork, cheeses, breads, sausages and some of the finest wine she had ever tasted. The food was so fattening that she dared not eat too much, for she still had a figure to maintain.

Even though the Queen insisted that Glinda was far too thin and needed more to herself than what she had.

They were eating in the Queen's bed-chamber with Gudrun and several of the Queen's servants and the Queen as well. It was not proper for a woman to eat in public, since it was "a filthy ordeal." Glinda thought that their concerns were baseless and silly.

Didn't these people ever hear of forks and spoons?

Glinda was dipping a piece of bread into her soup when she heard the voice of the Queen.

"You will come with me, girl." Grimhild said.

"But I thought..."

"Don't question me!" Grimhild hissed.

Glinda turned to Gudrun, who nodded to her to do as she was instructed. The Ozian rose to her feet and followed Grimhild down the hallway. It reminded her of the narrow hallway that led to a certain attic in the Palace of the Emerald City.

Immediately, her thoughts went back to Oz. She had sworn before all of Oz to do her best to live up to her name...and here she was, running about after Elphaba. How could she do that to Oz? There had to be something she could do. If she was going to find her happily-ever-after, she had to do it without returning to Oz.

But she had to return to Oz to protect it. Without her defense, it could be helpless: what if the Nome King decides to wage war against Oz? What if there is another like the Wizard who rises up to take his place? What if Madam Morrible escaped from the Southstairs? As silly as it sounded, what if the villain of ancient Ozian history came back to life? The hardened woman of Glinda was fighting with the immature Galinda inside, and neither of them seemed to be winning.

Just then, something hit her that snapped her back into reality.

"I say!" shouted the friar. "Mind where you walk, young strumpet!"

"I'm sorry, sir." Glinda returned.

"Cannot a man of God walk in peace without being ran into by an empty-headed..."

"Silence!" Grimhild commanded. She walked over to the cleric, who was her husband, the King's, confessor. In his arms was a book that Glinda hadn't noticed until now.

"And what is that?" the Queen asked.

"I found it in the room those three strangers were in before they escaped," he commented. "An evil work, the doing of the devil! I was on my way to destroy it..."

Grimhild laughed.

"Destroy it?" she commented. "I say, friar, there's nothing here that would do anyone any harm."

"B-But your Highness..."

"I may be illiterate," Grimhild said. "But I know what letters look like, and all I see here are dazzling white swirls on pages of violet."

"It's in a backwards language, known only to those who are in league with the Devil!"

"How does a man of God know so much about what the Devil's servants do?" Grimhild asked, with obvious arrogance.

"I must know the tactics of the Enemy when I am forced to face them." the friar said. "Now if you will excuse me..."

"I will," Grimhild said. "But this book stays with me."

"But, your Highness..."

"If your God is as powerful as you say He is," she mocked. "He'll make sure nothing happens to Christian King Gjuki's wife, eh?"

The friar walked away, looking very offended by her remark. The Queen, however, continued walking on, with Glinda tagging on behind her.

"Uh, e-excuse me?"

"What is it?" Grimhild snapped.

"If I may, your Highness, could I have that book, please?"

"Why?"

"Well, it belongs to me." Glinda stated.

Grimhild turned to her.

"You can read?" she mocked.

"A little." Glinda nodded.

A laugh escaped the lips of Queen Grimhild.

"Not even my husband knows how to read," she said, still smiling at what she thought was a vain jest. "Only those damn friars know hot read. How can you, an ignorant little girl, know how to read what obviously isn't even real letters?"

"I learned." Glinda returned.

Grimhild scoffed.

"A woman who can read," she said with disdain. "That'll be the day. We're meant to submit, not to rule, only then do we have power."

Glinda had no idea what that meant, but she was glad to have the Grimmerie back.

Even if Grimhild threw it at her, making the little blond teeter back in recoil.

"Now, my dear," Grimhild said, turning to Glinda. "It's time to meet the prince."

Late at night, everyone else was asleep.

Everyone else except Glinda. She could not sleep. Deep inside the battle was still waging between the two parts of the blond Gilikinese girl's personality: Glinda, who had the potential, the power, to be a hero, to make change, and Galinda, the spoiled princess who only wanted to have her way.

The feast went exactly as Grimhild had planned. It was not, however, enjoyable for Glinda at all. To call Gotthorm a slob would be an insult to the slovenly, to say the very least. To even think of marrying someone with such horrendible etiquette was nothing less than a nightmare.

And she had to marry him!

For some strange reason, her thoughts returned to the Grimmerie. She dragged the book over to the edge of her bed, closer to the light of the candle, and opened the shimmering violet pages.

This looks interesting, Glinda thought.

Galinda had no need for magic. She was beautiful enough to have the whole world fawning over her. Then Elphaba became un-green, and Galinda was not only without her fiance, she was also not the most beautiful girl anymore.

Listen to myself, she thought. People will think I'm crazy.

For so long she had been Galinda, it was now almost second-nature for her to act after those well-traveled pathways of her conscious, and sub-conscious choices. Time, experience and the cold, unforgiving world forged Glinda into someone who was trying to grow up, yet still grasping onto the old. That day in Kiamo Ko, when she chose to shoulder the responsibility to taking care of Oz when Elphaba died (when she thought Elphaba had died), Glinda took over. Not exactly two different personalities, but the same parts of one being, one person, still left undefeated.

Now the two were coming to an agreement.

She was still Galinda Upland, after all, and Glinda the Good, a sorceress. She might not be as powerful as Elphaba, but the people never knew that. And now that she had the Grimmerie, she could become even more powerful. Powerful enough to ensure that she would not have to marry Gotthorm.

Powerful enough to have her way.

She was moving faster than she had ever had, a hungry look in her eyes. First she reached into the pocket of her pale-blue dress and pulled out a small sliver of a splinter of white wood. It was all she had left of her staff, the one the Lady had given her. The soldiers broke it when they found her, and all she could recover was this. She needed it once again.

As she placed it down on the floor before her, she noticed a small golden ring upon her finger. It was her engagement ring, the one she wore to the surprise engagement party between Fiyero and herself. She never took it off, for some strange reason. She might not be getting with Fiyero, but she would have her own happily-ever-after, and she needed to start afresh: and she could not do so by clinging to the past.

Her hand reached into her pocket and pulled out a small jewel that looked like an acorn. It pained her to get rid of this, since it reminded her that, once again, she didn't get her way. But she had to do it, she had to get rid of it in order to start afresh.

To finish this.

Her hands moved over the three items - the splinter, the ring and the acorn - and she whispered beneath her breath the words that she had memorized. They were strange to her, and it seemed silly to just speak words that she did not even know what they meant, or what they would do if spoken.

There was a flash of light, and a smile crept across Glinda's face.

It was so beautiful!

(What did she do? -gasp- I can't give it away yet, it would spoil what is to come! Glinda's becoming powerful, she's reading from the Grimmerie herself...what is going to happen?)

(Please please review!)