Hi! New chapter!

So, I'm probably going to alternate between this and Manek's Tale. Just FYI.

Enjoy!

Chapter 6

Elphaba

The day after my audition, I decided to go and watch Liir Dillamond build his hut. Because of his great exertion, we couldn't talk much, but I was glad to have his company, and I believe he was glad to have mine as well. He was putting on the finishing touches: glass in the windows and furniture and such.

Suddenly, someone called out to me. "Thropp!"

I turned to see none other than Kalidah Freeman, our hangman, the traitor. "What do you want, Freeman?" I asked with just the right amount of disdain in my voice. "I'm busy."

"Oh yes, very busy watching your boyfriend work," he said sarcastically. "I got a message from the lieutenant. Lieutenant Tigulaar. Rehearsal is tomorrow at 9. In the lieutenant's yard. You're definitely his Silvia, he said. And you know what else, Thropp?"

I put my hands on my hips. "What?"

"The lieutenant picked me to be Justice Balance. I get to be your father, Thropp!"

"Go to hell, Freeman." How I wanted to wipe that smirk off his face!

"I think I will!" Freeman exclaimed. "But first, I'm going to stop by the women's camp and notify Mordam and Upland. Catch ya later, darling daughter!"

"Oh, Daddy dearest!" I said in the sweetest voice I could muster. "Don't bother with Glinda Upland. I'll tell her myself."

"Why don't you tell Mordam too?"

"Because she might rip your head off. That'll be fun to see." I went over to Dillamond. "I'm off. But I'll come watch you work later tomorrow, alright?"

"Alright," Dillamond said with a smile. "I'll see you at rehearsal too. I'm playing Captain Brazen, you know?"

I smirked. "I had no idea that Captain Brazen was a Goat."

"I guess he is now." We laughed together, and I could not stop smiling stupidly until I heard a painfully familiar voice.

Nessa and Boq were sitting under a Dukaliptos tree. Because I am a nosy older sister, I hid behind the tree and listened to them. I just really wanted to see how Nessa was. "Dukaliptos trees can only be found here in the Badlands," Nessa told Boq, who was scowling and looking away. "Governor Diggs told me that. And look over there, Boq! You can see Lieutenant Tigulaar's orange trees! Just like in Munchkinland! Would you like to go over to Fiyero's yard and pick some oranges?"

"If I was in Munchkinland, I'd be free." Nessa looked visibly overjoyed at Boq's speech.

"This isn't Restwater, Boq."

"I wish it was. Look, I need freedom sometimes, Nessa."

Nessa sighed deeply. "You can't be free yet. You have to earn it with good behavior."

"Why didn't you just let them hang me in Restwater?"

"Boq, I …"

"You could've taken my corpse and kept that in chains. Here, I can't even talk to people!" Boq was getting really upset now.

"I let you talk to the men!"

Boq scoffed. "Liir Dillamond, Henray Crope! I have nothing to say to those guys!"

"And look, you've already found someone, haven't you?!" Nessa shrieked. "Who is it?! A witch?! A whore?! Where did you take her?! Under a tree?! Or in my tent, like with Manda Backker?!" Boq grew silent again. Nessa sighed. "Look, Lieutenant Tigulaar said you could be in his play. All the male parts have been taken, but you can play Lucy. A maid. It'll challenge you. And you'll rehearse every day with Averic Tenmeadows and the lieutenant."

"So he can watch me instead of you."

"Boq …"

"I wake up in the middle of the night, and you're watching me! What do you think I'm gonna do in my sleep, Nessa?! Always watching me! Watching, watching, watching! JUST STOP WATCHING ME!" He pulled himself off Nessa's lap.

"I just want to make you happy. If you don't want to be in the play, that's fine." Oz, she really did love him.

"I'll be in the play. Like you said, it'll be a challenge."

Nessa raised an eyebrow. "You promise you won't try anything with Upland or El- … anybody?"

"El?" Boq repeated confusedly. "Who do you mean? Elphaba? Your sister?"

"No!" Nessa shouted. "I told you, Boq. She's not my sister … anymore." Oh Oz, she regretted it. It was only Father who truly hated me. Nessa forced a smile. "It's good. It's good that you're getting out there. Will you kiss your Nessa?"

Boq smiled. "Gladly." I left the scene without a sound. Ozdammit, they both loved each other, I could tell, but my sister was being insanely paranoid. If only she would acknowledge me …

I found Glinda sitting on the ground outside the tent that we shared. She looked so preoccupied with counting that I simply couldn't resist. "BOO!" I yelled in her ear.

Just as I expected, Glinda's shriek probably could be heard all the way in the officers' quarters. "Elphie!" she cried. "Don't do that! Do you want me to die?!"

I chuckled. "Are you remembering your lines, Glinda? We've got rehearsal tomorrow at 9 in Lieutenant Tigulaar's yard."

"What lines? No, I was remembering Gilikin. I was on my way back to the Pertha Hills."

I sighed. "You promised Lieutenant Tigulaar you'd learn your lines."

"I wanna go back," Glinda whined. "I want to see purple slopes of the Perthas. I can drive over any mountain, like, as well as Governor Diggs."

"Glinda," I said sharply. "What about your lines?"

She pouted. "I don't want to learn my lines; I wanna go home! I miss Glikkish rain!"

"It rains here."

"It's not the same! Rain in the Pertha Hills is so soft … as soft as Lieutenant Tigulaar's dimpled cheeks!" Glinda giggled, and I felt myself blush.

"Glin, don't!"

"Come on, Elphie, you're wasting your time. He's ripe for the plucking! You can always tell with men, 'cause they start to walk sideways. And if you don't …"

"Don't start! I listened to you once before." That was true. She actually convinced me to sell my body in the wagon. I didn't get much (guess why), but what I got she stole!

"What would you have done without that lanky soldier drooling all over you?"

"I would have been less of a whore. It's not what I was convicted for, and it's not what I want to be, Glinda."

She snorted. "If the Unnamed God didn't want women to be whores, He shouldn't have created men to pay for their bodies." Wow. Glinda was actually giving a pretty coherent debate.

"But if you don't agree to it, then you're not a whore; you're a martyr."

She smirked. "You have to be a virgin to be a martyr, Elphie, and you didn't come on that wagon a virgin. 'K.T., I love thee to the heart,' tattooed all the way up there!" I leaped away as she reached for my skirt.

"That was different! That was love!"

"You also have to be dead to be a martyr. Well, yay, you didn't die, and it was all because of meeee! You had four ounces of meat a week, and two ounces of cheese …"

"Which YOU were happy to eat!"

Glinda shrugged. "Hey, us girls have to look out for one another."

But I was not satisfied yet. "You sold me that first day so that YOU could eat!" Suddenly, the debate was getting less fun.

"Do you want me to learn these lines or not?"

I sighed. "How can I play Silvia? She's brave and strong. She couldn't have done what I've done."

"She didn't spend eight months in a convict wagon," Glinda admitted. "Anyway, it's okay, Elphie, you can just pretend you're her." She didn't understand.

"No," I said. "I have to be her."

"Why?"

"Because. That's acting. C'mon, Glin, let's do the second scene between Silvia and Rose." I opened my script and began to read. "'I have rested but indifferently, and I believe my bedfellow was little pleased. Alas, poor Rose! Here she comes. Good morrow, cousin, how d'ye this morning?' Now you say, 'Just as I was last night: neither better nor worse for you.'"

Glinda was about to say her line when we heard a guffaw. My heart fluttered in my chest. It was Pfanee Mordam.

That's that! Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Elle Dottore