Disclaimer- I don't own Wicked or Rent.
After dinner and once Mark and Joanne were settled in their rooms, the two sisters decided to get down to business. Elphaba and Maureen walked down the hall to the nursery; each one holding her daughter by the hand. The nursery was a lovely, inviting room with hand painted murals showing scenes from fairy tales.
The murals had been changed a bit over the years. When Emaurie and Elfie were babies, they had been fairly general in design…lovely, but general. Then, as the girls began to grow, Emrys had the murals changed every now and again. When the girls were almost three, the beautiful princess resembled Emaurie, and a fairy princess looked uncannily like Elfie. The girls had been so excited that the king saw to it that new murals appeared every year or so. The only constants were the girls.
As they grew, it was depicted in the murals. It was also the source of Emrys's pet name for his niece. He called her "Pixie". The nickname so excited Elfie, that she made him promise to call her that even after the murals changed. The King of Burzee was more than happy to comply. He and Maureen loved their niece immeasurably.
Although Elphaba, Fiyero, and Elfie now resided in the Vinkus, they traveled to Burzee often with the aid of Elphaba's magic or Maureen's. This was the family Emrys had always dreamed of. Emaurie and her cousin were inseparable, and his daughter's nursery held a bed for each girl. Each bed was dressed in its occupant's favorite colors and each girl had clothes in both Burzee and the Vinkus. Elfie's room was quite similar and sometimes Emrys wondered how they remembered which castle they were in. More than once, he had gone searching for his daughter only to have Maureen laugh and tell him Emaurie was in the Vinkus with Elphaba and Fiyero.
Fiyero and Elphaba doted on their niece as well. In many ways, Emrys and Fiyero had mused more than once that the girls had two sets of parents. Emaurie was as adored in the Vinkus as Elfie was. Fiyero's father, King Adair, treated her like another granddaughter. The two fathers saw all of this as a blessing. No matter what happened, no matter what might befall each of them, each father knew his daughter had a safe and beloved home with her aunt and uncle.
At that moment, the two fathers followed their wives and daughters down the hall. Fiyero leaned his head toward Emrys conspiratorially and whispered to him.
"I wouldn't want to be Fae and Maureen right now for anything. The 'boundaries of magic' speech had to happen sometime, but I'm glad it's not me giving it to Emmy and Elfie. We can just stand there and look stern and sincere, but loving."
Emrys smiled and nodded. "I'll be right beside you, but you know, we should've seen this coming."
"You mean because of their powers? I see your point. I think I knew this was coming that day Emmy disappeared from Burzee."
Emrys shivered. He remembered that day only too well. It had seemed like any other, Emmy wanted to play with Elfie. Unfortunately, this time, Elfie was at home in the Vinkus. His daughter had begged her mother to use her magic to bring her to Fiyero's castle, but Maureen was too busy that day and distracted. She had promised to make some time to play with her later.
Emaurie was many things, but just now, patient was not one of those things. Off she had gone toward the nursery and sometime later when they had the time to make good on their promise, they had gone in search of their daughter. Emaurie was nowhere to be found. The castle and grounds had been searched and just when they were about to despair completely, Elphaba had shown up with Emaurie. It seemed that she had worked out a spell of her own and took herself off to the Vinkus.
It was only a day or two later that he had been passing the nursery doors and heard Elfie's sweet giggle. Entering the nursery, he found the girls playing together happily. They had run up and hugged him, truly excited to see him, but Emrys had a suspicion. Kneeling down before his niece, he kissed her and asked, "I'm glad to see you too, Pixie, but how did you get here?"
Elfie had bitten her lip, looked to Emaurie uncertainly, and then met his eyes. Elfie could not and would not lie…especially to someone she loved. He stroked her cheek as she looked at him and he smiled encouragingly.
"By me."
"What was that, Pixie? I don't understand."
"I got here by myself, Uncle Rys. I made a rhyme and was careful to pronounce everything right, and then…I was here." She was confused. "Aren't you glad to see me?"
He hugged her to him. "Of course, Pixie, of course." His mind raced through what could have gone wrong and he hugged her tighter.
"Uncle Rys? You're squishing me. Are you alright?"
After that, Elphaba and Maureen had set strict rules about going and coming. The girls must always let one of them know on each end and ask for help. What they had done today had not broken those rules exactly. They had gone nowhere…they had only brought two people from another dimension! It boggled the mind.
They were only four, and already their powers were considerable.
Emrys was brought back to the present as he and Fiyero watched Elphaba and Maureen tuck the girls in their beds, and then sit down beside them. Elphaba looked at her sister and then her daughter and niece.
"Girls, we need to talk about the magic you used today. While you did a good job and we're all very proud of the reason you used the magic, you have to understand that what you did was very dangerous!"
Elfie looked confused and told her mother openly, "But Mama, we were very, very careful. We made sure we concentrated and pronounced everything right, and said exactly what we want. We were safe."
Maureen spoke up next. "But what about Mark and Joanne? They could've been hurt…or worse."
When the girls looked stunned, Fiyero spoke up from where he stood.
"Emmy, Elfie, your mothers have been using magic for a long time, Aunt Faba especially. She studied sorcery at Shiz. Sometimes, no matter how well intentioned, a spell can have unexpected side effects. You both know what a strong and powerful witch she is, but even she has had spells wind up with side effects. Tell them Fae."
Elphaba looked deep in Yero's eyes and could see that he was right. Perhaps now was the time. Knowledge now could spare the girls a world of heartache. Yero was more than ready for his pride to suffer for that reason. Elphaba looked back and forth between the girls and then spoke softly.
"A long time ago, before Oz was at peace, I was fighting to make a difference for the Animals. One day I was caught and Yero helped me escape from the soldiers…his soldiers. He knew I would have been killed so he saved my life and was captured himself. I was so scared, felt so guilty; the only thing that mattered was saving him. I used my magic. A spell that wouldn't let him be hurt or killed or bleed…it worked. It worked and he turned into a scarecrow."
She saw the girls' horror and saw them look to Yero who only nodded to her wisely.
"It worked, didn't it? He didn't die, he wasn't hurt, and he couldn't bleed. But what a price he would have paid! I hadn't thought it all out, not completely. Luckily, I found a way to return him to being human again, but what if I hadn't or couldn't? He would still be here, I would still love him tremendously, but there'd be no Elfie and he could have been hurt so easily! It was the same for Mark and Joanne. They weren't hurt, but they could have been."
Maureen spoke up firmly now. "You have to always, always be careful with your magic… and responsible. If you're gonna use it, you have to be responsible enough to care about the people around you. So for now, how about no magic without Faba or me? If you don't promise, we'll have to bind your powers up 'till you're older."
Emrys nodded. "We'd rather trust you both. It's up to the both of you."
Emaurie and Elfie looked at each other solemnly and they both nodded. They spoke up together.
"We promise."
Then Emaurie jumped out of bed and ran to Fiyero and hugged him fiercely.
"I'm glad you're you again, Uncle Yero. I'd love you anyway, but I'm glad you're you…the way you were."
Fiyero hugged his niece and spun her in the air a bit.
"Thank you, Emmy. I'm glad too."
"Me too, Daddy!" This came from Elfie who was being cradled in her mother's arms.
"Thank you, Elfie. Now…bed …both of you."
Fiyero carried his green niece back to her bed and kissed her, sharing a smile with Maureen. After they had all said goodnight, the lamp was left on low. There was silence in the room for a bit and then just as the girls were drifting off, voices could be heard, low and easy.
"There's only us…."
The two girls then slept.