Disclaimer- I don't own Wicked or Rent.
The following morning, Mark awoke early. When the sun began to rise, he got up and showered and dressed, thankful for the clothes that King Emrys had provided. Deciding against waking up Joanne, he stepped out in to the hall only to be greeted by a somewhat surreal sight.
At the far end of the long corridor, flying Monkeys sat outside bedroom doors. He found himself standing there quite still for a minute; just to be sure he was really awake. Flying Monkeys? It was during this voyage of self awareness, that Mark noticed Elfie.
She sat at the other end of the corridor on a window seat. Her knees were drawn up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them. She looked out the window occasionally, but in between, she simply stared into space. Her face was an open book. Elfie was upset. At her side sat another Monkey. He looked on in obvious camaraderie, watching the child intently and every now and again patting her hand softly.
When he did, Elfie would stir, and then turn to the window again. Mark couldn't leave her there so upset; it wasn't within him. As he made his way quietly down the hall, the other Monkeys looked up sensing his presence. When they saw who it was, they relaxed. Not being perceived as a threat to a Monkey did nothing what-so-ever for Mark's self-esteem. When he reached Elfie, he could see the dried tears that marked her face.
The Monkey beside her touched her hand again and spoke. Spoke? "Elfie?...Mark is…here now too. Elfie?"
When she looked up at him, the expression in Elfie's eyes broke Mark's heart. She watched him for a long, silent moment, and he saw new tears form in her eyes. Now, truly concerned, he knelt down beside her as the Monkey moved to make way for him encouragingly. "Elfie? You okay?"
"Nobody woke me up…" She said it softly, the hurt obvious in her voice. It took about three or four seconds, and then the child dissolved into his arms in fresh sobs. While he had no experience with young children, Mark recognized pain when he saw it. He held her stiffly for a second out of shock and then relaxed his arms around her, stroking her back. "Ssssh…it'll be okay…it's okay…don't worry. What do you mean, 'Nobody woke you up?'
Elfie pulled her breath in short sobs and managed, "Last night…Emmy had a…a potent…everybody woke up…even Joanne…but nobody woke …me…up…I would have helped!" She cried harder now, clinging to his shirtfront.
Now Mark had no idea what a 'potent' was, but he did know what being left out felt like. Instinctively, he picked Elfie up and sat on the window seat, cradling her in his lap. The Monkey nodded at him encouragingly, so he continued.
"I know. I know you would have helped. I'll bet Emmy knows that too. I'm sure she knows that you would have helped. Hey, nobody woke me up either…not even Joanne! I'll bet she had a good reason though, like… maybe she didn't want to bother me or scare me or something like that. You know what though? I bet when I ask her, Joanne will tell me why she didn't and I bet she had a good reason. When she wakes up, you should ask Emmy. That's what friends do…they ask and they trust."
Elfie had quieted considerably, and was now simply leaning against him, listening. "I tell you what, let's make a promise, just you and me, let's promise to tell each other reasons, okay?"
She looked happier now, more at ease. Elfie nodded against his chest and said solemnly, "I promise, Mark. I promise! And I promise that when Emmy tells me why they didn't wake me up, I'll tell you, okay?"
He hugged her gently. "Okay."
Her smile was like a prize that he had worked hard for and won. It meant more to him than he had realized it would.
They stayed there for a minute and Mark found himself seriously realizing that at some time in the future he would want a child of his own in his life. It came as something of a surprise, he had never even considered it…not that the opportunity had ever presented itself. His most serious relationship to date had been Maureen. When they were involved, though, it would have been frightening. At the time, Maureen had been more of a child herself. He couldn't have been ready to raise two children at the time! Besides, Maureen was happy now, happy and steadily mature. Life here with her husband, Emrys, seemed to have given her everything she had ever wanted. He was happy for her and for them.
A sound stirred him from his reverie and they both looked up to see Emmy enter the corridor, her hair messy, wiping sleep from her eyes. "Elfie? We always wake each other up. Why didn't you wake me up?"
Mark leaned conspiratorially toward Elfie. "That seems to be the question of the morning, doesn't it?"
"You had a potent last night, everybody was up…'cept me…and Mark. Chistery told me about it all this morning. It hurt to be left out."
Emmy looked guilty for upsetting her cousin. "I didn't mean to leave you out. I had a really bad dream though…really scary. Joanne helped me and then Mommy and Daddy and Uncle Yero and Aunt Faba. Aunt Faba asked me about it a lot and rocked me to sleep in her arms. When I woke up Chistery was there, and some of the other Monkeys. Why?"
"Chistery told me that Mama thinks you had a potent. That's a kind of real dream; it's sort of like dreaming something that's really happening but your body isn't there. Why? What did you dream about?"
Mark could see that Emmy looked shaken now. He thought back to some of his nightmares. Just thinking of them being real was more than enough to want to send him into hiding. Emmy was four years old. He reached out and took her hand. "Emmy, are you alright?"
Emmy shook her head violently. "I dreamed about Ambassador Gorrian being killed by a monster. He was really, really scared and really, really bloody. Elfie, what if it's my fault?"
"Emmy, it's not your fault."
Mark followed the voice to its owner down the hall.
Elphaba came toward them, straight and tall and sure. When she reached them, she bent and kneeled before Emmy. Elfie hugged her and she engulfed her daughter in her arms…arms that had enough room for her niece as well. After a moment she looked straight at Emmy. Mark marveled how she managed to make her voice both firm and gentle at the same time.
"Emmy, you may or may not have had a portent."
Mark couldn't help but smile at the girls' mispronunciation of the word.
"You may have had just a bad dream, but if it was a portent, it was most certainly not your fault. Portents are a kind of window that allows our minds to be one place experiencing one thing, while our bodies are in another place. We can't control them, and sometimes they can help us shape the future in a good way. We have a warning."
Emmy looked less upset now but curious about something. "Aunt Faba, you said 'we'. Do you have portents too?"
Mark was stunned. He looked at Elphaba now for her answer.
"Yes, little one, I do. I've had them since I was a little girl. Then though, I had no idea what they were. My father didn't believe in magic. I didn't know what they were until after I studied Sorcery at Shiz. So, when I was young, I had no one to help me understand them and how to deal with them."
"But I do?" This came from a hopeful Emmy.
Elphaba looked deeply into her niece's brown eyes, so very like her own. "Yes, you most certainly do. You have me. Trust me, Emmy, we'll get through this….the way we always do."
This seemed to be a cue that the girls picked up and smiling now said, "Together!"
"Right, now why don't you both get ready for breakfast? Also, I'd like you both to keep Chistery and his friends nearby for a while. You know how they love you two. It will make them feel better and they'll be less worried about you if they can be nearby for awhile, alright?"
They nodded their heads together. "We will. We promise." Then they both kissed her and ran back to the nursery. Elfie ran back to them quickly. She looked at Mark fondly and leaned in to kiss him.
"Thank you for helping me, Mark. And thank you for helping me help Emmy. You made me feel much better." Then she was gone.
Mark turned to see Elphaba's head cocked to one side, regarding him with humor.
"You've made quite an impression on Elfie. Thank you for helping her."
"She was upset. No one woke her up last night. It made her feel like …an outsider. That's all. I told her that she should ask Emmy and trust that she had a good reason for not telling her. As it turns out, Emmy did understand and explained. All's well that ends well."
The powerful witch smiled at him, "You have good instincts. Where as mine…."
Mark stood, coming closer now. "Yours? Your instincts? From what I can see, you're a great mom."
Elphaba shook her head and dipped it, her chin resting on her chest. "Great? No, a great mom would have realized that Elfie could have felt like an outsider this morning. I, of all people, should have seen that, known that. No one has felt like more of an outsider than I have. 'The Green Menace', 'Asparagus', they weren't compliments. They were names I was called because of my green skin. I've been an outsider all my life. People fear what's different. That difference even made it that much easier to get people to believe I am the Wicked Witch of the West, and could be destroyed by water. Maureen assures me that at least that much is true in your dimension as well."
Mark was confused. "But Emmy…she's green like you. She looks a lot like you, in fact. No one treats her that way."
"Burzee is far more tolerant than Oz. A lot of that is due to Emrys. He's a good king. But Emmy, well, the girls have never faced intolerance yet. Everyone here loves them. One day, Emmy is sure to face some fool that can't accept her for the beautiful woman she's bound to become. When that happens, I hope I can help her through it. She needs to know that the world does hold 'Yeros' too."
Mark was now lost. "Excuse me?'
Elphaba laughed easily, it was not an unpleasant sound.
"Fiyero… my husband. We met at Shiz University. He was the most popular man there, a prince in fact. He was popular; I was the outcast…an outcast who fell hopelessly in love with him. It didn't matter. He was dating my best friend and as I said, he was popular. I would have kept my own council, stayed silent, but a funny thing happened. That handsome, popular, wonderful, courageous prince fell in love with me too. I still find it incomprehensible sometimes. He was able to see beyond my skin and my gifts, and how everyone else saw me. He's spent a long time trying to get me to see myself the way he sees me. I'm learning. Emaurie has to know that there are 'Fiyeros' in the world too. It makes it a much better place."
Mark smiled. He loved love. They started to walk towards the stairs and suddenly Fiyero came up them two at a time. Seeing his wife, he reached out his hand. But his face was far from calm.
"Fae, it's Glinda's bubble. She's landing in the courtyard."
Elphaba grabbed his hand and swept down the stairs almost at a run. When they reached the courtyard, Mark was right on their heels and watched amazed as a large bubble landed in the carriageway. It disappeared and Glinda appeared…a very different Glinda.
The ruler of Oz and queen of glamour looked decidedly disheveled. She moved toward Elphaba almost in a daze, her gown torn and bloody, her makeup streaked and running, her hair half up and half falling down.
Emrys and Maureen stopped shoulder to shoulder with Mark. Mark saw tears in the diva's eyes and she began shaking her head until Emrys took her in his arms and she disappeared from his view.
Elphaba and Fiyero kept moving toward Glinda. It was Glinda who spoke first. She was clearly in shock.
"Elphie…Elphie…you can …you can help him...save him. He's been hurt…they said he's…but I know he's not…Elphie…"
Elphaba opened her arms and spoke to her friend softly. "Glinda, it's alright, I'm here."
Suddenly, Glinda pitched forward in a dead faint and was only saved from falling by Fiyero's strong arms.
When they turned back to the palace, they were stopped by the look in Emmy's eyes. Elfie and Emmy stood on the carriageway; Elfie had her arm around her cousin's shoulders for support and Emmy looked like she had just looked inside the mouth of hell.
She knew now that her Aunt Faba had been right, it had been a portent.