Chapter Seven: Crime and Punishment

She was really busy during the days, he came to learn. When she wasn't teaching, she was in the kitchens. On certain days she had an hour or two to herself, but she didn't feel like socializing then. Their conversations mostly took place in the library on weekends. They would start with science, but often trail off into other subjects.

"You never told me how you ended up in the mauntery." He'd avoided the subject for a few hours, but he had wanted to know. Fiyero tried to avoid being too personal, since it made her uncomfortable, but he couldn't help that he was curious about her.

"I don't remember."

"But they must have told you," he prodded.

"I was left in a basket on the doorstep with a note stating my name. That's all I was told."

"That's… that's terrible. Why would parents leave their own child like that?"

"Maybe because she's deformed? Fiyero, you might not realize that green is not a natural skin color."

"It's not? I mean, I'd seen the Munchkinland woman who used to be our schoolmarm, but I just thought you were from some other part of Oz…" This genuinely surprised him. Green looked so natural on her.

"I am from some other part of Oz. But green isn't normal there, either."

"I had no idea." He wasn't sure how he was supposed to react to that. Should he be sorry for her? Somehow he didn't think she'd take well to pity. All he could do was treat her like a normal person – well, as much as he could. They hadn't discussed what he had done about her furniture since she'd stormed back into her room. He had only meant to help, but he knew she had a point. And his parents had thought it strange when he had requested they have the furniture changed, though they hadn't bothered to ask why.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't complain about being mistaken for normal." Elphaba laughed.

"I should hope not." Fiyero liked that she laughed with him occasionally. She was clearly getting more comfortable. "Do you know why you're green, then?"

"Gee Fiyero, I was left in a basket on a mauntery doorstep, never met my parents, are you really clueless enough to think I actually know anything about it?"

"Miss Elphaba!" A sharp female voice stung Fiyero's ears. It was his mother. This wouldn't go well.

Elphaba shrunk into herself. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Did I just hear you call Crown Prince Fiyero 'clueless'? And did you just refer to him without the proper 'Prince' or 'Master' in front of his name?"

Elphaba stammered. "I…"

"I told her to, Mother." Fiyero tried his best to rescue her. "I asked her not to bother with the formality."

"I'll deal with you later." His mother turned back to Elphaba. "And what are you doing in here anyway?"

"We were going over things I was to study for my entrance exam to Shiz," Fiyero lied.

"That's all well and good but I think you two have done more than enough studying for the day! Miss Elphaba, you will be eating only bread and drinking only water for the next two weeks. And any free time you have will be spent in your room. You have no right to address the Crown Prince in such a way."

Fiyero winced. She'd never want to talk to him again.

Elphaba merely nodded. "Yes, ma'am." She fled the room.

Fiyero's mother glared at him. "You stay put. I am going to get your father."

Fiyero wanted to go to Elphaba. He wanted to tell her he was sorry for getting her into trouble. But he realized that if he did that right now, he'd only get the both of them into more trouble. So he stayed put.

Fiyero's father walked in. "Fiyero, I know what I said about your interests in women, but that servant girl?"

"It's not like that…" Fiyero bit his lip. Sure, maybe he'd thought about… His father didn't need to know that. "We were just studying and we were joking around and she forgot herself for a moment. She's really very sorry."

Fiyero's father sat down across from him. "Why can't you find a nice Vinkun girl? There are plenty your age. Two of the maids, one of the kitchen girls, one of the stable girls… If you're going to have some fun, why not them? I mean, if you really wanted that, but… I'd suggest not."

Fiyero wanted to ask his father why. But that would make it look like he wanted Elphaba, and that wasn't the point he was trying to get across. "As I said, it is not like that, Father. I was just talking to her. She's a very good tutor."

His father sighed. "And that's a concern, as well. I told you to have fun, not to actually get attached!"

"I am not attached. We are friends. She is helping me study."

"I won't stop you. But I suggest you do your studying in private for your mother's sake. And less often. And please, find some Vinkun girl." His father left without another word.

Fiyero didn't see Elphaba again for two days. He shadowed his father around the castle all day the first day and hunted and learned to fight all day the next. He thought going to her wouldn't look right, especially after his father's discussion with him. So, instead, he snuck into her bedroom the next night. "Miss Elphaba…?"

She jumped out of bed and screamed. He thanked Oz for the thick walls and the fact that his parents' room was on the opposite side of the stairs. When she realized it was him, she calmed down – a little. "What in Oz?"

"I wanted to apologize for getting you into trouble. And I brought you some food." He handed her some fruit.

She took it and bite into it greedily, but still glared at him. "So you thought it was a good idea to come into my room in the middle of the night and scare me half to death?"

"If I went to your room during the day and my parents saw, they'd be suspicious."

"So would I, if I were them! Haven't we gotten in enough trouble already? As nice as it was to talk to someone Fiyero, it's not worth it."

He wouldn't let her go that easily. "We can still study for an hour or two on weekends."

"And that's fine. But we can't talk. I can't be your friend. The other day was proof of that."

"No, no, I had an idea. Why don't you come to my room when you have free time? I can lock the door and no one will question me. My parents won't see you – they're never on this side of the stairs."

Elphaba looked exasperated. "And if I get caught in your room do you know how much trouble I'll be in?"

Fiyero bit his lip, but decided to go ahead and say it. "I have an excuse for that, too."

"Oh, what? We're 'studying'? That didn't work too well today!"

"The door will be locked. We'll hear them before they hear us. And well… if I have to… My father basically told me I should be having some 'fun' with the servant girls before I get married. I could just say…"

"Are you serious?" She put her hands on her hips, which made her waist look particularly small in that nightdress, so small he could wrap his arms around it…

"I am serious." He didn't add that his father had all but asked him specifically not to sleep with her.

"You think I'm okay with pretending to sleep with you?"

"Hopefully you won't have to. It's just a worst-case scenario." And he didn't know how much it would help, anyway. His father might let her go, but he'd probably punish Fiyero and make it clear to Elphaba she was not to be in his room again. But it was worth the risk. If his parents wanted to see him, they never came to his room. They hadn't since his father had given him that "talk" about the servant girls. If they needed him, they sent a servant to get him. And his father had told him to study in private, anyway.

Elphaba looked at him, shaking her head. "Why are you so desperate to talk to me, Prince Fiyero?"

So she was back to calling him "Prince" again? "Because you fascinate me," he answered. "And I like talking to you. What is so hard to believe about that?"

Elphaba sat back down on her bed. "Obviously I can't come to your room at least for these two weeks…"

"But you will?" Fiyero brightened.

"If I don't, you'll just keep waking me up in the middle of the night and I'll never get to sleep. Now leave!"

He found it cute how she pretended she didn't want to give in. Had he just thought of her as "cute"? He'd never found anyone cute…