Chapter 18. Secrets
Rifiuto: Non Miniera
Later that night, Elphaba had dragged Fae back to her dorm. Glinda lay on her bed, flipping through her Ozmopolitan magazine.
She looked up to see Elphaba and Fae enter the dorm.
"Oh good, you're staying!"
Fae nodded.
"Yeah. I am. I....is it okay if I stay here the night? I ran into Madame Morrible today, and she offered to let me stay in her room until I could be placed with a proper roommate, but, she.....scares me."
"Morrible scares everyone honey. Sure you can stay here tonight. Is it okay with Elphie?" Glinda asked, looking at the older girl. Elphaba nodded.
"That's fine."
Silence reigned for a few moments, before Glinda let out a squeal.
"I know! Let's tell each other secrets and then give each other makeovers."
"Um....no thanks." Fae said, as Elphaba groaned.
"Why? Must we Glinda? Remember the last time you attempted to give me a makeover?"
"Hey, it got Fiyero to ask you out, didn't it?" Glinda asked.
"Glinda, I was high on painkillers, and I didn't know what was going on." Elphaba said, changing into her nightgown.
"Oh Elphie, I won't give you a makeover, I promise. I'll give Fabla one, though." She said, smiling at the younger girl. Fae smiled back, feeling slightly uneasy.
She'd heard stories about Lin Lin's makeovers, and even suffered a couple from Makinla. If this was Lin Lin when she was younger, how bad could they possibly be? Probably not as bad as her daughter's.
"O.....kay."
Glinda squealed, and jumped off her bed, throwing her arms around Fae and hugging her.
"Okay, okay, are we going to share secrets or not?" Elphaba asked.
The other two looked up, to see the future Vinkun queen laying on her stomach on her bed, her long raven hair draped over her shoulder. Glinda let go of Fae, joined Elphaba on her bed. Fae moved towards the two girls, uneasy in her uniform. The other girls both wore their pajamas, Glinda in a long pink nightie, Elphaba in a black lace cami and bikini set. She'd never seen her mother in something like that before at home, but thought it looked pretty against her green skin.
"Um....."
"Oh." Elphaba climbed off the bed, and rummaged through her closet, before pulling out a long, black silk nightgown. She tossed it at Fae, who promptly hightailed it to the bathroom to change. Once she was done, she left the room and joined the girls on the bed. Elphaba moved over, and Fae settled down on her haunches on the end.
"So......what now?" Fae asked, looking from Glinda to Elphaba and back.
"Who's going to start?" Elphaba asked. The future Vinkun queen had rolled over and now lay on her back, watching the other two upside down.
"Okay, I'll start." Glinda said. "I'm still a virgin."
"All of Shiz knows that you're still a virgin, Glinda." Elphaba said.
"Fabla doesn't."
"No, she doesn't, and I'm pretty sure nor does she want to know."
Fabla rolled her eyes.
"Okay okay. Who's next?" Glinda asked. Fae shrugged.
"I'll go."
"Okay." Glinda said, turning to the girl.
Fae thought a moment before answering.
"My first kiss was with Azel, who is the son of my parents' head cook, and they don't know."
"Oh, forbidden romance! Are you in love?" Glinda asked.
"No. We just kissed. I see my parents do it all the time, and wanted to try it out." Fae looked up, to see Elphaba giving her an odd look. The young crown princess was staring at her oddly, like she was remembering something, or, storing something into her memory. Fae broke contact, and tried to ignore the look.
"All right Elphie, your turn." Glinda said.
The green girl sighed, and slowly rolled over, her long raven hair tumbling down her back as she rolled onto her stomach.
"All right. But you tell no one. Either of you." She said, looking at the girls. They nodded. "Only Yero and I know. Well, us and the midwife."
"Midwife? Elphie, are you--"
"No." Elphaba said, cutting her off. "That's the secret."
She licked her lips and sat up, sitting Indian style. She examined her cuticles, before speaking, meeting their eyes. Sighing, she said,
"Yero and I have been trying to concieve for the last year. It hasn't happened yet, and now......now the midwife is starting to think that maybe......I'm infertile."
"Oh Elphie." Glinda said, reaching out to take her friend's hand. Fae finally spoke up.
"But, you're, what? Nineteen? Shouldn't you try to be concieving two years from now after you've graduated?"
Elphaba looked at her.
"I'm twenty. Both Yero and I are, and we only have two weeks left until graduation, and then Yero and I go back to the Vinkus. But that's besides the point, Fabla." Elphaba snapped.
"If Yero and I don't concieve, if I fail to produce ......if I fail birth an heir, then the Tiggular line dies out with Fiyero and I. My husband is the last of the Tiggular men.....if he fails to father a son, then the line dies out, and the whole Arjiki tribe..........the whole Vinkus goes into chaos. Failing to give birth to an heir could mean death for my husband and I. And not slow death. Quick, painful death by execution. By sword blade. That's what faces Fiyero and I if we don't concieve. If we discover I'm infertile, we face the sword blade. And believe me. I've witnessed Quadling murders and Munchkin assassinations, and what we face is far worse than those."
Fae stayed quiet.
She'd never known that her parents faced death if they didn't concieve. She knew laws for the royalty were harsh; treason, adultery, and murder were constitued in death. That was the only law Fae's parents had kept in from the ancient constitution. Fair trials, and if found guilty of any one of th three reasons, death swiftly came to the perpetrator. They had abolished many of the old laws put in before Fiyero's grandfather; including the law allowing the Arjiki to take slaves of those who wandered into their land.
With her parents on the throne, the Vinkus was peaceful.
And it was going to stay that way.