Chapter 59. Mother and Son
Rifiuto: Non Miniera
Thanks to Akasharouge and Elphaba1Fan for reviewing 58.
Elphaba looked up from her work in the kitchen, to see her son enter.
"Hey mom."
"Hello Liir." She said, eyes only briefly leaving the vegetable she was chopping. Her son leaned against the opposite side of the island, and watched his mother for a few moments, before grabbing a cutting board, knife, and some vegetables and helping.
Silence reigned, with only the sound of the knives on the cutting board.
Finally, Liir looked up.
"Hey mom?"
For a few minutes, nothing but the sound of chopping, and then,
"Hmm?"
"Were you and dad arguing about war last week?"
The knife stopped, mid chop, and Elphaba looked up. She nodded.
"Will we have to go to war?"
Another nod.
"Oh. Okay." The chopping resumed, on both ends. "Hey mom?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you think we'll find Fae?"
"I don't know."
"Do you really trust dad to make the descision to go to war?"
She sighed, setting the knife down and scooping up the vegetables to put in the pan.
"It's not just your father's descision, Liir. It's mine too. We work together for the good of the tribe, the good of the land. We decided together, to go to war, because it's what we have to do, we don't have a choice. The Maserhums refuse the treaty, so we have no other options." She said, brushing the remains of the vegetables off her hands, and leaning against the island. "Anything else?"
He bit his lip, nodding, a trait he'd picked up from his mother.
"Well?"
"H....how did you know dad was.....the one?" Elphaba sighed, and filled a kettle with water. With a brush of her fingers, she lighted the stove, and soon, the two were sitting down at the table, sipping tea, and chatting softly.
"I guess.....I knew your father was the one when....." She stopped, and thought. Five minutes passed.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Twenty.
Thirty.
"....when he listened to my hysterical outbursts. He didn't say much, just let me talk. And cry. And, when I calmed down enough, he wrapped me in his arms and held me. Just....held me. He didn't have to say anything, just.....hold me close.....let me know he was there." Elphaba said, her mind reliving the night she broke, the night both her mind and spirit broke. The night she threw obedience to the wind, and let Fiyero comfort her in numerous ways. The night he helped change her fate, by giving himself to her and only her.
"He really loves you, doesn't he?" Liir asked, watching his mother slip back into the past. She nodded slowly.
"Fiyero loves me enough to listen to me, to take care of me, comfort me. He loves me enough to marry me.....and give me you. You and Fae. The day you were born was the day I knew Fiyero would make a wonderful father. And when Fae was born, she made our family complete. Your father gave me two of the most precious people in my life. The night we....we concieved you....it felt....different. Special. Like we both knew somehow, that we'd just.....expanded our little family. And when you were born, hearing your cry, feeling you in my arms, seeing the tears in your father's eyes.....I knew we'd finally gotten what we'd craved for years. Love. Unbinding, unrelenting, unending love. And that we'd love you just as much as we loved each other." Elphaba said, lifting her son's chin. "Why do you ask?"
He sighed.
"Because, I...I feel the same way about Candle. I love her. I feel like....like...."
"Like she completes you?" He nodded.
"I feel the same way about your father."
"And.......I......"
Elphaba sipped her tea, waiting patiently.
"Mom," he said, laughing softly. "I plan....no...I'm going to propose to her."