Chapter 89. Unison Thoughts

Rifiuto: Non Miniera

A/N: Vinkun: My love, my heart, my queen. My darling, I know you're strong, I know you're independent, but you're also weak now. Kumbrican: You need to rest. Please, my love, if you won't rest for me, rest for our daughter. Vinkun: She needs you, she needs her mother to be strong for her. Please, my darling. is the translation for Fiyero's words. He starts speaking in Vinkun, and the switches to Kumbrican before going back to Vinkun, to calm Elphaba.

A/N: Am currently listening to Man in the Mirror. R.I.P. Michael Jackson. You'll be missed, but you're boundary breaking music will live on.

Thanks to Elphaba1Fan and Akasharouge for reviewing 88.

Four weeks passed.

Elphaba's fever had broken, and the swelling in her eyes had gone down, allowing her to see again. She was still weak, but getting stronger.

"How are you doing, love?" Fiyero asked, coming into the room one warm afternoon.

"Can I please get up now, Yero? I'm fine. My fever broke, I'm fine." Elphaba begged from her position in the pillows.

Over the last few days, whenever Elphaba had wanted to go somewhere or do something, Fiyero had scooped her into his arms and carried her. She'd taken it for the first few days, but now she was sick of it. She was strong, independent. She was a grown woman, for Oz sake!

Her husband sighed and sat down next to her.

"If you think you're ready, love." Elphaba nodded violently, so violently that Fiyero was half afraid her brain stem would snap in the process. "All right, love. Calm down before you hurt yourself." Fiyero said, chuckling.

He got off the bed and pulled the covers off her, before helping her sit up and scoot to the end of the bed.

"I got it, Yero." She said, putting her feet on the ground and pushing herself up. She stood on shaky legs, and tentatively put a foot out, taking a step. She looked up at her husband, a smile on her face.

"Fiyero is Elphie--" Glinda's voice broke through the silence, and Elphaba saw Glinda, Nessa, Boq, the kids, and the staff crowded in the doorway. Slowly, they slipped into the room. "Elphie, you're--"

Elphaba ignored her. She took another step, and her legs gave out, weak from days of bedrest. She crumpled, and would have hit the floor, if Fiyero hadn't caught her. He pulled her to her feet, and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Careful love."

"I'm fine, Yero."

"Your legs are still weak. You need to build up your strength." He told her, as he led her back to the bed.

"I'm never going to build up my strength if I spend the rest of my life in bed, Yero. I need to get up and walk around. I don't need you to carry me everywhere." She told him, as he sat her on the edge. He sighed, and knelt in front of her, taking her hands.

"Fae, my love, I know how you feel--"

"No, you don't! You don't know how I feel! You don't know what it feels like to be carried everywhere by your husband. Or....what it feels like to see everyone else walking around and not being able to do it yourself. It's torture, Yero. Seeing your husband leave to meet with the leaders, and having to stay in bed and miss it because you're too weak. Listening to your son and his fiancee plan their wedding, and not being there to help them. You have no idea of what it's like to be totally, completely dependent on your husband when you've always been independent of anyone. It's hell, Yero."

She reached out and lifted his chin, to look into his eyes.

"Yero, my husband, my king, my love, I love you with all my heart. All my soul. I love you with every fiber of my being, but.....I just.....I'm not used to being taken care of. I'm used to taking care of myself. I'm used to taking care of you and Liir and Fae....And I know you want to take care of me, you've been wonderful.....but.....Yero.....up until I married you, I'd always looked out for myself. I wasn't used.....to being loved. I didn't know love- true love- until I met you. I'm independent Yero, you know that. You knew that when I married you---"

"I know. And I've never tied you down, Fae. I've always let you take care of yourself, of all of us. I've let you be independent, let you be rash and wild, the way only you can. But love, when you got sick, and I saw how weak you became....Fae, I.....I was afraid I'd lose you. I came so close to losing you back at Shiz, that.....honey I swore to myself that I'd never take that risk again. I love you, Fae."

"I love you too, Yero. I loved you enough to give myself to you back at Shiz. I loved you enough to give you two gorgeous children. I love you enough to rule a country with you, but I need my freedom. I need my independence. I need to be able to do as I please without help. Please Yero, I know you love me, and I know you respect me enough to value my opinion, but I don't need to be taken care of like an infant. Yero, I'm a grown woman, I can take care of myself."

"I know you're a grown woman, Fae. I'm not that dumb."

"I never said you were. Yero, my love, my king, you're the smartest man I know. I'm so honored to rule by your side, to be your queen. I love you, and only you. Yero, I never stopped-"

"I didn't say you did, Fae. I'm just worried about you."

She reached down and laced her fingers through his, their wedding rings clinking softly together. Subconsiously, Fiyero began stroking the back of his wife's hand, as he had done so many times before. The soft rhythm seemed to calm her, and she physically relaxed. A sigh escaped her, and she closed her eyes, before opening them and taking a deep breath. She leaned down, pressing her forehead gently against his, and the two stayed still for several minutes, communicating only through their hearts.

The Vinkun King and Queen were unlike any royals seen before or since in Oz. One, being the son of royalty, and the other being of foreign, common blood, daughter of a Munchkin governor. Elphaba was skilled in the ways of magic, and had early on in the marriage, picked up the ancient magic of the Arjiki tribe, making her more powerful than any sorceress since. Fiyero was skilled in the ways of the hunt and battle, he was fair and strong, protective of not only his family, but his tribe. He showed the tribe how to accept, by marrying Elphaba, and accepting her into the royal family.

With her green skin and raven hair, Elphaba was seen as an oddity-at first-the perfect match for a prince that was just as odd, in the fact that he preferred dancing to foreign affairs. But Elphaba's presence in court had soon set Fiyero straight. They had learned the ways of the royal court together, grown together, and soon, their family had grown also, with Liir's birth. Six years later, the young rulers had welcomed their daughter, and the whole of Oz rejoiced. The Vinkun royal family may have been seen as odd by foreignors, but it was soon discovered that they were just like any other family.

A loving one.

"Mi amore, Mi coure, Mi regina. Mi amata, io sapere sei forte, io sapere sei indipendente, ma sei anche debole ora. Tu devoir sur se reposer. Mon amour, s'il vous plait, si tu ne devoir pas resposer pour moi, resposer pour notre fille. Lei esigenze tu, lei esigenze suo madre a essere forte per suo. Per favore, mi amata."

Elphaba nodded, and allowed Fiyero to pull the covers back, before laying back among the pillows. The others watched, as Fiyero tucked his wife in, and then settled on the edge of the bed, taking her hand gently. He leaned down and pressed his nose to hers, gently placing butterfly kisses on her cheeks.

For all their differences, for all their similarities, for all the apprehension the court and the rest of Oz gave them, for all the love they had for their country, they had just as much, if not more, for their family, and for each other. For, even when they said nothing, they thought alike, sharing unison thoughts, unison hearts. They were the only pair who shared unspoken love through butterfly kisses, and spoken love through whispered words in the Vinkun, Kumbrican, and Lurlinian tongues.

They were the only royal pair in all history, who loved deeply.

And they loved deep enough for all of Oz.