Wicked Comet part 6
The next day, the sun was shining brightly down upon Shiz. In the courtyard, the Comet was being prepared for its flight to the Emerald city. Every inch of the Comet had been polished to sparkling perfection the night before and now, the aircraft was being fuelled and loaded. Nessa and Boq had already visited to wish Rich and Elphaba luck.
Rich was doing final technical checks in the cockpit; he had to make sure that everything was going to work as it should. If he didn't, something could go badly wrong and if it happened in the emerald city. Well, let's just say that things wouldn't end well for anyone.
Outside the Comet, Elphaba was loading the last of her small amount of luggage into the Comet's spacious cargo hold whilst Galinda was standing nearby. Galinda looked upset.
"Rich and I will be fine. Don't worry about that" Elphaba said to her friend, trying to comfort her.
"No, it's not that. It's Fiyero. He seems to be distant and he's been thinking and that worries me!" Galinda replied, whilst still upset.
Rich had left his cockpit window open and had overheard this.
"Now that is troubling" He said down jokingly to Elphaba and Galinda but the two friends ignored him.
As if on cue, Fiyero came running up to Elphaba and Galinda.
"Speak of the devil" Rich muttered to himself.
"Fiyero, over here dearest!" Galinda waved to Fiyero, now obviously cheered up. But Fiyero had ignored her and gone straight to Elphaba holding flowers which he gave to her!
Fiyero looked a little nervous as he said,
"Uh, listen, I've been thinking" he began.
"Yes i heard." Elphaba replied. This made Rich and Galinda chuckle but they both silenced themselves once they realised what the other was doing, both blushing furiously.
"About that Lion cub and... Everything. I think about that day a lot." Fiyero said.
"Really? So do i" Elphaba replied.
Galinda decided to butt in with,
"Me too! Poor Doctor Dillamond. It makes me want to... Uh... Take a stand. So I've been thinking of... Uh... Changing my name"
"Your name?" Fiyero asked curiously.
"Well, yes! Since Doctor Dillamond had his own way of pronouncing my name, in solidarity and to express my outrage, I will henceforward be no longer as Galinda, but as simply, Glinda" Galinda or now Glinda replied.
Fiyero looked absent as he said to Glinda,
"Oh well, that's very admirable of you... Glinda" then he said to Elphaba "Elphaba, good luck" then he ran off.
Glinda turned to Elphaba,
"There see" She said.
Elphaba did her best to make Galinda feel better and the two friends embraced.
"Come on Elphaba. I'm ready for start!" Rich called down from the cockpit.
Elphaba then spoke quietly to Glinda.
"Come with us"
"Where?" Glinda asked.
"To the Emerald City" Elphaba replied.
"I've always wanted to see the emerald city!" Glinda said excitedly.
"Well then, you had better get a small bag packed right now. I'm planning to take off soon!" Rich warned Glinda, who raced off back to Glinda and her Bedroom to pack a small suitcase.
Half an hour later, Glinda came racing back to the Comet, suitcase in tow which she and Elphaba lifted into the Comet's hold, which Elphaba shut and locked. After that, both Elphaba and Glinda raced up the boarding ladder and pulled it in. Glinda closed the main door and locked it. Afterwards, the friends took their seats in the Comet's cockpit as Rich fired up the engines. As he did so, everyone in Shiz poured out of the doors to cheer off the Comet as it made its journey to the Emerald city.
Glinda waved out of the Windows at the assembled crowd who all waved back, Elphaba and Rich waved at Nessarose as the Comet taxied.
When Rich finally aligned the Comet for take-off, he turned to Elphaba and Glinda and said,
"Ready?"
"Definitely" Elphaba and Glinda said at the same time.
Rich just smiled at them and turned back to the controls.
Slowly, he pushed the throttles to full power, the engines roared, sending slight vibrations throughout the airframe. The brakes were released and the Comet roared at high speed down the runway.
Glinda and Elphaba squealed in fright when the aircraft lurched on a particular stretch of the grass runway.
"It's perfectly alright, this happened all of the time during the flight tests. Dent in the runway or something" Rich called back to Elphaba and Glinda as the Comet accelerated faster and faster down the runway.
Finally, as both Elphaba and Glinda thought that they were going to crash, Rich pulled back on the control column and the Comet lifted into the air off on its way to the Emerald City. What no-one knew was, was the Comet would not return to Shiz for a very long time.