That night Galinda and I talked about all sorts of things. "Let's share one secret, each. I'll go first. Fiyero and I are getting married!" she told me. I looked at her and said, "Fiyero proposed after one night?" "He doesn't know it, yet-uh," she said to me. I shrugged and I said, "My first father hates me." She gasped and leapt onto my bed, to hug me, and I said, "That's not the secret. He has good reason. When Mother was pregnant with Nessa, Father made her chew milk flowers all the time to keep Nessa from being green. When Nessa was born, her legs were all tangled and she was born prematurely. Mother never woke up after Nessa was born. It's my fault that Nessa's stuck in that wheelchair and Mother is dead." "No, it's not," Galinda countered. "It was the milk flowers—don't blame yourself, Elphaba." I stared at her, and she hugged me gently. Then she changed the topic and said, "I'm going to call you, Elphie." I sighed and said, "It's perky." "And you can call me, Galinda." I rolled my eyes and said, "Whatever, Lin." "Lin?" she repeated. "Well, if you're going to give me a nickname, I should give you one too." I pointed out.
She grinned at me and said, "C'mon. We have work to do." "Tell me, it's fun," I begged. "It is," she said.
"Elphie, now that we're friends, I've decided to make you my new project. You really don't have to do that. I know. That's what makes me so nice. WHENEVER I SEE SOMEONE LESS FORTUNATE THAN I—AND LET'S FACE IT: WHO ISN'T LESS FORTUNATE THAN I?—MY TENDER HEART TENDS TO START TO BLEED. AND WHEN SOMEONE NEEDS A MAKEOVER, I SIMPLY HAVE TO TAKE OVER. I KNOW, I KNOW, EXACTLY WHAT THEY NEED. AND EVEN IN YOUR CASE, THO' IT'S THE TOUGHEST CASE I'VE YET TO FACE. DON'T WORRY—I'M DETERMINED TO SUCCEED. FOLLOW MY LEAD AND, YES, INDEED. YOU WILL BE... POPULAR! YOU'RE GONNA BE POPULAR! I'LL TEACH THE PROPER PLOYS WHEN YOU TALK TO BOYS, LITTLE WAYS TO FLIRT AND FLOUNCE, OOO. I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT SHOES TO WEAR, HOW TO FIX YOUR HAIR. EVERYTHING THAT REALLY COUNTS TO BE POPULAR! I'LL HELP YOU BE POPULAR! YOU'LL HANG WITH THE RIGHT COHORTS! YOU'LL BE GOOD AT SPORTS! KNOW THE SLANG YOU'VE GOT TO KNOW. SO LET'S START, CAUSE YOU'VE GOT AN AWF'LLY LONG WAY TO GO. DON'T BE OFFENDED BY MY FRANK ANALYSIS. THINK OF IT AS PERSONALITY DIALYSIS. NOW THAT I'VE CHOSEN TO BECOME A PAL, A SISTER, AND ADVISER—THERE'S NOBODY WISER—NOT WHEN IT COMES TO POPULAR. I KNOW ABOUT POPULAR. AND WITH AN ASSIST FROM ME TO BE WHO YOU'LLL BE, INSTEAD OF DREARY WHO-YOU-WERE...ARE... THERE'S NOTHING THAT CAN STOP YOU FROM BECOMING POPU-LER... LAR... LA, LA, LA, LA. WHEN I SEE DEPRESSING CREATURES WITH UNPREPOSSESSING FEATURES. I REMIND THEM ON THEIR OWN BEHALF TO THINK OF CELEBRATED HEADS OF STATE OR SPECIALLY GREAT COMMUNICATORS. DO THEY HAVE BRAINS OR KNOWLEDGE? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH! HA! THEY WERE POPULAR! PLEASE—IT'S ALL ABOUT POPULAR! IT'S NOT ABOUT APTITUDE. IT'S THE WAY YOU'RE VIEWED, SO IT'S VERY SHREWD TO BE VERY, VERY POPULAR LIKE ME! Why, Miss Elphaba—look at you. You're beautiful. I—I have to go—You're welcome. AND THOUGH YOU PROTEST YOUR DISINTEREST, I KNOW CLANSDESTINEDLY YOU'RE GONNA GRIN AND BEAR IT—YOUR NEWFOUND POPULARITY! HA! LA, LA, LA, LA. YOU'LL BE POPULAR, JUST NOT QUITE AS POPULAR AS ME!"
After I returned to the room, Galinda said, "What happened?" I shrugged and said, "I was thinking." Then I said, "I just thought of another secret—it might be more interesting than the one I told you earlier." "Tell me, tell me," Galinda shrieked. "As I said earlier, my first father hates me. My second father didn't care what I did, as long as I didn't use my powers—very difficult since I have a very fiery temper and a royal pain of an older brother—Thom—heck, I disguised myself as a guy for eight years and he never knew a thing—he died before Alanna—Thom's twin sister and my older sister—Thom, and I could tell him anything. My third father's mad at me for the whole disguising myself as a guy thing and my biological father, well, he doesn't know I exist yet, but he'll find out soon enough." "How can you have more than one father?" Galinda asked. I sighed and said, "Frexspar isn't really my father. Lord Alan of Trebond adopted me when I first reached Tortall, more specifically Fief Trebond, and I was recently adopted by the king and queen of Tortall, King Roald of Conté and Queen Lianne of Naxen and Conté. My biological father, however really doesn't know I exist." "So, who is your father?" she whined. I sighed and asked, "Do you really want to know?" She nodded eagerly and I said, "Come here." Facing her, I said, "I'll whisper who my father is, in your ear, but you have to swear you'll never tell another soul." She nodded and said, "I swear." Taking a deep breath, I pressed my lips to her ear and hissed, "My father is the Wizard." She stared at me and I nodded.