Chapter Twenty-Eight:

The silhouette of Kiamo Ko greeted Glinda's eyes a few days later after a treacherous and tiring journey by herself to find Elphaba. Having known where Elphaba was residing at, the blonde had taken a carriage and driven it herself to the castle. She was exhausted and could only hope that she wasn't too late.

She gave three short knocks on the door and waited for an answer. When she didn't hear anything, Glinda began to become nervous. She fiddled with her hands and picked at her black dress that she had been wearing since Nessarose's funeral. She hadn't had time to change and frankly she hadn't wanted to. She refused to go back to Chuffrey at any costs now.

The door was finally opened by a young boy about twelve or thirteen as far as Glinda could tell. Immediately she knew who he was, or who she hoped he was.

"Liir?" she asked and that caused the boy to look at her like she was a crazy stalker.

"Yeah," he answered with a curious look on his face, "And who are you? You certainly don't look like Dorothy," he mumbled the next part, "Or at least what Auntie Witch told me she looked like…"

Glinda didn't have time for chitter-chatter, and she felt impatient as she stood outside waiting to enter the castle.

"I am not Dorothy," said Glinda rather annoyed that he would think so, "I am Glinda. I need to see Elphaba."

Liir leaned against the side of the door, his gangly short body looking like a thick tree trunk.

"She's upstairs in the solar, but I don't think she wants to see anyone, especially you," he muttered as he twisted one foot over the other childishly. He avoided her gaze and looked at the floor.

"And why not?" asked Glinda with her hands on her hips. Her foot tapped on the gravel steadily, her patience wearing oh so thin.

"She's kind of busy… planning and such," mumbled Liir and Glinda had to strain her ears to even hear him. She had half the mind to scold Elphaba for teaching her kid such horrible manners, but then again this was the way Glinda expected Elphaba to raise her child. With no warmth or love or even care shown to Liir, Glinda suddenly felt bad for the boy.

"Well I need to come in anyways," she said softly. She looked beyond where Liir was standing into the castle that she had once been in before. The memories of her encounter with Sarima were brought back to her mind as soon as she saw the familiar interior of the residence.

"I guess you can come in, but she won't see you now," said Liir as he opened up the door a bit wider to let her pass.

Glinda entered the castle and immediately felt a chill rise around her, causing her to shiver slightly. It was quite cold in the stone castle and Glinda could see that Elphaba had none of the fireplaces going.

"Is there someplace I can freshen up?" asked the blonde witch, secretly hoping that he would take her near Elphaba, "The journey here was quite…. muddy for a lack of a better word."

Liir closed the door behind her and looked at her as children do, with his brow furrowed, "Um yeah, but she doesn't use water. I have some in my room though."

Disappointed the warmth that Glinda had felt towards the boy vanished and Glinda resisted the urge to groan and snap at the child. Instead she put on a gracious smile.

"That would be lovely," she got out as her eyes traveled up the staircase and her ears strained to hear the sound of footsteps, Elphaba's footsteps she hoped.

Liir ascended up the staircase with loud clomps of his boots hitting against the stone and with Glinda trailing behind. Those blue eyes of hers flickered from one door to the next; just imagining that Elphaba was behind one of them, waiting for her.

"Here we are," Liir's voice interrupted her thoughts and Glinda watched as he opened the door to his room for her.

Glinda did not move right away, she was more concerned about getting her head out of its search to find Elphaba than washing up.

Liir began to babble while she stood there.

"I, um, have to go do some chores but I'll be around outside if you, um, need anything," he stuttered.

He awkwardly stared at her for a bit and then when she tried to make eye contact with him, his eyes shot down to the floor.

"Thank you, Liir," said Glinda more as a dismissal than anything else.

Liir seemed to get the hint and he clumsily moved out of her way and left her to her thoughts.

"Oh and Liir," Glinda called out at the last second possible.

Liir turned in midst of descending the staircase to look at her.

"Yes?"

Glinda fumbled with the words in her mind, hoping that they would come out right when spoken from her mouth.

"Don't tell Elphaba that I'm here… at all. I'm surprising her with a visit, so please don't ruin it," half lied the Good Witch. She hoped that the boy would not find that strange, though in this house thought Glinda this must be the least strangest thing the boy had come across.

"Alright," said Liir with a nod, "I won't tell."

"Good," said Glinda and she turned her head away from him and waited to hear his footsteps as he went down the stairs.

Once he was out of her sights and Glinda made sure that she was out of his, the blonde shut the door to the room and began her way around the halls of the castle. Not sure where she should be looking for she had no idea where the solar exactly was, she meandered her way around based on what she heard. Traveling through empty corridors, one after another, Glinda found herself irritated and tired.

"Elphaba? Where are you?" she cried out after what seemed like an eternity searching for her old lover in the abandoned halls of the castle.

"Who's there?" called out another voice, one that was too frail, too old to be Elphaba's. Glinda turned a corner and almost collided with an older woman with a wizened face and bright eyes.

"Oh, my!" cried out the old woman as she fixed her attire and looked up at Glinda.

It took the blonde a few moments to realize who it was, and when she did so she was utterly surprised to see her here.

"Nanny, is that you?"

Having not really known the old woman, for she tended to Nessarose, Glinda wasn't that confident of her choice but the old woman seemed to be who she thought she was.

"Of course it is who else would I be?" retorted the old woman quite sassily. She peered at Glinda through her glasses and seemed to scrutinize at her appearance.

"You're Galinda," she said as a statement and not a question.

Glinda was quite surprised that the old bat actually remembered her.

"It's Glinda now, but yes I am, but how did you-"

Nanny cut her off with a short laugh, "I never forget a face, dearie. Now why are you wandering about Kiamo Ko? Looking for Elphaba I presume?"

Wanting to explain herself quickly Glinda rushed her words a bit and became animated though she didn't really need to.

"Yes, I am but Liir said she wouldn't want to see me. I came here as a surprise visit, just to catch up…"

"Oh," said Nanny a bit hesitantly, "Well she's getting quite crabby the damn girl, but I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you, for some human companionship other than those moneys and her bees. She's in the solar, I'll take you to see her."

Glinda beamed, though the words about human companionship did worry her a bit, and she followed Nanny through more corridors and passageways until they reached a room with a wooden door.

"I'll let you talk to her alone," said Nanny as she scuttled off to somewhere else.

Glinda exhaled softly as her hand wavered over the door handle. The nervousness in her seemed to swallow her but she pushed it aside. This had to go just right, this had to go perfectly otherwise she would lose Elphaba forever.

Painstakingly slow Glinda reached for the door handle with trembling fingers and opened it. Hesitantly she entered the room with nothing but nerves to keep her going.

Her eyes found a figure shrouded in black with a witch's hat on, busy muttering to herself and surrounded by hideous monkeys with wings. As Glinda looked at her she could barely recognize her old friend. She looked nothing like the person she had once been…

"Elphie?"

Sorry for the wait. This stupid thing called life got in the way. Next chapter will be a good one! :)

Bubble