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Chapter 15: Shiz, A Month or So Later
"She has barely spoken to me since the whole thing with Dr. Dillamond," Boq commented as the two boys walked across campus.
Fiyero nodded, thinking carefully about what to say. "Well, she didn't see the body, but he was her mentor. I'm sure losing him has been very hard on her. Perhaps she needs time to grieve." Why was he giving his closest friend advice on how to talk to his wife? He bit back a laugh at the absurdity of the whole situation. "And remember, Boq, you asked her as a friend."
"Well, of course. I could never court Elphaba! But still, as her friend, and her date to the spring formal, I feel as though I should talk to her more."
"Then sit with her tonight. I'm sure she'll appreciate the company." They were headed towards a small cafe in town. While Elphaba had managed to put it off for almost a month, Glinda had insisted that they have a small gathering to celebrate the old Goat's life.
"I think I will." Boq said decidedly. "I do find it odd, Fiyero. You're so good at giving me advice about women and yet there are none for you here."
"There are plenty back home. I've done my fair share of courting. Over the winter holidays, I may have begun efforts to court a young lady from my village." If pairing Elphaba with Boq would divert attention, so would pairing himself with a non-existent girl from home.
"Why didn't you tell me? The holidays were months ago!"
"It didn't seem like a big deal."
"You've been distracted. I can tell. Finding the body like that, Fiyero… I know you've probably done your share of fighting and hunting, but it's not the same."
No, it wasn't. But the image that had planted itself firmly in his mind was Elphaba beside the body, her face distraught and broken. "It was traumatic."
"And then Morrible dragged you back over there! I can't believe she didn't consider how upsetting that might be."
"Boq, we're grown men. We can handle these things." Fiyero hadn't been concerned with seeing the body again, anyway. His main concern was handling whatever questions Morrible had for him.
"Did he ever say why he chose you two as lab assistants?"
"He said it was because we both work very hard. Why else would he?"
"No reason. I just find it to be an odd decision." The old woman sighed. "And he never said anything odd?"
"Odd how?"
"Oh, about magic or anything out of his specialty. He was known to rant and rave about things that made no sense. I'd just been wondering if he'd been doing it more than usual prior to his terrible accident."
"He never said anything, Ma'am." Fiyero didn't know what the woman was getting at. Was it an attempt to uncover Dr. Dillamond's research?
"And he never left you alone with Miss Elphaba?"
"Never, Ma'am. The only time we were alone was when I walked her to her dorm. And we were out in the open, of course. It would be highly improper to leave a young man and young woman alone together, and Dr. Dillamond knew that." It occurred to him that none of her questions had anything to do with the body or what he had seen.
"Very well, then. I may request to see you for additional questions, but you may go for the moment. Prince Fiyero, I am sorry that you had to see such things. I'm sure you know that our society does not usually have such horrors happen."
"Of course, Madame."
Boq nudged him, then. "Fiyero, careful where you're walking! You almost stepped on that poor kitten back there."
He shook himself out of his memories. "I suppose I was daydreaming."
"Well, come on, I want to get there before everyone else does so I can get the seat next to Elphie."
Fiyero tried not to roll his eyes and merely followed.
Elphaba and Galinda were not there yet, only Avaric, Shen-Shen and Pfanee. Avaric had an arm casually draped around Shen-Shen's waist. They'd started dating last month, and were not afraid of public displays. Fiyero slid into the booth across from the three of them. Boq sat on the other end.
When Elphaba and Glinda arrived trailed by Nessa and Nanny, Boq waved Elphaba toward him. Fiyero found himself grinning a little at the reluctant way she looked at Boq when she sat beside him. Nanny pushed Nessa's chair to the next table over. They'd barely met, and it seemed as though Nanny (by request of Frex, he was certain) was trying to keep Nessa away from the sinful influences of other college students. Or perhaps they were sitting separately because neither Nessa nor Nanny had known Dr. Dillamond and they didn't think it proper to be involved in this other than to chaperone. But he didn't have much time to focus on that, since Glinda slid into the seat beside him. "Good afternoon, Miss Glinda." He was careful to make sure to refer to her by the name she had requested.
"Good afternoon, Master Fiyero. I realized I haven't spoken much with you. I thought perhaps we should get to know each other better, no?" Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
His eyes flickered over to Elphaba for a brief moment, who was smiling and responding to something Boq had said. "Because of our, uh, mutual friend?" He asked in a low voice.
"You could say that." Glinda's gaze went across the table, taking note of every person.
It appeared that everyone had divided into pairs or small groups and were happily chatting. Tibbet and Crope had not yet arrived, so their reverie had not quite started. "How is our friend doing, then?"
"Our friend is quiet, but I don't suppose that's anything new."
"Didn't want to come tonight?" He guessed.
"Definitely not." Glinda whispered, "I had to drag her out the door."
"I'm not surprised."
Glinda cleared her throat and spoke a bit louder. "Master Fiyero, how have you been doing since Dr. Dillamond's untimely death?"
"I was a little shocked, but that faded. I'm sad, obviously. He was a good professor, and he was kind enough to let me help in the lab. I'll always remember that." And that was the truth. In that lab, he'd gotten more hands on experience than he could've hoped to get in the classroom. It had helped his grades, and he'd been able to get to know Elphaba better. What that Goat had given him was a blessing. He'd been missing his time in the lab badly over the last month. It wasn't until this had all happened that he'd realized how much he had looked forward to it.
"Yes, he was a very kind professor. I always felt bad when other students took advantage of that. What do you think about the new professor?"
He knew what Elphaba thought. She hated him, though he was fairly certain she'd hate anyone who replaced Dr. Dillamond. In this case, though, he didn't blame her. Dr. Nikkidik was barely audible in the large lecture halls, and he disliked being asked questions. When Elphaba had asked questions of Dr. Dillamond, he'd been excited to see someone curious and invested. Dr. Nikkidik took her questions as a waste of class time and an insult to his intelligence. He usually ended up ignoring them or talking around them. Elphaba had been so angry after that first week with him as their professor that she'd spent almost the entire weekend ranting about it. Fiyero had barely been able to get a word in edgewise. "He's not as, um, passionate as Dr. Dillamond was."
"No, I don't suppose he is. Then again, I've always struggled myself to be passionate about science."
"Well, that's not your chosen field. You'd think someone who has chosen this as a career might be a bit more excited." Fiyero noticed that Elphaba had stopped talking and was looking over at them.
"That's true. Madame Morrible has always been enthusiastic about sorcery." Glinda smiled. "Do they use a lot of sorcery in the Vinkus?"
"It has mostly died out. Most of the magic now is attached more to objects than people."
"How interesting! A strong sorcerer must've imbued those things with power. I'd be interested to see such an object."
"Usually they are worshipped as idols. No one really owns them." He met Elphaba's eyes, intense layers of brown with flecks of violet. As soon as he had, though, she turned away and went back to talking to Boq.
"That's absolutely fascinating. I wish I could see them."
"It's not as exciting as it sounds. The magic in these objects only works when it feels like it. You can't just command it to work."
Glinda had opened her mouth to speak, but the whole group was interrupted as Crope and Tibbet came flouncing in. "Hello, dearies!" Tibbet plopped down beside Pfanee, Crope beside him. "I'm sorry to be so late."
Crope and Tibbet couldn't be on time for anything. Fiyero thought they'd be late to their own their own weddings, not that either of them would ever be married. "Yes, yes. Let's order a round of drinks, shall we?" Crope raised his eyebrows.
Avaric called a waiter over and most of the boys called for beer. Glinda, Pfanee and Shen-Shen requested wine and Elphaba, clearly miffed at how late Crope and Tibbet were, said she wasn't fond of alcohol, to which Avaric replied with a sneer, "Why not? Perhaps if a guy drank enough of it he might find you attractive."
Fiyero felt his insides boiling, an instant anger welling up. How could anyone say that about her? Even worse, how could someone say that to her? As much as she tried to hide it, she was still slightly self-conscious of her looks, and it was cruel to poke fun at it. He leaned towards the table.
Glinda's hand hit his shoulder with a quiet smack. "You can't," she muttered. "Let me." At which point, she turned to Avaric and said, "With the way you obsess over her looks, I'd almost think you were compensating for the fact that you're interested."
Fiyero wanted to hug Glinda.
Shen-Shen's face went red. "How dare you insinuate such a thing…"
Crope was giggling uncontrollably.
Boq piped up, "There's nothing wrong with the way she looks. Why don't we drop it?"
Elphaba grunted. "Tell that to him. I never brought it up. And don't defend me." She gave a reproving look to both Glinda and Boq.
Fiyero intervened. "Everyone, please. We're not here to argue or insult each other. This is about Dr. Dillamond. You should all respect that." The grateful, almost loving look in Elphaba's eyes when he said that warmed his heart.
"He has a point," Tibbet concurred.
As though to prove the point, the drinks arrived. Fiyero grabbed his and held it up. "A toast, then, to the most passionate and kind life sciences professor Shiz has ever seen."
Each of them raised their glass - even Elphaba raised her teacup absurdly. "Cheers."
Boq said a few words about Dr. Dillamond, and Shen-Shen did as well. Elphaba sat with her arms folded across her chest and refused to speak when asked. She said she didn't like public eulogies. Avaric at this point quipped that she didn't like public anything, and everyone began talking amongst themselves again.
As the chatter began to break up, Glinda said softly, "I see why our friend likes you."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, our friend is sweet on you."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You know. Our friend, Fiyero, is more fond of you than our friend might care to admit. I can tell these things." She smiled knowingly. "And I think, perhaps…" At this point, carefully, Glinda brushed his fingers with her own hand. She froze for a moment, and then smiled. "It would seem to me you might feel the same."
He stared at her. Fiyero had forgotten about Glinda's odd power. "What did you see?"
"Her," she said simply. "And you. Mostly her."
He raised his eyebrows. "Where? When?"
"I don't always get context. Although, it seems recent. It was clearly an intimate moment, from the lack of clothing…"
"Glinda!"
"That's what is in your head. I'm not responsible for it. It's usually what I see when I get visions from her, too."
He grinned a little at that. "That is how we spend most of our time together. Not that we always… I just meant that in that room it's easier to just… oh, forget that." He whipped his head around, making certain no one was listening before turning back to the blonde. "We study, too, you know. And we talk."
"I know. She tells me things on occasion. She tells me a lot."
Fiyero peered at her suspiciously. "She wouldn't."
"You'll never know, will you?"
"I don't think I care," he decided. "Glinda, you're her best friend. She's told you how she feels?"
"She doesn't need to."
"I feel like getting information the other way is a little bit invasive, Glinda."
"It can be useful," she huffed.
"I'm sure it can be. And I understand being nosy, to a point."
"I'm not nosy!"
"Oh, then what is it?"
"I've just been so curious about all of this. Thank you for enlightening me a bit. One doesn't usually expect to find that her best friend is secretly married to someone she never talks with in public."
"Nothing about it is expected." Including the fact that he was falling for Elphaba.
