AN: Thank you all so much for your lovely reviews! You're all so awesome :).

Vinkunwildflowerqueen, yes, that's exactly how I pictured it :). Don't we all think 'Atlantica' whenever we read about an underwater palace?

And you do know that I'm going to put a reference to that penis-shaped column in this story now, don't you? I must admit, I didn't know about it. Then I read your review and I looked it up, and I was like, 'Oh my Oz, it does look like a penis!' and then I spent an hour rolling over the floor with laughter.

Chapter 27. Home sweet home

'Hello, Governor Thropp.'

As if stung, Frexspar jumped to his feet, staring at the green girl in the doorway of his study in utter bewilderment. 'Miss Elphaba?' he asked, baffled. 'What are you doing here? I thought you said you were living in the Vinkus – how did you even get here?'

'I swam.'

He exhaled slowly. 'So it is true, then,' he said quietly. 'You really are Melena's daughter.'

She studied him for a moment, genuinely curious about this man and the life he had led so far. 'You don't know,' she said in mild surprise, and it was more a statement than a question. 'Do you?'

He shifted a bit uncomfortably. 'Know what?'

She chose not to answer that yet. Instead, she sat down in the chair opposite his desk. 'What do you know about my mother?' she asked him.

He sighed. 'I loved her,' he said simply. 'She was beautiful, mysterious… it was only later on that I found out where she was really from.'

'The ocean,' Elphaba whispered, and he nodded. 'I never knew for sure if I should believe that,' he admitted. 'I mean, it sounds absolutely insane. A mermaid queen… and I never knew if she did tell the truth. She just disappeared one day, and never came back.'

'It's true.'

'That's what I thought when you said you came here swimming.'

She smiled involuntarily at his logic. 'Yes, well, I admit, it took some getting used to. But I can assure you that it's all true.'

He remained silent for a while, processing this. Then he looked up again. 'Why are you here?'

She took a deep breath, then blurted it out. 'Because I wanted to meet my father again, now that I know that he is, in fact, my father.'

His stunned eyes met hers as she waited for the meaning behind her words to sink in. Frex just gaped at her for a while. 'I… you…'

'I'm Melena's daughter,' she reminded him. 'She loved you. For as far as I know, she's never even been with another man. You're my father.'

More silence. Frex looked about ready to faint, and quickly gulped down a glass of water that was standing on his desk as he tried to regain his composure.

Strangely enough, his first question was, 'Is that even possible? For a human and a mermaid to…'

She chuckled softly. 'There's living proof in front of you,' she pointed out. 'I'm half human and half mermaid.'

He nodded, still pale. 'I see.' He cleared his throat. 'Well, then… um… it's nice to see you again, Miss Elphaba.'

'You can drop the honorific now,' she said drily, and he blinked at her. 'Oh. Yes. Right. Elphaba…' He thought about it for a moment. Then his eyes lit up and Elphaba knew what he was about to ask. She also knew that she would have to tell him the truth, no matter how much that would hurt him.

Before he could even say anything, she slowly shook her head, and Frex closed his eyes for a moment, trying to regain his composure. 'She's not…'

'I'm sorry, Governor Thropp,' said Elphaba softly. 'She died when I was six.'

He nodded again. 'I see,' he said simply, but she could tell that he was shaken by that news. 'How… how did it happen?'

She wished she had better news for him. 'She was poisoned.'

He became even paler, almost gray. 'She… what?'

'Do you have a few hours?' Elphaba asked wryly. 'I think there's a lot we need to talk about.'

He nodded once more. 'Of course,' he said faintly. 'I… I want to know what happened. Tell me everything you know.'

And she did. She told him about her life, about Morrible and about her aunt Aurya, and she told him everything she had heard about her mother. He didn't interrupt once, just sat there with his chin resting on his hands, calm on the outside, but she could see the emotions in his eyes. No matter how cold and stiff he seemed to be, she realised, he was still only human. He had loved a woman once, then lost her; he must have fallen in love with another woman after that – Nessarose's mother – and he had lost her, too, and now he was all alone with his crippled daughter… and here she came barging in telling him that his first love was dead and that he had another daughter he had never known about.

When she was done, he looked at her silently for a few long moments. Then he opened his mouth and said quietly, 'You look like her.'

Elphaba didn't say anything.

'A lot.' Frex studied her intently for a moment. 'And the way you talk, the way you express yourself… you're like her in almost every aspect.'

She just blinked at him.

'But you have my eyes,' he said quietly. 'And I bet I would see more of myself in you if we were to get to know one another better.'

She still didn't say anything, just shifted a bit uncomfortably on her chair. What could she say to that, after all?

'Why did you come, Elphaba?' Frex asked her finally, and she took a breath, shaking her head.

'I'm not here to ask you for anything,' she said honestly. 'I don't want money, or even a father-daughter relationship. It's not why I'm here. I suppose I just wanted…' She shrugged. 'I wanted to see you again, now that I know you're my father,' she said. 'And I wanted to know if you knew.'

'I didn't,' he whispered. 'Melena never told me.' He looked up at her. 'You don't want a relationship?'

She shrugged again. 'Honestly? I don't know,' she admitted. 'If you don't want it, then I'll just go and I won't come back. If you do, however… I'm not sure how I would feel about that. I mean, it's a lot to take in all at once.' She thought about it for a moment. 'Can we do this later?' she asked. 'After this whole mess with Morrible and my aunt and the merpeople has been sorted out?'

'Of course.' He gave her a quivery half-smile. 'I understand you have more important issues at hand right now. How about you send me a letter, or you visit, once you're ready?'

She returned his smile. 'I will.' She made to get up, then hesitated. 'Do you… do you have more time?'

'I don't have to be anywhere until late in the afternoon,' Frex said, and she nodded. 'Could you…' She swallowed and looked at him. 'Could you tell me about her?' she asked quietly. 'I mean… Aurya told me about her life under the sea, but… but I'd like to know more about her. About the way you knew her.'

There was pain in his eyes, she noticed, but there was also love. He heaved a sigh, then smiled again. 'Of course,' he agreed. 'I'll tell you everything I know.'

'Would you never do such a thing again!'

Elphaba pinched Fiyero's cheek, as if he were a small child. 'Hello to you, too. What happened to 'hey, Fae, good to see you, how was your day?' Well, thank you for asking, Fiyero. My day was very good, how was yours?'

He looked like he was going to explode.

'Elphie,' Galinda said sternly, 'this is not okay. You cannot just disappear on us like that!'

'I didn't disappear!' Elphaba protested. 'Aurya knew where I went, and she told you, didn't she?'

Fiyero was glowering. 'That doesn't mean we liked it!'

Elphaba sighed. 'Yero,' she said softly. 'This was just something I had to do by myself, okay? Can you understand that?'

He grumbled some more, but she knew that he could never stay angry with her when she used his nickname. She slipped her arms around his neck and batted her eyelashes at him in a very Galinda-like way. 'Pretty please, Yero?'

Cohvu and Aurya both burst into a fit of snorting laughter and Galinda patted Elphaba's head. 'Yay for Elphie!' she cheered. 'I knew you'd pick up on it one day!'

Elphaba flashed her a grin. 'I had a good teacher, Glin.'

The blonde beamed. 'True. I'm the Queen of Wrapping Boys Around My Little Finger.'

Elphaba laughed and Fiyero rested his hands on her waist. 'I understand,' he sighed. 'I just don't like it.'

'It won't happen again,' she promised, and he nuzzled her cheek. 'It better not,' he said, trying to sound threatening, but he was smiling, which kind of ruined the effect.

'So, how was your day?' Aurya asked curiously, and Elphaba thought about that for a moment. 'It was… good,' she said, almost surprised at that conclusion herself. 'I mean… I'm not sure what I expected when I went there, but it really was good. We talked. He… he didn't know. That he's my father. And he told me about her – about Melena. It was nice to finally talk to… to my father.'

Fiyero softly squeezed her shoulder and she leaned into him. He knew how she had been longing to know who her parents were, and she had confided in him once that she was afraid she would never find out. She couldn't talk to her mother anymore, but now she had finally spoken to her father, and he was glad that she had been given that opportunity.

'So, what did you guys do?' asked Elphaba. Galinda immediately started chattering about all the things they'd seen in the kingdom of the merpeople today, with Cohvu enthusiastically filling in details she forgot. The green girl smiled as she looked at her friends, but the smile was a little bit sad.

'What do you want to do tomorrow?' Aurya asked her now. 'We could go over the spell books, or you could go back to the people…'

Elphaba tilted her head a little to the side, thinking that over. 'I'd like to go over the spell books,' she said. 'Maybe something useful is in there.'

Aurya nodded, but then, her niece added, 'And the day after that, I want to announce my presence to the people.'

Galinda gaped at her with wide eyes. Aurya frowned. 'Elphaba…'

'I want them to know that I'm still alive,' the young mermaid said. 'I want them to know about Morrible's lies, that she wasn't telling the truth. That I'm their Crown Princess and that Melena was not murdered by Aurya, but by Morrible herself.'

'I don't think that's a good idea, Elphaba,' Aurya said tentatively.

Elphaba looked at her. 'The people deserve the truth,' she said simply. 'And you deserve to be treated again like the princess you are, instead of like a traitor and a murderer.'

'Well, I, for one, agree with Elphaba,' Cohvu declared, swimming up next to his friend. 'She's right. The people should know.'

'But Morrible!' Galinda protested. 'What if she finds out that Elphie is here?'

Elphaba snorted. 'As if she doesn't already.'

Galinda looked terrified. 'Do you really think so?' she asked in a small voice, and Elphaba sighed. 'Glin… she's a Sea Witch. I've been swimming all around the ocean for the past two days. I think she knows I'm here, yes, though I'm not sure what she'll do with that knowledge. Send someone after me to kill me, probably.'

Galinda let out a squeak. Fiyero paled visibly.

The dark-haired girl looked up at him, softly kissing his cheek in an attempt to reassure him. 'I'll be fine,' she promised. 'But this is exactly why the people need to know. If they know, they won't accept Morrible anymore. We could defeat her – for good.'

Cohvu sighed. 'El, I sure hope you know what you're doing.'

'So do I,' she said drily, and he grinned at her.

'Then I'm in.'

'Me, too!' Galinda squealed. 'Let's go murder some Sea Witches!'

Elphaba looked amused, and Aurya smiled. 'I think you're very brave, Elphaba,' she said quietly. 'You're… you're a lot like your mother.'

Elphaba smiled a bit faintly. 'That's what Frex said.'

'It's true.' Aurya's face softened. 'She would have been proud of you.'

There was suddenly a lump in Elphaba's throat, so instead of replying, she swam over to her aunt and hugged the other mermaid tightly. Aurya hugged her back. When she pulled away, she kept one hand on Elphaba's other, using the other to smooth her niece's hair away from her face. 'Be careful,' she said.

'Never.'

That made Aurya smile. She softly kissed Elphaba's forehead, then let her go. 'Alright, then. Let's make a plan.'

Elsewhere, Morrible was fuming with rage.

'How dare she?' she hissed at one of her servants. 'How dare she come back here?'

The poor servant looked absolutely terrified, and she started weeping and cowering in a corner when Morrible struck a wall with her magic, crumbling parts of it down. 'How dare she?'

'Well…' a voice behind her said drily. 'She is the Crown Princess, after all.'

Morrible spun around to glare at the owner of the voice. He was a merman, an assassin, to be exact, whom she had called for. She knew he was known for doing jobs for anyone that paid him, no matter how nasty or horrible the job was, which was exactly why she had picked him. 'I want you to find her.'

The man quirked an eyebrow. 'The Crown Princess?'

Morrible growled in frustration. 'No, the Wizard of Oz! Of course the Crown Princess! You'll recognise her when you see her – she has emerald green skin and black hair, like her aunt. Other than that, she looks exactly like her mother. Find her. Track her down. Kill anyone who gets in your way.'

The assassin nodded calmly. 'And what do you want me to do with her once I've found her?'

Morrible knew he was just playing stupid, but it frustrated her to no end. 'Kiss her,' she said sarcastically. 'What do you think? Work with me here. You're an assassin – what do you think your job is?'

The assassin smirked at the older woman – she was so easily annoyed. 'Well, if the Crown Princess is cute, I wouldn't mind kissing her all that much.'

Morrible's glare could freeze lava. 'Find her,' she said through clenched teeth. 'And kill her.'