Chapter 5
The next morning, I woke up slowly, disoriented. Why am I lying on sand? Why is everything so … blue? Then, the events of the previous day came back to me. Right. I had allowed myself to look ridiculous for the sake of Ursula's crazy mission. Not wanting to fully accept this notion, I lay on the sand for a little bit, thinking about what I had left behind: Fiyero and Melrina. She was probably asking him why I was gone, something neither of us could successfully explain to her. Poor thing. I always hoped she would have a normal childhood, unlike me …
"Salmon! Breakfast is served!" I got out of my thoughts to see Ursula holding up two dead salmon which she was obviously very proud of killing.
I took one from her. "You could have woken me up to help."
"Ah, I wanted you to get some extra sleep after your rather eventful day yesterday," she said dismissively. "I imagine this must be a big adjustment for you."
"No shit."
Ursula laughed heartily at that. "Oh, Elphaba, your bluntness amuses me to no end! But really, as I said yesterday, you'll get used to it. Why, when this is over, you'll probably have to get re-accustomed to walking again."
I really did not want to dwell on that subject too much, so I said, "Tell me more about Morgana. What's she like?"
"Mmm, very talented, but very pretentious. Since she was not brought up in a royal environment as I was, she could use her powers whenever she pleased. And boy, did she use them! When we were girls, Morgana would have used her powers to breathe if she could! I suspect this was a ploy to get more attention from her mother, who, as I told you, favored me over her when we were young."
"But you said you didn't know the sea king wasn't your father when you were a girl. How did Titannia even have contact with you?"
"She surreptitiously got herself a job as my mother's maid, so Morgana was always hanging around the palace. We didn't know we were sisters until we were eighteen; Mama and Titannia sat us down no more than two days after Morgana's eighteenth birthday, and they told us the truth. I think I always suspected it; I looked nothing like King Poseidon. And then of course, when he found out that I wasn't his daughter, his relationship with my mother was never the same. And he used it as just another reason why I was unfit to be queen."
"Outrageous," was the word I could find sum up all that. "Didn't you ever try to reclaim your throne?"
"Twice," she answered. "Once when I was about thirty, and once while you were prancing about Oz as Illinora, enchanting young Vinkun men with your eloquent eyes." She gave me a fake glare of disapproval.
I laughed. "What is that supposed to mean?! I did not 'enchant' anyone, at least not on purpose!"
"But you did! Manek doted on you! It was delicious to watch! The man had no hope, none at all!"
"Speaking of Manek, do you know how he is?" I asked her. "I know you said you don't have much time for that nowadays …"
"I haven't checked on Oz in a while," Ursula admitted. "Mainly because you're not there anymore. But I do know that Glinda released Manek from Southstairs personally, and then he made the poor thing cry by telling her that he knew you. It was bizarrely both amusing and disturbing at the same time."
We made it about a hundred miles that day, stopping to rest off the coast of a country Ursula called "England." She insisted that I stay at a hotel while she kept herself hidden nearby. So, I accepted her fifty mares (merfolk money) and spent the night at the Coral Inn. Fifty mares got me the cheapest of rooms, with just a bed and a washroom but Lurline knows, I'd slept in worse places in my day.
Since there wasn't much to do in my room, I went over to the hotel bar that evening, curious to see how a bar could even function underwater. I soon got my answer. Drinks were fed through water tight tubes into what resembled children's sippy cups. Fascinated by this, I ordered a beer (I was lucky it was happy hour), and settled myself down on a barstool, hoping the drink would take my mind off things.
Presently, an elderly merman sat down next to me. He took me in for about five clock ticks (there was no doubt in my mind what he was staring at), and then simply said, "Nice. I like it."
"Um … thank you," I said, unsure whether to take that as a compliment or not.
He introduced himself. "I'm Arron. I'm too old to be this drunk, but here I am. I came over here because you remind me of a girl I once knew in my youth. Very powerful, could change the weather and all that, but everybody thought she was a demon, 'xcept me and a couple other people. She was in love with me, I knew, but I didn't give her a chance. And now she's dead. I was stupid. Young and stupid." He smiled at me crookedly. "Wanna see how you measure up?"
"I'm married," I told him firmly. "But I'm wondering, are you perhaps talking about the sea witch, Ursula?"
He looked surprised. "Why, yes! You knew her? Wait! I know you! You're that green girl Ursula would always go on about! Hang on, I know she told me your name at some point. It's El-something, isn't it? But aren't you human?"
"It's Elphaba, to answer your first question. As for your second question, that is a long story that I'd rather not get into at the moment." I downed the rest of my beer. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling a bit faint. I need to get some fresh … uh … water." I fled the bar as fast as I could.
I found Ursula around the back of the hotel, hiding between two compost bins. She got up upon seeing me. "Elphaba!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing out here?"
"Arron's in there," I told her. "He's more than a little drunk, but he told me how he knew you, probably because he was drunk. Would you like to see him?"
Her face was the palest I had ever seen it. "Arron? No! No! No one can know I'm alive just yet! Not even him. God, Arron …"
I sat down next to her. "Would you like to talk about it?"
"No!" she said forcefully. "Thank you. I think we both need to get some sleep." I knew not to press her, so I went back inside, avoiding the bar, and settled down for the night in my room. Despite my desire to respect Ursula's privacy, many questions ran through my head. What happened between her and Arron? Why was he not living in Atlantica? And how did Arron know about me if Ursula only discovered me when I started school?