On the way back from Madame Morrible's scriptorium, Elphaba desperately tried to think of an idea that would make the Lurlinemas Ball possible after all.
Maybe they could hold it elsewhere?
But where?
There surely wasn't a space as large as the dining hall anywhere else around, and the next larger town was too far away to set up a ball at.
The only thing Elphaba knew for sure was that Glinda wouldn't be happy if the ball and the further Lurlinemas celebrations didn't take place.
Therefore she was determined to find a way.
It would be a much better present than anything she could buy for her friend.
Her feet had naturally carried Elphaba to the library, the place where her brain usually worked best.
She strolled to her usual place at the large table and sat down, pondering over the problem at hand.
As her mind lost itself a little due to the lack of ideas, it started swirling around the little encounter with Fiyero two nights earlier and how strange it had been being with him all alone in the dark library...
But something else suddenly sprung into her thoughts.
The book!
The book she had been reading about this strange celebration from another world that seemed so much like Lurlinemas!
Suddenly electrified, Elphaba hurried to the librarian's desk.
"Pardon me, do you have any more books about Christmas than 'A Christmas Carol'?"
The librarian looked at her blankly, obviously not understanding her.
"It's quite possibly with the copies of Otherworld books", Elphaba added, nervously tapping her toes.
"Ah, I see, Miss Elphaba, yes, I do believe there are some more Otherworld books around besides the one you mentioned, but let me have a look."
The librarian disappeared between the shelves and Elphaba followed him eagerly.
"There we are, this is all the Otherworld literature we have, I hope you can find something, dear."
"Thank you", Elphaba sputtered, already flying over the book titles.
There were at least two dozen Otherworld books and Elphaba was determined to search through them all in order to find something about the desired topic.
She took the first book down and flipped through the pages.
From the words of it, they didn't seem to say anything that was of importance to her so she put it away again and took the next book.
Suddenly, she heard a well-known voice next to her.
"Mind if I join you?"