Elphaba was the last one to enter the dining hall for lunch—partly due to her avoiding it as long as possible, and partly due to her refusing to ask a servant for directions to the room.
Three others sat at the table. The Eminent Thropp half rose from his chair when she entered, gesturing stiffly for her to sit. Nessarose sat up a little straighter and looked down her nose at her plate as if it were something offensive. Frexspar, on the other hand, gave no indication that he had noticed his eldest daughter.
Elphaba pressed her palms to the skirt of her dress and moved to take the seat next to Nessa, farthest away from her father. The Eminent glanced curiously between the three of them, but if anything about their interaction was strange to him, he didn't mention it.
A pair of servants entered the room, balancing plates and bowls and cups with masterful ease. Within seconds their meals were in front of them. Elphaba tried not to wrinkle her nose at the sausage on her plate.
"Excuse me," she said quietly to the servant closest to her. "May I have more mushrooms instead of the sausage, please?"
"Of course, ma'am," the man said, taking her plate before she had even finished saying thanks.
"It's rude to turn your nose up at your food, Elphaba," Nessa said flatly. "Especially when you're a guest in this house."
Elphaba kept her eyes on her food as she picked up her spoon and began stirring her soup. "You and Father know full well that I'm a vegetarian. Although I do apologize," she added somewhat stiffly, looking up at the Eminent, "I should have told you ahead of time."
"It's not a problem," he said. "The kitchen staff will be more than happy to accommodate, I'm sure."
Frexspar said nothing during the exchange, but Elphaba could see the disapproval etched into his face.
Silence clouded the room as the meal went on, broken only by the gentle clicking of silverware, or the rustle of clothes as someone shifted, or the swinging of doors as servants came in and out. When most of their dishes had been cleared away and the staff had been waved off, the atmosphere shifted. Elphaba glanced around. The Eminent Thropp had leaned forward, threading his fingers together and resting them against his chin. Nessa was sitting taller than ever, hands nervously smoothing the skirt of her dress. Even Frexspar had shifted, and he was now looking directly at Elphaba.
"What's going on?" the green girl asked. Nessa glanced sideways at her, just long enough to give a warning.
There is another reason why you must come home… Father has ordered me not to mention it…
"How do you like your room?" the Eminent asked.
"I'm sure it's lovely, to one who has admiration for such things. Like the rest of these grounds. Now, would someone tell me what it is you want to discuss, or are we going to waste our breath on meaningless pleasantries for the rest of the meal?"
"Elphaba," Nessa hissed, but the Eminent Thropp merely studied her. Elphaba raised her chin slightly. She didn't enjoy his scrutiny, especially not when she couldn't tell what he was thinking. For a long moment, no one said anything.
"No, she's right." The voice, surprisingly, was Frex's. Elphaba grit her teeth. "She's going to be difficult either way, so we might as well get it over with."
"And what, may I ask, am I going to be difficult about?" she said, finally looking her father in the eyes. He frowned as they stared at each other, but gestured toward the Eminent to speak.
"We have…business, of a sort, to discuss with you," he began. "You are well aware of how the Thropp line works, correct?"
"Yes," she said slowly, tearing her eyes away from Frex to stare at her grandfather. When she found nothing in his expression, she turned to Nessa. To her surprise, her sister was looking down at her lap, her fingers clenched tightly together. She shifted, leaning ever so slightly away from Elphaba's gaze. Thoughts started running through the green girl's head, piecing themselves together little by little.
"Well, then, you know that, traditionally, you would be the next ruler of Munchkinland."
Elphaba could practically hear the catch hanging in the air, unspoken by the other three. It was driving her insane. She raised a brow, looking at each of them in turn. "But?" she prompted.
Nessa pressed her lips together, and Elphaba could have sworn she saw the younger girl shake her head. Frex leaned forward, eyes drilling into Elphaba.
"But, we've been thinking a lot lately about this. It is our belief that Nessarose would be much more suitable to the position of Eminent Thropp."
Everyone around the table tensed—even the air seemed to freeze—as they waited for Elphaba to respond. But the green girl didn't explode, or yell, or jump angrily to her feet. For a moment, all she could do was sit there. Then she blinked, her eyes focusing once more.
"I-I don't…Is that even legal?" Of all the things she expected, this certainly wasn't it. The Eminent Thropp cleared his throat.
"If you renounce your status as Third Thropp Descending, then the position would automatically fall to Nessarose. It's quite simple, really. Just a few signed papers and a formal statement."
"Simple? You're calling this simple?"
"There's no need to be difficult, Elphaba," Frexspar said, an all too familiar warning in his tone.
Elphaba glared at him, eyes flashing. "What did you expect? For me to skip off so I can go sign your papers? How long have you been planning this? This is my decision, my future—why am I just now finding out about it?"
"This isn't something that should be discussed through a letter," Peerless said calmly. "I understand that this is a bit overwhelming. Perhaps you would like to speak with your family alone? I have business to attend to, anyway." He rose from his chair and turned to leave, his gaze meeting each of them in turn. When he looked at Elphaba, she was surprised to see the cold anger in his expression. It was the first time she'd been able to tell what he was thinking.
As soon as he had left, Nessa gripped the wheels of her chair. "I'd like to excuse myself, as well," she said quietly. Frex nodded, and she quickly wheeled herself away from the table and out of the room.
The silence that fell over them didn't last long.
"That was unnecessary, Elphaba."
"I agree," she said, "There are many ways that could have been handled better."
"You have been here for less than a day, and already you're making our family look bad."
Elphaba rested her elbows on the table and leaned forward, rubbing her temples. "I honestly don't know what you expected, Father. You can't just announce something like this and not expect me to react. Surely, after raising me for eighteen years, you know better than that."
"And surely you know better than to act the way you did."
"I wouldn't have acted the way I did if you didn't throw this at me out of nowhere," she said heatedly.
"Do not raise your voice at me." His hand came down on the table, smacking the wood loudly. Elphaba tried her hardest not to flinch as the sound reverberated through the room.
"Why did you hide this from me?" she asked quietly.
"I've hidden nothing."
"I'm not stupid!" Elphaba nearly hissed. "This isn't something you decide overnight. You've been thinking about this for months—maybe even years. Why now? Were you just waiting for me to go to school so it would be easier to get me out of the picture?"
"You're being ridiculous, Elphaba. This isn't about you. It's about Nessarose."
"See, I don't entirely believe that. And since when have you cared about the Thropp line, anyway? You've never cared for politics, and I know Mother never—"
Frex jumped up, and this time Elphaba really did flinch away. He rounded the table to stand next to her, hovering over her as she curled in on herself.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Never speak of your mother. You have no right to even mention her! Do you hear me?" His words were low and fast, spoken almost directly into her ear. Elphaba pushed away from him and rose to her feet. But before she could rush out of the room, he grabbed her and yanked her around to face him. She stared at the ground, telling her body not to register the feeling of his fingers digging into her arm. "I asked you a question, Elphaba."
"Yes."
"Yes, what?"
"I heard you." She clenched her jaw, breathing sharply through her nose in an attempt to stop the energy humming through her. Next to them, the chairs started to rattle. Frex noticed and pushed Elphaba away, his eyes widening.
"I thought you'd learned to control that," he said.
"It's not my fault you piss me off," Elphaba said under her breath. Unfortunately, Frex heard her. He stepped forward, hand twitching at his side, but then stopped. With a heavy sigh, he turned away.
"Get out. Before you make things even worse."
Elphaba turned on her heel and all but fled the room, but she could still hear him muttering to himself, words like wicked, useless, devil spawn.
She closed her eyes and rushed blindly down the halls, finally finding the front doors and running down the steps, away from the castle, into some far-off, forgotten corner of the grounds.
She didn't stop for a long time.
Glinda hadn't moved for a long time.
She was lying in her giant, fluffy bed, staring sightlessly up at her ceiling with no intention of moving anytime soon.
Someone knocked on her door, almost too soft to hear. Glinda didn't answer. She didn't even turn to look as the door creaked open and Ama's face appeared.
"May I come in?" Her voice was gentle. Glinda shrugged, her shoulders brushing against the mattress beneath her. Ama Clutch slipped into the room, carrying a small silver tray. "I brought dinner. The bread's straight from the oven. Can you smell it?"
Glinda inhaled softly, breathing in the warm fragrance. She wrinkled her nose. "Not hungry," she mumbled.
Ama set the tray down on the nightstand and put a hand over Glinda's forehead, brushing back the golden hair. "I thought you had fun with your friends today."
The blonde closed her eyes. "I did. It's just…"
Ama Clutch nodded, stroking her cheek. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Glinda shook her head, eyes still closed. Ama sighed but pulled her hand back.
"I'll leave the tray in here, in case you get hungry. Is there anything else I can bring you?"
Again, she shook her head. "I just…want to think for a little bit."
Now there was something she hadn't heard in years. Ama Clutch smiled a little as she stood from the bed. "I'll leave you be, then." She bent down and pressed a kiss to Glinda's forehead, then straightened and left the room. She paused in the doorway, just long enough to look over her shoulder. "I recommend writing things down, if you can. It really helps the thought process."
She disappeared down the hall before Glinda could open her eyes and sit up. Sighing, Glinda pressed her palms against her forehead and fell back to the bed.
She didn't even know what was wrong. A few hours ago she had returned from town, still smiling from the afternoon spent with her friends. A few nights ago, dinner with her parents had been wonderful. Sure, they had all stumbled over her name a few times, but they were trying. So far, Lurlinemas break had been great.
Now, though, she could barely bring herself to move. At first she thought she was bored, but that wasn't quite right. She could go wander around the garden, or sketch more building designs into one of her countless drawing pads, or sit on the counter in the kitchen and dry dishes as Ama washed and babbled on about the town gossip. She loved doing all these things, yet in that moment, nothing felt right.
The blonde rolled over and propped her head up on an elbow, gazing out her window. The view was half-blocked by a giant tree. The thick branches reached close enough that, if she were brave enough, she could climb out the window onto one. The tree was dead for the winter, but Glinda found herself wishing for the green glow that filled her room when the sun shone through the leaves in the summer.
She wondered what Elphaba was doing.