Elphaba tried to spin around, but she was rooted to the spot. Her blood felt frozen in her veins. Her muscles locked in place, braced for whatever was coming. She tried to face whoever was watching her from the doorway, but all she could manage was a quarter of a turn before something crashed into her, shoving her back into the desk.

"Elphie!"

Glinda threw her arms around Elphaba's neck and clung to her. She inhaled the earthy scent of the green girl's oils, burying her face into her roommate's shoulder. "I missed you so much," she said softly, pulling back to look at her.

Elphaba's voice caught in her throat. Too late, Glinda noticed that the green girl was trembling. She could suddenly feel the tension in Elphaba's shoulders. She could see the panic slowly fading from her eyes. "Elphie? What's wrong?"

The green girl pulled away from her and went to shut the door. "Nothing. You just startled me." There was a tremor to her voice and she tilted her face away from Glinda as she spoke.

Glinda watched her. "You don't startle that easily."

"I do when tiny blondes tackle me from behind."

She stepped forward and put a hand on Elphaba's arm, just above her elbow. "Then why are you still shaking?"

Elphaba pulled away and went back to her desk. "I told you, it's nothing." Glinda followed and grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to turn around.

"Look at me, Elphaba." She waited until the dark eyes met hers. "I did not spend the past month missing you like crazy just for you to lie to me the minute we see each other again. Now tell me what's going on."

Elphaba's eyes widened and it took her a moment to gather her thoughts. "I…it's not a big deal. Nothing happened."

"I don't buy that, not for a second."

The green girl's eyes darted over to the desk beside them, then back up to Glinda's face. "Someone was searching through my stuff," she muttered. She twisted out of the blonde's grasp and started shuffling through the endless stacks of work on her desk.

Glinda was still for a moment. "They…went through your desk? But why? What would they…" Realization hit, and she looked up at Elphaba, not bothering to contain her horror. "Dillamond's research. Madame Morrible."

She could have sworn she saw the green girl flinch, but a second later her face was as composed as ever. "She didn't find anything. I took it all with me. But…"

"But this isn't the end." Glinda's voice was hardly more than a whisper. "First she wanted you as an assistant, then she searched the room. She's not going to give up anytime soon, is she? But I don't understand. How does she know you have…?"

Elphaba shrugged. "It's not that hard to guess. I was close to him, and we were the last ones with him the day he…" She trailed off, her thoughts taking over where her voice had ended.

Glinda watched her roommates eyes cloud over and a shadow cross her face. She reached up and put a hand on the green girl's shoulder, sweeping it down to run through her hair and rub her back. "Elphie? Hey, are you still with me?"

Elphaba blinked. "Sorry. Just…thinking."

"And classes haven't even started yet." Glinda tried for a smile and was rewarded with a weak yet genuine return. She grew serious again. "You worry me sometimes, Elphaba."

The green girl tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

Glinda studied her for a moment, staring intently. Her forehead scrunched slightly and her lips pressed together, but she remained silent. Elphaba met her gaze, but for once, she had no idea what the blonde was thinking.

Finally Glinda shook her head, her lips curling into a slight smile that didn't at all match the look in her eyes. "You just do."

Elphaba hesitated, then reached behind and grabbed the hand that was still rubbing circles across her back. "You…missed me?"

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Of course I did. Do you realize how boring life is without a mean green thing around?"

"Mean?" Elphaba scoffed. "If you want me to be mean, I can bewitch your closet again, ruin all your outfits."

Glinda snorted. "Bewitch? Please, I know you used sticking solution. I found the jar forever ago."

Elphaba's eyes widened. "I…well, okay then." The blonde giggled, and Elphaba gave her fingers a squeeze. "I missed you, too. A lot." Her voice came out lower and rougher than usual as she thought of the last four weeks: the Eminency, her father, Dillamond's letters, Peric crashing into her life, only to vanish into the night without any way of finding him again.

The smile vanished from Glinda's face when she heard Elphaba's tone. "What is it, Elphie?"

She shook her head. "The last few weeks were long."

"Your father?"

Elphaba shrugged. "He was part of it."

"What else was there, then?"

"A lot." Elphaba inhaled softly as Glinda stepped closer. She looked away and cleared her throat. "But, this isn't the night to talk about it."

The blonde let go of Elphaba's hand in favor of wrapping her arms around the green girl's waist. She rested her cheek against Elphaba's chest and waited. After a moment or two, Elphaba's arms lifted and hugged her back.

"I'm glad we're back," she said. Elphaba made a humming noise in the back of her throat, agreeing. Glinda giggled and pulled away again. "Help me unpack?" she asked, meeting Elphaba's eyes and pouting ever so slightly. It was a look that had worked on the green girl every time she tried it last semester, but something was different now. Elphaba had changed, just a little. Glinda suddenly remembered her fears of Elphaba leaving for break and not returning, not completely. Was she going to lose her best friend to Dillamond's research? Had she already?

Elphaba rolled her eyes and turned, letting out a groan when she saw Glinda's bags sitting near the door. "We have got to teach you the art of travelling lightly."

Glinda grinned and both girls started on their luggage. Maybe something was different, Glinda thought. But this—the two of them together—hadn't changed a bit.

Both girls were woken the next morning by the rattling of their window.

Elphaba jerked, sitting up in bed and staring. "What the…?"

She looked over at Glinda, brow furrowing. The blonde blinked sleepily. "Wasn't me."

It happened again, making both girls jump, and this time Elphaba saw the snow sliding off the glass pane. She slid out of bed with a scowl and crossed the room. Glinda yawned and followed, keeping her blanket close so it was draped across her shoulders.

Elphaba pushed open the window and leaned out. "You idiots," she called out, "You're supposed to throw rocks if you're trying to woo a girl."

Crope and Tibbett were grinning up at the window, each of them holding a misshaped snowball. "Woo, Miss Elphie?" Tibbett called. "We wouldn't dare. It would be impossible to woo a girl such as you."

"Almost impossible," Crope corrected as Glinda came into view and Elphaba automatically scooted over to make room for her in the window. He and Tibbett shared a look.

The green girl scowled. "So are you going to stand there grinning like a couple of idiots, or are you going to tell us why you attacked our window at this Oz-damned hour of the morning?"

Glinda elbowed her gently. "What Elphie means," she called down sweetly, "Is, to what do we owe this pleasure, boys?"

Crope dropped his snowball and bowed low. "You have been formally invited to breakfast with the most charming boys on campus."

Tibbett threw his snowball at him, then looked up at the window. "Boq and Fiyero are meeting us at the café, and it just wouldn't be the same with our two lovely ladies." He winked, waggling his eyebrows at them, until Crope snuck up behind him and dumped a handful of snow down the back of his shirt. Tibbett yelped and turned to tackle him, sending them both to the ground.

"We'd be honored!" Glinda said, biting back her laugh.

Crope flipped Tibbett over and pinned him into the snow. He glanced up at the window. "We'll see you in…oh, about an hour?"

"We'll be there," Glinda said. She ducked back into the room, no doubt heading for her wardrobe.

Elphaba chuckled and rolled her eyes at the boys. "Get a room!" she called before shutting the window again.

An hour later she was following a practically skipping Glinda to the main square of Shiz. They had the day off before classes resumed, and most of their fellow students were still asleep.

All throughout the last month Elphaba had missed Glinda, and she had worried that it wouldn't be the same tiny blonde who returned to Shiz. She would come back and stop putting up with Elphaba. She would resent the green girl—there were only a hundred reasons why she should. At the very least, things would be tense and awkward between the two of them, like when they'd first become friends.

To her immense relief, however, she couldn't have been more wrong.

Glinda had spent the past hour bouncing around the room, over-thinking her outfit and hair while Elphaba rolled her eyes and tried not to smile. There was banter and laughter and the two were as comfortable around each other as ever.

When they joined the others at a large table in the corner, Glinda tugged on Elphaba's hand and pulled her into the seat next to her. The green girl smirked, feeling oddly pleased with herself, but the feeling disappeared as Fiyero arrived and slid into the chair on Glinda's other side.

"How was your break, Glinda?" the Vinkan asked, scooting ever so slightly closer.

"Lovely," she responded. "Although I did miss Shiz an awful lot."

"Well, you know what they say," Tibbett said, turning to wink at Crope. "Distance makes the heart grow fonder."

The other boy swatted him on the shoulder. "What in Oz are you talking about? You spent half of break at my house!"

"How was your break, Fiyero?" Boq asked. "Did being alone at Shiz bore you too much?"

"Well it was certainly better than spending the entire time in a wagon train to the Vinkus," Fiyero responded. "It wasn't so bad. I spent most of my time working in the library, actually. So, you know, if anyone ever needs to find a book, I'm your man."

"Looks like good old Master Boq has been replaced," Tibbett smirked.

"I think the library's big enough for more than one person," the Munchkin replied before throwing a bite of sausage at him.

"And what about our dear Miss Elphie?" Crope asked. "How was life at the infamous Colwen Grounds?"

"The same as anywhere, I suppose," Elphaba said lightly. "Whether I'm in a castle or in a box, I'm still the token green girl."

"The castle has a lot more room for adventure, though," Tibbett said. "Come on, Elphaba, tell us. What sort of troubles did you get into this past month?"

"What makes you so sure my life is all that exciting? Perhaps my break was as relaxing and boring as Glinda's."

Even Fiyero scoffed at that. "I can't imagine you handling boredom very well," he said, shaking his head with a smile. "If trouble didn't find you first, you'd go looking for it."

"And we all know that trouble never fails to find you," said Boq. "So go on, tell us what sort of commotions you caused."

The green girl scowled down at her food. They would all find out eventually—Boq would hear the news from his family in Munchkinland no matter what she did. She sighed and kept her eyes on her food as she spoke. "I renounced my status," she said quietly.

"You what?" Boq was staring at her incredulously. Crope, Tibbett, and Fiyero were just plain confused. Glinda's eyes held only concern.

"I renounced my status," Elphaba repeated. "As Third Thropp Descending. My sister will become Eminent Thropp after my grandfather dies. Not me."

"Wasn't expecting that one," Crope murmured.

"Elphie." Glinda's voice was gentle. "Why?"

But she just shrugged. "Why not? I never wanted the position, and Nessa will do a much better job than I ever could. Munchkinland is pretty messed up to begin with—they don't need to add a green ruler to their problems. Besides, now I'm free to study and research what I will. I'm not tied down by politics."

"So it was your idea?" Boq asked.

"I'm the one who signed the papers," Elphaba replied, hoping it was enough of an answer for the group. There was a long pause as they all looked down at the table. For the first time, everyone at the table felt…well, old—not just students, but members of a society that was changing faster than they could keep up with. Adults with voices and actions that could change the course of the future, if they wanted. Normally the idea would have been exciting, but now it just felt…exhausting.

Tibbett sighed. "Well, it appears as though the amount of royalty in our little group is dwindling. What a shame."

"I'm so sorry to disappoint you," Elphaba deadpanned. Glinda was the first to laugh, breaking whatever tension had settled among them, and then they were all back to joking and telling stories and catching up on the time they'd been apart. They went back to being friends and students and nothing else, for the time being.

Elphaba, however, stayed lost in thought. She pushed the last few bites of fruit around her plate and stared around the café. She couldn't help but think that something was different. Something was missing. She just couldn't quite figure out what…

Toward the end of the meal Glinda noticed the frown on her roommate's face. "Elphie?"

The green girl's brow furrowed. "A Gorilla used to work here," she muttered, eyes darting around. "His name was Rakuul. He used to always say hi to me. Now I don't see him anywhere."

"Maybe he's still on break?" But Glinda's voice was doubtful. She knew better than that. Elphaba rose and took her plate over to the dish window.

"Where's Rakuul?" she asked the man who was working. He looked up, almost standing on his toes to reach the plate she had set on the counter. A Munchkin.

"The Gorilla?" the Munchkin asked, frowning. "He's gone. They fired him over break."

Elphaba stared at the man. He must have been new, because she'd never seen him before. He turned away from her and went back to the dishes, leaving her to wander back to the others with a queasy feeling in her stomach…

"I'm heading back to Crage Hall," Elphaba said, pushing her chair in and grabbing her bag.

"Wait, I'll go with you." Glinda hurried to gather her dishes and carry them to the window. The rest of the group started to break off, gathering their things, and in the sudden flurry of movement Boq managed to grab Elphaba's wrist and pull her a few feet away.

"I wanted to ask—I mean, when finals came up and everything got too hectic last semester—look, I need to know—" Boq's voice was low and urgent and too fast. Elphaba kept her face blank as he stumbled over his words, but she knew what he was going to say.

"Spit it out, Boq, we don't have all day."

"Dillamond," the Munchkin said, looking her in the eyes. "You never told me…well, anything."

"I told you that it wasn't any of your business."

"Yes, and I told you you're wrong. Look, I know he was working on something big, and that's what got him fired. And I know that whatever that work was, you now have it."

"What makes you think that?" Elphaba all but snarled.

Boq looked almost amused. "Your face, right now."

Elphaba grit her teeth and clenched her fists. "Fine. I have his work. Congratulations. Are we done here?"

"No." Boq grabbed her wrist and held her in place. "You're not running away from me again. Don't you get it? You're not the only one that cares about this, Elphaba. Dillamond's work can make a difference. It can change Oz. That's what he's trying to do, right?"

"Boq, I told you. This stuff is dangerous. Yes, this research could help get equality for the Animals. But that's why it's so dangerous. Dillamond was fired. Morrible's trying to get closer to Glinda. She went through my belongings over break. And that's just—"

"Wait, she went through your stuff? Like, she broke into your room and—"

"Exactly. This isn't just a tricky piece of research, Boq. There is so much more at stake here."

The Munchkin swallowed hard. "I get it. I really do. But isn't there even more at risk if you don't succeed? I heard you and Glinda talking. That Gorilla was one of the last Animals to work here. They've lost their right to work, but what's next? The right to have a house? To eat? To live?"

Elphaba's face darkened. "You think I don't know that? But if the Wizard is willing to murder an entire species, he won't hesitate to get rid of a bunch of students. That's why I'm doing this alone."

"It won't work," Boq said softly, almost pleading. "Elphaba, please. Morrible's going to catch on. Someone's going to find out. If you try to do this alone, you will fail. Surely you know by now that you can trust me."

The green girl rubbed her forehead. "It's not that I don't trust you, Boq, it's that—"

"Elphie!" Glinda called from the door. She beckoned to her roommate. "Come on, it looks like it's about to snow!"

Boq watched Elphaba, his face softening, and let go of her wrist. "Does she know?"

"She knows only what she's pieced together, and even that's way too much."

The Munchkin nodded. "The boys' library is closed tonight, but I have a key. Meet me outside at eleven."

"Why would I do that?" Elphaba asked, starting to walk toward Glinda.

"Because we need to talk," said Boq with a shrug. "And because a visit to the restricted section would probably help you."

Elphaba shot him a glare over her shoulder, but the Munchkin knew he had won.